John IV of Constantinople

Saint John IV of Constantinople
Born	Constantinople
Died	2 September 595 Constantinople
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	2 September

John IV of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Installed	11 April 582
Term ended	595
Predecessor	Eutychius of Constantinople
Successor	Cyriacus of Constantinople
Personal details
Denomination	Chalcedonian Christianity

John IV of Constantinople (died 2 September 595), also known as John Nesteutes (Greek: Ἰωάννης Νηστευτής, "Ioannes the Faster"), was the 33rd Patriarch of Constantinople (11 April 582 – 595). He was the first to assume the title Ecumenical Patriarch. He is regarded as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church which holds a feast on 2 September.

Life

John IV (surnamed Jejunator, sometimes also Cappadox) was born at Constantinople of artisan parents, and worked as a goldsmith.[1] Under the Patriarch John Scholasticus (565–577) he was deacon at the Hagia Sophia church; then he became sakellarios (an official who acts as patriarchal vicar for monasteries). He was famous for his ascetical life and called "the Faster". Under Eutychius of Constantinople (552–565 and 577–582) he became an important person among the clergy of the city. At Eutychius's death he was made patriarch by the Emperor Tiberius II Constantine (574–582).

According to one account, a horse show was scheduled in the Hippodrome on eve of the Feast of Pentecost. Patriarch John IV found his flock's attendance unacceptable. Through the patriarch's fervent prayer, a terrible thunderstorm arose with rain and hailstones so that everyone dispersed in fear and came to realize the inappropriateness of such entertainment.[1]

Under the next emperor, Maurice (582–602), he was still a favourite at court. He had always a great reputation for asceticism and charity to the poor.[2] In 587 or 588, he summoned the bishops of the East in the name of the "Ecumenical Patriarch" to examine certain charges against Gregory of Antioch, Patriarch of Antioch, (although Fortescue questions on what authority).[2]

Patriarch Gregory was acquitted and returned to his episcopal see. A report was sent to Rome and Pope Pelagius II solemnly annulled the acts of this council. In 590 Pope Pelagius II was succeeded by Pope Gregory I, who was initially on good terms with John IV, whom he had known when Gregory I served as legate at Constantinople.

In 593, John IV was severely blamed by Pope Gregory I for having allowed an Isaurian presbyter named Anastasius, who had been accused of heresy, to be beaten with ropes in the church of Constantinople.

In 595, the controversy was again rife about the title of Ecumenical Patriarch. Gregory wrote to his legate Sabinianus forbidding him to communicate with John IV. In the case of a presbyter named Athanasius, accused of being to some extent a Manichaean, and condemned as such, Gregory I tried to show that the accuser was himself a Pelagian, and that by the carelessness, ignorance, or fault of John IV, the Nestorian council of Ephesus had actually been mistaken for the Orthodox Council of Ephesus.

Works

Isidore of Seville (de Script. Eccl. 26) attributes to him only a letter, not now extant, on baptism addressed to St. Leander, John IV, he says "propounds nothing of his own, but only repeats the opinions of the ancient Fathers on trine immersion". There are, however, several works attributed to John IV still extant (edited in Patrologia Graeca, vol. 88):

• His Penitential, Libellus Poenitentialis, or, as it is described in Book III of the work of Leo Allatius, de Consensu Utriusque Ecclesiae (Rome, 1655, quarto), Praxis Graecis Praescripta in Confessione Peragenda;
• Instructio, qua non modo confitens de confessione pie et integre edenda instituitur, sed etiam sacerdos, qua ratione confessiones excipiat, poenitentiam imponat et reconciliationem praestet informatur;
• Homily on penitence, continence, and virginity. It is often printed among John Chrysostom's homilies but now agreed not to be Chrysostom's. Bernard de Montfaucon, Isaac Vossius, and Pearson held it to be by John IV; Morel and Savile printed it among Chrysostom's works;
• Homily on False Prophets and False Doctrine. It is attributed occasionally to Chrysostom, by Peter Wastel to John of Jerusalem, but by Isaac Vossius, Petavius, and Cave to John IV;
• A set of Precepts to a Monk, in a manuscript at the Paris library.

The Orthodox in the Middle Ages always attributed the first two of these to the Patriarch.

Notes and references

1. "St John the Faster the Patriarch of Constantinople", Orthodox Church in America
2. Adrian Fortescue, "John the Faster", Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, New York, Robert Appleton Company, 1910, 29 December 2015.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wace, Henry; Piercy, William C., eds. (1911). "Joannes, the Faster, bishop of Constantinople". Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century (3rd ed.). London: John Murray. cites:
  • Jacques Paul Migne reproduces the Penitential, the Instructions for Confession, and the Homily on Penitence in Patrologia Graeca, lxxxviii, 1089;
  • Caesar Baronius, ad. ann., 588-593;
  • Acta Sanctorum (Bollandist), 1 August, p. 69;
  • Fleury, ii, bk. xxxiv, c. 44, etc.;
  • Rémy Ceillier, xi, 427, etc.;
  • Johann Albert Fabricius, Bibl. Graec., xi, 108; xii, 239;
  • Dokos, G., Exomologetarion – A Manual of Confessions by our Righteous God-bearing Father Nikodemos the Hagiorite, 2006, Thessalonica, Uncut Mountain Press;
  • Agapius and Nicodemus, The Rudder (Pedalion) – All the Sacred and Divine Canons, 1957, The Orthodox Christian Educational Society, Chicago;
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "John the Faster". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company..

