The earliest testimony on this point does not appear, however, until
near the close of the fourth century; when it arises in the form of a
vague notion, that John had once preached to the Parthians, and that
his first epistle was particularly addressed to them. From a few such
remnants of history as this, it has been considered extremely probable,
by some, that John passed many years, or even a great part of his
life, in the regions east of the Euphrates, within the bounds of the
great Parthian empire, where a vast number of his refugee countrymen
had settled after the destruction of Jerusalem, enjoying peace and
prosperity, partly forgetting their national calamities, in building
themselves up almost into a new people, beyond the bounds of the Roman
empire. These would afford to him an extensive and congenial field of
labor; they were his countrymen, speaking his own language, and to them
he was allied by the sympathies of a common misfortune and a common
refuge. Abundant proof has already been offered, to show that in this
region was the home of Peter, during the same period; and probabilities
are strongly in favor of the supposition, that the other apostles
followed him thither, making Babylon the new apostolic capital of the
eastern churches, as Jerusalem had been the old one. From that city, as
a center, the apostles would naturally extend their occasional labors
into the countries eastward, as far as their Jewish brethren had spread
their refugee settlements; for beyond the Roman limits, Christianity
seems to have made no progress whatever among the Gentiles, in the time
of the apostles; and if there had been no other difficulties, the great
difference of language and manners, and the savage condition of most
of the races around them, would have led them to confine their labors
wholly to those of their own nation, who inhabited the country watered
by the Euphrates and its branches; or still farther east, to lands
where the Jews seem to have spread themselves to the banks of the
Indus, and perhaps within the modern boundaries of India. Some wild
traditionary accounts, of no great authority, even offer reports, that
the Apostle John preached in India; and some of the Jesuit missionaries
have supposed that they had detected such traditions among the tribes
of that region, among whom they labored. All that can be said of these
accounts is, that they accord with a reasonable supposition, which is
made probable by other circumstances; but traditions of such a standing
cannot be said to _prove_ anything.
_Parthia._――The earliest trace of this story is in the writings
of Augustin, (A. D. 398,) who quotes the first epistle of
John as “the epistle to the Parthians,” from which it appears
that this was a common name for that epistle, in the times of
Augustin. Athanasius is also quoted by Bede, as calling it by
the same name. If he wrote to the Parthians in that familiar
way, it would seem probable that he had been among them, and
many writers have therefore adopted this view. Among these, the
learned Mill (Prolegomena in New Testament § 150) expresses his
opinion very fully, that John passed the greater part of his
life among the Parthians, and the believers near them. Lampe
(Prolegomena to a Johannine Theology, Lib. I. cap. iii. § 12,
note) allows the probability of such a visit, but strives to fix
its date long before the destruction of Jerusalem; yet offers no
good reason for such a notion.
_India._――The story of the Jesuit missionaries is given by
Baronius, (Annals 44. § 30.) The story is, that letters from
some of these missionaries, in 1555, give an account of their
finding such a tradition, among an East Indian nation, called
the Bassoras, who told them that the apostle John once preached
the gospel in that region. No further particulars are given; but
this is enough to enable us to judge of the value of a story,
dating fifteen centuries from the event which it commemorates.