regularly in prison (Matt. xi. 2, xiv. 12), and to whom he taught special forms of prayer (Luke v. 33, xi. 1). Some of these afterwards became followers of Christ (John i. 37). John’s activity indeed had far-reaching effects. It profoundly influenced the Messianic movement depicted in the Gospels. The preaching of Jesus shows traces of this, and the Fourth Gospel (as well as the Synoptists) displays a marked interest in connecting the Johannine movement with the beginnings of Christianity. The fact that after the lapse of a quarter of a century there were Christians in Ephesus who accepted John’s baptism (Acts xviii. 25, xix. 3) is highly significant. This influence also persisted in later times. Christ’s estimate of John (Matt. xi. 7 seq.) was a very high one. He also pointedly alludes to John’s work and the people’s relation to it, in many sayings and parables (sometimes in a tone of irony). The duration of John’s ministry cannot be determined with certainty: it terminated in his imprisonment in the fortress of Machaerus, to which he had been committed by Herod Antipas, whose incestuous marriage with Herodias, the Baptist had sternly rebuked. His execution cannot with safety be placed later than A.D. 28.
In the church calendar this event is commemorated on the 29th of August. According to tradition he was buried at Samaria (Theodoret, H. E. iii. 3). (G. H. Bo.)
JOHN I., pope from 523 to 526, was a Tuscan by birth, and
was consecrated pope on the death of Hormisdas. In 525 he
was sent by Theodoric at the head of an embassy to Constantinople
to obtain from the emperor Justin toleration for the
Arians; but he succeeded so imperfectly in his mission that
Theodoric on his return, suspecting that he had acted only half-heartedly,
threw him into prison, where he shortly afterwards
died, Felix IV. succeeding him. He was enrolled among the
martyrs, his day being May 27.
JOHN II., pope from 533 to 535, also named Mercurius, was
elevated to the papal chair on the death of Boniface II. During
his pontificate a decree against simony was engraven on marble
and placed before the altar of St Peter’s. At the instance of the
emperor Justinian he adopted the proposition unus de Trinitate
passus est in carne as a test of the orthodoxy of certain Scythian
monks accused of Nestorian tendencies. He was succeeded by
Agapetus I.
JOHN III., pope from 561 to 574, successor to Pelagius, was
descended from a noble Roman family. He is said to have been
successful in preventing an invasion of Italy by the recall of the
deposed exarch Narses, but the Lombards still continued their
incursions, and, especially during the pontificate of his successor
Benedict I., inflicted great miseries on the province.
JOHN IV., pope from 640 to 642, was a Dalmatian by birth,
and succeeded Severinus after the papal chair had been vacant
four months. While he adhered to the repudiation of the
Monothelitic doctrine by Severinus, he endeavoured to explain
away the connexion of Honorius I. with the heresy. His
successor was Theodorus I.
JOHN V., pope from 685 to 686, was a Syrian by birth, and on
account of his knowledge of Greek had in 680 been named papal
legate to the sixth ecumenical council at Constantinople. He
was the successor of Benedict II., and after a pontificate of
little more than a year, passed chiefly in bed, was followed by
Conon.
JOHN VI., pope from 701 to 705, was a native of Greece, and
succeeded to the papal chair two months after the death of
Sergius I. He assisted the exarch Theophylact, who had been
sent into Italy by the emperor Justinian II., and prevented him
from using violence against the Romans. Partly by persuasion
and partly by means of a bribe, John succeeded in inducing
Gisulf, duke of Benevento, to withdraw from the territories of
the empire.
JOHN VII., pope from 705 to 707, successor of John VI., was
also of Greek nationality. He seems to have acceded to the
request of the emperor Justinian II. that he should give his
sanction to the decrees of the Quinisext or Trullan council of
692. There are several monuments of John in the church of
St Maria Antiqua at the foot of the Palatine hill; others were
formerly in the chapel of the Virgin, built by him in the basilica
of St Peter. He was succeeded by Sisinnius.
JOHN VIII., pope from 872 to 882, successor of Adrian II.,
was a Roman by birth. His chief aim during his pontificate
was to defend the Roman state and the authority of the Holy
See at Rome from the Saracens, and from the nascent feudalism
which was represented outside by the dukes of Spoleto and the
marquises of Tuscany and within by a party of Roman nobles.
Events, however, were so fatally opposed to his designs that no
sooner did one of his schemes begin to realize itself in fact than
it was shattered by an unlooked-for chance. To obtain an
influential alliance against his enemies, he agreed in 875, after
death had deprived him of his natural protector, the emperor
Louis II., to bestow the imperial crown on Charles the Bald; but
that monarch was too much occupied in France to grant him
much effectual aid, and about the time of the death of Charles
he found it necessary to come to terms with the Saracens, who
were only prevented from entering Rome by the promise of an
annual tribute. Carloman, the opponent of Charles’s son Louis,
soon after invaded northern Italy, and, securing the support of
the bishops and counts, demanded from the pope the imperial
crown. John attempted to temporize, but Lambert, duke of
Spoleto, a partisan of Carloman, whom sickness had recalled to
Germany, entered Rome in 878 with an overwhelming force,
and for thirty days virtually held John a prisoner in St Peter’s.
Lambert was, however, unsuccessful in winning any concession
from the pope, who after his withdrawal carried out a previous
purpose of going to France. There he presided at the council
of Troyes, which promulgated a ban of excommunication against
the supporters of Carloman—amongst others Adalbert of
Tuscany, Lambert of Spoleto, and Formosus, bishop of Porto,
who was afterwards elevated to the papal chair. In 879 John
returned to Italy accompanied by Boso, duke of Provence,
whom he adopted as his son, and made an unsuccessful attempt
to get recognized as king of Italy. In the same year he was
compelled to give a promise of his sanction to the claims of
Charles the Fat, who received from him the imperial crown in
881. Before this, in order to secure the aid of the Greek emperor
against the Saracens, he had agreed to sanction the restoration
of Photius to the see of Constantinople, and had withdrawn his
consent on finding that he reaped from the concession no
substantial benefit. Charles the Fat, partly from unwillingness,
partly from natural inability, gave him also no effectual aid, and
the last years of John VIII. were spent chiefly in hurling vain
anathemas against his various political enemies. According to
the annalist of Fulda, he was murdered by members of his
household. His successor was Marinus.
JOHN IX., pope from 898 to 900, not only confirmed the
judgment of his predecessor Theodore II. in granting Christian
burial to Formosus, but at a council held at Ravenna decreed
that the records of the synod which had condemned him should
be burned. Finding, however, that it was advisable to cement
the ties between the empire and the papacy, John gave unhesitating
support to Lambert in preference to Arnulf, and also
induced the council to determine that henceforth the consecration
of the popes should take place only in the presence of the
imperial legates. The sudden death of Lambert shattered
the hopes which this alliance seemed to promise. John was
succeeded by Benedict IV.
JOHN X., pope from 914 to 928, was deacon at Bologna when
he attracted the attention of Theodora, the wife of Theophylact,
the most powerful noble in Rome, through whose influence he was
elevated first to the see of Bologna and then to the archbishopric
of Ravenna. In direct opposition to a decree of council, he was
also at the instigation of Theodora promoted to the papal chair
as the successor of Lando. Like John IX. he endeavoured to
secure himself against his temporal enemies through a close
alliance with Theophylact and Alberic, marquis of Camerino,
then governor of the duchy of Spoleto. In December 915 he
granted the imperial crown to Berengar, and with the assistance
of the forces of all the princes of the Italian peninsula he took
the field in person against the Saracens, over whom he gained a
