I. The existence of a ‘Presbyter John,’ a contemporary of the

Apostle, depends on the following evidence :—
(i.) Papias in Eus. iii. 39 names him with Aristion separately from St. John, as a disciple of the Lord. Eusebius adds that this confirms the report of (a) two Johns in Asia who had been in close relations with our Lord, (8) two tombs at Ephesus both bearing the name of John.
(ii.) Dionysius of Alexandria, in Eus. vii. 25, ascribes the authorship of the Apocalypse to ‘the Presbyter John,’ as Eusebius himself was inclined to do. Dionysius repeats the story of the two tombs.
(iii.) According to the ‘ Apostolical Constitutions’ (vii. 47) a second John was made Bishop of Ephesus by the Apostle St. John.
(iv.) St. Jerome (Catal. Script. c. 9 and 18) makes a state- ment to the same effect: he says that John the Presbyter’s Mm
530 Note Lf, The Presbyter Fohn and the Apostle,
tomb is still shewn at Ephesus, although some maintained that both tombs were memorials of St. John the Evan- gelist.
Dr. Déllinger admits that the Presbyter John lived as a con- temporary of the Evangelist, and that his grave could be seen at Ephesus next to St. John’s. (First Age of the Church, p. 113, Eng. trans., 2nd edit.) ;