John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus or John Damascene (675?-749?) was a theologian, writer, scholar, Father of the Church, and Doctor of the Church, born in Damascus, Syria. Although a Christian, he served as a high-ranking financial officer under the Saracen caliph of Damascus. Because of the caliph's hostility to Christians, John resigned his post about 700. He retired to the monastery of Mar Saba, near Jerusalem, where he was ordained a priest before the outbreak of the controversy over iconoclasm. John opposed and fought the edicts of the Byzantine emperor Leo III against the veneration of statues and images; he was able to do so with impunity because he was not Leo's subject. He spent the rest of his life in religious study, except for a period shortly before his death, when he journeyed throughout Syria preaching against the iconoclasts. Contemporaries considered John one of the ablest philosophers of his day and was known as Chrysorrhoas (Greek, “Golden Stream”) because of his orat