Salvation and Repentance from the Church Fathers’ Viewpoint with Emphasis on the Views of John of Damascus

In most religious traditions, including the Abrahamic religions, the issue of salvation is of particular importance. In the doctrine of salvation, repentance is regarded as one of the ways to achieve this objective. Given the position of Jesus Christ as the Savior and Son of God, the topic of salvation is extensively discussed in Christian theology and ritual practices. In the Orthodox Church, Christian rituals including confession and icons are crucial for achieving salvation and defining Christian faith. The present article carefully investigates the usage and connotation of the two basic concepts of salvation and repentance in the Old Testament. Also, the spiritual and physical salvation of the sinful is man has been examined through its descent and relation to Christology according to such prominent church fathers like Irenaeus, Origin and Anselm. John of Damascus—a prominent eighth-century theologian and the last Greek church father—has specific and influential views on the status of the icons the relationship of this subject with salvation as well as the role of repentance have been carefully examined in the collected works of this theologian.