This is John the Evangelist, one of the disciples of the Lord, who was chosen by God as a virgin, whom God called away from his wedding when he was about to marry. To his virginity a twofold testimony is given in the Gospel: that he is said to have been loved by the Lord above the rest, and that the Lord, hanging on the cross, commended His Mother to him, so that a virgin might care for the Virgin.
Indeed, making manifest in the Gospel what He Himself was, commencing the work of the incorruptible Word, he alone testifies that the Word was made flesh and that the light was not comprehended by the darkness: setting down the first sign that the Lord performed at a wedding, showing that He Himself was, so that he might demonstrate to readers that where the Lord has been invited, the wine of the wedding must fail, and, the old things having been changed, all new things that are instituted by Christ might appear.
Moreover, he wrote this Gospel in Asia, after he had written the Apocalypse on the island of Patmos: so that to the one for whom in the beginning of the canon an incorruptible beginning is set forth in Genesis, an incorruptible end might also be rendered through the virgin in the Apocalypse, with Christ saying: I am the Alpha and the Omega.
And this is John who, knowing that the day of his departure had come, having convoked his disciples at Ephesus, demonstrating Christ through many proofs of signs, descending into the excavated place of his burial, having made his prayer, was laid to rest with his fathers, found as much a stranger to the pain of death as he is found free from the corruption of the flesh. Nevertheless, after all the others he wrote his Gospel, and this was owed to the virgin. However, the chronological arrangement of these writings, or the ordering of the books, is not set forth by us one by one, so that, with the desire of knowing having been bestowed, both the fruit of labor might be preserved for those who seek and the teaching of the Master's instruction for God. Here ends the Prologue.
Exposition of this Prologue.
12. To this book Jerome prefixes a Prologue, in which the work is made known in multiple ways. For first the dignity of the writer is touched upon. Second, the manner of writing, at the words: Indeed, making manifest in the Gospel. Third, the time and place of writing, at the words: Moreover, he wrote this Gospel in Asia. Fourth, the death of the author, at the words: And this is John, who knowing. Lastly, the order of this Gospel relative to the other Gospels, at the words: Nevertheless, after all the others he wrote his Gospel.
The dignity of the author, therefore, he expresses in this, that "as a virgin he was called by the Lord from his wedding," and that great and noble testimonies are borne to his virginity, namely Christ's intimate love and the commending of His Mother.
The manner of writing, moreover, he describes as consonant with the writer in this, that because the writer was incorrupt in the flesh and called from a wedding, therefore he first "begins with the generation of the incorruptible Word," and then among the signs he begins from the changing of water into wine performed at a wedding: from these things "showing that He Himself was," which is a name, and means nothing other than showing what sort He was, as we commonly say: you show what you are.
The place of writing he says "was in Asia"; the time indeed was, because it was last, after the Apocalypse: and thus the Gospel of John was the last written among the books of Sacred Scripture: and it was fitting that, just as in the first book written, which is the beginning of the canon, an incorruptible beginning is prefixed, so also in the last book written: In the beginning was the Word, just as there: In the beginning He created, and this, "with the Lord saying in the Apocalypse: I am the Alpha and the Omega ." Whence in the first chapter of the Apocalypse is the determination of that which is saying.
Or it can be read otherwise, so that "the incorruptible end is rendered through the virgin in the Apocalypse," which is the last book of the canon, although not the last written. But the first reading is more consonant with the words.
The death of the author he describes as wondrous, because he foreknew it; and although he had flourished with many miracles, he passed from this life without pain. But nevertheless this admits of some doubt.
The order in relation to the other Gospels he touches upon, because he wrote last. And this was owed to him either as to a modest virgin, or as to an uncorrupted virgin, or as to a perfect virgin; therefore he ought to have brought it to completion, yet he declines to touch fully upon the order, so that he may leave to others the fruit of labor.
COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.