St. John Damascene
d. 749
Patron of icon painters
Saint John Damascene, also called John of Damascus (about 675–749), was born to a Christian family in Damascus, then the capital of the Muslim Umayyad caliphate. Like his father and grandfather, he served as a high official in the caliph's government before leaving it all to become a monk at the monastery of Mar Saba, in the desert near Jerusalem.