Troparion in Tone 3
Thou wast a holy instrument and a tuneful harp of godliness. Thy
teachings shone forth to the ends of the world; O righteous John. We pray
thee to entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.
Kontakion in
Tone 4
Let us, the faithful, sing praises to John,
worthy of great honor,
The composer of hymns, the star and
teacher of the Orthodox Church,
The defender of its doctrines:
Through the might of the Lord's Cross
he overcame heretical error!
Now he is fervent in prayer to Christ God
to grant forgiveness of our sins.
John was in the administration of Caliph Abdul-Malek,
during which time he was a strong advocate for the veneration of icons. The
iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian slandered St. John to the Caliph, who,
in response, deposed John and had his hand cut off. The saint asked if he
could keep his severed hand and the Caliph consented. John fell down in
prayer before the icon of the Theotokos. His hand was healed and restored to
his arm. The Caliph, seeing this, repented of his evil and restored John to
office. John, instead, became a monk in the monastery of St. Sava the
Sanctified. He wrote hymns and along with St. Cosmos organized the Octoechos
(8 tones), the Irmologion, the Menologion and the Easter Canon. He reposed
in about 749 at 75 years of age. His banner reads: "Shall I not make images
of friends?" Perhaps his most famous writing is "On the Divine Images" in
defense of icons.
The renowned writer and Church poet, Saint John
Damascene, served at the court of the caliph in his youth and was the ruler
of the city of Damascus. A native of Syria, he lived in the middle of the
8th century, when the iconoclastic heresy was raging in the Byzantine
Empire: icons were being destroyed, and their venerators were being severely
persecuted. Being a highly education man and a gifted writer, John very
convincingly wrote in defense of the Orthodox veneration of icons.
The Greek Emperor Leo the Isaurian, a convinced
iconoclast, became enraged at John for his compositions. He ordered his
scribe to learn Saint John's handwriting and to write a letter, as if in his
name, addressed to the Byzantine Emperor, in which John supposedly offers
his services to the Isaurian in overthrowing the caliph. The Isaurian
Emperor sent this forged letter off to the caliph as proof of his friendship
towards the caliph and the treason of John Damascene.
The eastern despot, without investigating the matter and not accepting
John's explanation, ordered that he be confined in prison and that his right
hand, which had supposedly written the treasonous letter, be cut off. Having
an icon of the Mother of God with him in the prison, Saint John placed his
cutoff right hand before it and prayed long before the icon, pouring out
his woe. The Immaculate Virgin appeared to the sufferer in his sleep, and
gazing mercifully at him said: "Thy hand is now whole; sorrow no more". John
awoke and with joyful astonishment saw that the cutoff hand had adhered to
its place and become whole, just as before. Only a narrow scar remained that
reminded of the punishment. In an excess of joy and gratitude to the
merciful Intercessor, John composed in his soul the hymn: "In thee, O Full
of Grace, all creation rejoiceth". This hymn is sung in Church till now at
the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.
News of the miracle reached the caliph, and he, on summoning John, patiently
investigated his case and became convinced of his innocence. Realizing that
he was guilty before John, the caliph, in order to make amends for his
unjustness, offered him a huge recompense and high honors. But John, having
come to understand how fragile earthly goods and worldly glory are, refused
everything. In gratitude to the Mother of God, he ordered a representation
of his hand in silver and fastened it to the icon before which the miracle
was performed. This icon received the name, "Threehanded".
Having distributed his possessions, he retired in the attire of the common
people to the monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, which is located
twentyfive kilometers southeast of Jerusalem. Since John was a very renown
man, none of the monks of the Lavra of Saint Sabbas could bring himself to
take him as a novice. Finally, one elder agreed to direct him on the
condition that for the sake of humility John would no longer write anything.
John agreed and began to live and labor in the monastery as an ordinary
monk.
In a few years, the father of a monk who had become friends with John died,
and he asked John to write some kind of requiem prayer for him. In a surge
of inspiration, Saint John wrote the prayershymns which till now are sung
in church at funerals. One of this hymns begins with the words "What
sweetness in life does not partake of sadness…" In the versification of the
poet, Alexei Tolstoi, it sounds thus:
What sweetness in this life
Does not partake of earthly sadness?
What expectation is not in vain,
And where amongst men is the happy man?
All is changeful, all is paltry
That with difficulty we have gained
What glory on earth
Stands firm and unchanging?
All is ashes, a phantom, shadow and smoke,
All vanishes like a whirlwind of dust,
And before death we stand
Unarmed and powerless.
The arm of the mighty man is weak,
Null are the commands of kings
Receive thy servant now fallen asleep,
O Lord, into the dwellings of the blessed.
On learning that John had violated the obedience
that had been placed upon him and had written a prayer, the elder became
angry at him and wanted to expel him from the monastery. Then all the
brethren of the monastery began to intercede for John. The elder agreed to
forgive the disobedient one on the condition that he clean out all the
filthy places in the monastery with his own hands. Saint John humbly
fulfilled this severe demand of his elder. After this, the Mother of God
appeared to the elder in his sleep and said: "Do not stop up my wellspring
any longer. Grant it to flow unto the glory of God". On awakening, the elder
understood that it was pleasing to God that John Damascene dedicate himself
to the labor of writing.
From that time on, no one hindered John any longer from writing theological
compositions and composing liturgical prayers. In the course of several
years of uninterrupted labors, he enriched the Church with many
compositions, prayers and liturgical canons, which till now adorn the
Orthodox divine services. Many hymns of the Paschal, Nativity and other
festal divine services belong to his pen. The Octoechos (Book of the Eight
Tones), which is used at the Sunday divine services, was compiled by him.
Being a penetrating theologian, Saint John wrote the renown book, "An Exact
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith", in which he summed up the basic truths of
the Christian faith. Saint John Damascene died in the year 777.
Saint John of Damascus was born in about the year 680 at the capital of
Syria, Damascus, into a Christian family. His father, Sergios Mansur, was a
treasurer at the court of the caliph. John had also a foster brother, the
orphaned child Cosmas (October 14), whom Sergios had taken into his own
home. When the children were growing up, Sergios saw that they received a
good education. At the Damascus slave market he ransomed the learned monk
Cosmas of Calabria from captivity and entrusted to him the teaching of his
children. The boys displayed uncommon ability and readily mastered their
courses of the secular and spiritual sciences. After the death of his
father, John occupied ministerial posts at court and became the city
governor.
In Constantinople at that time, the heresy of Iconoclasm had arisen and
quickly spread, supported by the emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717-741).
Rising up in defense of the Orthodox veneration of icons [Ikonodoulia], St.
John wrote three treatises entitled, "Against Those who Revile the Holy
Icons." The wise and God-inspired writings of St. John enraged the emperor.
But since the author was not a Byzantine subject, the emperor was unable to
lock him up in prison, or to execute him. The emperor then resorted to
slander. A forged letter to the emperor was produced, supposedly from John,
in which the Damascus official was supposed to have offered his help to Leo
in conquering the Syrian capital.
This letter and another hypocritically flattering note were sent to the
Saracen caliph by Leo the Isaurian. The caliph immediately ordered that St.
John be removed from his post, and that his right hand be cut off, and that
he be led through the city in chains. That same evening, they returned the
severed hand to St. John. The saint pressed the severed hand to his wrist
and began to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos to help him so that he could
defend the Orthodox Faith and write once again in praise of the Most Pure
Virgin and Her Son. After a time, he fell asleep before the icon of the
Mother of God, then heard Her voice telling him that he had been healed. She
then commanded him to toil unceasingly with his restored hand. Awakening, he
found that his hand had been restored.
When he learned of the miracle, which demonstrated John's innocence, the
caliph asked his forgiveness and wanted to restore him to his former office,
but the saint refused. He gave away his riches to the poor, and went to
Jerusalem with his stepbrother and fellow-student, Cosmas. There he entered
the monastery of St. Sabbas the Sanctified as a simple novice.
It was not easy for him to find a spiritual guide, because all the monks
were daunted by his great learning and by his former rank. Only one very
experienced Elder, who had the skill to foster the spirit of obedience and
humility in a student, would consent to do this. The Elder forbade John to
do anything at all according to his own will. He also instructed him to
offer to God all his labors and supplications as a perfect sacrifice, and to
shed tears which would wash away the sins of his former life.
Once, he sent the novice to Damascus to sell baskets made at the monastery,
and commanded him to sell them at a certain inflated price, far above their
actual value. He undertook the long journey under the searing sun, dressed
in rags. No one in the city recognized the former official of Damascus, for
his appearance had been changed by prolonged fasting and ascetic labors.
However, St. John was recognized by his former house steward, who bought all
the baskets at the asking price, showing compassion on him for his apparent
poverty.
One of the monks happened to die, and his brother begged St. John to compose
something consoling for the burial service. St. John refused for a long
time, but out of pity he yielded to the petition of the grief-stricken monk,
and wrote his reknowned funeral troparia ("What earthly delight," "All human
vanity," and others). For this disobedience the Elder banished him from his
cell. John fell at his feet and asked to be forgiven, but the Elder remained
unyielding. All the monks began to plead for him to allow John to return,
but he refused. Then one of the monks asked the Elder to impose a penance on
John, and to forgive him if he fulfilled it. The Elder said, "If John wishes
to be forgiven, let him wash out all the chamber pots in the lavra, and
clean the monastery latrines with his bare hands."
John rejoiced and eagerly ran to accomplish his shameful task. After a
certain while, the Elder was commanded in a vision by the All-Pure and Most
Holy Theotokos to allow St. John to write again. When the Patriarch of
Jerusalem heard of St. John, he ordained him priest and made him a preacher
at his cathedral. But St. John soon returned to the Lavra of St. Sabbas,
where he spent the rest of his life writing spiritual books and church
hymns. He left the monastery only to denounce the iconoclasts at the
Constantinople Council of 754. They subjected him to imprisonment and
torture, but he endured everything, and through the mercy of God he remained
alive. He died in about the year 780, more than 100 years old.
St. John of Damascus was a theologian and a zealous defender of Orthodoxy.
His most important book is the Fount of Knowledge. The third section of this
work, "On the Orthodox Faith," is a summary of Orthodox doctrine and a
refutation of heresy. Since he was known as a hymnographer, we pray to St.
John for help in the study of church singing.
