James, son of Alphaeus


James, son of Alphaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, appearing under this name in all three of the Synoptic Gospels' lists of the apostles. He is generally identified with James the Less and commonly known by that name in church tradition. He is also labelled "the Minor", "the Little", "the Lesser", or "the Younger", according to translation. He is distinct from James, son of Zebedee and in some interpretations also from James, brother of Jesus. He appears only four times in the New Testament, each time in a list of the twelve apostles.
File:James, son of Alphaeus, the Apostle. Detail of the mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale. Ravena, Italy.jpg|thumb|James, son of Alphaeus, detail of the mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, 6th century

Identity

Possible identity as James the Less

James, son of Alphaeus, is often identified as James the Less, who is only mentioned four times in the Bible, each time in connection with his mother. refers to "Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses", while and Matthew 27:56 refer to "Mary the mother of James".
Since there was already another James among the twelve apostles, equating James, son of Alphaeus, with "James the Less" made sense..
Jerome identifies James, son of Alpheus, with James the Less, writing in his work called The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary the following:
It has sometimes been thought that Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus, is the mother of James the Less:
However, this is likely a misattribution. Rather, this quote should be attributed to the eleventh-century lexicographer Papias, not the second-century Papias of Hierapolis, and indeed this passage has been found directly in the lexicographer's writings.
Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether the identification of James of Alphaeus with James the Less is correct. John Paul Meier finds it unlikely. Amongst evangelicals, the New Bible Dictionary supports the traditional identification, while Don Carson and Darrell Bock both regard the identification as possible, but not certain.
File:Jacobus Minor San Giovanni in Laterano 2006-09-07.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of St. James in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran by Angelo de Rossi.

Possible identification as James, the brother of Jesus

, voicing the general opinion of Early Church, maintains the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary. He proposed that James, son of Alphaeus, was the one referred to as "James, the brother of the Lord" but that the term "brother" was to be understood as "cousin." The view of Jerome, the "Hieronymian view," became widely accepted in the Roman Catholic Church, though certain Protestants do not subscribe to this view. Geike states that Hausrath, Delitzsch, and Schenkel think James, the brother of Jesus, was the son of Clophas-Alphaeus.
In two small but potentially important works ascribed by some to Hippolytus, On the Twelve Apostles of Christ and On the Seventy Apostles of Christ, he relates the following:
James, the brother of Jesus is attributed the same death; he was stoned to death by the Jews, too. This testimony of "Hippolytus", if authentic, would increase the plausibility that James the son of Alphaeus is the same person as James the brother of Jesus.
These two works of "Hippolytus" are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the Christian era and then discovered in Greece in the 19th century. As most scholars consider them spurious, they are often ascribed to "". The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers.
According to the surviving fragments of the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord by Papias of Hierapolis, Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person, Mary, wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, would be the mother of James, the brother of Jesus, and of Simon and Judas, and of one Joseph.
Thus, James, the brother of the Lord, would be the son of Alphaeus, who is the husband of Mary of Cleophas, or Mary, the wife of Alphaeus. However, the Anglican theologian J.B. Lightfoot maintains that the fragment in question is spurious.
As reported by the Golden Legend, which is a collection of hagiographies compiled by Jacobus de Voragine in the thirteenth century:

Possible brother of Matthew

is also the name of the father of the tax-collector Levi mentioned in. The publican appears as Matthew in, which has led some to conclude that James and Matthew might have been brothers. The four times that James son of Alphaeus is mentioned directly in the Bible, the only family relationship stated is that his father is Alphaeus. In two lists of the Apostles, the other James and John are listed as brothers, and their father is Zebedee.

Gospel sources

Gospel of Mark

Calling of James, son of Alphaeus

is the earliest known source in the Bible to mention "James, son of Alphaeus" as one of the twelve Apostles. Mark the Evangelist mentions a "James, son of Alphaeus" only once, and this is in his list of the 12 Apostles ). At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he first calls Peter and his brother Andrew and asks them to follow him. In the next verses, it tells the story of how James the Greater and his brother John the Apostle came to follow Jesus. After some healing by Jesus, he meets Levi, son of Alphaeus, who was a tax collector, and he then asks Levi to follow him. Peter, Andrew, James the Greater, and John the Apostle are listed as Apostles. Levi, son of Alphaeus, is listed as an Apostle under the name of Matthew, and James alone is listed as the son of Alphaeus.

Ambiguous Jameses

Overall, Mark the Evangelist lists three different Jameses: "James, son of Alphaeus", James the Greater, and James the brother of Jesus. On three separate occasions, he writes about a James without clarifying which James he is referring to. There is a James at the transfiguration,, at the Mount of Olives,. Although this James is listed alongside John the Apostle, a clear distinction is not made about which Apostle James is being referred to, even when both Apostles are meant to be in a similar location. All twelve Apostles attend the Last Supper, which immediately precedes the Garden of Gethsemane. There is a reference to Mary mother of James the Younger and Joseph ; however, Mark the Evangelist has already said that James the brother of Jesus has a brother called Joseph.

Gospel of Matthew

Calling of James, son of Alphaeus

Peter, Andrew, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John were all called to follow Jesus. In a story that parallels the calling of Levi, son of Alphaeus, Matthew is called to follow Jesus. Matthew is never referred directly to as being the Son of Alphaeus in the Gospel of Matthew or any other book in the Bible, but as Levi, Son of Alphaeus. In Mark, he is regarded as a tax collector. In the Gospel of Matthew, the tax collector called to follow Jesus is listed as one of the twelve Apostles. James, son of Alphaeus, is also listed as one of the 12 Apostles.

Ambiguous Jameses

Matthew does not mention any James in his Gospel who is not identified without association with his family. There are three James that are mentioned by Matthew; James, Brother of Jesus, Joseph, Simon and Judas, James son of Zebedee and brother of John and James, son of Alphaeus. At the Transfiguration it is specified that the James is brother of John and at the Garden of Gethsemane it is specified that it is the son of Zebedee. It is not specified by Matthew that there was a James at the Mount of Olives; he mentions only disciples. Matthew also mentions a Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, who was at the crucifixion. This James is not given the epithet the younger.

Death

One James was arrested along with some other Christians and was executed by King Herod Agrippa in his persecution of the church. However, the James in has a brother called John. James, son of Zebedee, has a brother called John and we are never explicitly told that James son of Alphaeus has a brother. Robert Eisenman and Achille Camerlynck both suggest that the death of James in Acts 12:1–2 is James, son of Zebedee, and not James son of Alphaeus.
In Christian art, James the Less is depicted holding a fuller's club. One tradition maintains that he was crucified at Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel.
In Eastern Orthodox Church his feast is 9 October and 30 June.