Ethiopian Church Commemorates John of Damascus

Severian

John of Damascus is officially commemorated by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on December 17. Below is an excerpt from the Synaxarion of the Ethiopian Church. What do you all think? Discuss!

Saint Yohannes of Damascus
Monk Priest
Defender of the Orthodox Faith & Sacred Images

MONDAY
Tahisas 08 – December 17

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church joins with the entire Christians Church throughout the world on this Eight day of the month of Tahisas, December Seventeenth on the Western calendar, in venerating the memory of one of the Great Fathers of the Church, Saint Abba Yohannes of Damascus.

Abba Yohannes Damascene has the double honor of being one of the greatest religious poets of the Eastern Church. He also was a most powerful defender of the Christian Faith before the Islamic infidels and defended the use of Sacred Images (Carvings, Icons, Statues, etc) for and within Christian worship.

Please remember me in your prayers,
Severian

Severian

Also, the Ethiopians also commemorated the Byzantine Ascetic Luke the Stylite as a Saint. Very interesting...

Servos

One of the famous John of Damascus writings:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/damascus/icons.toc.html

But I don't know how good translation is.

Servos

Another major work of Saint John of Damascus, An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3304.htm

Dioscoros

The Ethiopian veneration of the heretic John of Damascus is a novelty, and it is illegitimate. It's simply an abuse which is likely due to scholastic Latinization. The Synaxarion entry for the pseudo-saint shows a certain unfamiliarity with his person holistically.

If anyone wants to see what exactly this accursed heretics' most profound Christological heresy is, it is mainly covered here. In short, John of Damascus realized that al of his predecessors were reducing Christ's humanity to an accident or phantom, and so he (following Nestorius) defined that the natures that "Christ is in two of" are the Word and a particular man:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334699079_Does_the_Flesh_Possess_Hypostatic_Idioms_and_If_So_Why_is_it_Then_Not_a_Separate_Hypostasis

ophadece

Dear @Dioscoros,
Although not directly related to this I would be very interested to hear your take on a similar matter in the Coptic Church as Augustine has been included in the Synexarium!
Ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ ϧⲉⲛ ⲡϭⲥ

Dioscoros

@ophadece hello my friend.

I'm not sure exactly what the question is yet, but preemptively I will say this:

St Augustine was a pre schism individual, and as such he was part of the Church and not a schismatic body. However, he believed many false things that the Church rejects, but he did these in gnorance since the Church had not condemned such views at his time. Some people speculate that some Fathers had an Arian-leaning theology. If they did, they're forgiven because the Church did not condemn Arianism until the 4th century.

St Augustine held to an erroneous view of original sin, christology (which he seems to have repented of in the Retractations), and perhaps pneumatology and aspects of his view on purgatory.

But remember, he could not be a heretic because these were not yet defined heresies that he held to in opposition to the Church. This is not the case with the heretics Damacene, Maximus of Constantinople, or any of the other Chalcedonian haters of the truth.

ophadece

Dear @Dioscoros,
I cannot thank you enough for your explanation. This is a topic that our dear well-learned friend @mabsoota has taught me before, so thank you for confirming that information.
I am more interested in the Coptic Synexarium and the erroneous inclusion of him on the same day as the Catholic Church celebrating his commemoration despite the calendar differences. More on that here:
http://ophadece.home.blog/2022/03/24/english-brief-note-on-refining-coptic-dates-in-various-resources/
I am interested in the calendar stuff as you may already be aware..
Thank you very much once again and sorry for the late reply..
Ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ ϧⲉⲛ ⲡϭⲥ