Justus I Bishop of Jerusalem, whose

Jewish name The Jewish name has historically varied, encompassing throughout the centuries several different traditions. This article looks at the onomastics practices of the Jewish people, that is, the history of the origin and forms of proper names. His ...

is Judas, was a 2nd-century

Jewish Christian Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus ...

leader and according to most

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

traditions the third Bishop of Jerusalem, whose episcopacy was about 107–113 AD. He succeeded Simeon the son of Clopas who died crucified in 107/108, or in 115-117. He is probably a son of

James, brother of Jesus James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( la, Iacobus from he, יעקב, and grc-gre, Ἰάκωβος, , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of Jesus", according to the New Testament. He was an early lead ...

and sometimes identified as the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

's "Jude of James", otherwise Jude the Apostle. His successor Zacchea I is also called "the Righteous", since this is the meaning of the Aramaic Zakka. He is considered a saint and his

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is 24 November.

Biographic information

Little is known about Justus. He appears in the third position of all the episcopal lists of Jerusalem, succeeding

James the Just James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( la, Iacobus from he, יעקב, and grc-gre, Ἰάκωβος, , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of Jesus", according to the New Testament. He was an early lead ...

and Simeon of Clopas, starting with that of

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...

. He is probably the leader of the city's Nazarene community, or at least of those who survived the massive Romans repressions after the Jewish revolt of 66-74 and its upheavals. Eusebius of Caesarea specifies that he was circumcised,

Simon Claude Mimouni Simon Claude Mimouni (born 26 April 1949, Bône, French Algeria) is a French biblical scholar. He published first on Christian legends surrounding the assumption of Mary (1995, 2003), then worked on fragments of Jewish–Christian gospels associa ...

''La tradition des évêques chrétiens d'origine juive de Jérusalem''
in ''Studia patristica'' vol. XL, 2021, published by Frances Margaret Young, Mark J. Edwards, Paul M. Parvis, éd. Peeters, Louvain, 2006, . the Nazarene movement considering itself to be a Jewish movement. However, during the last quarter of the first century the rift between the Nazoreans and the Jewish community widened. It was probably at this time that a new draft of the Birkat haMinim was written containing a curse on heretics (minim) among which the Nazoreans are included. François Blanchetière, ''Enquête sur les racines juives du mouvement chrétien'', .

, ''Les Chrétiens d'origine juive dans l'Antiquité'', Paris, Albin Michel, 2004, .

believes that it is possible that Justus is the son of

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, the “brother” of Jesus. In this case, he would have acceded to the episcopate at an advanced age since he would be "necessarily born before 61/62, date of the execution of his father, which could then explain the short duration of his mandate", in particular if Simeon died under the consulate of

Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes Herodes Atticus ( grc-gre, Ἡρώδης; AD 101–177) was an Athenian rhetorician, as well as a Roman senator. A great philanthropic magnate, he and his wife Appia Annia Regilla, for whose murder he was potentially responsible, commissioned ...

(103), as

indicates. He is called Justus (Latinized form of "the Righteous") in most sources. In one of the episcopal lists, the character nicknamed Justus (the 3rd on the list) is nicknamed Barsabas

, ''La tradition des évêques chrétiens d'origine juive de Jérusalem'', in ''Studia patristica'' vol. XL, published by Frances Margaret Young, Mark J. Edwards, Paul M. Parvis, éd. Peeters, Louvain, 2006, . (see below). He is however designated under the name of Judas by

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He gai ...

who quotes the list of the ''Apostolic Constitutions'' (VII, 46, 1). In these, it is reported that Judas (Justus) is the son of James (''Apostolic Constitutions'' VII, 46, 2) quoted two lines previously:

, ''La tradition des évêques chrétiens d'origine juive de Jérusalem'', in ''Studia patristica'' vol. XL, publié par Frances Margaret Young, Mark J. Edwards, Paul M. Parvis, éd. Peeters, Louvain, 2006, . that is to say "''James, brother of Christ according to the flesh''" as stated in ''Apostolic Constitutions'' VIII, 35, 1. The pseudonym - or name - Justus (the Righteous) is found very frequently among members of the family of Jesus, who is himself called the Righteous (and not Jesus) by

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

in his speech as recomposed in the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

(v. 37), or by Claudia Procula, Pilate's wife at the time of his trial. His name could therefore be Judas, but he is better known by his nickname "the Righteous", which almost becomes a title.

Justus Barsabee

A Georgian homily preserved in a single manuscript (''Iviron'' 11) is presented as a treatise by Barsabeus bishop of Jerusalem. No bishop of this name is attested in the usual lists, and it is certainly a pseudonym relating to "Joseph dit Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus", the unlucky candidate for the succession of the traitor Judas (namely Matthias) in Ac. 1, 23. The editor proposes to compare this pseudepigraph to the Just Bishop of Jerusalem ''fourth'' (and not third as in the list of Eusebius) successor of James. It is the author of a letter preserved in Armenian which interprets the "salt" at baptism in the same way as the Georgian homily, in §8. The same name, Just of Jerusalem, Patriarch, reappears in the 6th century in another Armenian letter, this time from a very real author, Grégoire Arzrouni. Eusebius of Caesarea also knows a tradition, undoubtedly drawn from Papias, which delivers at least one apocryphal detail on this quasi-apostle (a story of miraculous healing).''HE'' III 39, 10; ''SC'' 31, p. 155. The Treatise of Barsabée, on the basis of other traditions on Just 4th successor of Jacques, would depend on a writing going back effectively to the Just Barsabée of the first century, with a view to legitimizing after

Chalcedon Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...

an episcopal succession in Jerusalem opposed to

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

and the patriarchs of this period.

References

{{Patriarchs of Jerusalem 2nd-century bishops of Jerusalem Saints from the Holy Land People in Acts of the Apostles Year of birth unknown