675–749
St. John of Jerusalem

Introduction

portrait

Born: 675, prob­ab­ly in Da­mas­cus, Sy­ria.

Died: De­cem­ber 4, cir­ca 749, at Mar Sa­ba, his mon­as­te­ry be­tween Je­ru­sa­lem and the Dead Sea.

Biography

John was the son of Sar­jun ibn Man­sur.

He was edu­cat­ed by the el­der Cos­mas, along with his fos­ter bro­ther, Cos­mas the Me­lo­dist.

He held some of­fice un­der the Ca­liph, and lat­er re­tired to the lau­ra of St. Sa­bas, near Je­ru­sa­lem, along with his fos­ter bro­ther. There he wrote his theo­lo­gic­al works and hymns, and was or­dained a priest of the church of Je­ru­sa­lem late in life.

His en­emies called him Man­sur, for rea­sons un­known. His three or­a­tions in fa­vor of icons earned him the so­bri­quets Chry­sor­rhous and The Doc­tor of Chris­tian Art.

Works

Sources

Lyrics