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(Updated December, 2005
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"Apostles/Evangelists
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Last updated 03 December 2005
St. Paul - 25th January
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
On
25th January the Church celebrates the Conversion of Saul, a
zealous orthodox Jew. According to a second century description, he was
"small of stature, balding, with bow legs, large eyes, eyebrows
meeting, nose slightly hooked."
Though
born in
Tarsus
, of the tribe of Benjamin, Saul inherited Roman
citizenship from his father. In
Jerusalem
he was educated as a Pharisee by Gamaliel, the most
celebrated Rabbi of the age, and became a bitter opponent of the new sect
known as `The Christians'. But on his way to arrest some of these people he
was blinded by a dazzling light and convinced that Jesus was calling him to
become one of his followers. When he reached
Damascus
he was baptised and his sight was miraculously
restored. This was a year or two after the crucifixion of Christ.
For
about three years after his first testimony Paul, as he was now known,
re-examined his deepest beliefs and prepared himself (in the
Arabian desert
) for the task of being the Lord's apostle to the
Gentiles. His new-found Faith must be shared by everyone for he was
convinced that it was for all, not just Jews. He met Peter and James in
Jerusalem
and returned in due course to his home in
Tarsus
where it is possible that he married. But Barnabas,
who had introduced him to the Christians in
Jerusalem
, enlisted his aid in helping the Church in
Antioch
, in
Cyprus
and on the mainland of
Asia Minor
. This was the first and shortest of an arduous
series of missionary journeys which were to follow.
On
his second journey Paul brought Christianity to
Europe
. Travelling from
Antioch
in
Syria
through
Asia Minor
to
Troas
he then crossed over to
Macedonia
. From there he made his way to
Athens
and
Corinth
where he stayed for a year before sailing to
Ephesus
(where he preached the Gospel for about three
years). In due course he returned to
Jerusalem
and
Antioch
and reported on how the Church was growing. When
one follows his footsteps (by car or in the comfort of an air-conditioned
coach) it becomes clear just how difficult the terrain is and how great were
the distances he walked. But it is almost impossible to imagine how fierce
was the hostility which he faced and the hardship and the amazing sufferings
which he endured, for he was met with opposition everywhere (See 2
Corinthians 11.22-33 etc.).
Before
being arrested and taken to
Rome
for trial Paul undertook a third journey
re-visiting many of the places he had been to in earlier years. On his way
to the capital he was shipwrecked on Malta and when he finally arrived he
was kept under house arrest for two years before being executed, c. AD 67,
(along with St. Peter). But he kept in close contact with the Christian
communities which he had founded and most of the information we have about
him is derived the letters he wrote to them (13 of which form a major part
of the New Testament), and from Acts 13 - 28 (which was written by Luke, his
constant companion).
Second only to Jesus Himself Paul, who was a radical
thinker whose emphasis was always upon salvation by grace through faith, has
probably been the most influential person of the whole Christian era.
St. Timothy & St.
Titus - 26th January
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
On
the day after we commemorate the Conversion of St. Paul the Church remembers
two of his close companions, St. Timothy and St. Titus, whom he described as
`partners and fellow-workers in God's service'. To them his `Pastoral
Epistles' are dedicated'.
Born
in Lystra, the son of a mixed marriage between a Jewess and a Greek, TIMOTHY
accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey and became one of the
Apostle's most intimate friends. He was entrusted by Paul with important
missions such as encouraging the Thessalonians under persecution and
confirming the converts in the Faith at
Corinth
. He was with Paul in
Rome
and became his representative at
Ephesus
. Indeed, according to Eusebius, he was the
first bishop of that city, and it was there that he suffered martyrdom as a
result of his opposition to the immoral festivities of Diana. In 356 his
relics were taken to
Constantinople
but in the 13`h the Crusaders
removed them to the cathedral of
Termoli
,
Italy
.
