Was John Martyred?

[rockytopva]

Catholic tradition states that after the Assumption, John went to Ephesus and from there wrote the three epistles traditionally attributed to him. John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos, where he wrote Book of Revelation. According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that all in the entire Colosseum audience were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. This event would have occurred during the reign of Domitian, a Roman emperor who was known for his persecution of Christians in the late 1st century.

If I had to put together a timeline...

8 AD John is born
29 AD Jesus calls John and Peter to be disciples.
32 AD John witnesses transfiguration.
33 AD Jesus asks John to take care of Mary
45 AD John at Jerusalem council.
54 AD - Mary the Mother of Jesus dies, freeing John for ministry
66 AD John leaves for Ephesus.
70 AD Jerusalem destroyed
80 AD John writes the gospel of John
94 AD St. John was apprehended by the proconsul of Asia and sent to Rome,
95 AD John miraculously preserved from death when thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil
96 AD John banished to Patmos where he writes Revelation
97 AD - John returns to Ephesus after the death of Domitian
96-98 AD John writes epistles
99 AD John dies

And is this the tomb of St John in Ephesus?

 

[clark thompson]

John was martyred but their attmept to kill him was a faliure because it was God's plan for him to write the lat bok in the bible.

 

[Apocalypticist]

One of the early fathers reported that John was taken into an amphitheater, such as the Colisseum, and was lowered into a vat of boiling oil in front of thousands of onlookers. Rather than cook, he preached Christ and was preserved while hardly a soul in the amphitheater did not receive Christ that day. Of course, a threat of this sort is easier removed to a remote part of earth out in the Mediterranean which was his eventual fate.

John absolutely did not die a martyr's death. He lived out a full life. The answer why is found in the Gospels.

Jesus said, He who seeks to save his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake shall find it.

When the sheep were scattered after the Messiah was taken in custody, we saw a contrast. Peter was sort of the figurehead for the group that fell away. Those young men were very much of the opinion of the Jews of the day that Messiah would ride into Jerusalem triumphantly on a white steed and seize Jerusalem violently from the Romans and establish his kingdom. Yet when they saw their Master headed for death, and not having yet understood His words that the temple would be destroyed and he would build it again in three days, referring to his body, then their conclusions were that it the dream had met a fantastic and tragic end, that it was all a hoax. Peter was highlighted as representing the group that fled in fear.

With John it was not so. He was with his Master up until the very end, and Jesus knowing that John was the most reliable of all in his inner group, he entrusted to him the care of his mother.. and later we know today, the Revelation, the greatest revelation that a man has ever been given.

The ten (minus Judas), died violent deaths because when they saw the Lamb headed for his, they fled seeking shelter and protection for themselves, only themselves. John made no charade about it though, he was headed to death with his Lord, if it had been required of him. His life was preserved because he had given it fully into the Lord's hands. And he was used in those several decades in such powerful ways that are not for us to know. The Apostles shined for Christ in their death, but John was a star that shined most brightly and best in life. One of the greatest heroes in all the Bible I believe.