Hans Memling 039.Jpg Apostle Born C. 6 AD Beths
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John the Apostle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Saint John the Apostle[1] Hans Memling 039.jpg Apostle Born c. 6 AD Bethsaida, Judaea, Roman Empire Died Ephesus, Asia, Roman Empire Venerated in Christianity Canonized Pre-congregation Feast 27 December (Roman Catholic, Anglican) 26 September (Orthodox) Attributes Book, a serpent in a chalice, cauldron, eagle Patronage Love, loyalty, friendships, authors, booksellers, burn-victims, poison-victims, art-dealers, editors, papermakers, publishers, scribes, scholars , theologians John the Apostle (Aramaic: ????? ?????? Yohanan Shliha; Hebrew: ????? ?? ????? Y ohanan Ben Zavdai; (Latin and Koine Greek: Ioannes) c. AD 6 c.?100) was one of t he Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He was the son of Ze bedee and Salome. His brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. Christian tradition holds that he outlived the remaining apostles and that he w as the only one not to die a martyr's death (excluding Judas Iscariot who died b y suicide). The Church Fathers consider him the same person as John the Evangeli st, John of Patmos, and the Beloved Disciple. The tradition of many Christian de nominations holds that he is the author of several books of the New Testament. Contents 1 New Testament author 1.1 Book of Revelation 2 References to John in the New Testament 2.1 Sons of thunder 2.2 Other references to John 2.3 The Disciple whom Jesus loved 3 Extrabiblical traditions 4 Liturgical commemoration 5 Other views 5.1 Latter-day Saint view 5.2 Islamic view 6 Gallery of art 7 See also 8 References 9 External links New Testament author[edit] St. John at the Crucifixion of Jesus in a Stabat Mater by Pietro PeruginoRome, c . 1482 Lamentation of the Virgin. John the Apostle trying to console Mary Church tradition holds that John is the author of the Gospel of John and four ot her books of the New Testament the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revela tion. In the Gospel, authorship is internally credited to the "disciple whom Jes us loved" (? µa??t?? ?? ???pa ? ??s???, o mathetes on egapa o Iesous) in John 20:2 . John 21:24 claims that the Gospel of John is based on the written testimony of the "Beloved Disciple". The authorship of some Johannine literature has been de bated since about the year 200.[2][3] Some[by whom?] doubt that the "Gospel of J ohn" was written by an individual named "John" (??????? or ?????). Nevertheless, the notion of "John the Evangelist" exists, and is usually thought of as the sa me as the Apostle John. In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius says that the First Epistle of John and the Gospel of John are widely agreed upon as his. However, Eusebius mentions tha t the consensus is that the second and third epistles of John are not his but we re written by some other John. Eusebius also goes to some length to establish wi th the reader that there is no general consensus regarding the revelation of Joh n. The revelation of John could only be what is now called the book of Revelatio n.[4] The Gospel according to John differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospel s, likely written decades earlier than John's gospel. The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebio nites, who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. John probably knew an d undoubtedly approved of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but these gosp els spoke of Jesus primarily in the year following the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist.[5] Around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that "t wo epistles bearing his name ... are considered by some to be the work of a cert ain John the Elder" and, while stating that Revelation was written by John of Pa tmos, it was "later translated by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus",[6] presumably in an attempt to reconcile tradition with the obvious differences in Greek style. Until the 19th century, the authorship of the Gospel of John had universally bee n attributed to the Apostle John. However, most modern critical scholars have th eir doubts.[7][8] Some scholars agree in placing the Gospel of John somewhere be tween AD 65 and 85,[9][page needed] John Robinson proposes an initial edition by 5055 and then a final edition by 65 due to narrative similarities with Paul.[10] :pp.284,307 Other scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel of John was compos ed in two or three stages.[11]:p.43 Among contemporary scholars are those who co nsider that the Gospel was not written until the latter third of the first centu ry AD, and in the opinion of some an earliest possible would be 75-80 CE.[12] ". ..a date of 75-80 CE as the earliest possible date of composition for this Gospe l". Other scholars think that an even later date, perhaps even the last decade o f the first century AD right up to the start of the 2nd century (i.e. 90 - 100), is applicable.[13] Today, many theological scholars continue to accept the traditional authorship. Colin G. Kruse states that since John the Evangelist has been named consistently in the writings of early church fathers, "it is hard to pass by this conclusion , despite widespread reluctance to accept it by many, but by no means all, moder n scholars."[14] The Gospel of John was written by an anonymous author.[15][16][17][18][19][20][2 1][22][23] According to Paul N. Anderson, the gospel "contains more direct claim s to eyewitness origins than any of the other Gospel traditions".[24] F. F. Bruc e argues that 19:35 contains an "emphatic and explicit claim to eyewitness autho rity".[25] Bart D. Ehrman, however, does not think the gospel claims to have bee n written by direct witnesses to the reported events.[17][26][27] However, the Gospel's chapter 21 ends (at verse 24) with an explicit declaration unifying the witness and authorship, in the form of a literary device of postpo nement of the discovery of the identity of the mysterious "other disciple," and "disciple he loved," and "this man," the first two used multiple times across th e expanse of eye-witness accounts: This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: a nd we know that his testimony is true. (Source, AV) Book of Revelation[edit] The author of the Book of Revelation identifies himself as "John"[28] The early 2nd century writer, Justin Martyr, was the first to equate the author of Revelat ion with John the Apostle.[29] However, some biblical scholars now contend that these were separate individuals.[7][30] John the Presbyter, an obscure figure in the early church, has also been identif ied with the seer of the Book of Revelation by such authors as Eusebius in his C hurch History (Book III, 39) [31] and Jerome.[32] John is considered to have been exiled to Patmos, during the persecutions under Emperor Domitian. Revelation 1:9 says that the author wrote the book on Patmos: "I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation... was on the island th at is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Adela Yarbro Collins, a biblical scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes: Early tradition says that John was banished to Patmos by the Roman authorities. This tradition is credible because banishment was a common punishment used durin g the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were the pra ctices of magic and astrology. Prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, would have been perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order. Three of the isl ands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny Natural History 4.69-70; Tacitus Annals 4.30)[33] Some modern higher critical scholars have raised the possibility that John the A postle, John the Evangelist, and John of Patmos were three separate individuals. [34] These scholars assert that John of Patmos wrote Revelation but neither the Gospel of John nor the Epistles of John. For one, the author of Revelation ident ifies himself as "John" several times, but the author of the Gospel of John neve r identifies himself directly. Some Catholic scholars state that "vocabulary, gr ammar, and style make it doubtful that the book could have been put into its pre sent form by the same person(s) responsible for the fourth gospel".[35] References to John in the New Testament[edit] Russian Orthodox icon of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, 18th ce ntury (Iconostasis from the Church of the Transfiguration, Kizhi Monastery. Sons of thunder[edit] John the Apostle was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James, son of Zebedee (Saint James the Greater). According to Church tradition, their mother was Salome.[36] Zebedee and his sons fished in the Sea of Galilee. The brothers were firstly disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus then called Saint Peter, Saint Andrew and these two sons of Zebedee to follow him. James and John are listed a mong the Twelve Apostles. Jesus referred to the pair as "Boanerges" (translated "sons of thunder");[8] although their nature was calm and gentle, when their pat ience was pushed to its limits their anger became wild and thunderous causing th em to speak out like an untamed storm.