Liturgy of the Hours
Not available
Prayer Hours
▶About Today
December 04
Saint John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Optional Memorial
Saint John Damascene was born around AD 675–676 in Damascus and was a Christian monk, priest, theologian, philosopher, and hymnographer.
Raised in a prominent Christian family serving under the Muslim caliphs, John’s father ensured his son received an excellent education from a Sicilian monk named Cosmas. Trained in theology, philosophy, law, and the sciences, Saint John succeeded his father in office, living as a devout Christian at court before renouncing public life to become a monk at the Monastery of St. Sabbas (Mar Saba) near Jerusalem.
At Mar Saba, Saint John devoted himself to study, prayer, and writing. When Emperor Leo III condemned the veneration of icons, Saint John became one of its fiercest defenders, composing treatises that upheld the ancient Christian practice of honoring sacred images.
Ordained a priest by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, he later returned to his monastery, where he spent the remainder of his life writing hymns and theological works. Among the most important, “The Fountain of Knowledge,” systematically organized the teachings of earlier theologians and it’s considered the first attempt at a Summa Theologica of Christian thought.
Saint John of Damascus, a writer and a poet who composed hymns still used in the Byzantine liturgy, died around 750. He did not live to see the end of iconoclasm, but the Church did not forget what he wrote. At the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, his position was vindicated and the holy images restored. St. John Damascene is revered in both East and West as a Doctor of the Church.[1]
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.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
[1] VaticanNews.va
Note: Optional Memorials and Commemorations are optional celebrations and, at present, we do not include content specific to these special days. This “About Today” is provided so that you can celebrate this Saint as you worship Christ.