Editing John of Damascus (section)

==Family background==
John was born in [[Damascus]], in 675 or 676, to a prominent Damascene [[Arab Christian]] family.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bowersock|first=Glen Warren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c788wWR_bLwC&pg=PA222|title=Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World|date=1999|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-51173-6|pages=222|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Griffith|2001|p=20}}</ref>{{efn|"Although scholars commonly ascribe Arabic or Syrian origin to John of Damascus, his ethnicity remains uncertain".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shukurov |first1=Rustam |title=Byzantine Ideas of Persia, 650–1461 |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge|page=139}}</ref>}} 
His father, [[Sarjun ibn Mansur]], served as an official of the early [[Umayyad Caliphate]]. His grandfather, [[Mansur ibn Sarjun]], was a prominent [[Byzantine]] official of Damascus,  who had been responsible for the taxes of the region during the reign of Emperor [[Heraclius]] and also served under Emperor [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]].<ref name="Brownp307"/><ref name="Janosik25">{{harvnb|Janosik|2016|p=25}}</ref> 
Mansur seems to have played a role in the capitulation of Damascus to the troops of [[Khalid ibn al-Walid]] in 635 after securing favorable conditions of surrender.<ref name="Brownp307">{{harvnb|Brown|2003|p=307}}</ref><ref name="Janosik25"/> [[Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria|Eutychius]], a 10th-century [[Melkite]] patriarch, mentions him as one high-ranking official involved in the surrender of the city to the Muslims.<ref name=Sahas17>{{Harvnb|Sahas|1972|p=17}}</ref>

The tribal background of Mansur ibn Sarjun, John's grandfather, is unknown, but biographer Daniel Sahas has speculated that the name Mansur could have implied descent from the [[Arab Christians|Arab Christian tribes]] of [[Banu Kalb|Kalb]] or [[Taghlib]].<ref name=Sahas7>{{Harvnb|Sahas|1972|p=7}}</ref> 
The name was common among Syrian Christians of Arab origins, and Eutychius noted that the governor of Damascus, who was likely Mansur ibn Sarjun, was an Arab.<ref name=Sahas7/> However, Sahas also asserts that the name does not necessarily imply an Arab background and could have been used by non-Arab, Semitic Syrians.<ref name=Sahas7/> While Sahas and biographers F. H. Chase and Andrew Louth assert that ''Mansūr'' was an Arabic name, Raymond le Coz asserts that the "family was without doubt of Syrian origin";<ref name="Janosik26">{{harvnb|Janosik|2016|p=26}}</ref> indeed, according to historian Daniel J. Janosik, "Both aspects could be true, for if his family ancestry were indeed Syrian, his grandfather [Mansur] could have been given an Arabic name when the Arabs took over the government."<ref>{{harvnb|Janosik|2016|pp=26–27}}</ref> 
When [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|Syria was conquered by the Muslim Arab]]s in the 630s, the court at Damascus retained its large complement of Christian civil servants, John's grandfather among them.<ref name="Brownp307"/><ref name=Sahas17/> John's father, [[Sarjun ibn Mansur|Sarjun (Sergius)]], went on to serve the Umayyad [[caliph]]s.<ref name="Brownp307"/> John of Jerusalem claims that he also served as a senior official in the fiscal administration of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] under [[Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan|Abd al-Malik]] before leaving [[Damascus]] and his position around 705 to go to [[Jerusalem]] and become a [[monk]]. However, this point is debated within the academic community as there is no trace of him in the Umayyad archives, unlike his father and grandfather. Some researchers, such as [[Robert G. Hoyland]],<ref name="Hoyland 1996 481">{{harvnb|Hoyland|1996|p=481}}</ref> deny such an affiliation, while others, like Daniel Sahas or the Orthodox historian [[John Meyendorff|Jean Meyendorff]], suppose that he might have been a lower-level tax administrator, a local tax collector who would not have needed to be mentioned in the archives, but who might not have necessarily been part of the court either.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Daniel John|isbn=978-90-04-47044-6|last1=Sahas|page=335|publisher=Brill|title=Byzantium and Islam: collected studies on Byzantine-Muslim encounters|date=7 September 2023 }}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meyendorff |first=John |date=1964 |title=Byzantine Views of Islam |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291209 |journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers |volume=18 |pages=113–132 |doi=10.2307/1291209 |jstor=1291209 |quote=If we are to believe this traditional account, the information that John was in the Arab administration of Damascus under the Umayyads and had, therefore, a first-hand knowledge of the Arab Moslem civilization, would, of course, be very valuable. Unfortunately, the story is mainly based upon an eleventh- century Arabic life, which in other respects is full of incredible legends. Earlier sources are much more reserved.}}</ref> In addition, John's own writings never refer to any experience in a Muslim court. It is believed that John became a monk at [[Mar Saba]], and that he was ordained as a priest in 735.<ref name="Brownp307"/><ref name="McEnhillNewlandsp154">{{harvnb|McEnhill|Newlands|2004|p=154}}</ref>