§ 103. Сочинения св. Иакова содержания догматического и нравственного.

St. Athanasius wrote to the bishops of Egypt against the Arians: “If anything was written by the Orthodox, such as James and others from the Mesopotamians, there was nothing to suspect in what was written; there is the open, simple spirit of the apostolic men” 58. Gennady, a writer of the 5th century, testifies that St. James wrote 26 works, and, exposing their very titles, adds that they were recently translated from the Syrian language 59. Nowadays 18 Words of St. are known in Armenian. James, written at the request of St. Gregory, enlightener of Armenia. In terms of content, these are the same teachings that Gennady talks about, although many mentioned by Gennady are not among the Armenian ones; the latter does not weaken the authenticity of the Armenian Words, especially because in Armenia, of course, those instructions of St. were preserved with special care. Jacob, which were written for Armenia 60. Moreover, the content and spirit of these instructions are quite suitable for the wise shepherd of Nisibian 61. Some of them are dogmatic in content, others are moralizing. Among the latter, words about love, about fasting, about repentance, about humility breathe deep piety; love, he teaches, is the fulfillment of the law of the Gospel; it is the foundation of holiness commanded by the Lord and the essence of Christian teaching. There is an edifying word about virginity and another about the sons of vows; the word about the clergy is an excellent pastoral instruction for the shepherd, among other things about his duty to teach and celebrate the mystery of the Eucharist. Among the dogmatic ones, the Word on Faith sets out the concept of faith and its meaning in the salvation of the soul. “The solid and true foundation of all our faith is our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, when someone has come to faith, he is set on a solid rock, which is our Lord Jesus Christ himself (1 Cor. 10:4).” In the 16th Word it is excellently proven from the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures both the deity of the Son of God and that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah. With the same excellent understanding of the exact meaning of Scripture, St. James denounces the Jews in the 11th Word for circumcision, in 12 for the Sabbath, in 18 for their vain hopes for the restoration of the Synagogue; in the 7th word about repentance, urging you to sincerely reveal your sins, he says: otherwise the priest cannot know your illnesses. Word 8 denounces the unbelief of some in the resurrection of the dead. In addition to its dogmatic and moral importance, the instructions of St. James are important as an example of the correct interpretation of St. Scriptures; Naturally, without any art or effort, the ancient teacher extracts from the sacred letter both lofty dogmas and edification. Epist. ad episcop. Aegypti et Lib. § 8. In the Greek Menaions they write about St. Jacob: “he compiled a very useful book; this book was in some way imitated by Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, in his History of the God-Lovers (φιλοθέος),” and this news confirms the words of Gennady about the translation of the works of St. Jacob; but now such a translation is not known. Words and district message of St. James in Armenian and Latin were printed in 5 volumes of the Galland Library, the first time published in Rome in 1750. Canon. Antonelli. The Armenian text was printed in 1820 in Constantinople. Asseman at first doubted the authenticity of St. Jacob, but then I saw them in the Arabic list (Bibl. Or. T. 4. 632. 558). Udin (Comm. 1. 122) shows from catalogs the Arabic and Syriac words of St. Jacob. Only the district epistle does not belong to St. To Jacob: this can be seen from the content. In Chr. Thurs. the words are placed: about humility 1827, about the resurrection of the dead 1837, about Easter, about faith 1839, letter to Gregory 1842. Words not translated into Russian: about love (2), about fasting (3), about prayer (4), about spiritual warfare (5), about piety (6), about repentance (7), about the positions of a teacher (10), about circumcision (11), about the Sabbath (12), about the choice of food (13), about exhortation to the pagans (15), about Christ is the son of God (16), about virginity (17), against the Jews waiting Messiah (18). The stamp of time is especially borne by: the 5th word about warfare, which Gennady calls the word about the Persian kingdom and where, under visible images, warfare is depicted with pride; 6th word about the sons of vow, which says that some ascetics lived with a sister - a maiden or widow; a custom against which the saints strictly rebelled. Gregory of Nazianzus. (carm. 3. r. 149, Orat. 43 r. 701), Basil the Great. (Epist. 55 p. 149), Chrysostom, Councils of Ancyra, Nicaea. You might be interested in: