De sancto Jacobo apostolo
The Life and Character of James the Just
This section explores the etymology of James's name, his ascetic holiness, his close resemblance to Christ, and his unique role as the first bishop of Jerusalem.
James: supplanter, or one who supplants, one who is hurrying, or one who is preparing. Alternatively, James is said to come from 'Ia,' which is God, and 'cobar,' which is burden or weight. Or, James is like 'Jacopus,' from 'jaculo' (dart) and 'cope' (which means striking), as if struck by darts. He is therefore called a supplanter of the world through contempt, one who supplants the hurrying devil, and one who prepares his body for every good. For evil passions are within us from three sources, as Gregory of Nyssa says: from bad upbringing or company, from a bad state of the body, and from the vice of ignorance. These are cured, however, as he says, through good habits, good practice, and the study of doctrine. Thus the blessed James cured himself, and for that reason he had a body prepared for every good. He is also called a divine weight because of the gravity of his character, and one struck by darts through his martyrdom. — 3. This apostle is known as James of Alphaeus—meaning the son of Alphaeus—as well as James the brother of the Lord, James the Less, and James the Just. He is called James of Alphaeus not only because of his physical lineage, but also because of the meaning of his name. For 'Alphaeus' is interpreted as 'learned,' 'a document,' 'a fugitive,' or 'the thousandth.' He is therefore called James of Alphaeus because he was learned through the inspiration of knowledge, a document through the instruction of others, a fugitive from the world through his contempt for it, and the thousandth through his reputation for humility. He is called the brother of the Lord because he was said to be so similar to Him that many were deceived by their appearance. Thus, when the Jews went to seize Christ, they took a sign of a kiss from Judas—who, as one familiar with them, could distinguish Christ from James perfectly—so that they would not accidentally seize James in the person of Christ. Ignatius also testifies to this in his letter to John the Evangelist, saying: 'If it is permitted for me, I wish to go up to the parts of Jerusalem to see that venerable James who is called the Just, whom they report to be most similar to Christ Jesus in face, life, and manner of conduct, as if he were a twin brother from the same womb.' They say that if I see him, I see Christ Jesus in every feature of his body. He is called the brother of the Lord because, just as Christ and James were descended from two sisters, they were thought to be descended from two brothers, Joseph and Cleophas. He isn't called the brother of the Lord because he was the son of Joseph, Mary's husband, by another wife—as some like to claim—but because he was the son of Mary, the daughter of Cleophas; and this Cleophas was indeed the brother of Joseph, Mary's husband, even though Master Johannes Beleth says that Alpheus, the father of this James, was the brother of Joseph, Mary's husband. This isn't believed to be true. The Jews therefore called them brothers because they were related on both sides of the bloodline, or he is called the brother of the Lord because of the prerogative and excellence of his holiness, on account of which he was ordained bishop in Jerusalem ahead of the other apostles. He is also called James the Less to distinguish him from James, the son of Zebedee; although James of Zebedee was born first, he was later in his calling, and so this custom is observed in most regions: the one who enters later is called the greater, and the one who is earlier is called the lesser, even if he is older in age or more worthy in holiness. He is also called James the Just because of the merit of his most excellent holiness; for according to Jerome, he stood in such reverence and holiness among the people that they would compete to touch the hem of his garment. Hence Hegesippus, a neighbor of the apostles, wrote of his holiness in the ecclesiastical histories: 'The brother of the Lord, James, who was called the Just by everyone, took over the church, continuing from the very times of the Lord down to us.' He was holy from his mother's womb; he drank no wine or strong drink, never ate meat, no razor touched his head, he was not anointed with oil, he did not use baths, and he was always clothed in a sindon, that is, a linen garment. He had knelt in prayer so often that his knees seemed to have calluses just like his heels. Because of this unceasing and supreme righteousness, he was called the Just and Abba—which is interpreted as the protector of the people and of righteousness. He alone among the apostles was permitted, because of his exceptional holiness, to enter the Holy of Holies. So says Hegesippus. It is also said that he was the first among the apostles to celebrate Mass; for because of the excellence of his holiness, the apostles granted him this honor, that after the Lord's ascension he would be the first among them to celebrate Mass in Jerusalem, even before he was ordained bishop. Since it is said in the Acts that before his ordination the disciples were persevering in the teaching of the apostles and in the breaking of bread—which is understood as the celebration of Mass—perhaps he is said to have celebrated first because he is reported to have been the first to say it in pontificals, just as Peter later celebrated Mass first in Antioch and Mark in Alexandria. He remained in perpetual virginity, as Jerome testifies in his book against Jovinian. However, on the Friday when the Lord died, as Josephus and Jerome say in the book On Illustrious Men, James made a vow that he would not eat until he saw that the Lord had risen from the dead. But on the very day of the resurrection, when James had not tasted food until that day, the Lord appeared to him and said to those who were with him, 'Set the table and the bread.' Then, taking the bread, He blessed it and gave it to James the Just, saying, 'Rise, my brother, and eat, for the Son of Man has risen from the dead.'
The Martyrdom of the Apostle
The narrative details the escalating persecution by the Jews, James's final testimony on the temple pinnacle, and his death by stoning and clubbing.
In the seventh year of his episcopate, when the apostles had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover, James asked them to report how much the Lord had done through them among the people. After James and the other apostles had been preaching in the temple for seven days before Caiaphas and some of the Jews, and the people were already on the verge of wanting to be baptized, someone suddenly entered the temple and began to shout: "O men of Israel, what are you doing?" Why are you letting these men deceive you any longer? He stirred up the people so much that they wanted to stone the apostles; this man climbed up onto the step where James was preaching, threw him down, and from that time on, James was quite lame. Blessed James suffered this in the seventh year after the Lord's Ascension. In the thirtieth year of his episcopate, the Jews, seeing that they could not kill Paul because he had appealed to Caesar and been sent to Rome, turned the tyranny of their persecution against James, looking for an opportunity against him. As the aforementioned Hegesippus, a contemporary of the apostles, reports—and as is found in the Ecclesiastical History—the Jews gathered to him, saying: "We beg you to turn the people back, because..." "...he is mistaken about Jesus, thinking that he is the Christ." "We beg you, therefore, to dissuade everyone gathered for Passover from following Jesus, for we will all obey you, and both we and the people bear witness to you that you are a just man and..." You accept no one. They set him, therefore, upon the pinnacle of the temple and, shouting with a loud voice, said: 'Most just of men, whom we all ought to obey, since the people are going astray after Jesus who was crucified, tell us what you think.' James answered in a loud voice, 'Why do you ask me about the Son of Man? Look, he is sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Highest Power, and he is coming to judge the living and the dead.' The Christians heard this and were very glad, and they listened to him willingly. But the Pharisees and scribes said: 'We did wrong to allow such testimony to be given to Jesus; let us go up and throw him down, so that the others may be terrified and not presume to believe in him.' And they shouted together with a loud voice, saying: 'Oh, oh, even the just man has gone astray.' So they went up and threw him down. After throwing him down, they began to pelt him with stones, saying, 'Let us stone James the Just.' But he, though thrown down, did not die; instead, he turned, knelt on his knees, and said, 'I beg you, Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' Then one of the priests, from the sons of Rahab, shouted, 'Stop, I beg you! What are you doing?' 'This just man, whom you are stoning, is praying for you.' Then one of them grabbed a fuller's club, struck his head with a powerful blow, and crushed his brain—so says Hegesippus; and through such a martyrdom he departed to the Lord under Nero, who began his reign in the year of the Lord 57, and he was buried there near the temple. But when the people wanted to avenge his death and capture and punish the evildoers, they fled immediately.
Divine Judgment and the Fall of Jerusalem
This section recounts the portents of doom, the siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus, the suffering of the people, and the final destruction of the city as divine retribution.
Josephus reports that the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews happened because of the sin of killing James the Just; yet this destruction came about not only because of James's death, but especially because of the Lord's death, just as the Lord says: 'They will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.' But because the Lord doesn't want the death of a sinner, and so that they would have no excuse, He waited forty years for their repentance and kept calling them back to it through the apostles—especially through James, the brother of the Lord, who preached among them constantly. But when he couldn't bring them back through his warnings, He wanted to terrify them at least with wonders, for in those forty years given to them for repentance, many signs and wonders (as Josephus reports) occurred. For a star, shining like a sword, was seen to hang over the city, and for a whole year it burned with deadly flames. During a certain feast of Unleavened Bread, at the ninth hour of the night, such a great light surrounded the altar and the temple that everyone thought it had become the brightest day. During that same festival, an old woman brought in to be sacrificed suddenly gave birth to a lamb between the hands of the ministers. A few days later, near sunset, chariots and four-horse teams were seen being carried through the air across the entire region, and companies of armed men were seen mingling with the clouds and surrounding cities with sudden troops. On another feast day, called Pentecost, priests who had entered the temple at night to perform their usual duties heard certain movements and noises, and heard sudden voices saying, 'Let us depart from these dwellings.' Also, four years before the war, a certain man named Jesus, son of Ananias, began to cry out suddenly during the Feast of Tabernacles: 'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice over Jerusalem and the temple, a voice over bridegrooms and brides, a voice over all the people.'1 The man was seized, beaten, and scourged; yet, unable to say anything else, the more he was scourged, the louder he cried out. He was then brought before the judge and subjected to brutal torture, being torn until his bones were exposed. Yet he shed neither prayers nor tears, but with a kind of wailing, he kept repeating the same words for almost every single blow, adding even this: 'Woe, woe to Jerusalem.' That is what Josephus says. But because the Jews were neither converted by these warnings nor terrified by such great portents, after forty years... ...the Lord brought Vespasian and Titus to Jerusalem, and they destroyed the city to its foundations. This, however, was the reason for their arrival in Jerusalem, as found in a certain history, though it is apocryphal. Pilate, seeing that he had condemned an innocent Jesus and fearing the offense of Tiberius Caesar, sent a messenger named Albanus to the Caesar to excuse himself. At that time, however, Vespasian held the monarchy in Galatia under Tiberius Caesar; Pilate's messenger, therefore, was driven by contrary winds into Galatia and brought to Vespasian. Now, such a custom was observed there that whoever suffered shipwreck in that place was subjected to the property and servitude of the prince. Vespasian asked him who he was, where he came from, and where he was going. He replied, "I am from Jerusalem; I’ve come from those parts and was on my way to Rome." Vespasian said to him, "You come from a land of wise men; you know the art of medicine and are a doctor, so you must cure me." For Vespasian had suffered from a certain kind of worm in his nostrils since childhood, which is why he was called Vespasian, from the wasps. The man answered him, "I don't know the art of medicine or doctrine, and therefore I am unable to cure you." Vespasian said to him, "Unless you cure me, you'll die." He replied, "The One who gave sight to the blind, drove out demons, and raised the dead—He knows that I am ignorant of the art of healing." Vespasian asked him, "Who is this of whom you speak such things?" He answered, "Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews killed out of envy; if you believe in Him, you will receive the grace of health." And Vespasian said: "I believe that, since He raised the dead, He will also be able to free me from this infirmity." And as he said this, the wasps fell from his nostrils, and he was healed immediately. Then Vespasian, filled with immense joy, said, "I’m certain that He who could heal me was the Son of God." "Once I have permission from the Emperor, I’ll go to Jerusalem with an armed force and utterly destroy all those who betrayed and killed Him." He said to Pilate’s Alban messenger, "You may return home with my permission, safe and sound in body and life." Vespasian then went to Rome and obtained permission from Tiberius Caesar to destroy Judea and Jerusalem. For several years, therefore, he gathered an army during the time of the Emperor Nero, when the Jews had rebelled against the empire. Thus (according to the chronicles), he didn't do this out of zeal for Christ, but because they had withdrawn from Roman rule. Vespasian arrived at Jerusalem with a massive army, and on the day of Passover, he powerfully laid siege to the city from all sides, trapping the infinite multitude that had gathered there for the feast. For some time before Vespasian arrived at Jerusalem, however, the believers who were there were warned by the Holy Spirit to leave and withdraw to a town across the Jordan called Pella, so that once the holy people had been removed from the city, the place would be ready for heavenly vengeance to fall upon both the sacrilegious city and its wicked people. Vespasian first attacked a city in Judea named Jotapata, where Josephus served as a leader and prince. Josephus and his men resisted bravely, but eventually, seeing that the city's destruction was imminent, Josephus took eleven Jews into an underground chamber. Suffering from four days of hunger and against Josephus's wishes, the men preferred to die there rather than submit to Vespasian's slavery. They wanted to kill each other and offer their blood as a sacrifice to God; because Josephus was the most worthy among them, they wanted to kill him first so that God would be appeased more quickly by the shedding of his blood—or, as one chronicle suggests, they simply wanted to kill each other to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans. But Josephus, a prudent man who did not want to die, appointed himself the judge of the death and the sacrifice, ordering them to cast lots in pairs to see who would be killed first. The lots were cast, and fate delivered one man after another to death, until only the last man remained, with whom Josephus was about to cast the final lot. Then Josephus, a strong and agile man, took the sword from him and asked which he would prefer—life or death—ordering him to choose without delay. Fearing for his life, the man replied, "I don't refuse to live, if I can preserve my life by your favor." Josephus then spoke secretly to one of Vespasian's close associates, who was also a friend of his, and begged that his life be spared; he obtained what he asked for. When Josephus was brought before Vespasian, Vespasian said to him, "You would have deserved death if you had not been spared by these petitions." Josephus said, "If anything has been done wrong, it can be set right." Vespasian replied, "What can a defeated man possibly do?" Josephus said, "I can do something, if I can soothe your ears with my words." And Vespasian said, "Granted; stick to your words, and whatever good you have to say will be heard in peace." Josephus said, "The Roman emperor is dead, and the Senate has made you emperor." Vespasian said, "If you are a prophet, why didn't you prophesy to this city that it was destined to be under my rule?" And Josephus said, "I have been telling them this for forty days." Meanwhile, envoys from the Romans arrived, announced that Vespasian had been raised to the imperial throne, and took him back to Rome. Eusebius also testifies to this in his chronicle, namely that Josephus predicted to Vespasian both the emperor's death and his own rise to power. Vespasian left his son Titus behind to oversee the siege of Jerusalem. According to that same apocryphal history, Titus was so filled with joy and excitement upon hearing that his father had been raised to the imperial throne that he was seized by a cold-induced muscle spasm, which left one of his legs paralyzed. Josephus, hearing that Titus was suffering from this paralysis, carefully inquired into the cause and timing of the illness. The cause remains unknown and the nature of the illness is unclear, but the timing is revealed by the fact that this happened to him after he heard of his father's election. Josephus, however, was a wise and foresighted man; he inferred much from very little and discovered both the illness and its cause from the timing, realizing that Titus had been weakened by an overwhelming sense of joy and delight. Noticing, therefore, that opposites are cured by opposites, and knowing also that what is gained through love is often lost through pain, he began to ask whether there was anyone who was held as an enemy of the prince. There was a servant there who was so bothersome to Titus that he could not even look at him, nor even hear his name mentioned, without becoming violently agitated; so he said to Titus, "If you wish to be cured, you must ensure the safety of everyone who comes in my company." Titus replied, "Whoever comes in your company