John of Damascus, Saint, or Saint John Damascene (dăm`əsēn), c.675–c.749, Syrian theologian, Father of the Church and Doctor of the Church. He was brought up at the court of the caliph in Damascus, where his father was an official, and he was educated by a Sicilian monk. John inherited his father's office but resigned it (c.726) and entered a monastery in Palestine. His life was spent largely in fighting with his pen for orthodoxy against iconoclasm iconoclasm (īkŏn`ōklăzəm) [Gr.,=image breaking], opposition to the religious use of images.
..... Click the link for more information. . His fame rests on his theological masterpiece, The Fountain of Wisdom, a Greek work in three parts—a theological study of Aristotle's categories; a history of heresies, based on Epiphanius and Theodoret, with supplementary material on iconoclasm and Islam; and a formal exposition of the Christian faith (De fide orthodoxa, tr. by F. N. Chase, 1958). This last work was extensively used by the scholastics and is still a prime source for the dogmatic opinions of the principal Eastern Fathers. John also wrote hymns and regulated the choral parts of the Byzantine liturgy. He stimulated the production of Byzantine painting. The elegance of his Greek brought him the epithet Chrysorrhoas [gold-pouring]. His name appears also as John Damascenus. Feast: in Western calendars, Mar. 27.

Bibliography

See F. P. Cassidy, Molders of the Medieval Mind (1944).

John of Damascus, Saint

or Saint John Damascene

(born c. 675, Damascus—died Dec. 4, 749, near Jerusalem; Western feast day December 4) Monk and theological doctor of the Greek and Latin churches. He spent his entire life under Muslim rule. As a writer of hymns and theology, he had great influence in the Eastern and Western churches, especially through Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the teachings of the Greek Fathers. He also wrote against the Iconoclasts (see iconoclasm).