An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book I)
Chapter 7. Concerning the Holy Spirit, a reasoned proof.
Thus because of the unity in nature, the error of the Greeks in holding that God is many, is utterly destroyed: and again by our acceptance of the Word and the Spirit, the dogma of the Jews is overthrown: and there remains of each party only what is profitable. On the one hand of the Jewish idea we have the unity of God’s nature, and on the other, of the Greek, we have the distinction in subsistences and that only.
But should the Jew refuse to accept the Word and the Spirit, let the divine Scripture confute him and curb his tongue. For concerning the Word, the divine David says, For ever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. And again, He sent His Word and healed them. But the word that is uttered is not sent, nor is it for ever settled. And concerning the Spirit, the same David says, You send forth Your Spirit, they are created. And again, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. Job, too, says, The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life. Job 33:4 Now the Spirit which is sent and makes and establishes and conserves, is not mere breath that dissolves, any more than the mouth of God is a bodily member. For the conception of both must be such as harmonizes with the Divine nature.
An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book III)
Chapter 12. That the holy Virgin is the Mother of God: an argument directed against the Nestorians.
But we never say that the holy Virgin is the Mother of Christ [χριστοτόκος, as opposed to θεοτόκος] because it was in order to do away with the title Mother of God, and to bring dishonour on the Mother of God, who alone is in truth worthy of honour above all creation, that the impure and abominable Judaizing Nestorius , that vessel of dishonour, invented this name for an insult. For David the king, and Aaron, the high priest, are also called Christ , for it is customary to make kings and priests by anointing: and besides every God-inspired man may be called Christ, but yet he is not by nature God: yea, the accursed Nestorius insulted Him Who was born of the Virgin by calling Him God-bearer. May it be far from us to speak of or think of Him as God-bearer only , Who is in truth God incarnate. For the Word Himself became flesh, having been in truth conceived of the Virgin, but coming forth as God with the assumed nature which, as soon as He was brought forth into being, was deified by Him, so that these three things took place simultaneously, the assumption of our nature, the coming into being, and the deification of the assumed nature by the Word. And thus it is that the holy Virgin is thought of and spoken of as the Mother of God, not only because of the nature of the Word, but also because of the deification of man’s nature, the miracles of conception and of existence being wrought together, to wit, the conception the Word, and the existence of the flesh in the Word Himself. For the very Mother of God in some marvellous manner was the means of fashioning the Framer of all things and of bestowing manhood on the God and Creator of all, Who deified the nature that He assumed, while the union preserved those things that were united just as they were united, that is to say, not only the divine nature of Christ but also His human nature, not only that which is above us but that which is of us. For He was not first made like us and only later became higher than us, but ever from His first coming into being He existed with the double nature, because He existed in the Word Himself from the beginning of the conception. Wherefore He is human in His own nature, but also, in some marvellous manner, of God and divine. Moreover He has the properties of the living flesh: for by reason of the dispensation the Word received these which are, according to the order of natural motion, truly natural.
An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV)
Chapter 13. Concerning the holy and immaculate Mysteries of the Lord.
The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, This is My body,
not, this is a figure of My body: and My blood,
not, a figure of My blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed. And again, He that eats Me, shall live John 6:51-55.
Chapter 16. Concerning Images.
Moreover the divine Scripture blames those who worship graven images, but also those who sacrifice to demons. The Greeks sacrificed and the Jews also sacrificed: but the Greeks to demons and the Jews to God. And the sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and condemned, but the sacrifice of the just was very acceptable to God. For Noah sacrificed, and God smelled a sweet savour Genesis 8:21, receiving the fragrance of the right choice and good-will towards Him. And so the graven images of the Greeks, since they were images of deities, were rejected and forbidden.
Chapter 18. Regarding the things said concerning Christ.
Others again have reference to His appropriation of the personal life of the Jews, in numbering Himself among the Jews, as He says to the Samaritan woman, You worship ye know not what: we know what we worship, far salvation is of the Jews John 4:22 .
Chapter 23. Against the Jews on the question of the Sabbath.
The seventh day is called the Sabbath and signifies rest. For in it God rested from all His works Genesis 2:2, as the divine Scripture says: and so the number of the days goes up to seven and then circles back again and begins at the first. This is the precious number with the Jews, God having ordained that it should be held in honour, and that in no chance fashion but with the imposition of most heavy penalties for the transgression. And it was not in a simple fashion that He ordained this, but for certain reasons understood mystically by the spiritual and clear-sighted.
