Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?March_27th_=2D_John_of_Damascus=2C_hymn=2Dwriter=2C_defender? To : All From : rich Date : Thu Mar 26 2020 09:26:55 From: rich March 27th - John of Damascus, hymn-writer, defender of icons=C2 John is generally accounted "the last of the Fathers". He was the son of a = Christian official at the court of the moslem khalif Abdul Malek, and succe= eded to his father's office.=C2 In his time there was a dispute among Christians between the Iconoclasts (i= mage-breakers) and the Iconodules (image-venerators or image-respectors). T= he Emperor, Leo III, was a vigorous upholder of the Iconoclast position. Jo= hn wrote in favor of the Iconodules with great effectiveness. Ironically, h= e was able to do this chiefly because he had the protection of the moslem k= halif (ironic because the moslems have a strong prohibition against the rel= igious use of pictures or images).=C2 John is also known as a hymn-writer. Two of his hymns are sung in English a= t Easter ("Come ye faithful, raise the strain" and "The Day of Resurrection= ! Earth, tell it out abroad!"). Many more are sung in the Eastern Church.= =C2 His major writing is The Fount of Knowledge, of which the third part, The O= rthodox Faith, is a summary of Christian doctrine as expounded by the Greek= Fathers.=C2 The dispute about icons was not a dispute between East and West as such. Bo= th the Greek and the Latin churches accepted the final decision.=C2 The Iconoclasts maintained that the use of religious images was a violation= of the Second Commandment ("Thou shalt not make a graven image... thou sha= lt not bow down to them").=C2 The Iconodules replied that the coming of Christ had radically changed the = situation, and that the commandment must now be understood in a new way, ju= st as the commandment to "Remember the Sabbath Day" must be understood in a= new way since the Resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week.=C2= Before the Incarnation, it had indeed been improper to portray the invisibl= e God in visible form; but God, by taking fleshly form in the person of Jes= us Christ, had blessed the whole realm of matter and made it a fit instrume= nt for manifesting the Divine Splendor. He had reclaimed everything in heav= en and earth for His service, and had made water and oil, bread and wine, m= eans of conveying His grace to men. He had made painting and sculpture and = music and the spoken word, and indeed all our daily tasks and pleasures, th= e common round of everyday life, a means whereby man might glorify God and = be made aware of Him. Obviously, the use of images and pictures in a religious context is open to= abuse, and in the sixteenth century abuses had become so prevalent that so= me (not all) of the early Protestants reacted by denouncing the use of imag= es altogether. Many years ago, I heard a sermon in my home parish on the Co= mmandment, "Thou shalt not make a graven image, nor the likeness of anythin= g in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters under t= he earth--thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them." (Exo. 20:4-5 = and Deut. 5:8-9) The preacher pointed out that, even if we refrain complete= ly from the use of statues and paintings in representing God, we will certa= inly use mental or verbal images, will think of God in terms of concepts th= at the human mind can grasp, since the alternative is not to think of Him a= t all. (Here I digress to note that, if we reject the images offered in Hol= y Scripture of God as Father, Shepherd, King, Judge, on the grounds that th= ey are not literally accurate, we will end up substituting other images--an= endless, silent sea, a dome of white radiance, an infinitely attenuated et= her permeating all space, an electromagnetic force field, or whatever, whic= h is no more literally true than the image it replaces, and which leaves ou= t the truths that the Scriptural images convey.=C2 C S Lewis repeats what a woman of his acquaintance told him: that as a chil= d she was taught to think of God as an infinite "perfect substance," with t= he result that for years she envisioned Him as a kind of enormous tapioca p= udding. To make matters worse, she disliked tapioca. Back to the sermon.) T= he sin of idolatry consists of giving to the image the devotion that proper= ly belongs to God. No educated man today is in danger of confusing God with= a painting or statue, but we may give to a particular concept of God the u= nconditional allegiance that properly belongs to God Himself. This does not= , of course, mean that one concept of God is as good as another, or that it= may not be our duty to reject something said about God as simply false. Im= ages, concepts, of God matter, because it matters how we think about God. T= he danger is one of intellectual pride, of forgetting that the Good News is= , not that we know God, but that He knows us (1 Corinthians 8:3), not that = we love Him, but that He loves us (1 John 4:10).=C2 (Incidentally, it was customary in my parish in those days for the preacher= to preach a short "Children's Sermon," after which the children were dismi= ssed for Sunday School, and the regular sermon and the rest of the service = followed. What I have described above was the Children's Sermon. I remained= for the regular sermon, but found it a bit over my head-- a salutary corre= ction to my intellectual snobbery.)=C2 In the East Orthodox tradition, three-dimensional representations are seldo= m used. The standard icon is a painting, highly stylized, and thought of as= a window through which the worshipper is looking into Heaven. (Hence, the = background of the picture is almost always gold leaf.) In an Eastern church= , an iconostasis (icon screen) flanks the altar on each side, with images o= f angels and saints (including Old Testament persons) as a sign that the wh= ole church in Heaven and earth is one body in Christ, and unites in one voi= ce of praise and thanksgiving in the Holy Liturgy. At one point in the serv= ice, the minister takes a censer and goes to each icon in turn, bows and sw= ings the censer at the icon. He then does the same thing to the congregatio= n--ideally, if time permits, to each worshipper separately, as a sign that = every Christian is an icon, made in the image and likeness of God, an organ= in the body of Christ, a window through whom the splendor of Heaven shines= forth.=C2 Saint Quote: "The creed teaches us to believe also in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic ch= urch of God. The Catholic Church cannot be only apostolic, for the all-powe= rful might of her Head, which is Christ, is able through the Apostles to sa= ve the whole world. So there is a Holy Catholic Church of God, the assembly= of the Holy Fathers who are from the ages, of the patriarchs, of prophets,= apostles, evangelists, martyrs, to which are added all the gentiles who be= lieve the same way." --St. John Damascene, Against Iconoclasts 11 (late 7th cent. to 754 AD <><><><> Prayer=C2 Confirm our minds, O Lord, in the mysteries of the true faith,=C2 set forth with power by thy servant John of Damascus; that=C2 we, with him, confessing Jesus to be true God and true Man,=C2 and singing the praises of the risen Lord, may, by the power=C2 of the resurrection, attain to eternal joy; through Jesus Christ=C2 our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy=C2 Spirit, one God, for evermore. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .