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

l6o ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
for instance, the eternity of God, wisdom, charity,
and what not are grouped together, and followed,
generally, though not always, by illustrative passages
from other authors. There is a carefully-prepared
index in the Greek, in which the subjects treated of
may
be found under the initial letter of the word
denoting them and at the end of each
; alphabetical
group comes a series of parapompa, or cross-refer
ences, to facilitate the search. Thus, to take an
example from the English names, if one wishes to
find what is said in Holy Scripture about arrogancy,
he is directed to turn to the VJM& pride for menpleasers,
he will have to turn to flatterers,
-,
and the
like.
There is,
of course, nothing very original in all
this, and nothing that may be thought
interest or importance to us now; still,
of much
it is not
undeserving of mention in its place, as showing the
laborious and systematic way
in which the sacred
Scriptures were studied. The original idea of
Damascenus, as it would appear from his preface,
was not that of an alphabetical
concordance of sub
jects, but of an arrangement in three books of which
;
the first was to treat of God and the Holy Trinity,
the second of human affairs, and the third of virtues
and vices. Moreover, the passages
to be selected as
illustrative, were meant by him to be taken entirely
from the fathers of the Church. Whether this original
plan was modified by the author himself in later years,
or whether it was altered by others, it would now be
very difficult to decide. At any rate, in the form in
which we now have it,
the alphabetical arrangement