08 Works, Today, June 28th, is John of Damascus' day, his story in Paintings #179

Unknown artist

St. John of Damascus, priest and doctor

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John of Damascus was a Christian monk and priest. Born and raised in Damascus c. 675 or 676, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem on 4 December 749.

Anonymous Catalonian illustrator

Battle of Yarmouk

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The Saracens are shown with a star and crescent banner, the Byzantines (anachronistically in Crusader era armour) with a star banner. 

When Syria was conquered by the Muslim Arabs in the 630s, the court at Damascus retained its large complement of Christian civil servants, John's grandfather among them.
John's father, Sarjun (Sergius), went on to serve the Umayyad caliphs. According to John of Jerusalem and some later versions of his life, after his father's death, John also served as an official to the caliphal court before leaving to become a monk at Mar Saba, and that he was ordained as a priest in 735.

Unknown artist

St. John of Damascus is depicted with his foster brother St. Kosmas

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In the early 8th century AD, iconoclasm, a movement opposed to the veneration of icons, gained acceptance in the Byzantine court. Emperor Leo III who assumed the throne in 717 issued his first edict against the veneration of images and their exhibition in public places.

 Otto von Corvin and Wilhelm Held, German School (19th Century)

Byzantine iconoclasm, c. 1880

Medium engraving

This page of the iconodule Chludov Psalter

Depiction rubbing out a painting of Christ with a sponge attached to a pole

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John of Damascus undertook a spirited defence of holy images in three separate publications. He not only attacked the Byzantine emperor, but adopted a simplified style that allowed the controversy to be followed by the common people, stirring rebellion among the iconoclasts. 

Unknown artist

The caliph then ordered John's right hand be cut off

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Leo III reportedly sent forged documents to the caliph which implicated John in a plot to attack Damascus. The caliph then ordered John's right hand be cut off and hung up in public view. 

Unknown artist

John asked for the restitution of his hand, and prayed fervently to the Theotokos before her icon

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Some days afterwards, John asked for the restitution of his hand, and prayed fervently to the Theotokos before her icon: thereupon, his hand is said to have been miraculously restored. In gratitude for this miraculous healing, he attached a silver hand to the icon, which thereafter became known as the "Three-handed", or Tricheirousa. That icon is now located in the Helandarion monastery of the Holy Mountain.

Unknown artist

Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Three Hands”

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John died in 749 as a revered Father of the Church, and is recognized as a saint. He is sometimes called the last of the Church Fathers by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1890 he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII. More on John of Damascus

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