TITUS, a Greek whom Paul called `my true son after a
common faith', accompanied the Apostle on his journey to The Council of
Jerusalem and later was sent on difficult missions to
Corinth
,
Crete
, Nicopolis and
Dalmatia
. Subsequently he returned to
Crete
and became the island's first bishop. It is
believed that his body was interred at Gortyna, the ancient capital of
Crete
. After the invasion of the Saracens in 823 his head
was brought to
Venice
where it was venerated in the
church
of
St. Mark
until 1966 when his remains were returned to
Crete
.
St.
Matthias
- 24th
February
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
The
Hebrew Mattithiah from which the
Greek name Matthias is derived means
‘gift of Yahweh’.
According
to the Acts of the Apostles (1: 21 – 26), in the days following Christ’s
Ascension Peter proposed to the hundred and twenty disciples who had gathered
together that they should choose someone who had followed Jesus throughout His
public ministry to take the place of the betrayer Judas Iscariot. Two men were
put forward, Joseph called Barsabbas whose surname was Justus, and Matthias.
They prayed that God would guide them in the choice and, confident that
He would show them what was His will, lots were drawn and Matthias was
selected to share the work of the Twelve Apostles.
Matthias
is not mentioned again in the New Testament and we have no other reliable
information about him. However, according to the strongest tradition, he
certainly did share the missionary task of the Apostles preaching the gospel
in
Judaea
first of all and then in
Ethiopia
; and there he was crucified. In that country he is said to have taken the
Good News to the ‘anthropophagi’, i.e cannibals.
However, another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned by the
Jews in
Jerusalem
, and then beheaded. A third reckons that he died in Sebastopolis and was
buried there, near the
Temple
of the Sun.
His
relics were claimed by
Jerusalem
, and Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, is said to have sent them
to
Rome
.
St.
Matthias’ day is celebrated in the East, by the Orthodox, on August 9.
In the West for many centuries the chosen date (which is the one still
preserved in the Anglican Calendar) was February 24.
However, Roman Catholics now keep the day on May 14.
St.
Mark
- 25th
April
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
When
He was arrested in the
garden
of
Gethsemane
we read that “a young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was
following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled, leaving his linen garment
behind.” (Mark 14.51,52)
Neither Luke nor Matthew, who used Mark as the basis of their own
gospels, refer to this incident and commentators generally believe that it is,
as it were, the author’s signature.
Although
he is not mentioned by name in any of the Gospels, quite a lot is known about
John Mark for he appears on a number of occasions in the Acts of the Apostles
and in Paul’s Epistles.
We
know that, according to Acts, his mother’s house in Jerusalem was the head
quarters of the Church (12.12), and it is probable that it was in the upper
room there that the last supper was eaten. The young man was the nephew of
Barnabas and he accompanied his uncle and Paul to
Antioch
(12.25) and became
their assistant on a missionary journey to
Seleucia
,
Cyprus
and to the shores
of
Asia Minor
. However, at Perga
he deserted them and returned to
Jerusalem
(13.13).
Subsequently, Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways and Mark
returned to
Cyprus
with his uncle
((15.37 – 39).
According
to tradition, Mark then went on to
Egypt
and founded the
church in
Alexandria
which (from the fourth century) has been known as ‘the
chair of Mark’. He is believed to have served as the city’s first
bishop for twenty years, and that it was here that he died and was buried.
At
some point, it is clear that Paul had forgiven Mark for leaving him on his
first missionary journey and the two had been reconciled, for when he wrote to
the Colossians from prison in
Rome
(Col.4.10) Mark was with him.
In another of his letters from prison (Philemon 14), Paul refers to
Mark as a fellow worker. He was
“helpful to me in my ministry” he told Timothy (2 Tim.4.11).
Peter
would have agreed for he may well have baptised him. Certainly, he called him
“my son Mark” (1 Peter 5.13) and Papias, in the second century, says that
“Mark, who was Peter’s interpreter, wrote down accurately, though not in
order, all that he recollected of what Christ had said and done. For he was
not himself a hearer of the Lord or a follower of His.” But Peter, who was
an eye-witness of all the events which are described, and who became the
leader of the Church, was the source of Mark’s brief, vivid account of
Christ’s ministry.
