On 27 December the church remembers Saint John, the Apostle and Evangelist. John was the only Apostle not to have died a martyrs death, and was the author of several New Testament books. He is Patron Saint of Love, Loyalty, Friendships, Authors, Booksellers, Burn-victims, Poison-victims, Art-dealers, Editors, Publishers, Scribes, Examinations, Scholars and Theologians.

But who was Saint John?

St John the Apostle and Evangelist was born in 6 AD in Palestinian Territories in Asia. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome and also a brother to Saint James the Greater.

He was a fisherman and his brother Saint James the Greater until meeting Jesus and becoming an apostle.

Compering with other apostles he was the youngest called to follow Christ on the banks of the Jordan during the first days of Our Lord’s ministry. Jesus referred to the pair as “Boanerges” (translated “sons of thunder”).

Saint John the Apostle, along with Saint James and Saint Peter, witnessed the most significant events in Jesus’ life such as the Transfiguration and the Agony in the garden.

Additionally, he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. At the Last Supper, his head rested on the bosom of Jesus, and in the hours of the Passion, when others fled or denied their Master, St. John kept his place by the side of Jesus and stood by the last cross with Mary.

From the cross, the dying Saviour bequeathed His Mother to the care of the faithful apostle, who “from that hour took her to his own;” thus fitly, as St. Austin says, “to a virgin was the Virgin entrusted.”After the Ascension, St. John lived first at Jerusalem, and then at Ephesus.

He was thrown by Domitian into a cauldron of boiling oil and is thus reckoned a martyr, though miraculously preserved from hurt.

Because John witnessed the events of Jesus, he wrote his gospel. Additionally, he wrote the letters of John the three Epistles of John, and the book of Revelation.

Afterward, he was banished to the isle of Patmos, where he received the heavenly visions described in Revelation. He died at a great age, in peace, at Ephesus, in the year 100 AD.

A Prayer

Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.