CONONE, PAPA

CONON, POPE. — When John V died in August 686, the Romans found themselves divided in the election of his successor: the clergy wanted the archpriest Peter, while the military class, gathered in S. Stefano on the Celio, favored the priest Theodore. Only after lengthy negotiations were the two factions in agreement on the elderly priest C., who was consecrated on 21 October 686, with the approval of the Exarch of Ravenna. The new Pope received from Constantinople a letter dated 17 February 687, in which Emperor Justinian II announced that he had convened an assembly of bishops and laymen before which the acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Council had been read and then sealed by those present to prevent any falsification. C. appointed the deacon Constantine of Syracuse as administrator of the patrimony of the Holy See in Sicily; a choice that aroused strong resentment among the Roman clergy. He died on 21 September 687 after a pontificate of eleven months.