Patriarch John IV of Constantinople

John the Faster

Born	Constantinople
Died	September 2, 595 Constantinople
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodoxy Roman Catholicism Eastern Catholic Churches
Feast	September 2

John IV (died September 2, 595), also known as John Nesteutes (John the Faster), was the 33rd bishop or Patriarch of Constantinople (April 11, 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 September 2.

Joannes (surnamed The Faster, Jejunator, sometimes also Cappadox) was born at Constantinople of artisan parents, and worked as a sculptor. In 587 or 588, he summoned the bishops of the East in the name of "the Ecumenical Patriarch" to decide the cause of Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch, who was acquitted and returned to his episcopal see. Pope Pelagius II solemnly annulled the acts of this council. In 593, John 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. In the case of a presbyter named Athanasius, accused of being to some extent a Manichean, and condemned as such, Gregory 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, 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 Chrysostom's homilies, but now agreed not to be Chrysostom's. Montfaucon, Vossius, and Pearson held it to be by John the Faster; 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 Vossius, Petavius, and Cave to John the Faster.
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.

The Canons of the Faster

An important section of the Eastern Orthodox canon law is attributed to John IV, i.e. the so-called Canons of John the Faster and the Kanonikon attached to them. They can be found in both Greek and Slavonic versions of the canon law, notably in Theodor Balsamon's collection and in the Pedalion of Nicodemus the Hagiorite. The German byzantinist Georg Beck analysed the canons and concluded that they were probably written partly by followers of Basil the Great and partly by John Chrysostom whereas the Kanonikon dates from the 10th century. These writings are interesting as they reflect in detail on the sexual morals as they generally were held prior to Thomas Aquinas, e.g. that sodomy (arsenokoitia) was not thought of primarily in same-sex terms but in terms of anal intercourse. Sodomy between husband and wife was penanced more severely than sodomy between unmarried males (eight years of exclusion from communion rather than just four). Mutual masturbation, regardless whether it was between members of the same sex or not, was penanced with 80 days exclusion from communion. It shows that a) not only extra-marital sex is considered sinful but also certain sexual practies within marriage and b) that the same-sex aspect in sodomy is mitigating rather than aggravating.

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wace, Henry; Piercy, William C., eds. (1911). "Joannes, the Faster, bp. of Constantinople". Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century (third 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.
- Baronius, ad. ann. 588-593
- Acta Sanctorum (Bollandist) August 1, p. 69
- Fleury, ii. bk. xxxiv. c. 44, etc.
- Ceillier, xi. 427, etc.
- 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 & Nicodemus, The Rudder (Pedalion) – All the Sacred and Divine Canons, 1957, The Orthodox Christian Educational Society, Chicago
- Die Geschichte des Christentums, Altertum III, Der Lateinische Westen und der Byzantinische Osten, 2005, Herder, Freiburg
- Beck, H.-G., Kirche und Theologische Literatur im Byzantinischen Reich, 1959, Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, München
- Nikolaus Thon, Quellenbuch zur Geschichte der Orthodoxen Kirche, 1983, S. 188 ff.

External links

"John the Faster". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
"St John the Faster the Patriarch of Constantinople". Orthodox icon and synaxarion

Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by Eutychius	Patriarch of Constantinople 582–595	Succeeded by Cyriacus

Bishops of Byzantium and Patriarchs of Constantinople

Bishops of Byzantium (to 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 (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 Modern period (since 1923 AD)	Gregory VII Constantine VI Basil III Photios II Benjamin Maximus V Athenagoras Demetrius Bartholomew

^† in exile at Nicaea