یک آیه از کتاب مکاشفه یوحنا

10. ساکنان زمین در مرگ آنان شادیها خواهند نمود و برای یکدیگر هدیه‌ها خواهند فرستاد؛ زیرا که آن دو نبی ساکنان زمین را معذب ساخته بودند.

یک آیه از کتاب مکاشفه یوحنا

7. باری، همین که آنان شهادت خود را یکسره به انجام رسانند، آن وحش که از هاویه بیرون می‌آید، با آنان خواهد جنگید و بر آنان غالب شده، آنان را خواهد کشت.

یک آیه از کتاب مکاشفه یوحنا

5. اگر کسی بخواهد آسیبی به آنها برساند، آتش از دهانشان زبانه می‌کشد و دشمنانشان را فرو می‌بلعد. این است طریق مردن هر کس که قصد آزار آنان کند.

.St. John the Evangelist.

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

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

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

The Holy, Glorious All-laudable Apostle and Evangelist, Virgin, and Beloved Friend of Christ, John the Theologian was the son of Zebedee and Salome, a daughter of St Joseph the Betrothed. He was called by our Lord Jesus Christ to be one of His Apostles at the same time as his elder brother James. This took place at Lake Gennesareth (i.e. the Sea of Galilee). Leaving behind their father, both brothers followed the Lord.

The Apostle John was especially loved by the Savior for his sacrificial love and his virginal purity. After his calling, the Apostle John did not part from the Lord, and he was one of the three apostles who were particularly close to Him. St John the Theologian was present when the Lord restored the daughter of Jairus to life, and he was a witness to the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor.

During the Last Supper, he reclined next to the Lord, and laid his head upon His breast. He also asked the name of the Savior’s betrayer. The Apostle John followed after the Lord when they led Him bound from the Garden of Gethsemane to the court of the iniquitous High Priests Annas and Caiphas. He was there in the courtyard of the High Priest during the interrogations of his Teacher and he resolutely followed after him on the way to Golgotha, grieving with all his heart.

At the foot of the Cross he stood with the Mother of God and heard the words of the Crucified Lord addressed to Her from the Cross: “Woman, behold Thy son.” Then the Lord said to him, “Behold thy Mother” (John 19:26-27). From that moment the Apostle John, like a loving son, concerned himself over the Most Holy Virgin Mary, and he served Her until Her Dormition.

After the Dormition of the Mother of God the Apostle John went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his own disciple Prochorus. They boarded a ship, which floundered during a terrible tempest. All the travellers were cast up upon dry ground, and only the Apostle John remained in the depths of the sea. Prochorus wept bitterly, bereft of his spiritual father and guide, and he went on towards Ephesus alone.

On the fourteenth day of his journey he stood at the shore of the sea and saw that the waves had cast a man ashore. Going up to him, he recognized the Apostle John, whom the Lord had preserved alive for fourteen days in the sea. Teacher and disciple went to Ephesus, where the Apostle John preached incessantly to the pagans about Christ. His preaching was accompanied by such numerous and great miracles, that the number of believers increased with each day.

During this time there had begun a persecution of Christians under the emperor Nero (56-68). They took the Apostle John for trial at Rome. St John was sentenced to death for his confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord preserved His chosen one. The apostle drank a cup of deadly poison, but he remained alive. Later, he emerged unharmed from a cauldron of boiling oil into which he had been thrown on orders from the torturer.

After this, they sent the Apostle John off to imprisonment to the island of Patmos, where he spent many years. Proceeding along on his way to the place of exile, St John worked many miracles. On the island of Patmos, his preaching and miracles attracted to him all the inhabitants of the island, and he enlightened them with the light of the Gospel. He cast out many devils from the pagan temples, and he healed a great multitude of the sick.

Sorcerers with demonic powers showed great hostility to the preaching of the holy apostle. He especially frightened the chief sorcerer of them all, named Kinops, who boasted that they would destroy the apostle. But the great John, by the grace of God acting through him, destroyed all the demonic artifices to which Kinops resorted, and the haughty sorcerer perished in the depths of the sea.

The Apostle John withdrew with his disciple Prochorus to a desolate height, where he imposed upon himself a three-day fast. As St John prayed the earth quaked and thunder rumbled. Prochorus fell to the ground in fright. The Apostle John lifted him up and told him to write down what he was about to say. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8), proclaimed the Spirit of God through the Apostle John. Thus in about the year 67 the Book of Revelation was written, known also as the “Apocalypse,” of the holy Apostle John the Theologian. In this Book were predictions of the tribulations of the Church and of the end of the world.

The Lord bestowed on His beloved disciple John and John’s brother James the name “Sons of Thunder” as an awesome messenger in its cleansing power of the heavenly fire. And precisely by this the Savior pointed out the flaming, fiery, sacrificial character of Christian love, the preacher of which was the Apostle John the Theologian. The eagle, symbol of the lofty heights of his theological thought, is the iconographic symbol of the Evangelist John the Theologian. The appellation “Theologian” is bestown by Holy Church only to St John among the immediate disciples and Apostles of Christ, as being the seer of the mysterious Judgments of God.

