Brief biography of John the Theologian

Often in iconography, the apostle John is portrayed by a meek, majestic and spirit -bearing old man, with features of virgin tenderness, with a seal of complete calmness on the chela and the deep gaze of the contemplator of indescribable revelations. Another main feature of the spiritual appearance of the apostle opens through his doctrine of love, for which he mainly learned the name of the Apostle of Love.

Indeed, all his scriptures are permeated with love, whose main idea comes down to the concept that God in His being is love 1 In them, he dwells mainly on the manifestations of the indescribable love of God for the world and man, on the love of his divine teacher. He constantly exhortes the students to mutual love. The service of love is the whole life path of the Apostle John the Theologian.

He was characterized by calmness and depth of contemplation in combination with ardent fidelity, delicate and boundless love with ardor and even some sharpness.

From the brief instructions of the evangelists it can be seen that he had an extremely ardor in nature, his heart impulses sometimes reached such a violent jealousy that Jesus Christ was forced to die, as disagreed with the spirit of the new MK teaching. At the same time, he discovers a rare modesty and, despite his special position among the apostles as a student whom Jesus loved, he did not stand out from a number of other students of the Savior.

The distinctive features of his character were observation and susceptibility to events, imbued with a subtle sense of obedience to the will of God. The impressions obtained from outside were rarely discovered in his word or action, but greatly and deeply penetrated into the inner life of the Holy Apostle. Always sensitive to others, he was sick with his heart about the dying.

The Apostle John with a reverent trepidation listened to the God -doctrine teaching of his teacher, the full of grace and truth, in pure and elevated love, contemplating the glory of the Son of God. Not a single trait from the earthly life of Christ the Savior slipped away from the insightful gaze of the Apostle John, not a single event passed, leaving a deep trace in his memory, therefore the whole fullness and integrity of the human personality concentrated in him.

The thoughts of the Apostle John the Theologian possessed the same integrity. There was no bifurcation for him. In his conviction, where there is no complete devotion, there is nothing there. Having chosen the path of service to Christ, he committed it until the end of his life with fullness and undivided sequence. The apostle John speaks of the entirely devotion of Christ, the fullness of life in Him, therefore sin is considered by him not as the weakness and damage of human nature, but as an evil, as a negative beginning, completely opposite to the good of John.

According to his view, one can belong either to Christ or the Devil, the average, indefinite state cannot be 1 in. Therefore, he served the Lord with undivided love and selflessness, rejecting everything that belongs to the original enemy of man, the enemy of truth and the ancestor of the lie 1 The stronger he loves Christ, the more he hates the Antichrist; The more he loves the truth, the more he hates the lie, the light excludes the darkness of In.

With this manifestation of the inner fire of love, he testified with the special power of the spirit about the deity of Jesus Christ. The apostle John was determined to express the last word of the divine revelation, introducing into the innermost secrets of the inner divine life, led only by the eternal word of God, the only begotten son. The truth is displayed in his mind and word, because he feels and comprehends it with his heart.

He contemplates the eternal truth and as he sees and conveys to his beloved children. The apostle John simply claims or denies and always speaks with an absolute accuracy of 1 He hears the voice of the Lord, revealing him what he hears from his father. The theology of the Apostle John destroys the border between the present and the future. Observing the present, temporary, he does not stop on it, but transfers his eyes to the eternal in the past and eternal in the future.

And therefore, he, calling for the holiness of life, solemnly proclaims that "everyone born from God will not sin" 1 in. In communication with God, the true Christian is involved in the life of the Divine, therefore the future of mankind is committed already on Earth. In the presentation and disclosure of the doctrine of the house -building of salvation, the apostle John the Theologian passes into the area of ​​the forever present, in which the sky went to the ground and the renewed earth is illuminated by the light of heavenly glory.

So the Galilean fisherman, the son of Zevede, became the theologian, who announced through the revelation the secret of the peace and fate of mankind. The celebration of May 8 by the Holy Apostle John the Theologian was established by the Church in the memory of the annual outcome on this day at the site of his burial of the finest pink dust, which was collected by believers for healing from various diseases.