So far, indeed, as I in my ignorance know, to begin with inferior and more dense things, God, knowing the denseness of the Israelites and their carnal love and propensity towards matter in everything, made this law: first, in order that the servant and the cattle should rest Deuteronomy 5:14 as it is written, for the righteous man regards the life of his beast Proverbs 12:10: next, in order that when they take their ease from the distraction of material things, they may gather together unto God, spending the whole of the seventh day in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and the study of the divine Scriptures and resting in God. For when the law did not exist and there was no divinely-inspired Scripture, the Sabbath was not consecrated to God. But when the divinely-inspired Scripture was given by Moses, the Sabbath was consecrated to God in order that on it they, who do not dedicate their whole life to God, and who do not make their desire subservient to the Master as though to a Father, but are like foolish servants, may on that day talk much concerning the exercise of it, and may abstract a small, truly a most insignificant, portion of their life for the service of God, and this from fear of the chastisements and punishments which threaten transgressors. For the law is not made for a righteous man but for the unrighteous. 1 Timothy 1:9 Moses, of a truth, was the first to abide fasting with God for forty days and again for another forty , and thus doubtless to afflict himself with hunger on the Sabbaths although the law forbade self-affliction on the Sabbath. But if they should object that this took place before the law, what will they say about Elias the Thesbite who accomplished a journey of forty days on one meal 1 Kings 19:8? For he, by thus afflicting himself on the Sabbaths not only with hunger but with the forty days’ journeying, broke the Sabbath: and yet God, Who gave the law, was not angry with him but showed Himself to him on Choreb as a reward for his virtue. And what will they say about Daniel? Did he not spend three weeks without food Daniel 10:2? And again, did not all Israel circumcise the child on the Sabbath, if it happened to be the eighth day after birth Genesis 17:12? And do they not hold the great fast which the law enjoins if it falls on the Sabbath Leviticus 16:31? And further, do not the priests and the Levites profane the Sabbath in the works of the tabernacle Matthew 12:5 and yet are held blameless? Yea, if an ox should fall into a pit on the Sabbath, he who draws it forth is blameless, while he who neglects to do so is condemned. And did not all the Israelites compass the walls of Jericho bearing the Ark of God for seven days, in which assuredly the Sabbath was included Joshua iii .
As I said , therefore, for the purpose of securing leisure to worship God in order that they might, both servant and beast of burden, devote a very small share to Him and be at rest, the observance of the Sabbath was devised for the carnal that were still childish and in the bonds of the elements of the world Galatians 4:3, and unable to conceive of anything beyond the body and the letter. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Only-begotten Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. For to as many of us as received Him, He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe in Him John 1:12 . So that we are no longer servants but sons Galatians 4:7: no longer under the law but under grace: no longer do we serve God in part from fear, but we are bound to dedicate to Him the whole span of our life, and cause that servant, I mean wrath and desire, to cease from sin and bid it devote itself to the service of God, always directing our whole desire towards God and arming our wrath against the enemies of God: and likewise we hinder that beast of burden, that is the body, from the servitude of sin, and urge it forwards to assist to the uttermost the divine precepts.
These are the things which the spiritual law of Christ enjoins on us and those who observe that become superior to the law of Moses. For when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Corinthians 13:10: and when the covering of the law, that is, the veil, is rent asunder through the crucifixion of the Saviour, and the Spirit shines forth with tongues of fire, the letter shall be done away with, bodily things shall come to an end, the law of servitude shall be fulfilled, and the law of liberty be bestowed on us. Yea we shall celebrate the perfect rest of human nature, I mean the day after the resurrection, on which the Lord Jesus, the Author of Life and our Saviour, shall lead us into the heritage promised to those who serve God in the spirit, a heritage into which He entered Himself as our forerunner after He rose from the dead, and whereon, the gates of Heaven being opened to Him, He took His seat in bodily form at the right hand of the Father, where those who keep the spiritual law shall also come.
