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GodHeals
Guest
Hi,
Was the Apostle John a martyr? I read he was somehow… just not physically.
Was the Apostle John a martyr? I read he was somehow… just not physically.
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FrDavid96
Guest
No. St John the Evangelist and Apostle did not die a martyr.
He certainly gave his life to Christ. Sometimes when saints dedicated their lives to Christ without actually being killed out of hatred for the faith, they are called “white martyrs.” That might be what you read. We also use the term “confessor.” The reason they’re called “white martyrs” is that the proper vestment color for the day of a martyr is red, while the color for a confessor is white.
He is deemed to have earned the crown of martyrdom when he willingly accepted death by being boiled in a cauldron of hot oil. But God spared him by reducing the temperature of the oil,and allowed him to continue his ministry until he died peacefully at Ephesus. The Church celebrates St. John with white, not red.
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pianistclare
Guest
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RyanBlack
Guest
St. John the Evangelist, one of The Twelve.
Which John are you referring to?
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RyanBlack
Guest
According to tradition, he was the only one of the Twelve Apostles to die a natural death.
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pianistclare
Guest
I know that. Someone posted that he was boiled in oil . That’s what I was referring to.
Thanks.
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FrDavid96
Guest
Actually, someone posted that he was subjected to being boiled in oil, but that it did not happen. The poster also said that he died peacefully at Ephesus (hence, not a martyr).
Try some more cocoa. It’ll help you to read slower. Great for relaxation.
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pianistclare
Guest
Cocoa does sound good. yumActually, someone posted that he was subjected to being boiled in oil, but that it did not happen. The poster also said that he died peacefully at Ephesus (hence, not a martyr).
Try some more cocoa. It’ll help you to read slower. Great for relaxation.
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RyanBlack
Guest
There is a tradition that he was boiled in oil but that was miraculously spared from harm. The tradition is attributed to Tertullian.
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detoutcoeur
Guest
That’s what I found, too:
*In the persecution of Domitian he was taken to Rome, and was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, outside the Latin gate, without the boiling fluid doing him any injury. [Eusebius makes no mention of this. The legend of the boiling oil occurs in Tertullian and in Saint Jerome]. *
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=67
In the second general persecution, in the year 95, St. John was apprehended by the proconsul of Asia and sent to Rome, where he was miraculously preserved from death when thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil. On account of this trial, the title of martyr is given him by the fathers, who say that thus was fulfilled what Christ had foretold him, that he should drink of his cup.[18] The idolaters, who pretended to account for such miracles by sorcery, blinded themselves to this evidence, and the tyrant Domitian banished St. John into the isle of Patmos…
ewtn.com/library/mary/johnevan.htm
*Previous to this, according to Tertullian’s testimony (De praescript., xxxvi), John had been thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil before the Porta Latina at Rome without suffering injury. *
newadvent.org/cathen/08492a.htm
Traditional stories:
*Emperor Dometian had him brought to Rome, beaten, poisoned, and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he stepped out unharmed and was banished to Patmos instead. This is commemorated by the feast of Saint John Before the Latin Gate.
*saints.sqpn.com/saint-john-the-apostle/
**
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Emperor_Domitian_Speaking_to_Saint_John_the_Evangelist_and_Saint_John_the_Evangelist_in_a_Vat_of_Boi…_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg**
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patrick457
Guest
No. As mentioned, there was a belief that he was put in a cauldron of boiling oil but came out of it with no harm.
As early as the 2nd century, there was also a belief (recorded in the Acts of John) that John ordered a pit in the ground to be dug for him outside Ephesus; when the trench was finished he went down to it, took off his clothes, laid them as bedding, and laid himself to rest. Later versions of this legend add fantastic elements to it: for example, in one version, when his disciples later went to the grave, they found the earth in his grave “springing up like a well” - which was interpreted as him not really being dead but just ‘sleeping’. (By the 4th/5th century, holy ‘manna’ (dust) produced by the stirring of the earth was reported to come out of this tomb at Ephesus.) In fact, there were two conflicting beliefs about what happened to John’s body: one was that it is in Ephesus either dead or asleep, the other was that it was was transported (to heaven?)
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GodHeals
Guest
Thank you for sharing! It seems white martyr and confessor are similar.
Thank you for all of the posts everyone!
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GodHeals
Guest
interesting… so we don’t know what happened to his body, yet.
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patrick457
Guest
Well, his tomb is supposedly at Ephesus, but Christians had conflicting stories about what became of him. Partly because of John 21:
Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
That’s the majority belief, yes. There is however, a minority tradition (which was only expressed by a 5th century historian named Philip of Side - who claimed to get it from Papias - and the 9th century chronicler George Hamartolos) that claimed that both of Zebedee’s sons were martyred. “Papias in the second book says that John the Theologian and James his brother were killed by the Jews.” The idea never really caught on though.
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Chatter163
Guest
Until the kalendar revisions of 1960, the Church used to celebrate the near-martyrdom of St. John, previously described here, on 6 May. It was the feast of St. John before the Latin gate.
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pianistclare
Guest
Now THAT is interesting. I’ll have to read up on that. Thanks!
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CarolNoel
Guest
Visited the island of Patmos and the cave where John was exiled. You can see a carved out area close to the floor where he placed his head. Saw his grave in Ephesus. If he isn’t buried there, they went to an awful lot of trouble to make it a huge site.
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ready
Guest
Yes, St. John is considered a martyr, even though he did not die a bloody martyrdom like the other apostles. God bless you.
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