Apostle James, brother of the Lord

James was a kinsman of Christ, by tradition a son of Joseph from an earlier marriage. The risen Lord appeared to him, and he became the first bishop of Jerusalem, presiding at the Apostolic Council of Acts 15. He was called James the Just and prayed so much that his knees grew hard as a camel’s. He wrote the Epistle of James: “Faith without works is dead.” The Jewish leaders threw him from the Temple and beat him to death around 62. The oldest Liturgy of Jerusalem bears his name.

• Feast: October 23 (New Calendar)
• Lived: died c. 62
• Place: Jerusalem