What belongs to us , therefore, who walk by the spirit and not by the letter, is the complete abandonment of carnal things, the spiritual service and communion with God. For circumcision is the abandonment of carnal pleasure and of whatever is superfluous and unnecessary. For the foreskin is nothing else than the skin which it superfluous to the organ of lust. And, indeed, every pleasure which does not arise from God nor is in God is superfluous to pleasure: and of that the foreskin is the type. The Sabbath, moreover, is the cessation from sin; so that both things happen to be one, and so both together, when observed by those who are spiritual, do not bring about any breach of the law at all.
Further, observe that the number seven denotes all the present time, as the most wise Solomon says, to give a portion to seven and also to eight. Ecclesiastes 11:2 And David , the divine singer when he composed the eighth psalm, sang of the future restoration after the resurrection from the dead. Since the Law, therefore, enjoined that the seventh day should be spent in rest from carnal things and devoted to spiritual things, it was a mystic indication to the true Israelite who had a mind to see God, that he should through all time offer himself to God and rise higher than carnal things.
Chapter 26. Concerning the Antichrist.
It should be known that the Antichrist is bound to come. Every one, therefore, who confesses not that the Son of God came in the flesh and is perfect God and became perfect man, after being God, is Antichrist. 1 John 2:22 But in a peculiar and special sense he who comes at the consummation of the age is called Antichrist. First, then, it is requisite that the Gospel should be preached among all nations, as the Lord said Matthew 24:14, and then he will come to refute the impious Jews. For the Lord said to them: I have come in My Father’s name and you receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. John 5:43 And the apostle says, Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The Jews accordingly did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ who was the Son of God and God, but receive the impostor who calls himself God. For that he will assume the name of God, the angel teaches Daniel, saying these words, Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. Daniel 11:37 And the apostle says: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 , showing himself that he is God; in the temple of God he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple. For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ: wherefore he is called Antichrist.
First, therefore, it is necessary that the Gospel should be preached among all nations Matthew 25:14: And then shall that wicked one be revealed, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders , with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, whom the Lord shall consume with the word of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. The devil himself , therefore does not become man in the way that the Lord was made man. God forbid! But he becomes man as the offspring of fornication and receives all the energy of Satan. For God, foreknowing the strangeness of the choice that he would make, allows the devil to take up his abode in him.
He is, therefore, as we said, the offspring of fornication and is nurtured in secret, and on a sudden he rises up and rebels and assumes rule. And in the beginning of his rule, or rather tyranny, he assumes the role of sanctity. But when he becomes master he persecutes the Church of God and displays all his wickedness. But he will come with signs and lying wonders 2 Thessalonians 2:9, fictitious and not real, and he will deceive and lead away from the living God those whose mind rests on an unsound and unstable foundation, so that even the elect shall, if it be possible, be made to stumble Matthew 24:24 .
But Enoch and Elias the Thesbite shall be sent and shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children , that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the apostles: and they will be destroyed by him. And the Lord shall come out of heaven, just as the holy apostles beheld Him going into heaven, perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will destroy the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the breath of His mouth. Acts 1:11 Let no one, therefore, look for the Lord to come from earth, but out of Heaven, as He himself has made sure 2 Thessalonians 2:8 .
Source. New Advent – Translated by E.W. Watson and L. Pullan. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 9. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1899.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3304.htm>.
Three Sermons on the Dormition of the Virgin
SERMON II: ON THE ASSUMPTION
Perchance, Jews also were there, if any, not too reprobate were to be found. It will not be beside the mark to mention here a thing that is asserted by many. It is said that when those, who were carrying the blessed body of God’s Mother, had reached the descent of the opposite mountains, a certain Jew, the slave of [190] sin, and pledged by his folly, imitated the servant of Caiphas, who struck the divine Face of Christ our Lord and Master, and made himself the devil’s instrument. Full of wicked passion and malice, he rushed at that most divine tabernacle, which angels approached with fear, and impiously dragged the bier with both his hands to the ground. This was prompted by the envy of the arch enemy, but his labours were in vain, and he reaped a severe and fitting reminder of his deed. It is said that he lost the use of his hands, which had perpetrated his malicious deed, until faith moved him to repentance. The bearers were standing near. The wretched man placed his hands on the wondrous and life-giving tabernacle, and they again became sound. Circumstances had made him wise, as often happens. But let us return to our subject.
Source. Medieval Sourcebook – From St. John Damascene. On holy images, followed by three sermons on the Assumption. Translated by Mary H. Allies. London: Thomas Baker, 1898.
EXCERPT: from sermon, “Good Friday.”
