J O H N. 



^wroto to- John, fending him his own creed, afTurinr liim that 

 it was the faith of the whole eaftern church, and intreated 

 him' to pronounce a judgment in its favour. The emperor's 

 k-tler was accompanied with rich prefent«, and the pope, 

 without much hclilation, decided- in favour of .Tuftinian'j 

 confeHion. He died in 53^., after a pontificate of tno-ycars 

 and five months. Sis Ictlers bear his name in the Gollecl. 

 Concil. of which lhe^fin1 is generally rejefted as fpiirious. 



JoTtN III. pope, furnamcd C.tlaJinf, a native of Rome, 

 vas foil of Anafl:aCi:s, a perfon of coufidcrable dilHnciion. 

 He was elevated to tlie popedom on the death of Pelagius 

 ill 560, and after holding it about thirteen years he died. 



John IV. pope, furuamcd Schok^icus, was ele£tedtolhe 

 pontifical dignity upon the death of pope Severinos, in the 

 year 640. He engaged deeply in the controverfy of the 

 AIoNOTHELITrs (which fee), and involved himfclf in fome 

 difficnltic-3 on that acoou it. He employed the wealth of 

 the church in humanely redeeming vaii numbers of Chrif- 

 tlansv whom the Sclavi had carried off captives in their ir- 

 raptions into tlie empire during the reign of Heraclius. 

 I'he reign of this pontiff did not extend to a fmgle year. 

 Three of his letters are i.nferted in the fifth volume of the 

 Coiieft. Concil. 



John V^. pope, a native of Antioch in Syria, was, while 

 oisiy a deacon in the church, appointed by pope Agatlio one 

 cf three legates, whom he chofe to be his reprefentatives 

 at the fixth general council, and it was by him that the Greek 

 copy of the letters of Honorius to Sergius, produced and 

 raad in the council, was compared, and found entirely to 

 Etrree with the Latin original, depofited in the library of the 

 patriarch. In 68j, upon the death of BenediA II., John 

 was eleded hii fucceffor, an honour which he retained fome- 

 thing more than a year. He died, after a long and tedious 

 iJlnefs, in the year 686. 



Joil-V VI. pope, was elected to the papal throne in the 

 year 702 : the reigning emperor, Tiberius Apfimarus, ob- 

 jeited to the election, and ordered him to be driven from the 

 "aooftolic fee ; but the fo'dicrs took part with John, and efta- 

 blifhed him on his throne. He difplayed great generofity 

 by redeeming inany captives, whom the duke of Bcnevento 

 had taken in an irruption into the territories of the empire 

 of Italy, and at length prevailed upon that prince to put an 

 end to his hollilities againrt the fubjefts of the empire. He 

 held a council at Rome, in which Wiltrid, who had been 

 driefSi from the fee of York, and baniflied England, was de- 

 clliifed innocent of the crimes laid to his charge. John died 

 in 705, after a reign of little more than three years. 



Joiix VII pope, was raifed to tie pontifical dignity on 

 the death of John VI. Immediately on his elevation to the 

 throne, the emperor Judinian demanded of him his opinion 

 with regard to certain canons ; biit John was too warv to be 

 thus drawn into a trap, and declined giving any judgment, 

 left, by fo doing, he might incur the emperor's difpleafure. 

 He died after a pontificate of two years and leven months, 

 in the year 707. A fmgle letter of this pope is to be 

 found in the fixth volume of the Colleft. Concil. 



Jonx Vni. pope, was, on the death of Adrian II , clefled 

 ♦o fill the papal fee. This was in the year 87 2 ; and in the 

 following year the emperor Lewis II. came to Rome, where 

 he held an aflembly of the ftates cf Italy fubjeft to his em- 

 pire, at whieh the pope atfilled. In that afiembly the pope 

 abfolved Lewis from an oath which he had taken not to in- 

 terfere with the govjrnnicnt of the dukedom of Benevento, 

 under the pretence that it had been extorted by force, and 

 alfo that it was inconfiltent with the welfare of the empire. 

