The Holy MonkMartyr James

Commemorated on November 1

The Holy MonkMartyr James took monastic vows on Athos at the Dokhiar monastery. Transferring to the neglected Iverian skete-monastery of the Venerable ForeRunner [John the Baptist], the monk restored it, under the supervision of the monastic-elder Ignatios. Having passed through obedience in various exploits of self-denial, blessed James scaled the heights to suchlike purity, that he was vouchsafed heavenly revelations: just as for the Apostle Paul, so also there appeared to the monk the mansions of paradise and the straits of hades. By a gift from above, the Monk James perceived the heart's mysteries and the secret thoughts of each of those coming to him. The monk also was found worthy of the gift of wonderworking. Visiting with disciples in Aetolia, the monk worked many miracles, healing the sick and instructing all. Many people flocked to the monk. The Turkish authorities, having fabricated false denunciations against the monk that allegedly he intended to foment rebellion, attempted to force the saint into a renunciation of Orthodoxy. But Saint James and both his disciples, the Monk-deacon James and the Monk Dionysios, endured the fiercest of torments over the span of many days. They accepted a martyr's death on 1 November 1520. The relics of the monk-martyrs, glorified by miraculous healings, were placed in the monastery of Saint Catherine the Alleviatrix from Bondage in the small town of Galatista, near Soluneia (Thessalonika). The fame of the holy relics attracted to the monastery in a short while about 100 brethren, under the head of the Monk Theon (Comm. 5 April), who himself was a disciple of the Monk James.