| Saint John Parish | |
| The Story of Saint John | The Evangelist |
 John was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. Originally they both fishermen and fished with their father in the Lake of Genesareth. Their beginning was for a time first as disciples of John the Baptist, then they were called by Christ, together with Peter and Andrew, to become His disciples (John, i, 35-42). The first disciples returned with their new Master from the Jordan to Galilee and remained for some time with Jesus. Then after the second return from Judea, John and his companions went back to fishing until they were finally called by Christ to definitive discipleship.At the Supper itself John’s place was next to Christ on Whose breast he leaned. According to general interpretation John was also that "other disciple" who with Peter followed Christ after the arrest into the palace of the high-priest. John alone remained near his beloved Master at the foot of the Cross on Calvary with the Mother of Jesus, and he took the desolate Mother into his care as the last legacy of Christ. After the Resurrection John with Peter was the first of the disciples to hasten to the grave and he was the first to believe that Christ had truly risen. When later Christ appeared at the Lake of Genesareth John was also the first of the seven disciples who recognized his Master standing on the shore. | The Fourth Evangelist has shown us most clearly how he always stood close to his Lord and Master - he often referred to himself without giving his name as "the disciple whom Jesus loved". After Christ's Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, John took, together with Peter, a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the Church. St. John is commemorated on December 27, which date he originally shared with St. James the Greater. At Rome the feast was reserved to St. John alone at an early date, though both names are found in the Carthage Calendar, the Hieronymian Martyrology, and the Gallican liturgical books. His death is noted in the Menology of Constantinople and the Calendar of Naples as September 26, the year uncertain.
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Early Christian art usually represents St. John with an eagle, symbolizing the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his Gospel. The chalice as symbolic of St. John is interpreted with reference to the Last Supper, and again as connected with the legend according to which St. John was handed a cup of poisoned wine, from which, at his blessing, the poison rose in the shape of a serpent.