 |
| A coptic icon of St John with Lord Jesus Christ |
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is
Risen!
The liturgical
calendar of the Indian Orthodox Church commemorates the Apostle- St John the Evangelist
on May 8th.
Among all the
Apostles, the title “Theologian” is only bestowed upon St John, which attests
to the spiritual heights to which he attained, and the depth of the heavenly
wisdom he was granted.
St John and his
brother St James were the sons of Zebedee and were termed as the “Sons of
Thunder” (St. Mark 3:17). St John belonged to the ‘inner circle’ of the
Apostles as he alongwith St Peter and St James were admitted to witness the
miracle of the raising of Jairus's daughter (St Mark 5:37; St Luke 8:51), at
the Transfiguration (St Mark 9:1; St. Matthew 17:1; St Luke 9:28), and the
Agony our Lord in Gethsemane (St Matthew 26:37; St Mark 14:33).
At the foot of the
Cross, Jesus assigned the care of His mother to his beloved Apostle John (St.
John 19:26-27). From that moment, Apostle John, like a loving son, concerned
himself over the Blessed Virgin Mary- the Theotokos , and he served her until
her Dormition.
There is a lovely
tradition about the visit of the Theotokos and St John to the modern spiritual
powerhouse- Mount Athos. St. John and St. Mary- the Theotokos left Jerusalem at
the time of Herod’s persecution and they settled in Ephesus for two years. Even
during these times, our holy Mom-St Mary spent her time in prayer, fasting and
meditation on the Scriptures. Following the death of Herod, they returned to
Jerusalem.
Around that time,
St. Mary heard that Lazarus (who was ordained as the bishop of Cyprus by
Apostle Barnabas) and was the brother of Mary and Martha, desired to see her
very much. Hence St. Mary wrote to Bishop Lazarus asking him to send a ship for
her so that she might visit him in Cyprus. This he did and the Apostle John
with St. Mary and some others sailed for Cyprus. They encountered a violent
storm that took them far off the course and were put in to the port of Clemes
on Athos at the tip of the 50-mile long peninsula. At this location today,
there are a number of famous monasteries that trace their origin to the visit
of St John and St Mary-the Theotokos.
At that time, the
population of Athos consisted of young virgins dedicated to the goddess Diana
who were expected to become priestesses to serve in Greek temples. Also on mount
Athos was a large gold and ivory statue of Jupiter and a huge temple of Apollo
where fortune telling, divining and witchcraft took place.
When St. John and
St. Mary arrived at the port of Clemes, the huge statue of Jupiter fell and
shattered to pieces with a thunderous noise; all the pagan shrines, idols were
broken into pieces. The demons inhabiting the idols were forced against their
will to proclaim the truth about the arrival of most holy Theotokos. All the
inhabitants of Athos hurried to meet St. Mary. They received her, Apostle John
and the others with great honor; and all of them accepted the Christian Faith.
During their stay on
Athos, St. Mary and St. John performed many miracles and St. Mary prayed for
the blessing of Athos. Thereafter she, St John and the others set sail for
Cyprus. Meanwhile, Lazarus had grown very concerned about St. Mary’s delay.
When the ship arrived, there was great rejoicing and thanksgiving. St. Mary and
St John shared the good news of all that happened at Athos. After staying in
Cyprus for a short time, St Mary returned to Jerusalem with St John.
After the Dormition
of St. Mary-Theotokos, Apostle John went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia
Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his own disciple Prochorus. During
the second persecution of Christians St. John was sent to Rome to stand trial
before the then Emperor Domitian. He was tortured and cast into a vessel of
boiling oil from which he came forth unharmed. The Emperor, having failed in
his futile attempts to bring any harm to St. John, banished him into exile on
the island of Patmos. It is here that our Lord revealed to St John all that is
to come until the end of time and instructed him to write it down. St John
composed all the things which he had seen into the book known as the Apocalypse
(the book of Revelation). Upon the death of the Emperor, St. John returned to
Ephesus where he wrote his Gospel and his three Epistles.
St. John spent the
rest of his life in Ephesus in strict fasting and prayer; it is said that he
would only focus on one message in his sermons in the church-“Little children,
love one another.” When his disciples asked him why he just said this, he
replied, “This is the Lord’s commandment; and if you keep it, it is enough.”
Tradition states
that when it was time for the departure of the Apostle St John, he went out
beyond the city limits of Ephesus with the families of his disciples. He asked
them to prepare for him a cross-shaped grave, in which he lay, telling his
disciples that they should cover him over with the soil. The disciples
tearfully kissed their beloved teacher and covered his face with a cloth and
filled in the grave. Some traditions state that the other disciples of St John
came to the place of his burial and when they opened the grave (so that they
could give St. John a more prominent resting-place) they found it empty!
May the prayers of St John the Beloved Apostle
be a refuge for us and help us to develop the Christian love that our Lord
taught us!
(Compiled)
In Christ,
Rincy
No comments:
Post a Comment