On December 27, we celebrate the life of the Apostle John, who is described in the Bible as “the beloved disciple.” John was a Galilean, son of Zebedee and Salome, and the younger brother of St. James (the Greater). James and John worked in their father’s fishing business, but when Jesus called to them, they dropped their nets and followed Him. (Mk 1:19-20) It is believed that John was about 18 at the time. He is given credit for writing the Gospel of John, the First, Second, and Third Letters of John, and Revelation. Except in the Book of Revelation, John does not mention himself by name, but by the phrase, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John was one of three disciples allowed to witness the transfiguration (Mt 17:1-5).
The same three, John and his brother James, along with Peter, were also invited to go further into the Garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42) to be with Him during his agony. During the Last Supper, it is John who reclines against Jesus’ chest and asks Him who would be the betrayer (Jn 13:21-25).
John appears to be the only disciple that dares to be at Jesus’ crucifixion. He is standing beside Jesus’ mother Mary, giving her comfort when Jesus looks at him and instructs him to look after Mary. (Jn 19:26-27) “And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” It was Peter and John that raced to the tomb on Easter morning when they heard it was empty. John claims that he got there first, but Peter entered the empty tomb. (Jn 20:8) John was with Peter when he healed the lame beggar outside the temple at the beginning of Acts (Ac 3:1-7).
When Herod Agrippa began persecuting the Church (Ac 12:1-2), many of the disciples dispersed into other parts of the country. Tradition teaches that John went to Asia Minor and helped found the Church at Ephesus. John wrote his version of the gospel which received wide circulation. According to church tradition, Emperor Domitian exiled John to the Island of Patmos.
While on Patmos, God sent John a great revelation that he dutifully recorded as the book of Revelation. In his extreme old age he continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assembly of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: “My dear children, love one another.”
St. John died in peace at Ephesus in the third year of Trajan (as seems to be gathered from Eusebius’ history of the Saint); that is, the hundredth year of the Christian era. According to St. Epiphanus, St. John was about ninety-four years old when he died.
The traditional iconography of the church has represented Saint John as an eagle. As he was an evangelists, he is sometimes symbolized by a book; and in a later tradition he is represented by a chalice because of Christ’s words to John and James in Matthew 20:23, “My cup indeed you shall drink.”
The same three, John and his brother James, along with Peter, were also invited to go further into the Garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42) to be with Him during his agony. During the Last Supper, it is John who reclines against Jesus’ chest and asks Him who would be the betrayer (Jn 13:21-25).
John appears to be the only disciple that dares to be at Jesus’ crucifixion. He is standing beside Jesus’ mother Mary, giving her comfort when Jesus looks at him and instructs him to look after Mary. (Jn 19:26-27) “And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” It was Peter and John that raced to the tomb on Easter morning when they heard it was empty. John claims that he got there first, but Peter entered the empty tomb. (Jn 20:8) John was with Peter when he healed the lame beggar outside the temple at the beginning of Acts (Ac 3:1-7).
When Herod Agrippa began persecuting the Church (Ac 12:1-2), many of the disciples dispersed into other parts of the country. Tradition teaches that John went to Asia Minor and helped found the Church at Ephesus. John wrote his version of the gospel which received wide circulation. According to church tradition, Emperor Domitian exiled John to the Island of Patmos.
While on Patmos, God sent John a great revelation that he dutifully recorded as the book of Revelation. In his extreme old age he continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assembly of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: “My dear children, love one another.”
St. John died in peace at Ephesus in the third year of Trajan (as seems to be gathered from Eusebius’ history of the Saint); that is, the hundredth year of the Christian era. According to St. Epiphanus, St. John was about ninety-four years old when he died.
The traditional iconography of the church has represented Saint John as an eagle. As he was an evangelists, he is sometimes symbolized by a book; and in a later tradition he is represented by a chalice because of Christ’s words to John and James in Matthew 20:23, “My cup indeed you shall drink.”