High above us rises Saint-Jean Apôtre. Who was Saint John? His father was Zébédée. His mother was Marie Salomé. He had a brother who was also an apostle. That apostle was Jacques le Majeur. Saint John is called John the Apostle or John the Evangelist. He is also called John the Theologian. This distinguishes him from John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the precursor and prophet of Jesus.
Like André he was a disciple of John the Baptist. John pointed out Jesus by saying “Behold the Lamb of God”. John left John the Baptist. This was after the Baptism and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came in the form of a dove. Jesus came to him. John abandoned everything to follow Jesus with his brother Jacques.
John is often called “the beloved of the Lord”. Some call him the one whom Jesus loved. John is considered Christ’s favorite apostle. Many representations of the Last Supper show him at Jesus’ side. In the Gospel attributed to Saint John he reports the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper. He speaks with great precision about the Discourse of the Supper. These are chapters 14 to 17. It includes the sending of the Holy Spirit or Paraclete by the Father.
John was one of the three apostles with Pierre and Jacques. They went up the mountain of Thabor. They witnessed the Transfiguration. They saw the divinity of the Word shining in the body of Jesus. The Father said “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him”.
When Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers John followed him. He went into the courtyard of the High Priest. He witnessed the crucifixion and agony at Gethsemane. Later writings say that Christ on the cross gave John the mission of watching over his mother. This was the Virgin Mary. He welcomed her into his home. He was the last to remain in Jerusalem to serve her.
After the Resurrection John seems to have gone to Samaria. He preached with Pierre. He fled the persecutions of the Romans. He left Palestine. He took refuge in Ephesus. He performed miracles there. He baptized many people.
Emperor Domitian sent him into exile. He was on the island of Patmos. There he wrote the Apocalypse. After Domitian’s death in 96 Emperor Nerva allowed John to return to Ephesus. The inhabitants of Patmos greatly regretted this. He had converted them in large numbers. Tradition says he lived for many years in Ephesus. There he composed his three Epistles. He also wrote the fourth Gospel. It is known as the Gospel according to John. The oldest trace of it is the Papyrus P52. This was in the year 97.
He died in Ephesus in 101. He was 98 years old. He was buried in Selçuk. This is near Ephesus. There was a Saint John basilica there. Today it is in ruins. The Gospel according to Saint John is different from the others. The first three Gospels are called synoptic. They have many points in common. They can be arranged in parallel. The Gospel of John was written later. It was at the end of the 1st century. In our tradition Saint John is the author of this Gospel.
Neither the name of the author nor that of the apostle John appears in the Gospel according to John. Technically the Gospel of John does not contain parables. It mentions fewer events in the life of Jesus. This places it in a complementary position compared to the Gospels of Luke and Mark.
The Apocalypse is a book of comfort and hope for believers. It helps people to persevere in times of trial. It encourages trust in Jesus Christ. It depicts Jesus in a different light than the other texts of the New Testament. Jesus conquered evil by triumphing over death. He will defeat it definitively at the coming of the new Jerusalem. The Apocalypse has been a source for many authors and artists. It has also influenced cinema. Written in coded language it has served as a decoding grid for artistic and literary works. It has also influenced works related to spectacle.
This revelation was written by a certain John. We identify him as John the Evangelist. He himself suffered for his faith. He wrote from the island of Patmos in modern Turkey. This was probably at the end of the 1st century.