December 4--St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor

St. John Damascene, Wikimedia Commons

Is it lawful to make images of God? It would seem that it isn’t. The second commandment in Exodus says: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4-5a). That is it! Or is it? The making of images of God, Mary, and the saints was condemned in the 8th century by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III.

This is where our saint comes into the story. St. John Damascene (born about AD 675, died AD 749) was a Catholic priest and monk in a monastery near Jerusalem, which had been conquered by the Muslims. Upon hearing of the prohibition of venerating images, or iconoclasm, he denounced the heresy: “Some criticize us for honoring images of our Saviour, our Lady, and other saints, let them remember that in the beginning God created us after his own image. On what grounds then do we show reverence to each other unless because we are made after God’s image?... But when God became man for our salvation, many people saw the things that he did. He lived among us, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, roe again and was taken back to heaven. … But for the sake of those who were illiterate, the Fathers permitted the depiction of these events in images as concise memorials. Thus when we see the crucifix, we remember Christ’s saving passion. We fall down to worship not the piece of wood, but the One who is imaged, Christ crucified.”

We do not worship idols, we venerate images because they bring us to God! We, the created, adore God, the uncreated! St. John Damascene, pray for us!