shall be considered safe and secure." Then Josephus quickly ordered a meal to be prepared and placed his own table next to Titus's. He placed it opposite and had the servant sit at his right hand. Titus looked at him, and troubled by the annoyance, he roared; the man who had previously been chilled by joy grew hot with the kindling of fury, and by stretching his nerves, he was cured. After this, Titus welcomed both the servant into his favor and Joseph into his friendship. Whether this story should be believed, however, is left to the reader's judgment. During the two years that Jerusalem was besieged by Titus, among other evils that severely pressed upon the besieged, such a famine gripped everyone that parents snatched food from their children and children from their parents, husbands from their wives and wives from their husbands, not only from their hands but even from their very teeth; young men, even those stronger in age, fell lifeless from hunger while wandering through the streets like ghosts; those who were burying the dead often fell dead themselves on top of the corpses; and so, unable to bear the stench of the bodies, they buried them at public expense, but when the funds ran out and the multitude of corpses grew, they threw the bodies over the wall. But Titus, while making his rounds, saw the valleys filled with corpses and the whole land corrupted by their stench; he lifted his hands to heaven with tears, saying, "God, you see that I am not doing this." For the famine there was so great that they were eating their own shoes and straps. A certain noblewoman, distinguished by birth and wealth, as is read in the ecclesiastical history, when robbers had broken into her house and stripped her of everything, and nothing remained for her to eat, holding her nursing infant in her hands, said: "Unhappy mother of an even more unhappy child, in war, in famine, in plunder, to what end shall I keep you?" Come now, my son, be food for your mother, a scandal to the robbers, and a story for the ages. With those words, she killed her son, cooked him, ate half, and hid the rest. Suddenly, the robbers smelled the cooked meat, burst into the house, and threatened her with death if she didn't hand it over. Then she uncovered the child's limbs and said, "Look, I've saved the best part for you." But such horror seized them that they couldn't even speak. She said, "This is my son, this is my sin. Eat without fear, for I ate first—I, who gave him birth. Don't be more religious than a mother or softer than a woman. But if your conscience wins out and you are horrified, I will eat the rest, since I've already eaten half." They, however, trembling and terrified, left. Finally, in the second year of Vespasian's reign, Titus captured Jerusalem, razed it, and destroyed the temple to its foundations; and just as the Jews had bought Christ for thirty denarii, so he sold thirty Jews for one denarius. As Josephus recounts, ninety-seven thousand Jews were sold, and over a million died by famine and the sword. It is also recorded that when Titus entered Jerusalem, he saw a very thick wall and ordered it to be pierced; once a hole was made, they found an old man inside who was venerable in appearance and gray-haired. When asked who he was, he replied that he was Joseph of Arimathea, a city of Judea, and that he had been shut up and walled in there by the Jews because he had buried Christ. He added that from that time until now, he had been fed by heavenly food and strengthened by divine light. However, the Gospel of Nicodemus says that when the Jews had imprisoned him, Christ rose again, rescued him, and led him to Arimathea. It may be said that because he didn't stop preaching Christ after he was led out, he was imprisoned again by the Jews. After the Emperor Vespasian died, his son Titus succeeded him as emperor. He was a very merciful man of great generosity and goodness, as Eusebius of Caesarea says in his chronicle and Jerome testifies, noting that when he remembered one evening that he had done nothing good or given nothing away that day, he said, 'Friends, I have lost a day.' Long afterward, certain Jews wishing to rebuild Jerusalem went out early in the morning and found many crosses formed from dew. Terrified, they fled, but returning the next morning, each one found—as Miletus says in his chronicle—bloody crosses imprinted on their garments. They were terrified and fled, but on the third day, they returned and were completely consumed by the vapor of fire coming from the earth.
Read the original Latin
Jacobus supplantator vel supplantans festinantem vel praeparaus. Vel dicitur Jacobus a ia, quod est Deus, et cobar, quod est onus vel pondus. Vel Jacobus quasi Jacopus a jaculo et cope, quod est caesio, quasi caesus jaculis. Dicitur ergo supplantator mundi per contemtum, supplantans festinantem dyabolum, praeparans ad omne bonum corpus suum. Malae enim passiones nobis insunt ex tribus, sieut dicit Gregorius Nyssenus: ex mala educatione sive conversatione, ex corporis mala habitudine, ex vitio ignorantiae. Curantur autem, ut dicit, ex bona consuetudine, bona exercitatione, studio doctrinae. Sic beatus Jacobus se curavit et ideo corpus ad omne bonum paratum habuit. Dicitur etiam pondus divinum per gravitatem morum, jaculis caesus per martirium.
— 3. Jacobus iste apostolus vocatus est Jacobus Alphei, scilicet filius, frater domini Jacobus minor et Jacobus justus, Jacobus Alphei dicitur non tantum secundum carnem, sed etiam secundum nominis interpretationem. Alpheus enim interpretatur doctus vel documentum vel fagitivus vel millesimus. Dicitur ergo Jacobus Alphei, quia fuit doctus per scientiae inspirationem, documentum per aliorum eruditionem, fugitivas de mundo per despectionem, et millesimus per humilitatis reputationem. Frater quidem domini dicitur ex eo, quod simillimus sibi fuisse perhibetur, adeo ut plerique in eorum specie fallerentur. Unde cum Judaei ad capiendum Christum pergerent, ne forte Jacobum in persona Christi caperent, a Juda, qui Christum a Jacobo tanquam eorum familiaris optime discernebat, signum osculi acceperunt. Hoc etiam testatur Ignatius in epistola ad Johannem evangelistam sic dicens: si licitum est mihi apud te, ad Hierosolimae partes volo adscendere, ut videam illum venerabilem Jacobum, qui cognominatur justus, quem referunt Christo Jesu simillimum facie, vita et modo conversationis, ac si ejusdem uteri frater esset gemellus. Quem, dicunt, si video, video et Christum Jesum secundum omnia corporis lineamenta.
