The son of the fisherman Zebedee and Salome (the daughter of Joseph, the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos). He followed Jesus alongside his brother James. Together with Peter and James, he witnessed the Transfiguration of the Lord. When the other disciples abandoned the crucified Lord, he stood beneath the Cross with the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he cared for until her Dormition. Later, he preached the Gospel in Asia Minor, primarily in Ephesus. Pagans bound him and sent him to Emperor Domitian in Rome. When neither the poison he drank nor the boiling oil into which he was cast harmed him, the Emperor—deeming him immortal—exiled him to the island of Patmos, where he wrote his Gospel and the Book of Revelation. He later returned to Ephesus. He was over 100 years old when he reposed; his body was not found in his tomb.

Venerable Nilus of Calabria.