The Apostle Johns and the Other Apostles

The main difference between the Apostle John and the other Apostles is that the other Apostles did not write about the new birth in their Gospels, despite the fact that the new birth is the main commandment of Jesus Christ. The son of the fisherman Zebedee, John was one of the first followers of Christ. He occupies a special place among the chosen disciples of Jesus Christ. John was one of the three disciples whom Jesus especially drew close to Him. He loved John for his meekness and gentleness, his purity and virginal chastity. Everything of particular importance that Jesus accomplished took place in John's presence.

Saint John the Theologian witnessed the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. During the Last Supper, he reclined next to the Lord and, at a sign from the Apostle Peter, leaned against the Savior's chest and asked the name of the betrayer. John accompanied Christ to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Lord prayed in the final moments before His Passion. Along with the Mother of God, Saint John was with Jesus during His Passion on the Cross. Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to Saint John. And John faithfully fulfilled the divine command: he took the Most Holy Theotokos into his home and cared for Her until Her Dormition.

Under the Emperor Domitian, the holy Apostle was subjected to cruel torture, but the Lord preserved him unharmed. The Emperor exiled him to the island of Patmos, where Saint John received a great revelation about the fate of the Church, which he set forth in the Apocalypse.
After the death of Domitian, the Apostle John returned from exile to Ephesus, where he wrote one of the four Gospels. He also wrote three general epistles and the Apocalypse—a mysterious, symbolic exposition of the coming fate of the world and the Church. Saint John the Apostle died at the age of over one hundred, having long outlived all the other eyewitnesses of the Lord and long remaining the only living witness to the Savior's earthly journey. He died a natural death, the only Apostle to suffer a violent death at the hands of his persecutors.

The circumstances of John the Apostle's death were unusual and even mysterious. Before his death, he withdrew outside of Ephesus with seven of his disciples and ordered a cross-shaped grave to be prepared for him in the ground. He laid himself in the ground, instructing his disciples to cover him with earth. The disciples complied with his command. They covered the saint's face with a cloth and filled the grave. The next day, when his grave was dug up, it was found empty.