Konon (Pope)

Konon, depiction in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

Konon († September 21, 687 in Rome ) was Pope from 686 to 687.

When Pope John V died in August 686, clashes broke out between the clergy and the citizens' militia. Both groups could not agree on a common candidate. When the conflict between the two fronts came to a head, the military party elected Presbyter Theodore II as Pope and blocked the clergy's way to the Lateran Basilica , the clergy relented and they looked for a new compromise candidate.

This compromise candidate was the old priest Konon. Because he was the son of a general, the militia could be won for this candidate and so it happened that on October 21, 686 he was elected without dissenting votes.

The new Pope showed no interest in worldly things, was of a simple disposition and constantly ill, which was most likely due to his old age. Konon's "simple mind" was probably also the cause of a Sicilian peasant uprising. The Pope had made a deacon of the Church of Syracuse , a certain Constantine, administrator of the papal property in Sicily . On the one hand, the Pope immediately had the high clergy against him because they considered the office of Sicilian rector to be his property, and on the other, Constantine proved to be inappropriate. The Pope's administrator turned out to be the exploiter of the peasants and instigated a revolt among the papal tenants.

The actions of the Rector of Sicily were so outrageous that he was arrested by the Governor of Sicily and eventually expelled, which was a great embarrassment for the Pope.

After eleven months of pontificate, Konon died in Rome.

literature

• Ph. Levillain: Dictionnaire Historique de la Papauté . 1994

Web links

Commons : Konon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
John V.	Pope 686-687	Sergius I.