Pope John V

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Pope

John V
Bishop of Rome
Rivista italiana di numismatica 1891 p 189.jpg
Pope John V depicted enthroned on Roman Catholic coinage
Church Catholic Church
Papacy beganJuly 23, 685
Papacy endedAugust 2, 686
Predecessor Benedict II
Successor Conon
Personal details
Born
Antioch, Byzantine Empire
(modern-day Antakya, Hatay, Turkey)
Died2 August 686 (aged 51)
Rome, Byzantine Empire
(modern-day Italy)
Other popes named John

Pope John V (Latin : Ioannes V; died 2 August 686) was the bishop of Rome from 23 July 685 [1] to his death on 2 August 686. [2] He was the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy consecrated without prior imperial consent, and the first in a line of ten consecutive popes of Eastern origin. His papacy was marked by reconciliation between the city of Rome and the Empire.

Contents

Early life

John was born in Antioch [3] and was of Syrian origin. [4] [5] [6] He was named papal legate to the Third Council of Constantinople in 680.

Papacy

John V was the first Pope of the Byzantine Papacy consecrated without the direct imperial approval. Emperor Constantine IV had done away with the requirement during the pontificate of Benedict II, John V's predecessor, providing that "the one elected to the Apostolic See may be ordained pontiff from that moment and without delay". [7] In a return to the "ancient practice", John V was elected in July 685 "by the general population" of Rome. [7] [8] Constantine IV doubtlessly trusted that the population and clergy of Rome had been sufficiently Easternized, and indeed the next ten pontiffs were of Eastern descent. [7]

John V's papacy saw a continuation of improving relations with Byzantium. The Emperor greatly reduced taxes on the papal patrimonies of Sicily and Calabria and abolished other taxes, such as a surtax on grain that had been paid only with difficulty in recent years. [9] A letter from Justinian II assured John V that a "synod of high-ranking civil and ecclesiastical officials", including the apocrisiarius and the Byzantine military, had read and thereafter sealed the text of the Third Council of Constantinople, to prevent any alteration to its canons. [10] The letter was addressed to "John pope of the city of Rome", written while the Emperor believed the pope to still be alive, but received by Pope Conon. [11]

Like his immediate predecessors, John V was unusually generous towards the diaconies of Rome, distributing 1,900 solidi to "all the clergy, the monastic diaconies, and the mansionarii" for the poor. [3]

Death

After a pontificate of little more than a year, John V died in his bed in August 686, giving rise to a "heated debate over his successor". The clergy favored an archpriest named Peter, while the army supported another priest, Theodore. [12] The faction of the clergy gathered outside the Constantinian basilica and the faction of the military met in the Church of St. Stephen. [12] Shuttle diplomacy proved futile and eventually the clergy elected Conon, a Greco-Sicilian. [12]

John V was buried among the papal tombs in Old St. Peter's Basilica. [13] His inscription praised him for combating Monothelitism at the Third Council of Constantinople "with the titles of the faith, keeping such vigilance, you united the minds so that the inimical wolf mixing in might not seize the sheep, or the more powerful crush those below". [14] John V's tomb was destroyed during the Arab raid against Rome in 846. [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Miranda, Salvador. "Giovanni V", Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Florida International University". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  2. ↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope John V"  . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. 1 2 Ekonomou, 2007, p. 210.
  4. ↑ McKitterick, Rosamond (2020-06-25). Rome and the Invention of the Papacy: The Liber Pontificalis. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1-108-83682-1.
  5. ↑ Cates, William Leist Redwin (1866). The Pocket Date Book of Universal History, Containing, Classified Tables of the Principal Facts, Historical, Biographical, and Scientific from the Beginning of the World to Present Time by William L. R. Cates. Frederick AìWarne and Company.
  6. ↑ Dodd, Erica Cruikshank; Dodd, Erica; Studies, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval; Chiarelli, Leonard C. (2001). The Frescoes of Mar Musa Al-Habashi: A Study in Medieval Painting in Syria. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. ISBN   978-0-88844-139-3.
  7. 1 2 3 Ekonomou, 2007, p. 215.
  8. ↑ Ekonomou, 2007, p. 247.
  9. ↑ Ekonomou, 2007, p. 217.
  10. ↑ Ekonomou, 2007, p. 219.
  11. ↑ Ekonomou, 2007, p. 239.
  12. 1 2 3 Ekonomou, 2007, p. 216.
  13. 1 2 Reardon, Wendy J. 2004. The Deaths of the Popes. Macfarland & Company, Inc. ISBN   0-7864-1527-4. pp. 55–56.
  14. ↑ Ekonomou, 2007, p. 243.

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References

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