St. John I

Pope St. John I was born in Tuscany at an unknown date and was already an elderly man, a senior deacon of the Roman Church, when he was elected pope in 523. His short pontificate fell in a dangerous moment: Italy was ruled by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, an Arian Christian, while in Constantinople the emperor Justin I had begun enforcing orthodoxy and closing Arian churches in the East. Theodoric, alarmed at the warming relations between Rome and Constantinople after the healing of the Acacian Schism, compelled the reluctant pope to lead an embassy to the imperial court to seek relief for the Arians. John thus became the first pope to travel to Constantinople. Sixth-century sources relate that he was received with extraordinary honor: the city came out to greet him, he celebrated Easter in Hagia Sophia according to the Latin rite in 526, and he placed the Easter crown on the emperor Justin's head. The embassy won some concessions, but not all that Theodoric had demanded, and the sight of pope and emperor united only deepened the king's suspicion that John was conspiring against him. When the exhausted pope reached Ravenna on his return, Theodoric had him imprisoned. Worn out by the journey and by harsh treatment — early accounts say he was left to waste away, perhaps of starvation — John died there on May 18, 526. His body was carried back to Rome and buried in the basilica of St. Peter, and the Church has honored him ever since as a martyr, a witness who died for his fidelity to the faith and to the communion of the churches. His feast is celebrated on May 18. The details of his brief reign rest on early but partisan sources, and historians treat some particulars with caution; his death in Theodoric's custody, however, is well attested.