02 — The First Bishop of Jerusalem
James the Just, the Brother of the Lord, is reckoned by the early Church as the first bishop of Jerusalem — the one to whom the apostles entrusted the episcopal throne of the holy city, and at whose name the succession-list of Jerusalem bishops begins. This section establishes that office and the church he governed: the “throne of James” preserved and venerated in Eusebius’s own day, and the Jerusalem community as the mother church of all Christendom.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
James occupies a place in the apostolic age out of all proportion to the brevity of the New Testament’s notices of him. Acts shows him presiding at Jerusalem while Peter and Paul move outward into the mission, and Clement of Alexandria and Hegesippus, preserved by Eusebius, remember him as the man the apostles themselves chose for the episcopal seat of the mother city. These two files set out, first, the office — James as episkopos and prototype of the local bishop, head of the Jerusalem succession — and second, the church over which he presided: the Jewish-Christian community born at Pentecost, first in honor among all the churches, governed by James until the flight to Pella. The Council of Jerusalem, the Liturgy bearing his name, and his martyrdom each have their own sections; here the concern is the throne and the church on which all of those rest.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Throne of Jerusalem | James as first bishop (episkopos) of Jerusalem: the apostles’ choice of James the Just (Eusebius, HE 2.1, citing Clement); the physical “throne of James” venerated at Jerusalem (HE 7.19); his leadership in Acts 12:17 and 21:18; and his place at the head of the Jerusalem succession-list (HE 4.5). |
| The Mother Church | The Jerusalem church as mother of all churches: its Pentecost origin (Acts 2), its primacy of honor (Isa. 2:3), James’s governance of its largely Jewish-Christian community, his reputation for righteousness (Hegesippus in HE 2.23), and the flight to Pella with Symeon’s succession (HE 3.5, 3.11, 4.22). |
See Also
- James the Just — the identity and stature of the man who held the throne
- The Council of Jerusalem — James’s authority exercised in council
- Ecclesiology — the Orthodox doctrine of the local episcopate
- Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem — the patriarchate that traces its foundation to James
References
- Eusebius of Caesarea. The Ecclesiastical History. Trans. Arthur C. McGiffert, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 1. New York, 1890. (Books 2–4, 7: the throne of James and the Jerusalem succession.)
- Bauckham, Richard. Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1990.
- Painter, John. Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition. 2nd ed. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.
- Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church, Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1882. (The Jerusalem church and James’s episcopate.)