JOHN V.

AD 685-686.  

 

EMPEROR. POGONATUS, 668-685.

KING. PERCTARIT, 672-688.               

EXARCH. THEODORE, 677-687.

 

NOTHING very important marks the reign of John, the Syrian, of the province of Antioch, the son of Cyriacus. As a deacon he was one of those who represented the See of Rome at the Sixth General Council. Elected some time between May and the close of July, he was consecrated (July 23, 685) by the bishops of the same three Sees that consecrated his predecessor—viz., Portus, Ostia and Velitres. We may suppose for the same reason, viz., the vacancy of the See of Albano. In his election there was, as the Liber Pontificalis expressly informs us, a reversion to the earlier mode of proceeding in the matter of electing the popes. Elected by the people ‘at large’ in the Church of St. John Lateran, John was thence taken to the adjoining palace and enthroned at once, without having to wait for any imperial confirmation. This was, of course, in virtue of the decree of Constantine just obtained by Benedict II; though, as we have seen, not a few authors of repute hold that his election had been confirmed by the exarch in the emperor’s stead.

John V is set down by his biographer as a man of great energy and learning, but withal as a very moderate man. This last exceptional good quality may account, to some extent at any rate, for the success of John’s dealings with the Emperor Constantine. His biographer attributes to his exertions, while at Constantinople, the obtaining of imperial rescripts from Constantine, by which the taxes that had to be paid by the ‘patrimonies’ of the Church in Sicily and Calabria, and other imposts that weighed very heavily on the See of Rome, were reduced.

The step of the greatest moment taken by this Pope,at least so far as history has recorded his doings, was his action in bringing back the Church of Sardinia to his direct jurisdiction. This direct jurisdiction the popes had handed over, at least to some extent, to the archiepiscopal See of Cagliari. Pope Martin I had, however, to withdraw this concession, as it was being abused. Notwithstanding this, Citonatus, the Archbishop of Cagliari, without asking any permission of the Pope, calmly consecrated Novellus for the See of Torres (Turris Libisonis, now Porto di Torre). To this insolence the Pope replied by summoning a council, and by a special bull, which in the days of the Pope’s biographer was still to be found in the archives of the Roman Church, placed Novellus under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See.

After a long illness, and so severe a one that he could scarce perform the customary ordinations, Pope John died in 686, and was buried in St. Peter's (August 2).

From the short reigns of the popes of this period, we can only conclude that it must have been usual then to elect very old men. Indeed, the age of Conon and Severinus is especially mentioned, as are the great infirmities of Agatho, John, etc. And if there is any truth in the conjecture of some, that Pope Agatho was no other than the Agatho about whom Pope St. Gregory I wrote to Urbicus, the abbot of the monastery of St. Hermes at Palermo, he must, as we have already noted, have been a centenarian when he became pope.

In John’s epitaph, of which we quote a few lines, his position at the Sixth General Council as Agatho’s legate is commemorated.

Hic et in extremis sellers fidusque minister

Claruit et primus jure levita fuit.

Missus ad imperium vice praesulis extitit auctor,

 Hunc memorant synodus pontificisque tomus.

 

C O N O N.