cauldron of boiling oil, outside the Latin Mountain) to protect her from the
The Grave of St. John
gate, without the boiling fluid doing him persecutions.
any injury. [Eusebius makes no mention
The date of his death cannot be fixed with
the Evangelist
of this. The legend of the boiling oil
anything like precision, but it is certain
occurs in Tertullian and in Saint Jerome]. Ephesus, Turkey (formerly Greece)
that he lived to a very advanced age. He is
He was sent to labor at the mines in represented holding a chalice from which
Patmos. At the accession of Nerva he was As written in the New Testament, Jesus sent
issues a dragon, as he is supposed to have
set free, and returned to Ephesus, and his trusted disciple John to this region, with
been given poison, which was, however,
there it is thought that he wrote his gospel. Virgin Mary, to flee persecution and spread
innocuous. Also his symbol is an eagle. After
Of his zeal and love combined we have the gospel. Here, near Bodrum in the South
his death he was buried nearby Ephesus. In
examples in Eusebius, who tells, on the of Turkey, is the Grave of St. John the Apostle,
the 4th century Byzantines build a small
authority of Irenaeus, that Saint John on the right. A plaque commemorates the
church over his tomb and finally in the 6th
once fled out of a bath on hearing that visit of Pope Paul VI in 1967. You can see
century Justinian I built a cathedral which
Cerinthus was in it, lest, as he asserted, both Greco-Roman influence as well as the
was destroyed by the Arab raids between 7th
the roof should fall in, and crush the defiling of the temple and carving of "Coptic
and 8th centuries. Today his grave is
heretic. On the other hand, he showed crosses': A fortress built by later conquerors
recognized as a shrine by the Vatican and it
the love that was in him. He commended a stands majestically in the background,
stands in Selcuk, nearby Izmir, in the
young man in whom he was interested to Aegean region of Turkey. It is one of the while little but ruins are left of the
a bishop, and bade him keep his trust many religious sites in Anatia. Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven
well. Some years after he learned that Wonders of the ancient world.
the young man had become a robber. Saint
John, though very old, pursued him Saint John the Evangelist
among the mountain fastnesses, and by his Saint John the Divine as the son of Zebedee,
and his mother's name was Salome
tenderness recovered him.
[Matthew 4:21, 27:56; Mark 15:40, 16:1].
They lived on the shores of the sea of Galilee.
In his old age, when unable to do more, he The brother of Saint John, probably
was carried into the assembly of the Church considerably older, was Saint James. The
at Ephesus, and his sole exhortation was, mention of the "hired men" [Mark 1:20],
Pope John Paul II Society of Evangelists and of Saint John's "home" [John 19:27],
"Little children, love one another": He also P. O. Box 5584, Bakersfield, California 93388
e-mail: info@pjpiisoe.org Phone: 661 393-3239 implies that the condition of Salome and her
brought Virgin Mary up on Panaghia
www.pjpiisoe.org children was not one of great poverty.
Kapulu (Biilbi l Dag, Nightingale Donation Welcome and Appreciated
Pamphlet 178
SS. John and James followed the Baptist Gethsemane. The mother of James and the two apostles. It was not enough for Peter
when he preached repentance in the John, knowing our Lord's love for the to know his own fate, he must learn also
wilderness of Jordan. There can be little brethren, made special request for them, something of the future that awaited his
doubt that the two disciples, whom Saint that they might sit, one on his right hand, friend. The Acts show us them still united,
John does not name (John 1:35), who the other on his left, in his kingdom entering together as worshippers into the
looked on Jesus "as he walked," when the [Matthew 20:21]. There must have been Temple [Acts 3:1], and protesting together
Baptist exclaimed with prophetic much impetuosity in the character of the against the threats of the Sanhedrin [Acts
perception, "Behold the Lamb of God!" brothers, for they obtained the nickname of 4:13]. They were fellow-workers together
were Andrew and John. They followed and Boanerges, Sons of Thunder [Mark 3:17, in the first step of Church expansion. The
asked the Lord where he dwelt. He bade see also Luke 9:54]. It is not necessary to apostle whose wrath had been kindled at
them come and see, and they stayed dwell on the familiar history of the Last the unbelief of the Samaritans, was the first
with him all day. Of the subject of Supper and the Passion. To John was to receive these Samaritans as brethren
conversation that took place in this committed by our Lord the highest of [Luke 9:54, Acts 8:14].
interview no record has come to us, but it privileges, the care of his mother [John
was probably the starting-point of the 19:27]. John [the "disciple whom Jesus
When he went to Ephesus is uncertain. He
entire devotion of heart and soul which loved"] and Peter were the first to receive
was at Jerusalem fifteen years after
lasted through the life of the Beloved the news from the Magdalene of the
Saint Paul's first visit there [Acts 15:6].
Apostle. Resurrection [John 20:2], and they
There is no trace of his presence there
hastened at once to the sepulchre, and there
John apparently followed his new Master when Saint Paul was at Jerusalem for the
when Peter was restrained by awe, John
to Galilee, and was with him at the last time.
impetuously "reached the tomb first."
marriage feast of Cana, journeyed
Tradition, more or less
with him to Capernaum, and thenceforth
In the interval between the Resurrection and trustworthy, completes the history.
never left him, save when sent on the
the Ascension, John and Peter were together Irenaeus says that Saint John did not
missionary expedition with another,
on the Sea of Galilee [John 21:1], having settle at Ephesus until after the death SS.
invested with the power of healing. He,
returned to their old calling, and old familiar Peter and Paul, and this is probable. He
James, and Peter, came within the
haunts. certainly as not there when Saint Timothy
innermost circle of their Lord's friends, and
was appointed bishop of that place. Saint
these three were suffered to remain with When Christ appeared on the shore in the Jerome says that he supervised and
Christ when all the rest of the apostles dusk of morning, John was the first to governed all the Churches of Asia. In
were kept at a distance [Mark 5:37, recognize him. The last words of the Gospel the persecution of Domitian he was
Matthew 17:1, 26:37]. Peter, James, and reveal the attachment which existed between taken to Rome, and was placed in a
John were with Christ in the Garden of
