St. John the Evangelist

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I. New Testament Accounts
II. The Alleged Presbyter John
III. The Later Accounts of John
IV. Feasts of St. John
V. St. John in Christian Art

New Testament accounts

John was the son of Zebedee andSalome, and the brother ofJames the Greater. In the Gospels the two brothers are often called after their father "the sons of Zebedee" and received fromChrist the honourable title ofBoanerges, i.e. "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). Originally they were fishermen and fished with their father in theLake of Genesareth. According to the usual and entirely probable explanation they became, however, for a time disciples ofJohn the Baptist, and were called by Christ from the circle of John's followers, together withPeter and Andrew, to become His disciples (John 1:35-42). The first disciples returned with their new Master from theJordan toGalilee and apparently both John and the others remained for some time withJesus (cf. John ii, 12, 22; iv, 2, 8, 27 sqq.). Yet after the second return fromJudea, John and his companions went back again to their trade of fishing until he and they were called byChrist to definitivediscipleship (Matthew 4:18-22;Mark 1:16-20). In the lists of the Apostles John has the second place (Acts 1:13), the third (Mark 3:17), and the fourth (Matthew 10:3;Luke 6:14), yet always after James with the exception of a few passages (Luke 8:51;9:28 in the Greek text;Acts 1:13).

From James being thus placed first, the conclusion is drawn that John was the younger of the two brothers. In any case John had a prominent position in the Apostolic body. Peter, James, and he were the only witnesses of the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37), of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and of theAgony in Gethsemani (Matthew 26:37). Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for theLast Supper (Luke 22:8). At the Supper itself his place was next to Christ on Whose breast he leaned (John 13:23, 25). According to the general interpretation John was also that "other disciple" who with Peter followed Christ after the arrest into the palace of thehigh-priest (John 18:15). John alone remained near his beloved Master at the foot of the Cross on Calvary with the Mother of Jesus and thepiouswomen, and took the desolate Mother into his care as the last legacy of Christ (John 19:25-27). After theResurrection John with Peter was the first of the disciples to hasten to the grave and he was the first to believe thatChrist had truly risen (John 20:2-10). When later Christ appeared at theLake of Genesareth John was also the first of the seven disciples present who recognized his Master standing on the shore (John 21:7). The FourthEvangelist has shown us most clearly how close the relationship was in which he always stood to his Lord and Master by the title with which he is accustomed to indicate himself without giving his name: "the disciple whomJesusloved". AfterChrist's Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, John took, together with Peter, a prominent part in the founding and guidance of theChurch. We see him in the company of Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts 3:1 sqq.). With Peter he is also thrown intoprison (Acts 4:3). Again, we find him with the prince of the Apostles visiting the newly converted in Samaria (Acts 8:14).

We have no positive information concerning the duration of this activity in Palestine. Apparently John in common with the other Apostles remained some twelve years in this first field of labour, until thepersecution ofHerod Agrippa I led to the scattering of the Apostles through the various provinces of the Roman Empire (cf.Acts 12:1-17). Notwithstanding the opinion to the contrary of many writers, it does not appear improbable that John then went for the first time toAsia Minor and exercised his Apostolic office in various provinces there. In any case aChristian 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 Ghost did not permit theApostle Paul on his second missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel inAsia, Mysia, and Bithynia (Acts 16:6 sq.). There is just as little against such an acceptation in the later account in Acts ofSt. Paul's third missionary journey. But in any case such a sojourn by John inAsia 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).St. 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 which his Apostolic preaching of a Gospel free from thelaw received from these three, the most prominent men of the old Mother-Church atJerusalem (Galatians 2:9). When Paul came again to Jerusalem after the second and after the third journey (Acts 18:22;21:17 sq.) he seems no longer to have met John there. Some wish to draw the conclusion from this that John left Palestine between the years 52 and 55.

Of the other New-Testament writings, it is only from the three Epistles of John and the Apocalypse that anything further is learned concerning theperson of the Apostle. We may be permitted here to take as proven the unity of the author of these three writings handed down under the name of John and his identity with theEvangelist. Both the Epistles and the Apocalypse, however, presuppose that their author John belonged to the multitude of personal eyewitnesses of the life and work of Christ (cf. especially1 John 1:1-5;4:14), that he had lived for a long time inAsia Minor, was thoroughly acquainted with the conditions existing in the variousChristian communities there, and that he had a position of authority recognized by allChristian communities as leader of this part of theChurch. Moreover, the Apocalypse tells us that its author was on the island of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony ofJesus", when he washonoured with the heavenly Revelation contained in the Apocalypse (Revelation 1:9).

