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THE FOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE

By

St. John Damascene

laziness; but to add to ignorance a false pretension to

Preface knowledge is serious, blameworthy, and quite
unpardonable, and it is a sure sign of a greater, if not
the greatest, ignorance. On the other hand, however,
THE MOST LOWLY MONK and priest John to
the fruit of disobedience is death, while the humble and
the most saintly and honoured of God, Father Cosmas
obedient man, because he has shown himself to be an
the most holy Bishop of Maiuma, greetings in the
imitator of Christ, is led from the lowest place to the
Lord. Being fully conscious of the limitations of my
highest. He receives from God the grace that
intelligence and of the insufficiency of my language,
illuminates, so that in the opening of his mouth he is
your Beatitude, I have hesitated to undertake a task
filled with the Spirit. He becomes purified in heart and
exceeding my capabilities and to presume to enter into
enlightened in understanding. When he opens his
the Holy of Holies like some bold and foolhardy
mouth, he receives the power of speech and has no
person, for I am wary of the danger that threatens those
concern as to what he shall say, because he is an
who attempt such things. The divine Moses, the
instrument of the Spirit speaking within him.
lawgiver, withdrew from all sight of human things and
Therefore, in obedience through you to the Christ who
abandoned the turbulent sea of life. He purified the eye
in you exercises the pontifical office, I bow to your
of his soul by wiping away every material reflection,
request and open my mouth, being confident that
and only then did he become fit to receive the divine
through your prayers it will be filled with the Spirit and
vision. Only then was he found worthy to behold the
that I, taking so much as He shall give and speaking
benevolent condescension of God the Word and His
this aloud, shall utter eloquently the fruit not of my
marvelous appearance in a bush and in immaterial fire,
own understanding but of the Spirit who giveth
which, while it enkindled and burnt the tree and
wisdom to the blind.
changed it into His splendor, did not consume or
destroy it or alter its proper nature. He was the first to
First of all I shall set forth the best contributions of
learn the name of HIM WHO IS and who truly is
the philosophers of the Greeks, because whatever there
super-essential, and he was entrusted by God with the
is of good has been given to men from above by God,
leadership of his own countrymen. Yet, if he
since ‘every best gift and every perfect gift is from
considered himself as ‘having impediment and
above, coming down from the Father of lights. If,
slowness of tongue —and thus unable publicly to
however, there is anything that is contrary to the truth,
execute the divine will and to be appointed a mediator
then it is a dark invention of the deceit of Satan and a
between God and man—then how am I, who am
fiction of the mind of an evil spirit, as that eminent
defiled and stained with every sort of sin, and who bear
theologian Gregory once said. In imitation of the
within myself the tumultuous seas of my conjectures,
method of the bee, I shall make my composition from
and who have purified neither my mind nor my
those things which are conformable with the truth
understanding that they may serve as a mirror of God
and from our enemies themselves gather the fruit of
and His divine reflections; how am I, who have not
salvation. But all that is worthless and falsely labeled
sufficient power of speech to express such concepts, to
as knowledge I shall reject. Then, next, after this, I
utter those divine and ineffable things which surpass
shall set forth in order the absurdities of the heresies
the comprehension of every rational creature? With
hated of God, so that by recognizing the lie we may
these considerations in mind I have hesitated to
more closely follow the truth. Then, with God’s help
undertake this book. Besides this, to tell the truth, I
and by His grace I shall expose the truth—that truth
feared to accede to the request, lest I should incur
which destroys deceit and puts falsehood to flight and
ridicule on the double count of ignorance and of folly.
which, as with golden fringes, has been embellished
The latter is quite serious, for the charge of ignorance
and adorned by the sayings of the divinely inspired
may be excused—provided the ignorance is not from
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prophets, the divinely taught fishermen, and the God- worked out by the most eminent of teachers and make
bearing shepherds and teachers—that truth, the glory a compendium of them, being in all things obedient to
of which flashes out from within to brighten with its your command. But I beseech you, Honoured of God,
radiance, when they encounter it, them that are duly to be indulgent with me, who have been obedient to
purified and rid of troublesome speculations. However, your commands, and, receiving my obedience, to give
as I have said, I shall add nothing of my own, but shall me in return of the abundance of your prayers.
gather together into one those things which have been