JOHN. 239 JOHN. made Jesus' profouuder and higher message more readily and easily apprehended. On the other hand, the deliuite designation of Jesus as the Messiah — the Lamb who takes away the world's sin — to a few choice spirits among his followers led these to Jesus as the first and truest of His disciples (John i. 29 sqq. ) . Notwithstand- ing Jesus' testimony to John's greatness and recognition of him as His forerunner, He taught that John's conception of His mission was not altogether adequate. The 'least in the kingdom' — i.e. the lunnblest one of those who entered the kingdom along the lines of Jesus' message of the Heavenly Father and His love — was on a higher plane than John the Baptist (ilatt. xi. 11; Luke vii. 28). John's prophetic gift and calling did not make him infallible. His view of the ilcssianic age saw it mainly as one of judgment, sifting, and punishment. .Jesus, with just as great an insistence on righteousness, pro- claimed it in a gospel of glad tidings as an epoch of release from bondage, an era of comfort to the weary, a welcome to the Father's house. To .John the judgment was in the foreground, to Jesus it was still in the distant future. John did not advance beyond the old doctrine; Jesus fulfilled this and opened a new era (Matt. ix. 1117; Mark ii. 21, 22). Jesus trusted the spir- itual discernment of John to discover these truths wlien He sent back his messengers with His re|)ly to their master in prison (Matt. xi. 1-6; Luke xi. 18-23). John baptized with water to repentance, but .Jesus' work led to the baptism with the Spirit (Acts i. 5; xi. 16). Consult the various lives of Christ, and Kohler, Johannes clcr Tdiifer (Halle, 1884) ; Reynolds, .John the Baptist (London, 1888). JOHN. The name of twenty-three popes. — John L. Pope 523-526, a native of Tuscany. Nothing is known of his pontificate except his heading an embassy to the Emperor .Justin II. at Constantinople, at the request of Theodoric, in regard to the execution of an Imperial edict
- gainst the Arians. On his return he was im-
prisoned by Theodoric, who was dissatisfied with Ihe result of his mission, and died in captivity. — .(oiix II.. Pope 532-535. A Roman. Mereurius by name. He appealed to Athalarie, King of the Goths, for aid in putting down simony, which was fearfully prevalent. His letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina. Ixvi. — .Joiix III.. Pope 560-573.— John IV., Pope 640-642. -a Dalmatian by birth. He condemned the Monothelites. and insisted that Honorius I. had not sanctioned Ibeir doctrine. — .Joiix V., Pope 685-686. a Syrian, the first of several popes of Eastern birth, who owed their election to the influence of the e.xarchs. He had been sent by Pope Agatho as his legate to the sixth general council. — .JoHX VI., Pope 701-705. a Greek. He decided the prolonged con- flict between Saint Wilfrid of York and the See of Canterbury in the former's favor. His letters are in !Migne. Patrolofjia Latina, Ixxxix. — JoH.v VII.. Pope 705-707. the immediate successor of the preceding.— .John "VTIL, Pope 872-882. A Roman by birth and .Archdeacon of Rome before his elevation. He supported the claim of Charles the Bald to the Empire and crowned him in 875; two years later he upheld his disputed right in a great synod at Ravenna. The incursions of the Saracens in Lower Italy gave him much trouble, and after strenuously opposing any compromise with them, he was obliged to purchase exemption from their attacks by a yearly tribute. He made a determined attempt to reunite the Eastern Church with Rome, but was defeated by the crafty stubbornness of Photius ( q.v. ) . His nu- merous letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxxvi. Consult for the Eastern negotiations, Her- genrother, Photins, Patriarch von C'onstantinopel ^Regensburg, 1867). John IX., Pope 898-900. A Benedictine, the candidate of the Fi'ankish party. His position amid the troubles of the time was very insecure, and, though a zealous man, he accomplished lit- tle except the rehabilitation of his predecessor Formosus. — John X., Pope 914-928. A native of Romagna, he became Archbishop of Ravenna in 005, and was raised to the Papacy by the influ- ence of Theodora's faction. But he disappointed their expectations by striving to render his tem- poral power independent of any party. He de- feated the Saracens in person, and attempted a reconciliation with the Eastern Church. He was imprisoned, and finally murdered by Marozia, daughter of Theodora, in the way of whose am- bitious designs he stood. His letters are in Migne, cxxxii. — .John XL, Pope 931-936, the sou of Marozia by her first husband, Alberic. She and her other son. Alberic II., practically ruled, leaving none but purely sacerdotal functions to the Pope. — John XII. . Pope 955-964. the son of Alberic II., elected at the age of eighteen. His name w-as Octaviac : he was the first to introduce the practice of adopting a new name. He gained the support of Otho I., whom he crowned Em- peror in 902, but fell out with him afterwards, and, in consequence of many grievous accusations, was threatened with deposition. He conquered his opponents, but died soon afterwards. — John XIIL, Pope 065-972. He was Bishop of Xarni before his choice as the candidate of Otho I. for the Papacy. By his influence with the Emperor, John recovered Ravenna and the rest of the patrimoninm Petri. He crovned Otho's young son as associate in the Empire, and aided in pro- curing for him the hand of the Greek Princess Theophano. His letters are in Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxxxv. — .John XIV., Pope 983-984, pre- viously Bishop of Pavia and Chancellor of Otho II. When the Emperor died and his wife. Theophano, left Rome, .John was helpless. Boniface VIL, who had seized the Papacy on the death of Otho I., and had then fled to Constantinople in fear of the Counts of Tuscuhun, now returned and im- prisoned him in the Castle of Sant' Angelo, where he was done to death four months later. Consult Floss, Die Papstirahl untcr den Ottonen, (Frei- burg, 1S58). . other John is included in some lists of the popes as the immediate successor of Boniface, but according to modern investigations he has no claim to the title. His inclusion has introduced a confusion into the numbering of the later .Johns. John XV., Pope 985-906, elevated by Crescen- tius and his party, and completely under their influence. After his death. Otho III. caused the election of his own kinsm.in Bruno, as Gregory v.. but on the Emperor's departure he was driven out by Creseentius, who in 997 .set up .John Philajathus, a native of the Greek Province of Calabria, as -John XVI. He was overthrown by the return of the Emperor, and treated with a cruelty which he did not long survive. — John XVII., Pope for a few months in 1003. — John
