Apostles Christians (second half of the second century and first half of the third century) believed that only Peter, Paul, and James, son of Zebedee, were martyred. The remainder or even all of the claims of martyred apostles do not rely upon historical or biblical evidence. The relics of the Apostles are claimed by various Churches, many in Italy. Each of the four listings of apostles in the New Testament (, , , and ) indicate that all the apostles were men. The canonical gospels and the book of Acts give varying names of the twelve apostles. The list in the
John the Evangelist author names (and therefore is not claiming to be) Peter, and that James was martyred as early as 44 AD (Acts 12:2) it has been widely believed that the author either was the Apostle John or was pretending to be. Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle. The Apostle John was a historical figure, one of the "pillars" of the Jerusalem church after Jesus' death. He was one of the original twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age and not be killed for his faith. Some believe