December: Day 4: Teaching 1: Saint John of Damascus

 

December: Day 4: Teaching 1:
Saint John of Damascus
 
(Lessons From His Life:
a. In His Life He Demonstrated What He Taught Others In Words;
b. In the Spirit of Christian Wisdom He Not Only Taught, But Also Lived)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The now being glorified Saint John of Damascus was the son of the governor of the city of Damascus and received an excellent education under the guidance of the learned monk Kosmas of Calabria, and also had a foster brother named Kosmas who was famous for his Canons for the Great Feasts. John, who was passionate about science and reading divine books, thought to devote his whole life to scholarly pursuits. But he soon had to sacrifice his desire for the good of others. His father died and the Saracen caliph made him governor of the city of Damascus.

At that time, the Greek Emperor was Leo the Isaurian, who cruelly persecuted the venerators of holy icons. This caused troubles and unrest among Christians. The Holy Teachers of the Church instructed them, explaining the meaning of icons. John, in his epistles, or letters, exhorted Christians not to be disturbed by persecutions and false interpretations and to firmly adhere to the decrees of the Church. These letters, full of fiery faith and lively eloquence, had a strong effect on Christians; but they reached the emperor and aroused terrible anger in him. Leo decided to destroy John. He slandered him before the Saracen prince, sending the latter a forged letter in which John allegedly offered him Damascus. The prince, believing the letter and not listening to John's justifications, cruelly punished him, namely, he ordered his right hand to be cut off and deprived him of his position. However, soon John's innocence was revealed through the miraculous healing of his hand, with the help of the Mother of God; and the prince, repenting that he had so easily believed the slander, returned his trust to John and wished to make him ruler of the entire region.

But for a long time John had been burdened by power and wealth; he had long desired to retire from the world in order to serve the Lord in poverty and labor. He begged the prince to let him go; and he finally agreed,

Then John distributed all his property to the poor, and went with his brother Kosmas to Jerusalem to venerate the tomb of the Lord, and from there to the Lavra of Saint Savvas, founded not far from Jerusalem. Arriving there, he began to ask the abbot to accept him as a monk and teach him the rules of monastic life. John's name had long been known in the Lavra, because he was considered the most remarkable and learned man of that time; none of the monks agreed to accept him as a disciple, each considering him incomparably higher than himself. Finally, one elder, respected in the monastery for the simplicity of his character and virtuous life, decided to be John's mentor in monastic life.

The elder, rightly considering humility to be the first foundation of Christian virtue and fearing, probably, that John's high qualities might instill pride in him, imposed and demanded of him a complete renunciation of his own will. He assigned him bodily labors, but demanded that all his activity, both bodily and mental, be completely subordinated to the strict law of obedience. He taught him to turn away from worldly dreams, to direct all thoughts to God and to completely renounce himself for the sake of love for the Lord. John had to so master his will and all his thoughts as to completely subordinate them to the will of his guide. In order to raise him to such a height of selfless obedience, the elder imposed difficult tests on him; among other things, he forbade his disciple to write anything, or even to say anything to anyone related to this or that science. John sincerely and unquestioningly obeyed the elder’s commands, not pleasing man, but submitting completely to Christ.

One day the elder, wishing to test John's humility, sent him to Damascus to sell the baskets that the monks wove there at the marketplace for the benefit of the monastery. John willingly fulfilled this order, and, dressed in rags, appeared as a humble servant in the very city that he had once ruled in wealth and greatness. Such a feat was not burdensome for John. Having given himself over to God with all his soul, he could not value earthly splendor and greatness, and therefore did not consider any state humiliating for himself.

Much more difficult for him was that complete submission of mind and thought which was required of him. To renounce, at the command of the elder, the pleasures of mental activity, this was for a man so richly gifted with mental abilities, the highest feat of humility. In this feat it was more difficult for him to withstand temptation, and this is what happened.

A monk died in the Lavra; this monk had a brother who wept inconsolably for the deceased. In vain did John try to console him. The orphan asked John for one thing – to compose a funeral lament for the deceased. John refused, fearing to break the elder’s commandment; but the brother continued to persistently beg him. “If you had seen me sick,” he said, “would you not have tried to help me? Now I suffer mentally, it is in your power to ease my sorrow; will you not help me?” For a long time John wavered between the desire to help his suffering brother and the duty to unquestioningly obey the elder’s will. But finally, touched by the tears of the unfortunate man, he wrote him funeral hymns for consolation, which are sung to this day at burials: “What sweetness is this life, O men, that we toil in vain? All is human vanity,” etc.

The lamenting man left, thanking John; and John, left alone in the cell, sang to himself a song he had composed. The elder, hearing his singing, asked what it meant. John told him what had happened. Then the elder began to severely reproach him for his disobedience and, despite John’s tears and entreaties, expelled him from the cell, forbidding him to return to him. The elder saw with sorrow and indignation that John had not endured the obedience assigned to him. John himself deeply felt this, because, expelled from his leader, he, as his life story says, wept before the elder’s cell, recalling Adam’s expulsion from paradise for disobedience. But in vain did he weep and grieve; in vain did the other monks who loved him beg the elder to forgive him: the elder was adamant.

