James, The History of John, Acts of John by Prochorus & Acts of Andrew
Meanwhile the holy apostles and disciples of our Savior were scattered over the whole world. Thomas, tradition tells us, was chosen for Parthia, Andrew for Scythia, John for Asia, where he remained till his death at Ephesus. Peter seems to have preached in Pontus, Galatia and Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia, to the Jews of the Diaspora. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.I) (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.1)
Kefa and Andrai Reach the Black Sea
According to early Christian lore, the twelve apostles divvied up the ancient world by the casting of lots (Ecclesiastical History 3.1). They "portioned out the regions of the world, in order that each one might go into the region that fell to him, and to the nation to which the Master sent him" (Acts of Thomas 1). Simon Peter received Pontus and Bithynia on the southern shores of the Black Sea (I Peter 1:1). His younger brother Andrew received the land of Scythia on the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea.
If Simon Peter and his brother Andrew really did arrive on the shores of the Black Sea, they found Jewish communities in Byzantium, Bosporus, Bithynia, and Pontus. They might have played some part in introducing Aquila of Pontus (the husband of Priscilla) to the Master. In those days, Queen Tryphaena's son Polemon 11 ruled over Pontus. The king had a positive relationship with the Herodian aristocracy. One church tradition claims that Andrew established a community in Byzantium (Constantinople) and installed an apostle by the name of Stachys over that community.
At some point during those early years of apostolic travels, the two brothers parted ways. Simon Peter returned to Jerusalem; Andrew crossed the Black Sea and landed in the wilds of Scythia. Andrew did not find many (if any) Jews in Scythia. No tales from Andrew's mission into Scythia have survived, but he must have had many adventures. The Scythian tribesmen lived outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire and civilization. The blond-haired, blue-eyed barbarians occupied the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea as far south as the Caucasus Mountains. Josephus describes the Scythians as wild men: "The Scythians take pleasure in killing men and differ little from brute beasts" (Josephus, Against Apion 2:269/ XXXV111).
Russian Orthodox traditions claim that Andrew carried the gospel as far as the mouth of the Borsthenes and to the mountains where the city of Kiev now stands, even to the frontiers of Poland. Some traditions hold that he preached in Armenia, a kingdom on the southeastern corner of the Black Sea, just south of Scythia.
Andrew might have made these travels around the Black Sea communities during the reign of Claudius. The apocryphal Acts of Andrew, however, describes a journey in which Andrew traveled from the Black Sea into Macedonia and Achaia sometime during the reign of Nero, with focused attention on Thessalonica and Philippi. Why would Andrew leave his allotted work in Scythia and the Black Sea to travel through Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece? It might have had something to do with the arrest of the Apostle Paul.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Exonerating Polos
When Paul arrived in Jerusalem for Shavu'ot in 57 CE, James and the elders expressed their concerns. James knew that slander about Paul's teachings had spread throughout the Diaspora: "They have been told [false reports} about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs" (Acts 21:21). He knew that some believers had misunderstood Paul's teachings. Some were teaching that grace and faith set aside obedience to the Torah. Some even said that Paul was teaching, "Since you are not under law but under grace, do evil that good may come. Sin that grace may abound" (Romans 3:8, 6:14-15).
James hoped that Paul himself could correct the situation. He told him to pay the expenses of four Nazirites so that "all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Torah" (Acts 21:24). Then Paul could return to his communities in the Diaspora and set the record straight.
Things did not work out as James had hoped. Paul's enemies stirred up a mob in the Temple to assault him. The Romans arrested him. The Sadducees tried to prosecute him. The Zealots tried to assassinate him. The Romans incarcerated him in Caesarea.
The early believers looked to James the Righteous, Simon Peter, and John the son of Zebedee for guidance. They regarded those three men as the three pillars of the assembly of the Master. Responsibility for correcting the heresy and false rumors surrounding the Apostle Paul fell primarily to them. They shared the responsibility of shepherding the believers all over the world-not just those in Jerusalem.
