When Paul had appealed to Caesar and was sent over to the city of the Romans by Festus, the Jews, falling away from the hope by which they had contrived their plot against him, turned against James the brother of the Lord, to whom the throne of the bishopric in Jerusalem had been committed by the apostles. And such was the crime they dared to commit against him.
They brought him into the midst and demanded before all the people a denial of the faith in Christ. But when, contrary to the mind of them all, with a free voice and more boldly than they had expected, he confessed before the whole multitude that our Saviour and Lord Jesus is the Son of God, they could no longer endure the man's testimony, since by all he was believed to be most righteous because of the eminence of the philosophy and piety he practised throughout his life. So they killed him, taking the anarchy as an occasion for the exercise of their power; for at that very time Festus had died in Judaea, and the affairs of the government there had been left without ruler or procurator.
The manner of James's death has already been shown beforehand by the words of Clement quoted above, who related that he was thrown from the pinnacle and beaten to death with a club.
But Hegesippus, who belonged to the first succession after the apostles, gives the most accurate account of him, relating in the fifth book of his Memoirs in this manner: "The charge of the Church passed, together with the apostles, to James the brother of the Lord, who was named 'the Just' by all from the Lord's times even to our own; for many were called James.
He was holy from his mother's womb. He drank no wine or strong drink, nor did he eat anything that had life. No razor came upon his head, he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath.
To him alone was it permitted to enter into the holy places; for he wore no wool, but fine linen. And he used to enter alone into the temple, and would be found kneeling upon his knees and asking forgiveness on behalf of the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel's, because of his continually bending the knees in worship to God and asking forgiveness for the people.
Indeed, on account of the surpassing greatness of his righteousness he was called the Just and 'Oblias,' which is in Greek 'Bulwark of the people and Righteousness,' as the prophets declare concerning him.
Now some of the seven sects among the people, of which I have written before in the Memoirs, inquired of him what was the gate of Jesus; and he said that this Jesus was the Saviour.
From which some came to believe that Jesus is the Christ. But the aforesaid sects did not believe either in a resurrection or in one who shall come to render to each according to his works; yet as many as did believe, believed because of James.
Therefore, since many even of the rulers believed, there was an uproar among the Jews and scribes and Pharisees, who said that the whole people was in danger of looking for Jesus as the Christ. So they gathered and said to James: "We beseech thee, restrain the people, for they have gone astray after Jesus, as though he were the Christ. We beseech thee to persuade concerning Jesus all who come for the day of the Passover; for we all obey thee. For we, and all the people, bear thee witness that thou art righteous and dost not regard persons.
Persuade thou, then, the multitude not to be deceived concerning Jesus; for both all the people and we all obey thee. Stand therefore upon the pinnacle of the temple, that thou mayest be seen from above and thy words may be plainly heard by all the people; for because of the Passover all the tribes have assembled, together with the Gentiles also."
So the aforesaid scribes and Pharisees set James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and they cried out to him and said: "O thou Just one, whom we all ought to obey, since the people are going astray after Jesus who was crucified, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus?"
And he answered with a loud voice: "Why do you ask me concerning Jesus the Son of Man? He himself sits in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven."
And when many were convinced and gave glory at the testimony of James and said, "Hosanna to the Son of David," then again the same scribes and Pharisees said to one another: "We did wrong to provide such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and cast him down, that they may be afraid and not believe him."
And they cried out, saying: "Oh, oh! even the Just one has gone astray!" And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah: "Let us take away the just man, for he is unprofitable to us; therefore they shall eat the fruit of their works."
So they went up and cast down the Just one, and they said to one another, "Let us stone James the Just"; and they began to stone him, since after being thrown down he had not died, but turning he knelt down, saying: "I beseech thee, O Lord God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
And as they were thus stoning him, one of the priests, of the sons of Rechab the son of Rechabim, who are borne witness to by Jeremiah the prophet, cried out, saying: "Stop! What are you doing? The Just one is praying for you!"
And one of them, a certain fuller, took the club with which he used to press out the clothes and brought it down upon the head of the Just one; and so he was martyred. And they buried him on the spot beside the temple, and his gravestone still remains beside the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and to Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian began to besiege them."
These things Hegesippus relates at length, in agreement with Clement. So admirable a man, then, was James, and so renowned among all others for righteousness, that even the thoughtful among the Jews believed this to be the cause of the siege of Jerusalem which followed immediately after his martyrdom—holding that it befell them for no other reason than the impious crime they had dared against him.
Indeed Josephus too did not shrink from giving written testimony to this, in the words in which he says: "These things befell the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was the brother of Jesus called the Christ; for the Jews put him to death, although he was a most righteous man."
The same writer also makes plain his death in the twentieth book of the Antiquities, in these words: "Caesar, on learning of the death of Festus, sent Albinus as governor into Judaea. But the younger Ananus, who, as we said, had received the high priesthood, was bold in temperament and exceedingly daring; he followed the sect of the Sadducees, who in their judgements are harsh beyond all the Jews, as we have already shown.
Being then such a man, Ananus, thinking he had a suitable opportunity, since Festus was dead and Albinus still on the way, convened a council of judges, and bringing before it the brother of Jesus who is called the Christ—James by name—and certain others, he framed against them an accusation of having broken the law, and delivered them up to be stoned.
But all who were reckoned the most reasonable of the citizens and strict in matters of the laws took this grievously, and sent secretly to the king, beseeching him to write to Ananus no longer to do such things; for, they said, he had not acted rightly even from the first.
Some of them also went to meet Albinus as he was journeying from Alexandria, and instructed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to convene a council without his consent. Albinus, persuaded by what was said, wrote in anger to Ananus, threatening to exact penalties from him. And King Agrippa, on this account, deprived him of the high priesthood, which he had held for three months, and appointed Jesus the son of Dammaeus." Such, then, is the account concerning James, whose is said to be the first of the Epistles called Catholic.
It must be observed that it is regarded as spurious, since indeed not many of the ancients made mention of it, just as is the case also with the so-called Epistle of Jude, which is itself one of the seven called Catholic. Nevertheless we know that these too, along with the rest, have been read publicly in very many churches.