A
winged lion, the symbol of St. Mark the Evangelist, was adopted by the
Venetian
Republic
of which he is the patron saint. His body is said to have been transferred
there in 832 AD and his relics remain under the high altar of the great
basilica in St. Mark’s square where his symbol is still to be seen by the
landing stage close to the Doge’s palace. His feast day in 25 April.
St.
Philip
& St. James - 1st
May
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
In
the first three Gospels and in Acts 1:13 Philip and James appear in the list of
the Apostles and they are commemorated together on 1st
May in the Anglican Calendar because the church in Rome where their
relics are kept was dedicated on this day in AD 560.
But both names were common in our Lord’s day and a good deal of confusion
surrounds them.
Philip,
who
came from
Bethsaida
on
Lake
Genesareth
, was a disciple of John the Baptist, and was one of the first men to accept
Christ’s call to follow Him. He was responsible for bringing his friend
Nathanael (Bartholomew) to Jesus (John 1:43-45)
The
Fourth Gospel records three other episodes concerning Philip, namely the
miraculous feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:5-7),
an encounter with some Greeks who wished to meet Jesus (12:21-23) and Christ’s
teaching that “He who has seen me has seen the Father also” (14:8,9).
Nothing
else is known about Philip’s life and work. Traditions about him having been
crucified and buried in Hieropolis (with his daughters who were prophetesses)
are thought to be unreliable and are more likely to apply to his namesake who
was a deacon mentioned in Acts 6.
James,
is the name given in each of the Synoptic Gospels and in Acts to “the son
of Aphaeus”, and it is he who is commemorated along with Philip. The title
‘The Less’ (which is a mistranslation for the Greek says ‘the little’)
or ‘The Younger’ (Mark 15:40) is often applied to him to distinguish him
from ‘James the Greater’. The New Testament gives us no information about
him, but tradition has it that he preached the gospel in
Persia
and died as a martyr by crucifixion.
James
the
Great, another Apostle, whom the Church commemorates on 25th
July, was a son of Zebedee and elder brother of John. The two were named ‘Boanerges’,
‘Sons of thunder’ because of their zeal. This James was the first of the
Twelve to suffer martyrdom, being beheaded by Herod Agrippa 1 in AD 44.
According to one tradition the body of James was transported to Santiago de
Compostella where, in the Middle Ages, he became the most popular of all the
Spanish saints and their great champion in the fight against the Moors.
James,
the Lord’s brother (Mark
6:3) was, with Peter, a leader of the Church in
Jerusalem
. He is mentioned on several other occasions in the New Testament and it was he
who presided at the council in
Jerusalem
(Acts 15). He was described by an early church historian who asserts that he
was put to death by the Sanhedrin in AD 62 as ‘James the Just’. Down the
centuries the Epistle which bears his name has caused a good deal of controversy
(as it appears to clash with Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith alone),
but the Council of Trent in 1546 laid it down that it is canonical and that it
was written by an apostle. However, one of the reasons why scholars maintain
that it is unlikely that the Lord’s brother was its author is because it is
written in excellent Greek which shows no sign of being translated from Aramaic.
All the author says of himself is that he is “a servant of God, and of the
Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1)
St.
Barnabas
& St. Peter - 11th & 29th June
by Canon Desmond V
Treanor
ST. BARNABAS
11th
June is the day when the Apostle Barnabas is remembered especially. Though not
listed among the twelve in the Gospels, he emerges in Acts as one of the most
significant among their number. St. Luke says, "He was a good man, full of
the Holy Spirit and of Faith".
