Book Review: St. John Damascene On Holy Images (Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption)

Book Review: 

St. John Damascene On Holy Images 

(Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption)

I decided to make a book review of “St. John Damascene on Holy Images (Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption)” which was translated from the original Greek by Mary H. Allies. This is very important to read because even today there are still people who accuse us, Catholics, of being idolaters. They are forcing us to believe that we are worshiping images and that the Blessed Virgin Mary did not assume into heaven both body and soul. St. John Damascene had already answered all their accusations long time fifteen centuries ago. But first we need to know who St. John Damascene was.

Saint John of Damascus also known as John Damascene was a Syrian monk and priest. Born and raised in Damascus c. 675 or 676, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem on December 4, 749.[1] A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, he is said by some sources to have served as a Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus before his ordination.[2] John spent most of his life in the Monastery of Saint Sabas near Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed protected by it.[3] He wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still used both liturgically in Eastern Christian practice throughout the world.[4] He is one of the Fathers of the Eastern Church and is best known for his strong defense of icons.[5] The Catholic Church regards him as a Doctor of the Church, often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption due to his writings on the Assumption of Mary.[6] John defended the Church’s teachings and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies. For over 30 years, he combined a life of prayer with these defenses and his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord.

We can thank St. John Damascene every time we look at the crucifixes on our walls, the stained-glass windows, the paintings on the walls and the statues around the Church. All these sacred arts have nourished our devotion. St. John Damascene is the outstanding champion of sacred images. The Eastern Roman Emperor Leo III forbade the veneration of images or icons. He ordered the sacred images in the churches to be destroyed. The monks were the strongest defenders of icons. Many were martyred and many monasteries were burned down. St. John Damascene defended strongly the use of images. He gave such a classical expression of the truths involved that nobody has ever had to improve upon it. He has supplied all the arguments from reason, from the past history of the Church, and from Sacred Scripture. If we wish to explain the use of statues, medals and holy pictures to ourselves or others, we need look no further. St. John entered the conflict, not to win an argument, but to safeguard the truth. He said, “Conquest is not my object. I raise a hand which is fighting for the truth, a willing hand under Divine guidance.”[7] He felt strongly the implied charge by the image-breakers that the Church could have been wrong in the past to allow the use of images. St. John Damascene explained very well that it was God who allowed the creation of sacred images in the Old Testament. Though Jesus Christ is God, He can be presented in His humanity in churches, along with His mother Mary, angels, saints, the cross, and the Scriptures.

The dogma of the glorious Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven was solemnly defined by Pope Pius XII in Munificentissimus Deus on November 1, 1950. The truth of Mary's Assumption into Heaven as a dogma was not new, but the truth itself was revered and ancient as Tradition itself. Before it was defined as a dogma by the Church, Catholics already believed that Mary truly went up to heaven both her body and soul. St. John Damascene defended this truth long time ago. In Munificentissimus Deus, defining the dogma of the Assumption, Pope Pius XII called St. John Damascene as the interpreter of this Tradition par excellence.[8]

The sermon of St. John Damascene about the Blessed Virgin Mary overflow with love, humility and gratitude. You can feel the surging emotion and understand that the beautiful words do not satisfy his yearning to say something better and more fitting. “There was need that the body of her who in childbirth had preserved her virginity intact, be preserved incorrupt after death. There was need that she who had carried her Creator as a babe on her bosom, should linger lovingly in the dwelling of her God. There was need that the bride whom the Father had betrothed to Himself should live in the bridal chamber of Heaven, that she who had looked so closely upon her very own Son on the Cross, and who there felt in her heart the sword-pangs of sorrow which in bearing Him she had been spared, should look upon Him seated with His Father. There was need that God's Mother should enter into her Son's possessions, and as a Mother of God and hand- maid, be reverenced by all creation.”[9]

The three homilies on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary reveal the exceptional importance of St. John Damascene's teaching for definition of the dogma of the Assumption. St. John explicitly teaches the truth of Mary's bodily Assumption into Heaven. He uses biblical typology to present a whole series of reasons why it was fitting that the Blessed Virgin Mary's body was not consumed by decay in the tomb. You will notice St. John’s tendency to explain the privilege of the Assumption by referring to the mystery of Mary's virginity in giving birth.[10]

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[1] M. Walsh, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints (Harper Collins Publishers: New York, 1991), p. 403.

[2] M. Walsh, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints (Harper Collins Publishers: New York, 1991), p. 403.

[3] David Richard Thomas, Syrian Christians under Islam: the first thousand years, Brill 2001 p. 19. 

[4] Lutheran Service Book (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 2006), pp. 478, 487.

[5] Aquilina 1999, p. 222.

[6] Rengers, Christopher (2000). The 33 Doctors of the Church. Tan Books. p. 200.

[7] Mary H. Allies, St. John Damascene On Holy Images: Followed by Three Sermons On the Assumption, (London : Thomas Baker; August 12,1898), p.14.

[8] Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950.

[9] Allies, St. John Damascene On Holy Images: Followed by Three Sermons On the Assumption, p.172.

[10] Allies, St. John Damascene On Holy Images: Followed by Three Sermons On the Assumption, p.174.