About the Feast

Getting to know Dagupan City’s Patron Saint

John the Evangelist: the apostle whom Jesus loved

Although the celebration of our city fiesta in December, usually spanning more than half of the month through commemorative activities centering on the 26th and 27th, has acquired more folkloric than religious fervor due to the generally inherent festive inclinations of Dagupeňos, it cannot be gainsaid that the annual fiesta traces its roots to religious foundations. As most religious (especially Roman Catholic) devotes would readily say, December 27 is the annual Feast of St. John the Evangelist, one of the original 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ, who was sometimes referred to as the “Divine” and “Beloved Disciple,” son of Zebedee and brother of St. James the Greater, also one of the Apostles.

John the evangelist was widely believed to be the author of the Fourth Gospel, the three New Testament Epistles, and the book of Apocalypse or Revelation.

While the feast of St. John the Evangelist is commemorated on December 27 (December26, in our vernacular, is known as the “bisperas na pista.”), he originally shared this date with his brother, St. James the Greater. Both were among the original 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. In Rome, the feast was reserved to St. John alone at an earlier date, albeit both names are thus marked in the Carthage Calendar, the Hieronymian Martyrology, and the Gallican liturgical books.

On the other hand, in the Menology of Constantinople and the Calendar of Naples, September 26 is considered as the date of John’s death, his “departure” or “assumption.” The Feast of St. John before the Latin, supposed to commemorate the dedication of the church near the Porta Latina, is first mentioned in the Sacramentary of Pope Adrian I (772-95).

The Gospels tell us, of course, that John the Evangelist was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. Christ conferred on the two brothers the honorific title of “Boanerges” or “sons of thunder” (Mark, iii, 17)

John the Evangelist was different from John the Baptist, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who was a cousin of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ, which makes the latter John a distant cousin of Christ. Many biblical scholars identify the brothers John and James among the original disciples of John the Baptist, especially when he was preaching his mission of repentance in the Jordan Valley and predicting the imminent coming of Christ the Messiah.

So, while John and James, along with their father, Zebedee, were fisherman who plied their trade in the lake of Genesareth, they were called by Christ from the circle of John the Baptist’s followers, together with Peter and Andrew, to become Christ’s apostle (John, 1, 35-42).

In various lists of apostles mentioned in the Gospels, John the Evangelist has the second place (Acts, 1, 13), the third (Mark, III, 17), and the fourth (Matt., X, 3; Luke, VI, 14), yet always after James, with the exception of a few passages (Luke, VIII, 51; IX, 28 in the Greek text; Acts, I, 13).

Because of the preponderance of James Being always mentioned first in the Gospels, it may be safe to conclude that he was the older of the two brothers. In any case, John is widely acknowledged to have a pivotal position in the apostolic hierarchy. Consider these: First, Peter, James, and he were the only witnesses to the raising of Jairus’ Daughter (Mark, V, 37), to the Transfiguration (Matt., xvii, 1), and to the Agony in Gethsemane (Matt., xxvi, 37). Second, only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the Last Supper (Luke, xxii, 8).

Third, at the Last Supper itself, his place was next to Christ on whose breast he (John xiii, 23, 25). Fourth, according to the general belief, john was also that “other disciple” who, with Peter, followed Christ after the arrest into the palace of the high priest Caiphas (John, xviii, 15).

Fifth, John alone remained near his beloved Master at the foot of the Cross on Calvary with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the pious women, and took the desolate Mary into his care as the last legacy of Christ (John, xix, 25-27). Sixth, after the resurrection, John, with Peter, was the first of the apostles to hasten to the grave and he was the first to believe that Christ had truly risen (John, xx, 2-10). Seventh, when later Christ appeared at the Lake of Genesareth, John was also the first of the apostles present who recognized his Master standing on the shore (John, xxi, 7).

The Fourth Gospel has shown us most clearly how close the relationship was in which he always stood by his Lord and Master by the title with he is accustomed to indicate himself without giving his name: “the apostle whom Jesus Loved.” That is why, aside from being known as John the Evangelist, he is also called John the Divine and John the Beloved.

After Christ’s ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, John, together with Peter (whom eventually became known as the Prince of the Apostles, the first Vicar of Christ, or first Pope), took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the Church. We see him with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts, iii, 1 sqq). Both he and Peter are thrown into prison (Acts, iv,3). And again, we see him and the chief apostle visiting the newly converted in Samaria (Acts, viii, 14).

Many biblical scholars believe that John and the other apostles remained in Palestine for about 12 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, until Herod Agrippa I persecuted the Christians that led to the dispersal of the apostles through the various provinces of the Roman Empire. While there is no incontrovertible evidence that John went to Asia Minor and established his apostolic mission in various provinces there, it is not entirely improbable to connect a sojourn of John in those provinces with the fact that a Christian community had already been in existence at Ephesus before Paul’s first visits there.