I could have wished to pass over the story, so often has it been related to you. But the robber is before my eyes, ever forcing me. And no marvel: for he forced even the gates of paradise, turning his robber’s skill to his own preservation. There we behold standing on the Cross the Lamb between two wolves. But the one of them continued in his former mind, the other repented. ‘Remember me, he said, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom’. Oh! the power of Jesus. The robber is now a prophet, and this is his message from the cross: ‘Remember me, Lord, when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.’ Why, what emblems of royalty dost thou see, poor robber? buffetings, spittings, nails, the cross of wood, the scoffs of the Jews, the lance of the soldier now bared for its work? ‘yea, but’, saith he, ‘I see not these things that do appear. I see angels standing around, I see the sun hiding its face, the veil of the temple rent, the earth shaking, the dead preparing to flee’. And Jesus, that receiveth all, even those who come at the eleventh hour to prophesy in his name, and giveth them their penny, as being alike workers, saith to him, ‘Amen, poor robber! today a robber, today a son. Today shalt thou be with me in paradise’ … etc.
Source. Orthodox Research Institute – Archpriest Paul W. Moses. St. John of Damascus, by Rev. J. H. Lupton. MA, published by Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, England. 1882. From Word Magazine. Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America April 1964 pp. 5-9.
Apologia of St John of Damascus Against Those who Decry Holy Images
PART I
You see that He forbids image-making on account of idolatry, and that it is impossible to make
an image of the immeasurable, uncircumscribed, invisible God. You have not seen the likeness of
Him, the Scripture says, and this was St Paul’s testimony as he stood in the midst of the Areopagus:
8
“Being, therefore, the offspring of God, we must not suppose the divinity to be like unto gold, or
silver, or stone, the graving of art, and device of man.” (Acts 17.29)
These injunctions were given to the Jews on account of their proneness to idolatry. Now we,
on the contrary, are no longer in leading strings. Speaking theologically, it is given to us to avoid
superstitious error, to be with God in the knowledge of the truth, to worship God alone, to enjoy
the fulness of His knowledge. We have passed the stage of infancy, and reached the perfection of
manhood. We receive our habit of mind from God, and know what may be imaged and what may
not. The Scripture says, “You have not seen the likeness of Him.” (Ex. 33.20) What wisdom in the
law-giver. How depict the invisible? How picture the inconceivable? How give expression to the
limitless, the immeasurable, the invisible? How give a form to immensity? How paint immortality?
How localise mystery? It is clear that when you contemplate God, who is a pure spirit, becoming
man for your sake, you will be able to clothe Him with the human form. When the Invisible One
9
becomes visible to flesh, you may then draw a likeness of His form. When He who is a pure spirit,
without form or limit, immeasurable in the boundlessness of His own nature, existing as God, takes
upon Himself the form of a servant in substance and in stature, and a body of flesh, then you may
draw His likeness, and show it to anyone willing to contemplate it. Depict His ineffable
condescension, His virginal birth, His baptism in the Jordan, His transfiguration on Thabor, His
all-powerful sufferings, His death and miracles, the proofs of His Godhead, the deeds which He
worked in the flesh through divine power, His saving Cross, His Sepulchre, and resurrection, and
ascent into heaven. Give to it all the endurance of engraving and colour. Have no fear or anxiety;
worship is not all of the same kind. Abraham worshipped the sons of Emmor, impious men in
ignorance of God, when he bought the double cave for a tomb. (Gen. 23.7; Acts 7.16) Jacob
worshipped his brother Esau and Pharao, the Egyptian, but on the point of his staff.4
(Gen 33.3) He
worshipped, he did not adore. Josue and Daniel worshipped an angel of God; (Jos. 5.14) they did
10
not adore him. The worship of latreia is one thing, and the worship which is given to merit another.
Now, as we are talking of images and worship, let us analyse the exact meaning of each. An image
is a likeness of the original with a certain difference, for it is not an exact reproduction of the
original. Thus, the Son is the living, substantial, unchangeable Image of the invisible God (Col.
