Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

The Beauty of the Saints

Very Reverend Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org

St. John the Theologian: "Brethren! Let us love one another."

Today (May 8/21) the Orthodox Church commemorates the Beloved Disciple, St. John (his name means “God is gracious”) the Theologian because for many, many years there was a tradition to visit his grave near Ephesus on this day. It is said to be situated on the site of St. John’s Basilica in the town of Selcuk in Turkey. The Basilica was built by the Holy Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. He also built the magnificent Cathedral of Haghia Sophia in Constantinople (today called Istanbul). Each year on this day a fine dust was said to rise up from John’s tomb and the faithful would collect it for it had miraculous healing properties.

The New Testament writes that John was the son of Zebedee the fisherman. St. Nicholas Velimirovic adds in his Prologue from Ochrid that his mother was Salome the daughter of Joseph, the Betrothed to the Theotokos. This would make John an adopted nephew of our Lord. Thus Jesus would have had cordial family relations with him even before He embarked on His Messianic mission and called John to be among the Twelve who were with Him continually, upon whose preaching and work the Apostolic Church was built.

Called by the Lord Jesus, John immediately left his father and his fishermen's nets and, with his brother James, followed Christ. From then on, he was not separated from his Lord until the end of His earthly mission. He was present, together with Peter and James, at the raising of Jairus' daughter and the Transfiguration of the Lord. He inclined his head on Jesus' breast as they lay around the table in Middle-Eastern fashion at the Mystical Supper before the Lord’s Passion, during which He instituted the Holy Eucharist, by which we partake of the Lord’s Table in the Kingdom which is already here and yet also to come.

When all the other apostles abandoned the Lord in His Passion, John never departed from Him. Together with the Lord’s Mother he remained beneath the Cross. In obedience to the Lord, he was as a son to the Holy Virgin Mary, his cousin, and carefully served and watched over her until her Dormition. After her Dormition, John took his disciple Prochorus to preach the Gospel in Asia Minor. He lived and laboured mostly in Ephesus.

John’s inspired preaching and miracles brought a great many to Christianity and shook paganism to its foundations. The angry pagans bound him and sent him to Rome, to face Emperor Domitian who had him tortured and flogged. However neither the poison he was forced to drink, nor the boiling oil into which he was thrown, did any harm to John. The terrified emperor thought him to be immortal and exiled him to the island of Patmos. St. John continued his apostolic work there, bringing many to the Lord, and, what is of supreme importance, wrote his Gospel, Letters and the Book of Revelation on this island. It is possible to visit the Cave of the Apocalypse (from the Greek word for Revelation) on the Island of Patmos to this day

When the Emperor Nero freed all prisoners, John returned to Ephesus, where he lived for some time, confirming the work he had begun earlier. He was said to be over one hundred years old when he went to the Lord. He was already so infirm that he had to be carried to Church. Over and over he exhorted the brothers and sisters he had brought to the way of the Lord saying: “Brethren! Let us love one another”. This theme is also continually repeated in his writings.

One day John asked his disciples to take him beyond the city limits of Ephesus with the families of his disciples. He bade them dig a cross-shaped grave for him. Then he lay down in it and asked his disciples to cover him over with the soil. The disciples tearfully kissed their beloved teacher. Not wishing to be disobedient to him, they did as he asked them. Covering the face of the saint with a cloth they filled in the grave. Other disciples of St John came later to the place of his burial and when they opened the grave, they found it empty. Thus the day of his repose is sometimes called the day of his Translation to Heaven.

Through his prayers and intercessions may we find healing for our souls and bodies and learn how to love one another as the Lord of Love taught by His words and deeds which continue to unfold forever in the life of His Beloved Disciple, a true Pillar of His Church.

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