A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

115. TALAIA, or TALAIDA, otherwise TABENNISIOTA (Ταβεννισιώτης), from the monastery of Tabenna, near Alexandria; or of ALEXANDRIA, from his patriarchal see; or, from the offices which he had previously held, OECONOMUS (οἰκόνομος) and PRESBYTER. This ecclesiastic was sent by the advice of some of the Alexandrians on a mission to the Emperor Zeno (about A. D. 478-480), that in case of a vacancy in the patriarchate of that city, then held by Timotheus Salophaciolus, a defender of the council of Chalcedon, the clergy and laity of Alexandria might be allowed to choose his successor. According to Evagrius (or rather according to Zacharias Rhetor whom Evagrius cites as his authority) Joannes was detected in intrigues to obtain his own appointment in the event of a vacancy : perhaps his connection with Illus [ILLUS], whose friendship, according to Liberatus, he cultivated by costly presents, excited the jealousy and apprehensions of the emperor. However this might be, though Zeno granted to the Alexandrians the liberty which they had requested, he bound Joannes by a solemn oath not to seek the succession for himself. Soon after the return of Joannes, Tinothus Salophaciolus died (A. D. 48 1), and Joannes was elected to succeed him, but was almost immediately expelled from his see by order of the emperor. The cause of his expulsion is differently stated. Liberatus says that he was expelled mainly through the jealousy of Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, to whom on different occasions he had failed in paying due attention. According to Evagrius, who quotes Zacharias as his authority, he was detected in having procured his own election by bribery, and thus breaking the oath which the emperor had constrained him to take. The circumstances of the times make it probable that his connection with Illus, then the object of jealousy and suspicion to Zeno, if not actually in rebellion against him [ILLUS], had much to do with his expulsion, and was perhaps the chief cause of it. Joannes, expelled from Alexandria, first resorted to Illus, then at Antioch; and having through his intervention obtained from the patriarch of Antioch and his suffragans a synodical letter commending him to the Pope (Simplicius), departed to Rome to plead

his cause there in person. Simplicius, with the usual papal jealousy of the patriarchs of Constantinople, took the side of Joannes against Acacius and Zeno, the latter of whom replied that Joannes had been expelled for perjury, and for that alone; but neither the exertions of Simplicius nor those of his successor Felix, could obtain the restoration of the banished patriarch. Joannes after a time accepted from Felix the bishopric of Nola in Campania, where he lived many years, and at last died peaceably.

Joannes (whom Theophanes extols for his piety and orthodoxy) wrote a work, Πρὸς Γελάσιον τὸν Ῥώμης ἀπολογία, Ad Gelasium Papam Apologia, in which he anathematized Pelagianism, as well as its defenders Pelagius and Celestius, and their successor Julianus. The work which is noticed by Photius is not extant. (Victor Tununensis, Chronicon ;; Liberatus Diaconus, Breviarium Caussae Nesterianor. et Eutychianor., capp. 16-18 (apud Galland. Biblioth. Patrum, vol. xii. p. 146, &c.) ; Evagrius, H. E. 3.12, 13, 15, 18, 20, cum notis Valesii; Theophanes, Chronographia, pp. 110-113, ed. Paris, pp. 88-90, ed. Venice, pp. 199-204, ed. Bonn; Photius, Biblioth. cod. 54, sub fin. ; Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. xvi.; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 455.)