May 8. The Commemoration of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
This holy Apostle and Evangelist was born into the family of Zebedee and his wife Salome, the daughter of the holy righteous Joseph the Betrothed. Joseph had four sons—James, Simeon, Jude, and Joses—as well as three daughters: Esther, Martha, and Salome, who became the wife of Zebedee and the mother of John. All these children of Joseph were born long before the time when the Virgin Mary, the most holy Mother of Jesus Christ, was formally betrothed to him. Thus, John was considered the Lord Jesus’ nephew. He was His most beloved disciple, so much so that at the Mystical Supper he leaned his head upon the Lord’s breast, and at the time of Christ’s arrest and crucifixion, he neither fled nor feared to remain by his Teacher’s side. As He hung upon the Cross, the Lord entrusted His Mother into John’s care, adopting him to her as her son. From that time until her Dormition, the youngest of the apostles cared for her. And after the Resurrection of Christ, he was the first—along with the Apostle Peter—to run to the tomb, thus revealing the fervor of his love.
After the Dormition of the Most Holy God-bearer, when the holy apostles cast lots to determine to which lands they were to go preaching, the lot fell to John to go to Asia Minor. He was greatly saddened, for he prophetically foresaw the trials that awaited him by sea, and he shared his concerns with his disciple Prochorus. They boarded a ship in Joppa; but during the voyage a storm arose, and though the vessel fought the waves for hours, it was eventually shattered. Those aboard clung to fragments of the wreckage and floated amidst the stormy sea. The next day at noon, the survivors were cast ashore five versts from Seleucia—but John was not among them. All believed he had drowned. Prochorus then went alone into Asia.
Meanwhile, John, having been borne upon the waves for forty days and nights, was finally cast ashore by a great wave at a place called Marble. There, by divine providence, Prochorus also happened to arrive, and seeing his teacher lying on the ground, he lifted him up joyfully and embraced him. Together they ate some bread and went into the city of Ephesus.
In the city they met a wealthy woman named Romana, whose wickedness was so notorious that it had reached even Rome. She owned a public bathhouse and was in need of workers, for her cruel disposition kept anyone from wishing to be employed by her. Driven by hunger, the apostles hired themselves out. Romana made John a stoker of the furnaces, and Prochorus a water-carrier, screaming at them viciously that they would serve her like slaves until their deaths.
Now, in that bathhouse, a wicked demon had dwelt for three years, killing a young man or woman each year. When the bathhouse was originally constructed, a youth and a maiden had been sacrificed to idols and buried in the foundation—and ever since, such yearly killings occurred.
Three months into their labor, a youth named Domn, the son of the city governor Dioscorides, came to bathe. The demon strangled him. News of his death spread quickly through the city and reached his father, who died of grief. Romana prayed to Artemis to resurrect Domn, lacerating herself in vain—but the boy remained dead.
Apostle John asked Prochorus why Romana was raging so wildly. Seeing them speaking, Romana rushed at John, beat him, and accused him of Domn’s death. When she grew tired, she declared, “Raise Domn from the dead this instant, or I will kill you!”
John, bearing her insults and blows with his usual meekness, prayed to the Lord Jesus concerning the youth—and at once, Domn arose from the dead, to the astonishment of the formerly frenzied Romana. Fear and trembling came upon her, and she began to cry out that John was a god. But he preached to her of Jesus Christ, by whose power the youth had been raised.
Then the apostle, taking Domn and Prochorus, hurried to the house of Dioscorides, Domn’s father. At John’s prayer, Dioscorides too rose from the dead. Both father and son believed in Christ and were baptized, as was Romana. The people of the city were thrown into confusion, debating whether the apostles were sorcerers or gods descended to earth.
The Apostle John cast the murderous demon out of the bathhouse, and from that time forward no one ever died there again. Romana freed the apostles from her service, and they took up residence in the governor’s house, preaching the Gospel in Ephesus.
When the pagans of Ephesus held a public festival in honor of the goddess Artemis, the Apostle John ascended a high place where her temple stood and began to preach Christ and denounce the delusions of the heathen. The crowd became enraged and began hurling stones at the apostle—but the stones did not strike him. By the power of God, they turned back and struck those who had thrown them, even tearing their garments. Then, at the apostle’s prayer, an intense heat fell upon them, so that the pagans collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. More than two hundred died on the spot, while the rest were seized with fear and dread. They began to plead with John for mercy. The apostle again prayed and raised the dead, and the heat ceased. Once more, he addressed the crowd with the preaching of Christ—and all who were present were baptized.
Many signs and healings were wrought by the holy John in Ephesus. Thus, he healed a man who had been paralyzed and bedridden for twelve years. The man rose up, glorified God, and received holy baptism. The demon dwelling in the temple of Artemis foresaw that he would be cast out by the apostle. So he took on the form of a soldier, took a scroll in his hand, and sat in a busy place in the city, pretending to weep and mourn. To passers-by he claimed to be a prison warden from Caesarea in Palestine, from whom two wicked sorcerers—John and Prochorus—had escaped. He said they had been sentenced to death for their crimes, and that the prince would execute him if he did not return the fugitives to prison at once. He showed people a letter supposedly from the prince, and a large bundle of gold, which he promised to give to anyone who captured the “sorcerers.”
