Holy Apostle James, Son of Alphaeus

James the son of Alphaeus is one of the apostles whom the Gospel names but does not describe at length. He is set down in all four lists of the Twelve, in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke, and in the Acts; beyond his name, the Gospels record no word of his. The Church has always honored him in the company of the rest, taking the silence as part of his witness.

He is to be carefully distinguished from two other Jameses of the apostolic age. James the son of Zebedee, the brother of John, was the first of the Twelve to be martyred, around the year forty-four. James 'the Brother of God,' the first bishop of Jerusalem and the author of the catholic epistle, was a kinsman of the Lord rather than one of the original Twelve. James of Alphaeus is the third, and the silent one.

Some of the older Fathers identify him with James 'the Less' or 'the Little' (Mark 15:40), whose mother stood at the Cross of the Lord; if that identification holds, he is the brother of the apostle Matthew, the son of the same Alphaeus. The Orthodox tradition keeps the identification possible but does not require it.

The synaxaria report that after Pentecost he preached in Judaea, in Gaza, in Eleutheropolis, and at last in Egypt. The manner of his martyrdom is variously told, some accounts saying that he was stoned, some that he was crucified, some that he was sawn asunder. The Church keeps his memory on the ninth of October.