John of Jerusalem (4)

John Of Jerusalem (4), patriarch of Jerusalem, who flourished probably in the latter half of the 10th century, was the author of a life of Joannes Damascenus, Βίος τοῦ ὀσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ι᾿ωάννου τοῦ Δαμασκηνοῦ συγγραφεὶς παρὰ Ι᾿ωάννου πατριάρχου ῾Ιεροσολύμων (Vita sancti Patris nostri Joannis Damasceni a Joanne Patriarcha Hierosolymitano conscripta). The work is a translation from the Arabic, or at least founded upon an Arabic biography, and was written a considerable time after the death of John of Damascus (A.D. 756), and after the cessation of the Iconoclastic contest, which may be regarded as having terminated on the death of the emperor Theophilus (A.D. 842). But we have no data for determining how long after these events the author lived. Le Quien identifies him with a John, patriarch of Jerusalem, who was burnt alive by the Saracens in the latter part of the reign (A.D. 963-9) of Nicephorus Phocas, upon suspicion that he had excited that emperor to attack them (Cedrenus, Compend. p. 661, edit. Paris 2, 374, ed. Bonn). This life of John of Damascus was first published at Rome with the orations of Damascenus (De Sacris Imaginibus [1553, 8vo]); it was reprinted at Basel with all the works of John of Damascus A.D. 1575; in the Acta Sanctorum (May 6), vol. 2 (the Latin version in the body of the work [p. 111, etc.], and the original in the Appendix [p. 723, etc.]); and in the edition of the Works of Damascenus by Le Quien, vol. 1 (Paris, 1712, folio). The Latin version is given (s.d. 6 Maii) in the Vitoe Sanctorum of Lippomani, and the De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis of Surius. See Le Quien, Joannis Damasceni Opera, note at the beginning of the Vita S. J. Damasc.; and Oriens Christianus, 3, 466. — Fabricius, Bibl. Groeca. 9, 686, 689; 10, 261; Cave, Hist. Litt. 2, 29; Smith, Dict. Gr. and Rom. Biog. 2, 598.