John, AegeãtEs

John, Aegeãtes (οΑ῾ἰγεάτης), a presbyter of Ægae (Αἰγαί) (probably in Cilicia, between Mopsuestia and Issus). Photius calls him (Cod. 55) a Nestorian, but Fabricius, with reason, supposes that he was a Eutychian. When he flourished is not known; he may perhaps be consigned to the latter half of the 5th century. Vossius places him under Zeno the Isaurian, but Cave thinks he was later. He is the reputed author of

(1) Ε᾿κκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία (Historia Ecclesiastica) in ten books, of which Photius had read five, containing the history of the Church from the deposition of Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus (the third general council, A. D. 431) to the deposition of Petrus Fullo (A.D. 477), who had usurped the see of Antioch in the reign of the emperor Zeno. As the Council of Ephesus is the point at which the ecclesiastical history of Socrates leaves off, it is probable that the history of John of Ægae commenced, like that of Evagrius, at that point, and consequently that these five books were the first five of his history. Photius describes his style as perspicuous and florid, and says that he was a great admirer of Dioscorus of Alexandria, the successor of Cyril, and extolled the Synod of Ephesus (A.D. 449), generally branded with the epithet ἡ ληστρική, "the synod of robbers," while he attacked the Council of Chalcedon. How late a period the history came down to cannot be determined: —

(2) A work which Photius describes as Κατὰ τῆς ἁγίας τετάρτης συνόδου (Adversus Quartam Sanctam Synodum). This must be Photius' description, not the original title of the work; for, opposed as we infer John to have been to the authority of the Council of Chalcedon, he would hardly have described it as "the fourth sacred council." Photius commends the style in which the work was written. Fabricius identifies John of Ægae with the Joannes ὁ διακρινόμενος, i.e. "the dissenter," cited by the anonymous writer of the Διαστάσεις σύντομοι χρονικαί (Breves Demonstrationes Chronographicoe), given by Combefis (in his Origenum C. Politinarum Manipulus, p. 24, 33), but Combefis himself (ibid. p. 59) identifies this John with John Malalas. Whether John of Ægae is the John ὁ Ρήτωρ, "the Rhetorician," cited by Evagrius Scholasticus (Hist. Eccl. 1, 16; 2, 12; 3, 10, etc.) is doubtful. Le Quien (Opera S. Joannis Damasceni, 1, 368, note) identifies them, but Fabricius thinks they were different persons. See Photius, Bibl. Cod. 41, 55; Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. 7, 419; Cave, Hist. Lit. 1, 456, ed. Oxford, 1740-43; Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography, 2, 585.