A Remind of the Age of a Book

I’m currently reading Exposition of the Orthodox Faith by St John of Damascus, and this passage suddenly made me realise just how old the book is (written around AD 730):

Further, some hold that the earth is in the form of a sphere, others that it is in that of a cone.

St. John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

What struck me most is that so many writings from the Early Church Fathers still feel remarkably contemporary.

Their questions about God, faith, temptation, virtue, and human nature often feel as relevant now as they must have then. But occasionally, you come across a passage like this and remember:

“Oh yeah… this book was written a long, long time ago.”

There is something incredible about being able to read his words almost 1,300 years later. It certainly puts our own little moment in history into perspective.

Talking about feeling insignificant…