[1] There is no reason to suppose that Jutta is intended by the πόλις Ἰούδα of Luke i. 39: the tradition which makes ‘Ain Karim, near Jerusalem, the birthplace of the Baptist only dates from the crusading period.
JOHN I., pope from 523 to 526, was a Tuscan by birth, and was consecrated pope on the death of Hormisdas. In 525 he was sent by Theodoric at the head of an embassy to Constantinople to obtain from the emperor Justin toleration for the Arians; but he succeeded so imperfectly in his mission that Theodoric on his return, suspecting that he had acted only half-heartedly, threw him into prison, where he shortly afterwards died, Felix IV. succeeding him. He was enrolled among the martyrs, his day being May 27.
JOHN II., pope from 533 to 535, also named Mercurius, was elevated to the papal chair on the death of Boniface II. During his pontificate a decree against simony was engraven on marble and placed before the altar of St Peter’s. At the instance of the emperor Justinian he adopted the proposition unus de Trinitate passus est in carne as a test of the orthodoxy of certain Scythian monks accused of Nestorian tendencies. He was succeeded by Agapetus I.
JOHN III., pope from 561 to 574, successor to Pelagius, was descended from a noble Roman family. He is said to have been successful in preventing an invasion of Italy by the recall of the deposed exarch Narses, but the Lombards still continued their incursions, and, especially during the pontificate of his successor Benedict I., inflicted great miseries on the province.
JOHN IV., pope from 640 to 642, was a Dalmatian by birth, and succeeded Severinus after the papal chair had been vacant four months. While he adhered to the repudiation of the Monothelitic doctrine by Severinus, he endeavoured to explain away the connexion of Honorius I. with the heresy. His successor was Theodorus I.