Finally, after several days, the elder softened, and imposed on John, as a penance, a difficult and even, in appearance, humiliating work: he ordered John to cleanse all the impurities of the monastery. But no obedience could seem difficult to John - so deeply did he recognize his guilt, so sincerely repented of it, He began to fulfill the command with the most lively joy; and then the elder, embracing his wonderful novice, kissed his head, shoulders and hands, exclaiming joyfully: "Oh, what a sufferer in Christ I have given birth to! Oh, what a true light of divine obedience!" Accepted into the cell of his father-elder, John rejoiced so much as if he had been returned to paradise itself, and began to live in unanimity with the elder as before.

After some time, the elder had a vision in a dream. The Mother of God appeared to him and said: "Why have you blocked the source from which sweet and abundant water should flow, the water that David sought to drink, which Christ promised to the Samaritan woman? Let it flow and it will water the universe, and cover the sea of heresies, and transform them into wondrous sweetness, and those who thirst will go to it. John will take the prophetic harp, David's psaltery, and will sing new songs to the Lord God!"

The elder, waking up, immediately called John and said to him: "Open your mouth, child of Christ's obedience, and what the Holy Spirit has written in your heart, tell the universe. Ascend the Sinai of the knowledge of God and the cognition of divine mysteries and praise the glory of God in loud songs. The Most Holy Mother of God has told me great things about you. Forgive me," added the humble elder, "that, through my rudeness and ignorance, I have hindered you until now."

From that time on, John began to diligently engage in the composition of spiritual books and church songs. He composed the Octoechos, or Osmoglasnik, wrote the lives of many saints, refuted false teachings, explained the dogmas of faith and composed almost all the festive troparia. We owe to him the Easter songs in which such fiery inspiration breathes.

He was the first of all Christian teachers to set out the dogmas of faith in a scientific manner in books on the Orthodox faith.

New persecutions against the venerators of holy icons called him to Constantinople, where he boldly denounced the errors of the iconoclasts. He died in old age, in the rank of priest, in the Lavra of Saint Savvas, in the year 776.

II. a) Blessed was the wise John because in his godly life he showed what he taught others, illuminating his knowledge with bright deeds. His meekness, his humility, his obedience, his selflessness and other virtues, combined with deep knowledge, brought him blessedness amidst all the troubles of this world.

b) Blessed was Saint John also because he acquired true Christian wisdom, in the spirit of which he not only taught mentally, but also lived and struggled. From such wisdom everyone can expect blessedness. It is, according to the description of the ancient sage, "more precious than silver and gold, and more precious than pearls and all kinds of precious things" (Prov. 3:14, 15). But this is not the wisdom that we know under the name of much knowledge. Only he can be blessed who fully understands the holiness of God's commandments and tries to fulfill them. Only those of the great in mind enjoyed blessedness who, becoming wise for salvation, extracted benefit for the immortal soul from all knowledge. Only those found delight in the law of the Lord who tried to follow it in all their actions, who “tested all things” – both good and bad, and “held fast that which is good” (Sol. 5:19). Only those felt the splendor of the temple of the Lord who visited it for nothing other than their own correction, edification, and reproof. But can one call those blessed who bear the names of enlightened and educated people, but do not care about the sanctification of their souls, who know many truths, but do not captivate their hearts with them, “who show that they know God, but by their works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16)? Such people not only do not have the wisdom of which they boast, but they did not even begin to be wise, because “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” All the more so, it is impossible to think that they are blessed, that they do not feel remorse in their conscience for not fulfilling what is fully known to them. All their visible glory and greatness are counterfeit gold, which will not stand before the fire of Divine justice. All their exploits can be likened to the shiny scales of a snake, hiding a deadly poison, or to a whited coffin, full inside of bones and all kinds of corruption. Such a grave sentence cannot but be pronounced on those who, together with the enlightenment of the mind, darken their hearts and, together with knowledge, cease to love good deeds, who "think about earthly things" and see nothing beyond the earthly. Let those who fear a grave sentence arm themselves against imaginary enlightenment with the thought that reason was given to us not for a deviation to an unreasonable life, and education was introduced not to darken the image of God, but to renew it “in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Eph. 4:24), that even the so-called all-encompassing knowledge of the “mysteries” of earthly wisdom can turn “into nothing” for the Kingdom of God, promised not for extensive knowledge, but for good deeds.

Only then will “your light shine before men” when they see not only your knowledge, which is often only “as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1), but together with your knowledge “they will also see your good deeds” (Matt. 5:16). Then your words, which come from “a pure heart and a good conscience” (Tim. 1:15), will not return empty, but will make you “great” both in the kingdom of grace and in the kingdom of glory (Matt. 5:19).

III. But to attain such great blessedness, turn, brethren, with a contrite heart to the impartial Distributor of all blessings: He will give you, as once to Solomon, wisdom - to each as much as he needs. Turn with prayer also to His great saint, the venerable, now being glorified, John of Damascus, who has now taught you by his example, so that he, by his intercession before the Most High, having filled the poverty of your prayers, will ask for you the spirit of knowledge and wisdom together with the spirit of piety for your blessedness. Amen.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.