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John of Damascus
c. AD 726-730 · 3 parts
Three defenses of the veneration of icons, written under Muslim rule while the Byzantine emperor was attacking them. The argument rests on the Incarnation: because God took visible flesh, He can be shown in an image. Also known as the three treatises On the Divine Images.
In this translation the three treatises are called Part I, Part II and Part III, and the paragraphs are not numbered. Modern editions number the sections differently, so section numbers from other books will not match.
Translation by Mary H. Allies: St John Damascene on Holy Images, followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption (London: Thomas Baker, 1898; Imprimatur of Cardinal Vaughan).
Text from Project Gutenberg eBook #49917, produced by Andrew Dunning from University of Toronto scans.