St. John the Theologian - Fr. John Schettig

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. John the

Theologian, the Evangelist, the Apostle, and

I have, it's my patron saint, so I have a particular

closeness to St. John. And in a certain way,

St. John converted me into the Orthodox Church.

I had just started coming. This is 30 years ago.

I had just started coming to church a little

bit, a little bit. But I was perplexed. And it

might seem odd, but I was wondering, is Christ

God? Is he God? This really bothered me. And

I said, you know what? I'll find out. And this

is how I'll do it. I'll just take a Bible, and

I'll just randomly open it up to a spot, and

I'll put my finger down and see what it says.

And I open it up, I put my finger down, and it

said, And the word was made flesh and dwelt among

us. It was the most direct answer that you could

possibly get. And at that moment, sort of a light

went off inside of me. And I knew. I knew for

sure that Jesus Christ was God. About nine months

after that, I was baptized. And actually, today,

today is the 30th anniversary of my baptism.

Because I was baptized on the feast of St. John

the Theologian. So obviously, I was already named

John, so I took this. I mean, this is, not only

did he convert me, but, you know, here he is,

right here. My baptism. Shortly after that, only

a few years later, I started a mission over in

Sonoma, and we named the mission after St. John

the Theologian. During that time, I studied the

Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation and

everything he had written, but I also studied

his life. And St. John, I'll just give you a

thumbnail sketch of his life. As we heard today,

he was called by the Lord as a fisherman. He

was called out, and he just went. He gave it

all up, and he followed Christ. He gave up everything.

He followed Christ. Then he followed him all

the way through his ministry. He was there, the

only apostle. He was the only one there at the

Lord's crucifixion. He never left. And because

he was there, the Lord put him as the protector

of his mother, as we also heard today's gospel.

So I felt like this is a great saint for me to

have. And it says also in there he was a saint

beloved by Christ. Christ loved them all, but

particularly John. He's the one that laid his

head on his chest. St. John, then, after the

crucifixion, after the ascension, then they drew

lots for like where they each would go, each

apostle, what part of the world he would go to.

And the part of the world that he drew was Asia

Minor. But he put it off because he had to take

care of the Theotokos. He took, as we heard also

in today's gospel, he took her into his own house

and took care of her until her dormition. Once

she was ascended to heaven, then he left and

he took his close disciple. Prochorus with him

and they went into Asia Minor. They had many

events and many things happened and many miracles

and he converted many people. But they ended

up in Ephesus. And he was there for a number

of years and growing the community. But then

there was a persecution of the church happened.

And he was turned in. He was arrested, and he

was taken all the way to Rome. And in Rome, they

decided they were going to kill him. So they

actually tried to poison him. They gave him poison

somehow, some way, didn't work. Just, you know,

poisons didn't work on him. So then they decided

they would boil him in oil. So they had a big

cauldron, and they boiled the oil, and they...

lowered him into it. Nothing happened to him.

They pulled him out. He was perfectly fine. This

really scared the emperor. He said, I don't know

what's going on here, but I think we're going

to take this guy and put him somewhere else,

not around here. So they sent him journeying

across through the Aegean, and they sent him

to an island. It was called Patmos. And it was

actually being used as a quarry at the time.

So he was there basically as a prisoner, as a

slave, quarrying rock. Now, this part of the

story right here, when he ends up in Patmos,

is a part sort of where I come back into it again.

Back in the year 08, I was blessed by God. to

go to the island of Patmos. And my wife, who

is over here, and a dear friend of mine, my godson,

Joseph, we went with my son, and we all went

to Patmos. And it was in Patmos that ultimately

St. John wrote the Gospel of John, and he also

wrote the Book of Revelation. Now, the Gospel

of John, You know, he didn't just go and sit

down in the shade, you know, and let's see if

I can remember what happened. You know, it wasn't

like that at all. He fasted first for 10 days.

And they're on top of a mountain. Fasted for

10 days. Then an angel came to him and said,

fast for another 10 days. And he did. And his

scribe, because St. John, by the way, couldn't.

Couldn't write, read or write. Couldn't do it.

He was just a simple fisherman. But his scribe,

he says, go get paper. Come back. He fasted for

the other ten days, and then all of a sudden

there was lightning and thunder and all this

commotion in the heavens, and he said, okay,

write what I say. And he starts, in the beginning

was the word. And the word was with God. And

the word was God. And so on it goes through.

I was blessed when I was on Patmos to go up on

top of that very mountain. And there's a monastery

up there now that's dedicated to St. John the

Theologian. And it's up there where the gospel

was given. And it was a lovely place. I went

up there and just prayed and was there. Here's

the place where this gospel came from. Then the

next day, we went down the hill and we went into

the cave of the revelation. That's where St.

John went when the book of Revelation was revealed.