 In 87J he crosvned the emperor Charles the Bald, and three 

 yeitre after went to France, where he held a council at Troyes. 



In his pontificate Italy was gfreally nn-aged by the Saracens, 

 who obliged the pope to pay tribute. He correfponded with 

 Eilotius, patriarch of Conlfantinople, who had driven Igna- 

 tius from his feat, and ufurped for himfelf the dignity. At 

 firil tlic pope refufed to acknowledge him ; but Photius, by 

 rich prefents, rendered hi? holinefs propitious, who not only 

 confcnlcd to abfolve him from the excommunications which 

 had been repeatedly thundered out againft him, but readily 

 received him as his brother and colleague. In a council held 

 at Conitajitinoplc, in the year S79, at which the papal le- 

 gates and Photius conjointly prefided, the latter was declared 

 lawful patriarch of the imperial city, and the legates, won 

 over by his prefents, ventured fo far to depart from their in- 

 ftruCtions, that they pronounced an anathema againft all who 

 fliould receive any of the councils which had condemned 

 him. Upon their retiirn to Rome, confcious of having gone 

 beyond their inttructions, they endeavoured to conceal this 

 circumftance from the pope ; but he was foon apprifad of it, 

 and exafperated, as well at their treachery, as at the difinge- 

 nuity of Photius, declared all their proceedings null and 

 void, and alTemb'ed another council in 881, at which he 

 catifed the patriarch to be a fecond time condemned. After 

 this he made an offer of the imperial crown to Charles the 

 Grofs, and urged him by all means to come to Rome to re- 

 ceive it. As foon as the ftatc of his affairs would permit 

 him, Charles proceeded to that city, and was crowned by 

 the pope in St. Peter's church. John, however, could not 

 prevail with the new emperor to lend him any affillance 

 again li the Saracens ; he, therefore, endeavoured to gain over 

 filch of the Italian princes as had entered into an alliance 

 with them. He even went to Naples, to try whether he 

 could perfuade Athanafius to turn his arms agaiaft them. 

 That prelate promiffd to fupport the pope, and was fupplicd 

 with money to enable him to lew the requifite forces, but 

 with the cooleft treachery he turned thofe forces againft the 

 pope himfelf. Jolm inftantly excommunicated him, and re- 

 fufcd him abfolutioii but upon fuch conditions as he could 

 not comply with This pope died in the year 882, after a 

 pontificate of little more than ten years. More than three 

 hundred of his letters are to be found in the ninth volume of 

 the Collect. Concil. fome of which are faid to throw confider- 

 able light on the ecclcfiaftical and civil affairs of the time in 

 which he flouriihed. He left alfo a fermon pronounced in 

 council on the confirmation of the eleftion of Charles the 

 Bald. 



Joiix IX. pope, a native and deacon of I'ivoli, was raifed 

 to the papal "dignity on the death of Theodore II. in 898. 

 At this period Italy was divided by the factions of different 

 pretenders to the empire : John at firft refuicd to take any 

 part in thefe contclts ; but owing to the violence of Bc- 

 rengcr, king of Lombardy, he was induced, apparently, to 

 efpoufe his caufe, and to crown him emperor. He had, 

 iiowover, no fooner left the city, than the pope aflembled a 

 council, in which he declared the coronation of Berenger 

 null and void, as having been extorted by force, and acknow- 

 ledged Lambert, who had alfo been crowned king of Italy, 

 as the only lawful emperor. In the fame year John convened 

 a council to meet at Ravenna, wliich confirmed the afts of 

 the council of Rome, and approved of the coronation of 

 Lambert, who v.as prefent in perfon. This pope died in 

 the year 900, after having filled the papal chair about two ■ 

 years. Four of his letters are extant in the ninth volume of 

 the Colleft. Concil. 



John X. pope, rofe in the church by degrees, from the- 

 rank of deacon to that of archbilhop of Ravenna. He was 

 indebted, for this laft promotion, to a celebrated prollitute 

 Theodora, with whom he had long been intimate notwith- 



itanding 



