On the Orthodox Faith

On the Orthodox Faith touches on all the Church's main teachings: the Trinity, Christ and his saving work, the sacraments, Scripture, the veneration of icons, and the last things. It is the third part of St. John of Damascus' magnum opus: The Found of Knowledge.

St. John lived in turbulent times. Born at the beginning of Muslim rule in Syria, he later became a monk in the Holy Land. He fought against iconoclasm and wrote hymns that the Orthodox sing to this day. But he is perhaps best remembered for his profound theological synthesis, which drew upon all the earlier Fathers of the Church—especially Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor—and also influenced later generations both East and West.

This edition includes the critical Greek text with introduction, translation, and notes by Norman Russell.