March 27th - St. John Damascene

March 27th - St. John Damascene

St. John Damascene, 8th century, was the grand vizir of the Caliph of
Damascus.
While he was holding this office, Emperor Leo the Isaurian began a campaign
to
destroy the Catholic statues, the beginning of the iconoclast heresy. In 726
he
issued his first edict against the veneration of images.

John Damascene immediately took up his pen to defend this ancient practice
of
Catholics, just as before he had attacked the heresies of his time. Because
of
this defense, the hand that wrote it was chopped off, but the Virgin Mary
appeared and reattached the hand.

He retired to the monastery of St. Sabas southeast of Jerusalem and died
there
as a monk dedicated to prayer and study. He wrote numerous works and
beautiful
verses. His style was vigorous and polemic. For example, writing against the
Emperor he called him a new Mahomet, an enemy of Christ, and despiser of the
Saints. He also attacked the sycophant Bishops, calling them slaves of their
stomachs, disposed to compromise and lie.

Writing about the holy statues, he said:

"Regarding the Most Holy Mother of God, I confess her holier than the
Seraphim
and Cherubim, more sublime than Heaven, more elevated than all creatures,
for
she brought to light of day Christ our God.

"As for the Saints who combated for Him, I honor and venerate them, kissing
their precious relics. In the Bible the sacred writer gives an account of
the
Incarnation of Christ. The sculptor pictures the glory of the Church from
the
first Adam to the birth of Christ. The writer and artist concur on the same
truth. The Church benefits from both, but you, O heretic, venerate the book
and
destroy the statue. What an extravagance!

"If some ignorant person commits some excess in this matter, it is your
fault.
If someone makes the mistake of taking the image of Christ for Christ
Himself,
you should instruct him. This is why you are Bishops, priests and deacons.
The
true Shepherds and Doctors, the shining lights of times past, dedicated
themselves to instructing the people for their good and salvation. But the
Bishops of this century are preoccupied with horses, cows, sheep, flocks,
fields
and gold. They care only about accruing and spending money. They are very
concerned about the body, but neglect their people and their own souls. It
is as
Scriptures says: The shepherds became wolves.

"Who should we follow now, St. Basil the Thaumaturge, or Bastilas the
murderer
of souls? The doctor of penance and salvation St. John Chrysostom or the
doctor
of disorder and perdition Tricarcade? Or perhaps Gregory, the profane
patriarch
of Constantine, plague of the people, who along with the head of the Empire
cast
out the venerable statues and holy doctrine of the Holy Church?

"To whom should we listen? The ensemble of venerable Patriarchs who spoke at
the
first six Councils or these hypocrite prelates who introduced adulterous
dogmas
in the Church, which were never confirmed by any Patriarch and are
proscribed by
the Letters of Synods?"



Comments of late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)

Some prior observations will help us to better understand this selection. In
the
Muslim world, the Caliph was a mixture of pope and emperor. He was a
religious
leader who at the same time exercised temporal power. The grand vizir was
the
equivalent of a prime minister. He was the man appointed by the caliph to
administer the government. Normally the caliphs would not deign to associate
with the people, who were considered unworthy to even be in their presence.
It
was the grand vizirs who represented them; they were the face of the caliph
for
the public.

St. John Damascene, then, was the grand vizir of the Caliph of Damascus. At
that
time the caliphs permitted Catholics to practice their religion and hold
important public offices in that Muslim state. There was, therefore, this
paradox: a Saint who was protected by a Muslim Caliphate and who attacked a
heretic who was head of the Catholic Byzantine Empire.

Emperor Leo the Isaurian was the one who initiated the campaign against the
statues. It was the Iconoclast heresy, which means those who destroy icons
and
statues. Leo the Isaurian was a pre-figure of the Protestants. Among other
errors, he sustained that it was wrong to venerate statues. On his orders,
the
heretics burned and destroyed countless statues in the Byzantine churches.

In this most beautiful text of St. John Damascene, you see the indignation
of a
soul of fire against error. The excerpt demonstrates that the indignation of
St.
John Damascene was filled with love for the truth. He vigorously proclaims
the
truths he defends.

