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

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ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS. 37
CHAPTER V.
THE GREEK CHURCH IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY.
1
IT is difficult to make the great principles understood
which were at work in the Eastern Church in the
time of John of Damascus, without some reference
to earlier controversies. To trace back the chain of
cause and effect at all completely would indeed be an
endless task, but it
may suffice to begin with the
spread of the doctrines known as monophysite.
As Alexandria had been the centre of Neo-Platonism,
it was natural for it to be a nursery also of
monophysite principles. For there was an undoubted
connection between the two. The exaltation of the
Divine nature and being, as something beyond mea
or human
sure transcending all human expression,
power of thought, is a prominent feature in the
writings of the so-called Dionysius the Areopagite.
So also is the exaltation of the mystic, contemplative
mode of life, as the only way of attaining in any
degree to the godlike. All this would be as an echo
of familiar sounds to those who had imbibed the
teaching of Plotinus. For that philosopher had laid
1
To avoid the trouble of frequent references, it
may be
stated at the outset that the authorities for this chapter are
chiefly Gieseler s "
Eccles. Hist.," vol. ii., and Neander s
Church Hist." (Bohn s edn. )
vols. iv. and v.