John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, alongside his brother James, according to the New Testament. He is believed to be the youngest of the apostles and the only apostle who died of old age rather than being martyred. He is also known as John the Evangelist, the Beloved Disciple, John of Patmos, John the Elder and John the Presbyter. He is believed to be the author of the 'Gospel of John', as well as four other books of the New Testament: the three 'Epistles of John' and the 'Book of Revelation'. Some sources also credit him for writing the pseudepigraphal apocryphal text of titled 'Acts of John' which, despite containing strong docetic themes, is not considered to be gnostic in modern scholarship. December 27 is observed as the feast day of Saint John.

Apostle John was one of the most significant figures in early Christian history. The beloved disciple of Jesus Christ, John is believed to have been the author of the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. However, what happened to John after the crucifixion of Jesus remains a mystery. In this blog post, we’ll explore the historical context, theories, and debates surrounding John’s death and attempt to uncover the truth behind this ancient enigma. If you’re interested in learning more about the life and death of Apostle John, keep reading!

یوحنا رسول

یوحنای حواری که با نام‌های یوحنای الهی و یوحنا پسر زبدی نیز شناخته می‌شود، یکی از دوازده حواری عیسی بود. سنت مسیحی او را با نویسندگان چندین اثر عهد جدید، از جمله انجیل یوحنا، می شناسد.According to the New Testament, John came from a family of fisherman. He became part of the core group of three disciples who witnessed certain key events in Jesus' ministry. As "the disciple whom Jesus loved," John is noted for his faith and loyalty to Jesus. However, together with Peter and James, John failed to keep watch and protect Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane at a crucial moment in Jesus' ministry. Nevertheless, he alone among the Twelve is believed to have stood by Jesus at the Cross.

According to the Book of Acts, John was a significant leader in the earliest church, but he drops out of the biblical record after Paul mentions him as a "pillar" of the Jerusalem church in Galatians 2. Tradition holds that he went to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary and founded several churches in Asia minor. He is recognized as a saint in all Christian traditions which venerate holy persons, and is believed to be buried at Ephesus.

The creator of the Gospel of John is usually known as John the Evangelist, John the Theologian, or John the Divine. This text contains references to the "disciple whom Jesus loved," traditionally taken as a self-reference by the author, and therefore a reference to John the Apostle.

John had a prominent position among the disciples as one of the three apparently most trusted by Jesus. Peter, James and John were the only witnesses to the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:37), to the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and to Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). His position was such that his mother felt that it as appropriate to ask that he be considered to sit at Jesus' right hand after the messianic kingdom was established (Matthew 20:20). He and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal, the Last Supper (Luke 22:8). At the meal itself—assuming John was indeed the same person as the "disciple whom Jesus loved"—his place was next to Jesus, on whose chest he leaned (John 13:23).

At Gethsemane, however, John is portrayed as failing in an important duty. There, he and the other two core disciples were commanded by Jesus to keep watch while Jesus prayed. All three of them tragically fell asleep, not once, but three times, failing to warn Jesus of the approach of Judas Iscariot with the Temple guards who came to arrest him. After this, Matthew reports that "all the disciples deserted him and fled." (Matthew 26:56)

The Gospel of John alone presents Peter and another disciple as not entirely deserting Jesus after this moment. According to tradition, John was the "other disciple" who, with Peter, followed Jesus after the arrest into the palace of the high priest (John 18:15). Though still unnamed, John's Gospel presents the beloved disciple as the only one of the Twelve who remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary, along with Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, and the other pious women. He was instructed by Jesus to take his mother into his care, as Jesus' last instruction on earth (John 19:25-27).

Some interpret the Book of Acts to indicate that a community of believers in Jesus was already in existence at Ephesus before Paul's first visit there (cf. "the brethren," Acts 18:27, in addition to Priscilla and Aquila). Some thus hold that John went to Asia Minor and was the first to exercise the apostolic office in various provinces there. Moreover, the fact that the Holy Spirit reportedly did not permit Paul, on his second missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel in Asia, Mysia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6 sq.), may refer to John's previous missionary activity there.

Of the other New Testament writings, it is only from the three epistles of John and the Book of Revelation that anything further is learned about John, and this information depends on whether one accepts him as the author of these works or not. If so he lived for a long time in Asia Minor, was thoroughly acquainted with the conditions existing in the various messianic communities there (called the "seven churches" in the Book of Revelation), and had a position of authority recognized by some, but apparently not all of the churches in this region. Both Revelation and the epistles speak of various schisms and heresies which had arisen, against which the author writes. In addition, the letter known as 3 John indicates that its author has been rejected by some of the leaders with whom he had communicated. Revelation adds that its author was on the island of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus," (Revelation 1:9), meaning that he had become the "confessor" who had apparently been exiled to Patmos on account of his faith.

Catholic and Orthodox tradition say that John, together with the the Virgin Mary, moved to Ephesus, where both eventually died. According to Tertullian, John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and miraculously suffering nothing from it. Some believe his tomb is located at Selçuk, a small town in the vicinity of Ephesus.

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