16. Святой апостол и евангелист Иоанн Богослов

The Holy Apostle John for a long time preached only within Palestine. Faithful to the will of the Lord, he kept and laid to rest the Most Pure Ever-Virgin, like the most devoted son, and only after Her blessed dormition began to preach in other places. The blessed Dormition of the Most Pure Mother of God followed on August 15, 57 after the Nativity of Christ. Archangel Gabriel, who announced the birth of the Savior from Her, was the herald of Her impending blessed death. By the day of her death, all the apostles were miraculously gathered in Jerusalem, except for Thomas alone, who buried Her most pure body in the Gethsemane cave. On the third day, the Apostle Thomas arrived in Jerusalem, but no longer found Her body in the cave: it was taken to heaven. This was followed by a miraculous appearance of the Mother of God, who promised the apostles and the entire Christian world Her protection. In the preaching activity of the Apostle John, one noticeable feature is that he chose one specific field for himself and directed all the energy of his spirit to eradicate paganism here and establish the holy faith. The subject of his special care were the seven Churches of Asia Minor (in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea). He lived mainly in Ephesus. Under the emperor Domitian, he was summoned to Rome as the only surviving apostle and, by order of this persecutor, was thrown into boiling oil, but the power of God preserved him unharmed, like three youths in a fiery furnace. Then Domitian exiled him to the deserted island of Patmos. Here John wrote the Apocalypse, or Revelation about the fate of the Church and the whole world 35. After the death of Domitian, John was returned to Ephesus. The bishops and educators of the Ephesian Church showed him three books of the Holy Gospel, written by the apostles Matthew, Mark and Luke. John established them as undoubted truth. After this, they began to ask the apostle to expound for them those conversations of the Lord Savior that they heard from him. On the other hand, heretics appeared in the Church who humiliated and even denied the divine dignity of the Lord the Savior, and it was necessary to protect believers from their errors. Then the apostle, having appointed a fast for the Ephesian Church, withdrew with his disciple Prochorus to the mountain and inscribed the Gospel 36. Tradition has preserved several remarkable information about the subsequent activities of the holy Apostle John, showing what kind of love his heart was filled with. While visiting one of the Asia Minor Churches, John, among those listening to his word, noticed a young man distinguished by extraordinary talents, and entrusted him to the special care of the bishop. Subsequently, this young man became close to. bad comrades, became corrupted and became the leader of a gang of robbers. John, having learned about this from the bishop, went to the mountains where the robbers were rampant, was captured by them and brought to the commander. At the sight of the apostle, the young man was extremely embarrassed and began to run away from him. John rushed after him, encouraged him with touching words of love, himself brought him to the Church, shared with him the labors of repentance, and did not calm down until he had completely reconciled this lost child with the Church. In the last years of his life, the apostle spoke only one instruction: “Children, love one another.” The disciples asked him: “Why do you repeat the same thing?” The apostle answered: “This is the most necessary commandment; if you fulfill it, then you will fulfill the whole law of Christ.” This love turned into fiery jealousy when the apostle met false teachers who corrupted the souls of weak believers and deprived them of eternal salvation. In one public building he met the false teacher Cerinthos, who rejected the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Let’s quickly get out of here,” the apostle said to his disciple, “I’m afraid that this building might collapse on us.” Saint John the Theologian is the only one of the twelve apostles who died a peaceful death, in the one hundred and fifth year of his life. – The Apocalypse can be divided into two unequal parts. At the beginning of this holy book, the apostle addresses prophecies to the seven Churches of Asia Minor, which were the subject of his special care; the subsequent chapters contain prophecies about the fate of the Church and the whole World. The details of the prophecies contained in the Apocalypse can only be understood by their fulfillment. But, despite this mystery of the prophetic book, the following main idea of ​​​​its images is visible, although the serpent-tempter (the devil through his tools) rebels in every possible way against the followers of the Lamb of God (Lord Jesus Christ), but the final triumph will be on the side of truth and goodness; at the end of the ages, the kingdom of the devil will be destroyed, and the eternal kingdom of God will come with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to the Gospel and the Apocalypse, the Apostle John wrote three epistles: Conciliar, i.e. to all Christians; to some Kiriya (or name, or general title of the lady); to Gaius; The latter, together with the first, are also considered cathedral. The main idea of ​​these messages is instruction in Christian love. – The Gospel of John, unlike others, has been called spiritual since ancient times. This name is given because it contains, above the first three, the Lord’s sublime conversations about the deepest mysteries: the Trinity, atonement, incarnation, communion (conversations with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, about the bread of life, farewell conversation and high priestly prayer). Other evangelists begin their narratives from the first days of the earthly life of the Lord Savior, and John from the very beginning raises the believer’s thought to the height of the divine origin of the Son of God from God the Fathers: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word” (John 1:1). Saint John himself expresses the purpose of writing the Gospel in the following words: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name” (20:31). The Gospel of John is also characterized as a Gospel primarily of love; the Holy Spirit, as a reward for his love for the Lord the Savior, gave him a particularly penetrating look into the mystery of love. You might be interested in: