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John the Apostle

John the Apostle was one of the original 12 apostles. He is the author of five New Testament books, including the Gospel of John, which is sometimes called the book of John. John, his brother James and their father Zebedee were Galilean fisherman. Jesus called John and James to leave their careers as fishermen and to become His apostles. Soon after, John and James became part of an inner circle around Jesus with Peter and sometimes Andrew. John along with Andrew had been disciples of John the Baptist and became followers of Jesus after He was baptized by John the Baptist.

John was the "beloved disciple" who leaned on Jesus during the Last Supper (John 13:23), who was "known to the high priest" (John 18:15), who was entrusted by Jesus with the care of His mother Mary (John 19:26), and who outran Peter to the empty tomb (John 20:2-4). After the resurrection, John appears as one of the leaders of the early church.

According to Papias, one of John's disciples, John later went to the city of Ephesus. He was exiled under Emperor Domitian to the island Patmos. It was there that he wrote the Book of Revelation, which is the 27th book of the New Testament. Under Nerva, John returned to Ephesus, and there composed the Gospel of John, the 4th book of the New Testament, and three Epistles, called John 1, John 2, John 3. John reportedly died at a very old age.

John and his brother James were called the "Sons of thunder" by Jesus (Mark 3:17).