1. John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias the priest and Elisabeth, the forerunner of Christ. By order of Herod Antipas he was cast into prison and afterward bebeaded: Matthew 3:1; Matthew 14:3, and often in the historical books of the N. T.; Josephus, Antiquities 18, 5, 2 (B. D. American edition, under the word ).

2. John the apostle, the writer of the Fourth Gospel, son of Zebedee and Salome, brother of James the elder: Matthew 4:21; Matthew 10:2 (3); Mark 1:19; Mark 9:2, 38; Luke 5:10; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13, and often; Galatians 2:9. He is that disciple who (without mention by name) is spoken of in the Fourth Gospel as especially dear to Jesus (John 13:23; John 19:26; John 21:7, 20), and according to the traditional opinion is the author of the Apocalypse, Revelation 1:1, 4, 9; Revelation 21:2 Rec.; . In the latter part of his life he had charge of the churches in Asia Minor, and died there at a very advanced age. That be never came into Asia Minor, but died in Palestine somewhat in years, the following writers among others have attempted to prove, though by considerations far from satisfactory: Lützelberger, Die kirchl. Tradition üb.

d. Ap. Johannes as above Schriften. Lpz. 1840; Keim, i., p. 161ff (English translation, i. 218ff); Holtzmann in Sehenkel iii., p. 332ff; Scholten, Der Ap. Johannes in Kleinasien. Aus. d. Holland. deutsch 5: Spiegel. Berl. 1872. On the other side cf., besides others, Grimm in Ersch u. Gruber's Encyklop. 2nd sect. vol. xxii., p. 6ff; Steitz, Die Tradition üb. die Wirksamkeit des Job. in Ephesus, in the Theol. Studien und Kritiken for 1868, 3rd Heft; Krenkel, Der Apost. Johannes. Berl. 1868; Hilgenfeld in the Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Theol. for 1872, p. 372ff, and for 1877, p. 508ff; (also Einl. in d. N. T., p. 394ff); Luthardt, Der johann. Ursprung des 4ten Evang. (Lpz. 1874), p. 93ff (English translation, p. 115ff; Godet, Commentaire etc. 3rd edition vol. i. Introduction, 50:1; § iv., p. 57ff; Bleek, Einl. in d. N. T. (edited by Mangold), p. 167ff; Fisher, The Beginnings of Christianity, p. 327ff).

3. the father of the apostle Peter: Tdf. in John 1:42 (43) and John 21:15ff (in both passages, R G Ἰωνᾶ, L Tr WH Ιωανου) (see Ἰωνᾶς, 2).

4. a certain man ἐκ γένους ἀρχιερατικοῦ, a member of the Sanhedrin (cf. ἀρχιερεύς, 2): Acts 4:6.

5. John surnamed Mark, the companion of Barnabas and Paul: Acts 12:12, 25; Acts 13:5, 13; Acts 15:37 (Tr everywhere with one nu ν; so WH except in Acts 13:5); see Μᾶρκος.

6. John, according to the testimony of Papias in Eusebius, h. e. 3, 39 (cf. Westcott, Canon, 5th edition, p. 70), a disciple of Christ and afterward a Christian presbyter in Asia Minor, whom not a few at the present day, following the opinion of Dionysius of Alexandria (in Eusebius, h. e. 7, 25) regard as the author of the Apocalypse, and accordingly, esteem him as an eminent prophet of the primitive Christians and as the person referred to in Revelation 1:1, 4, 9; Revelation 21:2 Rec.; Revelation 22:8. Full articles respecting him may be found — by Grimm in Ersch u. Gruber's Encyklop. 2nd sect. vol. xxiv., p. 217f; Gass in Herzog vi., p. 763ff; Holtzmann in Schenkel iii., p. 352f; (Salmon in Dict. of Chris. Biog. iii. 398ff; cf. C. L. Leimbach, Das Papiasfragment (Gotha, 1875), especially, p. 114ff).

Of Hebrew origin (Yowchanan); Joannes (i.e. Jochanan), the name of four Israelites -- John.

see HEBREW Yowchanan