1.15), bearing in Himself the whole Father, being in all things equal to Him, differing only in being
begotten by the Father, who is the Begetter; the Son is begotten. The Father does not proceed from
the Son, but the Son from the Father. It is through the Son, though not after Him, that He is what
He is, the Father who generates. In God, too, there are representations and images of His future
acts,—that is to say, His counsel from all eternity, which is ever unchangeable. That which is divine
is immutable; there is no change in Him, nor shadow of change. (James 1.17) Blessed Denis, (the
Carthusian [i.e., Pseudo-Dionysius]) who has made divine things in God’s presence his study, says
that these representations and images are marked out beforehand. In His counsels, God has noted
and settled all that He would do, the unchanging future events before they came to pass. In the same way, a man who wished to build a house would first make and think out a plan. Again, visible
things are images of invisible and intangible things, on which they throw a faint light. Holy Scripture
clothes in figure God and the angels, and the same holy man (Blessed Denis) explains why. When
sensible things sufficiently render what is beyond sense, and give a form to what is intangible, a
medium would be reckoned imperfect according to our standard, if it did not fully represent material
vision, or if it required effort of mind. If, therefore, Holy Scripture, providing for our need, ever
putting before us what is intangible, clothes it in flesh, does it not make an image of what is thus
invested with our nature, and brought to the level of our desires, yet invisible? A certain conception
through the senses thus takes place in the brain, which was not there before, and is transmitted to
the judicial faculty, and added to the mental store. Gregory, who is so eloquent about God, says
that the mind, which is set upon getting beyond corporeal things, is incapable of doing it. For the
invisible things of God since the creation of the world are made visible through images. (Rom. 1.20) We see images in creation which remind us faintly of God, as when, for instance, we speak
of the holy and adorable Trinity, imaged by the sun, or light, or burning rays, or by a running
fountain, or a full river, or by the mind, speech, or the spirit within us, or by a rose tree, or a sprouting
flower, or a sweet fragrance.
We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do not deprive Him of His army. The saints constitute
the Lord’s army. Let the earthly king dismiss his army before he gives up his King and Lord. Let
him put off the purple before he takes honour away from his most valiant men who have conquered
their passions. For if the saints are heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ, (Rom. 8.17) they will be
also partakers of the divine glory of sovereignty. If the friends of God have had a part in the
sufferings of Christ, how shall they not receive a share of His glory even on earth? “I call you not
servants,” our Lord says, “you are my friends.” (Jn. 15.15) Should we then deprive them of the
honour given to them by the Church? What audacity! What boldness of mind, to fight God and His commands! You, who refuse to worship images, would not worship the Son of God, the Living
Image of the invisible God, (Col. 1.15) and His unchanging form. I worship the image of Christ as
the Incarnate God; that of Our Lady (της θεοτοκου), the Mother of us all, as the Mother of God’s
Son; that of the saints as the friends of God. They have withstood sin unto blood, and followed
Christ in shedding their blood for Him, who shed His blood for them. I put on record the excellencies
and the sufferings of those who have walked in His footsteps, that I may sanctify myself, and be
fired with the zeal of imitation. St Basil says, “Honouring the image leads to the prototype.” If you
raise churches to the saints of God, raise also their trophies. The temple of old was not built in the
name of any man. The death of the just was a cause of tears, not of feasting. A man who touched
a corpse was considered unclean, (Num. 19.11) even if the corpse was Moses himself. But now the
memories of the saints are kept with rejoicings. The dead body of Jacob was wept over, whilst there
is joy over the death of Stephen. Therefore, either give up the solemn commemorations of the saints,
which are not according to the old law, or accept images which are also against it, as you say. But
it is impossible not to keep with rejoicing the memories of the saints. The Holy Apostles and Fathers
are at one in enjoining them. From the time that God the Word became flesh He is as we are in
everything except sin, and of our nature, without confusion. He has deified our flesh for ever, and
we are in very deed sanctified through His Godhead and the union of His flesh with it. And from
the time that God, the Son of God, impassible by reason of His Godhead, chose to suffer voluntarily
He wiped out our debt, also paying for us a most full and noble ransom. We are truly free through
the sacred blood of the Son pleading for us with the Father. And we are indeed delivered from
corruption since He descended into hell to the souls detained there through centuries (I Pet. 3.19)
and gave the captives their freedom, sight to the blind, (Mt. 12.29) and chaining the strong one.6
He rose in the plenitude of His power, keeping the flesh of immortality which He had taken for us.
And since we have been born again of water and the Spirit, we are truly sons and heirs of God. Hence St Paul calls the faithful holy; (I Cor. 1.2) hence we do not grieve but rejoice over the death
of the saints. We are then no longer under grace, (Rom. 6.14) being justified through faith, (Rom.
