In an age when holy images were being torn down, a quiet monk raised his pen in their defense. John of Damascus, poet, theologian, and steadfast advocate of the Christian East, wrote his three celebrated orations on the divine images with a clarity that has never faded. In these pages Christ is not an unapproachable idea but the Word made flesh, visible and touchable, worthy of grateful remembrance. Images become windows, not idols; the honor offered to a sacred picture passes through it to the One represented, just as the ink of these very pages draws the reader toward the truth it carries. This new edition renders John's enduring classic in present-day English, faithful to his meaning and warmed by his devotion, while remaining a scrupulous and readable translation rather than a loose adaptation. With introductions to each section, a glossary, and passages for reflection, it invites anyone, believer or curious reader, to encounter one of Christianity's great works of love and thought. Part of The World Scriptures Library.