St John Damascene (c. 676-749) is one of the principal links between the Greek Fathers and mediaeval Latin theology. His De Fide Orthodoxa was in many ways an epitome of Greek patristic thought, and was one of the major influences on St Thomas Aquinas, ensuring that the thought of Aquinas was never one-sidedly Augustinian, but that it truly represented a blend of the Latin and Byzantine traditions.
God Who is good and altogether good and more than good, Who is goodness throughout, by reason of the exceeding riches of His goodness did not suffer Himself, that is His nature, only to be good, with no other to participate therein, but because of this He made first the spiritual and heavenly powers; next the visible and sensible universe; next man with his spiritual and sentient nature.
All things, therefore, which he made, share in His goodness in respect of their existence. For He Himself is existence to all, since all things that are, are in Him, not only because it was He that brought them out of nothing into being, but because His energy preserves and maintains all that He made; and in especial the living creatures. For both in that they exist and in that they enjoy life they share in His goodness....
Man, however, being endowed with reason and free will, received the power of living in continuous union with God through his own choice, if indeed he should abide in goodness, that is in obedience to his Maker.
Since, however, he transgressed the command of his Creator and became liable to death and corruption, the Creator and Maker of our race, because of His bowels of compassion, took on our likeness, becoming man in all things but without sin, and was united to our nature.
For since He bestowed on us His own image and His own spirit and we did not keep them safe, He took Himself a share in our poor and weak nature, in order that He might cleanse us and make us incorruptible, and establish us once more as partakers of His divinity.
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Perhaps on the subject of justification by grace and the way this fits with human action John Damascene influences some of the scholastics including Alexander of Hales and thus Bonaventure and then also Aquinas and Duns Scotus. John Damascene seems to be one of the main patristic theologians that has some Aristotelian influences and thus he fits in better with Aquinas and some of the scholastics in some ways than some of the other earlier theologians. Besides his Aristotelian influences effecting his view on human nature, creation and the moral life, he seems to have a fully integrated profound vision of the Trinity, Christ, the sacraments, and doctrine as a whole and sees how it fits in with creation and human nature without overcoming it or negating it.
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