With the fifth apostle and evangelist John the Theologian was the son of Zebedee and Salome - the daughter of the holy Betrothed Joseph. Simultaneously with his elder brother Jacob, he was called by our Lord Jesus Christ to be among His disciples on the Lake of Gennesaret. Leaving their father Zebedee in the boat (Zebedee was engaged in fishing), both brothers followed the Lord.
The Apostle John was especially loved by the Lord for his perfect gentleness and virgin purity. After his calling, Saint John did not part with the Lord, he was one of the three disciples whom the Lord especially brought closer to Himself; he was present at the resurrection of Jairus's daughter and at the Transfiguration of the Lord at Tabor. During the Last Supper, he reclined next to the Lord and, at the sign of the Apostle Peter, bowed down on the Savior's chest and asked Him about the name of the traitor. The Apostle John followed the Lord when He, bound, was led out of the garden of Gethsemane to the judgment of the wicked high priests Anna and Caiaphas; he was in the bishop's courtyard during the interrogations of his Divine Teacher and relentlessly followed Him along Way of the Cross compassionate with Him with all my heart. At the foot of the Cross, he wept with the Mother of God and heard the words of the Crucified Lord addressed to them from the height of the Cross: “Woman, behold thy son” and to him: “Behold thy mother” (John 19, 26, 27). From that time, John, as a loving son, took care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and served Her until Her Dormition, never leaving Jerusalem.
After the Assumption of the Mother of God, the Apostle John, according to the lot that fell to him, went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his disciple Prokhor. During the voyage, a violent storm arose, and the ship sank. All the travelers were thrown onto dry land, except for one only the Apostle John, who remained in the depths of the sea. Prokhor wept bitterly, having lost his spiritual father and mentor, and went to Ephesus alone. On the fourteenth day of the journey, standing on the seashore, he saw that the wave had thrown a man ashore. Approaching him, he recognized the Apostle John, whom the Lord kept alive, despite the fact that he spent fourteen days in the depths of the sea. While in Ephesus, the Apostle John unceasingly preached to the pagans about Christ. His preaching was accompanied by numerous and great miracles, so that the number of those who believed increased every day. At this time, the persecution of Christians began, erected by the emperor Nero (56-68). The Apostle John was taken away in chains for trial in Rome. For confessing his ardent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle John was sentenced to death, but kept alive by the power of God: he drank the cup with deadly poison offered to him and remained unharmed; in the same way he emerged unscathed from the cauldron of boiling oil, into which he had been thrown by the order of the tormentor. After that, the apostle was exiled to prison on the island of Patmos, where he lived for many years.
On the way to the place of exile, the Apostle John performed many miracles, and when he arrived on the island of Patmos, his sermon, accompanied by miraculous miracles, attracted all the inhabitants of the island to him. The Apostle enlightened most of the inhabitants with the light of the Gospel, drove out numerous demons who were in idol's temples, healed a great many sick people. The Magi put up great resistance to the preaching of St. John. They have long kept the pagans under their control by various demonic obsessions. The haughty sorcerer Kinops, who boasted that he would lead to the death of the apostle, especially frightened everyone. But the great John - the son of Thunders, as the Lord Himself called him, by the power of the grace of God acting through him, destroyed all the demonic tricks that Kynops hoped for. The proud sorcerer died ingloriously in the depths of the sea, since the Apostle John, with his one word, tied the demons who had previously helped Kinops; they were powerless to help the sorcerer, and he drowned.
On the island of Patmos, the Apostle John withdrew with his disciple Prokhor to a desert mountain, where he performed a three-day fast and prayer, after which the mountain shook and thunder rumbled. Prokhor fell to the ground in fear. The apostle lifted him up and ordered him to write down the words that he would utter. “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, He and He who is and Coming, the Almighty” (Rev. 1: 8), proclaimed the Spirit of God through the holy apostle. So around 67 the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) of the holy Apostle John the Theologian was written. This Book reveals the secrets of the fate of the Church and the end of the world.
After a long exile, the Apostle John was freed and returned to Ephesus, where he continued his work, teaching Christians to beware of emerging heresies. About 95 the apostle John wrote the Gospel in Ephesus. He commanded all Christians to love the Lord and one another and thus fulfill the law of Christ. Saint John is called “the apostle of love” because he constantly taught that without love a person cannot come close to God and please Him. In his three Epistles, the Apostle John preaches love for God and neighbors, himself being an example of love for those around him. Already in extreme old age, having learned about a young man who had deviated from the true path and became the leader of a gang of robbers, the Apostle John went to look for him in the wilderness; when the guilty one, seeing the holy elder, hid himself, the Apostle ran after him and begged him to stop, saying that he was taking upon himself the sin of the young man so that he would repent and not destroy his soul. Moved by such love, the young man really repented and corrected his life.
The Apostle John lived on earth for over 100 years, finally remaining the only living person who saw Jesus Christ during His earthly life; the rest of the Apostles at this time all had already died a martyr's death. The entire Christian Church deeply revered the Apostle John as a secret beholder of the fate of God. The Lord Himself gave His beloved disciple and his brother the Apostle James the name Voanerges, which means “sons of Thunder,” and the Church called him “Theologian” for the depth of the Divine revelations he announced to the world. On icons, the holy Apostle John is depicted with an eagle as a symbol of the lofty soaring of his theological thought.
When the time came for the departure of the Apostle John to the afterlife, he withdrew outside Ephesus with seven of his disciples and commanded that a cruciform coffin be excavated for himself in the ground, in which he lay, telling the disciples to fill it with earth. The disciples weptly kissed their beloved Apostle, but, not daring to disobey, they did what he said. They covered his face with a cloth and buried the grave. Learning about this, the rest of the disciples of the Apostle came to the place of his burial and dug up the grave, but did not find the body of the Apostle in it, who was moved to the afterlife by the special look of God. Every year from the grave of the holy Apostle John in May, on the 8th, fine dust appeared, which the believers collected and healed from mental and physical diseases. Therefore, the Church celebrates the memory of the holy Apostle John the Theologian on May 8.
Recently, the publishing house "Nicaea" published the first volume of the new series "Saints in History. Lives of the Saints in a New Format ”. The author of the book Olga Klyukina made an attempt to recreate the biographies of saints of different eras based on their own compositions preserved historical documents and testimonies of contemporaries. The first book of the series covers the 1st-3rd centuries and is devoted to the era of persecution of Christians and the formation of the Church. Today, on the day of remembrance, with the kind permission of the Nicaea publishing house, we are publishing an excerpt dedicated to the beloved disciple of Christ.
Let us love not in word or language, but in deed and truth.
(1 John 3:18)
There are people who are gifted from birth with a special mentality and soul. They are called differently: sublime natures, poets, dreamers, "out of this world" - the main thing does not change from this.
Like everyone else, they walk the earth, go about their daily activities, but at the same time their soul hovers somewhere far away, closer to heaven, and does not want to belong to the earthly. These people are more likely to see unusual dreams, their inner life is filled with symbols and secret signs, they only hear the call they know ...
Such a person was the apostle and evangelist.
But while in Jerusalem he was simply called John Zebedee, and no one was surprised that it was he who walked in front of the unusual funeral procession with a white lily in his hand. The faces of the others were also not so much sad as joyful and bright, as if everyone had gathered for a holiday.
And the Jerusalem Christians knew why: on the last earthly journey, or rather to heaven, into eternal life, they escorted Mary, the Mother of Christ. And the lily in the hand of John Zebedee was not an ordinary flower, but a message from the Garden of Eden.
According to legend, the Mother of God was walking in the garden, when the Archangel Gabriel again appeared to Her and announced that the time had come to meet the Son. And in confirmation that they were waiting for Her in the heavenly palaces, he presented a lily from the Garden of Eden. And Mary commanded that on Her birthday for heaven, it was John Zebedee who carried this lily ...
John was the youngest of Christ's disciples, younger than the other eleven apostles. Sublime, pure youth, beloved disciple of Jesus.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we hardly hear the voice of young John. Other apostles asked questions, doubted something, did rash acts and then tried to explain them. We will not hear a shocked sigh from John's lips even on Mount Tabor, at the moment of Christ's Transfiguration - Peter will speak for everyone, as usual.
John Zebedee was more silent, listening to the Teacher with adoration, but at the same time he remembered everything, everything. And in his Gospel he gave us such details that cannot be found in other testimonies about Christ.
Only from time to time did John enter into a conversation - and even then, mainly, together with his older brother James.
Exists different opinions why Jesus gave the Zebedee brothers this nickname: sons of thunder(Mark 3:17). Undoubtedly, first of all, they were children of thunder in strength of mind. And on the way, the brothers talked a lot and loudly among themselves. Like all disciples of Christ, they were very different in character, and in age too.
The active, determined Jacob Zebedee was the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred in Jerusalem. All out loud, contemplative John will give the world the Gospel and the great revelation from God - the Apocalypse. The Evangelist Matthew told us such an interesting episode. Once the mother of James and John - Salome, who also walked with them, approached Jesus, and, bowing, made a request, which she could not even clearly explain right away. As the Gospel says about it, asking for something from Him(Matthew 20:20).
