John Scythopolita (Greek: Ίωάννης ό Σκυθοπολίτης; c. 536–550), also known as "the Scholasticus", bishop of Scythopolis in Palestine, where Beit She'an is today, was a Byzantine theologian and lawyer adhering to neo-Chalcedonian theology.
[1] He is famous for several works (lost) against Monophysite heresy: his major one is a treatise written c. 530, defending the theory of "dioenergism",[2] against his contemporary Severus of Antioch.
Another work attacked the heretic Eutyches, one of the founders of Monophysitism.
[3] Hans Urs von Balthasar suggested than John was the author of much of Maximus the Confessor's scholia.
[4][5] A recent theory by Byzantinist Carlo Maria Mazzucchi suggests that John of Scythopolis' was aware that the Corpus Dionysiacum was a forgery and that his awareness is revealed by his extensive marginal commentary – despite the fact that John's commentary apparently defends the originality of the Corpus.