While the Easter Roman Empire did not fall like the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Christian world was neither immune from the contaminations of Heresies nor safe from the invasions of Muslims. The death of the false prophet Muhammad did not stop his Saracen followers from conquering large parts of Christian lands and the Crescent from rising above the magnificent Basilicas and Cathedrals. Despite the wars, however, religious and humanist learnings still flourished in the Eastern Christian lands, including those conquered by the Islamic Caliphates, during the Late Patristic Age. The most achieved polymath in this century of humanist learning was Saint John of Syria (Ioannes Damascenus / Ιωάννης Δαμασκηνός), Monk, Father and Doctor of the Church.
The Syrian Saint was commonly believed to be born in 675 or 676, although some less common and popular accounts put his date of birth in later years, but no later than 700. It is also certain that John was born into a prominent, and possibly aristocratic, Christian family in the ancient city of Damascus, known as the Mansour or Mansur family, named after the patriarch of the family Mansour or Mansur Ibn Sarjun. It is believed that Mansour Ibn Sarjun was responsible for negotiating a favorable surrender condition with Khalid, commander of the invading forces of the Rashidun Caliphate, the Islamic Caliphate that invaded Damascus in 634 and Jerusalem in 637 and the first of the Four Major Caliphates after the death of their supposed Last Prophet. In 661, the Umayyad Caliphate replaced the Rashidun Caliphate and decided to move its capital from Kufa to Damascus. Under the tolerant religious policy of Muawiyah I, first Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, the Christian bureaucracy and its large numbers of Christian civil servants had been largely retained and remained intact, although Greek Christians were far more hostile to the new regime than were the Arab and Aramaic Christians, resulting in a flight of the urban population of Damascus.
Sarjun, father of John and a Christian of possibly Arab descent, served as a secretary in administrative functions of the capital, according to several Muslim sources. Although not as hostile to the Caliphate as the Greek Christians were, Sarjun desired John to receive a classical education that would afford him a rich Christian education coupled with not only Islamic but also Classical sources. When John reached the age of 23, his father desired to find a wise man to educate his children, and by the grace of God, he met an erudite named Cosmas, a Sicilian Monk captured during a Muslim raid. With the help from the wise Italian, the young prodigy soon excelled in not only Philosophy and Theology, but also music, astronomy, geometry, and algebra. The knowledge of Cosmas on Western Fathers and their thoughts afforded John, who had chiefly learned about Eastern Fathers, a solid understanding of Western Christianity, especially on Saint Hilary, Saint Jerome, and Saint Augustine.
At the time when Sarjun died, the Caliph appointed John to succeed his father as the Chief Councilor of the City of Damascus. During his office, the Iconoclast controversy broke out. Emperor Leo III, commonly known as Leo the Isaurian, openly ignoring the protest of Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, forbade any veneration or exhibition of sacred images, especially in public places. In 726, the talented and wise councilor of Damascus issued a series of defense against Iconoclasm, not only swiftly refuting the ruling Byzantine Emperor, but also widely inciting the revolt among the faithful. As the Emperor was able to neither refute nor punish the polymath openly, he used a manuscript written and signed by the Caliph- favored scholar himself to frame him of treason, and the Caliph, dismissing any defense from the scholar, ordered his hand to be cut off.
At some point in the future, the Caliph realized that the son of Sarjun was innocent and offered him to be reinstated into his previous office. The Damascene, growing more zealous in his Catholic Faith as each day passed, accepted the apology but instead chose to retire to the Monastery of Mar Saba, also known as the Monastery of Saint Sabas, a Monastery in Jerusalem, in order to become a Monk. Legends claimed that Saint John prayed fervently to the Virgin Mary after his hand was cut off by the Caliph, and the Immaculate Mother of God restored his hand, allowing him to ultimately prove his innocence to the Caliph with such miracle. Although the reliability of such legend remains a mystery, it is certain that the humble Saint did pray fervently to the Queen of Heaven incessantly, and was ordained a Priest by John V, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who would become his sole biographer, and remained in the Monastery while composing most of the works during his earthly life until December 4, 749, when the wise Damascene was granted the Eternal Life by his Creator, leaving his fruits to become the seeds of the great Medieval thinkers.
As a person involved in polemics with both Iconoclasts and Muslims, the Damascene remained one of the most controversial figures throughout the Late Patristic Age. As a result, although he was recognized and praised widely, the Synod of Constantinople in 754, a robber synod, shamelessly slandered the Saint in Heaven and assaulted his reputation, calling him with various injurious titles. Such attempts remained vain, however, and the Second Council of Nicaea, the Seventh Ecumenical Council, amply amended the slanders of the Heretics and fully restored the reputation of the famed defender of the Faith, and was called Chrysorrhoas, or Golden Stream, by Saint Theophanes for his oratorical gifts.