— What do you want?(Matthew 20:21) - Christ asked the woman.
Then Salome pointed to her sons and asked that in the Kingdom of Heaven they sit closest to Jesus: one on His right hand, and the other on His left. A loving mother decided to take care in advance so that her sons would feel good there too.
The Gospel of Mark describes this conversation in a slightly different way. Not Salome, but the brothers themselves turn to Jesus, approaching from afar their, as they themselves understand, not quite an ordinary request:
— Teacher! We want you to do for us what we ask(Mark 10:35), they say.
So children often turn to kind, loving parents, knowing that they will not be punished for this: they say, first you promise that you will do, and then we will say ...
— What do you want me to do to you?(Mark 10:36) - Christ asked the "sons of thunder".
— Let us sit with You, one on the right hand, and the other on the left in Your glory.(Mark 10:37).
— Don't know what you are asking... (Mark 10:38) - Jesus said and explained that the places in the Kingdom of Heaven do not depend on Him: there everyone will sit, who is destined(Mark 10:40).
Hearing about this request, ten other disciples, as the Evangelist Mark writes, grumbled against the Zebedee brothers. It was then that the words of Jesus sounded that the one who wants to be the main one - let him become a servant to everyone, and the one striving for primacy - let him be a slave to everyone.
In this scene, not only the warm, trusting relationship of Christ with the disciples is striking, but also the fact that on the way to Jerusalem the Zebedee brothers had a lively conversation (and perhaps even argued among themselves if the mother intervened) not about something else, but about Kingdom of Heaven! For them, this is the same reality as for other travelers - a home at the end of the road, where food and lodging await them. This simple, unmistakable faith was precisely what distinguished Christ's disciples - be they a fisherman or a tax collector - from numerous skeptics and clever people.
Or maybe the brothers' question was generally needed in order for Christ to make the most important confession about His mission on earth:
— The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His soul for the redemption of many(Mark 10:45).
Another time, the Zebedee brothers were outraged that the inhabitants of a Samaritan village had closed the gates when Christ wanted to stay with them for the night. This attitude towards the Master shocked John so much that he asked Jesus to let him bring down fire from heaven on the ungrateful Samaritans. Like the other eleven disciples, he also received the gift of miracles from Christ. But the Teacher forbade him to do this, saying: You don't know what kind of spirit you are; for the Son of Man came not to destroy the souls of men, but to save... (Luke 9: 55-56).
John's impulse coming from his heart shows his boundless love for Christ, as well as his youthful maximalism - suddenly his age somehow immediately betrays ...
In the Gospel of Luke, another conversation between Jesus and John Zebedee is described. Somehow the apostles on the way met a stranger who did not walk with them, but by himself, but also in the name of Jesus was casting out demons. The apostles forbade him and went on. But this meeting did not give rest to the young, impressionable John, and on the way he asked Christ: did they do the right thing with that person? As it turned out, John doubted not in vain.
Jesus said: do not forbid, because whoever is not against you is for you(Luke 9: 50).
Thus, all the apostles learned another lesson, this time through the sensitivity of John.
And here is how the very first meeting of Christ with John Zebedee took place.
Once, together with his fellow countryman and friend Andrey (apparently, a little older in age), John went to the Jordan River to see the prophet who appeared from the desert, about whom everyone around was talking.
John the Baptist called the people to repentance, baptized with water and spoke mysterious words: after him the One who will baptize with the Holy Ghost(Mark 1: 8).
We do not know if John was present at the time of Jesus' baptism, but he could hear a lot about it from others. People who came to be baptized by John in Jordan entered the river and stood for a long time up to their chests in the water, confessing their sins, after which they took a cleansing rite. Jesus, as the Gospel says, “immediately came out of the water” - He was completely clean from all sin! So the prophet John the Baptist, when Jesus passed by, pointed at Him and said the same: behold the Lamb of God(John 1: 36) - that is, pure and sinless. Andrew and John, who were standing next to him at that moment, heard this and went after Jesus.
Probably, they themselves did not fully understand then why and where they were going - this is how they move at night, from darkness to light, and this was such a Light that not everyone could see, but only the pure in heart. The young men followed Christ in silence, not knowing how to turn to Him or call out to Him.
Then Christ Himself turned to them and asked:
— What do you want?
— Rabbi, where do you live?(John 1: 38) - asked the less timid Andrew, who is now called the First-Called, since Jesus was the first to call him. And the very appeal “rabbi” (which means “teacher”) indicates that the young men have already chosen a mentor for themselves.
— Go and see(John 1: 39), Jesus told them.
He brought Andrew and John to the house, where they talked for a long time: from noon to the very night.
Probably, it was an amazing conversation if Andrei immediately ran to his older brother, Simon, and announced: We found the Messiah(John 1: 41).
“They found the Messiah” - it means that they immediately and unconditionally recognized in Jesus that very King, the Deliverer from slavery. And they were not at all embarrassed that the Messiah met them without a royal retinue, in simple clothes and brought them to an ordinary house on the banks of the Jordan ... “We found” means that John was of the same opinion.
To him, according to tradition, Jesus Christ was a relative on the maternal side. It is believed that the mother of James and John - Salome - was the daughter of Joseph the Betrothed from Nazareth, who, being a widow, took the Virgin Mary as his wife. It is about such as Andrew and John Zebedee that Jesus Christ will say in Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God... (Matthew 5: 8).
When the prophet John the Baptist was arrested, his disciples and the curious were forced to go home. At that time Jesus retired into the wilderness, where, by fasting for forty days and struggling with temptations, he was preparing to go out to preach.
One can imagine with what impatience John Zebedee was waiting for a new meeting with the Messiah. Born into a fisherman's family, he, as usual, helped his father Zebedee and his older brother fish in the Sea of Galilee, while he himself waited, waited ...
And one day Jesus Christ really appeared on the shore. Only now the "rabbi" was walking not alone, but surrounded by a large crowd of people - everyone was pushing, shouting, trying to touch at least the hem of His clothes, asking Him to heal them, to perform a miracle.
Jesus noticed on the shore an empty boat belonging to Simon, Andrew's older brother, and entered it. Fishermen had just recently landed and were shaking out empty nets. Christ asked Simon to help him to shake off the shore a little - at a distance He could at least speak with the people. And the one who readily put on the oars did not yet know how far away he was going - this was none other than the Apostle Peter.
Among those who listened to Christ speaking from the boat were the fisherman Zebedee and his two sons, James and John, who were dismantling and mending nets on the shore.
But then the people began to disperse on the sly, and then Christ performed a purely "fishing" miracle for Simon. He showed where to cast the seine in order to catch a lot of fish. Indeed, the catch turned out to be so large that the nets could not stand it. The astonished Simon called other fishermen to help, and Zebedee's boat was also filled to the brim with fish.
After that, Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew to follow Him - and they became His first disciples.
Then Christ went to the boat, where John and his brother were mending their nets, and said the mysterious words: I will make you fishers of people... (Matthew 4:19). And both brothers of Zebedee, leaving their nets, their catch, and all their former lives, also followed Jesus.
From that moment on, John Zebedev will follow his beloved "rabbi" everywhere for three years. He, too, was among His chosen twelve disciples, forever choosing for himself a virgin way of life. And perhaps, for him, whose soul was little attached to the ordinary, it was even easier for others to understand that Christ came in order to bind the earthly and heavenly, to show people the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
It is no coincidence that the eagle became a symbolic image of the evangelist John the Theologian - a symbol of the high soaring of his feelings and thoughts.
A mysterious face is often found in the Gospel of John: one of the disciples ... whom Jesus loved(John 13:23), and another disciple whom Jesus loved(John 20: 2). There were many discussions on this subject, but now almost no one doubts: the apostle and evangelist John, out of modesty, wrote this about himself.
And it turns out that the one who wrote this(John 21:24) The Gospel was the only one who remained in the Garden of Gethsemane when Christ was taken into custody and all the other apostles fled in fear. Three more times the cock did not crow - as the Apostle Peter denied Christ, saying that he was not familiar with Him, for which he would repent until the end of his life. But in the courtyard of the high priest there was another silent disciple. Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus; This disciple was familiar to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the high priest's court. And Peter stood outside the door. Then another disciple, who was familiar to the high priest, went out and spoke to the door of the door, and brought Peter in. Here the servant of the doorkeeper says to Peter: Are you not one of the disciples of this Man? He said no(John 18: 15-17).
Probably, in the same silence, John walked among those who accompanied Christ to the place of execution on Calvary, watched how the Teacher was nailed to the cross and hoisted between two robbers, how the soldiers divided His clothes - he heard every heavy sigh of Christ - but even then not in than he doubted.
