“You Catholics worship Mary and the Saints.” In all my years of teaching OCIA, this was the misconception about Catholicism that I heard the most. The Catholic Church has consistently made use of pictures, mosaics, stained glass windows, statues and paintings to teach and remind people of the truths of the Faith. Many Protestants misjudge the Catholic use of images to be a form of idol worship. It makes sense. The Protestant Reformers, true to their principle of using the Bible alone as their source, and finding nothing about images in the New Testament, looked to the Old Law for rules that were never meant for the New Church. There, they discovered in the First Commandment (which they call the second) a command to not make any graven image. If only those “Reformers” had known of today’s Saint, Saint John Damascene, they may have had second thoughts about their argument against images upon reading that he called it a “superficial understanding of Scripture.” To understand why St. John Damascene was able to address this Protestant objection over 800 years before the Reformation, let’s look back to his historical context, life, and arguments for the use of images from Scripture, the doctrine of the Incarnation, and Tradition.
As for the historical context, warfare between the Arab-Islamic Empire and the eastern Byzantine Empire began in the 7th century. As the Arab-Islamic Empire’s growing victories and subsequent control grew, so too did their influence over the culture. Since Islam has a ban on making images, a dispute soon arose over the Catholic Church’s use and veneration of images of Christ and the Saints. The Muslims and other iconoclasts (breakers of icons) opposed such practices as idolatrous (much like many Protestants today). Perhaps as a way to establish a rapport with the Muslim rulers or perhaps due to fear that mounting loses to the Muslims were due to the idolatry of the iconodules (servants of icons), Byzantine Emperor Leo II published a decree outlawing icons and forbidding Christians to venerate them.
The city of Damascus in Syria was captured and occupied by the Islamic conquerors in 635. Around 40 years later, St. John Damascene (or “of Damascus”) was born there to devout Catholic parents. Though Christians’ rights were restricted and they occupied a lower legal status than Muslims, they were permitted religious freedom and some, like St. John’s father, were given important roles in the government. John’s father made certain that his son received an excellent classical and theological education. Given the Muslim control of Damascus, John also became well versed in Islamic law, culture, and theology. Eventually, St. John followed his father in a government position under the Arabs. After a few years, however, he resigned and went to the Monastery of Saint Sabas near Jerusalem. As a monk, John spent his first two decades growing in spiritual perfection. He advanced so greatly in the spiritual life that his superiors deemed him worthy of priestly ordination. They also believed that, as a priest, he could offer great service to the Church in writing about important theological issues. Thus, John was ordained and began to write his treatise Against those who Decry Holy Images.
In his treatise, John first deals with whether having icons is in keeping with Scripture. While the obvious challenge seems to be Exodus 20:4-5 where it says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the likeness of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not venerate them, nor worship them,” he argues that this is a superficial reading. He explains that God Himself commands the making of images for the tabernacle, such as the cherubim that overshadow the Ark of the Covenant. The images themselves are not the issue, instead the issue falls to what is done with them. St. John explains that the real meaning in the Commandment can be explained in Deuteronomy 4:19 which says, “This is to stop you looking up to the heavens and, seeing the sun, moon and stars, being deceived by error and worshipping and serving them.” Thus, the whole point is that we should not adore a created thing more than the Creator, nor give true worship to anything but Him.
On that note, St. John also speaks about whether having images is in keeping with the doctrine of the Incarnation. He said, “In former times, God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake.” In fact, John saw no way of opposing images of Christ without denying the faith and espousing heresy. For instance, to grant Christ’s divinity but to then deny images of Him meant that one must separate His flesh from His person. This leads to heresy. On one side one can slip off into Manicheism, which denies the Incarnation as an illusion because matter is evil and cannot share in Christ’s person. The other side can slip into Nestorianism, which teaches that Christ has two natures and is two persons, one divine and one human, fused together in the Incarnation. Both errors are contrary to the faith, which professes that Christ is only one person, the only-begotten Son of God, who has the same nature as the Father, and who took on human nature for our salvation.
Lastly, St. John Damascene speaks about whether venerating images is in keeping the Tradition of the Church. He says, “You must understand that there are different degrees of worship. First of all the full worship which we show to God, who alone is by nature worthy of worship. But, for the sake of God who is worshipful by nature, we honor and venerate his saints and servants.” While this had always been the understanding, for the first time, St. John makes a clear distinction between worship and veneration. He uses the Greek term latria to refer to the honor that is due to God alone, and the term dulia to refer to the honor due to human beings, especially the Saints. Thanks to this clarification, Catholics began to express more precisely that they adore God but honor the Saints.
It could not have been easy for St. John Damascene’s parents to watch him grow up in a culture that was at its core opposed to Catholicism. Yet, they persevered, and tried to give him a firm foundation with his education. Hopefully they are with him in Heaven now and proud to see that the seeds they planted eventually sprouted into their son’s deep love for and desire to protect Holy Mother Church. St. John Damascene would end up being given both the titles of “Father of the Church”(the great, orthodox Catholic authors from about AD 100 to AD 800) and “Doctor of the Church” (certain ecclesiastical writers have received this title on account of the great advantage the whole Church has derived from their doctrine). On my part, I am grateful that his well-reasoned apologetical work stands the test of time and continues to bring people, like those I walked with in OCIA over the years, into the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.
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