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Saint John Chrysostom
A millennium-old Byzantine mosaic of Saint John Chrysostom, Hagia Sophia
Born	349 Antioch
Died	407
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Orthodox Church
Feast	November 13 (Orthodox Church) September 13 Roman Catholic Church

John Chrysostom (349 - 407, Greek Ιωάννης ο Χρυσόστομος ) was a Christian bishop from the 4th and 5th centuries in Syria and Constantinople. He is known for his eloquence in public speaking and his denunciation of abuse of authority in the Church and in the Roman Empire of the time. He had notable ascetic sensibilities. After his death, he was given the Greek surname chrysostomos, "golden mouthed", rendered in English as Chrysostom.

The Orthodox Church honors him as a saint (feast day, November 13) and counts him among the Three Holy Hierarchs (feast day, January 30), together with Saints Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian. He is also recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, which considers him a saint and a Doctor of the Church, and the Church of England, both of which commemorate him on September 13. His relics were looted from Constantinople by Crusaders in 1204 and brought to Rome, but were returned on 27 November 2004 by Pope John Paul II .

Chrysostom is known within the Orthodox Church chiefly as a preacher (especially in his homilies on the New Testament) and liturgist, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is known outside the Orthodox Church for his anti-Jewish sermons, which played a considerable part in the history of Christian antisemitism, and were extensively used by the Nazis in their ideological campaign against the Jews.

He is sometimes referred to as John of Antioch, but that name more properly refers to John, the bishop of Antioch in 429-441, who led a group of moderate Eastern bishops in the Nestorian controversy. He is often confused with Dio Chrysostom.

Biography

John, later to be called "golden mouth" (Chrysostom), was born in Antioch in 349. His mother is variously described as a pagan or as a Christian, and his father was a high ranking military officer. John's father died soon after his birth and so he was brought up by his mother. He was baptised in 368 or 373 and tonsured a reader (one of the minor orders of the Church). He began his education under a Pagan teacher named Libanius, but went on to study theology under Diodore of Tarsus (one of the leaders of the later Antiochian school) while practising extreme asceticism. He was not satisfied, however, and became a hermit circa 375; he spent the next two years continually standing, scarcely sleeping, and learning the Bible by heart. As a consequence of these practices, his stomach and kidneys were permanently damaged and poor health forced a return to Antioch.

He was then ordained a deacon in 381 by St. Meletius of Antioch, and was ordained a presbyter/priest in 386 by Bishop Flavian I of Antioch. It seems this was the happiest period of his life. Over about twelve years, he gained much popularity for the eloquence of his public speaking. Notable are his insightful expositions of Bible passages and moral teaching. The most valuable of his works are his Homilies on various books of the Bible. He emphasised almsgiving. He was most concerned with the spiritual and temporal needs of the poor. He also spoke out against abuse of wealth and personal property:

Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: "This is my body" is the same who said: "You saw me hungry and you gave me no food", and "Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me"… What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.

In many respects, the following he amassed was no surprise. His straightforward understanding of the Scriptures (in contrast to the Alexandrian tendency towards allegorical interpretation) meant that the themes of his talks were eminently social, explaining the Christian's conduct in life.

One incident that happened during his service in Antioch perhaps illustrates the influence of his sermons best. Around the time he arrived in Antioch, the bishop had to intervene with Emperor Theodosius I on behalf of citizens who had gone on a riotous rampage in which statues of the Emperor and his family were mutilated. During the weeks of Lent in 397, John preached twenty-one sermons in which he entreated the people to see the error of their ways. These apparently had a lasting impression on the people: many pagans reportedly converted to Christianity as a result of them. In the event, Theodosius' vengeance was not as severe as it might have been.

In 398 he was called (somewhat against his will) to be the bishop in Constantinople. He deplored the fact that Imperial court protocol would now assign to him access to privileges greater than the highest state officials. During his time as bishop he adamantly refused to host lavish entertainments. This meant he was popular with the common people, but unpopular with the wealthy and the clergy. In a sermon soon after his arrival he said "people praise the predecessor to disparage the successor". His reforms of the clergy were also unpopular with these groups. He told visiting regional preachers to return to the churches they were meant to be serving - without any pay out.

