John of Damascus, Monk
4 December -- Commemoration
If celebrated as a Lesser Festival,
Common of Teachers, page 473
John was born in Damascus in about the year 657. Although
the city was already Muslim, his father, though a Christian,
was Chief of the Revenue and was the principal
representative of Christians in the city. In 716, John, by
then well-educated in science and theology, became a monk at
the abbey of St Sabas near to Jerusalem and later was
ordained priest there. He became a prolific writer of
theological works and of hymns. His summary of the
teachings of the Greek Fathers, called De Fide Orthodoxa,
proved an immense influence in the Church in the following
centuries, in both east and west. He died on this day in
about the year 749.