Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 9
9 John, the apostle and evangelist PL 23, 623
John, the apostle whom Jesus most loved, the son of Zebedee and brother of James, the apostle whom Herod, after our Lord’s passion, beheaded, most recently of all the evangelists wrote a Gospel, at the request of the bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and other heretics and especially against the then growing dogma of the Ebionites, who assert that Christ did not exist before Mary. On this account he was compelled to maintain His divine nativity. But there is said to be yet another reason for this work, in that when he had read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he approved indeed the substance of the history and declared that the things they said were true, but that they had given the history of only one year, the one, that is, which follows the imprisonment of John and in which he was put to death. So passing by this year the events of which had been set forth by these, he related the events of the earlier period before John was shut up in prison, so that it might be manifest to those who should diligently read the volumes of the four Evangelists. This also takes away the discrepancy which there seems to be between John and the others. He wrote also one Epistle which begins as follows “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes and our hands handled concerning the word of life” which is esteemed of by all men who are interested in the church or in learning. The other two of which the first is “The elder to the elect lady and her children” and the other “The elder unto Gaius the beloved whom I love in truth,” are said to be the work of John the presbyter to the memory of whom another sepulchre is shown at Ephesus to the present day, though some think that there are two memorials of this same John the evangelist. We shall treat of this matter in its turn when we come to Papias his disciple. In the fourteenth year then after Nero Domitian having raised a second persecution he was banished to the island of Patmos, and wrote the Apocalypse, on which Justin Martyr and Irenæus afterwards wrote commentaries. But Domitian having been put to death and his acts, on account of his excessive cruelty, having been annulled by the senate, he returned to Ephesus under Pertinax and continuing there until the time of the emperor Trajan, founded and built churches throughout all Asia, and, worn out by old age, died in the sixty-eighth year after our Lord’s passion and was buried near the same city.
Joannes Apostolus, quem Jesus amavit plurimum , filius Zebedaei, frater Jacobi apostoli , quem Herodes post passionem Domini docellavit , novissimus omnium scripsit Evangelium, rogatus ab Asiae episcopis, adversus Cerinthum, aliosque haereticos, et maxime tunc Ebionitarum dogma consurgens, qui asserunt Christum ante Mariam non fuisse. Unde et compulsus est divinam ejus nativitatem edicere. Sed et aliam causam hujus scripturae ferunt, quod cum legisset Matthaei, Marci et Lucae volumina, probaverit quidem textum historiae, et vera eos dixisse firmaverit, sed unius tantum anni, in quo et passus est, post carcerem Joannis [ Ms. tacet Joannis], historiam texuisse. Praetermisso itaque anno, cujus acta a tribus exposita fuerant, superioris temporis antequam Joannes 845 clauderetur in carcerem, gesta narravit: sicut manifestum esse poterit his qui diligenter quatuor Evangeliorum volumina legerint. Quae res etiam διαφωνίαν ( dissonantiam ), quae videtur Joannis esse cum caeteris, tollit. Scripsit autem et unam Epistolam, cujus exordium est: Quod fuit ab initio, quod audivimus, et vidimus oculis nostris, quod perspeximus, et manus nostrae contrectaverunt de verbo vitae, quae ab universis Ecclesiasticis et eruditis viris probatur. Reliquae autem duae, quarum principium est: Senior Electae dominae et natis ejus, et sequentis: Senior Caio charissimo, quem ego diligo in veritate, Joannis presbyteri asseruntur, cujus et hodie alterum sepulcrum apud Ephesum ostenditur, etsi nonnulli putant duas memorias ejusdem Joannis Evangelistae esse, super qua re cum per ordinem ad Papiam auditorem ejus ventum fuerit, disseremus. Quarto decimo igitur anno, secundum post Neronem persecutionem movente Domitiano, in Patmos insulam relegatus, scripsit Apocalypsim, quam interpretatur Justinus Martyr et Irenaeus. Interfecto autem Domitiano, et actis ejus ob nimiam crudelitatem a senatu rescissis, sub Nerva principe redit Ephesum, ibique usque ad Trajanum principem perseverans, totas Asiae fundavit rexitque Ecclesias, et confectus senio, sexagesimo octavo post passionem Domini anno mortuus, juxta eamdem urbem sepultus est.
Ἰωάννης, ὃν Ἰησοῦς πάνυ ἠγάπησεν, υἱὸς Ζεβεδαίου, ἀδελφὸς Ἰακώβου τοῦ ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου μετὰ τὸ πάθος τοῦ Κυρίου ἀποκεφαλισθέντος, ἔσχατος πάντων ἔγραψεν εὐαγγέλιον παρακληθεὶς παρὰ τῶν τῆς Ἀσίας Ἐπισκόπων, καὶ κατὰ Κηρίνθου καὶ ἄλλων αἱρετικῶν, καὶ μάλιστα τηνικαῦτα τοῦ τῶν Ἐβιωνιτῶν δόγματος ἀνακύψαντος, τῶν φασκόντων τὸν Χριστὸν πρὸς Μαρίας μὴ γεγενῆσθαι. Ὅθεν ἠναγκάσθη τὴν θείαν γέννησιν αὐτοῦ εἰπεῖν. Καὶ ἄλλην δὲ αἰτίαν τούτου τοῦ συγγράμματος φέρουσιν. Ἀναγνοὺς γὰρ Ματθαίου, Μάρκου, καὶ Λουκᾶ τὰ τεύχν, ἐδοκίμασε μὲν τὸ ὕφος τῶν ἱστοριῶν, καὶ ἀληθῆ αὐτοὺς εἰρηκέναι ἐβεβαίωσεν, ἑνὸς δὲ ἐνιαυτοῦ μόνον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἔπαθε μετὰ την φυλακὴν Ἰωάννου τὴν ἱστορίαν συντάξαι. Ἐάσας τοίνυν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν οὗ τὰ πεπραγμένα παρὰ τῶν τριῶν ἐξετέθη, τοῦ ἀνωτέρου χρόνου, πρὶν ἢ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐμβληθῆναι εἰς τὴν εἰρκτὴν, τὰς πράξεις ἐξέθετο, καθὰ σαφηνισθῆναι δυνήσεται τοῖς ἐπιμελῶς τοῖς τέταρσιν εὐαγγελίοις 846 ἐντυγχάνουσιν. Ὅπερ καὶ τὴν διαφωνίαν τὴν δοκοῦσαν εἶναι Ἰωάννου μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν εἴργει. Ἔγραψε δὲ μίαν ἐπιστολὴν, ἧς ἡ ἀρχή ἐστι: « Ὃ ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, « ἥ τις παρὰ πάντων τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν καὶ πεπαιδευμένων ἀνδρῶν ἐγκρίνεται· αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ δύο, ὧν ἡ ἀρχή ἐστι, πρώτης μὲν, « Ὁ πρεσβύτερος Ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ, » δευτέρας δὲ, « Ὁ πρεσβύτερος Γαΐῳ τῷ ἀγαπητῳ, » Ἰωάννου πρεσβυτέρου λέγονται. Οὗ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἕτερον μνῆμα ἐν τῇ Ἐφέσῳ τυγχάνει. Καί τινες νομίζουσι, τὰ δύο μνημεῖα Ἰωάννου εἶναι τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, περὶ οὗ ἡνίκα κατὰ τάξιν εἰς Παπίαν τὸν τούτου ἀκροατὴν ἔλθωμεν, ἐξηγησόμεθα. Τοιγαροῦν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει, δεύτερον μετὰ Νέρωνα διωγμὸν κινοῦντος Δομειτιανοῦ, εἰς Πάθμον νῆσον περιορισθεὶς, συνέταξεν Ἀποκάλυψιν, ἣν μετέφρασεν Ἰουστῖνος μάρτυρ καὶ Εἰρηναῖος. Σφαγέντος δὲ Δομειτιανοῦ καὶ τῶν πράξεων αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ὠμότητα παρὰ συγκλήτου ἀκυρωθεισῶν, ἐπὶ Νέρουα εἰς Ἔφεσον ἀναζεύξας, ἕως Τραϊανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκεῖσε διατελέσας πάσας τὰς τῆς Ἀσίας ἐθεμελίωσε καὶ ᾠκοδόμηκεν ἐκκλησίας, καὶ λίαν γηράσας ἑξηκοστῷ ὀγδόῳ ἐνιαυτῷ, μετὰ τὸ πάθος Κυρίου τελευτήσας, πλησίον τῆς προειρημένης πόλεως ἀξιώθη τῆς κοιμήσεως.