James Intercisus

James Intercisus (Latin: Jacobus Intercisus; born in Beth Huzaye, died 27th November 420 AD in Beth Lapat), commonly known as Mor Yaqoub M’Pasqo Sahada, also called James the Mutilated or James the Persian, was a Persian Christian saint born in Ancient Iran. His Latin epithet, Intercisus (or Pasqo in Syriac), is derived from the word for "cut into pieces," which refers to the manner of his martyrdom. His death, along with the persecution of other Christians in the Sasanid Empire, started the Roman-Sassanid War (421-422).
Life
Tradition states that he was a military officer and courtier to Yazdegerd I who had apostatized after this ruler began to persecute Christians. Under the influence of his Christian family, however, he expressed his faith to Yazdegerd's successor, Bahram V, leading to his execution.
Death
He was killed in Beth Lapat (Gundishapur). The ruins of this city are near Dezful, Iran.
At his execution, he survived the loss of limbs until he was beheaded. His followers requested to receive his remains as relics, but this request was denied; according to some they went on to steal them, after which they were somehow sent to the Portuguese cathedral of Braga and put into a sarcophagus in the Relics Chapel.
Legend
James' story is recounted in The Golden Legend.
According to Katherine Rabenstein, he may be a composite character of James of Beit (who, having renounced Christianity under Yazdegerd, was shamed by his parents and changed his mind, becoming a martyr under the persecution of Bahram); Mar Peros (similarly shamed by his parents and martyred in 448); and James of Karka (a 20-year-old notary to Bahram, tortured alongside many others after casually remarking that he'd rather be cut into pieces than renounce God).
Relics, churches and monasteries
Guillermus Ludovicus, bishop of Salpi, gifted to the abbey of St Paul in Cormery, the place where he had been a monk, several relics, including the head of James, on July 19, 1103.
A piece of bone from the finger of James the Mutilated (Yakob M'phasko Sahada) is kept in a golden casket in the holy cross (kurishupalli) dedicated to the saint in the Orthodox Syrian Old Church of St Peter & Paul in Pengamuck, Kerala, India. It was dedicated by Gregorios Geevargese (Parumala Thirumeni) and metropolitan Dionysious Joseph (Pulikkottil II), a native of Pengamuck, who had received the bone at his consecration as metropolitan by the patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Yakoob II.
Several churches and monasteries are dedicated to Saint James:
Church of St. James Intercisus in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem
Church of Saint Jacob Intercisus (ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܝܥܩܘܒ ܡܦܣܩܐ Syriac: ‘ēdtā dmār ya’qōḇ mpassqā) in Tesqopa, Iraq
Monastery of St. James the Persian in Sireți, Strășeni Moldova
Monastery of St. James the Persian in Deddeh, Lebanon
Monastery of St James the Mutilated in Qara, Syria
References
External links
San Giacomo l'Interciso (il Solitario) Martire in Persia
The Holy Martyr James the Persian
Monastery of St. Jacob Persian
Saint of the Day: November 27th - Saint James Intercisus (Butler's Lives of the Saints)
Bibliography
Thieleman J. van Braght, Martyr's Mirror, 1660
Persian saints
421 deaths
5th-century Christian saints
5th-century Iranian people
Year of birth unknown
People executed by the Sasanian Empire
Christians in the Sasanian Empire
Converts to Zoroastrianism from Christianity
Converts to Christianity from Zoroastrianism