John was born into a leading Christian family of Damascus under the Umayyad caliphs and, like his father, served in the caliph's administration. He later became a monk at the monastery of Mar Saba near Jerusalem, where he studied, preached and wrote hymns.
When the Byzantine emperor Leo III began to remove and destroy icons, John, safely beyond the emperor's reach, wrote three treatises in their defence. He died about 749; the Second Council of Nicaea vindicated his teaching in 787.
John of Damascus in the library (2 works)
- John of Damascus: On Holy Images — c. 730; translation 1898
The three Apologies against the iconoclasts: because the Word became flesh, the invisible God can be shown in images, and honour given to an image passes to its prototype. - Barlaam and Ioasaph — c. 8th–11th century; translation 1914
The Christian romance of an Indian prince converted by a hermit, long read under John of Damascus's name: a whole catechism told as a story.