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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 1, 26. Of James, and of the Evangelists Mark and John
At that time also James, the brother of the Lord, and Mark the Evangelist were crowned with glorious martyrdom for the name of Christ. But the first of all to enter upon this path was Stephen, deacon and martyr. After the death of the apostle James, great calamity befell the Jews. For Vespasian came into their land, the Temple was burned, and six hundred thousand Jews perished in the war by famine and by the sword. Domitian, after Nero, was the second emperor to rage against the Christians; he banished the apostle John to the island of Patmos, and set in movement divers cruelties against the peoples. After his death the blessed John, apostle and Evangelist, returned from exile; when old and full of days, and of a life lived perfectly towards God, he laid himself while yet alive in the tomb. It is said that he shall not taste of death until the Lord shall come again at Judgement. For the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: ‘I will that he tarry until I come.’1
Notes
- John xxi. 22.