Память святого Апостола Иакова Зеведеева

Saint James, son of Zebedee and brother of the holy evangelist John the Theologian, was one of the twelve Apostles chosen by the Lord to be His disciples from simple fishermen. Called by Jesus Christ, Jacob, together with his brother, left the ship, his father and fishing nets and followed Christ (Matthew 4:21-22), following Him everywhere, listening to His speeches and seeing the miracles performed by Him. And the Lord loved both brothers so much that He allowed one to recline on His breasts (John 13:23), and He promised to give the other (Jacob) to drink the cup that He Himself had to drink (Matthew 20:22–23). And the Apostles themselves loved their Lord so much and showed such devotion to Him that they wanted to bring down fire from heaven on those who did not believe in Him in order to destroy them (Luke 9:54); and they would have done this if the merciful Lord Jesus Christ Himself had not forbidden them. To these two Apostles, James Zebedee and John, as well as to the Apostle Peter, the Lord revealed His Divine properties and His secrets primarily before all the other Apostles, as was the case, for example, at Tabor, when the Lord, wishing to show the glory of His Divinity, took with Him Peter, James and John (Matthew 17 et seq.) After the free suffering, resurrection and ascension of our Lord and after the sending of the Holy Spirit, the holy Apostle James traveled through Spain and other countries preaching the word of God. Then he returned to Jerusalem again and was here formidable for the Jews like thunder (Mark 3:17), for he courageously and boldly preached Jesus Christ, saying that He is the true Messiah, the Savior of the world. Jacob won the disputes between the Pharisees 2836 and the scribes 2837, denouncing and reproaching them for their hardness of heart and unbelief. They, not being able to resist him, hired a certain sorcerer named Hermogenes against him for money, so that he would enter into a debate with Jacob and put him to shame. But the sorcerer, being proud, did not want to talk with Jacob himself, but sent his disciple, named Philita, saying: “Not only myself, but even my disciple, Jacob will not be able to defeat him in an argument.” Philetus came and talked with the holy Apostle James, but being unable to resist the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, with which the Apostle was filled, he remained silent, as if dumb, and could not completely open his lips to object to the Apostle. Having learned the truth, Philetus humbled himself and, returning to his teacher the sorcerer, told him that it was impossible to overcome Jacob, who confirmed his words even with miracles. At the same time, Philetus advised his teacher to abandon his wisdom and sorcery and become himself a disciple of Jacob. But the proud Hermogenes, with his spell, summoned the demons and ordered them to keep Philetus tied up in one place so that he could not move, and said at the same time: “I’ll see how your Jacob delivers you.” Philetus secretly sent news to the Apostle that he was bound by demons through the spell of Hermogenes. Having learned about this, the Apostle sent his towel to him, telling him to take the towel sent to him and say the following words: “The Lord loosens the prisoners, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord raises up those who are bowed down” (Ps. 145:7-8). As soon as Filitus uttered these words, he immediately freed himself from invisible bonds, for the demons, frightened by the Apostle’s towel and the power of the spoken words, left Filitus and ran away from him. Then Philetus, laughing at Hermogenes, came to Saint James and, having been taught by him the holy faith, was baptized. Hermogenes, filled with strong rage and anger, cursed the demons who served him to bring Jacob and Philetus bound to him. But when the demons approached the dwelling in which Saint James and Philetus lived, immediately the Angel of the Lord, at the command of God, took those demons and, tying them with invisible bonds, began to torment them. The demons cried out loud to everyone, being tormented by the power of God: “James, Apostle of Christ, be merciful to us, for we, at the command of Hermogenes, came to bind you and Philetus, but now we ourselves are tightly bound and suffering cruelly.” Saint James said to the demons: “May the Angel of God, who bound you, release you from your bonds, and you go and bring Hermogenes here to me without doing him any harm.” Immediately the demons, released from the bonds, went to Hermogenes and, seizing him, in the blink of an eye they put him bound before the Apostle and asked the Apostle to allow them to take revenge on Hermogenes. The Apostle asked the demons why they did not bind Philetus, as Hermogenes commanded them to do. The demons responded to this: “We can’t even touch a fly in your house.” Then the Apostle said to Philetus: “Our Lord commanded that evil should be repaid with good, so you too free Hermogenes and deliver him from demons.” After this, the Apostle said to Hermogenes, freed from demonic bonds: – Our Lord does not want to have forced servants, but wants to have voluntary servants; therefore you go wherever you wish. “As soon as I leave your house, the demons will immediately kill me, for I know how great their rage is; I also know that it is impossible for me to get rid of them if you do not protect me. Then the Apostle gave him his staff, which he used on the way. Hermogenes went with that rod to his house and along the way did not suffer anything bad from the demons. Having thus come to know the power of Christ and seeing the weakness of demons, Hermogenes collected all his magic books, brought them to Saint James and, falling at his feet, exclaimed: – A true servant of the True God, who delivers the souls of people from destruction. Have mercy on me and accept your enemy as your disciple! Taught by Jacob to the holy faith, Hermogenes was baptized, at the command of the Apostle, he burned his magic books and became a true servant of Christ, so that in the name of Jesus Christ he performed miracles. The Jews, seeing everything that had happened, became very angry and persuaded King Herod 2838 to initiate persecution against the Church of Christ and kill Jacob: “Herod raised his hands against some of those belonging to the church to do them harm, and killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Seeing that this was pleasing to the Jews, he took Peter also - then were the days of unleavened bread - and detained him and put him in prison” (Acts 12:1-4). Eusebius 2839, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, speaking about Saint James, writes that when he was condemned to death by Herod, a certain man named Josiah, one of those who reported to Herod against the Apostle, seeing the courage and boldness of Saint James and realizing his innocence and holiness, as well as the truth of the words he spoke (about the coming of the Messiah - Christ), believed in Christ and became a confessor of Christ. Immediately he, along with the holy Apostle James, was condemned to death. When they walked together to the place of execution, on the way they met a paralytic lying by the road, and the holy Apostle healed him. When they bowed their heads to be beheaded, Josiah prayed to Saint James to forgive him the sin he committed out of ignorance - to forgive him for denouncing him to the king. The Apostle, hugging and kissing him, said to him: “Peace be with you,” and both of them, bowing their heads to be beheaded, died together 2840. After their beheading, the disciples of the holy Apostle James, taking his body, by Divine will, carried it to Spain 2841, where to this day healings are given from his tomb to the sick and miracles are performed for the glory of Christ God, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit by all creation forever. Amen. You were the chosen Apostle of Christ, and the only begotten brother of the Theologian, O all-validated Jacob, obtain forgiveness of sins for those who sing of you and obtain great mercy for our souls. Hearing the Divine voice, calling you, you despised your father’s love and flowed to Christ, Jacob, with your relative, more glorious, with whom you were honored to see the Lord’s Divine Transfiguration. The Pharisees are a religious sect that arose in Palestine two or three centuries BC. The sect set its goal as precise, often reaching the point of pettiness and scrupulousness, observance of all ritual requirements of the Law of Moses. People's teacher, rabbi. Here of course Herod Agrippa I, son of Aristobulus and grandson of Herod the Great, who ruled Judea from 40 to 44. Eusebius Pamphilus is the most famous church historian, who lived from 268 to 340. His “Church History” was brought up to 324 The death of the Holy Apostle James followed ca. 42 The relics of St. James the Apostle are currently located in Compostella, the main city of the Spanish kingdom of Galicia; they were brought here in the beginning. 9th century You might be interested in: