JOHN VIII, pope. – A Roman, elected on 14 Dec. 872, died on 16 Dec. 882. Having been archdeacon of the Roman Church for twenty years and a collaborator of Nicholas I, and a friend of Louis II, he was elected already old and infirm, but gave proof of singular energy and prudence.
I. Ecclesiastical activity
A convinced supporter of the authority of the pope super gentes et super regna, he wished to strengthen the discipline of the clergy and the faithful, to preserve intact the privileges and goods of the Church, and to consolidate Roman primacy. He declared that anyone who left his wife or, while she was still living, took another woman, was to be excommunicated, even declaring invalid marriages between Romans and foreigners. He asserted his authority against the usurpations of the Church of Ravenna and waged a fierce struggle with John X, archbishop of Ravenna; yet he was able to celebrate (Aug. 877) a council in Ravenna itself.There it was decided that the pallia of metropolitans were to be sought from the Roman See; that bishops, clerics, nuns, and wards could not be brought before lay tribunals; that magistrates who neglected the complaints of ecclesiastics were to be struck with excommunication; and that in the dwellings of churches no custom of placitum or hospitium could be claimed.
He attempted to establish in France and Germany a vicar of the Apostolic See, as it were a secundus papa (876); but he could not overcome the opposition of the archbishop of Reims and the French clergy. Nevertheless, he exercised wide authority in the appointments and condemnations of bishops. He asserted the immediate dependence of the bishops and faithful of Dalmatia on the Roman See, and saw the duke and people of Croatia return to obedience to Rome. He protested against the imprisonment of Methodius, the apostle of the Slavs, who had been incarcerated by the Germans, eager to preserve the predominance of their race over Slavic lands; he disregarded the bishops who had condemned him (873) and obtained his release. And, although for the jealous defense of the Roman liturgy he had at first condemned Methodius’s use of celebrating Mass in the “barbarous” Slavic tongue and, prejudiced against him, had summoned him to Rome as suspect of heresy (June 879), when Methodius came “ad limina,” he recognized his full orthodoxy, confirmed his authority over the clergy of Moravia, and permitted the liturgy to be celebrated in Slavic in that land, because “the Lord is to be praised not in three languages only, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, but in all languages”; he only wished that, for the affirmation of unity, the Gospel should first be read in Latin (June 880).
II. JOHN VIII AND THE EAST
John VIII’s conduct toward the East was variously judged. Ignatius, restored to the patriarchal see of Constantinople by the will of Emperor Basil and with the favor of Rome after the removal of the intruder Photius (v.), was attempting to withdraw the Bulgarians, wavering between Constantinople and Rome, from obedience to Rome. The death of Ignatius (23 Oct. 877) prevented an open rupture with the pope; but John gradually distanced himself from the Ignatians. On the other hand, Photius, restored to the patriarchal throne with the favor of most of the Eastern clergy and with the at least tacit consent of the emperor, sent deferential letters to the Roman See. The pope was eager to restore harmony in the Church and to obtain help from the emperor against the Saracens. He therefore sent legates to an Eastern synod, convened for the reinstatement of Photius; the papal letter, preserved in the Vatican register, granted this reinstatement provided that Photius ask for “mercy.” But another papal letter was presented at the synod, which lavished high praise on Photius and annulled without conditions the measures against him. It is probable that this was a forgery, accepted out of weakness by the papal legates. Certainly the synod resulted in a glorification of Photius. The pope, however, satisfied with the restoration of unity, declared that he confirmed the reinstatement misericorditer. A letter attributed to John VIII, in which he would have condemned as corrupters of the doctrine of Christ and the Fathers those who inserted the word “Filioque” into the Symbol, is to be accepted. In any case, John VIII not only prevented a Greek schism for the time being but also secured recognition of the rights of the Roman Church over the Bulgarians, rights which the weakness of subsequent popes was unable to preserve.III. JOHN VIII AND POLITICS
Religious questions were intertwined with political ones during John VIII’s pontificate. He was now the only force attempting to hold together the ancient empire of Charlemagne, the sole bulwark of Rome and southern Italy against the threat of the Saracens. He provided for the defense of the city by creating around St. Paul’s a “Ioannipolis”; he personally led victorious campaigns against the infidels, attempting to detach from them the small southern states that had, out of interest or fear, allied themselves with them. He sought to strengthen the power of Louis II by procuring the return of Lorraine to him from Charles the Bald and Louis the German, who had divided it after the death of Lothar II. When the emperor died without male heirs, and in the absence of any rule of succession, John claimed for himself the right to designate the future emperor in order to prevent the total disintegration of the empire. He designated Charles the Bald, ruler of the most Roman part of the empire, praised for his piety, culture, and valor; he had him acclaimed by the clergy and people of Rome and crowned emperor (25 Dec. 875), and obtained from him confirmation of all the possessions and rights of the Church. But the Spoletines and Saracens devastated the very outskirts of Rome; within the city, at the instigation of Engelberga, widow of Louis II and favorable to the German Carolingians, a party hostile to the energetic pope formed. Since they were not strong enough, the conspirators fled, followed by the papal sentence of excommunication (30 June 876).The pope then turned to the campaign against the Saracens: in June 877 he assembled at Traetto on the Garigliano the leaders of the Lombard states of Salerno and Capua, the Latins of Naples, Amalfi, and Gaeta; he gave money and received promises. And he hoped for the aid of Charles the Bald, with whom he met at Vercelli and Pavia (Sept. 877). But Charles died (6 Oct. 877); the promises of the southern states proved vain; Lambert of Spoleto and Adalbert of Tuscany occupied the Leonine city (Apr. 878), brought the pope’s enemies into Rome, and held him for a month, but did not succeed in forcing him to swear allegiance to the Carolingians of Germany. Freed, John excommunicated the aggressors; but, feeling unsafe, he bought peace from the Muslims and went to France.
There he vainly attempted to gather at Troyes (Aug. 878) the Carolingian princes and their bishops for the salvation of the Church and the empire. He then thought of giving the imperial crown to Boso, count of Vienne, and declared that he wished to attend, without worldly cares, “to the things of God”; but Boso, more eager to secure for himself a small transalpine kingdom, merely escorted the pope back to Italy (Nov. 878).
John made one last attempt to rally the forces of the South and to ally himself with the Byzantines; he succeeded in inducing Athanasius, bishop and duke of Naples, to rid himself of the Saracens; but the hoped-for liberation from the threat of the infidels was not achieved; indeed, they entrenched themselves in the very papal domain of Traetto (882), a perpetual threat to the southern lands and the Papal State. In the same hope of aid against the Saracens, John drew closer again to the German Carolingians, now predominant in Italy, recognized as king of Italy that Charles who was later called the Fat; he crowned him emperor in Rome (12 Feb. 881) and joined him at a solemn diet in Ravenna (Feb. 882). But the weak emperor once again disappointed his hopes. The old fighter ended, probably by violent death, brought about by his own relatives.