Editing Pope John I (section)

==Early life==
While a [[deacon]] in [[Rome]], John  is known to have been a partisan of the [[Antipope Laurentius]], for in a ''[[libellus]]'' written to [[Pope Symmachus]] in 506, John confessed his error in opposing him, condemned [[Peter of Altinum]] and Laurentius, and begged pardon of Symmachus. He would then be the "Deacon John" who signed the ''acta'' ([[ecclesiastic]] publication) of the Roman [[synod]] of 499 and 502; the fact the Roman church only had seven deacons at the time makes identifying him with this person very likely.<ref>John Moorhead, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435834 "The Last Years of Theoderic", ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte''], '''32''' (1983), p. 113</ref> He may also be the "Deacon John" to whom [[Boethius]], the 6th-Century philosopher, dedicated three of his five religious [[Tract (literature)|tractates]], or [[treatises]], written between 512 and 520.<ref>This identification was first proposed by E.K. Rand in 1928, and recently defended by Moorhead, "Last years", p. 113</ref>