John of Zebedee the Apostle

Drawing of John of Zebedee the Apostle by Lorenzo Ferri based on the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Apostle and evangelist, nicknamed, like his brother James, son of thunder (Boanerges) by Jesus.- He identifies himself several times in his Gospel as the "disciple whom Jesus loved" or "the Beloved disciple". Tradition also calls him "the Eagle of Patmos".

The figure

John is celebrated on December 27. He holds a privileged and original place among the witnesses of the Christ. His late death closes the public Revelation understood as the whole of the Gospels and the writings of the New Testament. Indeed, he is the last surviving Apostle who could verify this transMission. Besides the fourth gospel which stands apart from the other three, called synoptics, he is the author of three letters, among which his second is the shortest writing in the entire Bible: 11 verses. Finally, he is the author of the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation), which he closes with this prayer: "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Maranatha!) May the Grace of the Lord Jesus be with all!"

His name

ןיוחנ (John – Yohanân) from the Greek Iôannês derived from the Hebrew yoHanan, "The Eternal has bestowed Grace, has been favorable". It is thus a theophoric name (composed with the Divine Name): Yo, and Hanan which means Grace. Hanan is the origin of the name Anne. Yohanan is the reverse of Hanania (Ananias) which has the same meaning. In theophoric names, the Divine Name at the head was pronounced Yo (Yého) and Ya at the end.

What Maria Valtorta says

A Galilean from Bethsaida, on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, John is the son of Zebedee, a master fisherman, and Mary Salome, mother of the apostles John and James. He comes from a Family with many children: he has several brothers and sisters. Part of his family lives in Jerusalem (GRM 25). Zebedee, John's father, exports dried fish from the lake (GRM 577). As such, his family maintains business relationships with the High Priests Caiphas (Joseph), the High Priest and Annas whom they supply: John is a regular, as the Gospel reports.

His appearance

His youth emphasizes his purity, his gentleness and his frankness. "He is an angel," says the Virgin Mary about him. Physically, he has "the pink, beardless face of a barely formed man," his eyes are dark blue, and his Hair is blond chestnut. He wears it long in the Galilean fashion (GRM 49). Jesus towering "above him by head and neck," he must have measured about 1.55 meters or a little less (GRM 590). Maria Valtorta notes "his sweet and frank child's smile, his clear and laughing eye, his joyful voice."

His character

His vocation is love: "I will tell the Father to make me someone who only knows how to love," he confides to Jesus. "I want nothing else." He offers everything else so that the Soul of Judas may be saved.

John is also impetuous. Wanting to deal with Judas and all of Jesus' opponents, he and his brother earn the nickname "Sons of thunder" (Boanerges).- He shows again his impetuosity when, driven away from a Samaritan village, Alexandroscene, he suggests to Jesus, with his brother, to call down fire from heaven on the rebellious village.-
During the Passion, returning from the tombWater, he meets Elchias the Sanhedrist, who hurls insults against Mary. John leaps at his throat and floors him:

"Ask for pardon or I’ll strangle you, demon!"

His encounter with Jesus

John is the first disciple of Jesus. Tradition attributes to Andrew the Apostle the honor of being the first apostle to have followed him and calls him the Protoclete. But Jesus explains how John's humility led him to step back from this distinguished role. Indeed, in the account of the first meeting in the Gospel of John, the Disciples remain anonymous, but only John relates it.

He is about 20 years old at the time of this encounter with Jesus on the banks of the Jordan. He witnesses his Baptism alongside his brother James the Greater and Andrew the Apostle. John and a group of disciples of the Baptist were returning from Machaerus "the day after" his arrest by Herod Antipas. Upon Jesus' return from the desert, where he spent forty days, it is John who calls to him: "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" Then after their conversation: "Let us come with you, Master. Show us where you live." And they follow him. 
It is John's humble character that makes Jesus say he is great even in humility. Then he details why John is his favorite. ( and )

The disciple

After his election as apostle, he is one of the very first to preach at Jesus' request. He develops the theme of Love revealed in Jesus.
He is also the first disciple to perform a miracle in Jesus' name: "John, near Jabneel, performed a miracle out of love, by healing a dying man through an anointing and a prayer". Jesus mentions it to his cousin James in.

