The evangelist John is considered to be Jesus' youngest and favourite disciple. He was the son of the fisherman Zebedee and the woman Salome and lived in Galilee. John and his brother, the apostle James, were mending fishing nets when Jesus passed by and immediately followed him. John was always regarded as a special apostle who was very close to Jesus and often accompanied him; he was the only apostle who accompanied Jesus until his death on the cross. After Jesus' death, John worked in Palestine to proclaim the message of the kingdom of God. During the persecution of Christians, John was banished to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the "Apocalypse", the "Revelation of John", which is considered to be the last book of the New Testament.
After his exile, John returned to Ephesus, where he wrote the fourth Gospel. The Gospel of John is largely addressed to a community of former Gentiles and shows a great distance to Judaism. John describes conflicts between the Christian communities and the Jewish groups. He died a natural death at an advanced age and a church was built over his grave in his honour. The name day of John the Evangelist is celebrated on 27 December. Our wood-carved figure of St John the Evangelist is depicted with the attributes of a book, a quill and an eagle.
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