John of Ephesus facts for kids
John of Ephesus (also known as John of Asia) was an important leader of the early Syriac Orthodox Church in the 500s. He was one of the first and most important historians to write in the Syriac language. John of Ephesus was a bishop, but he was also a great writer and historian. He wrote about major historical events, including a terrible plague that he saw with his own eyes. He lived during a time that some people called the "worst year ever."
Life of John of Ephesus
John was born in Amida (which is now Diyarbakır in Turkey) around the year 507. When he was a teenager, he became a deacon in 529. He lived in a monastery for many years.
In 534, John left his home region and moved to Palestine. He did this because of disagreements with the emperor about his religious beliefs, called miaphysitism. In 535, he moved to Constantinople, which was the capital city.
Later in the 530s, John returned to the East. There, he saw the terrible effects of a great plague firsthand. He traveled around the region, even going to Egypt. He collected stories for a book he wrote about the lives of saints. This book had 58 stories and was finished around 565.
Around 540, John returned to Constantinople and made it his home. He became friends with Justinian I, who was the emperor. Justinian wanted to strengthen Christianity in the East. He also wanted to stop the worship of old pagan gods.
In 542, Emperor Justinian sent John on a special mission. John was to convert people who still followed pagan religions in Asia Minor. John said he baptized 70,000 people. He also built many monasteries and churches. Many of these were built on top of old pagan temples.
John became a bishop for the anti-Chalcedonian Christians in 558. However, he mostly stayed in Constantinople.
In 546, John helped the emperor stop pagan practices in Constantinople. He reported that many important people in the empire still worshipped the old gods. But after Emperor Justinian died in 565, John's luck changed. Around 571, a new church leader began to persecute the Miaphysite Church. John was one of those who suffered a lot. He was put in prison in Chalcedon. He wrote in detail about his time in prison and how his property was taken away. The last events he wrote about happened in 588. We don't know exactly when or how he died.
Writings of John of Ephesus
John's most important work was his book called Ecclesiastical History. This book covered more than six centuries of history, from the time of Julius Caesar up to 588. It was written in three parts, with six books in each part. The first part of his history is now lost.
The second part of his history covered events from the time of Theodosius II up to the early years of Emperor Justin II. Parts of this section can be found in old manuscripts in the British Library and the Vatican Library.
The third part of John's history is mostly complete. It gives a detailed account of church events that happened between 571 and 588. It also talks about some earlier events. This part is a very valuable record for historians today. John wrote this part mostly while he was in prison. This might explain why the writing style is sometimes a bit messy. John said he tried to write fairly. Even though he wrote from the point of view of someone who strongly believed in Miaphysite Orthodoxy, his book is mostly a true record of what happened.
John also wrote another important work called Biographies of Eastern Saints. He finished this book around 565-567. The purpose of this book was to tell stories about the lives of holy men and women of the Miaphysite faith. These stories showed how these people honored God. They were meant to help strengthen the faith of people who were being persecuted and spread out across the Eastern Empire.
In his writings, John often talked about Jesus Christ. He wrote about how he saw Christ as an example of humility. He believed that monks should follow this way of thinking. For example, in one of his writings, John says that Christ "has … in his own person shown you humility." Humility is a very important quality for monks. Another example of Christ's teachings about humility appears in the Life of Simeon. It talks about how Simeon would wash the feet of every visitor, no matter how many there were. This shows how a holy person would do even the smallest tasks to serve others. John tried to live his life by Christ's teachings, serving others and being humble.
Climatic Observations
John of Ephesus wrote about a time when the sun seemed dim for almost two years. This caused a kind of "artificial winter" in the Northern Hemisphere that lasted for over ten years. For a long time, people thought these writings were just religious symbols or about a local event.
However, in 2010, scientists realized that John's writings were actually a report of two distant volcanic eruptions. These eruptions caused the sun to dim. Scientists discovered this when they studied the rings of ancient trees. The tree rings showed that there was a small "Ice Age" that began around this time and lasted for about two years. At first, scientists thought it might have been caused by a supervolcano in South America. Later research suggested it might have been two different volcanoes that were far apart from each other.
