By Bishop Gregorios of Mesaoria
Today the Church commemorates St. James the Brother of Our Lord (Adelphotheos), who is also commemorated on Sunday following Christmas Day. We also celebrate the memory of Saint Ignatius of Constantinople and St. Makarios of Rome.
James was the son of Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, and because of his constant association with Jesus, in their infancy, he was named Adelphotheos or Brother of the Lord. His exemplary faith and devotion to Christ was proved in practice through his missionary, pastoral and charitable activity as the first Bishop of Jerusalem, after, according to the tradition, being ordained by Godman Himself.
His prestige and the esteem with which the first Church held in St. James are shown at his positions during the work of the Apostolic Council of 49 AD, where his contribution to the spread of the new faith in all nations was decisive.
Saint James endowed the Church with his divinely inspired Universal Letter, one of the 27 books of the New Testament, but also with the first Divine Liturgy, which formed the basis for the later Divine Liturgies of Basil the Great and Saint John Chrysostom.
James the Brother of the Lord sealed his great contribution to the Church with the martyred death his fellow-countrymen sentenced him to.
Source: Church of Cyprus
