The Acts of John refers to a collection of stories about John the Apostle that began circulating in written form as early as the 2nd-century AD. Translations of the Acts of John in modern languages have been reconstructed by scholars from a number of manuscripts of later date. The Acts of John are generally classified as New Testament apocrypha.
John raises Drusiana, panel painting from 1450s Salzburg
John the Apostle, also known as Saint John the Beloved and, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Saint John the Theologian, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother James was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims.
St John by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1611)
John the Apostle, detail of the mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, 6th century
Armenian icon of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, 13th century by the Armenian manuscript illuminator Toros Roslin
John the Evangelist and Peter by Albrecht Dürer (1526)