5.1) and knowing the one true God. The just man is not bound by the law. (I. Tim. 1.9) We are not
held by the letter of the law, nor do we serve as children, (Gal. 4.1) but grown into the perfect estate
of man we are fed on solid food, not on that which conduces to idolatry. The law is good as a light
shining in a dark place until the day breaks. Your hearts have already been illuminated, the living
water of God’s knowledge has run over the tempestuous seas of heathendom, and we may all know
God. The old creation has passed away, and all things are renovated. The holy Apostle Paul said
to St Peter, the chief of the Apostles: “If you, being a Jew, live as a heathen and not a Jew, how
will you persuade heathens to do as Jews do?” (Gal. 2.14) And to the Galatians: “I will bear witness
to every circumcised man that it is salutary to fulfil the whole law.” (Gal. 5.3)
PART II
Now, what shall we say to these things? What, if not that which God spoke to the Jews, “Search
the Scriptures.” (Jn. 5.39)
If I venerate and worship, as the instruments of salvation, the Cross and lance, and reed and
sponge, by means of which the Jews (θεοκτονοι) scorned and put to death my Lord, shall I not also
worship images that Christians make with a good intention for the glory and remembrance of Christ?
If I worship the image of the Cross, made of whatever wood it may be, shall I not worship the image
which shows me the Crucified and my salvation through the Cross? Oh, inhumanity of man! It is
evident that I do not worship matter, for supposing the Cross, if it be made of wood, should fall to
pieces, I should throw them into the fire, and the same with images.
Secondly, we worship creatures by honouring those places or persons whom God has associated
with the work of our salvation, whether before our Lord’s coming or since the dispensation of His
incarnation. For instance, I venerate Mount Sinai, Nazareth, the stable at Bethlehem, and the cave,
the sacred mount of Golgotha, the wood of the Cross, the nails and sponge and reed, the sacred and
saving lance, the dress and tunic, the linen cloths, the swathing clothes, the holy tomb, the source
of our resurrection, the sepulchre, the holy mountain of Sion and the mountain of Olives, the Pool
of Bethsaida and the sacred garden of Gethsemane, and all similar spots. I cherish them and every
holy temple of God, and everything connected with God’s name, not on their own account but
because they show forth the divine power, and through them and in them it pleased God to bring
about our salvation. I venerate and worship angels and men, and all matter participating in divine
power and ministering to our salvation through it. I do not worship the Jews. They are not
participators in divine power, nor have they contributed to my salvation. They crucified my God, the King of Glory, moved rather by envy and hatred against God their Benefactor. “Lord, I have
loved the beauty of Thy house,” (Ps. 26.8) says David, “we will adore in the place where his feet
stood. And adore at His holy mountain.” (Ps. 132.7; 99.9) The holy Mother of God is the living
holy mountain of God. The apostles are the teaching mountains of God. “The mountains skipped
like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.” (I Cor. 10.11)
Source. Documenta Catholica Omnia – John of Damascus, St. (c. 675-749). Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. London: Thomas Baker, 1898.
ON HERESIES
4. Judaism had from the time of Abraham received the seal of circumcision. By Moses, who was seventh after Abraham, it was committed to writing in the Law given by God. From Juda, the fourth son of Jacob, surnamed Israel, through David, who was the first of the tribe of Juda to rule, it acquired the definitive name of Judaism. It is apparent that the Apostle was summarizing these four heresies when he said: ‘In Christ Jesus there is neither Barbarian, nor Scythian, nor Greek, nor Jew: but a new creature.’
9. Samaritanism and the Samaritans of this sect. ‘This originated with the Jews before the appearance of heresies among the Greeks and before their teachings took definite form but after they had received their religion. It stands between Judaism and Hellenism and took occasion to arise in the time of Nabuchodonosor and the Jewish captivity. These were Assyrian colonists who had settled in Judea and had received the Pentateuch of Moses which the king had sent them from Babylon at the hands of the priest called Esdras. They hold everything that the Jews do, except that they hold the Gentiles in abomination, avoid contact with certain things, deny the resurrection of the dead, and reject the post-Mosaic prophecies.
The Seven Heresies of the Jews.
14. The Scribes, who were certain lawyers and expounders of the traditions, come down to them from their forebears, very superstitiously observed customs which they had not learned from the Law, but had devised for themselves as rites and ceremonies over and above the prescriptions of the Law.
