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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: John of Antioch</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08468a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="There are four persons commonly known by this name"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="08468a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/j.htm">J</a> > John of Antioch</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>John of Antioch</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>There are four <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> commonly known by this name.</p> <h2 id="section1">I</h2> <p>John, <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a> (428-41) at the time of the Council of Ephesus. He was a friend and had been a fellow-student of Nestorius. When the trouble about the word <em>theotokos</em> began, he wrote and warned Nestorius not to make a disturbance, showing that this title of the Blessed Virgin had been constantly used, by <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a> Fathers. Later, Nestorius wrote to him enclosing <a href="../cathen/04592b.htm">Cyril of Alexandria's</a> twelve <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathemas</a> and some of his own sermons, and defending himself. John then decided for his friend against his natural rival, "the <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egyptian</a>". He was summoned to Ephesus by the emperor in November, 430, with all the other <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>. But when the council was opened in June, 431, he had not come. The Fathers waited for him some time; then two of his <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitans</a> (those of <a href="../cathen/01592b.htm">Apamea</a> and Hierapolis) declared in his name that the council was to begin without him. It was thought that he did not wish to be present at the condemnation of the friend, so the first session was held in his absence. Six days later John arrived with a great number of his <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, refused all invitations to take part in the council, and opened at his own lodging a rival synod, which defended Nestorius and condemned Cyril. This rival assembly (in which the emperor's commissioner, Candidian, took part) caused the great trouble at Ephesus (see <a href="../cathen/05491a.htm">COUNCIL OF EPHESUS</a>). From this time John took the side of Nestorius, declared his deposition <a href="../cathen/08010c.htm">unjust</a>, refused to acknowledge the new <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Constantinople, Maximian, and was in <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> with Alexandria and <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. Later, he held a synod at <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a>, in which he <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathematized</a> Cyril and all his partisans. Eventually, however, he was reconciled. Emperor Theodosius II (408-50) sent a tribune, Aristolas, to Antioch and then to Alexandria to make peace. John was persuaded to send one of his <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, Paul of Emsa, to Alexandria with an <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a> profession of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in 433. Cyril accepted Paul's message and allowed him to preach at Alexandria. After a few more disputes about minor points, John, in April, 433, signed a formula, prepared by Cyril, condemning Nestorius; so that Cyril was able to write to <a href="../cathen/14032a.htm">Pope Sixtus III</a> (432-40) that peace was restored between the two Eastern <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchates</a>. The result of this was that many <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> in <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a> declared that John had fallen away from the Faith, and broke communion with him. Towards these <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> (the first founders of the <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorian</a> Church in East <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>) John used a policy of moderation and concession, as far as was possible without sacrificing the Faith of Ephesus, from which he did not again swerve. On the other hand there were <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, such as the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> Maximus, who thought that the patriarch was too conciliatory to the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a>, and who threatened to make a <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> on their side too. Cyril wrote to warn these zealots not to cause further complications, and loyally helped John to reconcile the <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorian</a> party by his letters. John did not again tamper with <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorianism</a>. When a definite <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorian</a> <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> organized itself at <a href="../cathen/05282a.htm">Edessa</a>, it was by renouncing the obedience of Antioch. John even invoked the <a href="../cathen/02137c.htm">civil power</a> to put an end to the <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a>, and so began the <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> of the <a href="../cathen/10755a.htm">Nestorians</a> that ended an their escaping across the frontier to <a href="../cathen/11712a.htm">Persia</a>. John died unimpeachably <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a> in 441. (For all this see <a href="../cathen/05491a.htm">COUNCIL OF EPHESUS</a>, and NESTORIANISM.) Four letters of this John of Antioch are extant (<a href="../cathen/09609c.htm">Mansi</a>, "Conc. Coll.", V, 813-14; cf. P.G., LXXVII, 1449-58).