John Damascene

Born to a prominent Christian family in Muslim-ruled Damascus — a family that served in the caliph's fiscal administration — John eventually withdrew to the monastery of Mar Saba near Jerusalem. When the Byzantine emperor outlawed the veneration of icons, John, safely beyond imperial reach, wrote the three classic defenses of the holy images, distinguishing the worship due God alone from the honor given his saints. His Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith distilled the Greek fathers into an orderly summa that later shaped Aquinas himself. Poet as well as theologian, he composed hymns Eastern Christians still sing. He is often counted the last of the Greek fathers.

He defended icons from inside the Muslim caliphate — safely beyond the reach of the iconoclast Byzantine emperor he was refuting.

John Damascene has 6 commentary entries in HolyStudy’s verse-by-verse Church Fathers commentary. Open any Gospel chapter, tap a verse, and choose the Church Fathers tab.