page_title: James the Less
section_title: Identification as James, the son of Alphaeus
hierarchical_section_title: James the Less / Identification as James, the son of Alphaeus
caption_attribution_description: Statue of the apostle Saint James the Less; church in the Mafra National Palace; Mafra, Portugal;
context_page_description: James the Less is a figure of early Christianity, one of the Twelve chosen by Jesus. He is also called "the Minor", "the Little", "the Lesser", or "the Younger", according to translation. He is not to be confused with James, son of Zebedee. He is identified by some as James, the Lord's brother, thought of by St. Jerome and those who followed him as really the cousin of Jesus. James the Less was traditionally commemorated with St. Philip on May 1st in the Western calendars.
context_section_description: The title, "the Less", is used to differentiate James from other people named James. Since it means that he is either the younger or shorter of two, he seems to be compared to one other James. In the lists of the twelve apostles in the synoptic Gospels, there are two apostles called James, who are differentiated there by their fathers: James, son of Zebedee, and James, son of Alphaeus. Long-standing tradition identifies James, the son of Alphaeus, as James the Less. James, son of Zebedee, is then called "James the Great" (although that designation does not appear in the New Testament). Some propose that Alphaeus was the same man as Cleophas or at least the husband of Mary Clopas.
  In this regard, Jerome identified James the Less with James, son of Alpheus writing in his work called The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary the following:
  Do you intend the comparatively unknown James the Less, who is called in Scripture the son of Mary, not however of Mary the mother of our Lord, to be an apostle, or not?  If he is an apostle, he must be the son of Alphæus and a believer in Jesus, ‘For neither did his brethren believe in him.’
  The only conclusion is that the Mary who is described as the mother of James the Less was the wife of Alphæus and sister of Mary the Lord's mother, the one who is called by John the Evangelist ‘Mary of Clopas‘.
  Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus is mother of James the Less:
  Mary, mother of James the Less and Joseph, wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord, whom John names of Cleophas.
  Therefore, James, son of Alphaeus would be the same as James the Less.
  In Catholic tradition, James's mother is none other than Mary of Clopas who was among the women at the foot of the Cross of Jesus, weeping. For that reason, and given the fact that the Semitic word for brother is also used for other close relatives, James son of Alpheus is often held as a cousin to Jesus.  He is also thought by some to be the brother of Matthew the Apostle, since the father of both was named Alphaeus (compare Mark 2:14 and 3:18).
  Modern Biblical scholars are divided on whether this identification is correct. John Paul Meier finds it unlikely. Amongst evangelicals, the New Bible Dictionary supports the traditional identification, while Don Carson and Darrell Bock both regard the identification as possible, but not certain.
caption: Statue of Saint James the Minor, Apostle, at the church of the Mafra Palace, Portugal
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "HP PhotoSmart R707 (V01.00)d", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2006:11:23 19:34:20", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "244", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3534", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4558", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1111/100000", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "152", "EXIF OECF": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:21 17:56:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:21 17:56:34", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "48515049", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "831/128", "EXIF ApertureValue": "435/128", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-253/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "2081/250", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "D65", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "57/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0010", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "680", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1057", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3404", "EXIF FlashEnergy": "1000", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "152", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Not defined", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "55", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 15, 0, 48, 48, 48, 48, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 55, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 56, ... ]", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}