Holy, Glorious, All-praised Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (98–117)

The holy, glorious, all-praised Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (98–117), son of the Galilean fisherman Zebedee and brother of the holy Apostle James, waited eagerly for the appearance of the Messiah. It is possible that John was a disciple of John the Baptist, and that it was he who later brought him to Jesus Christ. The Saviour called John, and he, together with James and Peter, became one of the most faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ loved him especially, and for his devoted service and spiritual strength called him a “son of thunder”. After he drew close to the Saviour, John’s moral world was raised still higher, and his soul was filled with a devoted, supreme love for Jesus Christ. After the descent of the Holy Spirit John, together with Peter, zealously preached the Gospel in Jerusalem; in his house on the height of Zion he cared for the All-holy Mary, the Mother of the Saviour, whom Christ on the cross had entrusted to him and who lived with him until her Dormition. With Peter he also laboured in Samaria; then he returned to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem went to Asia Minor and chose the city of Ephesus as the centre of his apostolic work. John sought to strengthen Christianity in the places where it had already taken root, so that Christianity, founded on firm ground, might then spread elsewhere too. In the reign of Domitian John was exiled to Patmos, an island of the Mediterranean, which he enlightened. To this day there is a monastery on the island built in the name of Saint John the Theologian, the prisoner for Christ’s teaching.

On the island of Patmos the Lord sent the holy Apostle John a whole series of mysterious revelations, in which the struggle of the Lamb with the serpent and the Lamb’s victory were shown. The Lord commanded him to write a book about these visions and send it to the seven churches of Asia for the consolation and guidance of Christians. The Apocalypse, the Revelation, makes known to us the future and the end of the Church and of the world.

After the Emperor Trajan ascended the Roman throne, the prisoner of Patmos was set free and returned to Ephesus, where he continued his labours to defend the purity of Christian teaching.

At the insistent request of the faithful he wrote down everything he had preached by word of mouth, and so completed the three already known Gospels with a fourth.

According to the apostle’s teaching, where there is not complete faithfulness, there is nothing. Saint John writes that the believer must give himself wholly to the Lord and be faithful to Him. Consequently he regards sin not as weakness or as the imperfection of human nature, but as evil, a deed committed against the good. In the holy apostle’s view a man must belong either to Christ or to the devil; there is no middle, indeterminate state (1 John 2:22; 4:3), and so God must be served with complete love and firmness; the more a man loves Christ, the more he hates the Antichrist; the more he strives towards the truth, the further he departs from falsehood, for light drives out darkness (John 8:12; 12:35–36).

Saint John the Theologian lived for more than a hundred years. When the apostle felt that the end of his earthly life was drawing near, he went out of Ephesus with seven disciples, withdrew to a high rock near the city, and prayed. Then he bade everyone a loving farewell, had a grave dug in the form of a cross, lay down in it, and asked them to cover him with earth.

Weeping, the disciples kissed their beloved teacher, but they did not dare to disobey, and slowly filled the grave with earth. When the Ephesians learned of this, they came to the apostle’s grave and dug it up, but found nothing in it.

According to tradition, every year on 8 (21) May a fine dust rose from the grave of Saint John the Theologian, which the faithful used to heal various ailments of body and soul.

Of the apostles of Christ John lived the longest, and he was the only one among them who did not die a martyr’s death, but reposed peacefully in Ephesus on 26 September, around AD 110.