And when Christ said, pointing with his eyes to the Mother of God, he was probably very quiet, because any word for the one nailed to the cross was given a terrible pain: Behold, thy mother(John 19:27) - of course, John immediately understood this command. Before last day earthly life Holy Mother of God he will take care of Her like his own son.
Later, when the Risen Christ appeared on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the disciple Jesus loved(John 21: 7), he was the first to recognize his "rabbi" and said to Peter: it's lord(John 21: 7). During that meal on the shore, when the Apostle Peter was forgiven and heard about his future, he asked Jesus: what awaits John?
If I want him to remain until I come, what do you care?(John 21:22) - sounded in response.
These words were interpreted in such a way that Christ gave John immortality, and His beloved disciple will never die. But John himself did not share this opinion, uploading his Gospel with these words:
And this word flashed among the brethren that that disciple would not die. But Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but: if I want him to abide until I come, what do you care? This disciple also testifies of this, and wrote it; and we know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things; but if I could write about this in detail, then, I think, the world itself would not be able to accommodate the books written(John 21: 23-25).
After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, John, along with others, received Active participation in the structure of the Jerusalem Church. At this time, he became right hand active, often speaking before the people of the Apostle Peter: together they went to the place of preaching, together they appeared before the court, together they sat in prison. Together with Peter, they went to Samaria to lay hands on the new converts. Jerusalem Christians will respectfully refer to John as "the pillar of the Church."
A few years after the Ascension of Christ, the Apostle Matthew wrote the first Gospel. Many will rewrite and distribute this text, but the authorship of its first translation from Hebrew into Greek is attributed, among other things, to John Zebedee.
During these years in Jerusalem, at the behest of King Herod Agrippa, his elder brother, the Apostle James, was executed, convicted on the basis of a false witness's denunciation.
According to legend, Jacob Zebedee calmly listened to the verdict and continued to testify about Christ. His courage struck the false witness so much that he repented of his deed at the trial, although this did not help the defendant. And when the apostle was taken to execution, the accuser fell at his feet and began to beg to forgive him. Jacob embraced him and said: “Peace be with you, my son; peace and forgiveness to you. "
The accuser announced that he also believed in Christ, and was executed along with the apostle. He did not even have time to accept the rite of baptism, but received “baptism in blood” - and there will be thousands of such Christians in the first centuries.
After the Assumption Mother of God John Zebedee will leave Jerusalem forever.
When Christ's disciples were just getting ready to go with missionary preaching to different parts of the world and drew lots, the Apostle John got Asia Minor. And now the time has come for him to fulfill his mission. Taking his disciple Prokhor with him, the Apostle John boarded a ship, and they set off for the shores of Asia Minor.
During the sea voyage, they faced serious trials, which John, who had the gift of clairvoyance, had foreseen in advance. He immediately told Prokhor that misfortune awaited them at sea. And so it happened: not far from the southern shores of Asia Minor, the ship was caught in a storm and was wrecked. The passengers managed to escape on the ship's boards and reach the coast near Seleucia. And only one of them remained in the depths of the sea - it was John ...
An interesting detail has been preserved in the Greek version of the life of the Apostle John. Learning that he got Asia Minor by lot, John received the news with a heavy heart, as he felt a strong fear of sea voyages. Falling to his knees before the apostles, he confessed to them his cowardice. The apostles asked James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, to pray for John's forgiveness, after which everyone dispersed in peace. But then John did not have to leave Jerusalem, because an equally important mission was entrusted to him - taking care of Mary, the Mother of Christ.
Prokhor shed many tears about the Apostle John who disappeared into the sea. But he did not lose hope and continued to pray for his salvation. All this time, Prokhor did not leave the coast, slowly advancing from Seleucia to the west and stopping for the night in coastal villages. And one morning, an exhausted man on the board was carried ashore by a huge wave. It was John, who spent almost two weeks at sea, but by the will of God remained alive.
Prokhor fled to the nearest village, brought bread and water, and when John gained some strength, they set off together and walked through the whole Asia Minor.
The Apostle John and Prokhor settled in the western port city of Ephesus, where the Apostle Paul had lived shortly before, and, therefore, by that time there was a Christian community.
According to the life, in Ephesus, John and Prokhor were hired as workers for a keeper of public baths named Romana. John had to heat the stove, and Prokhor had to carry water. In this house, they had to endure a lot from the evil disposition of Romana, but John through prayer performed the miracle of raising from the dead the young man Domnus and his father Dioscorides, the city elder, who died of grief. After that, both father and son, and Romana herself believed in Christ and were baptized.
Another case is described, as on the feast of the goddess Diana (or Artemis of Ephesus) revered in Ephesus, the Apostle John admonished the pagans. When the people gathered in the temple, he stood near the statue of Artemis and began to talk about the fact that people should not worship idols. The Ephesians flew into a rage, began throwing stones at John, but not one hit him - all flew away from the statue and fell into the throwers themselves. Then the apostle John raised his hands to heaven and began to pray. And soon such unbearable heat set in that the majority of those who had gathered in the square in front of the temple hurried to disperse to their homes.
Some researchers believe that from Ephesus the apostles soon moved to Rome, from where, during the persecution of Nero, the Apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos.
Others - and they are still the majority - adhere to the version that the Apostle John was sent into exile to Patmos much later, during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which means that before that he had lived peacefully in Ephesus for almost thirty years.
The life of Christian communities in the first centuries was built according to their own rules, which in many respects differed from those of today.
If a person expressed a desire to become a Christian, he was introduced to the teacher (he could be both a priest and a layman), who talked with him in detail: he asked about the person's lifestyle, the reasons that prompted him to believe in Christ, etc. recognized as worthy, accepted among the catechumens, special group preparing to be baptized and enter the Church.
The catechumens were not allowed to participate in the common worship and the Eucharist, since they had not yet received baptism. Typically, the announcement time lasted two or three years, allowing everyone to make a final and informed choice. Those worthy of baptism were called differently - the elect, or the enlightened. For some time they were in this rank, and finally they were solemnly baptized on the night of Easter or on the night of Pentecost - usually on these two holidays. Baptism was also combined with the anointing with a special oil (myrrh), consecrated on the throne.
For the first week, the converts wore white robes and were treated like birthday children by everyone in the community.
Every Sunday Christians gathered together for divine services - celebrating the day on which Jesus Christ was resurrected. At the liturgy, the Holy Scriptures were read and interpreted, then the believers prayed together and sang psalms. It happened that during the divine service someone began to prophesy or “speak in tongues,” and such events were given great importance - they were signs of the real presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
Finally, the believers received communion. The sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ - the Eucharist - has always been and remains the main and most solemn moment of worship. In the first centuries, the Eucharist, or "breaking of bread", was carried out for common table as a remembrance of the Last Supper, during which Christ taught this sacrament to his disciples.
Since early Christian times, each local church had its own treasury for helping the poor, receiving pilgrims, burying the homeless and other charitable purposes. During times of persecution, Christians sent donations to nearby destroyed churches or to brothers sentenced to mines or exile. As a rule, at the end of each Sunday meeting, a collection was made in favor of the needy - everyone gave as much as they could.
An important event In the life of the community, there was a meeting with apostles or brothers from other cities who brought messages from bishops or stories about martyrs who suffered for the faith. Christians gathered together to listen to them and pray together, pass on testimonies about the venerated martyrs to other churches. In this way, the traditions and unity of the Church were maintained, no matter where the communities were located.
In the midst of such events and daily concerns, the Apostle John lived at Ephesus. As the closest disciple and witness of the earthly life of Christ, he enjoyed great respect and love not only among Ephesian Christians, but also took care of churches in other cities of Asia Minor - in Smyrna, Pergamum, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, Philadelphia.
According to legend, during one of his travels, he met with the Apostle Philip - also a disciple of Christ from the twelve. This happened when the apostle Philip was preaching through the cities of Asia Minor with his sister, the maiden Mariamne. One can imagine how much joy this unexpected meeting gave them!
In Ephesus, the Apostle John experienced an event that did not leave indifferent any Jew, no matter where he was in the world: the uprising in Judea and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. The prophecy of Christ came true: the shrine of the Jews was destroyed by the Romans, charred ruins remained on the site of the temple.
The Jerusalem temple burned down on August 10, 70 - the same day as several centuries ago, when the first Jerusalem temple was destroyed, captured by Nebuchadnezzar. And this, too, was the mysterious symbolism of numbers, which will be so much present in the "Apocalypse" of John the Theologian.
Ephesus was the main port city in the west of Asia Minor, the "gateway" through which the Roman legions were ferried to the peninsula and returned. This means that the Ephesians also watched the sad end of the Jewish war.
Titus, the son of the emperor Vespasian, who led the suppression of the Jewish uprising, took out of the Jerusalem temple all the utensils left after the fire, and these were huge treasures, considering that the Jews, wherever they lived, paid a tribute to the maintenance and decoration of the temple every year.
