Jacobus

ON SAINT JACOBUS,

ANCHORITE AMONG THE GREEKS.

From two manuscript Synaxaria.

Jacobus, Anchorite among the Greeks (S.)

D. P.

The same two illustrious Synaxia, kept

in our Colleges of Divion &

Paris, & once lent to us,

which gave the Life of S. Triphyllius, before that

also gave the notice of the prefixed-titled S. Jacobus,

in this manner:

Μνήμη τοῦ ὁσίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰακώβου, τοῦ ἐξ ἀπάτης προσκυνήσαντος τὸν Ἀντίχριστον. Recorded in the Fasti,

Memory of our holy Father Jacobus, who deceived

by error, adored the Antichrist, that is a demon clothed in the form of Christ

: the matter, & blessed exit of life,

which he had, is thus narrated:

[2] This blessed Jacobus, having loved Christ, & hated the world, renounced, lacking nothing. After these things being puffed up by our adversary, he said: Who knows better than I my own salvation? Whence having gone through many contests by himself, he was deceived by the demons. For an angel of the left order coming, says: Brother, thy cell having cleansed, & brightly illuminated and smoked with myrrh, prepare thyself; for Christ being pleased with thy asceticism, comes in the night to bestow graces on thee. He being deceived did all things; & Antichrist coming in great phantasy in the middle of the night, having opened, Jacobus worshipped him. But God striking Jacobus by divine intimation on his forehead, immediately he turned back. In the morning lamenting he went off to a certain elder. But the elder, before hearing anything from him: Depart hence, said he, by the mockery of the devil. Him weeping & contrite, having rebuked him much & catechized, he sent to the cenobium. Who having gone also served in the kitchen for

seven years, with much humility. Then he sat in his cell another seven years, with handicraft of measured and exact rule, & thus having learned the way of God with much discretion, & having become an extraordinary wonder-worker, he went off to the Lord.

[3] This blessed Jacobus, loving Christ, &

turning away from the world, renounced the world so perfectly,

that nothing seemed lacking to him for the sanctity of life. because seduced through presumption to adore a demon for Christ,

But afterwards puffed up by the adversary, he said

within himself: Who knows better than I how to care for his own

salvation? And therefore, when he had sustained many contests by his own judgment

, at length by demons

he was deceived in this manner. Coming to him from

the sinister order an Angel says: Thy little cell,

which is to be cleansed, by illuminating with torches & by incense

fumigating, prepare thyself: for Christ, complacent

in thy exercise, will come this night, & then for 14 years a penitent,

to give thee great grace. So deceived Jacobus

did all things as he had been bidden: but to Antichrist,

coming with the appearance of great pomp, under the middle of the night

, opening, he adored him. But God,

looking on him from heaven, struck him on the forehead, &

drove him backward. In the morning he went off weeping

to a certain old man; who before he heard him speaking,

Depart, said he, hence, mockery of the demon.

But when he wept with bitter contrition; holily dies, having severely rebuked

& instructed him, he sent him to a cenobium.

There he served in the kitchen for seven years, with

much humility: then again he sat in his cell solitary,

for another seven years; constantly laboring with his hands,

& diligently observing the Rule: & so

taught the way of God with much discretion, finally he became renowned with the grace

of miracles, & migrated to

the Lord.

[4] The matter must have been widely known, when first these things

were committed to writing, since the writer did not bother to mark the place;

& serves as an example. but so found the collector of the Synaxaria transferred

it into his work, perhaps in the XI century; nor

are the two oldest of those we have seen older. Jacobus himself

(of whom no mention in the Lives of the Fathers,

nor in the older Synaxaria his name) I think to have been not so very

ancient in time, nor to have lived outside Europe. Perhaps also the main reason

for commemorating him among the Sacred ones, on a day chosen

at will, when the proper day was unknown, was the utility

of the example, teaching humility. To divine further

through uncertain or no conjectures is not pleasing.