"The first of my Apostles was John," Jesus said to Maria Valtorta. "The first to recognize me. The first to speak to me, the first to follow me, the first to proclaim me."

With Peter and his brother James, John witnesses the resurrection of Myriam, daughter of Jairus, the The Transfiguration of the Lord, the agony and the capture of Jesus at Gethsemane. Along with Peter, he enters the courtyard of the High Priest during the trial of Jesus.

Jesus praises his courage at that moment,. He is in fact the only apostle to follow him to the foot of the Cross. He went to warn the Virgin Mary of Jesus' sentencing to Crucifixion. Then he accompanied and supported her altogether along the Via Dolorosa and the ascent to Calvary (Golgotha).
He witnesses with her, the relatives, some Disciples and shepherds, the holy Women, the agony of the Christ, his sacrifice and his death. He also assists in taking his body down from the cross and laying it in the tomb.
With Peter, on Resurrection Sunday, he runs to the empty tomb "and believed" (John 20:8).

"The Beloved"

The Baptist, of whom he was a disciple and bears the same name, says of him:

"I am the first and he is the last. Then he will be the first and I the last."

The other Disciples of the Baptist admit they do not understand his prediction, which Jesus explains in. Later, Bartholomew (Nathaniel) the Apostle (Bartholomew) comments on the gifts of the young apostle:

"You do, by instinct spiritual, what I accomplish painfully by mental reflection. But you will reach the goal faster, for you know better how to love than to think. It is love that transports and transforms you."

In a dictation to Maria Valtorta, Jesus says he made John his confidant for the most serious events of his life (such as the attempt to make Jesus king, see below GRM 464.13):

"By the purity of his life, John possesses Peace in himself. I loved him because of this purity. It is to her that I entrusted my teachings, my secrets. John is the being I loved the most."-

Only one of the twelve Apostles to follow Jesus during the Passion, he is entrusted with the Virgin Mary by the dying Jesus, thus giving her the role of Mother of John and all humanity. John withdraws with her to the house in Gethsemane given by Lazarus. He witnesses, about twenty years later, the dormition of Mary, followed by her Assumption.

He is the assistant of Peter in the first Christian community, where he is considered, along with James of Alphaeus the Apostle, a pillar of the Church.-

The evangelist

In a testamentary interview, Jesus confers upon him the Mission to continue Him through the Gospel:

"Love for your Jesus will become word. Many, even among those who will not belong to my Church, who will belong to no Church at all, but who will seek a light and a comfort, will come to you and find me."

John is the privileged witness of the great events of Jesus' public life: witness of the Last Supper, the Resurrection-, the Ascension and Pentecost.

He also witnesses certain episodes that only he relates in his Gospel, such as the attempt to make Jesus king.

His death

John "died at a hundred years old after having known the highest mysteries of God" (Notebooks 1944, June 14, p. 364).

Where is he mentioned in the work?

