Saint John of Damascus

Life

First the prime minister of Caliph Abd al-Malik, and then a monk in the monastery of Saint Sabas the Sanctified. Because of his ardent defense of icon veneration during the time of the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian, John was slandered by this emperor to the caliph, who cut off his right hand. He fell in prayer before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, and his hand was joined together and healed miraculously. Seeing this miracle, the caliph repented, but John no longer wished to remain with him as a nobleman; rather he withdrew to the monastery, where from the beginning he was an example to the monks in humility, obedience, and all the prescribed monastic struggles. He composed funeral hymns, compiled the Octoechos, the Irmologion, the Menologion, the Paschal Canon, and wrote many theological works, with inspiration and depth. Great as a monk, and as a hymnographer, and as a theologian, and as a soldier of Christ's truth, John of Damascus is numbered among the great Fathers of the Church. He reposed peacefully around the year 776, in the one hundred and fourth year of his life.