John, a champion of the Faith, wrote various treatises, long and short, defending Christian orthodoxy. His principal works on Christian Philosophy and Christian Theology are collectively known as <<Scientiae Fons>>, consisting of three separate works. The first of the three was <<Capita Philosophica>>, a work that, despite its title, divided into 68 chapters, did not treat upon all branches of Philosophy. Instead, it mainly dealt with ontology, based on works of Aristotle and commentaries of Porphyry, and was intended for the readers to better understand to the two subsequent works. The second work of the collection was <<De Haeresibus>>, documenting 100 heresies, was, for the most part, a mix of summary and paraphrase of similar works by Saint Epiphanius, with more recent heresies added. Most heresies were briefly summarized within a single paragraph, with the exceptions of Iconoclasm, Aposchitism, and Islam.
The third and most important of the collection, and the most important of all the works of the Saint, was <<De Fide Orthodoxa>>, also known as <<Expositio Fidei>>. The work is comprised of four books and is considered one of the most important books by Eastern Fathers. The first book consisted of fourteen chapters, starting by arguing for the existence of God, proving that God is One God according to Nature and Triune God according to Person, then giving a delicate and elegant exposition on Divine union and separation, and finally ending with discussions on certain attributes of God. The second book contained thirty chapters, centered on the Work of God, namely His Creation, and, by extension, the role of human within such ineffable Work. The book started with a very brief yet ample discussion on the creation of age, followed by ten chapters concerning various subjects of Heaven and Earth. The remaining nineteen chapters were divided into two parts, with the first part explaining various elements of human soul and the second part examining the Free Will of human beings and the interaction between Free Will and Divine Providence, where the holy Monk took a stance more favoring human freedom.
The third book of the great summa of Catholic Philosophy and Catholic Theology was centered on Jesus Christ, encompassing twenty-nine chapters, starting with the Nature and Incarnation of Our Lord. The Father affirmed the unquestionable Catholic teachings on the motive and fittingness of the Incarnation,
the perpetual virginity of Mary, the existence of two Natures of Christ and the relationship between them, and the existence of two distinct but united Energies of Christ, refuting numerous Nestorian and Monophysite arguments. This part accounted for the first nineteen chapters of the third book, while the questions to a variety of questions on the mysteries of the life of Christ constituted the last ten chapters, such as His prayer, fear, and Passion, based on the previous chapters of the same book, answering such questions thoroughly yet elegantly.
The fourth book consisted of twenty-seven chapters, beginning with an ample extension of the previous treatise on Christ, covering the first eight chapters of the book. The first section of the treatise was the answer to the final questions on the Resurrection, closing the discussion on the mysteries of the life of Christ, followed by reaffirmations of the Catholic teachings on the Nature of Christ, including a reply that Mary, the Holy Mother of God, did not bear two natures but bore only one subsistence revealed in Two Natures of Christ and that Christ was called first-born because He was, by his Human Nature, the first human to become a son of God. The wise Damascene dedicated the last part of his masterpiece to various questions on our Catholic Faith, such as Baptism, Christian Liturgy and worship, veneration of holy images, and veneration of Saints.
Such a magnificent work was considered the epitome of Eastern Christian Philosophy and Theology, and the wise Syrian drew his sources chiefly from the Cappadocian Fathers, namely Saint Basil of Caesarea, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, although other prominent Fathers were widely consulted. The first two books, centering on God and His creation, were relatively brief, whereas the last two books, focusing on Christ and our Faith, were much bulkier. It is widely agreed within the Catholic Church that subsequent Eastern writers, Catholic or Orthodox, neither surpassed the diligent Monk in terms of quality nor furthered development on Philosophy and Theology. Peter Lombard, the universally esteemed Magister Sententiarum, adopted the primitive organization of <<De Fide Orthodoxa>> into his work of long-lasting influence, <<Libri Sententiarum>>, treating God as God the Creator, God the Redeember, and God the Sanctifier, and ordering theological questions by such an elegant order. The improved order was perfected by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his <<Summa Theologica>>, citing the ancient polymath 367 times, almost exclusively from <<De Fide Orthodoxa>>, placing him as the second most frequently cited Eastern Father and fourth most frequently cited among all Catholic Fathers. Moreover, his refutation of Islam was highly praised by later Catholic Apologists, especially by Thyrsus Santalla, the thirteenth Superior General of the Society of Jesus who wrote an influential work against Mohametans titled <<Manuductio Ad Conversionem Mahumetanorum>>.
