The Divine Liturgy Of St James Of Jerusalem

The Liturgy of Saint James or Jacobite Liturgy is the oldest complete form of the Eastern varieties of the Divine Liturgy still in use among certain Christian Churches. It is based on the traditions of the ancient rite of the Early Christian Church of Jerusalem, as the Mystagogic Catecheses of St Cyril of Jerusalem imply. Forming the historical basis of the Liturgy of Antioch, it is still the principal liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, Marthoma Syrian Church, Syrian Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Maronite Church. It is also occasionally used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Melkite Catholic Church. The Liturgy is associated with the name of James the Just, the "brother" of Jesus and patriarch among the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. Saint James was martyred at the hands of a mob incensed at his preaching about Jesus and his "transgression of the Law" - an accusation made by the Jewish High Priest of the time, Hanan ben Hanan.

In 1994 His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Patriarch of Alexandria, authorised the use of the ancient Liturgy of St. James, Brother of the Lord & First Bishop of Jerusalem, in The British Orthodox Church. This fully rubricated edition contains an introductory essay of the Liturgy of St. James by Abba Seraphim, Metropolitan of Glastonbury.

The Divine Liturgy of Saint James is the eucharistic rite of the ancient Church of Jerusalem and the most ancient extant liturgy of the Eastern Church. In recent decades, the frequency of its use has increased throughout the Orthodox Church. This service book offers for the first time a parallel Church Slavonic-English text, suitable for use by clergy and servers. It also contains the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of the Holy Apostle James, which is rarely served today but has been preserved in part in a few Greek manuscripts and in full in several Georgian sources. An introduction by Dr. Vitaly Permiakov, a specialist in the Jerusalem liturgy, presents the provenance and integrity of both ancient Liturgical services.