Hearing this, certain soldiers took pity on the supposed warden, gathered a mob, and came to the house of Dioscorides, demanding the handover of the apostles and threatening to burn the house down. The governor refused to comply. Then John, not wishing to provoke a riot, came out with Prochorus and surrendered himself to the crowd. They were brought to the temple of Artemis. There, the Apostle John prayed, and the temple suddenly collapsed. Then the apostle asked the demon, disguised as the prison warden, “How many years have you dwelt here?” The demon answered that he had lived in the temple of Artemis for 249 years and that he had stirred up the crowd against the apostles. And John said to him, “I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, to remain here no longer!” And the false prison warden vanished before the eyes of all the people, who were struck with terror. Many believed in Christ and were baptized. And the more signs John performed, the more people turned to the truth of Christ.
News of these events reached the emperor Domitian, who was an enemy and persecutor of Christians. By his order, both apostles were arrested and exiled to the island of Patmos. But the Lord had already forewarned John in a dream, saying to him: “It is appointed for thee to suffer much, and thou shalt be cast out to a certain island, which hath great need of thee.” During the voyage under guard to Patmos, John worked great wonders: he raised a dead soldier, calmed a fierce storm that threatened to destroy the ship, and healed one of the guards from deadly dysentery simply by laying his cloak on him. All the guards were baptized.
On the island, the apostle cast a demon out of Apolloniad, the eldest son of Myron, the father-in-law of the island’s governor, and forbade the demon ever to return. All who dwelt in Myron’s house believed and were baptized—Apolloniad himself, his sister Chrysippa with her husband Laurentius and their household, and even the governor of the island himself.
There lived on the island a sorcerer-hermit named Cynops. For many years he had dwelled in the wilderness, communing only with demons, and the islanders revered him as a god, since he conjured visions before their eyes by his magic. It was to this sorcerer that the priests of the temple of Apollo—recently destroyed by John’s prayer—fled and begged him to come to the city and defeat John. After much persuasion, Cynops said he would not go himself, but would send his servant—a prince of demons—who, he claimed, would seize John’s soul and deliver it to eternal torment.
The demon entered the house of Myron, but John commanded him to stand still and not move until he revealed who had sent him. The demon was forced to confess everything and said of Cynops, “All the power of Satan is in him. He is even reckoned among the princes of the demons. We are always with him, and he listens to us, and we to him!” Then the apostle said to the demon: “I, the apostle of Christ, command thee, wicked spirit: never again approach man or human dwelling! Return not to Cynops, but depart from this island and suffer torment, finding no rest anywhere!” And the demon immediately left the island.
Cynops, having waited in vain for the return of the demon, sent another with the same mission—but he too suffered the same fate as the first and did not return. Then the malicious elder sent two demons, commanding one of them not to enter the house of Myron but to spy from a distance and report what occurred. This demon saw everything and returned to inform Cynops. Enraged, he came into the city, accompanied by legions of invisible demons.
When the people saw the hermit-sorcerer whom they revered, they rejoiced. Many came forward and bowed before Cynops. A crowd gathered, which the magician led to deal with the holy Apostle John. The apostle was teaching at a certain place. Cynops approached him and cried out to the people: “O foolish and blind men, listen! I shall speak with John, and if he can do what I ask, I too shall believe his words!” Then, calling forth a certain youth from the crowd, the sorcerer asked him, “Where is your father?” The youth answered that his father had been a sailor and had drowned in a shipwreck. Cynops said to the apostle: “If you speak the truth, then set this man’s father before him alive!” John replied: “Christ has sent me not to raise the dead from the sea, but to teach deceived mankind!” Then Cynops cried out to the crowd: “You see, John is a deceiver! Seize him, and I shall bring forth the youth’s father from the sea!” He clapped his hands, the sea was stirred, and the magician vanished from sight. After a time, he emerged from the sea, leading by the hand a demon who had taken on the appearance of the youth’s father. The demon confirmed he was indeed the father. The crowd bowed to Cynops and wanted to kill the apostle, but the magician forbade it, saying he would show even greater signs first.
He then called out to a man from the crowd and asked whether he had a son. The man answered that his son had been murdered. Cynops immediately called out both the name of the murdered son and of his murderer, and two demons appeared, assuming their likeness. The father affirmed that these were indeed his son and his killer. Turning to the apostle, Cynops said, “Why do you marvel, John?” But the apostle replied, “I do not marvel at this.” Cynops shouted, “You shall see greater than this and will marvel! And I will not allow you to die until you do!” John replied, “Your wonders shall soon come to nothing!” The crowd then grew restless, began to beat and abuse the apostle, and he collapsed as if dead. Cynops ordered that he be left unburied so that the birds might devour him, and he departed with the crowd.
