1611 KJV Liturgical Calendar - Feast of John
The liturgical calendar in the 1611 King James Bible marks December 27th as the feast of John. In an interesting twist, the Greek Orthodox Church commemorate Stephen on December 27 and John on December 26, just the oppposite of Western Christians. Yet, the earliest Syrian martyrology, dating from 411 AD in Edessa, records December 27 as commemorating John.
John, the beloved disciple of Jesus and caretaker of Mary, is honored with a spot on the KJV liturgical calendar not for his evangelism, but for his virginity. It seems that early Christians not only held that Mary was a perpetual virgin, but also John the Apostle. Augustine of Kent (ca. 604 AD) says, "to a virgin was the Virgin intrusted." The fragmets of Hyppolytus (ca. 980 AD) refer to John as "the virgin and the evangelist." Martin Luther Luther in a sermon of 1527 on December 27 spoke to John's virginity.
One modern author writes:
"Our Lord wishes the children to learn from St. John that they must retain an innocence and purity of life similar to that of His beloved disciple in order to enter the kingdom of heaven."
There is great disagreement among the early Christians concerning the martyrdom of John. Long story made short, John was thrown into boiling oil by Domitian and thus is a martyr. However, God protected John from harm and John resided in Ephesus for an extended time after, and thus is not a martyr. Alan Culpper in his book John, the Son of Zebedee notes that both accounts are legendary and therefore neither may be correct.
Interestingly, the Gospel of John, which is the fourth in our modern cannon of scripture, was not initially considered inspired or apostolic and it was not until about 200 AD that the Gospel of John began becoming accepted among early Christians. The earliest 2nd Century writers (Clement, Ignatius, Irenaeus, etc.) neither mention the fourth gospel nor quote from it. The acceptance of the fourth gospel started among the Gnostics, Montanists, and Orthodox Christians. If you'd like to know more about John, the entire book John, the Son of Zebedee is available online at Google Books.
Finally, in researching John, we discovered a very moving old world custom that perhaps some of you might like to adopt:
"A beautiful custom is some old countries is the drinking of 'St. John's love' on that day. Wine, blessed with a special blessing and prayers, is served in the home before the main meal: the father lifts the cup towards the mother. 'I drink you the love of Saint John'; she having answered: 'I thank you for the love of Saint John,' drinks to the eldest child and so on including guests and servants."
[True Christmas Spirit, by Edward J. Sutfin]
To our beloved CAS readership, we drink you the love of Saint John.
Related Posts:
1611 KJV Liturgical Calendar - Feast of Stephen
Source: John, the Son of Zebedee
John, the beloved disciple of Jesus and caretaker of Mary, is honored with a spot on the KJV liturgical calendar not for his evangelism, but for his virginity. It seems that early Christians not only held that Mary was a perpetual virgin, but also John the Apostle. Augustine of Kent (ca. 604 AD) says, "to a virgin was the Virgin intrusted." The fragmets of Hyppolytus (ca. 980 AD) refer to John as "the virgin and the evangelist." Martin Luther Luther in a sermon of 1527 on December 27 spoke to John's virginity.
One modern author writes:
"Our Lord wishes the children to learn from St. John that they must retain an innocence and purity of life similar to that of His beloved disciple in order to enter the kingdom of heaven."
There is great disagreement among the early Christians concerning the martyrdom of John. Long story made short, John was thrown into boiling oil by Domitian and thus is a martyr. However, God protected John from harm and John resided in Ephesus for an extended time after, and thus is not a martyr. Alan Culpper in his book John, the Son of Zebedee notes that both accounts are legendary and therefore neither may be correct.
Interestingly, the Gospel of John, which is the fourth in our modern cannon of scripture, was not initially considered inspired or apostolic and it was not until about 200 AD that the Gospel of John began becoming accepted among early Christians. The earliest 2nd Century writers (Clement, Ignatius, Irenaeus, etc.) neither mention the fourth gospel nor quote from it. The acceptance of the fourth gospel started among the Gnostics, Montanists, and Orthodox Christians. If you'd like to know more about John, the entire book John, the Son of Zebedee is available online at Google Books.
Finally, in researching John, we discovered a very moving old world custom that perhaps some of you might like to adopt:
"A beautiful custom is some old countries is the drinking of 'St. John's love' on that day. Wine, blessed with a special blessing and prayers, is served in the home before the main meal: the father lifts the cup towards the mother. 'I drink you the love of Saint John'; she having answered: 'I thank you for the love of Saint John,' drinks to the eldest child and so on including guests and servants."
[True Christmas Spirit, by Edward J. Sutfin]
To our beloved CAS readership, we drink you the love of Saint John.
Related Posts:
1611 KJV Liturgical Calendar - Feast of Stephen
Source: John, the Son of Zebedee
Labels: 12 Days, Christmas, Church History, KJV, Liturgical Calendar
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