The letter was of course a forgery, but so clever that when the caliph showed John the letter he
acknowledged the similarity of the writing, while he denied the authorship. But the caliph in
punishment of his (supposed) treachery had his right hand cut off, and, as was the custom, hung
up in a public place. In answer to John’s request it was, however, given to him in the evening,
ostensibly for burial. He then put the hand to the stump of his arm, prostrated himself before an
image of the Virgin Mary in his private chapel, and prayed the Virgin to cause the parts to adhere.
He fell asleep: in a vision the Virgin told him that his prayer had been granted, and he awoke to
find it true. Only a scar remained to tell the story of his mutilation. The miracle of course convinced
the caliph of the innocence of his servant, and he would fain have retained him in office, but John
requested his absolute dismission.^880 This story was manifestly invented to make out that the great
defender of image-worship deserved a martyr’s crown.^881
Other legends which have more of a basis of fact relate to his residence in the convent of
St. Sabas. Here, it is said., he was enthusiastically received, but no one would at first undertake the
instruction of so famous a scholar. At length an old monk undertook it, and subjected him to the
most humiliating tests and vexatious restrictions, which he bore in a very saintly way. Thus he sent
him once to Damascus to sell a load of convent-made baskets at double their real value, in order
that his pride might be broken by the jeers and the violence of the rabble. He was at first insulted;
but at last a man who had been formerly his servant, bought out of compassion the baskets at the
exorbitant price, and the saint returned victorious over vanity and pride. He was also put to the
most menial services. And, what must have been equally trying, he was forbidden to write prose
or poetry. But these trials ended on a hint from the Virgin Mary who appeared one night to the old
monk and told him that John was destined to play a great part in the church. He was accordingly
allowed to follow the bent of his genius and put his immense learning at the service of religion.
II. Writings. The order of his numerous writings^882 is a mere matter of conjecture. It seems
natural to begin with those which first brought their author into notice, and upon which his fame
popularly rests. These were his three Orations,^883 properly circular letters, upon image worship,
universally considered as the ablest presentation of the subject from the side of the
image-worshippers. The first^884 appeared probably in 727, shortly after the Emperor Leo the Isaurian
had issued his edict forbidding the worship of "images," by which term was meant not sculptures,
but in the Greek Church pictures exclusively; the second^885 after Leo’s edict of 730 ordering the
destruction of the images; and the third^886 at some later time.
In the first of these three letters John advanced these arguments: the Mosaic prohibitions
of idolatry were directed against representations of God, not of men, and against the service of
images, not their honor. Cherubim made by human hands were above the mercy-seat. Since the
Incarnation it is allowable to represent God himself. The picture is to the ignorant what the book
(^880) This famous tale falls of its own weight. Even Roman Catholics, like Alzog (Patrologie, 2d ed., p. 405) admit that it
lacks support. It is certainly noteworthy that the second Nicene council apparently knew nothing of this miracle. Cf Grundlehner,
p. 42 n.; Langen, p. 22.
(^881) Langen, p. 22.
(^882) Carefully analyzed by Lupton and Langen.
(^883) De Imaginibus Orationes III., in Migne, XCIV.
(^884) l.c. col. 1232-1284.
(^885) l.c.. col. 1284-1317.
(^886) l.c. col. 1317-1420.