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Stand In The Gap With Us And His holiness Pope John Ithe 53nd Pope 5/18/2024, the 52nd successor of St. Peter. Saint John I, (born, Tuscany [Italy]—died May 18, 526, Ravenna; feast day May 18), pope from 523 to 526. He ended the Acacian Schism (484–519), thus reuniting the Eastern and Western churches by restoring peace between the papacy and the Byzantine emperor Justin I.
Successor to Hormisdas
Though old and frail, John was elected pope in succession to Hormisdas I (514-23). Hormisdas had been successful in getting the “two natures/one person” doctrine on Christology accepted in Constantinople especially by the then no-nonsense emperor Justin against the Monophysite view which had always tended to be more prevalent there.
Pope John I inherited the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Italy had been ruled for 30 years by an emperor who espoused the heresy, though he treated the empire’s Catholics with toleration. His policy changed at about the time the young John was elected pope.
A Campaign Against Arianism
But this campaign of the emperor Justin in Constantinople soon overflowed into a campaign against Arianism, the taking over of Arian churches and the forcible re-conversion of Arians to Catholicism. At this time with no emperor in the West, the Gothic king Theodoric, an Arian, ruled Italy from Ravenna.
He ended the Acacian Schism (484–519), thus reuniting