John of Damascus is generally considered as the re- storer of the practice of chanting in the Greek Church, and he is also named as the author of a number of hymns yet in use in that Church. It is by no means proved, however, that he was the inventor of musical notation, as some have affirmed. Copies of a MS. trea- tise on Church music, of which he is considered the au- thor, are to be found in several European (public) libra- ries : it was published by abbe Gerbert in the 2d vol. of his treatise De Cantu et Miisica Sacra. It was trans- lated into French by Yilloteau in his memoir Sur VEtat actuel de VArt musical en Egypte (in Description de VEcjypte, xiv, 380 sq.). See Jean de Jerusalem, Vie de St. Jean de Damas (in Surius, Vita Sanctoi-um, May 6); Lenstrom, De fidei orthod. auctore J. Damascene (Up- sal. 1830) ; Fabricius, Bihl. Grceca, ix, 682-7-14 ; Cave, Hist. Lift. i. ISJ ( Loud. ed. 1G88) ; CeiUier, Ilistoire (jen. des aii/<i'i:< .-ii,rr.<. xviii, 110 sq. ; Schrockh, A'tVc/^ew- f/esch. XX. fJO; Cliristian i?ei". vii, 594 sq. ; Hagenbach, Doctrines (see Index) ; Fetis, Biog. des Musidens.
John OF Damascus (2). See John of Jerusa- lem (3).
John, Jacobite bishop of Dara (a city in Mesopo- tamia, near Nisibis) in the first half of the 9th century (not in the 6th or 7th, as saj'S Cave in his Hist. Litt. ii, 131, nor in the 4th, as is maintained by Abraham Ec- chelensis, nor in the 8th, as it is said by Assemani in his Bihliotheca Orientalis, ii, 118; see also ii, 219 and 347). He was a contemporary of Dionys. of Telmahar, who dedicated his chronicle to him (see Assemani, Bill. Orient, ii, 247). A manuscript of the Vatican, used by Abraham Ecchelensis, contains three works in Sj'riac by John: 1. De resurrections corporum, in four books: — 2. De hierarchia coelesti et ecclesiastica, two books, ascribed to the pseiido-Dionysius on account of the similarity of names : — 3. De sacerdotio, four books (Assemani, ii, 118 sq.). He is also considered as the author of the book De Anima (Assemani, ii, 219), which he probably composed after the work of Gregory of Nyssa, whose ^mtings he also used otherwise (Assemani, iii, 22) ; and also an An- aphora (according to the Caialogus Hturgiarum, by
Sehulting, pt. iii. p. lOG. No, 29) Herzotr. Reul-Encyik,
vi, 746. " (J. N. P.)
JOHX
966
JOHN
John DE DiEU (JoiiANNKS A Deo), saint, founder of th' order of charity, was born at Monte-Mor-el-Xoyo, iVrtu^jal. Mareli «, 1495. An unknown priest stole liim from his father, a poor man called Andrea Ciiidad, and afterwards abandoned him at Oropesa, in Castile. After roving about many years, he was led to dedicate him- self to^a religious life by the preaching of John of Avila, whom he heard at Grenada, So excited became he, tliat, according to Uichard and Giraud, lie went through the town Hogging himself, and never stojiped till he went, half dead, to the hospital. He resolved to devote himself to the care of the sick, and changed his family name for de Dieu (a Deo), by permission of the bishop of Tui. In 1540 he opened the first house of his order at Seville, and died March 8, 1550, without leaving any set rules for his disciples. In 1572 pope Pius V subject- ed tliem t« the rule of St. Augustine, adding a vow to devote themselves to the care of the sick, and sundry other regulations. See Charitv, Buothers of. John de Dieu was canonized by pope Alexander VIII, Octo- ber 16, 1690. He is commemorated on the 8th of JMarch. See Castro et Girard de Ville-Thierri, Vies de St. Jean de. Lieu ; Baillet, Vies des Saints, March 8 ; HeUot, Ilistoire dis Ordrex Moiuistiques, vol. iv, ch. xviii; Hoefer, Xouv. Biog. Generate, xxvi, 442 sq.
John OF Drasdorf, a Saxon Hussite, renowned as one of the ablest of the German reformers before the Iteformation, was bom of noble parentage at Slieben, or .Schheben, in the diocese of ^leissen, about the beginning of tlie 15th century. He studied at Dresden under the cekljratcd Peter Drcsdensis, then went to Prague, and further imbibed reformatory opuiions, and finally com- jiletod his studies at the newly-founded University of Leipzii;. Unal)le to obtain ordination on account of his heretical proclivities, he travelled through Germany and Bohemia, preaching against all unfaithful shepherds of the Koman (Church, and finally succeeded in gathering a congregation, fin^t at Weinsberg, then at Heilbronn. The civil autliorities, however, interfered, and he was imprisoned and transported to Heidelberg, there to be judged by the faculty of the university, which took so active a part in the trial aiid condemnation of IIuss and Jerome at the Council of Constance. The faculty met February 13, 1425, and, after a few days' hearing," John of Driindorf was condemned as a heretic, and was burned at Worms in great haste, lest tlie laymen, as these doc- tors have it, should partake of his heretical spirit. See Krummel, in T/icoL Stud, und Krif. IHC'X i, 130 sq. (J H.W.) ^ ^
John Dtxs ScoTi-s. See Duxs Scotus.
JOxUi OF Kgypt (Joannes yEGVp-nus), a Christian martyr who suffered in Palestine in the Diocletian per- secution, is spoken of by Eusebius, who knew him jjer- sonally, as the most iUustrious of the sufferers in Pales- tnie,and especially worthy of admiration for liis philo- soi)luc (i. c. ascetic) life and conversation, and for the wonderful strength of his memorv. After the loss of his eyesight he acted as anagnostes, or reader in the churdi, supplying the want of sight by Ids extraordi- I nary power of memory. He could 'recite correctlv wlio e books of Scripture, whether from the Prophets, the Gospels, or the apostoUc Epistles. In the seventh year ol the persecution, A.I). 310, he was treated with great cruelty; one foot was burned off, and fire was an- i plied to hi.s sightless eyeballs for the mere purpose of I torture. As he was unable to undergo the toil of the I mines or the public works, he and several others (amonir ■ whom was Silvanus of (Jaza), whom age or infirmitv 1 ad <iisable*l from labor, were confined in a place bV themselves I„ tho eighth year of the persecution, A.iJ.dll.the whole party, tiiirly-nine in number, were decapitated m one day by order of iMaximin Daza.who then jjoverried the eastern provinces. See Eusebius, JJe Murtynh. Pal.esttm,, sometimes subjoined to the ei-hth