Preparation for the Public Life: GRM 45
Call of the first Apostles: GRM 47 GRM 47 GRM 48 GRM 49 GRM 49 GRM 50 GRM 51 GRM 52 GRM 53 GRM 54 GRM 55
Beginning of the apostolate in Galilee: GRM 56 GRM 57 GRM 60 GRM 58 GRM 61 GRM 62 GRM 64 GRM 65
Apostolic journey in Judea: GRM 70 GRM 70 GRM 71 GRM 72 GRM 73 GRM 74 GRM 75 GRM 76 GRM 77 GRM 78 GRM 79 GRM 80 GRM 81 GRM 82 GRM 83 GRM 85 GRM 86
Choice of the last Apostles: GRM 87 GRM 88 GRM 89 GRM 90 GRM 91 GRM 92 GRM 93 GRM 94 GRM 95 GRM 96 GRM 97
The last shepherds: GRM 98 GRM 99 GRM 100 GRM 101 GRM 102 GRM 103 GRM 104 GRM 105 GRM 108 GRM 109
In Judea before communal life: GRM 110 GRM 111 GRM 112 GRM 113 GRM 114 GRM 115 GRM 116 GRM 117 GRM 118
Teachings on the Ten Commandments: GRM 119 GRM 120 GRM 121 GRM 122 GRM 123 GRM 124 GRM 125 GRM 126 GRM 127 GRM 128 GRM 129 GRM 130 GRM 131 GRM 132
End of year feasts: GRM 133 GRM 134 GRM 135 GRM 136 GRM 137 GRM 138 GRM 139 GRM 140 GRM 141 GRM 142
The Samaritan woman: GRM 143 GRM 144 GRM 145 GRM 146 GRM 147 GRM 149
Female apostolate: GRM 152 GRM 153 GRM 154 GRM 156 GRM 157 GRM 158
In Galilee, the choice of Apostles: GRM 159 GRM 160 GRM 161 GRM 162 GRM 164 GRM 165 GRM 166
Sermon on the Mount: GRM 169 GRM 170 GRM 171 GRM 172 GRM 173 GRM 174 GRM 176
Apostolate in Galilee: GRM 180 GRM 181 GRM 182 GRM 183 GRM 184 GRM 185 GRM 185 GRM 186
The second Easter journey: GRM 187 GRM 188 GRM 189 GRM 190 GRM 191 GRM 192 GRM 193 GRM 194 GRM 195 GRM 196 GRM 197 GRM 198 GRM 199 GRM 200 GRM 201 GRM 202 GRM 203
Apostolate in Judea: GRM 204 GRM 205 GRM 206 GRM 206 GRM 207 GRM 208 GRM 210 GRM 211 GRM 212 GRM 212 GRM 214 GRM 215
Apostolate in Philistia: GRM 216 GRM 217 GRM 218 GRM 219 GRM 220 GRM 221 GRM 222 GRM 223 GRM 224 GRM 225
Conversion of Mary Magdalene: GRM 228 GRM 230 GRM 231 GRM 232 GRM 233 GRM 235 GRM 236 GRM 237 GRM 239 GRM 240 GRM 241 GRM 242 GRM 243 GRM 244 GRM 247 GRM 248 GRM 249 GRM 250 GRM 251 GRM 252 GRM 253 GRM 254 GRM 255
Sending of Apostles and Disciples on Mission: GRM 256 GRM 257 GRM 258 GRM 259 GRM 260 GRM 261 GRM 262 GRM 265 GRM 268 GRM 269 GRM 270 GRM 271 GRM 272 GRM 273 GRM 274 GRM 274 GRM 275 GRM 276 GRM 277 GRM 278 GRM 280
Perea, Gilead and Trachonitis: GRM 281 GRM 284 GRM 285 GRM 286 GRM 287 GRM 288 GRM 289 GRM 290 GRM 291 GRM 292 GRM 293 GRM 294 GRM 295 GRM 296 GRM 297 GRM 298 GRM 299 GRM 300 GRM 301 GRM 302
End of year feasts in Nazareth: GRM 303 GRM 312