But John, recovering, again began to preach Christ among the people. And as he taught at a place where criminals were usually stoned, Cynops came with demons and a crowd of his followers and said to John: “I did not kill you before so that you might behold my greater glory. Come to the shore, and you shall see!” With him were the same demons who had taken on the forms of the supposedly resurrected dead. At the shore, Cynops clapped his hands and leapt into the sea, vanishing from the crowd’s sight. The people cried out: “Great art thou, Cynops, and there is none greater than thee!” But John prayed to the Lord that Cynops might not return alive from the depths of the sea. Then the sea was suddenly stirred and foamed violently. The crowd waited long for Cynops, but he did not return, having perished in the deep through John’s prayer—just as in olden times Pharaoh’s army perished through the prayer of Moses.
Then the apostle, in the name of Christ and His Resurrection, adjured the demons who had been impersonating those supposedly raised by Cynops to depart from the island and never return. They vanished instantly. Cynops’ followers waited on the shore for three days and nights without food or drink, many collapsing from the heat, and some even dying—including three children. The apostle prayed and first raised the adults, instructing them in the faith of Christ. Then, before their eyes, he raised the children. And all, being of one mind, came to Christ and were baptized.
There lived on the island a widow named Procliania, who, under demonic suggestion, had become passionately enamored of her own son Sosipater and sought to seduce him into unlawful cohabitation. When the youth rejected her, she became enraged and falsely accused him before a judge, demanding the death penalty for her own son. But the apostle, learning of this, prayed—and the hand of the judge who had sentenced the innocent youth suddenly withered. Procliania, seeing this miracle, repented publicly before the apostle and all who were present. John immediately healed her from her unclean passion and restored the judge’s arm. The youth, his mother, and the judge all believed in Christ and were baptized.
At that time, the impious emperor was slain, and another took his place. This new ruler released many whom the wicked Domitian had exiled or imprisoned. It was time for John to return to Ephesus. The people of Patmos, who had come to believe in Christ, wept at the news of his departure and earnestly begged the apostle to write down for them all that he had taught about Christ, so that the memory would not perish with time. Heeding their request, John went up with Prochorus to a high mountain and fasted there for three days. Then a great thunderclap sounded, lightning flashed, and the mountain shook. Prochorus fell to the ground in terror, but John lifted him up and seated him at his right hand. Then, looking up to heaven, he began to dictate: “In the beginning was the Word…”—and so forth. Thus he composed his Gospel and gave it to the people. And from there it went out into all the ends of the earth.
After departing from Patmos, during a stop in Africa, John healed a blind man. Then, arriving in Ephesus, he continued, together with Prochorus, to travel about preaching Christ, performing many miracles and healings. He lived another twenty years in Ephesus, bringing a great multitude of people to Christ.
When the apostle reached the age of one hundred and twenty, he took seven of his disciples one evening and left the house of Domn, where he was living. By morning they had reached a place outside the city. There, the apostle instructed the disciples to sit upon the ground, and he withdrew from them to a short distance—about a stone’s throw—and prayed. Then, returning to them, he commanded them to dig a cross-shaped trench the height of a man. They dug it. The apostle then bade them farewell and told Prochorus to go to Jerusalem and remain there until his death. Having embraced them all, John lay down in the trench and said: “Take the earth, my mother, and cover me.” The disciples kissed him and covered him with earth up to his knees. Kissing him again, they covered him up to his neck. Once more they embraced him, placed a cloth over his face, and, weeping, finished covering him with earth. The sun had risen. The disciples who remained in the city, having heard what had happened, hastened to the grave and opened it—but found nothing within.
Many believe that John was taken alive from the earth and has not tasted death to this day; others say that he died and was assumed into heaven. This mystery is great. But the holy Fathers teach that the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian shall appear again at the end of time, when the last Antichrist reigns, to preach Christ. Along with the forefather Enoch and the prophet Elijah, who also did not taste death and were taken into the heavenly realms, he will rebuke the Antichrist and his lying wonders.
The relics of the holy Apostle John the Theologian are not found on earth (although the monks of the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in the 16th century gifted to the Moldavian ruler Alexander Lăpușneanu and his wife Roxana a “holy head of the Apostle John”—yet this was likely the relic of another apostle named John, also called Mark, and not the beloved disciple of Christ; particles of those relics later spread to various places).
The tomb of Saint John the Theologian has been preserved, and each year on May 8 it exudes a fine dust, from which those who come with faith are healed. Fragments of his tomb are preserved as holy relics in churches around the world.
The beloved disciple of Christ continues even now to work miracles and to help those who call upon him with faith.
His memory is kept on September 26 (October 9 new style), and a second feast in honor of the healing dust that flows from his tomb is celebrated on May 8 (May 21 new style). Both feasts are among the Twelve Great Feasts.
O holy, glorious, all-praised Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, pray to God for us!