Saint John the Beloved, Evangalist and Apostle.
May his holy blessings be with us all Amen.
Saint John the Beloved, Evangalist and Apostle.
Feast Day -- 4th Day of the Coptic Month of Tubah (3rd week ofJanuary): On this day, in the year 100 A.D., St. John, the Evangelist and theApostle who was the son of Zebedee, departed. St. John Chrysostom said that St.John the Evangelist was originally a disciple of St. John the Baptist. He wasthe brother of St. James the Elder, who was killed by Herod by the sword. TheLord called both Sts. John and James, "Boanerges" (Mark 3:17), thatis to say, "sons of thunder," for their strong zeal and great faith.He was also the disciple whom Jesus loved.
The lot fell on him to go to Asia after the Lord's Ascension.The people of Asia were stiff-necked, so he prayed to Christ to be with him. Hewent to Ephesus, accompanied by his disciple Prochorus. They embarked on aship, but the ship was wrecked on the way and every one of the passengers clungto a plank of the ship's wood. The waves washed out Prochorus to an island, butSt. John remained among the waves of the sea for several days, until the wavescarried him to the same island where his disciple Prochorus was, by the will ofGod. When they met together, they offered thanks to God for taking care ofthem.
From there, St. John went to the city of Ephesus and he preachedthe word of salvation there. The people of Ephesus did not accept him at first,until the day when an only child of his mother fell in the furnace of a publicbath managed by her. They got him out of the fire but he was dead and hismother wept bitterly. At this time, St. John went forward, prayed to God andcrossed the child, breathed in the child's face, and life came back to himright away. His mother rejoiced and she kissed the feet of the apostle. Fromthis moment on, the people of the city came to fear his teachings and manybelieved and were baptized by St. John. This stirred resentment by the paganpriests of the city who tried to kill him several times buy they could not, forthe Lord protects all those who love Him. After a great effort and manyhardships, St. John led them to the knowledge of God and ordained biships andpriests for them.
From there, he went to other places in Asia Minor (modern dayTurkey) and converted many people to Faith in Christ. Saint John lived ninetyyears, and they used to carry him to the gatherings of the believers. Theywould lift him up because of his old age, with great crowds surrounding him andthe Saint once lifted up would just say, "My children, love oneanother."
He wrote the Gospel that bears his name, the Fourth Gospelaccording to St. John, and the book of Revelation which describes whathe had seen while exiled on the Island of Patmos in the Mediterranean See forbeing a preacher of Christianity. This revelation was one of divine mysteries,many of which have already taken place, while other parts thereof will stilltake place in the end days. St. John also wrote the three epistles known by hisname. He was with the Lord Jesus Christ at the Transfiguration. He leaned(reclined) on the Lord's chest at the Last Supper. He asked the Lord, "whois one who shall betray You?" He was also standing near the cross with theVirgin St. Mary and when the Lord said to His mother, "Behold yourson," and to St. John, "Behold your mother." He was the disciplewhom St. Peter asked the Lord about (John 21), "And this one, what ofhim?" To which the Lord Jesus replied, "If I will that he remainuntil I come, what is that to you?"
When St. John felt that he was about to leave this world, hesummoned the people and gave them the Body and the Blood of the Lord. Heprached to them to be steadfast in their, then he departed from the City ofPhaesus to a short distance. He comanded his disciple and others to dig a pitfor him, and he went down and prayed and bade them farewell. He commanded themto return to the city and to tell the brethren to be steadfast in faith in theLord Jesus Christ, saying, "I am innocent of your blood, for I have neverleft any command of God that I haven't told you about, and now, let it be knownthat yo will never see my face again, and God will reward everone according tohis deeds."
When he said that, they kissed his hand and his feet, and theyleft him and retruned to the city. When the people knew what had happened, theywent out tot he place where the saint was, and they found that he had departed.They wept and were deeply sad. They talked about his miracles and marvelledabout his meekness. In spite of the fact that he did not die by the sword, asthe rest of the apostles did, he was equal to them in the heavenly glories.
May his holy blessings be with us all Amen.
