James the Less of two, he seems to be compared to one other James. In the lists of the twelve apostles in the synoptic Gospels, there are two apostles called James, who are differentiated there by their fathers: James, son of Zebedee, and James, son of Alphaeus. Long-standing tradition identifies James, the son of Alphaeus, as James the Less. James, son of Zebedee, is then called "James the Great" (although that designation does not appear in the New Testament). Some propose that Alphaeus was the same man as Cleophas or at least the husband of Mary Clopas. In this regard, Jerome identified James
The Fates of the Apostles in this poem so that the meaning of the runes become a riddle with no unequivocal meaning. The Fates of the Apostles "The Fates of the Apostles" (Vercelli Book, fol. 52b–54a) is the shortest of Cynewulf’s known canon at 122 lines long. It is a brief martyrology of the Twelve Apostles written in the standard alliterative verse. "The Fates" recites the key events that subsequently befell each apostle after the Ascension of Jesus. It is possible that "The Fates" was composed as a learning aid to the monasteries. Cynewulf speaks in the first-person throughout the poem, and besides explaining the