John, the Deacon

John, The Deacon and orator (Διάχονος καὶ Ρήτωρ) of Constantinople, was a deacon of the great church (St. Sophia) in that city about the end of the 9th century. He wrote Λόγος εἰς τὸν βίον τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ι᾿ωσήφ, τοῦ ὑμνγράφου (Vita S. Josephi Hymnographi), published in the Acta Sanctorum (April 3), vol. 1, a Latin version being given in the body of the work, with a learned Commentarius Proevius at p. 266, etc., and the original in the Appendix, p. 34. Allatius (De Psellis, c. 30) cites another work of this writer, entitled Τίς ὁ σκοπὸς τῷ θεῷ τῆς πρώτης τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πλάσεως. κ. τ. λ. (Quid est Consilium Dei in prima Hominis formatione, etc.). The designation JOANNES DIACONUS is common to several medieval writers, as John Galenus or Pediasmus; John Hypatius John, deacon of Rome; and, John Diaconus, a contemporary and correspondent of George of Trebizond. See Acta Sanctorum, 1. c.; Fabricius, Biblica Groeca, 10, 264, 11, 654; Cave, Hist. Lit. 2, Dissertatio 1, 11; Oudin, De Scriptoribus et Scriptis Ecclesiasticis, 2, 335. — Smith, Dict. Greek and Roman Biog. 2, 594.