His time there was to be far less at ease than in Antioch. Theophilus, the Patriarch of Alexandria, wanted to bring Constantinople under his sway and opposed John's appointment to Constantinople. Being an opponent of Origen's teachings, he accused John of being too partial to the teachings of that master. Theophilus had disciplined four Egyptian monks (known as "the tall brothers") over their support of Origen's teachings. They fled to and were welcomed by John. He made another enemy in Aelia Eudoxia, the wife of the eastern Emperor Arcadius, who assumed (perhaps with justification) that his denunciations of extravagance in feminine dress were aimed at herself.

Depending on one's outlook, John was either tactless or fearless when denouncing offences in high places:

What, pray, are we afraid of? Death? ‘For me life is Christ, and death gain.’ But tell me, is it exile? ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.’ Is it the loss of property? We brought nothing into the world. It is certain we can take nothing out of it. The terrors of the world I despise, its treasures I deem laughable. I am not afraid of poverty, I do not long for wealth. I do not dread death, I do not pray to live, except to help you advance in virtue. So I simply note what is happening at present and I call on you, my dear people, to be of good heart.

An alliance was soon formed against him by Eudoxia, Theophilus and others of his enemies. They held a synod in 403 to charge John, in which the Origen factor was used against him. It resulted in his deposition and banishment. He was called back by Arcadius almost immediately, however. The people were very angry about his departure. There was also an earth tremour which was seen as a sign of God's anger. Peace was shortlived. A silver statue of Eudoxia was erected near his cathedral. John denounced the dedication ceremonies. He spoke against her in harsh terms: "Again Herodias rages; again she is confounded; again she demands the head of John on a charger" (an allusion to the events surrounding the death of John the Baptist). Once again he was banished, this time to the Caucasus in Armenia.

Pope Innocent I protested at this banishment, but to no avail. John wrote letters which still held great influence in Constantinople. As a result of this, he was further exiled to Pitiunt, (Abkhazia region of Georgia) where his tomb is the shrine for pilgrims. However, he never reached this destination, as he died during the journey. His final words were "Glory be to God for all things!"

Homiletical writings

Chrysostom's extant homiletical works are vast, including many hundreds of exegetical sermons on both the New Testament (especially the works of Saint Paul) and the Old Testament (particularly on Genesis). Among his extant exegetical works are included sixty-seven homilies on Genesis, fifty-nine on the Psalms, ninety on the Gospel of Matthew, eight-eight on the Gospel of John, and fifty-five on the Acts of the Apostles.

The sermons were written down by the audience and subsequently circulated, revealing a style that tends to be direct and greatly personal, but also formed by the rhetorical conventions of his time and place. In general, his homiletical theology displays much characteristic of the Antiochian school (i.e., somewhat more literal in interpreting Biblical events), but he also uses a good deal of the allegorical interpretation more associated with the Alexandrian school.

Adversus Judaeos

Chrysostom denounced Jews in eight sermons known in Greek by the title Kata Ioudaion (According to the Jews), and in Latin as Adversus Judaeos (Against the Jews) ; he delivered these homilies between 386 and 387, his first two years as a presbyter in Antioch. John held Jews responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus and added that they continued to rejoice in Jesus's death. Chrysostom attempted to defame the synagogue, which he compared to a pagan temple and represented it to his audience as the source of all vices and heresies. He described the synagogue as a place worse than a brothel and a drinking shop; it was a den of scoundrels, the repair of wild beasts, a temple of demons, the refuge of brigands of debauchees, and the cavern of devils, a criminal assembly of the assassins of Christ. Chrysostom's biographer also recorded his claim that among the Jews the priesthood may be purchased and sold for money. Finally, he declared that he hated the synagogue and the Jews.

One of the purposes of these attacks was to prevent Christians from joining with Jewish customs, and thus prevent the erosion of Chrysostom's flock. In his sermons, Chrysostom criticized those "Judaizing Christians", who were participating in Jewish festivals and taking part in other Jewish observances, such as the Sabbath, submitted to circumcision and made pilgrimage to Jewish holy places. Chrysostom claimed that on the sabbaths and Jewish festivals synagogues were full of Christians, especially women, who loved the solemnity of the Jewish liturgy, enjoyed listening to the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, and applauded famous preachers in accordance with the contemporary custom. A recent thesis is that he instead tried to persuade Jewish Christians, who for centuries had kept connections with Jews and Judaism, to choose between Judaism and Christianity.

These homilies are not often mentioned in most scholarly work on Chrysostom and collections of his works, probably because they constitute such a minor portion of it. In any event, in other sermons, Chrysostom is quite admiring of the Jews and the strength of their piety and devotion.

Other writings

Besides his homiletical works, a number of letters of Chrysostom are extant, including the well-known letters to the deaconess Olympias. He also authored a number of treatises, including the famous On the Priesthood (one of his earlier works), but also Instructions to Catechumens and On the Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature.

Two of his writings deserve special mention. He harmonized the liturgical life of the Church by revising the prayers and rubrics of the Divine Liturgy, or celebration of the Holy Eucharist. To this day, Eastern Orthodox churches typically celebrate the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom, together with Catholic churches that are in the Eastern or Byzantine rites. These same churches also read his Catechetical Homily at every Easter, the greatest feast of the church year.

Legacy

The Chrysostom Monastery in Moscow (1882).

During a time when city clergy were subject to much criticism for their high life style, John was determined to reform his clergy at Constantinople. These efforts were met with resistance and limited success. He was an excellent preacher. As a theologian, he has been and continues to be very important in Eastern Christianity, and is generally considered the most prominent doctor of the Greek Church, but has been less important to Western Christianity. His writings have survived to the present day more so than any of the other Greek Fathers. He rejected the contemporary trend for allegory, instead speaking plainly and applying Bible passages and lessons to everyday life.

His banishments demonstrated that secular powers dominated the eastern church at this period in history. It also demonstrated the rivalry between Constantinople and Alexandria for recognition as the preeminent eastern see. This mutual hostility would eventually lead to much suffering for the church and the Eastern Empire. Meanwhile in the west, Rome's primacy had been unquestioned from the fourth century onwards. An interesting point to note in the wider development of the Papacy is that Innocent's protests had availed nothing, demonstrating the lack of secular influence the Bishops of Rome held in the east at this time.

A number of famous people have also been baptized with the name John Chrysostom, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jan Zahradníček and Jan Čep.

Modern influence

Antisemitism

Chrysostom's Adversus Judaeos homilies have been circulated by many groups to foster anti-Semitism. Parkes called the writing on Jews "the most horrible and violent denunciations of Judaism to be found in the writings of a Christian theologian". His sermons against Jews gave momentum to the accusation of deicide — the idea that Jews are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. During World War II, the Nazi Party in Germany abused his work in an attempt to legitimize the Holocaust in the eyes of German and Austrian Christians. His works were freqently quoted and reprinted as a witness for the prosecution.

After World War II, Nazi use of Chrysostom's works became an embarrassment for the Christian Churches, which attempted to explain his words with reference to the historical context. It was argued that in the 4th century, the general discourse was brutal and aggressive and that at the time when the Christian church was fighting for survival and recognition, mercy and forgiveness were not in demand. According to Patristics scholars, opposition to any particular view during the late 4th century was conventionally expressed in a manner, utilizing the rhetorical form known as the psogos, whose literary conventions were to vilify opponents in an uncompromising manner. Thus it has been argued that to call Chrysostom an "anti-Semite" is to employ anachronistic terminology in a way incongruous with historical context and record.

Clergy

Christian clerics, such as R.S. Storr, refer to him as "one of the most eloquent preachers who ever since apostolic times have brought to men the divine tidings of truth and love", and the 19th century John Henry Cardinal Newman described Chrysostom as a "bright, cheerful, gentle soul; a sensitive heart."

