James, son of Alphaeus (Greek: Ἰάκωβος, Iakōbos; Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܚܠܦܝ;[2] Hebrew: יעקב בן חלפי Ya'akov ben Halfai; Coptic: ⲓⲁⲕⲱⲃⲟⲥ ⲛⲧⲉ ⲁⲗⲫⲉⲟⲥ; Arabic: يعقوب بن حلفى, romanized: Ya'qūb bin Halfā) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, appearing under this name in all three of the Synoptic Gospels' lists of the apostles.

He is generally identified with James the Less (Ancient Greek: Ἰάκωβος ὁ μικρός Iakōbos ho mikros, Mark 15:40) and commonly known by that name in church tradition.

[5]Papias of Hierapolis, who lived circa 70–163 AD, in the surviving fragments of his work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord relates that Mary, wife of Alphaeus is the mother of James the Less: Mary, mother of James the Less and Joseph, wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord, whom John names of Cleophas, either from her father or from the family of the clan, or for some other reason.

Jerome, voicing the general opinion of Early Church, maintains the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary.

Geike (1884) states that Hausrath, Delitzsch, and Schenkel think James the brother of Jesus was the son of Clophas-Alphaeus.

[15] In two small but potentially important works ascribed by some to Hippolytus, On the Twelve Apostles of Christ and On the Seventy Apostles of Christ, he relates the following: And James the son of Alphaeus, when preaching in Jerusalem was stoned to death by the Jews, and was buried there beside the temple.

These two works of "Hippolytus" are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the church age and then found in Greece in the 19th century.

The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers.

[17] According to the surviving fragments of the work Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord by Papias of Hierapolis Cleophas and Alphaeus are the same person, Mary wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus would be the mother of James, the brother of Jesus, and of Simon and Judas (Thaddeus), and of one Joseph.

[24] Mark the Evangelist is the earliest known source in the Bible to mention "James, son of Alphaeus" as one of the twelve Apostles.

At the beginning of Jesus' ministry he first calls Peter and his brother Andrew and asks them to follow him (Mark 1:16–17).

In the next verses it tells the story of how James the Greater and his brother John the Apostle came to follow Jesus (Mark 1:19–20).

All twelve Apostles attend the Last Supper (Mark 14:33) which immediately precedes the Garden of Gethsemane.

[30] In Eastern Orthodox Church his feast is 9 October and 30 June (Synaxis of the Apostles).