15. The Phartsees, which is interpreted as meaning ‘those who are set apart,’ followed the most perfect form of life and were, as they pretended, more to be esteemed than other people. They also held the resurrection of the dead, which the Scribes held too. As regards angels and the Holy Ghost, they agreed that such exist. They followed a special way of life, practicing asceticism and virginity for a period of time and fasting twice a week.” They performed the purifications of pots and plates and cups,’ as did the Scribes, the paying of tithes, the offering of first-fruits, and the recitation of interminable prayers. They wore superstitious styles of clothing, such as the shawl, the tunics, or colobia, the wide phylacteries, that is, amulets mzde of purple stuff, the fringes,’ and the tassels on the ends of their shawls—all of which served as signs of their periodic asceticism. They also introduced the horoscope and fate.
16. The Sadduccees, which is interpreted as meaning ‘the most just,’ were from the Samaritan race and from a priest named Sadoc.’® They denied the resurrection of the dead and acknowledged neither the angels nor the Spirit, but in other things were like the Jews.
17. The Hemerobaptists’* were Jews in everything. However, they did say that no one would attain to eternal life unless he bathe himself every day.
18. The Ossenes,* which is interpreted as meaning ‘the most reckless,’ carried out everything according to the Law. However, while they use some of the Scriptures coming after the Law, they rejected most of the later Prophets.
19. The Nasaraeans, which is interpreted as meaning ‘the rebellious,’ forbid all eating of flesh meat and do not eat any animal food at all. Up to Moses and Josue the son of Nave, they accept and believe in the holy names of the patriarchs in the Pentateuch—Abraham, I mean, and Isaac, and Jacob, and their predecessors, and Moses himself, and Aaron, and Josue. They claim that Moses is not the author of the books of the Pentateuch, but they stoutly defend other books different from these.
20. The Herodians were Jews in everything. They looked for Christ in Herod and to him they imputed the dignity and the name of Christ.
Thus far the first part, which contains all these twenty heresies, and in which there is also something of the coming of Christ.
21. The Simonians stem from Simon Magus, who lived in the time of the Apostle Peter and was a native of the village of Gitta in Samaria. This man was of Samaritan origin and became a Christian in name only. He taught a filthy obscenity of prosmicuous bodily intercourse. He rejected the resurrection and affirmed that the universe was not created by God. He furthermore gave his disciples for adoration a likeness of himself as Zeus and of the harlot named Helen, who was his companion, as Athena. To the Samaritans he said that he was the Father, while to the Jews he said he was Christ.
22. The Menandrianists came from Simon through a certain Menander,’ but in certain things they differed from the Simonians. They said that the universe was created by angels,
23. The Saturnilians were to be found throughout Syria. They followed the obscene doctrine of the Simonians, but they professed other things far more extraordinary. They originated with Saturnilus.’* With Menander they held the universe to have been created by angels, but, in accordance with the opinion of their founder, by seven only.
24. The Basilidians follow the same obscene doctrine. They originate with Basilides, who with Saturnilus, was a disciple both of the Simonians and of the Menandrianists. He held similar opinions, although he differs in some things. Thus, he says that there are 365 heavens and to these he assigns angelic names. It is for this reason that the year has this same number of days, and the name Abrasax, which is 365,’° is a holy name.
25. The Nicolattans stem from Nicolas, who was ordained to serve by the Apostles.” Because of jealousy for his own wife, he was motivated to teach his disciples the practice of immorality with others, He also introduced to the world the doctrine of Caulacau, Prunicus, and other barbaric names.
26. The Gnostics succeeded to the foregoing heresies, but were more insanely given to the practice of immorality than all these others. In Egypt they are called Stratiotics and Phibionites, while in the upper regions they are called Socratites, and in still other places Zanchaeans. Some others call them Coddians, while still others call them Borborites. These make much of Barbelo and Bero.”*
27. The Carpocratians originated with a certain Carpocrates, who was an Asiatic. He taught the practice of every sort of immorality and the cultivation of every kind of sin. Unless, he said, one pass through everything and do the will of all the demons and angels, he cannot attain the highest heaven or pass beyond the Principalitics and the Powers. He furthermore said that Jesus had assumed an intellectual soul and, when He had come to know the things above, then He proclaimed them. And he said that should one do such things as Jesus had done, then one would be the same as He, Like the heresies originating with Simon and the others thus far treated, he repudiated both the Law and the resurrection of the dead. The Marcellina who was at Rome became a disciple of his. He furthermore secretely used to make images of Jesus, Paul, Homer, and Pythagoras, and to burn incense before them and worship them.
