The Church celebrates the memory of St. Apostle James, the brother of Saint John the Theologian.
Holy Apostle James was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the elder brother of Saint John the Evangelist. He was a fisher and came from Bethsaida, Galilee. They had their own ship and collaborated with Saint Peter the Apostle. Nevertheless, when they heard Jesus preaching, they left their father, Zebedee, and followed Jesus.
James and John were very devout as disciples of Jesus Christ. That is why they were called “Sons of Thunder” and were chosen to bear witness to great events, such as the Transfiguration, which were not experienced by all the other Apostles. James and Peter were the Apostles Jesus chose to bear witness to His Transfiguration.
They witnessed the miraculous rising of the daughter of Jairus and received the blessing by Jesus to be near Him during His prayer and Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
This intimacy obviously led them to ask, through their mother, Jesus to grant them the primacy in His worldly kingdom, thus misunderstanding the Messiah’s mission.
They asked Jesus for human glory, keeping in mind that His Kingdom is material. Christ, however, correcting their fallacy, points to the true and eternal glory that passes through the ‘cup,’ which is the Passion and the Cross.
That’s why he tells them: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”.
After Pentecost, Holy Apostle James preached the Gospel in the greater part of Palestine. Many people converted to the new faith and changed their way of life thanks to the work of James. This was particularly troubling to the Jewish rulers, who arrested and beheaded him in AD 44, like a lamb to the slaughter, by order of Herod Agrippa.
So, Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled, that is, his disciples would also be martyred for their true Faith.
Source: Church of Cyprus