Ioannes 315 was brother of Gregorios 95: Lib. Pont. 107. 26, 50. He was the archbishop of Ravenna from at least 853 to 864: Lib. Pont. 105. 91, 107. 21, 25, 50.

At the Council of Rome on 8 December 853 he was represented by a deacon of the church of Ravenna, Paulos 56 ("vicem tenens Iohannis archiepiscopi sui"): Lib. Pont. 105. 91.

Complaints against him were made to Nikolaos 28 (pope Nicholas I) by many at Ravenna, alleging that he was guilty of oppressing them and attacking and seizing their property; he ignored Nikolaos 28's warnings to desist and continued his illegal activities, which included seizing estates, including some belonging to the see of Rome, and transferring Roman praecepta iuris to Ravenna; he excommunicated some people and prevented others from visiting Rome; he uncanonically deposed members of the clergy, not only his own but others throughout Aemilia who were subject to the see of Rome; he imprisoned people and forced them to make false confessions; he also suppressed papal constitutions without authority to do so from Rome; finally, when summoned by Nikolaos 28 to appear at Rome before a Council, he refused to attend; he had falsified the documents which were customarily deposited at Rome at the time of his consecration: Lib. Pont. 107. 21-23.

He was summoned to Rome three times by Nikolaos 28 and when he still refused to come was excommunicated by the Council; he then went to Pavia to see the emperor Louis (Lodoïchos 1) and obtain his support: Lib. Pont. 107. 23. Accompanied by the emperor's envoys, he went to Rome, but after speaking with Nikolaos 28 the envoys withdrew their support for Ioannes; Nikolaos 28 accused them of communicating with an excommunicate; Nikolaos 28 then ordered Ioannes 315 to attend a meeting of the Council on the first of November, to repent of his conduct and to end his misdeeds, but he refused and left: Lib. Pont. 107. 24.

Later Nikolaos 28 visited Ravenna, at the request of a delegation from there, and Ioannes 315 again left for Pavia to seek the support of the emperor Louis (Lodoïchos 1); meanwhile Nikolaos 28 restored all the property wrongfully seized by Ioannes 315 and his brother Gregorios 95 to its rightful owners: Lib. Pont. 107. 25-26. At Pavia Ioannes 315 was treated as an excommunicate and the emperor Louis (Lodoïchos 1), through emissaries, instructed him to submit to the bishop of Rome: Lib. Pont. 107. 26-27. He went to Rome with imperial envoys once more, and was ordered by Nikolaos 28 to appear before a Council, repent and mend his ways; seeing that there was now no-one to help him, he made his submission to the pope and begged for mercy: Lib. Pont. 107. 28-29. Nikolaos 28 accepted his submission and Ioannes 315 corrected and emended the documents which he had delivered at his consecration and offered them to Nikolaos 28 and the assembled clergy and nobles in the domus Leonina, swearing to abide by them all his life henceforth: Lib. Pont. 107. 30.

On the following day he appeared before Nicholas I (Nikolaos 28) and the clergy in the Constantinian basilica and cleared himself on charges of heresy; he was then restored to communion and given permission to celebrate Mass: Lib. Pont. 107. 31. On the following day, again in the domus Leonina, accusations were read out by bishops from Aemilia and Ravenna concerning his conduct, which the pope condemned as uncanonical: Lib. Pont. 107. 31-32.

Nikolaos 28 then ordered Ioannes 315 to visit Rome once each year, not to consecrate bishops in Aemilia unless they had been elected by the dux, clergy and people and confirmed by a letter from the pope, not to prevent bishops from visiting Rome when they wished, and not to exact uncanonical gifts from them; he was not to make the bishops perform the so-called tricesimal custom at Ravenna (i.e. to leave their own sees for a month and compulsorily to deputise for the archbishop at Ravenna; see Duchesne, Lib. Pont. II, p. 169, n. 31), nor to contravene their privileges, nor to lay claim to anyone's property unless he could demonstrate a legal right to ownership before either the bishop of Rome or the papal vestararius at Ravenna: Lib. Pont. 107. 33-34. The Council gave its approval to Nikolaos 28's instructions, and then Ioannes and all the assembled bishops were given permission by Nikolaos to return home: Lib. Pont. 107. 35.

In 864 Ioannes 315 and Gregorios 95 were summoned before a Council held in the Lateran palace and were deposed for breaking their oaths and for further acts against the bishop of Rome; they were also, it appears, involved with other ecclesiastics in supporting the divorce and remarriage of the Frankish emperor Lothar (Lotharios 2): Lib. Pont. 107. 50. Addressee of a letter from the patriarch Photius (Photios 1), probably written between 875 and 878; archbishop of Ravenna, in 867 he promised to help Photios 1 against pope Nicholas (Nikolaos 28), but failed to do so; later he tried to defend his inaction and Photios 1 wrote to express his disappointment: Photius, Ep. 267 (II 218 Laourdas-Westerink) (addressed Ἰωάννῃ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Ῥαβέννης). An opponent of the see of Rome, in 861 he submitted to pope Nicholas I but in 864, with Gunthar 1 of Cologne and Theutgaud 1 of Trier and others he resumed hostilities: see Mansi XV 597-606. 147-153.

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