Saint John Damascene

Saint John Damascene, also called John of Damascus, was a monk, priest, and theologian, with whom the age of the Fathers of the Church in the East is commonly said to close. He became known for his defense of the veneration of sacred images and for hymns that are still sung in the Byzantine liturgy. The Church commemorates him on December 4.

He was born in the second half of the seventh century in Damascus, then the capital of the Muslim caliphate; the year of his birth is unknown. John came from a wealthy Christian family known by the Arabic surname Mansur. His grandfather and father, though Christians, held high offices under the caliphs; his father administered the finances. While still young, John himself took up an office at court.

Dissatisfied with life at court, he gave up his office and his wealth and entered the Laura of Saint Sabas, a monastery not far from Jerusalem. The exact date is not known; Benedict XVI, in his catechesis on the saint, placed it around the year 700. John V, Patriarch of Jerusalem, ordained him a priest. From then on John divided his time among prayer, asceticism, writing, and preaching.

When the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian moved against the veneration of images in 726, John answered with three discourses in their defense. He lived under the rule of the caliphs, beyond the emperor’s reach, and so could write freely. He taught that, since the Son of God became man and let himself be seen, it is permitted to depict him in images. He was among the first to distinguish adoration, due to God alone, from the veneration shown to images, which is directed to the one the image represents. He wrote that he does not venerate matter, but the Creator of matter, who became matter for his sake.

John’s most important work is “The Fount of Knowledge.” Its third part, “An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,” sets in order the teaching of the Greek Fathers and the councils; for centuries theologians of the East drew on it, and from the twelfth century those of the West as well. John also described the heresies and was among the first Christian theologians to engage in debate with Islam. He composed hymns for the main feasts of the liturgical year. In his homilies on the Dormition of Mary he bore witness to the ancient belief that she was taken up into heaven. Pius XII cited his words when he proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption in 1950.

He died at the Laura of Saint Sabas in the middle of the eighth century. The year most often given is 749 or 750, but there is no certainty. According to the Roman Martyrology, his body was laid in the tomb on December 4. In 754, after his death, the iconoclast synod of Hieria condemned his discourses. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 restored the veneration of images and did justice to John.

A later legend relates that John, falsely accused of treason, had his hand cut off and that the Mother of God restored it to him; the icon of the Mother of God of the Three Hands refers to this. John Damascene lived long before canonization processes came into being; East and West have venerated him as a saint for centuries. In 1890 Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church.