John of Antioch

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

John of Antioch was Patriarch of Antioch (429-441) and led a group of moderate Eastern bishops during the Nestorian controversy. He is sometimes confused with John Chrysostom, who is occasionally also referred to as John of Antioch.

John gave active support to his friend Nestorius in the latter's dispute with Cyril of Alexandria. In the year 431, he arrived too late for the opening meeting of the Council of Ephesus. Cyril, suspecting John of using procrastinating tactics to support Nestorius, decided not to wait and convened the council without John and his supporters, condemning Nestorius. When John reached Ephesus a few days after the council had begun, he convened a counter-council which condemned Cyril and vindicated Nestorius.

Two years later, in 433 John reconciled with Cyril based on the Formula of Reunion, a theological formula devised as a compromise. In the process, John lost many of his own supporters within his patriarchate.

Some of his letters are extant.

References

• The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed.), p. 887

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday September 21, 2007 at 07:34:22 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation