| After the resurrection of Jesus, John with Simon Peter was the first of the disciples to run towards the grave and he was the first to believe that Jesus had truly risen (John 20:2-10). John was accustomed to indicate himself in writing without giving his name as: "the disciple whom Jesus loved". After Jesus’ Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, John took, together with Peter, a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. He is with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts 3:1 seq.). With Peter he is also thrown into prison (Acts 4:3). He is also with Peter visiting the newly converted in Samaria (Acts 8:14). There is no positive information concerning the duration of this activity in Judea. Apparently, John in common with the other Apostles remained some 12 years in this first field of labour, until the persecution of Herod Agrippa led to the scattering of the Apostles through the various provinces of the Roman Empire (cf. Acts 12:1-17). It does not appear improbable that John then went for the first time to Asia Minor and exercised his Apostolic office in various provinces there. In any case a messianic community was already in existence at Ephesus  before Paul's first labours there (cf. "the brethren", Acts 18:27, in addition to Priscilla and Aquila) and it is easy to connect a sojourn of John in these provinces with the fact that the Holy Spirit did not permit Paul on his second missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel in Asia, Mysia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6). Such a sojourn by John in Asia in this first period was neither long nor uninterrupted. He returned with the other disciples to Jerusalem for the Apostolic Council (about A.D. 51). Paul in opposing his enemies in Galatia names John explicitly along with Peter and James the Less as a "pillar of the Church" and refers to the recognition that his Apostolic preaching of a gospel free from the law received from these three, the most prominent men of the messianic community at (Galatians 2:9). Of the other New Testament writings, it is only from the three Letters of John and the book of Revelation that anything further is learned about John. Both the Letters and Revelation presuppose that John belonged to the multitude of personal eyewitnesses of the life and work of Jesus (cf. especially 1 John 1:1-5; 4:14), that he had lived for a long time in Asia Minor, was thoroughly acquainted with the conditions existing in the various messianic communities there, and that he had a position of authority recognized by all messianic communities as leader of this part of the church. Moreover, Revelation says that its author was on the island of Patmos "for the word of Godand for the testimony of Jesus", when he was honoured with the heavenly vision contained in Revelation (Revelation 1:9). Extrabiblical traditionsRoman Catholic tradition states that St. John and the Virgin Mary moved to Ephesus, where they eventually died, though there is an alternative tradition that holds Mary's death to be in Jerusalem, where her tomb is, a tradition held true by Orthodox Christians. The tradition about Mary's tomb in Ephesus emanated mostly after 1841, based on the visions of German Augustinian nun Anne Catherine Emmerich. Many Evangelical and other people question this, especially due to the advanced age which Mary would have reached by this time. This presents no problem though with the alternative tradition, brought forth by Orthodox Christians, which states that the Virgin Mary died 10 years the Resurrection of Jesus, in Gethsemane. In a Coptic text of the 4th century, in the 20th Homily of St Cyrill of Jerusalem, it is maintained that Mary's death took place in Zion (Jerusalem), on the 15th of August in the year A.D. 43 and that she was buried in Gethsemane.Some believe, however, that there is support for the idea that John did go to Ephesus and from there wrote the three epistles traditionally attributed to him. John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos, where some believe that he wrote the Book of Revelation. According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that all in the entire Colosseum audience were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. When John was aged, he trained Polycarp who later became Bishop of Smyrna. This was important because Polycarp was able to carry John's message to future generations. Polycarp taught Irenaeus, and passed on to him stories about John. In Against Heresies, Irenaeus relates how Polcarp told a story of John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within." John's traditional tomb is thought to be located at Selçuk, a small town in the vicinity of Ephesus.In art, John as the presumed author of the Gospel is often depicted with an eagle, which symbolizes the height he rose to in the first chapter of his gospel. In Orthodox icons, he is often depicted looking up into heaven and dictating his Gospel (or the Book of Revelation) to his disciple, traditionally named Prochorus. References- Rabenstein, Katherine (December 1997). John the Divine, Apostle and Evangelist (RM). Saints O' the Day for December 27.
- Griggs, C. Wilfred. "John the Beloved" in Ludlow, Daniel H., ed. Selections from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism: Scriptures of the Church (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1992) p. 379. Griggs favors the "one John" theory but mentions that some modern scholars have hypothesized that there are multiple Johns.
- Fonck, Leopold (October 1 1910). St. John the Evangelist. The Catholic Encyclopedia.
- St. John the Apostle Catholic Online.
- Griggs, C. Wilfred. "John the Beloved" in Ludlow, Daniel H., ed. Selections from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism: Scriptures of the Church (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1992) p. 379. Griggs favors the "one John" theory but mentions that some modern scholars have hypothesized that there are multiple Johns.
- While Luke states that this is the Passover,[Lk 22:7-9] the Gospel of John specifically states that the Passover meal is to be partaken of on Friday[Jn 18:28]
- Fonck, Leopold (October 1 1910). "St. John the Evangelist". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
- Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN 978-0072965483
- Robinson, John A.T. (1977). Redating the New Testament. SCM Press. ISBN 978-0334023005.
- Mark Allan Powell. Jesus as a figure in history. Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. ISBN 0664257038 / 978-0664257033
- St. John the Apostle Catholic Online
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies, III.3.4.
- Saint Andrew Daily Missal with Vespers for Sundays and Feasts by Dom. Gaspar LeFebvre, O.S.B., Saint Paul, MN: The E.M. Lohmann Co., 1952, p.1325-1326
|