In memory of St. John Chrysostom
This year Christians are observing the 1,600th anniversary of the death of St. John Chrysostom, one of the most venerated Fathers and Doctors of the Christian Church.
John was born in 347 in ancient Antioch (today: Antakya in Turkey). His father Secundus, a high-ranking military officer, died soon after the birth of his son, and the infant remained in the care of his 20-year-old mother Anthusa. John was baptized only after he obtained an education.
The future saint displayed a brilliant talent already in childhood and constantly sought to improve his knowledge by diligently studying the ancient Greek, Roman, and Christian philosophers. John learned oratorical skills from the well-known pagan orator Libanius. When the latter was asked many years later which of his pupils he considered his successor, he answered sadly, “Certainly John, if the Christians had not taken him away from us!”
After completing his studies, Chrysostom practiced law for some time and became a popular and highly eloquent speaker, but he was more interested in church affairs. After his mother’s death John sold his estate, doled out the proceeds to the poor, freed his slaves, and went on to become a hermit. He continued his self-education under the guidance of an old learned monk. Then he returned to the lay world, to his native city of Antioch.
John’s erudition and eloquence drew the attention of the Christian hierarchs, and he was soon ordained a deacon and later, a priest. John served in this capacity for 12 years: he preached the Christian faith indefatigably and took an active part in the life of the Antioch flock. Historians note that his fame as a preacher stretched far beyond the city, and his sermons were often interrupted by applause, much to the chagrin of the orator. Word has it that not only Christians but also Jews and pagans would come to the temple to hear his sermons.
Chrysostom’s sermons exerted increasingly greater influence on the residents of Antioch because he shared all the woes and joys of his flock, helped parishioners as much as he could, and organized hospitals and refuges that were open for all. John won acclaim and acquired the name Chrysostom (Golden-Tongued) throughout the Christian world, which then consisted of five Churches. According to legend, this name was used for the first time by an ordinary woman after hearing one of John’s sermons in a church.
In 397 John’s life radically changed. Under pressure from the Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius, the son of Theodosius I, John was ordained — against his will, according to chronicles — as Archbishop of Constantinople. He moved to the imperial capital and became the leading hierarch of Eastern Christianity, enthralling the residents of Constantinople and visitors to the city with his sermons. John was also actively engaged in eradicating the Arian heresy and sought to reconcile the perpetually quarreling bishops.
Nevertheless, he regarded the spiritual education of the flock as his chief mission. Much to his horror, he saw that the clergy in the capital lived in luxury (like today), which is not permitted to servants of Christ, and that the laity, instead of showing genuine respect for the church, was obsessed with an unbridled passion for theatrical-style shows. Superstitions and vestiges of recent paganism were ubiquitous. Chrysostom indefatigably scourged all these phenomena and in doing so made a lot influential enemies (mainly among the clergy), who were determined to oust him from his office. This conspiracy was mainly conceived by Arcadius’s wife, the Empress Eudoxia, a bossy, fussy, and pleasure-seeking woman, who assumed — with good reason — that Chrysostom’s passionate philippics were aimed at her. Their confrontation, which he could not possibly win, considerably marred the pastoral career of John Chrysostom.
The conflict ended this way. A silver statue of Eudoxia was erected on the capital’s central square, and the unveiling ceremony was followed by many days of lavish festivities in which huge crowds participated with abandon. These protracted heathenish revels interfered with the archbishop’s service and unable to endure this situation, on the Day of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist he gave a harsh, brilliant, and pointed sermon that began with the words: “Herodiade is once again dancing, she raves once again; once again she seeks the head of John the Baptist.” In other words, John Chrysostom was comparing Empress Eudoxia with the vicious wife of Herod Antipas. The empress was mortally offended. John was condemned to exile and banished to the remote Armenian town of Kukuz. He lived there for three years and soon won the respect of the local populace, which triggered another exile, this time to Pitiunt (today Pitsunda, Abkhazia). The journey was long and perilous. The roads through the Caucasus Mountains proved to be his undoing, and John Chrysostom died en route, not far from present-day Sukhumi. Word has it that on the night before his death John had a vision of the local martyr, St. Basiliscus, who told him, “Despair not, brother John! Tomorrow we shall be together.” That same night, 1,600 years ago, John Chrysostom died. His last words were, “Glory to God for all things!” Thirty years later, during the reign of
Emperor Theodosius II, the saint’s relics were solemnly reburied in Constantinople.
St. John Chrysostom left a large number of writings: about 800 homilies and treatises, including the interpretation of the Holy Writ: The Gospel of St. Matthew and the Epistle to the Apostle Paul. He harmonized the liturgical life of the Church (still followed) and introduced the Processions of the Cross into church practice (which some Orthodox clergymen so abuse today). His six-volume work On the Priesthood discusses the importance of pastoral service and the qualities that a true pastor should possess. An interesting detail: as Archbishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom was in contact with the church of the Crimean Goths and ordained Unilas as the bishop for this Orthodox Church. At the time, the Crimean Goths were mostly engaged in making wine and tilling the land, and they maintained peaceful relations with their neighbors.
Finally, I will underline another important idea promoted by St. John Chrysostom. He believed that the state and the church are two different institutions. The former is responsible for the earthly prosperity of people and the latter, for their eternal salvation: “The limits of the imperial power and the priesthood are different. One deals with civic affairs and the other with religious ones.” From his formula of the relationship between the church and secular power it follows that the “eternal salvation of people” is in the hands of the church, which belongs to an entirely different state — not the one that is called upon to ensure “people’s earthly prosperity.”
