Author: Roger Pearse

The story so far.  John Damascene has been working as CFO for the Muslim caliph in Damascus.  In his spare time he has been writing a series of hard-hitting articles in the Constantinople press, attacking the Byzantine president emperor Leo for promoting iconoclasm.  Words like “anti-Christ”  are getting used.  Leo’s PR department responds by doxxing him to the caliph using a fake and treasonous letter.  The caliph falls for it, and initiates cut-backs in John’s department – specifically paring John’s writing hand to the wrist.  Now read on.

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18.  John asks  the Mother of God to restore his hand, in anacreontic verses.

As evening fell, and John supposed that the tyrant’s anger had subsided, he sent a representative to him, pleading and speaking thus, “My pain is increasing and has become unbearable. The sharp sting of my suffering will not cease as long as my severed hand remains suspended in the air. Therefore, command that it to be given to me, so that I may bury it in the earth, and the agony may subside.” The tyrant immediately allowed the request, and the hand was given to the righteous man. Having received it, he entered the oratory of his house and, falling prostrate before a certain sacred icon bearing the divine likeness of the Mother of God^[1], he placed his severed right hand upon its former joint, and, he prayed from the depths of his heart, crying out with sighs and tears,

O Lady, most holy Mother, You who gave birth to my God,
For the sake of the holy icons, My right hand was cut off.
You are not unaware of the cause For which Leo went mad.
Hasten, then, with all speed And heal my hand.
The right hand of the Most High, Who took flesh from you,
Works many wonders Through your intercession.
Now, through your prayers, Let Him also heal this right hand of mine,
So that the hymns to you which you give me, And to the One incarnate from you,
May be written in harmonious melodies, O Mother of God,
And become an instrument For Orthodox worship.
For you can accomplish whatever you will, Since you are the Mother of God.

While John was saying these words with tears, he fell asleep. In his sleep, he saw the holy icon of the Mother of God looking at him with merciful and joyful eyes, and saying, “Behold, your hand has been made whole.  Delay no longer, but make it the pen of a swift-writing scribe,^[2] as you have promised me today.”

19.  John’s severed hand Is healed by the prayers of Mary.

He awoke, and was healed, and he examined carefully the severed hand, and on seeing it he rejoiced in the spirit in God his Saviour and in His Mother, because the Mighty One had done great things for him. Rising to his feet, he lifted his hands on high and sang a divine hymn most fitting for the occasion.  Throughout the whole night, he with his whole household rejoiced and sang a new song of thanksgiving to God, “Your right hand, O Lord,” he said, “has been glorified in strength; Your right hand has healed my broken right hand, and through it, you will crush the enemy, those who do not honour the venerable icons of Yourself and those of Her who bore You.  By the abundance of your glory, you will crush the enemy icon-breakers through my hand.”  So that night was like day to him, a light and not darkness;^[3] and, to express the prophetic word with a figure of speech,^[4] there was there the pure sound of celebration and the voice of exultation in the tent of the righteous man.^[5]

These things did not take place in secret, nor in silence; rather, that marvellous sound and harmonious jubilation was heard by those in the whole surrounding neighbourhood.  Immediately some of the Christ-hating Saracens went to their own leader, saying that John’s right hand had not been cut off at all, but that of someone else—perhaps a slave or some other attendant who had, out of loyalty, sacrificed himself in place of his master, and that those ordered to carry out the amputation had taken money instead of inflicting the penalty. “For John remains at home, singing and rejoicing in such a way that you might say that he was celebrating a wedding, and composing a bridal song for the marriage hymns. Indeed, his joy seems even greater than that.”

