St. John

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist was a Galilean fisherman, the son of Zebedee and brother of St. James the Greater, called by Jesus from his father's boat by the Sea of Galilee. With Peter and James he formed the inner circle of the Twelve, present at the raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration, and the agony in Gethsemane. Christian tradition identifies him with "the disciple whom Jesus loved" of the Fourth Gospel — the one who reclined beside the Lord at the Last Supper, stood at the foot of the cross, and there received the Mother of Jesus into his home, and who outran Peter to the empty tomb on Easter morning and believed. After Pentecost, John appears in the Acts of the Apostles at Peter's side, healing, preaching, and suffering arrest for the name of Jesus. Tradition, attested from the second century, holds that he later settled at Ephesus in Asia Minor, where he governed the churches of the region into extreme old age. The Book of Revelation was written by a John exiled on the island of Patmos, traditionally identified with the apostle; and the Fourth Gospel and three New Testament epistles have likewise been ascribed to him since early times, though scholars continue to discuss the precise authorship of the Johannine writings. The Gospel that bears his name soars beyond the others in its contemplation of the Word made flesh, earning John the symbol of the eagle among the four evangelists, and his epistles return again and again to a single theme: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God. A cherished story handed down from the early Church tells that in his last years, carried into the assembly, he would repeat simply, "Little children, love one another," saying that if this alone were done, it would be enough. Alone among the Twelve, John is traditionally believed to have died a natural death, around the year 100 at Ephesus — though not without suffering for Christ; a legend recounted by Tertullian says he was plunged into boiling oil at Rome and emerged unharmed, an event commemorated by the church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina. His feast is celebrated on December 27, within the octave of Christmas. Pilgrims can visit his traditional tomb beneath the ruins of the great Basilica of St. John at Ephesus, near Selçuk in modern Turkey. He is venerated as a patron of theologians, writers, and friendship.