Pope St John I (died 526) a martyr pope
John
was born in Tuscany, the son of Constantius.
He was an archdeacon in
Rome for several years before being elected Pope on the death of Pope
St. Hormisdas in 523.
He was a friend and confidant of the philosopher
Boethius.
The main event of his pontificate was his journey to
Constantinople to try to negotiate between the Emperor Justin and the
Arian Gothic king in Ravenna, Theodoric.
Imprisoned by Theodoric on his
return, he collapsed and died.
Successor to Hormisdas
Though old and frail, John
was elected pope in succession to Hormisdas I (514-23).
Hormisdas had
been successful in getting a "two natures/one person" view of
Christology accepted in Constantinople especially by the then
no-nonsense emperor Justin against the Monophysite view which had always
tended to be more prevalent there.
A campaign against Arianism
But this campaign of
the emperor Justin in Constantinople soon overflowed into a campaign
against Arianism, the taking over of Arian churches and the forcible
re-conversion of Arians to Catholicism.
At this time with no emperor in
the West, the Gothic king Theodoric, an Arian, ruled Italy from Ravenna.
Theodoric
immediately recruited Pope John to lead a deputation of senators and
ex-consuls to go to Constantinople and persuade the emperor Justin to
call off this war against Arianism. John was the first pope ever to go
the Constantinople.
He was received with great honour and celebrated the
liturgy there in Latin.
The emperor agreed to cease hostilities against
Arians and to hand back the churches, but he would not allow Arians
forcibly converted to Catholicism to return to Arian belief and
practice.
John collapses and dies
When John returned to
Ravenna, Theodoric was furious and accused the Pope of having sold out
to the emperor in return for all the adulation he had received.
Already
exhausted by his long journey and terrified by the prospect of severe
punishment, John collapsed and died.
He was buried in the nave of St
Peter's Basilica with the epitaph "a victim for Christ".
Because of his
sufferings for the faith and his imprisonment, he is honoured as martyr.