About Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist Theologian.

Again, Ephesians, our John, or better yet, the teacher of the entire universe, deployed a spiritual network and gathered us from different places, not so that we would honor him with wreaths of roses, but so that we would exalt him with good and righteous deeds. Again he attracted his spiritual sources to himself, not in order to give water to thirsty sloths, but to strengthen the toiling peoples. Again the second after Peter ascended into the sanctuary, not in order to heal one lame man, but to strengthen us all in piety and prepare us for heavenly life. He no longer reclines on the Lord’s breast, but, bowing down to each of us individually, accepting us all equally, brought his interest to God and exclaimed in these words: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me” (“Behold, I and the children whom God has given me”) (Is. 8:18). Children? Which? Whom grace increased, and he presented as heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Many were once taken away by Artemis like prey, but the apostle brings even more. She, feeding dogs, hunting animals, sowed delusion; John, raising the poor and teaching the nations, sowed the knowledge of God. She darkened the air with idolatrous processions; John enlightened Asia with the memories of the saints. Egypt remembers the miracles of Moses; Ephesus proclaims the benefits of John. Moses punished Egypt with ten plagues; John put Ephesus in order, or better yet, he pardoned everyone with the divinely inspired Gospel. Moses divided the sea with his rod; John overthrew Artemis with the cross. When the sea was divided, Pharaoh and his chariots were drowned; when Artemis fell, her priest and abominations were crushed, David says: “The sea saw and ran” (“the sea saw and ran”) (Ps. 113 3); Today the church exclaims in exactly the same way: “Artemis saw and fell.” She saw the Theologian and the divine preacher, she saw the God-bearer, and the sinner fell, worshiped in vain. She saw the one whom Jesus loved, and she could not help herself. What is the matter with you, Artemis, that you have fallen? “I saw the son of thunder, and the sanctuary of my intercession was broken in pieces; I saw a divine friend, and was destroyed; I saw him bowing down on the divine breast, and I bowed down on my idol’s breast.” Marvelous is Elijah, beloved, who cast down Baal; John, even more amazingly, expelled Artemis. Elijah slew four hundred and fifty; John revived the priest killed by the column and resurrected him in Christ. Oh, miracle! The stone pillar killed the stone-like priest whom John resurrected by grace. They say that they lifted his body, carried it in their arms (and) laid it at John’s door; and whom he did not want to see during his life, the dead man sought this, asking himself for life and faith. This is what the all-wicked Jews once did: they rejected the living Christ, and confessed the dead one as the Son of God. They rejected Him, saying to the blind man: “We are the disciples of Moses... But this we do not know where He is from” (“We are the disciples of Moses.., but this we do not know where He is from”) (John 9:28–29). The blind man received his sight, and the foolish people were darkened. He was confessed to be the Son of God at the cross, when, bowing his head, He gave up the ghost, and a spear pierced His glorified side, and a lot of blood and water flowed out; (then) the Jewish children exclaimed with a loud voice and said: “Truly this was the Son of God” (“Truly this Son of God”) (Matt. 27:54 ), John, during his lifetime, a preacher of the knowledge of God, who received the grace of the Holy Spirit, an orator of the church, a lamp of piety, the eye of Asia; he overthrew the demon Artemis, and in general the world loudly preached God the Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (“in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word”) (John 1:1). Let's ask the fisherman and the writer of the Holy Gospel, who taught him this, what father inspired him to say this, in what book did he find it and proclaim it? But no one taught him, and he did not find it in a book; He lay down on the Lord’s chest and, having enlightened his mind in the depths of wisdom and knowledge, exclaimed: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” What can I say more than what is written? You have heard that in the beginning he was, that is, in the Father and with the Father, and God was from God and the Father, ineffably and impassively born before the ages. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria.