scholarly journals John of Damascus in the Summa Halensis

2020 ◽  
pp. 91-116
Keyword(s):  
John Of Damascus

Classical Conceptions of Visuality and Representation in John of Damascus' Defense of Holy Images1

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-308
Author(s):  
James A. Francis
Keyword(s):  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Word And Image ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Classical Culture ◽  
Common Era ◽  
Iconoclastic Controversy

The Defense of Holy Images by John of Damascus stands as the archetypal exposition of the Christian theology of images. Written at the outbreak of the Iconoclastic Controversy, it has been mostly valued for its theological content and given scholarly short shrift as a narrowly focused polemic. The work is more than that. It presents a complex and profound explication of the nature of images and the phenomenon of representation, and is an important part of the “history of looking”in western culture. A long chain of visual conceptions connects classical Greek and Roman writers, such as Homer and Quintilian, to John: the living image, the interrelation of word and image, and image and memory, themes elaborated particularly in the Second Sophistic period of the early Common Era. For John to deploy this heritage so skillfully to the thorny problem of the place of images in Christianity, at the outbreak of a violent conflict that lasted a further 100 years after his writing, manifests an intellect and creativity that has not been sufficiently appreciated. The Defense of Holy Images, understood in this context, is another innovative synthesis of Christianity and classical culture produced by late antique Christian writers.

The Iconoclastic Controversy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E. Daley, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Mosaic Image ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
Iconoclastic Controversy

Earlier Eastern Christian authors saw the veneration of images as idolatrous. Yet from the late fifth century, representations of Christ and the saints grew increasingly popular. Official hostility also grew. In 726, Emperor Leo III ordered a mosaic image of Christ to be removed from the palace in Constantinople. Controversy continued through the middle of the following century. Key figures were Emperor Constantine V, a critic of image-veneration, and Patriarch Nicephorus, whose writings in its defense provided—along with the council at Nicaea in 787—the main theological arguments linking this practice with the orthodox understanding of the person of Christ. Other important defenders were Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople, the monk John of Damascus, and the monastic leader Theodore of Stoudios. The conflict was finally resolved on March 11, 843, by the gesture of a procession with icons. The veneration of images was now accepted as standard Church practice.

After Chalcedon

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E. Daley, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
Perceived Impact ◽  
Orthodox Theology ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Severus Of Antioch

The Council of Chalcedon’s definition of the terms in which Nicene orthodoxy should conceive of Christ’s person remained controversial. Leontius of Byzantium argued for the correctness of the Council’s formulation, especially against the arguments of Severus of Antioch, but suggested that more than academic issues were at stake: the debate concerned the lived, permanently dialectical unity between God and humanity. In the mid-seventh century, imperially sponsored efforts to lessen the perceived impact of Chalcedonian language by stressing that Christ’s two natures were activated by “a single, theandric energy,” also remained without effect: largely because of the monk Maximus “the Confessor”, who argued that two complete spheres of activity and two wills remained evident in Christ’s life. Maximus’s position was ratified at the Lateran Synod and at the Third Council of Constantinople. The eighth-century Palestinian monk John of Damascus incorporated these arguments into his own influential synthesis of orthodox theology.

scholarly journals Art. II.–Book of the King's Son and the Ascetic

1890 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Rehatsek
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Birth Stories ◽  
European Languages ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Striking Fact

The striking fact that the Buddha has been officially enrolled in the list of the saints of the Christian Church has very naturally attracted much attention to the book to which this strange result is due. This book, a romance in Greek, founded on some unknown Buddhist life of the Buddha, was ascribed in some of the later MSS. to St. John of Damascus, and this was the view held by scholars until the publication in 1886 of the masterly monograph by M. H. Zotenberg (Notices sur la livre de Barlaam et Joasaph). He there shows conclusively that the John who was the author of the romance was not John of Damascus, but a monk of the convent of St. Saba near Jerusalem, who wrote it in the commencement of the seventh century A.D. This romance, whose hero, though really the Buddha, appealed so strongly to the sympathies of the Christians, that they raised him to the rank of a saint, contains, besides the description of the life and character of the hero, a number of fables, some of which have been traced back to the Buddhist Jataka book, while the source of others is still unknown. This being so, it becomes of great importance to ascertain the earliest form of the story. Now it is admitted that the numerous versions of it in various European languages (of which a list is given in my ‘ Buddhist Birth Stories,’ vol. i. pp. xcv and foll.)

Hypostasis and an Icon

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Galin Penev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Continental Philosophy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
Definition Of

The article copes with two major notions of Christian philosophy “hypostasis“ and “icon“ which importance have increased for the last decades of continental philosophy. The author exercises how the first notion gives rise to the meaning of second one, the icon, by the work of St. John of Damascus on ontology of hypostases. In the report is claimed that the inversed perspective presents not subjective but a hypostatic “point of view”. The second part of report concerns some iconographic explication of the definition of icon exercised in the first part.

scholarly journals A Brief History of Self-Reference Notion Implementation in Byzantium

Scrinium ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 244-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Yu. Goncharko ◽  
Yuriy M. Romanenko
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of Definition ◽  
Self Reference

The article presents an overview of implementation of self-referential notions in the logical and theological texts of Byzantine scholars up to the 12th century. The commentaries on Porphyry’s and Aristotle’s theory of definition by John of Damascus, John Italus, and Theodore Prodromos are discussed. It is argued that the Byzantine scholars performed different original implementations of basic logical notions and discovered their self-referential property. The attention is paid to the five predicabilia notions of Porphyry and Aristotelian categories applications in logical, philosophical, and theological Byzantine texts. The authors conclude that the Byzantine solutions resemble some of the modern logical ideas of 20th century.


scholarly journals The Topic of Penetration of Fire into Iron in Byzantine Christology

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-423
Author(s):  
Dmitry Biriukov
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
John Of Damascus ◽  
Theodoret Of Cyrus

Abstract In this article I seek to show in what manner the Stoic principle of total blending, illustrated by the example of the penetration of fire into iron, finds its refraction in Byzantine Christological teachings. According to the Stoics, total blending occurs when one body accepts certain qualities of the other, while remaining itself, or when both mixed bodies acquire qualities of each other while preserving their natures. I argue that Origen’s use of the example of incandescent iron had an effect on the later theological discourse. There it appears in two contexts, Christology and deification. In this article the focus is on Christology. I claim that the example was introduced into the Christological discourse by Apollinarius of Laodicea. Then, I investigate how it was transformed in later theological writings by (Ps.-) Basil of Caesarea, Theodoret of Cyrus, Cyril of Alexandria, Sever of Antioch, John of Damascus, and the Corpus Leontianum. In this context, I pay special attention to the discrepancy between John of Damascus and Leontius of Jerusalem as regards the issue of the complexity of Christ’s hypostasis. I clarify the causes of this discrepancy.

scholarly journals Octoechos: A model and inspiration for Serbian medieval hymnographer

Muzikologija ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Tatjana Subotin-Golubovic
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Regular Change ◽  
John Of Damascus

Octoechos is not merely a musical manual in everyday use during the service in Orthodox Church, but also a comprehensive anthology of church poetry. It contains poetical works of great Byzantine poets, such as John of Damascus, Joseph the Hymnographer, Andrew of Crete. The use of Octoechos during the service is strictly regulated by Typicon. After accepting the Orthodox rite, the Slavs were acquainted with Octoechos which has undoubtedly made a great impression on the attentive audiences present at the service. Octoechos has also influenced the work of medieval Serbian hymnographers all of whom were, as it is well known, pious men. The influence of the poetics typical of hymns of the Octoechos has already been present in the Akoluthia to St. Simeon written by St. Sava. In the hymnographical work of Theodosius this influence is even more present, especially in his Canons on the eight modes (echoi) that follow the pattern of the supplicatory canons of the Octoechos. Ephraim, who was the Serbian patriarch in two turns (1375-1379, 1389-1392), wrote his church hymns and prayers following those of the Octoechos. Ephraim composed his stichera dedicated to Christ and Theotokos following the regular change of tones of the Octoechos. The spirit of Octoechos has also marked the work of the last Serbian anonymous hymnographers who wrote Akoluthia to the Translation of the holy relics of Saint Apostle Luke to Serbia and the Paraklisis to St. Luke (mid 15th century).

OF THE TRACTATE OF JOHN OF DAMASCUS ON ISLAM

1951 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ernest Merrill
Keyword(s):  
John Of Damascus
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