John, Apostle and Evangelist, 27 December
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John, son of Zebedee, was one of the twelve apostles of Our Lord. Together with his brother James and with Simon Peter, he formed a kind of inner circle of Three among the Twelve, in that those three were privileged to behold the miracle of the Great Catch of Fish (Luke 5:10), the healing of Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31), the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37 = Luke 8:51), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1 = Mark 9:2 = Luke 9:28), and the Agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37 = Mark 14:33).

He expressed a willingness to undergo martyrdom (Matthew 20:22 = Mark 10:39)—as did the other apostles (Matthew 26:35 = Mark 14:31)—and is accordingly called a martyr in intention.

However, we have ancient testimony that, although imprisoned and exiled for his testimony to the Gospel, he was eventually released and died a natural death in Ephesus: "a martyr in will but not in deed."

John is credited with the authorship of three epistles (1 John, 2 John, 3 John) and one Gospel, although many scholars believe that the final editing of the Gospel was done by others shortly after his death. He is also supposed by many to be the author of the book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse, although this identification is less certain.

written by James Kiefer