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 />
"<br />
"<br />
5^ ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.<br />
The house <strong>of</strong> the new patriarch, Ana<strong>st</strong>asius, was<br />
attacked, and it was not without considerable blood<br />
shed that order was re<strong>st</strong>ored. The <strong>st</strong>atue was how<br />
ever removed to be erected again at a later time by<br />
the Empress Irene and a plain cross set up in the<br />
niche where it had <strong>st</strong>ood. An inscription was added,<br />
in Greek iambics, as a te<strong>st</strong>imony to the emperor s<br />
zeal :<br />
"<br />
Enduring not that here a lifeless form,<br />
A speechless wooden image, smeared with paint,<br />
Should bear the name <strong>of</strong> Chri<strong>st</strong>, our sov ran lord<br />
Leo, and with him Con<strong>st</strong>antine his son,<br />
Have carved this blessed emblem <strong>of</strong> the cross,<br />
o er the palace gates."<br />
Joy <strong>of</strong> the faithful,<br />
It was to minds thus excited that the remaining<br />
letters <strong>of</strong> John were addressed. His second and<br />
third discourses do not contain many fresh arguments ;<br />
the third in particular being<br />
little more than a repeti<br />
tion <strong>of</strong> the other two ;<br />
but he uses much <strong>st</strong>ronger lan<br />
guage in the second than in the fir<strong>st</strong>. It is the welfare<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>st</strong>ate, he says, that is the concern <strong>of</strong> kings ;<br />
the<br />
settlement <strong>of</strong> the church is for pa<strong>st</strong>ors and teachers.<br />
Without as yet going so far as to anathematise Leo,<br />
even praying that the necessity for such a <strong>st</strong>ep may<br />
be averted, he hints very plainly at such an issue in<br />
the turn he gives to a passage from St. Paul. Citing<br />
the words <strong>of</strong> Gal. i. 8, he significantly inserts the<br />
name <strong>of</strong> king<br />
: But though we, or an angel from<br />
heaven, or a king, preach any other gospel unto you<br />
than that which we have preached unto you and<br />
there <strong>st</strong>ops short. Shut your ears,"<br />
he concludes,