Ann_St.John

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St. John

St. John the Evangelist
Feastday: December 27

Saint John the Divine was the son of Zebedee, and his mother's name was Salome
Matthew 4:21, 27:56; Mark 15:40, 16:1. They lived on the shores of the sea
of Galilee. The brother of Saint John, probably considerably older, was Saint
James. The mention of the "hired men" Mark 1:20and of Saint John's "home"
John 19:27, implies that the condition of Salome and her
children was not one of great poverty.

SS. John and James followed the Baptist when he preached repentance in the
wilderness of Jordan. There can be little doubt that the two disciples, whom St. John
does not name John 1:35, who looked on Jesus "as he walked," when the
Baptist exclaimed with prophetic perception, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
were Andrew and John.

They followed and asked the Lord where he dwelt. He bade them come and see, and
they stayed with him all day. Of the subject of conversation that took place in
this interview no record has come to us, but it was probably the starting-point of
the entire devotion of heart and soul which lasted through the
life of the Beloved Apostle.

John apparently followed his new Master to Galilee, and was with him at the marriage
feast of Cana. He journeyed with Him to Capernaum, and thenceforth never left
Him, save when sent on the missionary expedition with another, invested with
the power of healing.

John, James, and Peter came within the innermost circle of Our Lord's friends, and
these three remained with Christ when all the rest of the apostles were kept at
a distance Mark 5:37, Matthew 17:1, 26:37. Peter, James and John were with
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The mother of James and John, knowing our Lord's love for the brethren, made
special request for them that they might sit, one on his right hand the other
on his left, in His Kingdom Matthew 20:21.

There must have been much impetuosity in the character of the brothers, for they
obtained the nickname of Boanerges, Sons of Thunder Mark 3:17, see also
Luke 9:54. It is not necessary to dwell on the familiar history of the Last
Supper and the Passion. To John was committed by our Lord the highest of
privileges, the care of his mother John 19:27. John the "disciple whom
Jesus loved"," and Peter were the first to receive the news from Magdalene of the
Resurrection John 20:2, and they hastened at once to the sepulchre, and there,
when Peter was restrained by awe, John impetuously "reached the tomb first."

In the interval between the Resurrection and the Ascension, John and Peter were
together on the Sea of Galilee John 21:1, having returned to their old
calling, and old familiar haunts.

When Christ appeared on the shore in the dusk of morning, John was the first to
recognize him. The last words of the Gospel reveal the attachment which existed
between the two apostles. It was not enough for Peter to know his own fate, he must
learn also something of the future that awaited his friend. The Acts show them still
united, entering together as worshippers into the Temple Acts 3:1, and protesting
together against the threats of the Sanhedrin Acts 4:13. They were fellow-workers
together in the first step of Church expansion. The apostle whose wrath had been
kindled at the unbelief of the Samaritans, was the first to receive these
Samaritans as brethren. Luke 9:54, Acts 8:14].

John probably remained at Jerusalem until the death of the Virgin, though tradition
of no great antiquity or weight asserts that he took her to Ephesus. When he went to
Ephesus is uncertain. He was at Jerusalem fifteen years after Saint Paul's first visit
there Acts 15:6. There is no trace of his presence there when Saint Paul was
at Jerusalem for the last time.

Tradition, more or less trustworthy, completes the history. Irenaeus says that St.
John did not settle at Ephesus until after the death SS. Peter and Paul, and this is
probable. He certainly as not there when St. Timothy was
appointed bishop of that place.

St. Jerome says that John supervised and governed all the Churches of Asia. He
probably took up his abode finally in Ephesus in 97. In the persecution of Domitian
John was taken to Rome, and was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, outside the
Latin gate, without the boiling fluid doing him any injury.
Eusebius makes no mention of this.

The legend of the boiling oil occurs in Tertullian and in St. Jerome. He was sent
Ephesus, and there it is thought that he wrote his gospel. Of his zeal and love
combined, we have examples in Eusebius who tells on the authority of Irenaeus,
that Saint John once fled out of a bath on hearing that Cerinthus was in it,
lest, as he asserted, the roof should fall in and crush the heretic.

On the other hand, he showed the love that was in him. He commended a young
man in whom he was interested to a bishop, and bade him keep his trust well. Some
years after he learnt that the young man had become a robber. St. John, though
very old, pursued him among the mountain vastness and by his
tenderness recovered him.

In his old age, when unable to do more, he was carried into the assembly of the
Church at Ephesus, and his sole exhortation was,
"Little children, love one another".

The date of his death cannot be fixed with anything like precision, but it is
certain that he lived to a very advanced age. He is represented holding a chalice
from which issues a dragon, as he is supposed to have been given poison, which was
however, innocuous. Also his symbol is an eagle.