Saint Apostle James, brother of the Lord
St. Apostle James, known also as James the Just, was, according to Christian apocripha, Jesus' half-brother, Joseph's son from a previous marriage. In the Catholic tradition he is identified with James, son of Alphaeus.
In The Acts of the Apostles, James appears as an important personality among the first believers. According to Jerome's De Viris Illustribus, James had been elected head of the Jerusalem church, postion equivalent to that of a bishop. In Josephus Flavius' Antiquities of the Jews, a probable later interpolated paragraph by a Christian scribe provides information about James' stoning in 62 or 69.
Iconographically, St. Apostle James the Just is present in two themes: the one identifying him as Jesus' disciple, in which he is depicted as a still young bearded man, clad in a tunic and chiton like the other apostles, and the theme presenting him as bishop. If, in the first case, St. James is oftenly figured among the other postles, in the latter, as a bishop, he is depicted alone, especially on icons and illuminations, less frequent in frescoes.
James, as bishop, is shown as an elderly man, with long, white hair and beard, a high forehead and wrinkled face. Represented frontally, usually half-length, he is dressed in a white and black phelonion, decorated all over its surface with crosses, and an epitrachelion, also decorated with large crosses. The Saint is blessing with his right hand while holding a shut Gospel in his left hand.
St. Apostle James, known also as James the Just, was, according to Christian apocripha, Jesus' half-brother, Joseph's son from a previous marriage. In the Catholic tradition he is identified with James, son of Alphaeus.
In The Acts of the Apostles, James appears as an important personality among the first believers. According to Jerome's De Viris Illustribus, James had been elected head of the Jerusalem church, postion equivalent to that of a bishop. In Josephus Flavius' Antiquities of the Jews, a probable later interpolated paragraph by a Christian scribe provides information about James' stoning in 62 or 69.
Iconographically, St. Apostle James the Just is present in two themes: the one identifying him as Jesus' disciple, in which he is depicted as a still young bearded man, clad in a tunic and chiton like the other apostles, and the theme presenting him as bishop. If, in the first case, St. James is oftenly figured among the other postles, in the latter, as a bishop, he is depicted alone, especially on icons and illuminations, less frequent in frescoes.
James, as bishop, is shown as an elderly man, with long, white hair and beard, a high forehead and wrinkled face. Represented frontally, usually half-length, he is dressed in a white and black phelonion, decorated all over its surface with crosses, and an epitrachelion, also decorated with large crosses. The Saint is blessing with his right hand while holding a shut Gospel in his left hand.