Vel dicitur frater domini, quoniam Christus et Jacobus, sicut a duabus sororibus descenderant, sic a dnobus fratribus Joseph et Cleopha descendere putabantur. Non enim dicitur frater domini, quia fuerit filius Joseph sponsi Mariae de alia uxore, sicut aliqui volunt dicere, sed quia erat filius Mariae filiae Cleophae; qui quidem Cleophas fuit frater ipsius Joseph sponsi Mariae, licet magister Johannes Beleth dicat, quia Alpheus, pater ipsius Jacobi, fuit frater Joseph sponsi Mariae. Quod verum non creditur. Judaei ergo fratres vocabant, qui se ex utraque parte sanguinis contingebant, vel dicitur frater domini propter praerogativam et excellentiam sanctitatis, ob quam prae caeteris apostolis Hierosolymis est episcopus ordinatus. Dicitur etiam Jacobus minor ad differentiam Jacobi, filii Zebedaci; licet enim Jacobus Zebedaei prior natus sit, fuit tamen vocatione posterior, unde etiam haec consuetudo in plerisque regionibus observatur, ut ille, qui posterior ingreditur, major vocetur, et ille, qui prior, minor, licet sit prior aut aetate major aut sanctitate dignior. Dicitur etiam Jacobus justus propter meritum excellentissimae sanctitatis, nam secundum Hieronymum tantae reverentiae et sanctitatis in populo exstitit, ut fimbriam vestimenti ejus certatim cuperent tangere. Unde et de ejus sanctitate sic scripsit Hegesippus apostolorum vicinus, sicut in ecclesiasticis hystoriis legitur: suscepit, inquit, ecclesiam frater domini Jacobus, qui ab omnibus nominatus est justus, ab ipsis temporibus domini perdurans usque ad nos. llic ex utero matris suae-sanctus fuit, vinum et siceram non bibit, carnes nunquam manducavit, ferrum in caput ejus non adscendit, oleo non est unctus, balneis non est usus, sindone, id est veste linea, semper indutus.
Totiens in oratione genua flexerat, ut callos in genibus sicut in calcaneis videretur habere. Pro hac incessabili et summa justitia appellatus est justus et abba, quod est interpretatum munimentum populi et justitia. Hic solus inter apostolos propter nimiam sanctitatem permittebatur intrare in sancta sanctorum. Haec Hegesippus. Dicitur etiam, quod primus inter apostolos missam celebravit; nam propter excellentiam suae sanctitatis hunc sibi honorem apostoli fecerunt, ut post adscensionem domini primus inter eos missam Hierosolymis celebraret, ctiam antequam esset episcopus ordinatus, cum ante ejus ordinationem in actibus dicatur, quod discipuli erant perseverantes in doctrina apostolorum et communicatione fractionis panis, quod de missae celebratione accipitur, vel forte ideo primus celebrasse dicitur, quod primus in pontificalibus eam dixisse perhibetur, sicat et Petrus postmodum primus in Antiochia missam celebravit et Marcus in Alexandria, Hic perpetuae virginitatis exstitit, sicut testatur Hieronymus in libro contra Jovinianum. In parasceue autem mortuo domino, sicut dicit Josephus et Hieronymus in libro de viris illustribus, Jacobus votum vovit, se non comesturum, donec videret dominum a mortuis surrexisse. n ipsa autem die resurrectionis cum usque ad diem illam Jacobus non gustasset cibum, eidem dominus apparuit ac iis, qui cum eo erant, dixit: ponite mensam et panem. Deinde panem accipiens benedixit et dedit Jacobo justo dicens: surge, frater mi, comede, quia filius hominis a mortuis resurrexit.
Septimo igitur anno episcopatus ejus cum ad diem paschae apostoli Hierosolymis convenissent, interrogante cos Jacobo, quanta per eos fecisset dominus coram populo, referebant. Cum ergo VIl diebus Jacobus cum aliis apostolis in templo praedicasset coram Caypha et aliquibus Judaeis et jam prope esset, ut baptizari vellent, repente quidam templum ingrediens clamare coepit: o viri Israelitae, quid facitis? Cur ab istis nos magis decipi permittitis? In tantum autem populum concitavit, ut apostolos lapidare vellent, Adscendit autem homo ille super gradum, ubi Jacobus praedicabat et ipsum praecipitavit deorsum et extunc plurimum claudicavit. Haec autem VII anno post adscensionem domini beatus Jacobus passus est. In anno autem episcopatus sui XXX, videntes Judaei, quod Paulum non possent occidere, eo quod Caesarem appellasset et Romam missus fuisset, persecutionis suae tyrannidem in Jacobum converterunt , contra eum occasionem quaerentes, et sicut praedictus Hegesippus apostolorum contemporaneus refert, secundum quod in hystoria ecclesiastica invenitur, Judaei ad eum convenerunt dicentes: oramus te, ut revoces populum, quia. ipse errat in Jesu putans, quod ipse sit Christus. Precamur ergo, ut dissuadeas omnibus convenientibus in die paschae de Jesu, tibi enim obtemperabimus omnes et de te tam nos quam populus testimonium ferimus, quia justus es et personam.
