JOHN
423
JOHN
bishops of the island was not one of his privileges,
Citonatus of Cagliari proceeded to lay hands on the
bishop-elect of Turris Libisonis. John, however, de-
finitively declared the See of Turris directly subject
to the Holy See. John's generosity showed itself in
his liberal donations. In his short pontificate he
distributed 1900 solidi to the clergy and to the dea-
conries for the [loor. After a long illness he died on
2 August, 686, and was buried in St. Peter's.
Liber Pontificals. I, 366-7: St. Gregory I, Epp., IX, 202; Xni, 20, 21, ed. in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script.; Duchesne, Le Liber Diurnus (Paris, 1891), 8; Mann, Lives of the Popes, vol. I, pt. II, pp. 64 sqq.
Horace K. M.\j<n.
John VI, Pope (701-705) , a Greek, the date of whose birth is unknown; d. 11 January, 705. He ascended the papal throne 30 October, 701. Some time during his reign there came to Rome from Sicily Theophy- lactus, "chamberlain, patricius, and exarch of Italy". After the treatment which .some of his predecessors in the exarchate had meted out to the popes, the Italian people suspected that his visit boded no good to John VI. Accordingly, from all parts the local militias hurriedly marched to Rome, and, encamping without the walls, made manifest their dislike of the exarch. To avoid bloodshed, John sent a numljer of priests to them, and succeeded in pacifying them, as far at least as the exarch himself was concerned. Before the militias would disband, however, they insisted that certain informers, whose denunciations had put the wealth of some of the citizens into the hands of the grasping officials, should be handed over to them for punishment. Taking advantage of this want of harmony between the exarch and the native Italians attached to the pope, the Lombards renewed their attacks on such parts of Italy as had hitherto resisted them. Several towns belonging to the Duchy of Rome were seized, tiisulf advanced as far as "Horrea" Puteoli — or perhaps the "fundus Horrea" at the fifth milestone on the Via Latina. As "there was no one who had power to resist him by force of arms", the pope, distressed at the sufferings of the people, sent a number of priests furnished with money into the camp of the Lombard duke. Not only did they ransom all the captives whom Gisulf had taken, but they persuaded him to retire to his own terri- tories. John VI was one of the popes before whom St. Wilfrid of York carried his appeals. Pointing out that the action of the Apostolic See was wont to be consistent, the saint adjured him to confirm in his behalf the decisions of his predecessors (704). This John did, and sent him back to England with letters for King Ethelred and others. It was not, however, till the following year that the papal mandates were obeyed. John sent the pallium to Brithwald, whom "he confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury". He was buried in St. Peter's.
Liber Pontificalis. I, 383 sq.; Eddius. Vita S. Wilfridi. xlvi sqq.; Bede. Hist, eccl., V, 19; Mont.^lembert, Monks of the West. IV (Edinburgh and London, 1879), 323 sqq.; Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders. VI (Oxford. 1895), 336, 363 sq.; JIann, Lives of the Popes, vol. I, pt. II, p. 105 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
John VII, Pope (705-707).— The year of his birth is unknown; d. 18 October, 707. Few particulars of his life remain. Like many other popes during the period of Byzantine influence in Rome, John was a Greek. Sprung from a distinguished family, he was the son of Blatta and Plato. The latter carried out various restorations in the imperial palace on the Palatine hill in Rome, and, for the sake, perhaps, of living where once his parents had lived, John after he had become pope (March 1, 705) construeteil a p:d:ice (cpi.^copium) near the church of Sancta M;iria -\Mti(|ua. Before his elevation, John was the rector of the p;ipal patrimony on the .\ppian way. It was in tliat eapacit>- that he erected a memorial "with a broken heart to a most loving and incomparable mother, and to the kindest of
fathers" (687). One of the churches which John
beautified or restored during his pontificate was the
afore-mentioned church of Sancta Maria Antiqua.
" He adorned with frescoes the basilica of the Holy
Mother of God which is known as the Old ", and gave it
a new ambo. When the remains of tliis church were
brought to light in 1900, among the many figures
found upon its walls, one with a square nimbus is sup-
posed to represent John himself. There was also then
discovered the base of his ambo. It bore upon it
inscriptions which proclaimed him to lie " the servant
of Mary ". John also erected a chapel to Our Lady in
St. Peter's. When this oratory was destroyed, some
of his mosaics were preserved, and may be seen in the
Roman Church of Sancta Maria in Cosmedin and in
other places. Though John was a man of learning and
eloquence, and though he was remarkable for his filial
atTection and piety, he was of a timorous disposition.
Hence, when the fierce Emperor Justinian II sent him
the decrees of the Quinise.xt Council, "in which were
many articles against the See of Rome", with a re-
quest that he would set forth what he approved in
them, John simply returned them, as though there
were nothing to condemn in them. He received back
from the Lombard King Aripert II the papal patri-
monies in the Cottian X\])S, which the Lombards had
confiscated. John is creilited with having prevailed
upon the Anglo-Saxon clergy resident in Rome to re-
nounce their secular style of dress, and with having
written to those in England bidding them follow this
example. John died in the palace he had built near
the Palatine, and was buried in the oratory he had
erected in St. Peter's.
Liber Pontificalis. I, 3S5 sqq. ; Nicephorus and Theophanes, CAron., 696-8; Bede, De sex aetat.. ad an. 708; Paul the Dea- con. Hist. Lang.. VI, 23 (28); Rushworth in Papers of the British School at Rome. I (London, 1902); Federici in .irchivio Rom. di star, pat., XXIII (Rome, 1900). 517 sqq.; Marucchi, Le Forum Romain (Paris, 1902), 230 sqq.; Mann, Lives of the Popes in the earlu Middle Ages, vol. I, pt. 1 (London and St. Louis, 1902), 109 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
John VIII, Pope (872-82), a Roman and the son of
G undus. He seems to have been born in the first quarter of the ninth century; d. 16 Dec, 882. In 853 and 869 he appears as archdeacon of the Roman Church, and it was as such that he became pope (14 Dec, 872). His election was opposed by Formosus, who remained in opposition to him throughout the whole of his pontifi- cate. All modern historians are agreed that John was one of the greatest of the great popes who sat on the chair of Peter during the ninth century. Some, how- ever, on what woukl seem to be insufficient grovmds, regard him as cruel, passionate, worldly-minded, and inconstant. The more important acts of John's reign may be divided into four groups, according as they relate to the affairs of Eastern Europe, to the empire of the West, to Southern Italy and the Saracens, or to those persons with whom he came into more frequent contact.
A year or two before John became pope, St. Me- thodius, the brother of St. CjtII, who had died in Rome (869), had been sent back to Moravia as an archbishop to continue his work for the conversion of the Slavs. He had received permission to use the Slavonic language in the liturgy of the Church. This action of Pope Hadrian II did not please either the German princes or bishops. The former had designs on the political, the latter on the ecclesiastical, inde- pendence of the Moravians. Methodius was seized and imprisoned (871), and it was not till 873 that any hint of his treatment and his appeal to Rome reached John. Though for the moment, in deference to Ger- man opposition, the pope prohiliited the use of the Slavonic tongue in the liturgy, he insisted on the im- mediate restoration of Methodius. After his orders were obeyed, John bade the archbishop come to Rome, as fresh accusations had been brought against him.
