And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing (ἑστηκότων) here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone.
(Mark 9:1-2)
The three pillars of Jerusalem were called pillars in the literal sense of “standing ones,” an allusion to the story of the transfiguration, that is, the promise that some of those then standing there would not die before the coming of the kingdom. Thus the three Jerusalem leaders were called pillars on account of their having witnessed the transfiguration.
James son of Zebedee replaced James the brother of Lord. Since it was James to receive the title of «my brother» by the Risen Christ himself, according to the Gospel of the Hebrews (preserved in St. Jerome, 'De Virr. Illust.,' 2.) : James had made a vow that he would neither eat nor drink till he had seen Jesus risen from the dead, and Jesus, appearing to him, said, "My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of man is risen from the dead."