nullius accipis. Statuerunt igitur illum super pinnam templi et voce magna clamantes dixerunt: virorum justissime, cui nos omnes obtemperare debemus, quoniam populus errat post Jesum, qui crucifixus est, enuntia nobis, quid tibi videtur. Tunc Jacobus cum ingenti voce respondit: quid me interrogatis de filio hominis, ecce ipse sedet in coelis a dextris summae virtutis venturus judicare vivos et mortuos. Haec audientes christiani valde gavisi sunt et libenter eum audierunt, Pharisaei autem et scribae dixerunt: male fecimus tale testimonium praestare Jesu, sed adscendamus et praecipitemus eum deorsum, ut caeteri terreantur et ei credere non praesumant, et simul voce magna exclamaverunt dicentes: o, o et justus erravit. Adscenderunt ergo et praecipitaverunt eum. Cum ergo praecipitassent, lapidibus eum obruebant dicentes: lapidemus Jacobum justum; qui dejectus non solum mori non potuit, sed conversus et super genua procumbens dicebat: rogo, domine, dimitte iis, quia nesciunt, quid faciunt. Tunc unus ex sacerdotibus, ex filiis Rahab exclamavit: parcite, quaeso, quid facitis? pro vobis orat hic justus, quem lapidatis.
Tunc unus ex ipsis perticam fullonis arripiens valido ictu caput ejus petiit et cerebrum excussit, Haec Hegesippus; talique martirio migravit ad dominum sub Nerone, qui coepit ànno domini LVII, sepultus ibidem prope templum. Gum autem populus vellet ejus mortem vindicare et malefactores capere et punire, protinus aufugerunt.
Refert Josephus, quod propter peccatum mortis Jacobi justi factum est excidium in Jerusalem et dispersio Judaeorum: sed non solum ob mortem Jacobi, sed etiam ob mortem domini praecipue destructio ista facta est, secundum quod dominus dicit: non relinquent in te lapidem super lapidem, eo quod non cognoveris tempus visitationis tuae. Sed quoniam non vult dominus mortem peccatoris et ut ipsi excusationem non haberent, per XL annos eorum poenitentiam exspectavit et per apostolos, maxime per Jacobum fratrem domini inter eos continuo praedicantem eos ad poenitentiam revocabat, sed cum per admonitionem eos non posset revocare, voluit eos saltem prodigiis exterrere, nam in his XL annis sibi ad poenitentiam datis multa monstra et prodigia (sicut refert Josephus) evenerunt. Nam stella praefulgens gladio per omnia similis visa est civitati desuper imminere ac per totum annum exitialibus flammis ardere. In quodam festo azimorum hora noctis nona tantus fulgor aram templumque circumdedit, ut omnes diem clarissimum factum putarent. In eadem festivitate vetula ad immolandum adducta inter ministrorum manus agnam subito est enixa. Post aliquot dies prope solis occasum visi sunt currus et quadrigae in omni regione per aérem ferri et armatorum cohortes misceri nubibus et urbes circumdare agminibus improvisis. In alio die festo, quae pentecoste appellatur, noctu sacerdotes templum ingressi ad ministeria ex more complenda motus quosdam strepitusque senserunt ac voces subitas audierunt dicentes: transeamus ab his sedibus. Ante quartum etiam annum belli quidam vir nomine Jesus Ananiae filius in festo tabernaculorum repente clamare coepit: vox ab oriente, vox ab occidente, vox a IHI ventis, vox super Hierosolymam et super templum, vox super sponsos et sponsas, vox super populum universum.
Praedictus igitur vir capitur, caeditur, verberatur, sed ille aliud dicere nequiens quanto plus verberabatur, tanto fortius clamabat. Ad judicem igitur adducitur, tormentis diris afficitur, usque ad patefactionem ossium laniatur. Sed ille nec preces nec lacrymas effundebat, sed cum quodam ululatu per singula paene verba eadem proferebat, addens etiam hoc: vaeh, vaeh Hierosolymis. Haec Josephus. Cum autem Judaei nec admonitionibus converterentur nec tantis prodigiis terrerentur, post XL. annum dominus Vespasianum et Titum Jerusalem adduxit, qui ipsam civitatem funditus destruxerunt. Haec autem fuit causa adventus ipsorum in Jerusalem, sicut in quadam hystoria invenitur, licet apocrypha. Videns Pylatus, quia Jesum innocentem condemnaverat, timens offensam Tyberii Caesaris pro se excusando nuntium nomine Albanum ad Caesarem destinavit, Eo autem tempore Vespasianus monarchiam jr Galatia a Tyberio Caesare tenebat; nuntius igitur Pylati a ventis contrariis in Galatiam pellitur et ad Vespasianum adducitur, Talis autem ibi servabatur consuetudo, ut quicunque ibidem naufragium pateretur, rebus et servituti principis subderetur.