During the celebration of his triumph, Titus drove carts loaded with silver pipes, golden seven-branched candlesticks, and precious temple vessels through the streets of Rome. Almost all of this was later melted down and went to the construction of the Colosseum, or, as it was then called, the Vespasian circus. At the construction site, begun by the father of Titus, thirty thousand Jewish captives were now working, specially brought for this from Palestine to Rome. The famous Jewish writer Josephus Flavius, who described the Jewish war in detail and was very far from Christian beliefs, wrote in his book: “All this happened to them for the death of James the Righteous, the brother of Jesus, called Christ. The Jews killed him, although he was a saint. ”... In 81 AD the emperor Domitian (son of Vespasian and brother of Titus), the last of the Flavian dynasty, became another insane tyrant suffering from persecution mania. For this Caesar, who was popularly called "bald Nero", neither his contemporaries nor historians almost said a kind word.
"Having become emperor, Domitian at first loved, in seclusion, to catch flies and pierce them with sticks," Suetonius says sarcastically ("The Life of the Twelve Caesars").
Domitian's fear of dying at the hands of assassins reached the point that in his palace he ordered the walls of the portico, where the emperor usually walked, to be lined with a sparkling stone, like mica, in order to always see if someone was hiding behind him.
One typical case is known from the time of his reign. Once Domitian invited the most influential people of Rome to his palace for a feast. The guests were ushered into a room, decorated from floor to ceiling in black, and they saw in horror that in front of each bed there was a tombstone and on each of them his name was written. The guests took their places according to the inscriptions and waited only for the executioner's arrival. Instead, several naked boys, painted black, entered the room and slowly performed a solemn dance. Then a funeral cake and other dishes were served, which are usually "offered" to the spirits of the dead. And all this time the voice of Domitian, who was hiding behind a screen, told the guests terrible stories of murders and bloody crimes, in order to intimidate them ...
This palace "joke" gives an idea of the atmosphere of manic suspicion in the empire during the reign of Domitian, who became the new enemy of Christians. Spies and informers were everywhere, the prisons did not hold "suspicious persons", everyone was afraid of everyone and reported everyone. Christians, too, began to be searched for, seized and imprisoned everywhere.
The Apostle John was arrested and brought to trial in Rome, and during the trial he was beaten and tortured. According to legend, he was sentenced to death through poisoning, but he drank the poison and remained unharmed. And everyone immediately remembered the legend of his immortality ...
That is why he was sentenced to "eternal exile" to the remote deserted island of Patmos.
By that time, all the other closest disciples of Christ had already completed their earthly journey. The apostles Peter and Paul were executed in Rome, Andrew suffered on the cross in the Greek city of Patras, Thomas in distant India. Only the apostle John survived, and many thought that death would never really touch him.
And although the apostle John did not love sea travel, he again had to sail on a ship - this time to the Greek island of Patmos, which at that time was a Roman colony.
On the way again there were some incidents. The son of one of the wealthy passengers accidentally fell into the sea - and was pulled out of the water through the prayers of the Apostle John. While sailing, he even performed the miracle of converting salt water into fresh water when all supplies ran out.
How can we not remember that only in the Gospel of John is told about the miracle in Cana of Galilee, when Christ Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast ...
Everyone who sailed with the Apostle John on the ship loved him so much and believed in the elder's holiness that they offered to disembark them with Prokhor anywhere they wanted. But John ordered them to be taken to Patmos, anticipating that something more awaited him than a simple exile.
At that time, the small rocky island of Patmos - the northernmost island of the Greek Dodecanese archipelago - was sparsely populated and even more enlightened: hardly anyone here had heard of Christianity before.
John was exiled to a large quarry, where he, along with the rest of the prisoners, chopped a stone. The Apostle lived in an ordinary cave, slept on a stone floor - and yet at that time he was already a deep old man!
The ruler of the island soon became aware of the unusual convict. The Life tells how in the house of Myron, the ruler's father-in-law, the apostle performed miracles of healing, as a result of which Myron, his wife, children, and then the ruler himself were baptized and accepted Christianity.
The inhabitants of Patmos have worshiped idols since antiquity, especially here they revered Apollo. The Apostle John competed with a certain local sorcerer Kinops and won a victory - probably not with him alone. It is known that by the end of his exile, most of the inhabitants of the island already believed in Christ.
Once, when the Apostle John was in his cave, he heard a Voice addressing him from heaven. The apostle recognized him immediately and readily asked: "What, Lord?" John was ordered to spend another ten days in the cave, after which many secrets would be revealed to him. And on Sunday, the Apostle John heard a loud voice, as it were a trumpet, which said: I am Alpha and Omega, First and Last(Rev. 1: 10). A great and terrible vision opened before him, and an Angel of God appeared, explaining everything that was shown. The apostle called the disciple to write down everything that he would dictate, and, according to legend, Prokhor wrote under dictation for two days and six more hours. However, time has stopped ...
This is how the Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, of John the Theologian appeared, where for the first time the secrets of the future fate of the Church and the end of the world were revealed to mankind. The Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian is also called the "Seer" or "Seer".
"Revelation" begins with John the Evangelist seeing open doors leading to the sky.
And immediately I was in the spirit; and behold, the throne was in heaven, and the one who sat on the throne(Rev. 4: 2).
The Apocalypse (Greek "revelation") is a special, mystical book that is impossible to retell. It is full of mysterious symbols and images - in such a language the Lord spoke with prophets and patriarchs in ancient times. These symbols can be interpreted in different ways, but each time only a small part of the great secret that God has revealed to mankind through the Apocalypse will be revealed.
For example, the image of the harlot Babylon, sitting on a seven-headed serpent, is read by many as Rome, located on seven hills. Or is it not just Rome anymore?
The apostle John saw in the middle of the throne and around the throne are four animals full of eyes in front and behind. And the first animal was like a lion, and the second animal was like a calf, and the third animal had a face like a man, and the fourth animal was like a flying eagle.(Rev. 4: 6-7).
Subsequently, these images became symbols of the four evangelists: the lion is the symbol of Mark, the calf is the symbol of Luke, the angel is Matthew, and the eagle is John himself.
The image of the Church appears beautiful and majestic in the Revelation of John.
And a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun; the moon is under her feet, and on her head is a crown of twelve stars(Rev. 12: 1). In the Apocalypse, Christ, through the Apostle John, also addresses seven specific churches in Asia (the Roman province in Asia Minor) - Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laokidia. It is believed that these seven churches are the personification of the whole Ecumenical Church at different stages of its development, right up to the present day.
“Seven is a symbol of the fullness of the world, and John the Theologian refers to the seven Churches, that is, to the fullness of the entire Church,” priest Daniel Sysoev wrote in his “Interpretation of the Apocalypse”.
The last church is Laodicea, the only one about which nothing good is said, is the church of the time of the end of the world.
I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot; oh, if you were cold, or hot! But as you are warm, and not hot and not cold, I will eject you from My mouth. For you say: I am rich, I have become rich and have no need of anything; but you do not know that you are unhappy, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked(Rev. 3: 15-17).
We are accustomed to perceiving the Apocalypse as a terrible story about a great universal catastrophe before the end of the world, talking about apocalyptic moods, keeping in mind the darkest premonitions. This is a Hollywood favorite about the end of our civilization. And the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (plague, war, hunger and death) are still hovering over the earth - albeit in a different embodiment than that depicted by Dürer, Böcklin, Viktor Vasnetsov and other artists.
Yes, all this is true, but the Christians of the first centuries perceived the Apocalypse of John the Theologian also as a great revelation about the long-awaited victory of good over evil.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more; there will be no more crying, no outcry, no sickness, for the former has passed(Rev. 21: 4). This book announced to believers about the coming victory of Christianity, gave hope, inspired martyrdom in the name of faith. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great people, as it were the sound of many waters, as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying: Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns(Rev. 19: 6). For example, “ short retelling»Of the Apocalypse by the apologist of the II century Meliton, Bishop of Sardis:
“In the same way, in recent times there will be a flood of fire, and the earth and its mountains will burn up, the people will be burned together with the idols they made, and with the statues they worshiped, and the sea with its islands will burn up, but the righteous are saved from anger, as the righteous were preserved in the ark from the waters of the flood ".
At the turn of the II-III centuries, a list of books recognized by the Church as sacred (the so-called Muratori canon) was compiled, which included the Apocalypse of John the Theologian.
Numerous imitations began to appear, which we call apocrypha. For example, in the Apocalypse of Peter, sinners in hell are punished by Angels in dark clothes - according to the author, there is too much smoke and soot, and the angels can get dirty during work. But can you compare all these human fabrications with the grandiose visions of the Apostle John?
In 96, the emperor Domitian was killed by conspirators in his bedroom. Neither the halls of mirrors nor crowds of informants helped ... Immediately after Domitian's death, the senators ordered to remove his monuments in Rome and knock him off public buildings all inscriptions with his name. Nerva ascended the throne, and prisoners under the previous ruler began to be returned from prisons and exile.
