A capstone of the patristic tradition that preceded him, St John of Damascus is among the most authoritative and influential Fathers of the Orthodox tradition. His memory is celebrated annually on December 4, in the midst of the fasting season preparing for the Nativity of Christ. Over the years, the Pappas Patristic Institute has frequently turned to this great saint to reflect on the Church's dogmatic patrimony, Christology, natural philosophy, apologetics, and more. Today, in honor of this great saint, we offer two short translations of fragments attributed to Saint John: De theologia (CPG 8087.5) and Qua ratione homo imago dei (CPG 8087.4). Though these short summaries of Orthodox belief may not be authentic, they testify to the synthetic vision that characterizes the theological legacy of this monumental figure.
St John of Damascus, On Theology
CPG 8087.5 (PG 95:228-229)
At the level of theology, we glorify and worship a single God in three hypostases: a single divinity, a single nature, a single essence, a single power and authority, and a single will. But we glorify and worship three persons and three hypostases, each with its own particularity. For being unbegotten is proper to the Father, being begotten is proper to the Son, and proceeding is proper to the Spirit. God the Father is beginningless. God the Son is co-beginningless, even though he is from the Father, and God the Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-beginningless, issuing forth from the Father, not being begotten in the manner of a son, like the Son, but by procession. The three are one in divinity, albeit in three hypostases.
At the level of the economy of God and of the Word of God, who was incarnate by the good pleasure of the Father and the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, we confess two natures and a single hypostasis: one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once God and man, and a single person. Yet we confess two wills and two operations, each nature with its particularity, without division and without confusion. For it is proper to the divinity to raise the dead and to work divine signs. But it is proper to the humanity to hunger, thirst, grow weary, and suffer. For the Word was united without confusion and without division to the flesh. With this flesh he was assumed into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of the Father and shall come with glory at the consummation of the ages to judge the living and the dead as God incarnate.
Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, περὶ τῆς θεολογίας.
Ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς θεολογίας εἷς Θεὸς δοξάζεται καὶ προσκυνεῖται ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσι· μία θεότης, μία φύσις, μία οὐσία, μία δύναμις καὶ ἐξουσία, ἓν θέλημα· τρία δὲ πρόσωπα, καὶ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, ἑκάστη μετὰ τῆς ἰδιότητος. Ἴδιον γὰρ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον· ἴδιον δὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸ γεννητόν· καὶ ἴδιον τοῦ Πνεύματος τὸ ἐκπορευτόν. Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ ἄναρχος· Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς συνάναρχος, εἰ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός· Θεὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, συναΐδιον καὶ συνάναρχον, ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς προϊὸν, οὐχ υἱϊκῶς γεννώμενον ὡς Υἱὸς, ἀλλ’ ἐκπορευτῶς. Ἓν τὰ τρία τῇ θεότητι, κἀν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν.
Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ συνεργίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος σαρκωθέντος, δύο φύσεις ὁμολογοῦμεν, καὶ μίαν ὑπόστασιν· ἕνα τε Υἱὸν τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, Θεὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἓν πρόσωπον· δύο δὲ θελήσεις καὶ δύο ἐνεργείας· ἑκάστην φύσιν μετὰ τῆς ἰδιότητος, ἀδιαιρέτως καὶ ἀσυγχύτως. Ἴδιον μὲν γὰρ τῆς θεότητος, τὸ νεκροὺς ἀνιστᾷν, καὶ τὰς θεοσημείας ἐπιτελεῖν· ἴδιον δὲ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, τὸ πεινῇν καὶ διψῇν καὶ κοπιᾷν, καὶ τὰ πάθη ὑπομένειν. Ἀσυγχύτως γὰρ ἡνώθη τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ ἀδιαιρέτως, μεθ’ ἧς σαρκὸς ἀνελήφθη, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ ἥξει μετὰ δόξης ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκροὺς, Θεὸς σεσαρκωμένος.
St John of Damascus, How Man is the Image of God
CPG 8087.4 (PG 95:228)
That man is in the image and likeness of God means that his intellective and rational soul exists in three properties, namely intellect, reason, and spirit, just as in the divine essence there is a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For just as the Father is Father and not Son, as the Son is Son and not Father, and as the Spirit is Holy Spirit and not Son or Father, so, in the same way, the intellect is intellect and not reason, reason is reason and not spirit, and the spirit is spirit and not reason or intellect. And so, they are not confused in their unity or divided numerically. For the three are one, and the one is three, ever co-existing as connatural and consubstantial one with the other.
Ἰωάννου μοναχοῦ πρεσβυτέρου Δαμασκηνοῦ, ἐπίκλην Μανσοὺρ, περὶ θεολογίας· πῶς εἰκονίζει τὸ Θεῖον ἄνθρωπος.
Τὸ κατ’ εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ εἶναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτο δηλοῖ, τὸ ἐν τρισὶν ἰδιώμασιν εἶναι τὴν τούτου νοερὰν καὶ λογικὴν ψυχήν· τουτέστι νοῦς καὶ λόγος καὶ πνεῦμα, οἷον ἐπὶ τῆς θείας οὐσίας, Πατὴρ καὶ Υἱὸς καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ, Πατὴρ, καὶ οὐχ Υἱός· καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς, Υἱὸς, καὶ οὐ Πατήρ· καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα, Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, καὶ οὐχ Υἱὸς, ἢ Πατήρ· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, ὅ τε νοῦς, νοῦς καὶ οὐ λόγος· ὁ λόγος, λόγος καὶ οὐ πνεῦμα· καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, πνεῦμα καὶ οὐ λόγος, ἢ νοῦς. Ταῦτα οὖν οὔτε συγχέεται τῇ ἑνότητι, οὔτε διαιρεῖται τῷ ἀριθμῷ· τὰ γὰρ τρία ἓν, καὶ τὸ ἓν εἰς τρία, ὁμοφυᾶ τε καὶ ὁμοούσια συνυπάρχοντα ἀλλήλων ἀεί..
Video from our 2022 Symposium on Saint John of Damascus: The Fount of Knowledge
Read more about our 2022 Symposium on St John of Damascus here.