A more detailed biography of the life of the Blessed St. Johnthe Evangelist and his writings are below:
Little is known about the early life of St. John, except thathis father was named Zebedee and he had a brother called James. St. John wasone of the first disciles, being among those whom Jesus called by the Sea ofGalilee. It is also possible that he was the unnamed companion of Andrew whenhe first followed Jesus (Jn. 1:35-37). That he was important in the littlegroup around the Lord Jesus appears from the fact that he was one of the threewho were especialliy close to the Master, who were selected to be with Him onsome great occasions.
St. John is not mentioned by name in the fourth Gospel, butthere are passages that refer to "the disciple Jesus Loved" (Jn.13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). We are not told who this was, but the evidenceseems to indicate that the apostle John is meant.
If St. John may beidentified with the beloved disciple, we learn more about the apostle. Weshould not, of course, press the words as though they meant that Jesus did notlove his other disciples. He loved them all. Yet St. John was indeed beloved,and also recognized that he owed all he had and all he was to that love. Thathe was specially close to Jesus is indicated by the fact that he leaned onJesus' breast at the last supper (Jn. 13:23). It tells us something of hisrelationship to the Master that he ws there when the crucifixion took place,and that it was to him that Jesus gave charge to look after His mother (Jn.19:26, 27). One would have expected that Jesus would have selected one of thefamily for this responsibility. The charge certainly shows that a closerelationship existed between Jesus and the disciple He loved.
On the first Eastermorning this disciple raced St. Peter to the tomb when St. Mary Magdalene toldthem it was empty. He won the race but stood outside the tomb until St. Petercame. St. John followed St. Peter in, and he "saw, and believed" (Jn.20:8). In the next chapter we read of the beloved disciple on a fishing trip.It was he who recognized that it was Jesus who stood on the shore and told themwhere to cast the net (Jn. 21:7).
Such appears to be theNew Testament portrait of St. John. Clearly he was an important figure in thelittle band of the early Christians. On almost every occasion on which he comesbefore us he is in the company of someone else, and usually the speaking isdone by his companion, not St. John. But we may justly conclude that he stoodvery close to the Lord Jesus. Perhaps he had entered into the mind of the LordJesus more than any of the others had. The best evidence of this is the fourthGospel. Clearly the man who wrote this had great spiritual insight. St. Johnmay have been more the thinker than the man of action and the leader of men.
There is a traditionthat St. John lived at Ephasus and died a very old man. The author ofRevelation was on the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:9), which is usually understoodto mean that he had been exiled for his work as a preacher of the gospel. Ifthis is so, he may well have died there. But there is little that suchspeculations can tell us. For the rest, we are dependent on what the writingsassociated with the apostle's name reveal about their author. We have seenreason for thinking that the fourth Gospel was written by St. John. The lettersof St. John probably came from him also. Revelation claims to have been writtenby an author named John (Rev. 1:1, 2, 9).
Theology of St. John'sGospel — This Gospel openswith some statement about the Logos (Word) and goes on to say that the Logosbecame flesh and lived among us. It is not too much to say that the life andwork of the incarnate Logos is what the fourth Gospel is all about. From startto finish St. John is concerned witht eh great divine actio of salvation, whichJesus Christ accomplished.
Christology: St. John speaks of the Lord Jesus as"the Savior of the World" (Jn 4:42), and his Gospel brings this outclearly. Indeed, he tells us that his purpose was to show that Jesus was theChrist, the Son of God, so that men might believe in him and have eternal life(Jn. 20:31). "Christ" is the transliteration of a Greek word meaning"anointed," just as "Messiah" transliterates thecorresponding Hebrew word. Thus, "Christ," "Messiah," and"anointed" all mean the same thing. Certain important Old Testamentpeople were anointed, notably kings, priests, and sometimes prophets. But themen of the Old Testament looked for a day when God would send not simply"an" anointed one but the anointed one (Ps. 455:6, 7; Is.61:1, 2), someone who would do the will of God in a special way (Acts 10:38).By New Testament times this longing for the Messiah had increased, and St. Johnis able to tell his readers that the Lord Jesus is this long-expected one. Notonly does he do this in set terms (Jn. 1:41; 4:25, 26), but he brings out thetruth by drawing attention to aspects of the Lord's ministry that show Him tobe the Messiah.