The Apostle John and Prokhor also returned to Ephesus, where they were greeted with joy by Christians. At this time, the bishop of the Ephesian Church was Timothy, a beloved disciple of Paul, who with great reverence was whom Jesus loved(John 13:23). In Ephesus, the Apostle John settled in the same house where he lived before exile, and lived there until his death. During this period, he will write another great work - the Gospel of John.
The further the evangelical events went into the past, the more conjectures arose about the Person of Jesus Christ. There will be a lot of all kinds of heresies, and the most stable of them will subsequently become the subject of discussion at local and ecumenical councils.
The Ephesian Christians persuaded the Apostle John to present the Christian teaching as he received it from the Teacher, and to tell the whole truth about Christ himself.
According to legend, John imposed on everyone strict fasting, and he and Prokhor went to the mountain. On about the fourth day, it suddenly thundered strong thunder, lightning flashed in the sky, and the Apostle John dictated the first lines to Prokhor:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God. Everything through Him began to be, and without Him nothing began to be that began to be. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not embrace it... (John 1: 1-5).
The Gospel of John is truly unique! On the one hand, it contains deepest secrets, over which great theological minds have been fighting for two millennia. The Word was God ... On the other hand, the Gospel of John, more than the other three - from Matthew, Mark and Luke, in some ways can be compared with modern reporting. If you want to know which of the disciples asked Christ this or that question or other details, then first of all you should turn to the Gospel of John - it was written by an undoubted eyewitness of the events.
Only from the Gospel of John, for example, can one learn that at the moment Jesus saturating five thousand people with bread, it was the Apostle Philip who asked in perplexity: where can we buy bread to feed so many people, and the Apostle Andrew remembered that one boy has five barley loaves and only two fish. After all, John was also there. The Gospel of John - and only one in it - tells about the miracle of transforming water into wine at a feast in Cana of Galilee, about the resurrection of Lazarus and his sisters - Martha and Mary, a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisee Nicodemus, during which at least one more attentive listener.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus says to him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus answered: truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be surprised that I told you: you must be born again. The spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.(John 3: 3-8), - says Christ to Nicodemus.
Surprised Nicodemus asks: how can it be?(John 3: 9).
If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?(John 3: 12) - Jesus will ask him bitterly.
But these words least of all refer to John, who is just close to "heavenly": he was given to understand the language of heavenly revelations and contemplate spiritual visions.
Many researchers write that at the time of writing, the Apostle John was well aware of the other Gospels, and he deliberately sought to fill in the missing details. And with every line of his gospel, the Apostle John proves that Christ is God and the Son of Man, that is, the God-man, and not just one of the prophets or great teachers of morality.
Three conciliar epistles of the Apostle John the Theologian have survived, and all of them are imbued with a truly unearthly love that Christ taught him.
...We know love in that He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. And whoever has prosperity in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, closes his heart from him - how does the love of God abide in him? My children! let us love not in word or language, but in deed and truth(1 John 3: 16-18), - the Apostle John calls upon Christians.
I have a lot to write to you, but I don’t want ink on paper, but I hope to come to you and speak mouth to mouth, so that your joy may be full"(2 John 1: 12), - he will write an unknown the chosen lady and her children(2 John 1: 1), and this is so characteristic of him: to rush to someone in order to bring full and perfect joy, forgetting about his own weakness and years.
Saint Clement of Alexandria, in his sermon "Which of the rich will be saved", told a touching story about the Apostle John. Once the apostle John met a handsome young man who had an inclination towards good deeds and the study of spiritual subjects. The apostle left him in the care of a local bishop, so that he would accept him among the catechumens, and he himself went to the next city.
At first, the bishop studied the young man, taught him, finally honored him with baptism, after which he ceased to take special care of him. The young man got into the society of vicious people and soon sunk to the point that he became the leader of a gang of robbers and even surpassed others in cruelty.
After some time, the Apostle John happened to be in this city again, and he immediately asked the bishop about the young man. “The young man died, - he said, - he died for God and eternal life". This news deeply saddened John.
“Should you have taken care of your brother's soul entrusted to you? He said to the bishop. "Give me a horse and a guide, I will follow him." Indeed, the elder himself went to the mountains, finding out where the gang was raging. The robbers seized him and brought him to their boss, which is what the apostle John wanted. At the sight of the holy elder, the young man was so embarrassed that he jumped from his place and ran away. John ran after him, loudly shouting after him: “My son, why are you running from your father? Have pity on me, my child; do not be afraid, there is still the hope of life; I will be responsible for you to Christ; I am ready to give my life for you. Stop and listen to me ... "
Finally, the young man could not stand it, stopped, threw down his weapon and, with tears, threw himself at John's feet. The apostle took him to the city and only then released him from himself, until the repentant was again accepted into the Christian community.
This story reflects the entire loving soul of the Apostle John. It was about such boundless healing love that he wrote in his First Council Epistle:
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because in fear there is anguish. The one who fears is imperfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. He who says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? And we have from Him such a commandment that he who loves God should also love his brother.(1 John 4: 18-21). John the Theologian lived to a ripe old age. According to historians, the apostle ended his earthly days about 68 years after the Crucifixion of Christ, about 100 AD.
Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, in his " Church history"Wrote about the Apostle John:" Upon his return from exile from the island after the death of Domitian, he took care of the Churches there. That he lived up to this time, this is sufficiently attested by two most faithful witnesses, the leaders of the Church Orthodoxy: Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria. The first of them, in his second book “Against Heresies”, narrates literally as follows: “All the Asian elders who communicated with John, the disciple of the Lord, testify that he spoke about it; he was with them until the time of Trajan ”. In the third book of the same work, he writes: “And the Church founded by Paul in Ephesus - John lived there until the time of Trajan - is a true witness of the apostolic story”. The reign of Emperor Trajan began in 98 and lasted nineteen years.
At the end of his life, John could no longer walk. The disciples brought him into the congregation in their arms, and the apostle kept repeating: “My children, love each other! " (John 13:34)
Someone asked why he was repeating the same thing, and the Apostle John said: "This is the commandment of the Lord, all His teaching is contained in it."
Sensing the approach of death, the Apostle John, accompanied by seven disciples, went out of the city and ordered to dig a cruciform grave according to his height, and he, stepping aside, began to pray. When the grave was ready, he went into it as if on a bed, stretched out his arms and ordered the disciples to cover it with earth.
The disciples first covered him with earth up to his knees, then up to his neck, and when they saw that the holy elder was no longer breathing, they covered his face with a handkerchief and, kissing, covered everything with earth.
The Ephesian Christians, having learned about such an unusual burial of the Apostle John, came in the morning and dug up the grave. They must have wanted to bury him in a better, more honorable place. But the grave was empty!
According to legend, the believers found only the sandals of the Apostle John at the burial place. And of course, they immediately remembered what Jesus said: If I want him to remain until I come, what do you care?(John 21:23). So in the Apocalypse he wrote about himself: And he said to me: You must prophesy again about peoples and nations and languages and kings of many.(Rev. 10:11).
One of the interpretations of this prophecy is this: the Lord in the body took him out of this world, as once the Old Testament Enoch and Elijah the prophet, and at the right time will return him to earth.
Thus, John the Evangelist left us one more great secret- the secret of his death.
For many centuries, funeral services have been served over the grave of the holy apostle, and it was noticed that it was on May 8 that a clearly distinguishable plaque appeared on the ground, something like fine dust. The believers began to collect it and receive healings from many diseases. In memory of this miracle, another day of the memory of the holy apostle was established, along with September 26, the celebration of the repose of the apostle.
The cave on Patmos, where John the Theologian received the Revelation, has survived to this day: next to it, a monastery was founded in honor of the Apostle. The pilgrims are shown the crevice through which the loud voice, as if trumpet(Rev. 1:10), in front of the entrance to the cave, the words are written: "This place, which makes an indelible impression, is the house of God and the gates of Heaven."
Among the many icons of the Apostle John there is one, ancient one, which is called "John the Theologian in silence." On it, the apostle raised his finger to his lips and seemed to say: shh, hush ... After all, about the most last secrets The angel who appeared in Revelation told him to be silent.
Name: John the Evangelist (John Zebedee)
Date of Birth: 6 g
Age: 94 years
Date of death: 100 g
Activity: one of the Twelve Apostles
Family status: was not married
John the Evangelist: biography
The Apostle John, later named John the Theologian, was known as a particularly beloved disciple. Jesus emphasized the sacrifice and spiritual purity of John, in connection with which John became one of the apostles especially close to Christ.
The Lord Himself called John the "Son of Thunder". Hearing the call of the savior, the boy left his home and rushed after the Preacher. It was John who at the last meal of Christ fell to the breast of Jesus, and later in the texts of the books proved that the Lord personifies love.
Childhood and youth
Church literature claims that the lineage of the Apostle John dates back to. The betrothed husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joseph the Carpenter, had a daughter Salome, who married Zebedee. Salome and Zebedee had two sons: James and John.
