John THE Laborious (Johannes Philoponus, also surnamed Alexandrinus and Grajimaticus), an East- em scholar of great renown, was born at Alexandria to- wards the close of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th. Of his personal history but very little seems to be definitely known. He is said to have been pres- ent at the capture of that city by the Mohammedans (A.D. 639), and to have temporarily embraced their creed to prevent the burning of the Alexandrian libra- rj"^; but the truth of this story is rather doubtful (comp. Gibbon, BecUne and Fall Rom. Emp. ch. Ii). The great renown of John Philoponus is due mainly, perhaps, to his speculations on Christian doctrine, more especially his theories on the Trinity, cosmogony, and immortali- ty. He was a passionate admirer of Plato and Aristo- tle, and hence his persistency in amending Christian dogma by philosophy, and hence much ambiguity in his position on Christian doctrines, and hence also the reason why he has so frequently been the subject of at- tack as a heretic. It is especially his theory on the Trinity that has classed him among the Tritheists, of which he has even often, though inaccurately, been pointed out as the foimder, while in truth he was only a forerunner of them. See, however, Tritheism. His principal work on dogmatics, A«crirjjr>/c J) ttiqi ivioaniiQ, is lost, yet, from extracts of it still extant, the following has been determined to be his position on the doctrine of the Trinity. Nature and hypostasis he regards as identical ; a double nature in Christ is incompatible with one hypostasis; and to the objection that in the Trinity there are eonfesseiUy three hypostases and but one na- ture, he argues that in the Trinity three particular and individual existences or hj-postases are comprised un- der the idea of unity. This unitj', however, is merely the generic term, wliich comprehends the several par- ticulars, the Koivoe Tov iinai \6yoQ. If this be called nature, it is done in an abstract sense, and is inductively derived from particulars; but if (pvaiQ is to convey the sense of independent existence, it must join the particu- lar, individual being, and, therefore, the hypostasis. Ap- plying this argument to Christ, he concludes that to the unity of his hypostasis belongs also the unity of nature. (Comp. again Tritheism, and Dorner, Boct. Person of Christ, diss, ii, vol. i, p. 148, 414.) His works extant are . (1) Be (eternitate mundi, or Utpi riVoiorj/rof (ci'xr/joji (Ven. .1535, fol.), in which he attempts to establish the Christian dogma of creation by reason alone, without ref- erence to Biblical authority. The ideas are eternal only when they are regarded as creative thoughts of God ;
as such they are inherent in Providence, and their real- ization adds nothing to divine perfection. God, by his t^tC, was eternally Creator, and his essence required no new characteristics by the iv'tpyua. The world itself cannot be eternal, for the effect cannot be equal to the cause :— (2) In his Commentaria in Mosaicam mundi c.re- athmem, or Utpl KOffiiOTrodag (edited by Corder, Vienna, 1630), lie attempts to reconcile the Mosaic account of creation witli the facts derived from our own experience : —(3) In his rifpi dvaaTc'iaeoJC (known to us only from Photius [Coc/. 21-23], Nicephorus [F/.K xviii, 47], and Timotheus [Be 7-eceptu ha;ret. in Cotil.Mon.ni, Hi sq.]) he separates the sensual from the spiritual creation, a concession to philosophy made at the expense of Chris- tianity. "The rational soid," he argues, "is not only an tlSog, but an imperishable substance, entirely distinct from all irrational existence, in which matter is always associated with form. In consequence of this insepara- ble connection of matter and form, the natural body is destroyed and annihilated by death. The resurrection of the body is the new creation of the body :" — (4) Uepi ri/c Toij d(yrpo\a(3ov xp/jcewc (published by Hase, Bonn, 1839) : — (5) Utpi uyaXudnov against Jamblichus) : — (6) Commentaries on Aristotle (Venice, 1509, 1534, 1535, etc.): — (7) Grammatical Essays (in Labbe, G'fo««an"or, London, 1816), etc. See J. G. Scharfenberg, Be J. Ph. (Leipzig, 1768); Fabricius, Bihlioth. Grceca, x, 639 sq.; Bitter, ^Gesch. d. Philos. vi, 500 sq., Stud. u. Krit. 1835, p. 95 sq. ; Herzog, Real-Encykiop. vi, 760 ; Smith, Bict. of Greek ami Roman Biography, iii, 321.
John A Lasco. See Lasco.
John OF Leitomysl. See Leitojiysl.
John of Leyden. See Boccold.
John THE Little, or Johannes Parvus {.Jean Pe- tit), a French theologian, was born in Normandy in the latter half of the 14th century. He was at one time professor of theology in the University of Paris, but was deposed for having, on the 8th of March, 1408, pro- nounced a discourse in justification of the murder of the duke of Orleans, brother of the king of France, who was assassinated by the duke of Burgmidy. He died at Hesdin, France, in 1411. — Pierer, Univ. Lex.
John Maro. See Maronites.
John of INIatha, St., founder of the Order of the Holy Trinity (also called Fathers of Mercy in Spam, and Mathurins in Paris), was born at Faucon, in Provence, in 1154, of noble parents. He studied at Paris University, and then entered the Church. "At his first celebration of divine service," the legend goes, " he beheld a vision of an angel clothed in white, having a cross of red and blue on his breast, with his hands, crossed over each other, resting on the heads of two slaves, who knelt on each side of him ; and believing that in this vision of the mind God spoke to him, and called him to the de- liverance of prisoners and captives, he immediately sold aU his goods, and forsook the world, to prepare himself for his mission." In conjunction with Felix of Valois he arranged the constitutions of the new order, and togeth- er they went to Rome to obtain the approval of pope Innocent III. Felix having had, the legend continues, a similar dream, the pojic gladly complied with their re- quest, and the order was approved Feb. 2, 1199. Gau- cher III, of Chiitillon, having given them the estate of Cerfroi, they there established their first convent. Thej^ also obtained several other convents and hospitals in France and Spain, and a convent and church at Rome. Having collected large sums of money, John dispatched two of his brotherhood to the coast of Africa, whence they returned with 186 Christians redeemed from the iNIussulman's bonds. The year following John himself went to Tunis, preaching on his way all through Sjiain, and creating many friends for his noble undertaking; he returned with 110 captives. From another voyage he returned with 120 Christians. Hereafter he devoted himself to preaching at Rome. He died there Dec. 21,