Born
in
Cyprus
and originally called Joseph, Barnabas was a Jewish Levite, a relative of Mark
the Evangelist. He was converted after Pentecost and is mentioned frequently in
Acts where we learn that he sold his property in
Jerusalem
when he became a member of the Church (Acts 4.36, 37). Later, he became one of
the founders of the church in
Antioch
(Acts 11. 19, 20)
For
a while became the companion of Paul in
Cyprus
and Asia Minor in his mission to the Gentiles, (Acts 13-14), but, in due
course, he left Paul and evangelized in
Cyprus
with Mark (Acts 15.39).
St. Paul
refers to him briefly in 1
Corinthians 9.6.
Traditionally,
he was martyred in c. AD 61 (carrying a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel which he
had copied) and what is reputed to be his tomb was discovered in the 5th century
near the now ruined monastery which bears his name, just outside the ancient
city of
Salamis
,
Cyprus
.
Several
apocryphal books are ascribed to him and an early tradition claims that he was
the author of The
Epistle to the Hebrews.
ST.
PETER
Simon
and his family were fishermen living in
Bethsaida
on
Lake
Galilee
. Having been introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew, he quickly became not
only one of ‘the inner circle' but the leader and spokesman of the twelve men
whom Christ called to be His Apostles. Jesus nicknamed him ‘Cephas' (the
Aramaic for the Greek Petros) meaning ‘a rock' and He told him that ‘on this
rock I will build my church' (Matt, 16.18).
It
was Peter who, at Caesarea Philippi, was the first person to express the belief
that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, and he said that he was
ready to die for Him. But when Jesus was arrested, three times Peter denied even
knowing Him. Nevertheless, he was one of the first to see Jesus alive after the
resurrection and the Lord forgave him and restored him to his position of
responsibility.
As
the Acts of the Apostles shows, Peter was the most prominent person in the
church in
Jerusalem
after Christ's crucifixion and after the ascension it was he who took the
initiative in appointing a successor to the traitor Judas (Acts 1.23-26). He was
the main preacher on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to the
little band of disciples and empowered them to continue the task of spreading
the Gospel and it was he who, after a vision, launched the mission to Gentiles
and welcomed Paul's work among them.
Peter
was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa but escaped miraculously the night before
he was due to be executed (Acts 12.1-8). Finally, according to Eusebius, he was
martyred in
Rome
during the Neronic persecutions c.64 AD. His remains are interred deep down
below the altar of the great Papal basilica in
Rome
which bears his name.
Two
letters bearing his name appear in the New Testament and, according to an early
tradition (in Papias) he was the source of Mark, the first Gospel to be written.
The four Gospels, Acts and Paul's letter to the Galatians contain numerous
references to Peter, ranging from comedy to tragedy, and revealing him as a very
human, fallible, enthusiastic individual. Origen states that Peter was crucified
head downwards. Though impulsive and headstrong he has always been a hugely
popular saint around whom have gathered many legends. The Church of England
remembers him (along with Paul) on 29th June each year.
St.
Thomas - 3rd July
by Canon Desmond V
Treanor
Even
the date of ‘Doubting Thomas’ feast day is doubtful! The Orthodox celebrate
it on October 6, the Romans on July 3 but in our most recent Calendar the Church
of England allows us to take our pick – July 3, or December 21 (the
traditional date for Anglicans).
Thomas
was a twin who clearly expressed his devotion to Christ (John 11.16).
Having warned Jesus of the hostility of the Jews in
Judaea
he said nevertheless, “Let us also go, that we may die with him”. At the
last supper he could not understand what Jesus meant when he said ”I will come
again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas’ question, “How can
we know the way” brought forth the reply “I am the way, the truth and the
life; no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14.1 – 7) And Jesus added,
“If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.”
Probably
the best-known event in the Apostle’s life is related in John 20.19 – 29.
He was not one of those to whom Jesus first appeared after his
resurrection; and he said he would never believe what the others told him unless
he had physical proof of Christ’s resurrection.
But then the Lord did appear to Thomas, and the doubting disciple became
the first person to acknowledge Christ’s divinity explicitly saying “My Lord
and My God”. Jesus remarked “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
believe.”
Precisely
what happened to Thomas thereafter is uncertain.
