Pope Conon (; died 21 September 687) was the

bishop of Rome The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...

from 21 October 686 to his death on 21 September 687. He had been put forward as a compromise candidate, there being a conflict between the two factions resident in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

— the military and the clerical. He consecrated the Irish missionary St Kilian and commissioned him to preach in

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

Background

According to the ''

Liber pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biography, biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adr ...

'', Conon was a Greek, the son of an officer from the

Thracesian Theme The Thracesian Theme (, ''Thrakēsion thema''), more properly known as the Theme of the Thracesians (, ''thema Thrakēsiōn'', often simply , ''Thrakēsioi''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in western Asia Minor (modern Tu ...

. He was educated in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, where his father may have been posted during the stay of

Constans II Constans II (; 7 November 630 – 15 July 668), also called "the Bearded" (), was the Byzantine emperor from 641 to 668. Constans was the last attested emperor to serve as Roman consul, consul, in 642, although the office continued to exist unti ...

, and was later ordained a priest at Rome. He may have been among the many Sicilian clergy in Rome, at that time, due to Muslim raids on Sicily in the mid-7th century.

Papacy

Conon's age, venerable appearance, and simple character caused the clergy and soldiery of Rome, who were in disagreement, to put aside their respective candidates and to elect him as pope. Andrew J. Ekonomou says that due to an "increasing influx" of Easterners into Rome at that time, that the Syrian, Greek, and Greco-Sicilian population together outnumbered the Latins. This would also have increased Conon's electability.Ekonomou, Andrew J., ''Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes'', Lexington Books, 2007, p. 247
Conon was consecrated on 21 October 686 after notice of his election had been sent to the

exarch of Ravenna The Exarchate of Ravenna (; ), also known as the Exarchate of Italy, was an administrative district of the Byzantine Empire comprising, between the 6th and 8th centuries, the territories under the jurisdiction of the exarch of Italy (''exarchus ...

, or after it had been confirmed by him.Mann, Horace. "Pope Conon." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 12 September 2017 Conon received the Irish missionaries

Kilian Killian or Kilian, as a given name, is an English language, Anglicized version of the Irish language, Irish name . The name was borne by several early Irish saints including missionaries to Artois (France) and Franconia (Germany) and the author ...

and his companions, consecrated Kilian bishop, and commissioned him and the others to preach the faith in Franconia. (Vita S. Kiliani, in Canisius, Lect. Antiquæ, III, 175–180.) He was in favour with Emperor

Justinian II Justinian II (; ; 668/69 – 4 November 711), nicknamed "the Slit-Nosed" (), was the last Byzantine emperor of the Heraclian dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711. Like his namesake, Justinian I, Justinian II was an ambitio ...

, who informed him that he had recovered the Acts of the

Third Council of Constantinople The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical a ...

, by which, the emperor wrote, it was his intention to abide. Justinian also remitted certain taxes and dues owing to the imperial

exchequer In the Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''Transaction account, current account'' (i.e., mon ...

from several papal patrimonies. Conon was buried in the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Peter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conon 687 deaths Popes Sicilian popes Greek popes Popes of the Byzantine Papacy 7th-century archbishops 630 births 7th-century popes Burials at St. Peter's Basilica