The Evangelist Mark mentions in the scriptures that John with his older brother James and his father were fishing from a boat when the call of Christ was heard. The brothers left the catch and their father and followed the Lord. Luke in the scriptures adds that the newly-minted apostles were present at the miraculous fishing and, impressed, turned to the Savior. The young men did not doubt for a moment that they had made a perfect choice: they left everything they had and followed the Teacher.
For his impulsive character, heightened sense of justice and mastery of the word, Christ called John the Theologian "Son of Thunder". These features were clearly manifested during the ninth and last walk of the Lord in Galilee: Jesus wanted to go to Jerusalem, but before that he sent messengers to the village of Samaria.
However, the inhabitants of the settlement did not accept the Savior. Then John and his brother James asked Christ if they could call fire from heaven as punishment for the inhabitants of the Samaritan village, but the Lord stopped the flaming apostles, because Jesus brings people salvation, not punishment.
The Apostle John, together with his brother James, were especially close to and were considered the closest to the Lord.
Christian ministry
Once, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Christ was preaching a sermon to the people. Among other things, the people approached Jesus by the chairman of the local synagogue, Jairus, who told the Savior that his daughter was dying. The Lord went to Jairus's daughter to heal her. On the way to the house of Jairus, the messenger told Christ that the girl had died, but Jesus followed her and resurrected the girl. Only 3 of the 12 apostles witnessed this miracle: Peter, James and John.
In addition, John the Evangelist is the only one of the apostles who was at Of the Life-giving Cross... There Jesus instructed John to take care of him as a mother.
Traditionally, it is believed that John the Evangelist became the author of five books of the New Testament. The fourth book of the New Testament is called the Gospel of John, although scholars now express doubts about the authorship of the book. Long time John preferred oral sermons, but after the writing of the Gospels of Mark and Luke, John increasingly began to ask about the early deeds of the Master, which he set out in his book.
Later, for a wide circle of believers, the "First Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian" was written, which was also included in New Testament... It is interesting that this book also formally does not have an author, although he is attributed to John the Theologian. The style of speech, the use of phrases and thoughts, as in the Gospel of John, allows the book to be attributed to the authorship of the Apostle John. The book dates back to around 90 AD.
The book is based on the theme of love in its broadest sense. In addition, the apostle John shows Jesus as the Word of God. The 5th chapter of the work contains the first in the history of Christianity mention of the Holy Trinity in the following formulation: "Father, Word and Holy Spirit", supporting his vision of God the son (Jesus) by the Word.
However, researchers who have studied the "First Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian" point out that this thought does not belong to the author, but is an insert made much later in order to confirm the doctrine of the Trinity. On the pages of the "Message" the author tried to convey the main idea of the unity and inseparability of God and love.
The shortest book of the New Testament was also authored by John. The book bears the title "The Second Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian." Considering that on the pages of the Epistle the author calls himself an elder, and the work dates back to the 90s of the 1st century AD, as well as the common style with previous books, allows scientists to attribute the book to the works of the Apostle John.
In meaning and content, the second "Epistle" repeats the first, but in a much more abbreviated form. At the head of the work is fraternal love between Christians and a call to fear the harmful influence of false teachings. Special attention is drawn to the dedication of the Epistle to the “beloved lady,” but researchers agree that this name means a community of Christians.
"The third conciliar epistle of the holy Apostle John the Theologian" in general outline repeats previous books both in style and in subject matter. It is noteworthy that the Roman historian Eusebius of Caesarea, describing the history of the Christian Church, never mentions the presence in the New Testament of the "Third Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian."
The first mentions of the book date back to the second half of the 4th century AD, after the Laodicean Cathedral, dedicated to the issues church government and Christian piety. In particular, the 59th rule prohibits reading biblical books not included in the biblical canon of the Old and New Testaments. In the list given in the next rule, the "Third Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian" appeared. However, the researchers do not doubt the authorship of the book.
In addition, the "Third Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian" is no longer dedicated to Christian communities in general, but specifically to Gaius. However, the identity of Gaius, to whom the book is dedicated, has not been established. Also, more than once in the "Epistle" a certain Diotrephes is mentioned, holding a high office in the Church. The actions of Diotrephes, who did not accept wandering Christians and even threatened them with "administrative punishment" up to excommunication from the church, John the Theologian condemned.
The "Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ" also belongs to the Peru of John the Theologian, also known as the "Apocalypse of John" or "The Revelation of John the Theologian." This work completes the New Testament. Unlike all previous books of John, the Apocalypse reveals the theme of events that will precede the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth. Among such events, the author mentions both natural disasters (the overthrow of fire from heaven, etc.) and miracles (the appearance of angels, the resurrection dead people).
Also in the Apocalypse, the author repeatedly mentions his name - John, and also talks about the events that he witnessed. While staying on the small Greek island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, John heard a voice from behind, ordering him to write what he had seen in a book. In this regard, the authorship of the Apocalypse is sometimes attributed to John of Patmos, who, however, is identified with John the Theologian.
Nevertheless, researchers argue about the authorship of "Revelation", since the style and language of the book differ significantly from the "Epistles of the Council" and the Gospel. However, Metropolitan Hilarion explains this fact by the fact that the author was faced with the need to write about the realities of the New Testament in language and symbols from the Old Testament.
In addition, the German theologian and researcher of Christianity Wilhelm Busse conducted an analysis of the texts, as a result of which he found that the syntax and lexical expressions correspond to the earlier texts of John the Evangelist, thereby confirming his authorship. Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin, a Russian researcher who worked on the interpretation of the texts of Holy Scripture, agreed with Busse.
Modern researchers still question the fact that the "Apocalypse of John" was written by John the Theologian. So, in the book of the Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexander Vladimirovich Me "Reading the Apocalypse", as well as Donald Guthrie's "Introduction to the New Testament", the idea is clearly traced that among the apostles there were at least 3 John, who later merged into a single collective image.
Details of the biography of John the Theologian became known from church writings. After the death of the Virgin Mary, John became a preacher, traveling through the cities of Asia Minor, accompanied by a disciple named Prokhor. Considering that the sermons of John the Theologian were often accompanied by miracles, the number of converts to Christianity became more and more.
When the Roman emperor Nero began persecuting Christians, John was arrested and sent to Rome. The court ordered the execution of the preacher, however, having drunk the poison, John survived. Then the judges decided to put the Apostle in a cauldron of boiling oil, but even then John the Theologian remained unharmed. Then the old preacher was sent into exile to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, accompanied by a disciple.
The ship on which John was sailing with a disciple and a nobleman fell into a storm, and the noble youth fell overboard. The apostle prayed for a long time for the fate of the young man, and in the morning the waves carried him to the shore safe and sound.
Arriving on the island, the Apostle John converted most of the inhabitants to Christianity, performing a series of miraculous healings, and also drove out demons from the pagan temples on the island. The preacher lived with his disciple in a cave far from people, where he indulged in prayer. There, more than once John heard the voice of the Lord, commanding him to write books for the glory of God. The local sorcerer Kynops also lived on the island, turning the inhabitants into paganism. After the prayer of John the Evangelist, the waves of the Aegean Sea forever engulfed Kinops, and the rest of the locals converted to Christianity.
Death
At the end of the 1st century AD, John returned from exile, and died around 100. For a long time, John the Theologian remained the only living apostle who saw Jesus; other apostles were martyred much earlier.
Memory
Even during his lifetime, John the Theologian was honored in the church. So, on the icon "John the Theologian in Silence" the Apostle is depicted with an Angel transmitting to him the Word of the Lord, and on the pandatives Orthodox cathedrals The saint is depicted with an eagle, which symbolizes the soaring thought of the apostle.
Among the exploits of the Apostle John, church legends tell of the resurrection of the youth Domnus and his father Dioscorides by John. In addition, at a festival dedicated to the pagan, John accused the audience of worshiping idols and called on their heads a scorching heat, which killed two hundred people. By faith and by the will of the apostle, the dead were resurrected and accepted Christianity.
The memory of the Apostle John the Theologian is honored on May 8 and June 30 every year. This holiday is called the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles. On September 26, Orthodoxy celebrates the repose of John the Evangelist (for Catholics on December 27). On the day of remembrance of John the Theologian, services are held in churches, and also burns with an incorruptible light, illuminating the path to heaven, a candle in memory of the apostle. At the service, the clergy remember the life of John the Theologian and glorify his exploits.
26.9.105-106 (9.10). - The repose of the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian
Seer of the end of earthly history
Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (+ C. 105-106) was the son of Zebedee and Salome - the daughter of Saint Joseph the Betrothed. Simultaneously with his elder brother Jacob, he was called by our Lord Jesus Christ to be among His disciples on Lake Gennesaret. Leaving their father behind, both brothers followed the Lord.
The Apostle John was especially loved by the Savior for sacrificial love and virgin purity. After his calling, the apostle did not part with the Lord and was one of the three disciples whom He especially brought closer to Him. Saint John the Theologian was present at the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus by the Lord and was a witness. During the Last Supper, he reclined next to the Lord and, at a sign, leaning to the Savior's chest, asked about the name of the traitor.
