John the Beloved: Difference between revisions

John stayed in Jerusalem for some time during the persecutions following Jesus’ resurrection. After the martyrdom of Peter and [[Saint Paul|Paul]], John settled in Ephesus, the greatest city of Asia Minor, where Paul had centered his missionary activities. There is a tradition, which is confirmed by Tertullian and Jerome, that during the reign of Domitian, John was taken to Rome where an attempt to put him to death in a cauldron of boiling oil was miraculously thwarted. (This is the test of fire that was also faced by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.<ref>Dan. 3:20–26.</ref>) He emerged from the cauldron unharmed and was then banished to the island of Patmos. Here he received and recorded the Book of Revelation.  

After the death of Domitian in the year <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 96, John could return to Ephesus, and many believe that he wrote his Gospel and three epistles at that time, when he was in his nineties. John is said to have passed his last years at Ephesus, and to have died there at a great age, outliving all the other apostles. According to some, he simply “disappeared”—was translated like Elijah or “assumed” into heaven as was the Blessed Virgin. Others testify to the miracles wrought from the dust of his tomb.