GREAT MARTYR JAMES THE PERSIAN

James the Persian (c.421) suffered for Christ during the Second Great Persecution of Christians in the Persian Empire, which began around 420. Saint James is one of the very few glorious Persian martyrs whose names are preserved in the calendar. Tradition calls him “the great martyr.” Usually this was the name given to those who suffered for their faith in Christ, while possessing a royal or very noble origin, because the testimony of these particular people to the outside pagan world was very great. In contrast, Jacob is called a “great martyr” because of the severity of the suffering he endured.

According to the life, Jacob was a high dignitary at the court of the Iranian Shah Yazdegerd I (399–420). Being a Christian, he renounced his faith for career prospects. Jacob’s mother and wife were Christians. Having learned about the renunciation, they gave him an accusatory letter, which awakened repentance in him. Remaining in the court of the next Shah, Bahram V (420–438), Jacob was seen reading the Bible.

Being arrested, during interrogation he did not renounce his faith, for which he was subjected to severe suffering.

The executioners successively amputated his fingers, limbs, and other parts of his body, hence another name for the saint - “James the Intercisus.” As a sign that “the word of God is sharper than any sword” (Heb. 4:12), at the moments of the consistent destruction of “the skin he lived in,” the saint loudly pronounced the texts of the Bible.

The cruel pagan custom of such sequential dissection was called the “execution of nine deaths.” Almost simultaneously with the great martyr, another Persian Christian named James suffered. He, a Christian and lawyer by profession, was subjected to the same execution by the pagans, however, the calendar did not preserve the day of his memory. Thus, remembering James of Persia, the Church jointly remembers two great saints.