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

"
COMMENTARIES ON HOLY SCRIPTURE. 157
sight occupying a much less prominent place in hi,
extant writings.
Before examining these commentaries in detail it
may be well to call attention to the mere fact of their
existence, and their extent. The eighth century has
sometimes been reckoned a part of the dark ages
and very extraordinary assertions have been made
and are still
made, about the ignorance of HolJ
:npture then prevailing. It becomes instructive
therefore to observe how, nearly at the same time,
Damascus in the Eastern Church, and our
own Bede in the Western, were labouring at the task
blical exposition. At the end of his "Church
history, Bede sets down a list of his works, and the
great majority of these are commentaries on the
several books of Holy Scripture. He was occupied
uiis task, as is well known un to fh i c
his life
The touching letter of his disciple Cuthbert
shows mm to us at Whitsuntide in 734, dictating the
ast verse of his translation of St.
John s Gospel,
when his own departure was nigh at hand. And in
such studies the best part of his life had been spent
From the time that I was ordained priest" he
-ites, "til,
now, when I am fifty-eight years old, I
have occupied myself with
writing commentaries
upon the sacred Scnptures, to suit
my own
and
needs
those of
my brethren ; gathered from the works
the venerable fathers, and either briefly given
or as a paraphrastical interpretation of the same"!
it nas been rprmrk^ <-u^^ u .r ,,
~ the LIie
n A .u-
one nunared
hirty-nine works from his pen, printed in the
Historia Ecclesiastica
(ed. Moberly), Introd., p. xiv.