JOHN
409
JOHN
Phokas (GIO), using for this purpose Sextus Julius
Africanus, Eusebius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and
other standard authorities. It is one of tlie many
adaptations and imitations of the better known chron-
icle of John Malalas. Only fragments of it remain.
Gelzer (Sextus Julius Africanus, 41) identifies the
author with the Monophysite Patriarch John of An-
tioch, who ruled from 630 to 64S. The fragments of
the chronicle are contained in two collections, the
Codex Parisinus, 1763, written by Salmasius, and the
encyclopedia of history made by order of Constan-
tine VII, Porphyrogenitus (912-59), in fifty-three
chapters, or titles with different headings. Of this
collection of excerpts only parts remain (Krum-
bacher, "Byz. Litt.", 25S-60). Two titles; "Of A'ir-
tue and Vice" and "Of Conspiracies against Emper-
ors " contain the literary remains of Jolin of Antioch.
A difficulty arises from the fact that a great part of the
extracts (from the Roman Commonwealth of Justin
I) differs considerably from the corresponding quota-
tions in the Salmasian collection. The C'onstantinian
passages are of the nature of the old Hellenic writing
of history, the Salmasian ones are rather Byzantine
and Christian. The Salmasian compilation is older,
and so appears to be the original text; the other is no
doubt a re-arrangement made under the influence of
the Hellenic Renaissance since Photius. But some
authorities see in them two different originals and
speak of a " Constantinian " and a " Salmasian " John
of Antioch.
The Salmasian excerpts are edited by Cramer, "Anecdota Graeca e cod. mss. regije Parisiensis ", II, Oxford, 1S39, 383—101. Both series of fragments are in C. Miiller, "Fragmonta Historicorum Graecorum", IV, r'.ri-, iss:;, :i:;:, iiJ_': V. 27-8.
'I'll " ./ 1 <anus (Leipzig, 1S9S); Idem in
/>' , M , 394; KocHER. De Joannis
A' ' ' / .■ / , .; ' ', iBonn, 1S71): Krumbacher,
Byz-inliin«ch,' Lill,r<ilunir.ichicUe (Munich, 1897), 334-36. For his identification with the Monophysite patriarch, see Gelzer, Die poUti.^che and kirchliche Stetlung von Byzanz (Proceedings of the thirt\--third congress of German philologists at Gera) (Leipzig, 1S79), 47 sq.
III. John Scholasticus of Antioch, the canon- ist, afterwards Patriarch of Constantinople (.565-77). (See John Scholasticus.)
IV. John of Antioch, Orthodox patriarch at the time of Alexius I Comnenus (lOSl-lllS), formerly a monk in Oxia, one of the Echinades Islands in the Ionian Sea. He w"as a reformer of monasticism and a deserving ascetic writer. Towards the end of the tenth century a custom grew up in the East of be- queathing property to a monastery on condition that some prominent layman should be its patron or guard- ian (€0opos). The monastery then owed something like feudal service to its protector. Such benefices were called charistikaria. The result was that fre- quently the lay "ephoros" misused the property of the monastery for his own enrichment. Against tins abuse John wrote a work " Of the [true] Teaching con- cerning Monasteries" (Tep! iMvaa-riKij^ SiSaaKaKla^) , in which he shows its evils in a tone of dignified indig- nation. Theodore Balsamon in the twelth century refers to this work in his commentary on the"No- mocanon". John also wrote a work of anti- Latin controversy, "Of Azymes", that is still unedited. Leo Allatius quotes a passage from a letter from John of Antioch to Theodore of Ephesus ("De aetate et interstitiis in collatione ordinum etiam apud Graecos servandis", Rome, 1638, 215). The work about monasteries is in P. G., CXXXII, 1117-49.
Krdmbacher, Byzantinische Lilteraturgeschichte (Munich, 1897), 156.
Adrian Fortescue.
John of Avila, Blessed, apostolic preacher of An- dalusia and author, b. at Alinodovar del Campo, a small town in the diocese of Toledo, Spain, 6 January,
1500; d. at Montilla, 10 May, 1569. At the age of four-
teen he was sent to the University of Salamanca to
study law. Conceiving a distaste for j urisprudence he
returned after a year to his father's home, where he
spent the next three years in the practice of most aus-
tere piety. His wonderful sanctity impressed a Fran-
ciscan journeying through .\lnioduvar, and at the
friar's advice he took up the study of philosophy and
theology at Alcala, where he was fortunate to have as
his teacher the famous Dominican De Soto. His par-
ents died while he was a student and after his ordina-
tion he celebrated his first Mass in the church where
they were buried, sold the family propertj' ant! gave
the proceeds to the poor. He saw in the severing of
natural ties a vocation to foreign missionary work and
made preparation to go to Mexico in America. While
awaiting, at Seville in 1527, a favourable opportunity
to start for his new field of labour, his extraordinary
devotion in celebrating Mass attracted the attention
of Hernando de Contreras, a priest of Seville, who re-
ported his observations to the archbishop and general
inquisitor, Don Alphonso JIanrique. The archbishop
saw in the young missionary a powerful instrument to
stir up the faith of Andalusia, and after considerable
persuasion Blessed John was induced to abandon his
journey to America. His first sermon was preached
on 22 July, 1529, and immediately his reputation was
estabUshed; crowds thronged the churches at all his
sermons. His success, however, brought with it the
hatred of a certain class, and while hving at Seville he
was brought before the inquisitor and charged with
exaggerating the dangers of wealth and closing the
gates of heaven to the rich. His innocence of the
charges was speedily proved, and by special invitation
of the court he was appointetl to preach the sermon on
the next great feast in the church of San Salvador, in
Seville. His appearance was a cause of public rejoic-
ing. He began his career as apostolic preacher of
Andalusia at the age of thirty. After nine years in
that province he returned to Seville only to depart for
the wider fields of Cordova, Granada, Bolza, Mon-
tilla, and Zafra. For eighteen years before his
death he was the victim of constant illness, the re-
sult of the hardships of his apostolate of forty
years. He was declared Venerable bv Clement XIII,
8 Feb., 1799, and beatified by Leo' XIII, 12 Nov.,
1893.
Among the disciples drawTi to him by his preaching and saintly reputation may be named St. Therjsa, St. John of God, St. Francis Borgia, and Ven. Louis of Granada. The spread of the Jesuits in Spain is at- tributed to his friendship for that boily. Blessed John of Avila's works were collected at Madrid in 1618, 1757, 1792, 1805; a French translation by dAndilly was pubhshed at Paris in 1673; and a German trans- lation by Schermer in six volumes was issued at Rat- isbon between 1S56 and ISSl. His best known works are the "Audi Fill" (Enghsh translation, 1620), one of the liest tracts on Christian perfection, and his "Spiritual Letters" (EngUsh translation, 1631, Lon- don, 1904) to liis disciples.
ZuNGERLE in Kirchenlezikon; Lotjis of Gr.^nada, Vida del Ven. Maestro Juan de Avila (Madrid, 1787); Ruz de Mesa, Vida y Obra de Ven. Maestro J van de Avila (Madrid. 1674); Schermer in Preface to first vol. of German translation (Ratisbon, 1S56-1SS1); Gasqdet in Pre/ace to Letters of B. John of Avila (London, 1904).
iGN-iTius Smith.
John of Beverley, S.unt, Bishop of Hexham and afterwards of York; b. at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire; d. at Beverley, 7 May, 721. In early life he was under the care of -Archbishop Theodore, at Canterbury, who supervised his educa- tion, and is reputed to have given liim the name of John. He became a member of the Benedictine Order, and for a time was an inmate of St. Hilda's monastery at Streaneshalch (Whitby). Afterwards
