st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul
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"<br />
THE ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY. 57<br />
jurisdiction, and out <strong>of</strong> the emperor s reach; and in<br />
his boldness therefore there was not <strong>of</strong> necessity any<br />
thing very heroic. But those who were more exposed<br />
to the imperial displeasure mu<strong>st</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten have felt them<br />
selves in a <strong>st</strong>rait. As an in<strong>st</strong>ance <strong>of</strong> the height to<br />
which popular passions were roused, may be mentioned<br />
the de<strong>st</strong>ruction <strong>of</strong> the great <strong>st</strong>atue <strong>of</strong> Chri<strong>st</strong> <strong>st</strong>anding<br />
over the Bronze Gate <strong>of</strong> the palace in Con<strong>st</strong>antinople,<br />
and known by the name <strong>of</strong> the Surety, from a legend<br />
<strong>of</strong> its<br />
having once been a surety for a Chri<strong>st</strong>ian sailor<br />
when forced to borrow money. This image, obnoxious<br />
to Leo from its<br />
prominent position and the super<br />
<strong>st</strong>itious veneration with which it was regarded, was<br />
doomed to de<strong>st</strong>ruction, and a soldier <strong>of</strong> the imperial<br />
guard mounted a ladder to remove it. A crowd <strong>of</strong><br />
women thronged about him, with entreaties to spare<br />
it. When he <strong>st</strong>ruck his axe again<strong>st</strong> the face <strong>of</strong> the<br />
image, they dragged down the ladder in fury, and the<br />
soldier was either killed by the fall, like a second<br />
Pentheus, torn in pieces by<br />
or,<br />
the infuriated women.<br />
1<br />
Life," John was then at Damascus. But Lequien conjec<br />
tures that he mu<strong>st</strong> have been ordained before this controversy<br />
broke out (Opp.<br />
\.<br />
452). His reason for thinking so is, that<br />
in his sermon on the Annunciation, delivered after his ordina<br />
tion, he speaks <strong>of</strong> the Roman Empire as at peace. This, in<br />
Lequien s judgment, would not have been said after the icono<br />
cla<strong>st</strong>ic <strong>st</strong>orm had begun to rage. Whatever the argument is<br />
xlix. not.<br />
worth, it will hardly bear Gibbon out in saying (Ch.<br />
in loc.) "the<br />
legend [<strong>of</strong> the amputated hand] is famous but his<br />
;<br />
learned editor, father Lequien, has unluckily proved that St.<br />
John Damascenus was already a monk before the Iconocla<strong>st</strong><br />
dispute."<br />
1<br />
See an article in the Chri<strong>st</strong>ian Observer for 1877, where<br />
Baronius s commendation <strong>of</strong> these<br />
"<br />
"<br />
harridans<br />
is discussed.