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1 Corinthians 15 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Examine this text. Paul had spent part of his ministry exhorting his brethren on Christ the King but was realizing he was meant to become apostle to the Gentiles instead (Acts 13:46). In the above passage, we see a clearer distinction of a third James, as we discuss in a prior blog post, and contrary to the belief in the Latin tradition. In this narrative of the sequence of the Risen Lord appearing to many, there is His appearance first to the 12, that we know includes James the son of Zebedee and James (the Lesser) the son of Alphaeus (Luke 6:12-14). Paul then clearly makes mention of another James before ending with himself. Why would this distinction be made if this were not truly a third James who he also calls “the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19)? And if the James he mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:7 is one of the 12, why is he not specifying which one? There IS a third James. This James in the eastern tradition is called James the Just and was martyred by being thrown from the temple before its destruction in 70 AD. He is the half-first-born brother of Jesus from Joseph before he became a widow.
This is not a matter necessary for salvation. Christians do not have to believe either way. But let us examine why this could be important. As explained earlier (1,2,3,4), there is a symmetry from the transgression of the 8th commandment that lead to the lineage of the Messiah through Isaac’s son Jacob, his and his mother Rebecca’s deception to steal the first-born birth right, and the new Jacob the father of Joseph (Matthew 1 genealogy). There is an undoing here of the temporal effect of this sin, even though it produced the Messiah (Remember the words of our Lord in Luke 8:17-“For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.” May God have mercy on us all!). This undoing became the crowning of James the Just from the genealogy, the first born of Joseph, to become the first Bishop of Jerusalem. It is the replacement of the reign of lineage of the people of God but with an Apostolic continuity sealed with blood of the Messiah. Could this be related to Paul’s realization that he was called to be the Apostle of the Gentiles and had to abandon his zeal to evangelize his people who he loved so much? This former disciple of Gamaliel would have been a reasonable candidate for Bishop of Jerusalem. Here the eastern apostolic churches originated and evolved in the east, separate from the traditions in Rome. They are the apostolic continuity of the genealogy, keeping the ancestral prophets and patriarchs in the Liturgical calendar.
We have then in the eastern apostolic traditions a type of familial order at work from this perspective that has nothing to do with denying the primacy of the See of Peter, the Holder of the Keys. We have apostolic succession but with a national or regional character. These apostolic traditions were granted an autonomy in propagating their own apostolic lineage at the Council of Nicea while defending the faith and morality. Recall that after the persecutions under the Roman Emperor Diocletian ended, all the apostolic churches emerged intact. There was no direct interventions from the Pope during the period. Administrative jurisdiction from the Bishop of Rome is unnatural in this scheme.
Think of the Roman Church as a large tree with new trees emerging around it from dropped seed. These are the eastern churches. This is the Spirit at work in the Book of Acts. All are unified by the same Spirit, Sacraments, and Love for the Theotokos. Similar to how each organic family is a domestic church. How unnatural it is then for the Holy See to demand administrative jurisdiction over all the apostolic churches. To return the apostolic administrative independence would not have altered God’s work in the Latin Church since the complete schism at the turn of the first millennium. Look at our world. The middle east could soon have no Sacramental presence, something that never happened under Moslem rule. This clinging to administrative authority is even replacing the faith, ethics and morals. Even attacking the Latin tradition itself.
