The final section. Cosmas comes to help John. Less helpfully the patriarch of Jerusalem ordains them both as priests. John returns to Mar Saba. His work against the iconoclasts receives the endorsement of St Stephen the Younger. Death of John, and prayer of the author of the Life, also named John.
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35.[1] In writing books he had Cosmas to encourage him, and as a partner in publishing songs. John becomes a presbyter of the Church of Jerusalem.
Supporting him in his labours was the dignified[2] Cosmas, who was his brother in the Holy Spirit, who was a sharer with him in teachings, in his spiritual ascent, and in ascetic practice. Likewise he [Cosmas] also wisely imitated John in his spiritual labours in hymns, and he sang forth melodious harmonies to the church, with the lyre and with his voice in psalmody, having presented his own body to God as a drum[3] through the mortification of his passions, and made himself into a ten-stringed psaltery, by skillfully and wisely tuning the five-fold sense of the body and the corresponding faculties of the soul. Then Cosmas was ordained as bishop of Maiuma by the patriarch of Jerusalem, not willingly, but yielded under compulsion, and, having shepherded his flock well, and as a friend of God, he reached a good old age, and departed to his fathers; rather, he journeyed to God. As for John, the patriarch of Jerusalem[4] summoned him by the inspiration of God, and ordained him to praise the Lord in the office[5] of the presbyters.
36.[6]
But the high-soaring eagle, returning once more to the Lavra of the God-bearing Saba, and entering once more his own nest, did not take to heart that commandment of Solomon[7], that elders are worthy of double honour,[8] but instead, as if redirecting it, he turned it against himself, saying that elders should strive for double humility; that elders should practice asceticism twice as much as before; that elders should engage in double contests, not only against the passions of the body, but also against those [passions] of the soul, and the hidden [passions], which often escape the notice of those who practice asceticism unless they are exceedingly watchful, and then their inner man is defiled without their even realizing it. Now such hidden passions are: deceit, envy, arrogance, hidden arrogance, vanity disguised as humility, meddling in the affairs of others, which leads to many vices of speech, self-importance, anxious wavering, a deceitful disposition, pride in bodily humility, self-indulgence disguised as self-control, insistence on one’s own will, the pursuit of money for insignificant matters, clothing beyond that allowed by rule, from which arises disagreement with the brothers, and the unnoticed snare of pride.
37.[9] He reviews and revises his writings and books.
Striving to uproot these things from his mind, John added labour upon labour, and even more so spiritual labours; and focusing his mind, and pulling together what he had earlier laboured over, he reviewed these things [his books], refining, polishing and meticulously correctly the diction, meaning, rhythm and structure; and wherever the ornamentation was overly florid and somewhat excessive, he reduced it out of prudence, so that his writings might avoid anything like ostentation or frivolity. As a result, anyone who carefully examines his works of this kind will perceive the depth of thought and the elegance of expression, combined with dignity.[10] And who, upon reading his writings, would not praise his zeal for piety? How [marvellously] did he distribute his wealth of wisdom to all, seeing that, from the talent of knowledge that he had received, he did not merely double it but increased it tenfold. For I refrain from raising the number further, to avoid seeming to be exceeding the limits in the gospel. For it is plainly not right to speak beyond the proper limits.
38.[11] Stephen the Younger[12] praises John Damascene.
Divine zeal prevailed on him to such an extent that, fighting for the laws of God, he struck at those in Constantinople who were destroyers and desecrators of the holy images, first from Damascus and a second time from Palestine. A native of that great city, who had the same name as the protomartyr struck down[13] for the sake of Christ, was likewise struck down for the sake of his image and ascended into heaven.[14] For this reason he mentioned the books of John, and his anathemas from afar against the impious, and he called him a man of God. But although he [John] was never anointed with the unction of the episcopate (for the truth must not be concealed), he must still be regarded as crowned with the band of martyrdom; for it was because of his extraordinary zeal for piety that the calumny was brought against the pious man, because of which his hand was cut off.
39.[15] Death of John.
He spent his life living in this way, and when he had completed his ascetic journey, and preserved the faith – indeed he propagated it with his books and strengthened it through his teaching, and through his labours he is still confirming, upholding and strengthening it to this day – he ascended to Christ whom he loved. And now he does not see him in an image, nor adores him in likeness, but beholds him face to face,[16] gazing with unveiled face[17] upon the glory of the blessed Trinity. For these reasons, it was right for us to praise in words to the best of our ability this athlete, this ascetic, this ornament of the church, this herald of truth, the athletic one, and the teacher of doctrine, and instructor of the unlearned. This is not in order that we might acquire even the least bit of glory for ourselves, but so that so that he in turn will remember us in heaven, and that we may be filled with His heavenly glory even while still dwelling on earth: that glory which David testifies dwells within the princess, namely within the royal soul, saying, “All the glory of the princess is within.”[18]
40. [19]
Forgive me, O thrice-blessed man, and be my fervent and steadfast intercessor before God, because I, who share your name, found this excellent collection, made by someone else, as the man was able, in a simple style, and written in the Arabic language and script; and, out of longing for this work, and with as much diligence as I could muster, I have translated and revised[20] it, [guided] by your corrections, or, where need be, your instructions.[21] Grant me also to be a spiritual worshipper of the Trinity entirely beyond the body, living wholly in contemplation, wholly sanctified in the fire[22] of divine love, but still dwelling in the body, so that, when I depart from the flesh with detachment, I may present myself with boldness with you before God; to Whom be glory, forever and ever. Amen.
The End of the Life of the holy and great John of Damascus. This has been collated with its own antigraph.[23]
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I will gather up all the sections and create a final version shortly.
- [1]35 in the Bollandists and the modern edition, 34 in the Lequien and PG.↩
- [2]κόσμιος.↩
- [3]“τύμπανον”, “tympanum.”↩
- [4]Lit. “the one steering the helm of Jerusalem.”↩
- [5]“καθέδρα”, Latin “cathedra,” seat; but in Latin it can also mean rank, office of a teacher, similar to a professor’s chair today.↩
- [6]36 in the Bollandists and the modern edition, 35 in the Lequien and PG.↩
- [7]The PG text prints “Apostle”, but neither Lequien nor any manuscript gives this.↩
- [8]1 Tim. 5:17.↩
- [9]37 in the Bollandists and the modern edition, 36 in the Lequien and PG.↩
- [10]σεμνότης. Lequien translates as “majestate”, “majesty.”↩
- [11]38 in the Bollandists and the modern edition, 37 in the Lequien and PG.↩
- [12]A Byzantine monk executed in 764 by Constantine V for his opposition to iconoclasm. An orthodox saint.↩
- [13]The idea is of blows with a blunt object.↩
- [14]This sentence and those that follow make up a single sentence in Greek.↩
- [15]38 in Lequien and PG.↩
- [16]1 Cor. 13:12: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”↩
- [17]Cf. 2 Cor. 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,”↩
- [18]Psalm 44:14 Vulg; Ps. 45:13↩
- [19]40 in the Bollandists and the modern edition, 39 in the Lequien and PG.↩
- [20]The word is “transform”.↩
- [21]I.e. in a vision.↩
- [22]ὁλοκαύτωσις, sacrifice of a burnt-offering. ↩
- [23]Antigraph: a manuscript from which a copy (the apograph) is made.↩