The journey of the Disciples to Antioch: GRM 313 GRM 314 GRM 315 GRM 316 GRM 318 GRM 319 GRM 320 GRM 321 GRM 322 GRM 323 GRM 324 GRM 325 GRM 326
Phoenicia and Upper Galilee: GRM 327 GRM 328 GRM 329 GRM 330 GRM 331 GRM 332 GRM 333 GRM 334 GRM 335 GRM 336 GRM 338 GRM 339 GRM 340 GRM 341 GRM 342 GRM 343 GRM 344 GRM 345 GRM 346 GRM 347
The Transfiguration and the Bread of Heaven: GRM 348 GRM 349 GRM 350 GRM 351 GRM 352 GRM 353 GRM 354 GRM 355 GRM 356 GRM 357 GRM 358 GRM 359 GRM 360 GRM 361 GRM 362 GRM 363
The penultimate Passover: GRM 364 GRM 365 GRM 366 GRM 367 GRM 368 GRM 369 GRM 370 GRM 371 GRM 372 GRM 374 GRM 375 GRM 376 GRM 377 GRM 378
In Judea: GRM 379 GRM 380 GRM 381 GRM 382 GRM 383 GRM 384
AGodx in Judea: GRM 386 GRM 387 GRM 388 GRM 389 GRM 390 GRM 391 GRM 392 GRM 393 GRM 394 GRM 397 GRM 398 GRM 399 GRM 402 GRM 403
Plain of Sharon: GRM 404 GRM 405 GRM 406 GRM 407 GRM 408 GRM 410 GRM 411 GRM 412
Pentecost, Decapolis and Esdraelon Plain: GRM 413 GRM 414 GRM 415 GRM 416 GRM 417 GRM 418 GRM 419 GRM 420 GRM 421 GRM 422 GRM 423 GRM 424 GRM 425 GRM 426 GRM 427 GRM 428 GRM 429 GRM 430 GRM 431 GRM 432
Summer in Nazareth: GRM 435 GRM 436 GRM 440 GRM 441 GRM 443 GRM 444 GRM 445 GRM 446 GRM 447 GRM 448 GRM 449 GRM 450 GRM 451 GRM 452 GRM 453 GRM 454 GRM 455 GRM 456 GRM 457 GRM 458 GRM 459 GRM 460 GRM 461 GRM 462 GRM 463 GRM 464 GRM 464 GRM 465
In Syro-Phoenicia: GRM 466 GRM 467 GRM 469 GRM 470 GRM 471 GRM 475 GRM 473 GRM 474 GRM 475 GRM 476 GRM 477 GRM 478 GRM 479 GRM 480 GRM 481
The Feast of Tabernacles: GRM 488 GRM 489 GRM 494 GRM 494
In Moab and Judea: GRM 496 GRM 497 GRM 498 GRM 499 GRM 500 GRM 503 GRM 504 GRM 508 GRM 511 GRM 514 GRM 515 GRM 517 GRM 520 GRM 524 GRM 525
The Feast of Dedication: GRM 527 GRM 528 GRM 529 GRM 532 GRM 535 GRM 538 GRM 539 GRM 540
The resurrection of Lazarus: GRM 547 GRM 550
The exile in Samaria: GRM 551 GRM 552 GRM 553 GRM 554 GRM 557 GRM 559 GRM 560 GRM 565 GRM 566 GRM 567 GRM 568 GRM 571 GRM 574 GRM 575
The return towards Jerusalem: GRM 576 GRM 577 GRM 582 GRM 584 GRM 586 GRM 601 GRM 106 GRM 587
Holy Week: GRM 589 GRM 590 GRM 593 GRM 594 GRM 595 GRM 596 GRM 597 GRM 598 GRM 599
The Passion: GRM 600 GRM 602 GRM 604 GRM 604 GRM 605 GRM 607 GRM 608 GRM 609 GRM 611
Resurrection Sunday: GRM 616 GRM 616 GRM 619 GRM 625 GRM 626
From Resurrection to Ascension: GRM 628 GRM 629 GRM 630 GRM 631 GRM 632 GRM 633 GRM 635 GRM 636 GRM 638
The apostolic times: GRM 639 GRM 640 GRM 641 GRM 642 GRM 643 GRM 644 GRM 646 GRM 647 GRM 648 GRM 649 GRM 650 GRM 651