20.  The barbarian recognizes the miracle.

When these things had been reported in this way, John was summoned.  On his arrival, he was ordered to show his severed right hand; and as it was displayed, by the arrangement of the Mother of God, a faint line of the cut also was visible, as a most undeniable sign that the amputation had indeed taken place.  At this, the barbarian exclaimed: “Who is the physician that has healed you, John?  And what medicines were applied to you?”  Then he [John] in a loud and clear voice proclaimed the miracle.^[6] “My Lord,” he declared, “the Almighty Physician, whose power does not fall short of His will.”  The barbarian responded, “Then I infer, O man, that you have suffered for something of which you are innocent.  Forgive us, then, for the rash and thoughtless judgment, because of which we inflicted this punishment upon you.  Go, then, and take charge of your former office; and you will be foremost among our advisors.  From now on, we will undertake nothing without your advice and guidance.”

21.  He obtains permission to withdraw into a monastery instead, although with difficulty.

Then he [John] fell to the ground and prostrated himself, and, lying face-down for a considerable time, he pleaded to be excused and allowed to take another road, more desirable to journey upon, and to follow Him who says, “I am the Way.”  But the barbarian did not grant permission. And it was like seeing gladiators, as one might say, the barbarian and the righteous man.  The former strove by many ways to hold John fast in the chains of the world, while the other was fiercely trying to break them apart with zeal, and to take flight on angelic wings.  A great stadium then lay open, where Christ was seated as judge of the contest, the audience was the angels.  Indeed one might rightly say that the wicked spirits on the left side emboldened and strengthened the persuasiveness of the barbarian.  Yet with great acclaim my gladiator conquered, and all the adversary’s persuasive efforts were reckoned as [nothing more than] the [feeble] arrows of infants.  The victor departed, his head adorned with a radiant crown, and entered his home with a joyful countenance, though he had left it previously downcast.

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The wisdom of John’s decision to get out of the job will be understood by anyone who has worked in an office!

1. ^[1]Θεομήτωρ.↩
2. ^[2]Ps.44/45:1-2.↩
3. ^[3]The Latin translation of Lequien expresses this idea twice; presumably the translator’s eye skipped back a phrase, and was not checked later.↩
4. ^[4]ὑπαλλαγή↩
5. ^[5]Here the chapter numbering diverges.  Lequien numbers the next paragraph “20”, and the next two sections are both numbered “21”.  I have followed the numbering of the Patrologia Graeca reprint, which is the Greek text used in the TLG.  This makes Lequien’s “20” the second part of “19”, and then the first “21” as “20.”↩
6. ^[6]lit. “became the herald of the miracle.”↩

Let us continue with the “Jerusalem Life” of John Damascene.  I had not realised that I had completed – but not posted – three more chapters before my hand injury, so only chapter 17 is new.  A quick recap: John is living in Damascus and working as chief financial officer for the muslim caliph.  Now read on!

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14.  The madness of Leo the Isaurian against images.

At that time Leo the Isaurian was ruling the Roman Empire.  He, opposing the sacred icons and the orthodox mainstream of the church, ^[1] was like a lion, ravening and roaring, burning them^[2] with a fire of bestial madness, seizing and destroying their^[3] worshippers, and cruelly tearing them apart with the teeth of tyrannical impiety.  These things came to John’s ears, and he imitated the zeal of Elijah and the rebukes [of wrong-doing] of his namesake [John the Baptist] as if the spirit had anointed him invisibly, and, before his ordination,^[4] as an opponent of this impiety; and he wielded words as though they were the sword of the Spirit, a sharp weapon to destroy the doctrine of the beast-minded one, as if he were cutting off its head.  He sent out letters to defend the veneration of the sacred icons to those of the right faith^[5] who knew him, powerfully demonstrating in a philosophical way that the veneration of the divine images was necessary.  He also instructed them to say the same things to others, and to show his letters to everyone.  The new athlete of the truth laboured in every way for his letters to pass from hand to hand among the faithful, as if in a circle,^[6] to strengthen the true faith,^[7] and, following the example of Paul, he laboured to cover the whole world, although not on foot but through letters proclaiming the truth.

