He suffered for the sake of the holy icons under the Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-20). He was a monk and a brother of the Studite monastery. When the great Theodore of the Studion was sent into exile, James was given over to great tortures to force him to renounce the veneration of icons. But he remained steadfast and faithful to Orthodoxy to the end. They returned him to his monastery beaten and tortured when the evil Emperor Leo had made a bad end. He died of his grievous injuries there in the monastery, and entered into the company of the citizens of heaven. 
