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John III (2)

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Pope, a native of Rome, was elected to succeed Pelagius I in 560, and was confirmed by the exarch of Ravenna in the name of the emperor Justinian. Like many of his predecessors, he used his powers mainly for the aggrandizement of the Roman see. He is noted for his interference in behalf of the two French bishops of Embrun and of Gap, who had been deposed by local councils for improper conduct. Though known to be guilty, he ordered their restoration, which Gontram, the Burgundian king, was only too happy to enforce in opposition to the French clergy. But the Gallican Church, which had with very great hesitancy permitted the restoration of the guilty men, soon proved them to be unworthy of ecclesiastical office, and a new French council confirmed their previous deposition. John died in 574. See Riddle, Papacy, 1, 210; Bower, History of the Popes, 2, 426 sq. Pope, a Dalmatian by birth, was consecrated Dec. 25, 640. He displayed great zeal in founding convents and endowing the churches of Rome. But he is noted especially for his strife against his Greek rival. The Monothelite creed of the patriarch Sergius, promulgated by the emperor Herodius as ἔκθεσις, was denounced by John as heresy, and condemned by a Roman synod A.D. 641. John defended Honorius from the charge made by the Eastern Church that he was guilty of the Monothelite heresy, and Eutychius informs us that, before his death (Oct. 12, 642), the emperor Constans gave John IV the promise of withdrawing the ἴκθεσις, but the controversy continued under his successors. See Bower, History of the Popes, 3, 24 sq.; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 6, 754.