According to Eusebius 4th century Ecclesiastical
History he evangelized
Parthia
(modern
Iran
). Later
tradition maintains that Thomas was the first to preach the Gospel in
India
and certainly the Mar Thoma Church of South India to this day claims him as its
founder.
The
apocryphal Acts of Thomas relate that
he was martyred at
Madras
on the orders of the King of Mylapore in AD 53.
However, his relics were taken to the west and were finally enshrined at
Ortona in Italy
.
St.
Bartholomew - 24th August
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
In each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matt. l0.3,
Mark 3.18, Luke 6.14) Bartholomew is listed among the twelve men whom Jesus
appointed to be his Apostles, and Acts 1.13 also mentions him along with the
others. But the New Testament
tells us nothing else about him.
However, Bartholomew is a surname and means
‘son of Tolmar’, so it is likely that he had another name also. Tradition
identifies him with Nathanael whom, according to John 1.43 – 51, Jesus
described an “an Israelite, in whom is no guile”.
This identification would explain why the otherwise unknown Bartholomew
is mentioned in lists of the Apostles while Nathanael, whose call is
explicitly describe by John, is not.
Nathanael Bartholomew was a fisherman from
Galilee. In John 21.2 it is said
that he came from Cana and he, Peter and Thomas,
the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples, toiled together
fruitlessly all night until Jesus appeared and told them to ‘throw your net
on the right side of the boat’ when it was immediately filled with large
fish.
Eusebius relates that when the second
century teacher Pantaeus of Alexandria visited India he met people there who
had become followers of Christ
because of Bartholomew’s preaching, and they possessed a copy of St. Matthew
written in Hebrew which Bartholomew had given them.
Tradition has it that he also preached in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia,
Lycaonia, and Armenia where he was martyred by being flayed and beheaded.
His relics are enshrined in the church of
St. Bartholomew in Rome where his feast day is celebrated (as in the Church of
England) on August 24.
St.
Matthew - 21st September
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
In
Hebrew, Mattathias, of which Matthew is an abbreviation, means ‘gift of
God’. He was well-named.
According
to Mark 2.14 he was also called Levi and was ‘the son of Alphaeus’.(see
also Luke 5.27) It was as he sat
at his customs officer’s desk in
Capernaum (no doubt by the landing stage on the Lake of Galilee, where dues
were collected on exports carried to the territory outside the rule of Herod
Antipas) that Jesus called him to follow Him. Matthew tells how he was called
in chapter 9.9 -13.
To
eat with ‘the outcasts of society’ was truly shocking to the Pharisees.
But when Levi, whose profession was despised and hated by all Jews (who
bracketed tax collectors along with murderers robbers and other notorious
sinners and barred them from being either witnesses or judges), invited Jesus
to dinner (Luke 5.29) Christ
horrified everyone by happily accepting the invitation, explaining “I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2.15-17).
Other
than naming Matthew in the list of the Apostles, usually pairing him with
Thomas, the New Testament offers little information about him. Luke says that,
when called by Jesus, Matthew “left all…” But he took his pen with him
! Papias, (who was born in AD 60) the great collector of information
about the Gospels, says that “Matthew arranged the oracles in the Hebrew
language, and each one interpreted them as he could” and scholars have long
thought that what this evangelist did was to collect and edit the first
collection of the Sayings of Jesus. Later, this was used, along with St. Mark,
as a source of information upon which the Greek Gospels of Luke and Matthew
were based.
The
Gospel according to Matthew (which was probably written c.60 - 65) was clearly
designed for use by a Christian church (perhaps in
Antioch
) which was set in a strongly Jewish environment. But that the man whom Jesus
called to be among the first twelve Apostles was its author is much less
certain. The frequent refrain, ‘that the Scriptures might be fulfilled’
shows that its author’s main concern was to prove that the Christ of the New
Covenant is indeed the fulfilment of God’s love for His Chosen people.
