[5] Scholarly debate contests John VII's stance on the canons.

Nonetheless, he was criticized, most unusually, by the Liber pontificalis for not signing them: He [Emperor Justinian II] despatched two metropolitan bishops, also sending with them a mandate in which he requested and urged the pontiff [John VII] to gather a council of the apostolic church, and to confirm such of them as he approved, and quash and reject those which were adverse.

[9] John VII died 18 October, 707 and was buried in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary which had been added on to St.

The most notable is the Santa Maria Antiqua church at the foot of the Palatine Hill.

Furthermore, a sizeable icon, known as the Madonna della Clemenza and housed in Santa Maria in Trastevere, is believed to have been commissioned under the patronage of John.