John of Damascus
Monastic · Doctor · 675–749 · Syria, Palestine
Life events
- Educated — 690
Educated by a Sicilian monk named Cosmas; received Christian theological and classical Greek education while family held senior position in Umayyad fiscal administration.
- Tonsured — 725
Resigned his civil post in Damascus and entered monastery of Mar Saba in Judean desert; ordained priest by Patriarch of Jerusalem.
- Wrote — 726
Wrote Three Treatises Against the Iconoclasts — defending icon veneration when Byzantine bishops could not.
- Died — 749
Died at Mar Saba monastery; vindicated posthumously at Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787).
Relationships
- Student of Maximus the Confessor (likely)
- Student of Basil the Great (likely)
- Student of Gregory of Nazianzus (likely)