They seem to have agreed on a two-part plan. James sent an epistle to the Jewish people in the Diaspora, clarifying the relationship between faith and works of Torah. Simon Peter and John would travel to the areas Paul had pioneered with the gospel and send out other apostles to follow up on Paul's apostolate. This may also explain why Andrew seems to have left Scythia and the Black Sea regions and traveled west: to follow up on the work of Paul in Macedonia and Greece. The apocryphal Acts of Andrew tells the story of Andrew's journey from the Black Sea area to his travel to Macedonia. (For a brief travelogue of Andrew's adventures, see Chronicles of the Apostles.)
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Iggeret Ya’akov (Epistle of James)
James the brother of the Master wrote a general epistle addressed to Jewish believers scattered across the Diaspora. He addressed it "To the twelve tribes in the Diaspora." At the center of the epistle, he directly addressed his concerns about misinterpretations of Paul's teachings. He had no objections to Paul's actual teachings. He understood that Paul focused on the mission to Gentiles; he knew that Paul was not telling Jewish believers to relax their observance of the Torah. James quarreled only with those who misinterpreted Paul's teaching by placing faith and observance of the Torah in antithesis.
Employing the same type of language, and even the same proof texts that Paul frequently used in his epistles, James directly challenged those who placed faith in antithesis to Torah. James declared, "A man is justified by works and not by faith alone!" (James 2:24). He said, "Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). He told the believers, "Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves" (James 1:22). He told them to look "intently at the perfect Torah, the Torah of liberty, and abide by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer" (James I:25).
From this perspective, the epistle of James seems to be primarily a correction to those who misinterpreted Paul's teaching. If so, the epistle could be dated to 57 CE, the year in which James became aware of the false rumors about Paul and the abuse of his teaching. Naturally, the concern focused on those areas where Paul had worked the most: Syria, Galatia, Lycaonia, Pisidia, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia. James could not send Paul back to those communities to correct the problem; Paul was under arrest, a prisoner in Caesarea, and his future remained uncertain.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Yochanan Departs for Efsos
When the disciples cast lots for the nations, Asia Minor fell to John the son of Zebedee. According to one apocryphal account, John expressed his reluctance to leave the land of Israel:
They cast lots, and the lot fell upon John to depart and preach in the country of Asia, but the lot was exceedingly bitter unto him, and he sighed deeply three times, and his tears fell upon the ground, and he threw himself down before the apostles. (Acts of John by Prochorus)
Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea and the need to clarify Paul's teachings might have provided John with the necessary impetus and compulsion to finally depart for his assigned apostolate. Sometime after 57 CE, John set out for Ephesus, the city from which Paul had based his work in Asia Minor, lest the believers in that place be left abandoned like orphans.
Two apocryphal accounts of John's departure and his arrival in Ephesus survive in Acts of John by Prochorus and History of John. Both are pious works of fiction without historical value, but they agree on some early traditions about John's arrival in Ephesus. Taken together, they suggest that the Apostle John set out for Ephesus sometime in the late fifties or early sixties of the first century. He may have traveled with the deacon Prochorus to serve as interpreter. When he arrived in Ephesus, he found work as a furnace stoker at a local bathhouse. Through the power of the Master, he resurrected a man from the dead at the bathhouse. Many Ephesians became believers on account of the miracle.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Shipwreck - Acts of John by Prochorus
According to Acts of John by Prochorus, John brought the deacon Prochorus along with him on the journey to serve as translator and interpreter. John surely knew some Greek, but he could not have had much competence in it. Prochorus was a Greek-speaking Jewish believer who could help bridge the gap for John's work in Asia Minor.
As John and Prochorus set out for Ephesus, they asked James the brother of the Master for a blessing. James prayed over them. They embraced him and set out from Jerusalem. They did not pass through Caesarea (where Paul perhaps remained in the custody of Felix. John preferred to avoid the idolatrous city. He and Prochorus went directly to Joppa instead. They found a small Alexandrian coastal vessel in the harbor at Joppa. John had a premonition of trouble at sea. He warned Prochorus that, if for some reason they might be separated, he should go on to Ephesus alone and wait for him there, "But if two months pass by and I do not come, go back to Jerusalem, my son, to James the brother of our Master, and do according to what he says to you."
As their ship made its way north, they encountered a violent storm off the coast of Seleucia. The ship broke up. Prochorus and the other men aboard made it to shore by clinging to the ship's wreckage, but John was not among the survivors. The men who survived declared that John must have been a sorcerer or one under the punishment of the gods because he alone had not survived the shipwreck.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Journey to Efsos - History of John
John did survive the shipwreck. According to Acts of John by Prochorus, he floated on the ship's wreckage without food or water for forty days, after which the waves washed him up on the shore near the harbor of Ephesus. The apocryphal Syriac History of John tells a different version of the story. It says that John made his way to Ephesus overland, barefoot and living on bread and lentils. Neither story can claim better credibility than the other, but the Syriac version does accurately reflect the concerns of a Galilean Jew who finds himself suddenly thrust into the Diaspora:
He was clothed then after the fashion of the raiment of the land of Israel, and was walking barefooted, and was going along and preaching in the cities and in the villages ... forty-eight days. Some were saying, "He is a madman;" and others were saying, "No; let him alone; for this man has come from a far country and knows not our mighty gods. But when he has entered in and learned, then he will love them and sacrifice unto them."
And his sustenance was, from the ninth to the ninth hour once, when he had finished his prayer, bread and herbs with a mess of boiled lentils, which he bought for himself as he went from town to town, eating, and drinking water only. And he kept himself aloof, that he might not associate with the heathens.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Gates of Efsos - History of John
When John arrived outside the walls of Ephesus, he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold, a column of smoke rose from the midst of the city, for it was a festival of the heathens and they were sacrificing to their gods. He stood still and was astonished, saying, "What is this conflagration, which, behold, veils the sun so that it does not shine upon the buildings of the city?" And with terror taking hold of him, he came and reached the southern gate, and lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the image of the idol Artemis stood over the gate, painted by them with paints, with gold laid upon her lips, a veil of fine linen hanging over her face, and a lamp burning before her. And when John looked and saw her, he contemplated her, and sighed, and wept over the city. And he left that spot and departed thence to another gate, and saw there the same thing, and he went round and saw the same thing at all the gates. And at last he came near to the eastern gate and said to an old woman who was standing and worshiping Artemis. He spoke and said to her in the language of the country, "Woman, I see that you are a woman advanced in years; what is this image that you are worshiping?"
The woman explained that the goddess Artemis was the patroness of the city and the source of life for all its citizens. In his broken Greek, John contemptuously referred to the goddess as the daughter of Satan. Outraged at his impertinent blasphemy, the old woman threw dirt in the apostle's face.
John went some distance from the city and placed his head between his knees, praying from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, weeping and beseeching God for mercy on the city of Ephesus. Then he prayed, "Hear the prayer of your servant John, and let me enter this city ... Direct my path to the right hand, and wherever you please, let there be found for me a place in which I can earn my living as a laborer until this city follows you and confesses your name." Then, he strengthened his resolve and entered the city of Artemis.
John passed through the city gate and turned to look to the right hand, in accordance with his prayer. He saw a bathhouse and turned aside. Behold, there was a man named Secundus who kept the bathhouse. John spoke with him and said to him in the language of that country, "Are you willing that a stranger should work for you?"
Secundus asked, "How much do you require for a day's pay?"
John replied, "Whatever you are willing to give, give.'
Secundus accepted him as a laborer. John carried wood for those who kindled the bath, and he worked at the furnace, keeping it stoked for the hot water pools.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Roman-Era Bathhouse
During the Apostolic Era, every population center in the Roman world had bathhouses (thermae). The Roman world considered the bathhouse a basic necessity for civilized life.
Unlike today's western world, where bathing is a private activity, in Roman culture bathing took place at the public baths. Most households did not have any type of plumbing. Private baths were a luxury of the extraordinarily wealthy. The public bathhouse functioned as a social and recreational center. The typical bathhouse included spa treatments, massage therapists, and even a type of gymnasium for athletics and exercise before bathing.
A visit to the bathhouse included time for conversations, political dis-cussions, business deals, philosophical arguments, and general socializing. The large, elaborate Roman bathhouses offered amenities in addition to bathing. After the baths, patrons enjoyed performances by entertainers or rhetoricians in adjacent facilities, or they could purchase food and beverage from surrounding vendors. Additional rooms in the bathhouse complex contained food and perfume-selling booths, libraries, and reading rooms. Performers and musicians offered shows on small stages. A day at the bathhouse was like a day at the beach.
Bathhouses varied from simple to exceedingly elaborate structures. The bathhouses occupied the center of community life, and, as a result, they stood out as some of the most splendid and expensive buildings in the city. A large public bath consisted of a series of separate buildings connected by colonnades and vaulted passages. The bath complex might occupy a full city block. The classic, imperial bathhouses featured covered porticoes, high-vaulted ceilings, polished mosaic floors, brightly painted frescoes, and faucets and fittings made of precious metals. Emperors and imperial benefactors spent lavishly on creating bathhouses as a means of keeping the general public happy.
Judaism advocated immersion for ritual purity, but a bathhouse could not function as a mikvah.
When Hellenism first introduced the public bathhouse to the Jewish world, the Jewish people had mixed reactions. Jewish modesty abhors public nudity, and the bathhouses seemed to represent an indecent self-indulgence of the flesh. Moreover, the Gentiles adorned their bathhouses with idols and dedicated them to various gods. A pious ew entering a Roman bathhouse to clean himself might be contracting ceremonial uncleanness from the presence of the idols.
On the other hand, Hellenized Jews and those raised in large Diaspora cities considered the bathhouses harmless. In the first century, even the Pharisees joined the bathhouse crowd after Hillel the Elder explained that, since God made man in his image, a trip to the bathhouse to wash the body could be considered a service to God:
His disciples asked him, "Master, where are you going?" He replied, "To perform a religious obligation." They asked him, "What is this religious obligation?" He said to them, "To wash in the bathhouse." They objected, "Is this a religious obligation?" "Yes, it is," he replied. He further explained, "The statues of the emperors are erected in theaters and circuses, and a man appointed to care for them washes and polishes them. He receives his living from caring for them and is exalted among the great ones of the kingdom. If so, how much more so should I, who have been made in the image and likeness of the Almighty!" (Leviticus Rabbah 34:3)
By the end of the middle of the first century, bathhouses stood in every large Jewish community. Soon, the sages were no longer arguing about whether or not it was appropriate to visit a bathhouse, but whether or not one could use the water of the hot bath on the Sabbath if it had been heated before the Sabbath. After the fall of the Temple, concerns about ritual contamination and contact with idolatry in Gentile bathhouses begin to fall aside. When the sages challenged Gamliel (ben Shimon) for going to the bathhouse of Aphrodite in the city of Acre, he explained that it was permissible to do so if the idol functioned only as an adornment and not for cultic purposes or any advantage to idolatry. The Talmud even warns Torah scholars against residing in a city that does not contain at least one bathhouse.
Some disciples of Yeshua looked askance at the bathhouses. The Master never visited them, nor did James the Righteous. Presumably, other ascetic disciples also avoided the bathhouses. That attitude is reflected in later Christianity, which considered the bathhouses as "cathedrals to the flesh." Tradition states that John the son of Zebedee, however, worked at a bathhouse and even bathed in the bathhouse.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Bathhouse Furnace
Roman-era bathhouses had a furnace and bellows that heated a cavity of air beneath the hot bath. Bathhouse engineers built the hypocaust under the hot bath by elevating the floor of the hot bath on a platform created by short, evenly-spaced pillars. They constructed the walls of the hot bath from hollow ceramic blocks that served as flues to conduct hot air up through the walls. A hot bath could have both a hot pool for bathing and a dry area for a sweat bath, or larger bathhouses would separate the two rooms. Outside the building that housed the hot bath, a large furnace and bellows pumped hot air beneath the pool's floor and through the conduits in the walls. The same system partially heated the water in the warm pool.
In the colder, winter months, people crowded into the hot rooms and warm rooms of the bathhouse. Most homes had no source of heat other than a brazier. The heat of the bathhouse provided the average people with a luxury they could not otherwise afford. John worked as a wood carrier and furnace stoker. He had the sooty and unpleasant job of keeping the bathhouse fire burning hot. The furnace stoker worked outside the bath-house, in the back alley, feeding the fire to keep the pools heated.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Danger in the Bathhouse
By the late Apostolic Era, the sages condoned utilizing the public baths. They even composed special benedictions for entering and exiting a bathhouse. The sages were wary of demon spirits that might lurk in Gentile bathhouses. The prayer for entering the bathhouse beseeches God for protection from any wicked spirits, temptations, or other lurking evils in the bathhouse and from the common dangers of expiration and collapse. The heat of the steam room and hot pool sometimes overcame people. Bathers occasionally might pass out or even die in the heat and steam. Even more dramatic, the elevated floors of the hot rooms collapsed from time to time, plunging the bathers into the scalding hot pillars and stones below. According to the Talmud, Rabbi Abbahu was once standing in the hot pool with two slaves attending him on either side when the floor of the bathhouse collapsed under him. By chance, he was near one of the supporting columns. He stood upon it, pulling the slaves up with him. Then he rescued a hundred and one bathers with one arm. "Rabbi Yosi ben Rabbi Yehudah said, 'Do not enter a new bath-house, lest the floor collapse. How long is it new? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, 'For twelve months" (b. Ketubot 6za; b. Berachot Goa; b.Pesachim 112b).
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Bathhouse Manager - History of John
According to History of John, the apostle remained at the bathhouse for forty days, receiving his wages day by day. All the while, he watched his employer, and he saw that Secundus was a fair man, not a blasphemer, but a lover of good deeds and kindness, showing love to strangers.
After these days, Secundus asked John, "What do you do with the wages I pay you? For you have bought yourself neither shoes nor even a coat. Tell me if the wage is sufficient, and if not, give me what you have, and I will supply the rest to purchase whatever you require, for you are a stranger to our city." John replied, "My Master has ordered that I should not carry silver, gold, or bronze in a purse or own two coats, and I cannot ignore his command, lest I anger him."
These words startled the bathhouse owner, and he began to fear that he might be liable to some litigation for taking another man's slave into his service. John assured him, "Fear not, Secundus, son of free parents. My Master will not be angry with you, for He directed me to you." When Secundus inquired further, John spoke persuasively and told Secundus stories about the Master's miracles.
Secundus believed and said, "Such a man is worthy to be called a god, and not that one (Artemis), to whom, behold, for sixty years, more or less, I have been paying vows and libations. In all that time, she has not opened the eyes of my son who was blind. But now, my son, keep these matters secret, for you are a stranger here. If they learn that you do not worship Artemis, they might put you to death." Secundus offered John a position of management over the bathhouse, supervising the servants and taking control of the accounts.
John objected, "It is appropriate for me not to eat unless I work." Secundus replied, "The work of managing is far harder than that of him who labors."
The holy man agreed to the offer, and he took upon himself the responsibility of collecting admission for the bathhouse and giving an account of the books from morning to morning. Bath attendants received checks or tokens from intending patrons so they would know in advance how many to expect and what preparations to make. The Talmud describes a type of coin that was used as a token at bathhouses (b.Bava Metzia 47b). John was responsible for taking reservations, coordinating the staff, overseeing the operation, and balancing the daily accounts. During those days, the receipts of the bathhouse increased substantially, and Secundus was amazed. He used to get up early in the morning and say to the holy man, "Let me become your colleague!"
John replied, "Wait until He has opened your son's eyes."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Tentmakers and Furnace-Stokers
The story of John taking work as a furnace-stoker in a bathhouse may have some historical value. It appears in different versions, and it does not seem like the type of thing that Christian fiction writers would invent to glorify an apostle. Moreover, the Gospels present John as a fisherman, not a manual laborer. Why invent a new vocation for John unless it has some traditional basis?
If the story is true, why did john adopt the vocation? Why did he not seek help from the local Jewish or believing community? By the time John arrived in Ephesus, the believing community was sufficiently large to support him and supply his needs.
Apparently, John did not want to receive support from the community. He said, "It is appropriate for me not to eat unless I work." This ethic is similar to the apostolic injunction, "If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). John seems to have derived the principle from the Master's instruction:
Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. (Matthew 10:9-10)
Paul interpreted the same saying to mean that "the Master directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel" (I Corinthians 9:14), but like John, Paul preferred not to invoke that privilege. Paul supported himself while in Ephesus by making tents. John supported himself, at least initially, by working at the bathhouse.
As a foreigner who could barely speak Greek, John's vocational options in a city like Ephesus were limited. He accepted the lowly position as a mark of humility, emulating the Master who "emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant" (Philippians 2:7). John believed that the Master sent him to Secundus, and he was not too proud to take the lowly position. Even the great rabbi, Hillel the Elder, used to make his living as a carrier of firewood.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Miracle in the Bathhouse - History of John
Apostolic lore says that John raised a man from the dead: "By divine power, a dead man was raised by John himself at Ephesus" (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.18.14). Both History of John and Acts of John by Prochorus associate John's work in the bathhouse with a miraculous resurrection story. Neither version of the story should be considered historically reliable.
According to History of John, the son of the local procurator rented out the bathhouse for his own private use from time to time. Patrons of the bathhouses ordinarily made reservations in advance. For a substantial sum of money, a person might rent the entire facility.
John discovered that the young man had brought a woman of ill repute with him into the bathhouse. Roman historians attest that, in the first century, that type of licentiousness began to occur in private bathhouses. By the end of the century, the problem was common enough that Emperor Hadrian passed legislation forbidding it.
John soundly scolded the procurator's son. He threatened, "Do not come here again. If you do, you will not depart from here."
Sometime later, John returned from checking on the furnaces and discovered the door to the bathhouse closed. He learned that the procurator's son had come to the bathhouse again and rented it for his private party. When the young man was about to leave the bathhouse, the Angel of the LORD struck him dead. The local procurator heard about the matter and came to the bathhouse to retrieve his son. Word spread that John had uttered an imprecation against the young man. The procurator placed John in fetters, thinking him a sorcerer.
John raised the young man from the dead. The young man confessed his crime and repented.
Many thought that John must be divine, and they proclaimed him to be a sibling of Artemis, but John protested, "I am a man of flesh and blood like yourselves."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Bathhouse Stoker and Romna - Acts of John by Prochorus
An alternate version of the story of John at work in the Ephesian bathhouse appears in Acts of John by Prochorus. In this version of the story, John and Prochorus reunited at Ephesus. A tall, strong woman of masculine disposition managed a local bathhouse. Her name was Romna. She took the two strangers into her employment and assigned John to stoke the furnace. Prochorus worked as a washer. She paid the two men three loaves of bread each day. When John did not heat the furnace to her satisfaction, she threw him to the ground and beat him unmercifully with many stripes.
She accused him of laziness and treated him without dignity. Prochorus was outraged by the beating, but John shrugged it off as part of the suffering he must endure as an apostle of the suffering Messiah.
The following day, Romna said to John, "If you would like some apparel, I will give it to you. Only do your work better."
John replied, "What you have given to me already is sufficient for me, and as for my work, I will do it better.
Romna asked, "Why do you do such a poor job?'
John replied, "This work is the first of the kind which I have done, therefore I know little about it. When I have continued at the job for some time you will learn that there is good work in me, but at the beginning, every kind of work is difficult."
Romna had a friend among the officers of the governor, and she said to him, "Two slaves who ran away from me and my parents long ago have returned. I need a written deed declaring they are my slaves."
The government officer replied, "If these men acknowledge that they are your slaves, take three witnesses and have them write a deed."
Roma asked John and Prochorus to testify that they legally belonged to her. Prochorus objected, but John told him, "Do not be troubled by this thing. For behold, our Master is mighty, and behold, He knows who and what we are." Then Romna brought them to the temple of the city to testify before three witnesses, and they wrote her a deed of servitude concerning John and Prochorus.
