# Saint John — Poetry character guide

> Saint John in Poetry by George MacDonald.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the good Saint John, John

**First appearance:** 0047-concerning-jesus

## Snapshot

The apostle of love, invoked as witness that God is light — and as the friend who can teach a divided heart to see.

## Who they are

John stands in these poems as the human counterweight to the poet's own doubt: the one who dared all truth, feared nothing, and served all men in 'the Godlike silence of a loving care.' Against him the speaker measures his own misty twilight of the soul, his empty bowl of thought, his broken fragments begging to be gathered whole. He matters because he embodies the love the poems keep reaching toward — a love that is not sentiment but the very light in which 'no darkness is at all.'

## Relationships

### [Mary Magdalene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters/mary_magdalene)

_friendship_

Mary Magdalene and Saint John are close companions, united in their devotion to Jesus.

## In the story

### [I: The Mother Mary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/i-the-mother-mary)

The beloved disciple entrusted by Jesus to care for Mary at the cross.

### [XV: Mary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/xv-mary)

Mentioned as the eyewitness who recalls Mary anointing Jesus' feet and wiping them with her hair.

### [I See Thee Not](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/i-see-thee-not)

Mentioned as John leaning on the Master's breast, a model of intimate faith.

### [The Beloved Disciple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/chapters/the-beloved-disciple)

The beloved disciple, recognized by his quiet-featured port and unearthly eyes, who has parted with his eyes in prayer and bears a vision and apocalypse.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters/saint_john
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_8_se/characters