15.  Leo’s strategem against John.

These things were reported to the emperor Leo, and, summoning some of his like-minded associates, because he could not bear the exposure of his impiety, which John’s letters proclaimed clearly, he commanded them to put on a mask of piety and make haste and fabricate a story, and locate a letter written by John in his own hand.  These accomplices of wickedness did not cease pulling on every rope, concealing their intentions and seeking out what they had been ordered to find, until they did find it, and delivered it to the emperor.  He summoned some of his scribes and set before them examples of John’s letters, to imitate the style of the writing, both in thought and phrasing.  Thus he found sufficient people to carry out this task, and he ordered them to write a letter as if from John to himself, the infamous emperor, with the following contents:

“Greetings, O emperor!  I also rejoice in your mightiness, because we share the same faith.  I render both gratitude and the appropriate respect to your imperial majesty, for which reason I send these things for your information.  This city of ours happens to have been completely neglected in terms of its defence, and the military force of the Hagarenes here is weak and few in number.  Wherefore in the name of God take pity on this city, and, contrary to all expectation, send a powerful and numerous force which pretends to march elsewhere, and you will  take the city without a fight; for I myself will assist you considerably in this purpose, because both the entire region and the city itself are under my authority.”

16.  Leo’s letter to the Caliph.

After this letter had been written, the impious man wrote another letter in malice to the ruler of the Saracens in Damascus, with this intent:

“As I know of nothing more blessed than peace, nor more fortunate than friendship, and since keeping treaties of peace is praiseworthy and pleasing to God, for these reasons I prefer above all else to preserve unbroken the peaceful friendships which I have established with your eminence, although I have often been urged to secretly break these and treacherously violate the treaties, by one of the Christians serving under you through his many letters, who confidently assures me that he would contribute greatly to subdue the city under your control if I should send a large army against it.

For this very reason I have also sent back to you one of the letters which he sent to me, showing that the things which I have written are true, so that you may know what kind of person I am in regard to friendships – truthful, and not inclined to break treaties – and so that you may recognise the ill-will and deceitfulness of the one who dared to write these things to me.”

17.  John’s right hand is amputated.

He was lion-named, and serpent-like in deceit, so he sent both these letters through one of his men to the barbarian [ruler].  Upon receiving them, the latter summoned John and showed him that deceitful letter.  John, reading through it, admitted that the shape^[8] of the handwriting resembled his own, but he added that he did not recognise the things contained in them at all, nor had such thoughts ever even crossed his mind.  Having read it, he did not fail to recognise the deception, and the plot of the Emperor [against him].  But that ruler, who hated Christ, was like a donkey listening to a lyre, as the proverb says^[9], in his response to what was said  by John. He became deaf to good and truthful speech, and did not remain dumb, when it came to issuing an unjust decree.  Instead he immediately ordered that John’s right hand should be cut off.

When he [John] requested a brief delay in order to defend himself, and to explain the rage of the impious one against him, the barbarian refused, and would not hear of it, being completely beside himself with anger.  And so the right hand was cut off, which had performed great deeds for the Orthodox in God through what it had written; the right hand was cut off which had rebuked those who hated the Lord and, instead of being dipped in ink, as it had once been when writing in defence of the veneration of icons, it was now dipped in its own blood.

After cutting off that right hand of the Lord, so to speak, they suspended it in the marketplace.

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Not one of John’s better days at work, I would guess.

1. ^[1]“τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πληρώματος”: this appears to be a standard phrase, lit. “fullness of the church,” the faithful, the assembly.↩
2. ^[2]The icons.↩
3. ^[3]The icons.↩
4. ^[4]“anointing.”↩
5. ^[5]“orthodox.”↩
6. ^[6]“ὡς διὰ κύκλου τινὸς.”  Not translated by Lequien.↩
7. ^[7]“the orthodox faith.”↩
8. ^[8]τύπους↩
9. ^[9]This is one of Aesop’s fables↩