External links

• "St John the Faster the Patriarch of Constantinople". Orthodox icon and synaxarion

Titles of Chalcedonian Christianity
Preceded by Eutychius	Patriarch of Constantinople 582 – 595	Succeeded by Cyriacus

v t e Bishops of Byzantium and Patriarchs of Constantinople
Bishops of Byzantium (Roman period, 38–330 AD)	Andrew Stachys Onesimus Polycarpus I Plutarch Sedecion Diogenes Eleutherius Felix Polycarpus II Athenodorus Euzois Laurence Alypius Pertinax Olympianus Marcus I Philadelphus Cyriacus I Castinus Eugenius I Titus Dometius Rufinus Probus Metrophanes Alexander
Archbishops of Constantinople (Roman period, 330–451 AD)	Alexander Paul I Eusebius Macedonius I Eudoxius Evagrius Demophilus Maximus I Gregory I Nectarius John I Chrysostom Arsacius Atticus Sisinnius I Nestorius Maximianus Proclus Flavian Anatolius
Patriarchs of Constantinople (Byzantine period, 451–1453 AD)	Anatolius Gennadius I Acacius Fravitta Euphemius Macedonius II Timothy I John II Epiphanius Anthimus I Menas Eutychius John III John IV Cyriacus II Thomas I Sergius I Pyrrhus Paul II Peter Thomas II John V Constantine I Theodore I George I Paul III Callinicus I Cyrus John VI Germanus I Anastasius Constantine II Nicetas I Paul IV Tarasius Nicephorus I Theodotus I Antony I John VII Methodius I Ignatios Photios I Stephen I Antony II Nicholas I Εuthymius I Stephen II Tryphon Theophylact Polyeuctus Βasil I Αntony III Nicholas II Sisinnius II Sergius II Eustathius Alexius Michael I Constantine III John VIII Cosmas I Eustratius Nicholas III John IX Leo Michael II Cosmas II Nicholas IV Theodotus II Neophytus I Constantine IV Luke Michael III Chariton Theodosius I Basil II Nicetas II Leontius Dositheus George II John X Michael IV^† Theodore II^† Maximus II^† Μanuel I^† Germanus II^† Methodius II^† Manuel II^† Arsenius^† Nicephorus II^† Germanus III Joseph I John XI Gregory II Athanasius I John XII Nephon I John XIII Gerasimus I Isaias John XIV Isidore I Callistus I Philotheus Macarius Nilus Antony IV Callistus II Matthew I Euthymius II Joseph II Metrophanes II Gregory III Athanasius II
Patriarchs of Constantinople (Ottoman period, 1453–1923 AD)	Gennadius II Isidore II Joasaph I Sophronius I Mark II Symeon I Dionysius I Raphael I Maximus III Nephon II Maximus IV Joachim I Pachomius I Theoleptus I Jeremias I Joannicius I Dionysius II Joasaph II Metrophanes III Jeremias II Pachomius II Theoleptus II Matthew II Gabriel I Theophanes I Meletius I Neophytus II Raphael II Cyril I Timothy II Gregory IV Anthimus II Cyril II Athanasius III Neophytus III Parthenius I Parthenius II Joannicius II Cyril III Paisius I Parthenius III Gabriel II Parthenius IV Dionysius III Clement Methodius III Dionysius IV Gerasimus II Athanasius IV James Callinicus II Neophytus IV Gabriel III Neophytus V Cyprianus Athanasius V Cyril IV Cosmas III Jeremias III (Callinicus III) Paisius II Seraphim I Neophytus VI Cyril V Callinicus IV (III) Seraphim II Joannicius III Samuel Meletius II Theodosius II Sophronius II Gabriel IV Procopius Neophytus VII Gerasimus III Gregory V Callinicus V (IV) Jeremias IV Cyril VI Eugenius II Anthimus III Chrysanthus Agathangelus Constantius I Constantius II Gregory VI Anthimus IV Anthimus V Germanus IV Meletius III Anthimus VI Cyril VII Joachim II Sophronius III Joachim III Joachim IV Dionysius V Neophytus VIII Anthimus VII Constantine V Germanus V Meletius IV
Patriarchs of Constantinople (Turkish period, since 1923 AD)	Gregory VII Constantine VI Basil III Photius II Benjamin Maximus V Athenagoras Demetrius Bartholomew
^† in exile at Nicaea Christianity portal