Ole Karsten Sundlisæter & Dordi Glærum Skuggevik - Oratoriet JOHANNES - Kjærlighetens apostel, biskop av Efesos (2023)

When we stand today on what remains of St. John's Basilica in Ephesus: the floor - standing there by the tomb of the apostle John, it is easy to hear the voices through the centuries. When we get into a taxi and ask the driver to drive to Maria's house, it does not take us further into the city, but up the side of the mountain and onto a ledge in the mountain where Johannes, Maria and their entourage sought refuge in the robbers' caves after the tumults in Jerusalem. The stone shelf the archaeologists found during the excavations of the house that Johannes and the others eventually built for the aging Mary is believed to be the altar where Johannes celebrated mass with his flock while they lived in hiding in the mountains. John was to become bishop of Ephesus, and he was to be 90 years old. At last they carried old John into the church, and his sermon was short: "Love one another," he said. And then they carried him out again.