Quem Vespasianus, quis esset aut unde veniret seu quo tenderet, requisivit. Cui ille: Hierosolymitanus sum, de partibus illis veni, Romam usque tendebam. Cui Vespasianus: de terra sapientum venis, artem nosti medicaminis, medicus es, curare me debes, Vespasianus enim quoddam genus vermium naribus insitum ab infantia gerebat, unde et a vespis Vespasianus dicebatur. Cui vir ille respondit: artem medicaminis, donrine, nescio et ideo curare te non valeo. Cui Vespasianus: nisi me curaveris, morte morieris. Cui ille ait: ille qui caecos illuminavit, daemones effugavit, mortuos suscitavit, ille novit, quia artem medendi ignoro. Cui Vespasianus: quis est ille, de quo tanta profaris? Et ille: Jesus Nazarenus, quem Judaei per invidiam occiderunt, in quem si credideris, sanitatis gratiam consequeris.
Et Vespasianus: credo, quia, quod mortuos suscitavit, me etiam de infirmitate hac liberare poterit. Et liaec dicendo vespae de naribus ejus ceciderunt et continuo sanitatem recepit. Tunc Vespasianus ingenti gaudio repletus ait; certas sum, quia filius Dei fuit, qui me curare potuit. Petita igitar a Caesare licentia Hierosolymam cum manu armata pergam et emnes proditores hujus et occisores funditus evertam. Dixitque Albano nuntio Pylati: rebus et vita sanus et incolumis domum tuam mei licentia revertaris. Vespasianus igitur Romam adiit et destruendi Judaeam et Jerusalem a Tyberio Caesare licentiam impetravit. Per annos igitur plures exercitus congregavit, tempore scilicet Neronis imperatoris, cum Judaei imperio rebellassent. Unde (secundum chronicas) non fecit hoc zelo Christi, sed quia a dominio recesserat Romanorum.
Jerusalem igitur cum copioso exercitu Vespasianus advenit et in die paschae Jerusalem per circuitum potenter obsedit ibique infinitam multitudinem, quae ad diem festum convenerat, conclusit. Per aliquod autem tempus, antequam Vespasiamus Jerusalem adveniret, fideles, qui ibi erant, a spiritu sancto admonentur, ut inde recedant et in quodam oppido trans Jordanem, quod Pella vocatur, secedant, ut ablatis ab urbe sanctis viris coelesti vindictae fieret locus tam de urbe sacrilega quam de populo scelerato. Quandam autem civitatem Judaeae, nomine Jonapatam, in qua Josephus et dux et princeps erat, primo omnium est agressus, sed Josephus cum suis viriliter resistebat; tandgm videns Josephus imminere excidium civitatis assumtis XI Judaeis subterraueam domum intravit, ubi quadriduana fame afflicti Judaei non consentiente Josepho malebant ibidem mori, quam- Vespasiani- se subjicere servituti, volebantque se mutuo interficere et sanguinem suum in sacrificium Deo /offerre, et quoniam Josephus inter eos dignior erat, volebant eum primitus occidere, ut ejus effusione sanguinis Deus citius placaretur, vel (ut in quadam chronica dicitur) ideo se mutuo interficere volebant, ne darentur in manibus Romanorum. At Josephus vir prudens et mori nolens judicem mortis et sacrificii se constituit, et quis prior alio occidendus esset, inter binos et binos sortem mittere jussit. Missis igitur sortibus sors nunc unum nunc alium morti tradidit, donec ventum est ad ultimum, cum quo Josephus sortem missurus fuit. Tunc Josephus homo strenuus et agilis gladium illi abstulit et quid magis eligeret, vitam scilicet aut mortem, requisivit, et ut sine dilatione eligeret, praecepit; etille timens respondit: vivere non recuso, si gratia tui vitam conservare valeo. Tunc Josephus uni familiari Vespasiani et sibi etiam familiari latenter locutus est, et ut sibi vita donaretur, petiit et, quod petiit, impetravit. Cum autem ante Vespasianum Josephus esset adductus , dixit ei Vespasianus: mortem meruisses, si hujus petitionibus liberatus non esses.
Et Josephus: si quid perperam actum est, in melius commutari potest. Et Vespasianus: qui victus est, quid facere potest? Et Josephus: aliquid facere potero, si dictis meis aures tuas demulsero. Et Vespasianus: concedatur, ut verbis tuis inhaereas, et quidquid boni dicturus es, pacifice audiatur. Et-Josephus: imperator Romanus interiit et senatus imperatorem te fecit. Et Vespasianus: si propheta es, quare non es vaticinatus huic civitati, quod meae sit subjicienda ditioni. Et Josephus: per XL dies hoc iis praedixi. Interea legati Romanorum veniunt, Vespasianum in imperium sublimatum asserunt eumque Romam deducunt.
Hoc quoque Eusebius in chronica testatur, quod scilicet Josephus Vespasiano praedixit tam dé imperatoris morte quam de sua sublimatione. Reliquit autem Vespasianus Titum filium suum in obsidione Jerusalem, Titus autem, ut in eadem hystoria apocrypha legitur, audiens patrem suum in imperium sublimatum, tanto gaudio et exsultatione repletur, quod nervorum contractione ex frigiditate corripitur et altero crure debilitatus paralysi torquetur, Josephus autem audiens Titum paralysi laborare, causam morbi et tempus morbi diligentissime inquirit. Causa nescitur, morbus ignoratur, de tempore autem, quoniam audita patris electione hoc sibi acciderit, aperitur. Josephus autem vir providus et sapiens ex paucis multa conjecit et ex tempore morbum et causam invenit, sciens, quod gaudio et laetitia superabundanti debilitatus fuerit. Animadvertens itaque, quia contraria contrariis curantur, sciens etiam quia quod amore conquaeritur, dolore frequenter amittitur, quaerere coepit, an aliquis esset, qui principis inimicus obnoxius teneretur. Et erat ibi servus adeo Tito molestus, ut sine vehementi conturbatione nullatenus in eum posset respicere, nec etiam nomen ejus audire; dixit itaque Tito: si curari desideras, omnes, qui in meo comitatu venerint, salvos facias. Cui Titus: quicunque in tuo comitatu venerit, securus habeatur et salvus. Tune Josephus cito prandium fieri praecepit et mensam suam mensae Titi.
