December 4: Saint John of Damascus, Father and Teacher of the Church
Saint John was born in Damascus about the year 675, the son of wealthy and pious parents, of the family of Mansur.
Saint John of Damascus on Hell
Below are some very characteristic and very important passages from Saint John of Damascus on the subject of Hell: 1. Hell is not God’s punishment, but it is a state of receptivity. It appears that Hell and Paradise as “places” do not exist. There is only God, who is present in all places (omnipresent).
Saint John of Damascus
John was first the chief minister to Caliph Abdul-Malik and later a monk in the Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. Because of his ardent defense of the veneration of icons during the reign of the iconoclastic Emperor Leo the Isaurian, John was maligned by the emperor to the Caliph, who cut off his right […]