The Apostle Saint John the Evangelist in Rome and Asia Minor
Although the Christians could live in peace in Ephesus, Saint John was nevertheless held as a prisoner. He was allowed to go out in the company of two soldiers, and thus he frequently visited the good people of the area. During one of these visits, he encountered some students whose master had spoken against John and his doctrine. Because the saint had spoken against riches, they had bought gold ingots and precious stones, broken them into small pieces, and thrown them in his path as a sign of contempt. They wanted to show that they too, though pagans, knew how to despise riches without needing to become Christians. John, however, told them that their actions were a waste of money and did not represent the virtue of poverty or renunciation. One of the students proposed to the saint that he should try to put the pieces of gold and precious stones back together as they were before; if he did, they would believe in his God and his doctrine. The saint told them to gather the pieces themselves and bring them to him. They did so, and the saint returned the gold and precious stones to them exactly as they had been before. Then they threw themselves at his feet, gave their riches to the poor, and became Christians.
Two of them, who had given away their wealth and followed John, regretted becoming Christians upon seeing their own slaves well-dressed. I saw that John, through his prayer, turned wild herbs from the forest and stones from the seashore into pieces of gold and precious stones, and gave them to the two men, telling them to go back and buy the riches they had left behind. While the apostle was admonishing the fallen young men, the corpse of a youth was brought to him, with people begging him to raise him from the dead. There were many who made this request to the apostle. John prayed and resurrected the young man, commanding him to tell the others what he knew of the next world. The resurrected youth spoke of the things of the other world in such a way that the young men did penance and were converted. The apostle imposed fasts upon them and received them back among the faithful. The gold and precious stones turned back into straw and rocks, which they threw into the sea.
I then saw that many were converted and that John was thrown into prison. An idolatrous priest said that if John drank poison without suffering harm, they would believe in Jesus and set him free. They marched him, accompanied by two soldiers, his hands tied with ropes, before the judge, where a large crowd had gathered. I saw that two men condemned to death drank the poison and fell dead instantly. John prayed over the cup, and I saw a black vapor rise from it, while instead, a light approached him. John drank the contents of the cup, and the poison caused him no harm whatsoever. The idolatrous priest demanded more proof; he required John to raise the two dead men. John handed him his cloak, telling him to lay it over the dead and to repeat the words the apostle taught him. When he did so, the two dead men stood up, and almost the entire city was converted. John was freed from his chains. Another time, I saw a temple collapse before John because they wanted to force him to sacrifice to idols. A tempest-like storm came over the temple; the roof collapsed onto the building; a cloud of dust and debris came out of the doors and windows, as well as smoke and fire, for the idols were melted by the heat.
V. The Converted Jew and the Wayward Youth
A converted Jew, who was still a catechumen, was reduced to the utmost poverty in John's absence and burdened with debts he could not pay, which caused him great trouble. A wicked Jew suggested to him that he take poison, since otherwise he would be thrown into prison for his debts and would not leave there for the rest of his life. I saw the poor man take poison up to three times from a dark bronze cup he possessed; such was the fear he felt of being imprisoned. But John had taught him to make the sign of the cross over any drink or food he took, and so it happened that he was not poisoned, even though he intended to be. Meanwhile, John returned to the place; the poor Jew confessed his fault and also explained his extreme need, promising to do penance for his crime. John blessed the same bronze vessel that had contained the poison, turned it into gold, and ordered him to go and pay his debt with that gold. This man later became a disciple of John and bishop of the city where John found that young man who went astray and whom he rescued from a band of malefactors.
John found this young man next to a sheepfold, near the city. In speaking with him, he recognized that good qualities were mixed within him alongside extreme roughness and ignorance. The child called his parents, who were poor shepherds, and John asked them to leave the boy with him to be educated. The parents consented. The boy was ten years old, and John took him to the bishop of Berea to be raised, telling him that he would return in due time to ask for an account of the child. In the beginning, things went well; later, they allowed the boy to have his way, and he ended up falling into the hands of a band of criminals.
When John returned to claim the youth, he learned that his protégé was in the mountains with the bandits. John took a beast of burden because his age and the ruggedness of the path did not allow him to walk on foot. Upon finding the youth, he begged him on his knees to turn away from his evil path. The young man was about twenty years old at the time. John took him along. He replaced the local bishop and ordered the young man to do penance for his sin. Later, I saw that he also became a bishop. That bishop was, otherwise, a good man who had much to suffer from heretics; but in the matter of the child, he was guilty of a grave neglect. He was bishop for only six years, and it seemed to me that he rather acted on John's behalf during his absence. His name is Aquila. He died of natural causes. Oh, how he wept when Saint John reproached him for his negligence with the child! I saw him on his knees before the apostle.
