James and John were brothers and fisherman
possibly working with Peter. Their mother was Salome who may have
been a sister of the Virgin Mary which makes James and John cousins of Jesus.
James was the first apostle to be killed, but his
younger brother, John, who was most favored by Jesus was not martyred.
Jesus asked John to look after Mary, and they may
have left Jerusalem and lived in Ephesus in modern Turkey.
Legend says that John was almost poisoned by
wine, but he cast out the poison which left the goblet as a serpent.
John was an old man exiled on the Island of
Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelation about the end of the world.
John returned from exile and lived out his years
in Ephesus, Turkey.
John’s feast day is December 27.
From www.FishEaters.com . . .
St. John, the Evangelist, who is styled in the Gospel, "the beloved
disciple", was a Galilean, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother to
St. James the Greater, both of whom were fishermen. The two were called by
Jesus to be disciples as they were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus showed St. John particular instances of kindness and
affection above all the rest. He had the happiness to be present with Peter and
James at the Transfiguration of Christ, and was permitted to witness His agony
in the Garden. He was allowed to rest on Our Savior's bosom at the Last Supper,
and to him Jesus confided the care of His holy Mother as He hung
dying on the Cross.
St. John was the only one of the Apostles who did not forsake
the Savior in the hour of His Passion and Death.
It seems that St. John remained for a long time
in Jerusalem, but that his later years were spent at Ephesus, whence he
founded many churches in Asia Minor. St. John wrote his Gospel after the other
Evangelists, about sixty-three years after the Ascension of Christ; also three
Epistles, and the wonderful and mysterious Book of the Apocalypse or Revelation. He was
brought to Rome and, according to tradition, was cast into a caldron of boiling
oil by order of Emperor Domitian. Like the Three Children in the fiery furnace
of Babylon, he was miraculously preserved unhurt.
He was later exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he
wrote the Apocalypse, but afterwards returned to Ephesus.