What the historical sources say

René Laurentin - François-Michel Debroise - Jean-François Lavère - Salvator 2011.

Paragraph partially written based on the Dictionary of Gospel Characters.

Last surviving Apostle, he is said to have been arrested in Ephesus in 95 and led in chains to Rome, by order of Emperor Domitian. Condemned to be plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil (or water), he miraculously escaped. He was exiled to Patmos.

According to Irenaeus of Lyon, he wrote the Apocalypse there, then returned to Ephesus where he died, very old, under Emperor Trajan (around 101-104). According to Abbé Migne, he was 94 years old. So he would have been born around year 7 and about 20 years old at the beginning of Jesus' public life.

John the Evangelist is the author of the 4th Gospel and one letter. The authorship of the Apocalypse and the other two letters was contested by some exegetes in favor of John the Presbyter. Benedict XVI in his book Jesus of Nazareth mentions this debate without categorically rejecting it. However, the majority of exegetes attribute all the works to him, but a whole group considers him as the inspirer or primary author of the Apocalypse.

The circumstances of his death are also debated: Saint Hippolytus, a 3rd century theologian, believed that he was taken up like Enoch and Elijah. He based this on the verse: "So the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple (John) would not die".

Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd century) believed he died a natural death. The Greek Menologion places his death at the calends of October. Others, like Saint Gregory of Nyssa (4th century) and Saint John Chrysostom (same), consider him a martyr. They rely in particular on the promise made to the two sons of Zebedee that they would drink from the cup that Jesus himself would drink. In the work of Maria Valtorta, Jesus insists on the translation of this phrase. Almost all French Bibles (Osty, TOB, Segond, Martin...) say "drink the cup." But many authors comment on the text writing "to the cup." Maria Valtorta opts for this latter hypothesis: Jesus predicts that all the Apostles will suffer martyrdom, except one: it is Judas who will hang himself. John could therefore have suffered martyrdom without directly dying from it.

Eusebius of Caesarea notes that there were two tombs honored at Ephesus: that of John the Apostle and that of John the Presbyter. The Basilica of Saint John in Ephesus still houses the tomb of "John the Theologian (the Evangelist)".

Remarkable points

Coherence of John 20:8 | GRM 619.8 | Mark 16:14

The Gospel's assertion (John 20:8) according to which John, entering the empty tombWater "saw and believed", seems to contradict the reproaches Jesus addresses to the Apostles (including John), secluded in the Upper Room: he rebukes them "for their lack of faith and the hardness of their hearts because they did not believe those who had seen him [[Resurrection, The Resurrected|resurrected]" (Mark 16:14). They do not even believe the Disciples of Emmaus (same, v. 13). Similarly, in GRM 619.8, John emerges devastated from the tombWater: "(Peter): Ah! Where have they put it? – (John): Peter, Peter! Now it's really over!" The two disciples leave, devastated." These three sources seem contradictory.

John immediately believed the promises he had heard from Jesus at the last Supper: He will come back to take them to Paradise (John 14:3). Indeed, it is a place where they cannot go (John 13:33). He believes him resurrected in Heaven, but is devastated to be separated from him. Under the shock, John does not understand that he will see Jesus alive again (John 14:19), not later in the Paradise as he believes, but on earth, immediately, as the holy Women and the Disciples of Emmaus affirm. It is only by seeing him alive himself (Jesus has a body and eats) that he will understand everything. On the other hand, if he does not share his conviction of the only Resurrection at the Tomb, it is because he does not want to upset his "superior" Peter, who is shaken and does not believe it. This is explained by Jesus in.

Points in debate

"John absent from John, the impossible hypothesis"

In an appendix to his book Jesus the investigation (Plon, 2022), Jean Staune explains "Why Maria Valtorta is not a reliable witness concerning the life and words of Jesus". To support this, he mobilizes four points potentially indicators of "hundreds, even thousands of factual and scientific pieces of information" from the work. In his "Revelations" on the most well-known figure of humanity, the author takes up a thesis about the existence of a thirteenth apostle. This is absolutely not endorsed by Maria Valtorta's work, which conforms to the eternal gospel.

This thesis by Jean Staune was addressed in a "response" by Olivier Bonnassies, in which he cites several times the work of Maria Valtorta. This former student of the École Polytechnique holds degrees from HEC and the Catholic Institute of Paris. Entrepreneur, he created several companies. He is an author of videos, shows, scripts, articles, newsletters and websites often related to the rationality of faith, and has written about twenty books, among which "God, Science, Proofs" (ed. Tredaniel).

He writes about Jean Staune's thesis, then demonstrates that: "The thesis developed by the book "Jesus the investigation" by Jean Staune, which starts from the idea that the author of the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse would not be the apostle John, son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve, as the Tradition of the Church claims, is absurd, conspiratorial, blasphemous and heretical, and it prevents one from seeing the true spiritual reason for the enigmatic expression 'disciple loved by Jesus' undeniably intended by John."

To go further

• Read the work online in the 1985 translation.
• Read the work online in the 2016 translation
• Concordance table between the two translations.
• Search in the Valtorta Index.
• Discuss on the Maria Valtorta Forum.

Notes and references

Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.

Second part of the Bible, from the coming of Jesus Christ until the Apocalypse.

In the Catholic context, usually refers to the first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) because of their common framework. Broader definition: those offering a general overview of a whole. (Example: a synoptic table).

The Gospel as Revealed to Me (Maria Valtorta).

People who analyze the historical, cultural, and literary context of Biblical texts to better understand what they meant at the time they were written and how they can be interpreted today.