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John was responsible for the education of Theophilus, the future emperor, during the reign of his father emperor Michael II. He instilling in the young Theophilus strong iconoclast sympathies. After Theophilus succeeded his father as emperor in 829, John was appointed synkellos (patriarch's assistant), a position that made him a likely heir to the patriarchal throne.
After the patriarchal throne became vacant in 836, he was appointed patriarch, as John VII, by Theophilus. John may have been responsible for intensification of the persecution of [[IconodulesIconodule]] s during the later part of Theophilus' reign. After Theophilus' death in 842, John was deposed by Theophilus' widow, the empress Theodora, who was John's relative, as a start towards ending Iconoclasm in 843. The deposed [[patriarch]] survived into the 860s.
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