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st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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ST, JOHN OF DAMASCUS,<br />

CHAPTER I.<br />

DAMASCUS.<br />

IN giving an account <strong>of</strong> any eminent man, it is<br />

natural to be<strong>st</strong>ow some attention on the place from<br />

which he sprang. Ju<strong>st</strong> as our knowledge <strong>of</strong> some<br />

scarce plant could not be thought complete if we<br />

had no information about the soil in which it<br />

grew,<br />

so we can seldom under<strong>st</strong>and fully the life and cha<br />

racter<br />

<strong>of</strong> a great man without <strong>st</strong>udying the surround<br />

ings amid<strong>st</strong> which he was born. But the <strong>st</strong>rength<br />

and importance <strong>of</strong> this connecting link vary very<br />

considerably in different cases. The hi<strong>st</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> a<br />

Cyril is closely interwoven with that <strong>of</strong> Alexandria<br />

in his time ; that <strong>of</strong> Gregory with Nazianzus ;<br />

that <strong>of</strong><br />

pur own Bede with Jarrow and Monkwearmouth. But<br />

in the case <strong>of</strong> John <strong>of</strong> Damascus, while his native<br />

city has given him the name by which he is always<br />

di<strong>st</strong>inguished, its influence upon his character and<br />

the ultimate course <strong>of</strong> his life does not seem to have<br />

been important. In his extant writings he makes<br />

little or no allusion to it. Events which happened<br />

there were no doubt the immediate cause <strong>of</strong> a great<br />

B

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