With the help of generous supporters of the Seminary, St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press is closer to publishing St. John of Damascus’ masterwork, The Fount of Knowledge. It will be the third of the new Popular Patristics Series: Longer Works. Longer Works is an extension of the classic SVS Press series designed to publish major, full-length patristic texts that are too long for the traditional Popular Patristics Series format.
What makes The Fount of Knowledge so significant, and why is SVS Press working on a new translation to bring to readers? Press Director Dr. Daniel Stauffer offers his thoughts.
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Could you offer a brief biographical sketch about St. John of Damascus—his early life and formation, his path in ministry?
John of Damascus was born in Damascus several decades after it was conquered by the Muslims in the mid-seventh century. Coming from an elite family, he served in the court of the Umayyad caliphate. Eventually, probably due to increasing hostility towards Christians from the Muslim rulers, he abandoned his civil-service career to become a monk at the Monastery of St. Sabas near Jerusalem, where he lived the rest of his life. Here he gave orations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—for which he received the name Χρυσορρόας, or “flowing with gold”—and composed a great deal of liturgical poetry that is still used by the Orthodox Church today. (For instance, the text of Matins used during the midnight Paschal Service every year is attributed to St. John.)
St. John is considered one of the greatest of the early Church fathers of the East during the first millenium. Why is he so significant, and what is the reason for his enduring appeal?
St. John of Damascus is important because he acts as a synthesis of much of the preceding patristic tradition. He also has a significantly easier and more straight-forward style than many other patristic authors, which makes him more accessible to a broader audience. He is also of great interest as the first of the great Christian authors to interact with Islam, and this gives his work significance for understanding the new world emerging in the Near East in the seventh and eighth centuries.
Tell us a bit about the translation process and the translator of this work, and why the Press prioritized a new version of St. John's magnum opus when other versions already exist.
There is only one prior translation of The Fount of Knowledge, done in the 1950s and published by Catholic University of America (CUA) Press. This translation is, unfortunately, somewhat outdated and inaccurate in places, and it was done based on an imperfect version of the original Greek text. Now that we have a much-improved version of the Greek text (the editor, Bonifatius Kotter, dedicated basically his entire life to producing immaculate versions of all of St. John’s prose works), SVS Press thought it was time for a new translation. The translator for this project, Norman Russell, is one of the foremost living translators of Byzantine theological texts.
Who do you believe will benefit from this book? Are portions of it accessible to lay readers?
On the Orthodox Faith, which is the third part of The Fount of Knowledge, was published by SVS Press in 2022, and it immediately became one of our most popular books. That being said, SVS Press always intended to publish the first two parts of The Fount of Knowledge as well, although Norman Russell only finished the translation of these earlier parts after On the Orthodox Faith had been out for several years. Presenting the entire work in a single volume will provide readers with the most comprehensive view possible of John of Damascus’ approach to the Christian faith.
This book is the third in the Popular Patristics Series: Longer Works, a new subseries recently launched by SVS Press. Can you tell us a little more about the Longer Works?
SVS Press is very excited for its new Popular Patristics Series: Longer Works. St. Gregory Palamas’ Triads was the first volume in this subseries, and it has been a huge hit with our readers, and the second volume, Hymns of Divine Eros by St. Symeon the New Theologian, is currently being printed. A great thing about Longer Works is it allows us to publish a whole range of patristic works that could never have fit into the smaller volumes of the Popular Patristics Series. The higher prices of these books also allow us to produce a higher quality physical product (hard cover, sewn binding, etc.) that will last through decades of reading and rereading by our customers.
Would you like to help make this important work available to the public in a fresh English translation, and for the first time printed with the Greek text on the facing page? Become a partner with SVS Press and invest in this exciting project. Click here to learn how.