Until
the rise of modern Biblical criticism in the 18th century
Matthew’s gospel was universally regarded as the first gospel, both in order
of composition and in importance and it was used as the basis of the
Church’s lectionaries with other Gospels just filling in gaps where it was
felt to be incomplete. Hence its
position in our Bibles.
According
to Eusebius, Matthew preached the Gospel among the Hebrews and continued his
mission in
Ethiopia
where he was martyred. However,
another legend tells of his death in
Persia
. In Christian symbolism he is commonly ascribed the figure of a man (see
Revelation 4.7) on the ground that his genealogy of Christ emphasises the
Lord’s human origin.
His
relics were reputedly discovered (in 1080) in
Salerno
,
Italy
and his feast day is celebrated in the West on September 21 (in the East the
day is observed on November 16).
St.
Luke, the Evangelist - 18th October
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
Sharing his
prison cell in
Rome
, Paul said he had just one companion – Luke – whom he described as his
‘co-worker’ and ‘beloved physician’.
From
the range of his vocabulary and his lovely, accurate, descriptive style it is
clear that Luke was a well-educated man with an intimate knowledge of the Old
Testament. He wrote in good idiomatic Greek and since the earliest days it has
been believed that he was author of the Gospel which bears his name and also
of the Acts of the Apostles.
In
the fourth century Eusebius and Jerome both declared that Luke was a native of
Anioch in
Syria
. It is possible that he was a Jew who followed a Greek life-style in that
city for
Antioch
certainly figures prominently in Acts, a book which reveals a good deal about
the history of how the Gospel spread after Christ’s resurrection. However,
it is more likely that he was a Gentile convert.
Ephraem of Edessa (also in the fourth century) and some other Church
Fathers believed that he could be identified with Lucius of Cyrene (Acts
13.1). Whatever the truth, it is a fact that in neither the Gospel nor Acts
does Luke mention himself, but there are a number of passages in which he says
“we” did this or that (See Acts 16.10, 11 etc), and early in the 2nd
century Irenaeus and Tertullian
were recorded as believing that he was author of both books.
Luke
accompanied Paul when he left Asia Minor and crossed over to Philippi in
Macedonia
(Acts 16. 11 ff) and later became his constant companion when he was in
Jerusalem
, during his two year imprisonment in Caesarea and on the Apostle’s voyage
as a captive from there to
Rome
. In the capital itself he stayed with Paul right up to the end (2 Tim.4.11).
According
to early tradition, Luke was an unmarried, and to this day he is the patron
saint of Doctors. Irenaeus testified that Luke wrote his Gospel in
Greece
and died there aged 84. In 357 AD
the Emperor Constantine brought his relics from
Thebes
in
Greece
to
Constantinople
where they were preserved along with those of St. Andrew and St. Timothy.
According to a mediaeval legend he painted a number of icons of the
Virgin Mary, several of which are still treasured in various Orthodox
monasteries.
As
one of the Evangelists, St. Luke is symbolized by one of the animals of
Revelation, namely an ox (often portrayed along with wings and a halo). The
explanation is that such animals were once used sacrificially, and Luke saw
Jesus as the supreme sacrifice for the world.
Luke’s
feast day is celebrated by both the Eastern and Western
Churches
on 18th October.
St.
Andrew, the Apostle - 30th November
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
Although
he did not become a member of Christ’s inner circle of three (Peter, James and
John) Andrew, who was Peter’s brother, was the first man whom Jesus called to
follow Him.
A
native of
Bethsaida
(John 1.44), Andrew (whose Greek namely means ‘manly’) was a fisherman and
he had become a follower of John the Baptist. It was as He walked by the
Sea of Galilee
that Jesus saw the brothers casting a net into the sea (Mark 1.16 – 18) and
called them to follow Him. But, based on John 1.40, 41, tradition has it that
Andrew was actually ‘the first called’ and immediately he went to share his
good news with his brother.
