Early Life and Conversion
James was born in a village near Kastoria in Macedonia to parents named Martino and Paraskevi. After their deaths he took up trade, becoming a wealthy sheep merchant, and moved to Constantinople, where his fortune grew through an appointment supplying the Sultan's palace.
His conversion is traced to an incident at the home of a Muslim dignitary, where James refused to eat meat during the Fast of the Holy Apostles. His host recounted a miracle attributed to Patriarch Niphon II — the healing of a possessed woman — which deeply moved him. He afterward distributed his wealth, reported as three hundred thousand piastres, among the poor and departed for Mount Athos.
Monastic Life on Mount Athos
On Athos, James first joined the Monastery of Docheiariou. He later settled at a ruined Georgian monastery dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner, where, according to one account under the guidance of an Elder Ignatius, he labored to restore the house over some six years.
Lovers of silent prayer gradually gathered around him and placed themselves under his spiritual direction. He became known for extraordinary gifts, including the working of miracles and the discernment of the secret and hidden thoughts of those who came to him. Among his disciples was the hieromonk Theonas, who later became Metropolitan of Thessalonica.
Arrest and Martyrdom
James traveled to Nafpaktos in Aetolia together with two disciples — the deacon James and the monk Dionysius — attracting multitudes who sought his counsel and healing. According to the accounts, the local bishop Akakios, incited by those envious of the saint's fame, reported him to the Turkish authorities as potentially seditious, and false charges of fomenting rebellion were used in an effort to force his apostasy.
The three were arrested and brought before Sultan Selim. Asked about the source of his authority, James is said to have answered that while the Sultan ruled in this world, he himself had been given another authority and judgment by God. He endured severe torture over the course of seventeen days — the sources describe strips of flesh removed from his body and vinegar and salt applied to the wounds — before all three were condemned to the gallows and executed on November 1, 1520.
By tradition, before his death James celebrated a final liturgy with his disciples using three particles of the Holy Mysteries that he had concealed.
Relics and Shrines
The relics of James and his two disciples were transferred to the Monastery of Saint Anastasia Pharmakolytria (the Deliverer from Potions), near Thessalonica in the area of Galatista. The shrine became renowned for miraculous healings, drawing a community of some one hundred to one hundred and fifty brethren under the abbacy of Saint Theonas, James's own disciple.
Miracles and Traditions
Historically Documented: The sources associated with James report that he was known during his lifetime for the gift of miracles and for discerning the hidden thoughts of those who came to him, and that his relics at the Monastery of Saint Anastasia attracted many monks through their reputation for healing.
Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion accounts relate that James received heavenly visions of Paradise and Hades, and that before his execution he celebrated a final liturgy with his disciples using particles of the Holy Mysteries he had hidden, after which the three made prostrations in worship of God.
