Catholic Heroes . . . St. John Damascene

By CAROLE BRESLIN

“The Fathers of the Church were those saintly writers of the early centuries whom the Church recognizes as her special defenders of orthodoxy. And the Patristic Age is the period during which they lived.
“It is generally held that the last of the Western Fathers (Latin) was St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), and the last of the Eastern Fathers (Greek) was St. John Damascene (675-749). Their writings have been the most influential in shaping the minds and hearts of Christian believers. Every one of these men has so deeply inspired future generations that he would qualify as father in spirit not only of Christianity but of all human civilization” (Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan, p. 39).
St. John Damascene or John of Damascus was born around 675 in Damascus. His parents were devout Christians and quite prominent as well. John’s father was a member of the Bedouin tribe from the Syrian desert and served as a tax collector of Damascus under Emperor Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire.
At his Baptism, John received the name Yuhanna ibn Mansur ibn Sarjun, meaning John son of Mansur (the victorious one) son of Sarjun.
Damascus has one of the oldest and most beautiful mosques in the world, since it was one of the first cities to accept the Muslim religion, which began in the early seventh century. The followers of Mohammed were not as powerful, nor as prevalent, as they are now.
The Christians and Muslims thus lived together peacefully. The court at Damascus kept many of its Christian civil servants, one of them being John’s father, Mansur ibn Sarjun. He served the Umayyad, the first caliphate in Damascus, the capital of Syria.
When Mansur was serving in the court of the caliph, he adopted a young boy by the name of Cosmas. This orphan would become St. Cosmas of Maiuma. His father supervised the education of both John and Cosmas. That education, according to some historians, included not only the Christian and Greek scholars, but also some studies about the Islamic religion. This, then, would explain St. John’s ability later in life to refute the tenets of Islam.
Eventually Mansur found someone to provide even further education. At the slave market in Damascus, Mansur bought a slave who had been taken from the island of Sicily. This slave, a monk, was also named Cosmas.
Both John and Cosmas excelled in their studies and, more important, in their spiritual lives. Evidently John was unsurpassed in music, astronomy, and theology. Moreover, he rivaled even Pythagoras and Euclid in geometry.
John assumed some of the ministerial posts with the caliph when his father died. Just as John took the new office, Constantinople was in conflict because of the Iconoclast heresy, which Emperor Leo III the Isaurian supported. John wrote his first of three theses: “Against Those Who Revile the Holy Icons,” refuting the heresy, in 726.
As the conflict intensified, John wrote another thesis in 730, and when he wrote the third one a few years later, the emperor was enraged. (This work, also known as Apologetic Treatises Against Those Decrying the Holy Images, would be the foundation for the rulings of the 787 Second Council of Nicaea defending the veneration of sacred images.)
In fact, John affirmed that the emperor took unlawful action in forbidding the veneration of images. His works must have truly been inspired as they were so well written. John wrote them in simple language so that even the common person could understand his sound reasoning.
Anyone will know that he has spoken an irrefutable truth when his character is attacked or his opponent seeks to destroy him because of it. This is what happened to John. Because the emperor had no jurisdiction over John, he resorted to subterfuge to ruin him. The emperor forged a letter that he sent to the caliph of Damascus. The letter supposedly came from John enlisting the support of the emperor in order to overthrow the caliph and take control of the city.
The letter was believable since the head of the Byzantine Empire had obtained a copy of John’s writing and copied his style. Hence, the Saracen caliph had John removed from his post immediately, and ordered that he be dragged through the streets in chains, and that his right hand which allegedly authored the treasonous letter be cut off.
While John was in prison, his friends brought his severed hand to him. John then tried to reattach it by holding it in place and invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He prayed to the Theotokos begging her to heal it so that he could defend the Truth.
Because God is greater than all evil and can bring good out of such evil, John’s hand was miraculously healed. The caliph, having recognized John’s innocence, would have let John return to his post had John not followed God’s call.
John had a silver model of his hand made, attaching it to the icon, which became known as the Icon of the Three Hands. This icon is still venerated today.
John and Cosmas, his adopted brother, went to St. Sabbas the Sanctified monastery, about 18 miles southeast of Jerusalem. Because of John’s brilliance and his fearless defense of Church teaching, it was difficult to find anyone who would serve as his mentor or spiritual director.
When an elder finally consented to accept John, he ordered John to act under only his obedience. To instill humility and obedience in John, he would ask him to perform impossible tasks which surprisingly were accomplished.
Once, when after much persuasion, John agreed to write something consoling when someone died, the elder banished John from the monastery. Despite the pleading of many monks, the elder remained adamant that John must leave. Finally, he relented, but only if John performed the odious task of cleaning the latrines.
The elder, seeing John’s cheerful obedience, still expected him to finish the task until Mary appeared to him and instructed him to let John write again. Soon the patriarch of Jerusalem learned of John and ordained him.
John spent the rest of his life writing for the Church, refuting the heresies of iconoclasm, Islam, the Nestorians, and the Manicheans. Hence, he became known as the last Eastern Father of the Patristic era. Pope Leo XIII declared him a doctor of the Church in 1883.
John is honored by Anglicans and Lutherans, by the Orthodox and Roman Catholics. His feast day is celebrated on December 4.
Dear St. John Damascene, defender of the true faith, let us not be led astray by the many false doctrines spread throughout the world in our times. May we ever remain faithful to Holy Mother Church as we, too, turn to Mary, the Mother of God, for her loving care and intercession. Amen.

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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)