The whole vision of it was revealed to him. And

we went there, and it's small. You see on that

icon there, there's a cave. It doesn't look exactly

like that now, but it's a cave. And we went there,

and we went in, and it was Sunday, and they were

having divine liturgy. Very, very, the altar

is a lot smaller than the one we have here. Very

small. And there was a monk, a higher monk in

there. He was doing the liturgy. He was getting

ready to do the liturgy. And I came in with my

friends, and we're in there, and, you know, wow,

we're in the cave. And all of a sudden, my son,

who speaks Greek, who's lived in Greece for quite

a while, He went up and he spoke to the priest

a little bit, and the priest goes, come, to me.

He says, come. He takes me in the altar. He's

just getting ready to do the liturgy. I venerate

the altar. I go in, and he points over in the

corner. He says, you know, they were saying,

go over there, you know, and be against that

wall. And I went over there, and there were handholds

in silver in the wall and a plate of silver.

This was where St. John was laying down when

he received the book of Revelation, where he

laid his head, where he put his hands. And the

priest, the haramunk, told me, go there. And

I laid down and I put my head there and my hands,

and he started the divine liturgy. And I just

started weeping and weeping and was... basically

sort of lifted out of myself. I mean, it was

so extraordinary. It was like, you know, one

of the most, probably the most spiritual event

of my life. And I was just there in this, and

I wasn't even thinking that much. It was all

happening in my heart. That I was there with

St. John through all this time since he'd been

there, but I was there with him. And the whole

book of Revelation is like being opened up, not

to me personally, but it's happening. It's happening

like it always happens. And again, it was the

most extraordinary liturgy I've ever been in

my entire life. And again, I just wept and wept

and wept. Because it was so beautiful. It was

so extraordinarily powerful. St. John, he was

freed from the island of Patmos. Another emperor

arose in Rome and freed all those people that

he had sent there that were religious prisoners.

So St. John went back to Ephesus. and lived there

for quite a number of years. And it became a

very vibrant, growing community. And John lived

to be old. It's not quite sure, but he was at

least 100, because he was young when he was with

Christ. I mean, he was in his late teens probably.

But by the time he reposed in Ephesus, he was

over 100. He got old and he got weak. And he

couldn't even hardly move around much anymore.

And so they used to take him to church. He couldn't

quite walk there. So they would carry him in.

Like in a chair. They would carry him in. And

they'd bring him in through the church. And the

people would come up to him. Wanting to receive

a blessing. And they wanted a word from him.

And the word he gave them was, love one another.

Just love one another. That is good enough. And

he would say it over and over again. Just love

one another. That is good enough. And the people

would come up to him and say, how come you always

say that? He says, because it's the Lord's commandment.

It's the Lord's commandment that we love one

another. So just love one another. And that's

good enough. Now, why do I want to tell this

story? Well, first, is that each one of us, each

baptized person, has a saint that you've taken

their name. That saint is close to you. Close.

So we should sort of open our heart up. to that

saint and pray to them and just try to be close

because it's very important. You know, it's not

like you're just named because, well, you know,

my grandfather was named John, you know, so,

I mean, that's how I was named earlier. You know,

it's because my grandfather was a John. But no,

beyond that, we want to be close to that saint.

But also, the other part of this homily is that

we remember St. John the theologian. We keep

him close to our heart. St. John, his gospel

is like the highest gospel. When people study

scripture, you start off by studying Genesis.

And then you work your way through. The last

book you study is the Gospel of John. And the

highest part of that Gospel is the prologue to

John, the prologue to that Gospel. It's the center,

as far as Scripture, it's the center of the church.

We all know what's the center feast day for the

church? It's Pascha. What do we read on Pascha

night at the liturgy? It's the first reading

of the year, if you will. We read the gospel,

the prologue to the gospel of John. In the beginning

was the word. So it creates like the center that

all scripture revolves and moves around. Also,

of course, I mean, there's his epistles, which

are astonishing. There's also the book of Revelation.

Now, many people read the book of Revelation,

sort of skim around through this and that, and

they're looking for things. They're looking for

signs, you know. Ah, this is a sign that... The

end is near. This is a sign that the end is near.

This is a sign that the end is near. People have

done this forever. But there's a part of the

book of Revelation that we all need to read and

try to remember and have close to our heart.

And this is the very end. The very end. It's

after... The descent of the city of God. See,

if God descends, and then he says this, and he

said, and he showed me a river of the water of

life, clear as crystal, coming forth from the

throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of the

city street, on both sides of the river, there

was the tree of life. bearing twelve fruits,

yielding his fruit according to each month, and

the leaves for the healings of nations. And there

shall be no more a cursed thing, but the throne

of God, and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his

servants shall serve him. And they shall see

his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.

And night shall be no more, and they shall have

no need. Of light of lamp. Or light of sun. For

the Lord God. Will shed light upon them. And

they shall reign forever. And ever. And then

the very end. The very last. Sentence. In the

book of Revelation. He says. Amen. Come Lord

Jesus. The grace. of our Lord Jesus Christ be

with you all. Amen.