Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.
GIOVANNI IV, the FASTER, Patriarch of CONSTANTINOPLE. - The appellation "the Faster" was given to him because of the austerity of his life; in the dissident Church he is venerated as a saint. In history he became famous for the question of the title "Ecumenical Patriarch," already used by some of his predecessors in the 6th century, but under him, in a Synod of 587, it became solemnly the official and exclusive title of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Popes Pelagio II (575-90) and s. Gregorio Magno (590-604) protested in vain against this abuse. G. was also rebuked by s. Gregorio for failing to provide information on two Greek priests. He was patriarch from 582 to 595.
Two letters from G. to Pope s. Gregorio are lost; two from the Pope to him are preserved instead (namely register III, 52 and V, 44 in Ewald's ed., I, pp. 208-10 and 338-43). A letter from Archbishop Leandro di Siviglia is mentioned by s. Isidoro di Siviglia. Penitential writings attributed to him are probably apocryphal.
BIBL.: Krumbacher, p. 144; S. Vailhé, Le titre de patriarche oecuménique avant st. Grégoire le Grand, in Echos d'Orient, 11 (1908), 65-69; R. Janin, Jean IV Le Jeuneur, in DThC, VIII, coll. 828-29; J. Grumet, Les registes des actes du patriarcat de Constantinople, I, 1, Parigi 1932, nn. 264-72.
Giorgio Hofmann
Cite this article
“GIOVANNI IV, IL DIGIUNATORE, PATRIARCA DI COSTANTINOPOLI.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI (1951), p. 351. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/giovanni-iv-il-digiunatore-patriarca-di-costantinopoli.
