John the Apostle

Who they were

John, son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of James the Greater, came from a family of Galilean fishermen. The youngest of the Twelve and the longest-lived, he calls himself in his Gospel simply 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. With Peter and James he saw the raising of Jairus' daughter, the Transfiguration and the agony in Gethsemane, and at the Last Supper he leant on the Lord's breast.

He alone of the apostles stood at the foot of the cross, where Jesus gave him Mary as his mother: 'Behold your mother.' On Easter morning he reached the empty tomb first but let Peter go in before him. He later went with Mary to Ephesus and evangelised Asia Minor; under Domitian he seems to have been exiled to Patmos, returning to Ephesus under Nerva.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: John has been honoured as apostle and evangelist since the earliest Church.

Why that counted as sanctity

John is the disciple of love: he stayed at the cross when the others fled, took Our Lady into his home, and in his Gospel and letters left the Church's deepest witness that God is love.

Connected on this site

• John the Evangelist Saint Brother or sister
  “The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and claim that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims.” — Wikipedia
• Polycarp Saint Pupil
  “Both Irenaeus and Tertullian say that Polycarp had been a disciple of John the Apostle, one of Jesus's disciples.” — Wikipedia
• St. James the Elder Saint Brother or sister
• Antipas of Pergamum Saint
  “Saint Antipas was, according to the Commentary on the Apocalypse of Andreas of Caesarea, the Antipas referred to in Revelation 2:13, as the verse says: "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein…” — Wikipedia
• Evaristus Saint
  “It is likely that John the Apostle died during his reign period, marking the end of the Apostolic Age.” — Wikipedia
• Gregory of Nazianzus Saint
  “He is also one of only three men in the life of the Orthodox Church who have been officially designated "Theologian" by epithet, the other two being John the Apostle, and Symeon the New Theologian.” — Wikipedia
• Prochorus Saint
  “A variant tradition saw him as a companion of Saint John the Apostle, consecrated by the latter as bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia.” — Wikipedia
• Symeon the New Theologian Saint
  “949 – 12 March 1022) was an Eastern Orthodox monk and poet who was one of the three saints canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and given the title of "Theologian" (along with John the Apostle and Gregory of Nazianzus).” — Wikipedia