The Apostle John followed the Lord, when He, bound, was led from the Garden of Gethsemane to the judgment of the wicked high priests Anna and Caiaphas, he was in the bishop's court during the interrogation of his Divine Teacher and relentlessly followed Him along the Way of the Cross, grieving with all his heart. At the foot of the Cross, he wept with and heard the words of the Crucified Lord addressed to Her from the height of the Cross: “Woman, behold thy son” and to him: “Behold thy mother” (John 19:26, 27). From that time on, the Apostle John, like a loving son, took care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and served Her until Her Dormition, never leaving Jerusalem.
After that, the Apostle John, according to the lot that fell to him, went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his disciple Prokhor. They set off in a ship that sank during a violent storm. All the travelers were thrown onto dry land, only the Apostle John remained in the depths of the sea. Prokhor wept bitterly, having lost his spiritual father and mentor, and went to Ephesus alone. On the fourteenth day of the journey, he stood on the seashore and saw that the wave had thrown a man ashore. Approaching him, he recognized the Apostle John, whom the Lord had kept alive for fourteen days in the depths of the sea. The teacher and disciple went to Ephesus, where the Apostle John incessantly preached to the pagans about Christ. His preaching was accompanied by numerous and great miracles, so that the number of believers increased every day.
At this time, the persecution of Christians by the emperor Nero (56–68) began. The Apostle John was taken to Rome for trial. For his confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle John was sentenced to death, but the Lord preserved His chosen one. The Apostle drank the bowl of deadly poison offered to him and remained alive, then he emerged unscathed from the cauldron of boiling oil, into which he had been thrown at the order of the tormentor.
After that, the Apostle John was exiled to prison on the island of Patmos, where he lived for many years. On the way to the place of exile, the Apostle John performed many miracles. On the island of Patmos, preaching accompanied by miracles attracted all the inhabitants of the island to him, whom the Apostle John enlightened with the light of the Gospel. He drove out numerous demons from idols' temples and healed a great many sick people. The Magi, with various demonic obsessions, showed great resistance to the preaching of the holy apostle. The haughty sorcerer Kinops, who boasted that he would lead to the death of the apostle, especially frightened everyone. But John, by the power of the grace of God acting through him, destroyed all the tricks of the demons, on which Kynops had hoped, and the proud sorcerer perished without glory in the sea.
The Apostle John withdrew with his disciple Prochorus to a desert mountain, where he imposed a three-day fast on himself. During the prayer of the apostle, the mountain shook, thunder rumbled. Prokhor fell to the ground in fear. The Apostle John lifted him up and ordered him to write down what he would say. “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, He and He who is and Coming, the Almighty” (Rev. 1: 8), announced the Spirit of God through the holy apostle. So around the year 67 in a cave at the foot of a mountain on the island of Patmos, the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) of the holy Apostle John the Theologian was written. This book reveals the secrets of the fate of the Church and the end of the world.
After a long exile, the Apostle John was freed and returned to Ephesus, where he continued his work, teaching Christians to beware of false teachers and their false teachings. Around the year 95, the Apostle John, at the request of the Christians in Ephesus, wrote the Gospel in Ephesus. It differs from the three previous Gospels of the Apostles Matthew, Mark and Luke in that it does not go into already known details, but fills in the gaps (in particular, conveys the words of the Lord, which John himself heard from Him) and clarifies the divine mission of the Messiah, summarizes the history of the incarnation, sermons , crucifixion and resurrection of the Son of God.
The Apostle John considered it especially important for a Christian to love the Lord and one another and thereby fulfill the commandments of Christ. The Church calls Saint John the Apostle of Love, for he constantly taught that without love a person cannot approach God. The three Epistles, written by the Apostle John, speak of the meaning of love for God and neighbor. Already in extreme old age, having learned about a young man who had gone astray from the true path and became the leader of a gang of robbers, the Apostle John went to look for him in the wilderness. Seeing the holy elder, the guilty one began to hide, but the apostle ran after him and begged him to stop, promising to take the young man’s sin upon himself, if only he would repent and not destroy his soul. Touched by the warmth of love of the holy elder, the young man really repented and corrected his life.
The Holy Apostle John died at the age of more than a hundred years. He far outlived all the other eyewitnesses of the Lord, for a long time remaining the only living witness of the earthly ways of the Savior.
When the time came for the departure of the Apostle John to God, he withdrew outside Ephesus with seven of his disciples and commanded that a cruciform grave be prepared for himself in the earth, in which he lay down, telling the disciples to fill it with earth. It was on September 26th. The disciples weptly kissed their beloved mentor, but, not daring to disobey, they obeyed his command. They covered the saint's face with a cloth and buried the grave. Upon learning of this, the rest of the disciples of the apostle came to the place of his burial and dug up the grave, but found nothing in it.
Every year on May 8, the day when St. The apostle underwent cruel tortures in Rome, from the grave of the holy Apostle John "fine pink dust" appeared, which the believers collected and healed from their illnesses. For the sake of this miracle of the procession of the "fine dust", the Church established a special celebration of the holy Apostle John on May 8/21.
And the relics of this great saint are not available, just as there is no information about his body or relics. Therefore, according to some interpreters, along with the righteous Enoch and Elijah, sent by God before the end of the world, there will be a third messenger of God during the time of Antichrist - the author of the Apocalypse himself, the apostle and seer John the Theologian. (See about this.) According to this point of view, the Apostle John, like Enoch and Elijah, did not die, but, according to the will of God, was taken alive with a body to heaven in order to preach on earth again before the end of the world. Indications of this can be found both in the Church Tradition and in the Holy Scriptures, namely, in the Gospel of John.
Of the disciples of Christ, the Holy Church gave the name of Theologian only to Saint John, the secret-bearer of the fate of God. In our time, much of what was revealed to the Apostle John in mysterious images is embodied in historical reality.
The temple, arranged in a cave on about. Patmos, where St. the apostle John dictated to St. Prokhoros Apocalypse. Currently in spiritual neglect: services are short in the new style, ecumenical prayers, idle tourists.
The Church calls Saint John the Apostle of Love, for he constantly taught that without love a person cannot approach God. Love is main feature his spiritual image. The entire life path of the apostle is the service of Love.
Holy apostle and evangelist John the Evangelist, John Zebedee (Hebrew "Yochanan"), was the brother of Saint James, the son of Zebedee and Salome. The birthplace of John the Theologian was Bethsaida. Zavedei had some fortune, had workers, was engaged in fishing and was not an insignificant member of the Jewish community. Salome was the daughter of the first marriage of Saint Joseph the Betrothed; she is also mentioned among the wives who served the Lord with their property. Thus, John was the nephew of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. He was the first to follow the Savior together with Andrew the First-Called. However, John the Theologian became a constant disciple of the Lord after a miraculous catch of fish on Lake Gennesaret, when the Savior Himself called him along with his brother Jacob.
The Apostle John was especially loved by the Savior for sacrificial love and virgin purity. Together with Peter and his brother James, the Apostle John was honored with a special closeness to the Savior, he was with Him in the most important and solemn moments of His earthly life. The Apostle John was present at the resurrection of Jairus's daughter, saw the Transfiguration of the Lord, heard the conversation about the signs of His second coming, was a witness to His Gethsemane prayer. During the Last Supper, the apostle John fell to the breast of Jesus. Church tradition unanimously identifies John the Theologian with the disciple "whom Jesus loved." "Chest" in Church Slavonic - "persi", probably from here comes the name of John the Theologian confidant of the Savior, later this word becomes a household word for a person, especially someone close.
According to legend, John the Theologian, along with Peter, followed the Savior after his arrest and, using his old acquaintance, went himself and led Peter into the courtyard of the house of the high priest Anna. John the Theologian relentlessly followed the Teacher along the entire Way of the Cross, grieving with all his heart. Of all the apostles, only John the Theologian is said to have stood on Calvary at the cross of the Savior, not caring about his own safety. At the foot of the Cross, he wept with the Mother of God and heard the words of the Crucified Lord addressed to Her from the height of the Cross: “ Wife, behold thy son"And to him:" Behold your Mati". From that time on, the Apostle John, like a loving son, took care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and served Her until Her Dormition, never leaving Jerusalem.
He was characterized by calmness and depth of contemplation combined with ardent fidelity, and his tender and boundless love bordered on ardor and even some harshness. His heartfelt impulses sometimes reached such violent zeal that Christ was forced to temper them, as if they did not agree with the spirit of the new teaching. It is believed that for this fiery zeal, the Savior named the Apostle John and his sibling Jacob by the “sons of thunder” (Boanerges). For him, there was no dichotomy. He believed that one can belong either to Christ or to the devil, there can be no middle state. At the same time, he displayed a rare modesty and, despite his special position as a beloved disciple, he did not stand out from the number of other disciples of the Savior.
