2. AEGEATES (ὁ Αἰγεάτης), a presbyter of Aegae (Αἰγαί), apparently the town so called in Cilicia, between Mopsuestia and Issus. Photius calls him (cod. 55) a Nestorian; but Fabricius, with reason, supposes that this is a slip of the pen, and that he was an Eutychian. He wrote, 1. Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία, Historia Ecclesiastica, in ten books. Photius had read five of these, which contained 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 Aegae commenced, like that of Evagrius [EVAGRIUS, No. 3], at that point, and consequently that the five books which had been read by Photius were the first five. 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 λῃστρική, " the synod of robbers" [FLAVIANUS, No. 3], while he attacked the council of Chalcedon. To how late a period the history came down cannot be determined; if known, it might guide us in determining the time when the writer lived. 2. A work which Photius describes as Κατὰ τῆς ἁγίας τετάρτης συνόδου, Adversus Quartam Sanctam Synodum. This must be Photius's description, not the original title of the work ; for a writer against the authority of the council of Chalcedon would hardly have described it as " the fourth sacred council." Photius commends the style in which the work was written. Fabricius identifies John of Aegae with the Joannes ὁ διακρινόμιενος, i. e. " the dissenter," cited by the anonymous writer of the Διαστάσεις σύντομοι χρονικαί, Breves Demonstrationes Chronographicae. given by Combéfis in his Originum CPolitinarum Manipulus (pp. 24, 33); but Combéfis himself (Ibid. p. 59) identifies this Joannes ὁ Διακρινόμενος with Joannes Malalas. The epithet Διακρινόμενος was applied to one who rejected the authority of the council of Chalcedon. Whether John of Aegae is the Joannes ὁ Ρήτωρ, " the Rhetorician," cited by Evagrius Scholasticus (H. E. 1.16, 2.12, 3.10, &c.), is doubtful. Le Quien (Opera S. Joannis Damasceni, vol. i. p. 368, note) identifies them, but Fabricius thinks they were different persons. [See below, No. 105.]
The period at which John of Aegae lived is not determined : Vossius places him under Zeno; Cave thinks he was later. (Photius, Bibl. cod. 41, 55; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. vii. p. 419; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 456, ed. Oxford, 1740-43.)