28. The Cerinthians, who are also called Merinthians, originated with Cerinthus and Merinthus.’* They were certain Jews who made much of the circumcision and who said that the universe was created by the angels and that Jesus attained to the name of Christ by degrees.
29. The Nazarenes confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, but live in all things according to the Law.
30. The Ebionites closely resemble the aforementioned Cerinthians and Nazarenes. In some respects the heresy of our Sampsaeans and Helcesaeans approaches theirs. They assert that Christ and the Holy Ghost were created in heaven and that Christ came to dwell in Adam, then for a time put him off, and finally put him on again. They say that He did this in His coming in the flesh. Although they are Jews, they use the Gospels. The eating of meat they hold in abomination. They hold water to be in the place of God. They furthermore hold, as I have said, that Christ put on man in His coming in the flesh. They bathe in water constantly, both summer and winter, reputedly for the sake of purification, as do the Samaritans.
70. The Audians form a schism and faction, but not, however, a heresy. They pursue a well-ordered way of life and profess a faith which is in every respect like that of the Catholic Church. The greater part of them live in monasteries and they do not hold communion with all. They are also much addicted to the use of the apocryphal scriptures. They overly censure such of our bishops as are wealthy, and other of our bishops for other reasons. They are peculiar in that they celebrate Easter with the Jews. They also hold something peculiar and contentious in that they give a most harsh interpretation to the expression ‘after the image.’
101. There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, was was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are also called Saracens, which is derived from Z2&(ac Kevol, or destitute of Sara, because of what Agar said to the angel: ‘Sara hath sent me away destitute.’? These used to be idolaters and worshiped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language they called Khabar, which means great.\”° And so down to the time of Heraclius they were very great idolaters, From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk,!! devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the peaple by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration.
He says that there is one God, creator of all things, who has neither been begotten nor has begotten.’’* He says that the Christ is the Word of God and His Spirit, but a creature and a servant, and that He was begotten, without seed, of Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron.’’* For, he says, the Word and God and the Spirit entered into Mary and she brought forth Jesus, who was a prophet and servant of God. And he says that the Jews wanted to crucify Him in violation of the law, and that they seized His shadow and crucified this. But the Christ Himself was not crucified, he says, nor did He die, for God out of His love for Him took Him to Himself into heaven.’** And he says this, that when the Christ had ascended into heaven God asked Him: ‘O Jesus, didst thou say: “I am the Son of God and God”?’ And Jesus, he says, answered: ‘Be merciful to me, Lord, Thou knowest that I did not say this and that I did not scorn to be thy servant. But sinful men have written that I made this statement, and they have lied about me and have fallen into error” And God answered and said to Him: ‘I know that thou didst not say this word.’?°* There are many other extraordinary and quite ridiculous things in this book which he boasts was sent down to him from God. But when we ask: ‘And who is there to testify that God gave him the book? And which of the prophets foretold that such a prophet would rise up?’—they are at a loss. And we remark that Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, with God appearing in the sight of all the people in cloud, and fire, and darkness, and storm. And we say that all the Prophets from Moses on down foretold the coming of Christ and how Christ God (and incarnate Son of God) was to come and to be crucified and die and rise again, and how He was to be the judge of the living and dead. Then, when we say: ‘How is it that this prophet of yours did not come in the same way, with others bearing witness to him? And how is it that God did not in your presence present this man with the book to which you refer, even as He gave the Law to Moses, with the people looking on and the mountain smoking, so that you, too, might have certainty?’—they answer that God does as He pleases, “This, we say, ‘We know, but we are asking how the book came down to your prophet.’ Then they reply that the book came down to him while he was asleep. Then we jokingly say to them that, as long as he received the book in his sleep and did not actually sense the operation, then the popular adage applies to him (which runs: You’re spinning me dreams.)
Source. Internet Archive – The Fathers of the Church, Saint John Of Damascus Writings. Translated by Frederic H, Chase, Jr. St. John of Damascus. Washington, D.C.: THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS. 1958.