According to legend, after the Dormition of the Mother of God, the Apostle John, according to the lot that fell to him, went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his disciple Prokhor. They set off in a ship that was wrecked in a violent storm. All participants in the voyage, except for John the Theologian, after a while were thrown ashore by waves, he, having spent about two weeks in the depths of the sea, was miraculously found by Prokhor on the shore near the city of Ephesus alive and well.
While in the city of Ephesus, the Apostle John unceasingly preached the teachings of Christ to the pagans. His preaching was accompanied by numerous and great miracles, so that the number of those who believed increased every day.
In Ephesus, the apostles John and Prokhor were hired to work in a public bathhouse, owned by an angry and rude woman named Romana. According to pagan custom, a young man and a girl were buried alive in the base of this bath. Since then, a demon has lived in it, and every year he drowned someone. That year a lad named Domn was drowned. The father could not bear the death of his son and died of grief. Romana, out of her malice, accused John of everything, who worked as a stoker. She began to shout that the young man had died from the intoxication, and in the end declared that if John did not resurrect Domnus, he would die himself. The horror of Romana was indescribable when John, having prayed, resurrected not only the young man, but also his father. Then he tied the demon in the name of Christ and drove him out of the city. This miracle shocked Romana and the inhabitants of Ephesus so much that many of the townspeople immediately turned to Christ.
Under the emperor Domitian (81-96), the Apostle John was summoned to Rome as the only surviving apostle, and by order of this persecutor of Christians he was sentenced to death penalty... The apostle drank the cup with deadly poison offered to him and remained alive according to the word of Christ: “and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them” (Mark 16:18), then he was thrown into boiling oil, but the power of God here kept him unharmed.
After that, the Apostle John was exiled to prison on the semi-desert island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. On the ship were royal nobles, the son of one of them, playing, fell into the sea and drowned. The nobles began to ask John for help, but he refused them, having learned that they honor pagan gods... But in the morning, out of pity, John prayed to God, and the wave threw the young man onto the ship.
Apostle John the Evangelist preaching on the island of Patmos during the Bacchanalia (F. Moller. 1856)
On the island of Patmos, the sorcerer Kynops lived, who communicated with unclean spirits. The locals revered Kinops as a god. When the Apostle John began to preach Christ, the inhabitants of the island called the sorcerer Kinops to take revenge on John. The apostle exposed the devilry of Kynops, and through the prayer of John sea wave swallowed the sorcerer. The people who worshiped Kinops waited three days for him by the sea, exhausted from hunger and thirst, and three children died. The Apostle John, having prayed, healed the sick and raised the dead. His preaching, accompanied by many miracles, attracted all local residents who received holy baptism to him.
Once on Patmos, while praying in a secluded cave, he received a revelation about the fate of the world. Tradition describes this event as follows: “The mountain shook, thunder rumbled, Prokhor fell to the ground in fear. The Apostle John lifted him up and ordered him to write down what he would say. “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, Who and Who is Be and Coming, the Almighty,” declared the Spirit of God through the holy apostle. So, around the year 67, the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) of the holy Apostle John the Theologian was written, symbolically describing the events that should take place at the end of times. This is a special book full of mystical depth, power and imagery. Of all the books of the New Testament, one is not read aloud at Orthodox services. The text of the Revelation of John the Theologian is not included in the annual circle of worship. People have been pondering over the symbols of the Apocalypse for centuries, and yet its meaning will be fully revealed only during the Second Coming of Christ.
Four horsemen of the Apocalypse
The cave in which the Apostle received the Revelation is now located under the buildings of the monastery of the Apocalypse and is a temple in honor of the Apostle John the Theologian. To this day, in the cave, pilgrims are shown the place where the Apostle's head rested during sleep, as well as the place where his hand usually lay. In the ceiling of the cave, one can see the same triple crevice through which he heard a "loud voice, like a trumpet," announcing the revelation.
Monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos
The walls of the monastery of St. Apostle John the Theologian on the island of Patmos
Inside the monastery of St. John the Theologian
Cave of the apocalypse
After Domitian's death, the Apostle John returned from exile to Ephesus, where he wrote the Gospel. This was important because by the end of the first century, several active religious movements had spread in the Christian world that denied the divine essence of the Savior.
Since ancient times, the Gospel of John has been called spiritual, it mainly contains the Lord's conversations about the deepest truths of faith - about the incarnation of the Son of God, about the Trinity, about the redemption of mankind, about spiritual rebirth, about the grace of the Holy Spirit and about Communion. From the first words of the Gospel, John raises the believer's thought to the height of the divine origin of the Son of God from God the Father: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was to God and God was the Word." (John 1: 1) The apostle John expresses the purpose of writing his Gospel as follows: “This is written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and, by believing, have life in His name (John 20:31).
In addition to the Gospel and the Apocalypse, the Apostle John wrote three Epistles, which were included in the New Testament books, as Cathedrals (that is, district letters). In them, he preaches love for God and neighbors, himself being an example of love for those around him.
Church Tradition has preserved a touching story that shows with what love his heart was filled. When visiting one of the churches of Asia Minor, the Apostle John, among those listening to his word, noticed a young man distinguished by extraordinary talents, and entrusted him with the special care of the local bishop. Subsequently, this young man became close to bad comrades, became corrupted and became the leader of a gang of robbers. The apostle of love, having learned about this from the bishop, went to the mountains, where robbers raged, was captured by them. He did not try to free himself and only said: “Take me to your leader. I came to see him. " At the sight of the Apostle John, he was extremely embarrassed and rushed to flee from him. John rushed after him: "Son, son, that you are running from your father!" With words of love, he encouraged him, he himself brought him to church, shared with him the labors of repentance and did not rest until he completely reconciled him with God.
In the last years of his life, the Apostle spoke only one admonition: "Children, love one another." The disciples asked him: "Why do you repeat the same thing?" The apostle replied: “This is the most essential commandment. If you fulfill it, then you will fulfill all of Christ's law. "
But Saint John's love for people turned into ardent jealousy when he met false teachers who corrupted the faithful. Once in a public bath, he met the heretic Kerinth, who rejected the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Let's get out of here as soon as possible," the apostle said to his disciple, "I'm afraid this building might fall on us."
The Apostle John the Theologian died in Ephesus at the beginning of the 2nd century, presumably at the age of one hundred and five years. The circumstances of the death of the Apostle John are unusual and even mysterious. At the insistence of the Apostle John, seven of his closest disciples buried him in a cruciform grave, and alive, covering his face with a cloth: "... attract my mother, cover me!" They did not dare to violate the teacher's request. However, after a while, when the grave was opened, the body of John was not there. Prokhor writes: “Then we remembered the words of the Lord, said to the Apostle Peter:“ If I want him to abide until I come, what do you [before]? ” (John 21, 22) This event, as it were, confirmed the assumption of some Christians that the Apostle John would not die, but would remain alive until the Second Coming of Christ and would denounce the Antichrist. Corruption did not touch the body of the apostle - only the Mother of God, Elijah and Enoch were rewarded with this.
Liturgy at the burial place of John the Theologian (Turkey)
Prokhor also reports that every year on May 8, for many years, the tomb exuded myrrh - a thin layer of dust (or "manna") - and people were healed of diseases through the prayers of the holy Evangelist John.
The eagle is a symbol of the high soaring of theological thought - an iconographic sign of the evangelist John the Theologian. Of the disciples of Christ, only to him the Holy Church gave the name of the Theologian, as a secret bearer of the fate of God.
Apostle John the Theologian. Full-height sketch for painting XXS
Troparion, voice 2
Beloved to the Apostle Christ God, / hasten to deliver the unrequited people, / accepts thee who falls, / Who fell on the Persian; / Pray for him, the Theologian, / and the impending darkness of the tongues to drive away, asking us for peace and great mercy.
Kontakion, voice 2
Your majesty, virgin, who is the story? / Quench miracles, and pour out healing, / and pray for our souls, / as a theologian and friend of Christ.
PATMOS (2006)
Year of issue: 2006
Genre: Documentary
Country: Russia
Duration: 00:33:06
Director: Alexander Bogatyrev
About the film:
The film is a pilgrimage. Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, one of the South Sporades Islands. In ancient times, Patmos was a place of exile among the Romans. According to legend, the Apostle John the Theologian was exiled here and in one of the caves he had a revelation that made up the content of the Apocalypse.
On Patmos there is one of the largest in Greece monastery of St. John the Theologian, founded by Saint Christodulus in 1088. It contains a rich collection of manuscripts, a description of which was published by the monk Sakkelion in Athens.
In the monasteries of Patmos there is the head of the Apostle Thomas and the relics of many saints. Those who first get to Patmos leave with tears in their eyes from the cave of the Apocalypse and the monastery of St. John the Evangelist. Many remain to live on the island forever, having converted to Orthodoxy. This is what this film is about. An extraordinary atmosphere of spirituality and at the same time the feeling that it is here on Patmos, where the Apostle John the Theologian lived and wrote the Apocalypse, that they are at the origins of faith. The film will tell about the architecture of the monasteries of this island, its history and sights.