Jesus' Brothers
The current run of Sunday Scripture readings include the Epistle of St. James, who is listed as first among the "brothers" of Jesus in Mark 6:3; Matt 13:55; Acts 12:17; 15:13-21; 21:17-18; 1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 2:9. Tradition refers to him as "James the Just" and remembers him as a man of exceptional piety and prayerfulness. Ancient sources tell us that he was martyred in Jerusalem in A.D. 62 by order of the Jewish high priest, having been either stoned, clubbed, or thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple (Josephus, Antiquities 20, 200; Hegesippus, as quoted by Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2, 23). Tradition also relates that James was the first bishop of Jerusalem and the first in a line of fifteen Hebrew Christians to hold that position in succession (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2, 1 and 4, 5).
We had a priest who had converted from Anglicanism preach on Jesus' brothers one Sunday a few years ago, and it really confused quite a few of our parishioners, se…
We had a priest who had converted from Anglicanism preach on Jesus' brothers one Sunday a few years ago, and it really confused quite a few of our parishioners, se…