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2 id="section1">I</h2> <p>John of Antioch, chronicler in the seventh century. He was a <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monk</a>, apparently contemporary with Emperor Heraclius (610-41). He composed a chronicle (<em>Historia chronike</em>) from Adam to the death of Phokas (610), using for this purpose Sextus <a href="../cathen/08565a.htm">Julius Africanus</a>, <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a>, Ammianus Marcellinus, and other standard authorities. It is one of the many adaptations and imitations of the better known chronicle of <a href="../cathen/08466c.htm">John Malalas</a>. Only fragments of it remain. Gelzer (Sextus <a href="../cathen/08565a.htm">Julius Africanus</a> 41) identifies the author with the <a href="../cathen/10489b.htm">Monophysite</a> Patriarch John of Antioch, who ruled from 630 to 648. The fragments of the chronicle are contained in two collections, the Codex Parisinus, 1763, written Salmasius and the encyclopedia of history made by order of Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus (912-59), in fifty-three chapters, or titles with different headings. Of this collection of excerpts only parts remain (Krumbacher, "Byz. Litt.", 258-60). Two titles: "Of Virtue and Vice" and "Of Conspiracies against Emperors" contain the literary remains of John of Antioch. A difficulty arises from the fact that a great part of the extracts (from the Roman Commonwealth of Justin I) differs considerably from the corresponding quotations in the Salmasian collection. The Constantinian passages are of the nature old the old Hellenic writing of history, the Salmasian ones are rather Byzantine and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>. The Salmasian compilation is older, and so appears to be the original text; the other is no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> a re-arrangement made under the influence of the Hellenic Renaissance since Photius. But some authorities see in them two different originals and speak of a "Constantinian" and a "Salmasian" John of Antioch.</p> <p>The Salmasian excerpts are edited by Cramer, "Anecdota Graeca e cod. mss. regiae Parisiensis", II, Oxford 1839, 383-401. Both series of fragments are in C. Muller, "Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum", IV <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a>, 1883, 535-622; V, 27-8.</p> <h2 id="section3">III</h2> <p><a href="../cathen/08484b.htm">John Scholasticus</a> of Antioch, the canonist, afterwards <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople (565-77).</p> <h2 id="section1">I</h2> <p>John of Antioch, Orthodox patriarch at the time of Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118), formerly a <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monk</a> in Oxia one of the Echinades Islands in the Ionian Sea. He was a reformer of monasticism and a deserving <a href="../cathen/14613a.htm">ascetic</a> writer. Towards the end of the tenth century a custom grew up in the East of bequeathing <a href="../cathen/12462a.htm">property</a> to a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> on condition that some prominent <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">layman</a> should be its patron or guardian (<em>ephoros</em>). The <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> then owed something like <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudal</a> service to its protector. Such <a href="../cathen/02473c.htm">benefices</a> were called <em>charistikaria</em>. The result was that frequently the lay "ephoros" misused the <a href="../cathen/12462a.htm">property</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a> for his own enrichment. Against this abuse John wrote a work "Of the (true) Teaching concerning Monasteries" (<em>peri monastikes didaskalias</em>), in which he shows its evils in a tone of dignified indignation. <a href="../cathen/02226b.htm">Theodore Balsamon</a> in the twelth century refers to this work in his commentary on the "Nomocanon". John also wrote a work of anti-Latin controversy, "Of Azymes", that is still unedited. <a href="../cathen/01317b.htm">Leo Allatius</a> quotes a passage frown a letter from John of Antioch to Theodore of Ephesus ("De aetate et interstitiis in collatione ordinum etiam apud Graecos servandis", Rome, 1638, 215). The work about <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> is in P.G., CXXXII, 1117-49.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">II. GELZER, Sextus Julius Africanus (Leipzig 1898); IDEM in Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1894), 394; KOCHER, De Joannis Antiocheni fontium auctoritate (Bonn 1871); KRUMBACHER, Byzantinische Litteraturgebchichte (Munich, 1897), 334-36. For his identification with the Monophysite patriarch, see GELZER, Die politische and kirchliche Stellung und Byzans (Proceeding of the thirty-third congress of German philologists at Gera) (Leipzig, 1879), 47 sq.</p><p class="cenotes">IV. KRUMBSCHER, Byzantinische Litteraturgeschichte (Munich, 1897), 156.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Fortescue, A.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">John of Antioch.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08468a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Fortescue, Adrian.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"John of Antioch."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 8.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08468a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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