Beside <<De Fide Orthodoxa>>, the talented son of Sarjun wrote various works on doctrinal issues. The most diffuse among them were three orations on the veneration of sacred images against Iconoclasm, collectively known as <<Pro Sacris Imaginibus Orationes>>, earning him the epithet Chrysorrhoas. These three orations were heavily cited by the Dominican Cardinal Gotti, the premier Catholic Controversialist in the 18th century, in his <<Veritas Religionis Christianae>>. There were also quite many works directed against the different heretical sects, such as <<Contra Manichaeos Dialogus>>, <<De Natura Composita Contra Acephalos>>, and <<De Mensibus Macedonicis>>, and multiple works regarding diverse issues, such as <<De Sancta Trinitate>>, <<De Virtute Et Vitio>>, and <<De Unione Definitiones Variae>>. The same Saint also wrote numerous letters, the most famous of which being <<Epistola Ad Jordanem Archimandritam Scripta De Hyno Trisagio>>, in which the erudite Monk stressed the Unity of God in Nature and Trinity of God in Person. With regard to Western Fathers, the defender of the Church against
Iconoclasm produced two theological fragments based on works of Saint Hilary, a Western Father he studied and admired deeply.
Similar to Saint John Chrysostom from Antioch, another Father who earned an epithet associated with gold for his oratorical gifts, the Saint from Damascus distinguished himself through his preaching efforts on Christ and Mary, including, but not limited to, <<Sacra Parallela>>, <<Oratio De Gloriosa Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Transfiguratione>>, and <<In Sabbatum Sanctum>>. The most famous and important of them, however, were a series of three long sermons collectively known as <<Encomium In Dormitione Dominae Dei Genetricis Semperque Virginis Mariae>>, frequently cited as the highest authority by later Marian Apologists, such as the Jesuits Saint Peter Canisius in his <<De Maria Virgine Incomparabili>> and Francisco Suarez in his <<De Mysteriis Vitae Christi>>. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII invoked his privileged Papal Infallibility in his Apostolic Constitution <<Munificentissimus Deus>>, citing the teaching of Saint John Damascene along with others, to define the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. Other than his homilies on Christ and Mary, the Syrian Saint also left two sermons about Saint John Chrysostom.
Numerous editions of <<Opera Omnia>> of John were published after the initial convocation of Council of Trent. The most representative ones include three editions published in one folio tome in Basel in 1548, 1559, and 1575, followed by three editions published in Paris in 1577, 1603, and 1619, also in one folio tome. The most outstanding edition was published under the care of Michel Lequien in Paris in 1712 in two folio tomes, with its distinctive features adequately adopted in the 1748 edition published in Paris, again in two folio tomes. In modern times, the complete works of John were collected by in Volumes XCIV- XCVI of <<Patrologia Graeca>> by Migne. With works of disputed authorship added, Tome I was comprised of the theological works of the Syrian Hermit, and Tome II consisted of his homiletic works.
As a result of its great fame, <<De Fide Orthodoxa>> was undoubtedly the most frequently printed work of the Eastern precursor of Scholasticism. Having survived through hundreds of manuscripts during the Middle Ages, the unparalleled work that inspired Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas was first printed in original Greek in Verona in 1531, followed by two Latin-Greek parallel editions in the same city in 1548 and 1575. Three editions with only Latin text were printed in Paris in 1577, 1603, and 1617, and again collected by Hugo Hurter in Volume XLI of his <<Opuscula Sanctorum Patrum>>. The famous orations on sacred images, <<Pro Sacris Imaginibus Orationes>>, were first printed in Rome in Greek in 1553, then a Latin edition, translated by the German Carthusian Tilmanus, was printed in Paris in 1555, reprinted in Antwerp in 1556. Other works of the Saint were also less frequently printed, though rarely referenced in modern times.
Unsurprisingly, <<De Fide Orthodoxa>> was translated most frequently among the works of Saint John. Its English translations are commonly titled <<An Exact Exposition To The Orthodox Faith>>, its French translations are titled <<La Foi Orthodoxe>>, and its German translations are titled <<Genaue Darlegung des orthodoxen Glaubens>>, along with translations in other languages, mostly European, most of which appeared after 1980. Several other works of the great scholar were also translated, though certainly less frequently, chiefly <<Capita Philosophica>> and <<De Haeresibus>>, and such translations were almost always printed together with other translations. A German edition titled <<Die Schriften Des Johannes Von Damaskos>> was published between 1969 and 2013. This edition, perhaps the most comprehensive vernacular edition of the works by the Monk in Jerusalem, contains all his major works, though many of the smaller works of the Syrian Father were still omitted.
John was universally hailed as the Father of Scholasticism in the East, even hailed as the First Scholastic or Precursor of the Scholastics by many, together with either Isidore or Anselm, who was hailed as the Father of Scholasticism in the West, largely due to his role as the epitome of Eastern Christianity and the influence of his greatest work. For the same reason, he was recognized as Graecorum Petrus Lombardus, or Peter Lombard of the Greeks. For his eminent doctrines on the Assumption of Mary, the Marian Saint was rightfully revered as Doctor Assumptionis, or Doctor of the Assumption. In 1890, Pope Leo XIII, a Supreme Pontiff deeply devoted to the Blessed Mother of God and called the Rosary Pope for his record number of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary alone, believed it was fitting so that he declared the Damascene a Doctor of the Church.
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