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04 December 2014
+ John of Damascus +
4 December AD 749
John of Damascus, also called John Damascene and Chrysorrhoas, (meaning "streaming with gold," alluding to his "golden" speaking) was born around AD 675. The Christian Church remembers him as the greatest compiler and summarizer of the Orthodox faith.
Most church historians also consider him as the last great Greek theologian. Born in Damascus under Mohammedan rule, John gave up an influential position in the Islamic court to devote himself to the Christian faith. Around 716 he entered a Jerusalem monastery and was ordained a priest.
He was a staunch iconodule and when iconoclastic Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian issued a decree in 726 forbidding icons (images of God, Jesus, holy people, angels, and the like), John forcefully resisted. The emperor retaliated by using a forged letter over John's signature to convince the caliph of Damascus that John intended to betray the city into Leo's hands.
Later, in his Apostolic Discourses, he argued for the legitimacy of the veneration of images, earning himself the condemnation of the Iconoclast Council in 754. John also wrote defenses of orthodox Christianity against contemporary heresies.
Coupled with his theological acumen and organizational skills were John's considerable talents as a hymn writer. Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain and The Day of Resurrection are sung in much of Christendom during the Easter season. John also contributed to the liturgy of the Byzantine churches.
John's major writing, The Fount of Wisdom, bears testimony to his abilities as theologian and compiler. Its third section, "The Orthodox Faith," is a compendium of truth from previous Eastern Christian theologians and includes almost every imaginable doctrinal topic from Christianity's first seven centuries. This summary of Orthodox Christianity left a lasting stamp on both the Eastern and Western churches.
Lection
Psalm 118:14-21 or 16:5-11
Exodus 15:1-21
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
John 5:24-27
Collect
O Lord, You create and sustain saving faith in the hearts and minds of Your believers; confirm our minds in the mysteries of the true Faith, as set forth by your servant John of Damascus, that we, with him, might ever confess Jesus to be true God and true Man and ever sing the praises of the risen Lord, and by the power of His resurrection, attain to eternal life and everlasting joy; through this same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Hymn:Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness!
God has brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness,
Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
Jacob's sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot
Through the Red Sea waters.
This the spring of souls today:
Christ has burst His prison
And from three days' sleep in death
As a sun has risen;
All the winter of our sins,
Long and dark, is flying
From His light, to whom is given
Laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright
With the day of splendor,
With the royal feast of feasts
Comes its joy to render;
Comes to gladden faithful hearts
Which with true affection
Welcome in unwearied strain
Jesus' resurrection!
For today among His own
Christ appeared, bestowing
His deep peace, which evermore
Passes human knowing.
Neither could the gates of death
Nor the tomb's dark portal
Nor the watchers nor the seal
Hold Him as a mortal.
Alleluia! Now we cry
To our King immortal,
Who, triumphant, burst the bars
Of the tomb's dark portal
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness!
God has brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness!
For more on this hymn, see Robert Cottrill's post Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain at Wordwise Hymns.
Tags: John of Damascus | Saint John of Damascus | St. John of Damascus | John Damascene | Chrysorrhoas | Orthodox Church | Eastern Orthodoxy | Byzantine Empire | Byzantium | Damascus | Syria | Jerusalem | icons | iconoclasm | iconodule | Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain | Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain | The Day of Resurrection | Church Year | liturgical calendar | sanctorial calendar | Christianity | Christian | Lutheran | Lutheranism | Christian feasts | festivals | saints' days | biography | hagiography | commemoration | theology | systematic theology | dogmatics | practical theology | hymnody | liturgics | hymn writing | polity | church governance | historical theology | history | Church history | Christian history | Middle eastern history | Palestine history | Syrian history| Aardvark Alley ¶ 00:00 |
John of Damascus, also called John Damascene and Chrysorrhoas, (meaning "streaming with gold," alluding to his "golden" speaking) was born around AD 675. The Christian Church remembers him as the greatest compiler and summarizer of the Orthodox faith.Most church historians also consider him as the last great Greek theologian. Born in Damascus under Mohammedan rule, John gave up an influential position in the Islamic court to devote himself to the Christian faith. Around 716 he entered a Jerusalem monastery and was ordained a priest.
He was a staunch iconodule and when iconoclastic Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian issued a decree in 726 forbidding icons (images of God, Jesus, holy people, angels, and the like), John forcefully resisted. The emperor retaliated by using a forged letter over John's signature to convince the caliph of Damascus that John intended to betray the city into Leo's hands.
Later, in his Apostolic Discourses, he argued for the legitimacy of the veneration of images, earning himself the condemnation of the Iconoclast Council in 754. John also wrote defenses of orthodox Christianity against contemporary heresies.Coupled with his theological acumen and organizational skills were John's considerable talents as a hymn writer. Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain and The Day of Resurrection are sung in much of Christendom during the Easter season. John also contributed to the liturgy of the Byzantine churches.
John's major writing, The Fount of Wisdom, bears testimony to his abilities as theologian and compiler. Its third section, "The Orthodox Faith," is a compendium of truth from previous Eastern Christian theologians and includes almost every imaginable doctrinal topic from Christianity's first seven centuries. This summary of Orthodox Christianity left a lasting stamp on both the Eastern and Western churches.
Lection
Psalm 118:14-21 or 16:5-11
Exodus 15:1-21
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
John 5:24-27
Collect
O Lord, You create and sustain saving faith in the hearts and minds of Your believers; confirm our minds in the mysteries of the true Faith, as set forth by your servant John of Damascus, that we, with him, might ever confess Jesus to be true God and true Man and ever sing the praises of the risen Lord, and by the power of His resurrection, attain to eternal life and everlasting joy; through this same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Hymn:Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness!
God has brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness,
Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
Jacob's sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot
Through the Red Sea waters.
This the spring of souls today:
Christ has burst His prison
And from three days' sleep in death
As a sun has risen;
All the winter of our sins,
Long and dark, is flying
From His light, to whom is given
Laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright
With the day of splendor,
With the royal feast of feasts
Comes its joy to render;
Comes to gladden faithful hearts
Which with true affection
Welcome in unwearied strain
Jesus' resurrection!
For today among His own
Christ appeared, bestowing
His deep peace, which evermore
Passes human knowing.
Neither could the gates of death
Nor the tomb's dark portal
Nor the watchers nor the seal
Hold Him as a mortal.
Alleluia! Now we cry
To our King immortal,
Who, triumphant, burst the bars
Of the tomb's dark portal
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness!
God has brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness!
For more on this hymn, see Robert Cottrill's post Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain at Wordwise Hymns.
Tags: John of Damascus | Saint John of Damascus | St. John of Damascus | John Damascene | Chrysorrhoas | Orthodox Church | Eastern Orthodoxy | Byzantine Empire | Byzantium | Damascus | Syria | Jerusalem | icons | iconoclasm | iconodule | Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain | Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain | The Day of Resurrection | Church Year | liturgical calendar | sanctorial calendar | Christianity | Christian | Lutheran | Lutheranism | Christian feasts | festivals | saints' days | biography | hagiography | commemoration | theology | systematic theology | dogmatics | practical theology | hymnody | liturgics | hymn writing | polity | church governance | historical theology | history | Church history | Christian history | Middle eastern history | Palestine history | Syrian history| Aardvark Alley ¶ 00:00 |
