The personality of John the Apostle.

 The rules of social behavior say that when we meet someone for the first time, and it is necessary, we should introduce ourselves, or we should be introduced by a person who knows both of us. Let’s make a small exception today. We all know the person of John the Apostle. Let’s remember what he tells us about himself, or others so that it can serve to enrich our spiritual life. The name John is of very old origin and is one of the world’s most widespread names. In Hebrew it sounds Yochanan and means: God is gracious. Latin calls John Joannes. English – John, Johny, Jack, French – Jean, Spanish – Juan, Italian – Giovanni, Hungarian – János, Polish – Janusz, Serbo-Croatian – Jovan, Russian – Ivan, and so on. John’s parents were Zebedee and Salome. The mother was in the company when Jesus taught, and her two sons were Jesus’ disciples (cf. Mt 27:56). Salome served when Jesus taught (cf. Mt 15:40). John was a fisherman. John and his brother James with their father Zebedee and the hired workers were repairing the nets when Jesus passed by and called them. They left their father and followed him (cf. Mk 1:19-20). John the Baptist then said to his two disciples Andrew and John: “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:35). Then they left John the Baptist and became disciples of Jesus. Even in the congregation of the apostles, John received a designation from Jesus. He was at the first miracle in Cana of Galilee. When Jesus went to resurrect Jairus’ daughter: “He did not allow anyone to follow him, except Peter, James and John, the brother of James” (Mk 5:37). At the transfiguration we read: “After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain and was transfigured before them” (Mk 9:1-3). When preparing for the Last Supper, Jesus personally entrusted John with the preparation: “So he sent Peter and John and said: “Go and prepare a lamb for us to eat” (Lk 22:8). The story continues with the Last Supper, where we read about John words: “The disciple whom Jesus loved rested at Jesus’ chest” (Jn 13:23). Jesus during his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane: “… he took Peter, James, and John, and terror and anxiety seized him” (Mk 14, 33). We can see the greatness of John in the eyes of the Lord Jesus, even under the cross of Jesus. So when Jesus saw his mother and next to her the disciple whom he loved, he said to the mother: “Woman, behold your son!” And from that moment the disciple took her to himself (Jn 19:27). We also see John’s personality at Jesus’ appearance at the Lake of Tiberias, when the apostles could not bring out the many fish they had caught. Here the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter: “It is the Lord” (Jn 21:7 ). This is what John himself says from his own life. In the fifth book of the New Testament, in the Acts of the Apostles, we feel the authority young John enjoys with his fellow apostles. On the way to the temple in Jerusalem, together with Peter, they healed a lame man (cf. Acts 3:1n). Together with Peter, we also see him performing the sacrament of confirmation in Samaria (cf. Acts 8:14-25). But even at the Diet in Jerusalem, together with Peter and James, he is considered a pillar of the Church (cf. Gal 2:9). The next performance of John leads us to Ephesus. Whether St. John lived in Ephesus, or whether he died somewhere in Palestine as a martyr, allegedly caused by the Jews, is also related to the authenticity of his Gospel. Christians and orthodox Protestants claim that Ephesus was John’s place of work, where he also died. Rationalists say the opposite. If we were to examine all the pros and cons, the general opinion, even from Protestants, is that John lived in Ephesus. Behind our opinion, we see St. Irenaeus, St. Justin, and Clement of Alexandria, who are behind Ephesus. John had a sanguine-choleric nature. That’s how Jesus rated him and his brothers when he called them “Boanerges” – “Sons of Thunder”. When the Samaritans did not want to accept Jesus, these two brothers wanted to punish them: “Let fire come down from heaven and destroy them!” (Lk 9:54). In the dispute about primacy among the disciples, he showed inappropriate zeal (cf. Mk 9:37). However, he was willing to suffer with Christ right away, as we know from his mother’s request to Jesus to grant her sons to sit in his kingdom, one on the right and the other on the left (cf. Mt 20:23). He shows his talent even in his old age. He had a good memory. For example, he remembered exactly when and where he met Jesus for the first time: “It was about ten o’clock” (Jn 1:39). From his work we have preserved the Gospel, which he wrote as the last of the evangelists around the year 100, probably in Ephesus. He wrote it to refute Jewish, Gnostic, and Baptist errors. He wrote three more letters and the Apocalypse – the last book of the Holy Scriptures. This is a brief, though it doesn’t seem like it, introduction to John the Apostle.