October 9/September 26 — Repose of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologiantranslated

The son of a Palestinian fisherman Zebedee, who fished on Lake Tiberias, young John became a disciple of John the Baptist, and then one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and one of His three closest disciples (along with his brother James the Elder and Peter).

The Gospels tell us that of all the apostles, only John was at the foot of the Cross.. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. ... He who fears is imperfect in love,” he would write later (I John 4:18). Christ, dying on the cross, adopted John in His place to His Mother the Virgin Mary. “And from that time the disciple took her to him,” we read in his Gospel (John 19:27).

The Apostle John witnessed the transfiguration of the Lord, during the Last Supper he “reclined on the chest of Jesus” (hence the concept of “confidant”) and was one of the first to hear the news of the Resurrection. Together with Peter, he preached throughout Palestine and, according to legend, lived with his named mother in Jerusalem, and then in Ephesus (on the western coast of Asia Minor, now Turkey).

After the Dormition of the Mother of God, the Apostle John went with the Apostle Prokhor to preach the Gospel in the countries of Asia Minor. Under Emperor Domitian, the holy apostle was subjected to cruel torture, but the Lord preserved...