Literature

James Joyce refers to "Chrysostomos" in the very first page of his book Ulysses in describing a character, not for that characters eloquent oratory abilities but whose "even white teeth glisten here and there with two gold points". In doing so Joyce uses the name Chrysostomos in the literal, as opposed to the metaphorical, sense.

Publications

The best Greek edition of Chrysostom's works is that by Sir Henry Savile (eight volumes, Eton, 1613); and the most complete Greek and Latin edition is that of Montfaucon (thirteen volumes, Paris, 1718-38) republished in 1834-40). There is an English translation in the first series of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (London and New York, 1889-90). For his biography, consult Stephens (third edition, London, 1883); Bush (London, 1885); Chase (London, 1887); Marshal (Paris, 1898).

Notes

Constitution of Pope Vigilius, 553
^ Catholic Encyclopedia
"John Chrysostom," Encyclopaedia Britannica.
^ "John Chrysostom", Encyclopedia Judaica
^ Laqueur 48
Wilken (1983, 5).
The date of John's birth is disputed. For a discussion, see Carter (1962) and Dumortier (1951). Carter dates his birth to the year 349.
Allen and Mayer (2000), p. 5
Wilken (1983, 7).
Allen and Mayer (2000), p. 6
John Chrysostom, In Evangelium S. Matthaei, hom. 50:3-4: PG 58, 508-509
Against the Jews is the literal translation of the Latin title traditionally given by scholars; however, the sermons or homilies are sometimes given the alternative translation Against the Judaizers or even Against Judaizing Christians because, as a religious preacher, Chrysostom's writings seem based on religious practices rather than ethnicity.
^ Brustein (2003), p. 52
^ Laqueur 47–48
Wilken (1983, xv).
Stark 66–67
They are not mentioned, for instance, in the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (pp. 342-343, 3rd ed.) or the Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (pp. 268-269), nor in the six Chrysostom volumes of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series. There is one work in English dealing specifically with this subject by Robert Louis Wilken.
Wilken (1983, xv), quoting Parkes (1969 ).
Wilken (1983), p.__

References

Allen, Pauline and Mayer, Wendy (2000). John Chrysostom. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18252-2

Brändle, R., V. Jegher-Bucher, and Johannes Chrysostomus (1995). Acht Reden gegen Juden (Bibliothek der griechischen Literatur 41), Stuttgart: Hiersemann.

Brustein, William I. (2003). Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe before the Holocaust. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-5217-7308-3

Carter, Robert (1962). "The Chronology of St. John Chrystostom's Early Life." Traditio 18:357–64.

Chrysostom, John (1979). Discourses against Judaizing Christians, trans. Paul W. Harkins. The Fathers of the Church; v. 68. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.

Dumortier, Jean (1951). "La valeur historique du dialogue de Palladius et la chronologie de saint Jean Chrysostome." Mélanges de science religieuse, 8, 51–56.

Hartney, Aideen (2004). John Chrysostom and the Transformation of the City. Duckworth.

Laqueur, Walter (2006). The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times To The Present Day. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-530429-2.

Lewy, Yohanan (1997). "John Chrysostom". Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 965-07-0665-8.

Maxwell, C. Mervyn (1967). Chrysostom's homilies against the Jews : an English translation, Thesis (Ph. D.). University of Chicago.

Parks, James (1969). Prelude to Dialogue. London.

Pradels, W. (2002). "Lesbos Cod. Gr. 27 : The Tale of a Discovery", Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 6, pp. 81-89.

Pradels, W., R. Brändle, and M. Heimgartner (2001). "Das bisher vermisste Textstück in Johannes Chrysostomus, Adversus Judaeos, Oratio 2", Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 5, pp. 23-49.

Pradels, W., R. Brändle, and M. Heimgartner (2002). "The sequence and dating of the series of John Chyrsostom’s eight discourses Adversus Judaeos", Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 6, 90-116.

Stark, Rodney (1997). The Rise of Christianity. How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. Princeton University Press.

Wilken, Robert Louis (1983). John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press.