The alleged presbyter John

The author of the Second and Third Epistles of John designates himself in the superscription of each by the name (ho presbyteros), "the ancient", "the old". Papias,Bishop ofHierapolis, also uses the same name to designate the "Presbyter John" as in addition to Aristion, his particular authority, directly after he has named thepresbyters Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, and Matthew (in Eusebius,Church History III.39.4).Eusebius was the first to draw, on account of these words of Papias, the distinction between a Presbyter John and the Apostle John, and this distinction was also spread in WesternEurope bySt. Jerome on the authority ofEusebius. The opinion ofEusebius has been frequently revived by modern writers, chiefly to support the denial of the Apostolic origin of theFourth Gospel. The distinction, however, has no historical basis. First, the testimony ofEusebius in this matter is not worthy ofbelief. He contradicts himself, as in his "Chronicle" he expressly calls the Apostle John the teacher of Papias ("ad annum Abrah 2114"), as does Jerome also in Ep. lxxv, "Ad Theodoram", iii, and inIllustrious Men 18.Eusebius was also influenced by hiserroneousdoctrinal opinions as he denied the Apostolic origin of the Apocalypse and ascribed this writing to an author differing from St. John but of the same name.St. Irenæus also positively designates the Apostle andEvangelist John as the teacher of Papias, and neither he nor any other writer beforeEusebius had anyidea of a second John inAsia (Against Heresies V.33.4). In what Papias himself says the connection plainly shows that in this passage by the wordpresbyters only Apostles can be understood. If John is mentioned twice the explanation lies in the peculiar relationship in which Papias stood to this, his most eminent teacher. By inquiring of others he had learned some things indirectly from John, just as he had from the other Apostles referred to. In addition he had received information concerning the teachings and acts ofJesus directly, without the intervention of others, from the still living "Presbyter John", as he also had from Aristion. Thus the teaching of Papias casts absolutely nodoubt upon what the New-Testament writings presuppose and expressly mention concerning the residence of theEvangelist John inAsia.

The later accounts of John

TheChristian writers of the second and third centuries testify to us as a tradition universally recognized anddoubted by no one that the Apostle andEvangelist John lived inAsia Minor in the last decades of the first century and from Ephesus had guided the Churches of that province. In his "Dialogue with Tryphon" (Chapter 81)St. Justin Martyr refers to "John, one of the Apostles of Christ" as awitness who had lived "with us", that is, at Ephesus. St. Irenæus speaks in very many places of the Apostle John and his residence inAsia and expressly declares that he wrote his Gospel at Ephesus (Against Heresies III.1.1), and that he had lived there until the reign ofTrajan (loc. cit., II, xxii, 5). WithEusebius (Church History III.13.1) and others we areobliged to place the Apostle's banishment to Patmos in the reign of theEmperor Domitian (81-96). Previous to this, according toTertullian's testimony (De praescript., xxxvi), John had been thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil before the Porta Latina atRome without suffering injury. AfterDomitian's death the Apostle returned to Ephesus during the reign ofTrajan, and at Ephesus he died about A.D. 100 at a great age. Tradition reports many beautiful traits of the last years of his life: that he refused to remain under the same roof withCerinthus (Irenaeus "Ad. haer.", III, iii, 4); his touching anxiety about a youth who had become a robber (Clemens Alex., "Quis dives salvetur", xiii); his constantly repeated words of exhortation at the end of his life, "Little children,love one another" (Jerome, "Comm. in ep. ad. Gal.", vi, 10). On the other hand the stories told in theapocryphal Acts of John, which appeared as early as the second century, are unhistorical invention.

Feasts of St. John

St. John is commemorated on 27 December, which he originally shared with St. James the Greater. AtRome the feast was reserved to St. John alone at an earlydate, though both names are found in the Carthage Calendar, the Hieronymian Martyrology, and the Gallicanliturgical books. The "departure" or "assumption" of the Apostle is noted in theMenology of Constantinople and the Calendar ofNaples (26 September), which seems to have been regarded as thedate of his death. The feast of St. John before the Latin Gate, supposed to commemorate the dedication of the church near the Porta Latina, is first mentioned in the Sacramentary ofAdrian I (772-95).

St. John in Christian art

EarlyChristian art usually represents St. John with an eagle, symbolizing the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his Gospel. Thechalice as symbolic of St. John, which, according to some authorities, was not adopted until the thirteenth century, is sometimes interpreted with reference to theLast Supper, again as connected with the legend according to which St. John was handed a cup of poisoned wine, from which, at his blessing, the poison rose in the shape of a serpent. Perhaps the most natural explanation is to be found in the words of Christ to John and James "Mychalice indeed you shall drink" (Matthew 20:23).

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