الكنيسة تابعة لايبراشية جنوب الولايات المتحدة الامريكية
St John
The Beloved
Feast Day
4th Day of
the Coptic Month of Tobe
(3rd week of January)
On this day, of the year 100 A.D.,
St. John, the evangelist, and the apostle,
son of Zebedee and the brother of St. James the Elder, departed.
This Saint was born in Bethsaida nearby the Sea of Galilee.
He and his brother worked with their father Zebedee as fishermen.
His family was wealthy and owned some fishing boats and properties.
St. John the Evangelist was originally a disciple of
St. John the Baptist.
The Lord called him and his brother and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after him.
John was the disciple that Jesus loved and he was the one to follow the Lord Christ to the Cross.
The Lord entrusted to him St. Mary who lived in his home until her departure.
He was one of the three great pillars that the Lord Jesus distinguished them to witness special occasions.
He transfigured before them on Mount Tabor, He took them with him when he raised the daughter of Jarius, and they were with him in the garden of Gethsemane before they laid hold of Him.
He is the writer of the Gospel of John which spoke profoundly about the divinity of the Lord Christ.
He also wrote three epistles which speak about love and the book of Revelation.
St. John was the youngest of the apostles in age and was celibate.
He witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Later on, he preached in Jerusalem and Judea along with St. Peter.
He was present with St. Peter when he healed the crippled man from birth who was at the gate of the temple called Beautiful.
Because of this miracle, the Jews seized him and St. Peter and brought them before the Sanhedrin for questioning.
After the repose of St. Mary, he went to preach in Asia Minor and the center of his ministry was at Ephesus.
There the Lord performed a great miracle by his hands in which St. John raised an only child to his mother from death.
This was a means for spreading the faith of Christ in Ephesus.
He also preached in Smyrna and appointed his disciple St. Polycarp a bishop over it.
Because of his widespread ministry, and the conversion of many to the faith of the Lord Christ, Emperor Domitian seized him.
After much torture, he cast him in boiling oil but God saved him.
Then he exiled St. John to the island of Patmos where he remained for one and half years.
During this, he saw his visions and wrote what he saw in the book of Revelation.
After the death of Domitian, he returned to Ephusu and resumed his care for the churches of Asia Minor and ordained bishops and priests for them.
When he was well advanced in age, they carried him to the church on a litter to teach the people.
He limited his exhortation to only one sentence;
"My children, love one another."
When St. John felt that his departure drew near, he went outside the city of Ephesus and asked his disciples to dig a large pit.
He went down into the pit, raised his hands, and prayed.
Then he delivered his pure soul in the hands of the Lord whom he loved.
The faithful were saddened by his departure and buried him in the pit with great veneration.
The blessing of his prayers be with us all
and glory be to our God
forever Amen.
