John the Apostle

). Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal (the Last Supper) ()).] At the meal itself, his place was next to Jesus on whose chest he leaned ().

After the Resurrection, John and Peter were the first of the disciples to run towards the tomb and John was the first of the apostles to believe that Jesus had truly risen (). He is also with Peter visiting the newly converted in Samaria (, 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 Spirit did not permit" Paul on his second missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel in Asia, Mysia and Bithynia (]

Of the other New Testament writings, it is only from the three Letters of John and the Book of Revelation that anything further is learned about John. Both the Letters and Revelation presuppose that John belonged to the multitude of personal eyewitnesses of the life and work of Jesus (cf. especially , concerning John being kept alive until seeing the coming of Christ's kingdom. Indeed, in the Book of Revelation John records seeing Christ's kingdom coming, revealed through a series of visions received by him on the Island of Patmos.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that John will, indeed, tarry in the flesh until the Savior returns. They base this belief on two passages: one in the Book of Mormon (sourcetext|source=Book of Mormon|book=3 Nephi|chapter=28|verse=4|range=-6) and one in the Doctrine and Covenants (sourcetext|source=The Doctrine and Covenants|book=Section 7|verse=1|range=-3).

Some believe John's tomb is located at Selçuk, a small town in the vicinity of Ephesus.

When John was old he trained Polycarp, later Bishop of Smyrna. This was important because Polycarp was able to carry John's message to another age.Fact|date=February 2008

In art, John as the presumed author of the Gospel is often depicted with an eagle, which symbolizes the height he rose to in the first chapter of his gospel. In Orthodox icons, he is often depicted looking up into heaven and dictating his Gospel (or the Book of Revelation) to his disciple, traditionally named Prochorus.

Liturgical commemoration

He is venerated as a saint by most of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church commemorates him as "Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist" on December 27. In the Tridentine Calendar, this feast day is repeated, in general merely by a commemoration within another feast day, for eight days (an octave), counting the feast day itself. Pope Pius X reduced this octave to a "simple octave", which meant in practice that the feast-day Mass was repeated only on the Octave Day (3 January). Pope Pius XII abolished this octave entirely in 1955. It therefore does not appear in the General Roman Calendar for any year thereafter. In particular, it is not found in the 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII, whose continued use as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite is authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum".

Another feast day excluded in that Missal, but which appeared in the General Roman Calendar until 1960, is that of "St John Before the Latin Gate" on May 6, celebrating a tradition recounted by St. Jerome that St. John was brought to Rome during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, and was thrown in a vat of boiling oil, from which he was miraculously preserved unharmed. A church (San Giovanni a Porta Latina) dedicated to him was built near the Latin gate of Rome, the traditional scene of this event. ["Saint Andrew Daily Missal with Vespers for Sundays and Feasts" by Dom. Gaspar LeFebvre, O.S.B., Saint Paul, MN: The E.M. Lohmann Co., 1952, p.1325-1326]

The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite commemorate the "Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian" on September 26 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, September 26 currently falls on October 9 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). On May 8 (May 21), they celebrate the "Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian", on which date Christians used to draw forth from his grave fine ashes which were believed to be effective for healing the sick.

ee also

*John the Evangelist
*St. John the Evangelist on Patmos
*Vision of St. John on Patmos
*John of Patmos

References

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6021 John the Apostle on Find-A-Grave]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08492a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: "St. John the Evangelist"]
* [http://home.arcor.de/berzelmayr/st-john.html John the Apostle in Art]
* [http://www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/M-Tapestry.html John in Art]
* [http://www.freeread.com/ The Immortal] by JJ Dewey
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102731 Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian] Orthodox icon and synaxarion for September 26
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=101327 Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian] icon and synaxarion for May 8