oppositam locavit et servum a dextris suis sedere fecit. Quem Titus respiciens molestia conturbatus infremuit et, qui prius gaudio infrigidatus fuerat, accensione furoris incalnit nervosque distendens curatus fuit. Post hoc Titns et servum in sui gratiam et Josephum in sni amicitiam recepit. Utrum autem haec hystoria parranda sit, lectoris judicio relinquatur. Biennio igitur a Tito Jerusalem obsessa inter caetera mala, quae obsessos graviter perurgebant, tanta fames omnes tenuit, quod parentes filiis et filii parentibus, viri uxoribus et uxores viris cibos non tantum e manibus, sed etiam ex ipsis dentibus rapiebant, juvenes étiam aetate fortiores velut simulacra per viam oberrando prae fame exanimes cadebant; qui mortuos sepeliebant, saepe super ipsos morfuos mortui cadebant, foetorem itaque cadaverum non ferentes ex publico sumtu ipsa sepeliebant, sed deficiente sumtu, vincente cadaverum multitudine de muro cadavera praecipitabant. At Titus circuiens cum vidisset valles repletas cadaveribus et totam patriam ex eorum foetore corruptam manus suas cum lacrymis ad coelum levavit dicens: Deus, tu vides, quia ego hoc non facio. Tanta enim ibi fames erat, quod calceamenta sua et corrigias comedebant. Matrona quaedam insuper genere et divitiis nobilis, sicut in hystoria ecclesiastica legitur, eum praedones in ejus domum irruentes eam omnibus exspoliassent nec sibi ultra, quid comederet, remansisset, parvulum lactentem tenens in manibus ait: infelicis matris infelicior fili, in bello, in fame, in direptione, cui te reservabo?
Veni ergo nunc, o mi nate, esto matri cibus, praedonibus scandalum, saeculis tabula. Et his dictis filium jugulavit et coxit et dimidium comedens partem alteram occultavit. Et ecce confestim praedones odorem carnis coctae sentientes in domum irruunt et, nisi carnem prodat, mortem minantur. Tune illa detegens infantis membra: ecce, inquit, vobis partem optimam reservavi. At illos tantus horror invasit, quod nec loqui potuerunt. Et illa: meus, inquit, filius hic, meum est peccatum, securi edite, quia prior ego comedi, quem genui, nolite fieri aut matre religiosiores aut feminis molliores: quodsi vincit vos pietas et horretis, ego totum comedam, quod dimidium jam comedi. llli vero trementes et territi discesserunt. Tandem secundo anno imperii Vespasiani Titus Jerusalem cepit et captam subvertit templumque funditus destruxit et, sicut Judaei Christum XXX denariis emerant, sic et ipse uno denario XXX Judaeos vendidit.
Sicut autem narrat Josephus, nonaginta septem millia Judaeorum vendita sunt et undecies centena millia fame et gladio perierunt. Legitur quoque, quod Titus intrans Jerusalem quendam murum densissimum vidit, ipsumque perforari praecepit, factoque foramine quendam intus senem adspectu et canitie venerabilem invenerunt, qui requisitus, quis esset, respondit, se esse Joseph ab Arimathia civitate Judaeae seque a Judaeis ibidem clausum et muratum fuisse, eo quod Christum sepelisset, addiditque, quod ab illo tempore usque nunc coelesti sit cibo pastus et divino lumine confortatus. In evangelio tamen Nicodemi dicitur, quod cum Judaei ipsum reclusissent, Christus resurgens eum inde eripuit et in Arimathiam duxit. Potest dici, quod cum eductus a praedicatione Christi non cessaret, a Judaeis iterum est reclusus. Mortuo quoque Vespasiano imperatore Titus filius ejus eidem in imperio successit, qui fuit vir clementissimus et multae liberalitatis tantaeque bonitatis fuit, sicut ait Eusebius Caesariensis in chronica et testatur Hieronymus, quod dum quodam sero recordatus fuisset, quod illo die nil boni egisset aut nihil dedisset, ait: o amici diem perdidi. Post longa tempora quidam Judaei Jerusalem reaedificare volentes, exeuntes primo mane plurimas cruces de rore invenerunt, quas territi fugientes et secundo mane redeuntes, unusquisque, ut ait Miletus in chronica, cruces sanguineas vestibus suis insitas invenit. Qui vehementer territi in fugam iterWm versi sunt, sed tertio die reversi vapore ignis de terra prodeuntis penitus sunt exusti.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin text 'a IHI ventis' appears to be a corruption or abbreviation for 'a quattuor ventis' (from the four winds).
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