In this text there are some very valuable arguments. For example, when he
addresses the Iconoclasts, he points out the inconsistency of their position
of
destroying the statues but venerating the Bible. The Bible, he argues,
describes
personages in words, that is, it gives a literary representation of the
person.
The artist, taking his inspiration from that description, paints a picture
or
sculpts a statue. Therefore, if one takes a stand against the statues of
persons, he should also be against the Bible that describes them. Otherwise
his
position is contradictory. He would accept the literary description but
condemn
the artistic figure representing the former. It is a simple but iron-tight
argument presented with great literary beauty.

In another argument against the heretic bishops and clergy, he says: "If an
ignorant person commits some excess in this matter, it is your fault. If
someone
makes the mistake of taking the image of Christ for Christ Himself, you
should
instruct him. This is why you are bishops, priests and deacons."

You can see that the heretics of those times used the same sophism of
Protestants who would later affirm that Catholics adore statues and Our
Lady.
When the heretic bishops and clergy asserted that the statues should be
destroyed to avoid such excesses, St. John Damascene replied: "You are in
charge
of the instruction of the people. If there is some excess in the veneration
of
statues, it is because you did not fulfill your duty. Therefore, to be
consistent, if you want to condemn someone, you should condemn yourselves,
and
instead of censuring and breaking the statues, you should correct
yourselves."
Again, it is a simple, strong logic that leaves no exit for the adversary.

We should not be surprised that the heretic Emperor ordered the hand of St.
John
Damascene to be chopped off. The heretic could not face this iron logic of
the
Saint, so Leo the Isaurian took this violent measure to stop the Saint from
attacking him. But Our Lady - who is the destroyer of all heresies -
restored
his hand so that he could continue to write against the enemies of the
Church.

A final important consideration is that St. John Damascene - with this
spirit of
fire and Catholic mentality - was chosen by the Caliph to be his grand
vizir.
The Caliph was a Muslim and an enemy of the Catholic Church;
notwithstanding, he
had the good sense to admire the honesty and capacity of St. John Damascene
and
appointed him to govern his temporal possessions.

Now let me ask you this: Do you imagine it would be possible today for a man
with the mentality of St. John Damascene to ever be made prime minister of
Russia? Or even a head of one of our Western States? Could he be prime
minister
of England or president of the United States? He would certainly not be
accepted. Why?

Because the revolutionary mentality of the people today is much worse than
the
mentality of the enemies of the Church was in the 8th century. This
comparison
makes us understand how low we have sunk and how bad the revolutionary
mentality
is. Normally we are blinded by this revolutionary mentality and we do not
realize how perverse it really is.

This example shows how hostile the modern world is to the Catholic cause,
and
how bad the progressivists are who are trying to adapt the Church to this
world.

Let us pray to St. John Damascene and ask him to give us the mentality he
had in
order to destroy the Revolution just as he destroyed the Iconoclast heresy
in
his time.



Saint Quote:
"The Lord is loving toward men, swift to pardon but slow to punish. Let no
man
despair of his own salvation. Peter, the first and foremost of the apostles,
denied the Lord three times before a little servant girl, but he repented
and
wept bitterly.
-Cyril of Jerusalem" (Catechetical Lectures 2:19 [A.D. 350]).

Bible Quote:
He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never
thirst.
-St. John 6:35



<><><><>
The fourth glorious mystery prayer of the Eucharistic Rosary,
to be offered before the Blessed Sacrament:

The Death and Assumption of Mary, offered for filial
devotion to Mary:

O Jesus, no longer could Thou leavest here below Thy
blessed Mother; already she didst hear Thy voice calling her,
and amid the transports of an ineffable communion, Thy love
didst take away her soul from the land of exile. But her
virginal body, like that of her divine Son, must not know
corruption; so Thou didst raise her from the dead, and,
brilliant as the sun, assume her soaring on angels' wings to
the seat of eternal glory.

O Jesus, our resurrection and our life, we adore Thee and we
pray that, through the intercession of Thy holy Mother, we
may die in the arms of her who is also our own Mother, after
having received in a fervent communion the pledge of our
glorious resurrection.

Imprimatur: + John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York,
Sept 19, 1908.






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