This version of John the bathhouse stoker has allegorical concerns rather than historical concerns. In this version, Roma represents the Roman Empire. John and Prochorus represent Christians living under Roman-era persecution and subjugation. The story remembers how, prior to Rome's conversion to Christianity, Christians maintained their faith despite the maltreatment and enslavement they suffered under Roman rule. They obeyed the Master by turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Demon in the Bathhouse - Acts of John by Prochorus
In Acts of John by Prochorus, a malevolent demon haunted the bathhouse at which John tended the furnace. Three times a year, the evil spirit strangled one of the bathers. On a certain day, it happened that the son of the bathhouse owner went to bathe, and the spirit strangled him. A great cry went up from the bathers. Ancient folklore frequently associated pools and springs with spirits, and even rabbinic literature associated certain evil spirits with pools, rivers, and other bodies of water.
Jews considered Gentile bathhouses as especially prone to demonic haunting because of the presence of idolatry, immorality, and Gentile uncleanness. People may have blamed death from heat exhaustion in the steam room and hot pools on the activity of malevolent demons. The Talmud also tells a story about a bathhouse haunted by demons who harmed those who entered it.
These common Jewish fears about demons in bathhouses accord remarkably with the apocryphal story told in Acts of John by Prochorus.
The people fled from the bathhouse where the young man's body remained. When Romna heard about it, she feared her master's wrath. She turned to the idols of Artemis and pled, "O Artemis, help me, and hearken to my petition, and bring back to life for me my master's son, for you are the consoler of the whole world." She wept and tore at her hair.
John heard the commotion and came from the furnace behind the bath-house. He asked, "My son, Prochorus, what now is the cause of sorrow and outcry which this woman makes?" Learning of the young man's death, John went alone into the bathhouse. He emerged a few moments later with the young man, leading him by the hand, and he delivered him into the hands of those gathered. He said to Romna, "Take your master, for he is whole and alive, and there is no injury to him whatsoever. Behold! He has come to life through the might of my God!"
Fear and trembling seized her, and she felt too much shame to look John in the face. She said to herself, "Woe is me because of what I have done to this man, whom I treated as a slave, although he was not my slave, and by reason of all the abuse which I heaped upon him continually."
John saw her sorrow, shame, and penitence, and he pitied her. She said, "Tell me who you really are. Are you a god, or the son of a god, that you are able to do this thing?"
John replied, I am neither, but I am a servant of the Son of God, and if you will believe upon Him, you will become his handmaiden." That day, many believed, including the owner of the bathhouse.
After these things, Roma came bearing in her hands the deeds of servitude and gave them to John. He tore them to pieces and baptized her.
Then he went back into the bathhouse and drove out the evil spirit that strangled people. The owner of the bathhouse made a banquet in his honor.
These stories are entertaining, but their details have no claim to historical credibility. Both versions of the story merely retain an Apostolic-era memory that John worked at a bathhouse in Ephesus and, "by divine power, a dead man was raised by John himself at Ephesus."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Yochanan Remains in Efsos
Both apocryphal accounts of John raising a dead man in the bathhouse go on to describe how John converted the whole city of Ephesus and toppled the temple of Artemis. In reality, Ephesus remained pagan for several more generations, and the temple of Artemis continued to operate for two more centuries. The Goths finally destroyed it in 263 CE.
John did not topple the temple of Artemis, but he did continue to work in Ephesus. The sojourn of John in Ephesus and Asia Minor is well-attested in early church sources. For example, Irenaeus the bishop of Lyons was a disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, who in his youth knew John. Irenaeus states, "The Church at Ephesus was founded by Paul, and John remained there until Trajan's time, so she is a true witness of what the apostles taught." In another passage, Irenaeus says, "All the clergy who in Asia Minor came in contact with John, the Master's disciple, testify that John taught the truth to them" (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.22.5, 3.23.4).
John made contact with the local believers in Ephesus and became their revered teacher. He raised many disciples, including Polycarp of Smyrna. Over the next four decades, he used Ephesus as his base of operations while he ministered in the cities of Asia Minor.
From week to week, he taught them in the assembly. One apocryphal source reports as follows:
There were multitudes of the brethren who were dwelling with him in Ephesus, and they were glad and rejoiced in the sight of him ... And on each Sabbath day all [these] people would come together, and would rejoice in the Spirit, and would sing psalms and spiritual hymns, even as they were sung in the churches by the children of the Jerusalem which is in the heavens. Then would John the Evangelist begin to address the people with the words of the Spirit. (The History of the Death of Saint John the Evangelist)
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.