John

He was one of the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee, and of Salome who was probably a sister of Miryam, the mother of Y’Shua. He grew up in Galilee and was a partner with his brother and with Andrew and Peter in the fishing business. He was a disciple of John the Baptist, and the companion of Andrew in following that noted prophet (Jn. 1:34-40). He accompanied Y’Shua on His first tour in Galilee and later, with his partners, quit the fishing industry to become a disciple of Y’Shua.
We are told he own a home in Jerusalem and probably the interview with Nicodemus was held at his home. He was sent out as one the twelve on a preaching mission. He and his brother were called Sons of Thunder when they sought to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village whose inhabitants had refused them hospitality (Mk. 3:17). Their mother expressed the ambition of her sons when she requested for them the chief places in the kingdom (Mk. 10:35).
He was present in the court at the trial of Y’Shua because he was known to the family of the high priest. He was present at the cross and there was given by Y’Shua the responsibility for Miriam (Jn. 19:26). He, along with Peter and James, the L-rd’s brother, are called pillars of the Jerusalem Believers.
John lived a long time after the beginning of the movement of faith. His epistles reveal that he rose to a position of influence within world-wide Belief, and shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem moved to Ephesus in Asia Minor. At this strategic location he became the pastor of the Messianic Church in Ephesus and had a special relationship to other Messianic Churches in the area, as we know from his letters to the Seven Messianic Churches in Asia. His brother, James, was the first of the Apostles to die. John, on the other hand, was the last to die. Almost all the other Apostles met violent deaths, but John died peacefully in Ephesus at an advanced age, around the year 100 A.D.
While living in Ephesus it is believed that John had with him Miriam, the mother of Y’Shua, for a few years. Nicephorus says John stayed in Jerusalem and cared for Miriam like a son until the day of her death. There are two places of her death shown to this day, a tomb in Jerusalem, and in Ephesus the ‘House of Miriam”.
While in Ephesus John was exiled to Patmos, a penal colony off the coast of Turkey. According to early tradition, the sacred text of the book of Revelation, was given to John and set down while he was in the cave that is now known as the cave of the Apocalypse, which cave is now hidden within, and below, the building of the Monastery of the Apocalypse. This monastery was built in the 17th century to house the Patmias – a theological school that was established at that date, and its structures have been very little altered since then. The buildings constitute an ensemble of cells, class-rooms, flowered courtyards and stairways, with chapels dedicated to Nicholas, Artemios and Anne – this last one being built in front of the open side of the cave. The holy cave, or grotto, itself has long since been transformed into a small church dedicated to John’s presence – in one corner there is the place where he laid his head to rest; near it the place where he rested his hand to raise himself from the rocky floor on which he slept; not far away the place where he spread his parchment; and, in the roof of the cave, the triple fissure in the rock through which he heard ‘the great voice as of a trumpet.’ The cave is small, and the light is dim; it is a place that draws one to meditation, prayer, worship, contemplation…a place of which a man might say, ‘How fearful is this place!; This is none other than the house of G-d, and this is the gate of Heaven.’
An Apocryphal writing offers us some details on John’s sojourn on Patmos. All the local island traditions are derived from this text, which provides a lengthy account of how John wrote his Gospel. From the 7th century onwards Patmos came to be abandoned like the majority of the Aegean islands, for this was the period of the upsurge of Islam and of great naval battles between Arabs and Byzantines. Eusebius records that John was released from Patmos and returned to Ephesus.
The Scripture record of John ends with the Seven Letters to the Seven Messianic Churches mentioned in the first two chapters of the book of the Revelation. Augustine states that John preached to the Parthians. These were the people who lived on the borders of what is now Russia and Iran, and is near the eastern regions of Turkey.
Another tradition concerning John is also handed down by Jerome. It says that when John was evidently an old man in Ephesus he had to be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples. At these meetings he was accustomed to say no more than, “Little children, love one another!” After a time the disciples wearied at always hearing the same words and they asked, “Master, why do you always say this?” “It is the L-rd’s command,” was his reply. “And if this alone be done, it is enough!”
There is a firm tradition that John lived until the reign of Nerva, 68 years after the resurrection of Y’Shua. The 29th of September is considered the probable date of the Evangelist’s death. The tomb of John was in a room beneath the large dome, and the tradition says the dust from this room had healing powers, which brought many sick people to the tomb during the Middle Ages. And the ashes cured every kind of illness, were under the roof of these domes. The grave of John, which is perhaps the best attested of any Apostolic tomb by history and archaeology, contains no relics, nor are there any historical traces or traditions of what may have become of them.