RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Johannes John
dialogue in ten books but now extant only in fragments, since he asserted that hypostasis and nature are the same, so that Christ could have but one nature, unless two hypostases were to be assumed. In the Trinity he postulated three independent hypostases comprised under a unity, which was such merely in virtue of being a generic concept. There was, therefore, no unity in the Trinity except that which presupposed the triad of hypostases and was inferred from their common predicates. The teaching here summarized brought upon Johannes the charge of tritheism, and with some show of reason, although he was not, as Leontius alleged, the founder of tritheism, but merely one of its chief representatives.
The chief work of this author still extant is his De aeternitate mundi (ed. V Trincavellus, Venice, 1535), assailing Proclus, Aristotle, and Plato, and seeking to explain the creation rationally without the aid of the Bible. In his " On the Resurrection," known only from excerpts in Photius, Nicephorus, and Timotheus, he again made a concession to philosophy by his distinction between a sensuous and supersensuous creation. The second work still preserved is his Commentariorum in Mosaicam mundi creationem libn septem (ed. B. Corder, Vienna, 1630) , based on older writers on the hexameron, especially Basil, but enriched with a mass of theories of nature and philosophy developed by the author. Mention should also be made of his Disputatio de paschate, printed together with the foregoing work, in defense of the thesis that on the thirteenth day of the month and on the day before the legal Passover Christ celebrated a mystic meal with his disciples, but did not actually eat a Passover- lamb.
(Philipp Meyer.)
Bibliography: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graeca, x. 639 sqq., Hamburg, 1807; F. Trechsel, in TSK, viii (1835), 95-118; J. M. Schonfelder, Die Kirchengeschichte des Johannes von Ephesus, pp. 286-297, Munich, 1892; Byzantinische Zeitschrift, viii (1899), 444 sqq.; Krumbacher, Geschichte, p. 53 et passim; KL, vi. 1748-1754.
JOHANNES SCHOLASTICUS OF SCYTHOPOLIS:
Bishop of Scythopolis. According to Photius (Bibliotheca, cod. xcv., p. 78, ed. Bekker, 2 vols., Berlin, 1824), a certain Johannes Scholasticus of Scythopolis wrote twelve books against the separatists of the Church; that is, the Eutychian party. Photius (cod. cvii., p. 187) doubtless correctly identified him with that Johannes Scholasticus against whom Basil the Cilician wrote an apology in the time of the Emperor Anastasius (491-518). The same author also wrote a commentary on the pseudo- Dionysian writings, about 532. According to Loofs (Leontius of Byzantium, pp. 269 sqq., Leipsic, 1887) he is also identical with Bishop Johannes of Scythopolis, who was in office about 540, and wrote against Severus of Antioch (cf. Doctrina patrum, ed. Diekamp, p. 85, Miinster, 1907; and Photius cod. ccxxxi., p. 287). Possibly, too, the Johannes Scholasticus whom St. Sabas encountered at Scythopolis about 520 (Cotelerius, Ecclesiae Graecae monumenta, iii. 327, 4 vols., Paris, 1677-92) is the same man. G. Krtjger.
Bibliography: Krumbacher, Geschichte, p. 56; F. Loofs, Leontius von Byzanz, pp. 269-272, Leipsic, 1887; DCB, iii. 394, 427 (nos. 363, 565, 568),
JOHANNES SCOTUS ERIGENA. See Scotus Eriqena, Johannes.
JOHANNES, ADOLF: German Roman Catholic; b. at Brendlorenzen (a village near Neustadt-ander-Saale, 40 m. n.e. of Wiirzburg), Bavaria, Nov. 21, 1855. He was educated at the universities of Wiirzburg, Vienna, Innsbruck, and Munich, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1881. After being curate at Heidingsfeld and Hassfurt, as well as prefect of the Julianum at Wiirzburg, he was appointed professor in the Lyceum of Dillingen in 1886. Since 1900 he has been professor of Old- Testament exegesis, Biblical introduction, and Oriental languages. He has written Commentar zu den Weissagungen des Propheten Obadja (Wiirzburg, 1885) ; Commentar sum ersten Brief des Apostels Paulus an die Thessalonicher (Dillingen, 1898); and minor contributions.
JOHN: The name of twenty-two popes. The inconsistency in the numbers of the later ones is due to the fact that after Boniface VII. a John XV. is described in some lists as having occupied the see for four months. According to some early writers he was only elected, not consecrated, while others say that he was put forward as a candidate by the party of Boniface; but modern investigation shows that he has no claim even to the name of antipope.
John I. : Pope 523-526. He was consecrated Aug. 16 (or 13), 523. When in that year the Emperor Justin I. ordered a general persecution of heretics, the Arian Goths of the Danube province appealed for help to Theodoric, who conceived the idea of sending to Justin an embassy of prominent Romans, and John was forced to take part in it. Arriving in Constantinople at the end of 525, he achieved the purpose of his mission, but was thrown into prison on his return by Theodoric, who apparently considered him a supporter of the Byzantine party, and died there May 18, 526.
(H. Boehmer.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalia, ed. Mommsen, in MGH; Gest. pont. Rom., i (1898), 133-137; T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, iii. 510-520, Oxford, 1885; F. Gregorovius, Hist, of the City of Rome, i. 322, 328-329, London, 1894; G. Pfeilschifter, in Kirchengeschichtliche Studien, iii. 155-202, Miinster, 1896; H. Grisar, Geschichte Roms und der Papste, i. 481-493, Freiburg, 1898; Bower, Popes, i. 324-327; Milman, Latin Christianity, i. 440-442; B. Platina, Lives of the Popes, i. 120-122, London, n.d.; DCB, iii. 389-390.
John II. : Pope 533-535. He was elected by the influence of the Ostrogothic court, and consecrated Jan. 2, 533. The most important event of his pontificate was the settlement of the Theopaschite controversy (see Theopaschites) . On June 6, 533, the Emperor Justinian laid before him a confession containing the disputed formula for confirmation. He hesitated a long time, but finally, on Mar. 24, 534, issued an approving document which, with the emperor's letter, was included in the Code of Justinian. He deposed the adulterous Bishop Contumeliosus of Riez, and named Csesarius of Aries administrator of the diocese — the first act of jurisdiction of this kind recorded of a pope.
(H. Boehmer.) Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. 285-286, I Paris, 1886, ed. Mommsen, in MGH, Gest. pont. Rom.,
John III-XII