James the Persian, called Intercisus from the Latin word for one who is cut into pieces, was a fifth-century martyr of the Sasanian Empire. Born into a wealthy and illustrious Christian family in Persia, he rose to a high position at the royal court, where he was honored and favored by the king Yazdegerd I (reigned 399-420). According to the synaxarion, his standing at court and his close friendship with the king led him to deny his faith in Christ and to take part in the worship of the king.
When James's mother and wife, both Christians, learned of his apostasy, they sent him a letter in which they rebuked him and declared that, by preferring the favor of an earthly king to the love of Christ, he had made himself a stranger to them. Wounded by their words, James came to himself, wept bitterly over his fall, and repented, renouncing the idolatry he had embraced. His prayers to Christ were overheard, and he was reported to the authorities under Yazdegerd's successor, Bahram V, who heavily persecuted Christians.
Brought before the king, James confessed his faith openly and refused to renounce Christ. The king condemned him to a prolonged and bitter death by dismemberment: his fingers and toes were cut off one by one, then his hands and feet, then his arms and legs, the tradition relating that he was severed into twenty-eight pieces, after which he was beheaded. Throughout the torture he is said to have offered prayers of thanksgiving. He died on 27 November 420 in Beth Lapat (Gundishapur, near present-day Dezful, Iran), and is venerated as a Great Martyr, commemorated on November 27.
