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A few streets away, the St John of Damascus school that took a direct hit had already resumed its normal rhythms.

The region also birthed some of Christianity’s earliest theologians, including Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch; John of Chrysostom, a contemporary of Augustine; and John of Damascus, foundational for eastern orthodox theology. rpearlston DaveRoberts There are 2,500 literal prophecies in the Bible, and 2,000 of them have been fulfilled literally.

The arrival of Islam was met with ardent opposition from some Christian theologians who believed that it was not another faith but rather a religious fabrication — the 101st “heresy” according to St. John of Damascus who characterized Islam as “the forerunner of the Antichrist.”

It’s countered by manuscripts bearing arguments from two powerful defenders of icons, St. John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah.

Just as the internal development of the Greek Church in all essentials reached its limit with the Iconoclasts, so also its productive intellectual activity ceased with John of Damascus.