Three Treatises on the Divine Images: St. John of Damascus

In AD 726, the Byzantine emperor ordered the destruction of all icons, or religious images, throughout the empire, and icons were subject to an imperial ban that was to last, with a brief remission, until AD 843. A defender of icons, St John of Damascus wrote three treatises against "those who attack the holy images." He differentiates between the veneration of icons, which is a matter of expressing honor, and idolatry, which is offering worship to something other than God.

The fresh and complete translation, by a distinguished patristic scholar, of John's three treatises on the divine images shows us the issues at stake both then and now. Professor Louth places all of us who care about them in his debt.

Pages: 163 (12.5 x 18.5 cm)