James the Hermit

Venerable James the Hermit was a monk of Palestine who struggled fifteen years in a cave, fell into a grave sin and then spent many years of repentance in a tomb, as an example of hope for sinners.

After fifteen years of hermit life James had received the gift of wonderful healings. Yet he fell into sin and committed a murder. The Greek Synaxarion says that he had subjected his body to every kind of hardship and that once he brought to repentance a fallen woman sent by envious men. Then, so that all might see that no one escapes the snares of the devil, he fell: a man of standing brought to him a daughter possessed by an evil spirit, and James drove out the spirit by prayer. The father left her in the cave for safety, with a younger brother as companion. James was overcome by bodily desire and afterwards killed both the girl and her brother so the deed would not be known, and threw the bodies into the river. In despair he left his cave and went into the world.

God put an old man in his way, who reminded him of the example and prayer of David, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy" (Psalm 50), and urged him to repentance. James turned from the road of perdition and spent many years in a tomb, in tears and prayer. God gave him a sign of hope: there was a drought in that region, and at the venerable man's prayer the heavens opened and it rained. James kept his canon of repentance to the end of his life, hoping in God's mercy for the sin he had committed. He is commemorated on 28 January, according to the new calendar.