St. John of Damascus, defender of the veneration of icons

St. John of Damascus was born about the year 675. At an early age he gained a position in the caliph’s court. Very soon he was dissatisfied with life at court and decided to enter the monastery of St. Saba, near Jerusalem. He taught in the monastery, preached in Jerusalem, and wrote theological treatises. 

His most outstanding work consists of three sections. The first section is the Fount of Knowledge, which, according to Father Augustine Kalberer, made the first attempt in history “to provide theology with an adequate supply of the relevant logical and metaphysical concepts developed by Greek philosophers and Church fathers.”   

The second section, On Heresies, describes 103 heresies. And the third section is the Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, which is a synthesis of the teaching of earlier Church Fathers on the principal themes of the Catholic faith.

When the Iconoclast controversy erupted (725) in the East, John of Damascus defended the veneration of images. He wrote the three Discourses against those who calumniate the Holy Images, which were condemned shortly after his death (ca. 749) by the iconoclastic Council of Hieria (754). The Second Council of Nicaea (787), however, vindicated his memory and officially approved his teaching on images. By the end of the eighth century, John of Damascus was honoured as a saint. Pope Leo XIII declared him a doctor of the Church in 1890.

Holy Mother Church commemorates St. John of Damascus each year on December 4 with the following prayer:    

“Grant, we pray, O Lord, that we may be helped by the prayers of the Priest Saint John Damascene, so that the true faith, which he excelled in teaching, may always be our light and our strength.”

Pope Benedict XVI explained: “John Damascene was also among the first to distinguish, in the cult, both public and private, of the Christians, between worship (latreia), and veneration (proskynesis): the first can only be offered to God, spiritual above all else, the second, on the other hand, can make use of an image to address the one whom the image represents. Obviously the Saint can in no way be identified with the material of which the icon is composed. This distinction was immediately seen to be very important in finding an answer in Christian terms to those who considered universal and eternal the strict Old Testament prohibition against the use of cult images.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons – of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new ‘economy’ of images.”

“The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, ‘the honour rendered to an image passes to its prototype,’ and ‘whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.’ The honour paid to sacred images is a ‘respectful veneration,’ not the adoration due to God alone: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.” 

St. John Damascene wrote, “Of old, God the incorporeal and faceless was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter.”

Pope Benedict XVI said, “John Damascene extends these fundamental ideas to the veneration of the relics of Saints, on the basis of the conviction that the Christian Saints, having become partakers of the Resurrection of Christ, cannot be considered simply ‘dead’.” The Holy Father exhorted us: “God desires to repose in us, he wishes to renew nature through our conversion, he wants to allow us to share in his divinity.”

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若望捍衛對聖像的敬禮

‌大馬士革的若望生於675年。在年輕的時候，他在哈里發的宮廷中獲得了一個職位。很快，他對宮廷生活感到不滿，決定進入耶路撒冷附近的聖薩巴修道院。 他在修道院教書，在耶路撒冷講道，並撰寫神學論文。

他最傑出的作品包括三個部分。第一部分是《知識之源》，根據奧斯定，卡爾伯勒神父的說法，這是歷史上第一次嘗試『為神學提供希臘哲學家和教會神父發展的相關邏輯和玄學概念上充足的認知。』

第二部分，《論異端》，描述了103個異端。第三部分是《正統信仰的闡述》，它是早期教父關於天主教信仰主要主題的教導的綜合。

‌當反聖像者爭議在東方爆發（725年）時，達馬森的約望為對聖像的敬禮辯護。他寫了三篇論述，《反對那些誹謗聖像的人》，這些論述在他死後不久（約749年）被反聖像的希里亞會議（754年）譴責。然而，尼西亞第二次會議（787年）平反他 ，並正式批准了他對聖像的教導。到八世紀末，達馬森的約望被尊為聖人。教宗良十三世於1890年宣佈他為教會聖師。

慈母教會每年12月4日以以下祈禱紀念若望 ·達馬森：

上主，求祢因聖若望 ·達馬森司鐸的代禱 ，惠然之後眷顧我們，使聖人在世時所卓越地宣講的信仰真道，確實成為我們信仰生活中的光明與力量。

教宗本篤十六世解釋說：『若望·達馬森也是最早在基督徒公開和私人的禮節中，區分欽崇（latreia）和敬禮(proskynesis）的人：第一個只奉獻給天主，高於一切，另一方面，第二個可以利用圖像來稱呼圖像所代表的人。顯然，聖人絕不能與構成聖像的材料相提並論。這種區別立即被視為非常重要，可以用基督徒的術語來回答那些認為舊約中嚴格禁止使用邪教圖像的普遍和永恆的答案。』

天主教教理闡明：

『教會史中第七屆大公會議，即尼西亞大公會議 (787年)，以聖言降生成人的奧跡為基礎，針對反對敬禮聖相者，斷定恭敬聖相為正確。這些聖相包括：基督的相、以及天主之母的相、天使和諸聖的相。天主聖子，藉著降生成人，對敬禮聖相開啟了一個新的「秩序」。』

『基督徒對聖像的敬禮並不違反禁止崇拜偶像的第一條誡命。因為「對一個形象的尊敬應歸屬於原始的典型」，又「任何人敬禮一個形象，旨在敬禮形象所描繪的人物」。對聖像的尊敬是一個「尊重的敬意」，並不是一種崇拜，只有天主配得崇拜。 聖多瑪斯，《神學大全》：宗教的敬禮並不指向形象，視之為實體，而是在形象所表達的角度下，引導我們，歸向降生成人的天主。因為，指向形象的動向，就其形象而言，並不停留在形象那裡，而是通過形象，趨向形象自身所表達的實體。 』

大馬士革的聖若望寫道：『在古代，無形和不受限制的天主從未被描繪過。然而，現在，當天主被看見披著肉身，與人交談時，我就把我看到的天主塑造成一個形象。然而，現在，我不崇拜物質，我崇拜物質之天主，祂因我的緣故而成為物質，屈尊而居住在物質中，從物質中，祂實現了我的救恩。』

教宗本篤十六世說：『聖若望·達瑪森將這些基本思想擴展到對聖髑的敬禮，基於這樣的信念，即基督聖徒已經成為基督復活的參與者，不能簡單地被視為「死亡」。』教宗勉勵我們：『天主希望安息在我們裡面，祂希望通過我們的皈依來更新自然，祂想讓我們分享祂的天主性。』

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