It
was not long before Peter became the leader and spokesman of Christ’s
followers and Andrew was identified by those who did not know him as his
brother. He is so described by both
Matthew and Luke in the list of the Twelve (Matt.10.2 and Luke 6.14), and in the
incident of the feeding of the five thousand when he brought the boy to Jesus
(John 6.8). Andrew rarely emerges
from the background, but on each occasion when he does, he is introducing
someone else to the Lord (e.g. John 12. 20 22)!
He was a real missionary.
Many
apocryphal writings mention him, and according to legend he preached the gospel
in Scythia, by the shores of the Black Sea and in western
Asia Minor
. It was he who established the Church in
Byzantium
which later became the Archdiocese of Constantinople. Eventually he suffered
martyrdom, being crucified on an X-shaped cross, in
Patras
,
Greece
.
Jerome
records that Andrew’s relics were taken from there to Constantinople by
command of the Roman Emperor Constantius II in 357, but thereafter they were
divided, part being taken to
Scotland
, part to
Rome
. In 1964 Pope Paul VI returned
Andrew’s head to Patras and some of his relics may be seen there today in the
Orthodox cathedral.
Because
of his apostolic ministry, he became the patron saint of
Scotland
,
Greece
and
Russia
and his feast day is celebrated both in the East and the West on November 30.
St.
John, the Evangelist - 27th December
by Canon Desmond V Treanor
Like
most of the other disciples, John, the son of Zebedee, was a Galilean
fisherman. He and his older
brother James were among the first men whom Jesus called to follow Him, and
their mother Salome was one of the women who ministered to the disciples.
Their impetuous nature was revealed when Jesus called the brothers ‘Boanerges’,
‘sons of thunder’. Nevertheless, it was these two (together with Simon
Peter) who formed the inner nucleus of the Lord’s followers.
That
John was the unnamed ‘beloved disciple’ may be adduced from the fact that
he leaned on Jesus’ breast during the Last Supper; that he alone remained
faithful at the Cross and was entrusted by Christ with the care of His Mother;
he was the first to believe in Christ’s resurrection at the tomb; and he
first recognized the Lord at the Sea of Tiberias.
John was one of the small group who waited in Jerusalem after
Christ’s Ascension (Acts 1) and he appears twice, in the company of Peter,
when they went up to the Temple to pray and there healed a lame man (Acts 3),
and when they were sent to Samaria to investigate the progress of the Gospel
and to lay hands on those who had been newly baptised (Acts 8).
The
earliest mention of the name of John in the New Testament occurs in Galatians
2.9 when Paul states that he visited the ‘pillars’ of the Church in
Jerusalem
.
The
second century bishop of
Ephesus
, Polycrates, who spoke of John as ‘the beloved disciple’ and described
him as a ‘priest… martyr and teacher’, also stated that he worked and
died at
Ephesus
and after a very long life was buried there.
Irenaeus, the bishop of
Lyons
c. AD 180, says that it was at
Ephesus
that the Apostle wrote his Gospel and Letters, but that it was on the
Dodecanese
island
of
Patmos
(to which he was exiled for a time during the persecution of the Emperor
Domition) that John wrote Revelation. In
the 6th century the church in
Ephesus
claimed to have the original manuscript of
St. John’s
Gospel, and the healing power of dust from his tomb became famous.
However,
Tertullian, the 2nd century North African theologian believed that
John had been plunged into boiling oil from which he had escaped miraculously,
and it is this scene, portrayed in the basilica in
Rome
by the Latin Gate, that is still commemorated there every 6th May.
In
the West, a young beardless representation of John was favoured in the
mediaeval era, but in the East he has always appeared in icons as an old man
with a long white beard, carrying his Gospel.
His symbol as an evangelist is an eagle and, on account of the inspired
visions in his book of Revelation, Byzantine churches call him ‘The
Theologian’. According to early tradition he also wrote the Gospel and the 3
Letters which bear his name in the New Testament.
Churches
in different parts of the world celebrate John’s memory on a variety of
dates. In the Church of England
his feast day is 27th December.
Last updated on Saturday, 03 December 2005 by Webmaster
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