|  | according to Pope Benedict--we may have already met this mysterious figure in a surprising way. |
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| | John the Presbyter was a figure apparently distinct from John the Apostle. |
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| | He also goes by different names in English, since the Greek word for "presbyter"--presbuteros--can be translated "elder." |
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| | One is that they were both, apparently, disciples of Jesus, though the presbyter was not an apostle. |
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| | they both apparently lived at Ephesus. |
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| | There is some reason to think that John the Presbyter--like St. Mark--may have been one of those companions of the apostles who ended up playing a role in writing the New Testament. |
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| | “presbyter” John appears as the sender and author of the Second and Third Letters of John (in each case in the first verse of the first chapter) simply under the title “the presbyter” (without reference to the name John). |
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| | He is evidently not the same as the Apostle |
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| | He must have been closely connected with the Apostle |
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| | there seem to be grounds for ascribing to “Presbyter John” an essential role in the definitive shaping of the Gospel [of John], though he must always have regarded himself as the trustee of the tradition he had received from the son of Zebedee. |
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| | Pope Benedict thus sees John the Presbyter as the author of 2 and 3 John and as having helped with the writing of the Gospel of John, based on the memories of John the Apostle. |
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