Every year on November 29, an akathist to the Apostle James Alfeev is heard in Russian churches. This day marks the memory of one of the closest disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, whom we learn about from the pages written by the three evangelists - Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke. From the little that they saw fit to tell us, let us try to form an idea of this man who dedicated himself to God.
The Publican of Capernaum
As is commonly believed, the birthplace of the Apostle Jacob Alfeev was the city of Capernaum, located on the shores of Lake Tiberias, now called Kinneret. This was largely due to his subsequent meeting with Jesus Christ, who chose this city as one of the main places of his sermons.
Before responding to the call of Jesus Christ to join his twelve closest followers and disciples, the Apostle James Alpheus was a publican, that is, a tax collector. This occupation was considered despicable because the money went to the treasury of Rome, which conquered Judea in those years, and assistance to the invaders was considered as a betrayal at all times. In addition, the publicans deliberately overestimated the amount of tax and,profiting from this, they ruthlessly robbed the people.
Brothers who followed Christ
According to the texts of the New Testament, the Apostle Jacob Alfeev was the brother of the Evangelist Matthew, who, like him, served as a publican, but then believed in Christ and broke with the sinful past. Together they became one of the twelve chosen ones of God, numbered among the apostles and sent into the world to preach the Gospel. In addition, his other brother was also the closest follower of Jesus Christ and went down in history under the name of the Apostle Thaddeus.
It should be noted that even in the first centuries of Christianity, serious difficulties arose related to the establishment of the true history of the life of the Apostle Jacob Alfeev. The reason was that, according to the Gospel, two more of the closest followers of Christ bore this name - James Zebedee, who was the brother of John the Theologian, and also the half-brother of Jesus, who was included in the number of seventy apostles under the name of James, the brother of the Lord. Numerous discrepancies that appeared in the lives of St. James of Alpheus written later, were the result of his identification with these personalities.
Sower of the word of God
The Apostle Jacob Alfeev is one of those who were granted Grace, having personally seen the resurrected Savior, for forty days to hear the words of Divine truth coming from his mouth. From the pages of the Holy Gospel, we also learn that, being on the tenth day after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, along with the other eleven of his disciples and the Blessed Virgin Maryin the Upper Room of Zion, he was honored to receive the Holy Spirit descended in the form of fiery tongues.
The life of the Apostle Jacob Alfeev tells how, having been ignited by the fire of Christ's teachings and diligently planting faith, he began to be called the "Divine Seed" even during his lifetime. The apostle deserved such a high name, eradicating the thorns of sin and unbelief and planting in human hearts the sprouts of the coming Kingdom of Heaven. His harvest was human souls, saved from the depths of hell and eternal death.
The path of the apostolic ministry of Jacob Alfeev
It is also known from the pages of his life to which regions the apostle Jacob Alfeev carried the gospel and where he sowed the word of God. In the first months after the ascension of Jesus Christ, Judea was his vast field, but then, together with the Apostle Andrew, he went to Edessa, the most important center of early Christianity in Asia Minor, located in the southeast of modern Turkey. This period of his ministry is described in the book "Acts of the Apostles", which is included in the texts of the New Testament.
Then the holy apostle continued his ministry in Gaza, one of the most ancient Philistine cities, located on the border with Judea, and in the gospel times it was part of Syria. Returning to Jerusalem, the Apostle Jacob Alfeev also preached to the inhabitants of the city of Eleutheropol, who gathered in crowds of thousands to hear from his lips the words of the doctrine that bestows eternal life. Their conversion to Christ was of particular importance, ashow it was in this city that Saint Ananias, the Bishop of Damascus, who once baptized the Apostle Paul, was killed.
Death, which became the beginning of universal veneration
As the life of the Apostle Jacob Alfeev further testifies, his earthly journey was cut short in the seaside town of Ostracin, where the saint ended up on his way to preach to Egypt. The words of the apostle were met with an outburst of anger from the pagans, as a result of which he was captured and sentenced to be crucified on the cross. Despite the severity of suffering, the closest disciple of Jesus Christ was happy to become like the Master in his death.
The veneration of the Apostle James, as well as the rest of the closest followers of Jesus Christ, was established in the first centuries of Christianity and became widespread in the 4th century, when a new and persecuted religion acquired official status. In those years, many Christian communities declared their succession directly from the apostles, thus proving the right to independence in making decisions on the most important religious issues. This introduced additional difficulties in compiling the life of St. John Alfeev, as it was the cause of a number of fictitious testimonies about his stay in a number of cities.
Apostle Andrew on the banks of the Volkhov
Having received the light of Christ's faith from Byzantium, Russia fully inherited the tradition of honoring its preachers - the holy apostles. In this regard, it is curious to note that the Apostle James enjoyed special love among the inhabitants of ancient Novgorod, and it was in his temples that the iconthe Apostle James of Alpheus met more often than anywhere else. This is due to two legends.
According to one of them, set out in ancient chronicles, the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, converting the Gentiles to Christ, made a journey, during which he visited the Dnieper banks, and then continued his journey north up to Novgorod. According to one version, along the Volkhov he reached Lake Ladoga and even erected a cross on the island, where the Valaam Monastery was subsequently founded. Perhaps this legend was born by the Novgorodians themselves, who wanted to prove the apostolic succession of their clergy.
Birth of a legend
Without arguing about whether it has real grounds, we can only assume that this version gave rise to another legend, according to which, together with the Apostle Andrew, the Apostle James, who once accompanied him to Edessa, visited Novgorod. Reasonable question: "Why couldn't he do the same as his closest associate?" In any case, it was from Novgorod that the troparion of the Apostle Jacob Alfeev and the akathist translated from Greek began its journey through the churches of boundless Russia. As mentioned above, today his memory is celebrated annually on November 29.
Let this article be completed by a short prayer to the Apostle James Alfeev. In the humility of our hearts, let us pronounce the words that have been resounding for many centuries: “Holy Apostle James, pray to God for us!”
