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CHRYSOSTOM

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 322 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHRYSOSTOM . St See also:

John Chrysostom (Xpuabaropos, See also:golden-mouthed), the most famous of the See also:Greek Fathers, was See also:born of a See also:noble See also:family at See also:Antioch, the See also:capital of See also:Syria, about A.D. 345 or 347. At the school of See also:Libanius the sophist he gave See also:early indications of his See also:mental See also:powers, and would have been the successor of his See also:heathen See also:master, had he not been stolen away, to use the expression of his teacher, to a See also:life of piety (like See also:Augustine, See also:Gregory of Nazianzus, and See also:Theodoret) by the See also:influence of his pious See also:mother Anthusa. After his See also:baptism (about 370) by Meletius, the See also:bishop of Antioch, he gave up all his forensic prospects, and buried himself in an adjacent See also:desert, where for nearly ten years he spent a life of ascetic self-denial and theological study, to which he was introduced by Diodorus, bishop of See also:Tarsus, a famous See also:scholar of the Antiochene type. Illness, however, compelled him to return to the See also:world; and the authority of Meletius gained his services to the See also:church. He was ordained See also:deacon in his See also:thirty-fifth See also:year (381), and afterwards See also:presbyter (386) at Antioch. On the See also:death of Nectarius he was appointed See also:archbishop of See also:Constantinople by See also:Eutropius, the favourite See also:minister of the See also:emperor See also:Arcadius. He had, ten years before this, only escaped promotion to the episcopate by a very questionable stratagem—which, however, he defends in his instructive and eloquent See also:treatise De Sacerdotio. As a presbyter, he won high reputation by his-See also:preaching at Antioch, more especially by his homilies on The Statues, a course of sermons delivered when the citizens were justly alarmed at the prospect of severe See also:measures being taken against them by the emperor See also:Theodosius, whose statues had been demolished in a See also:riot. On the archiepiscopal See also:throne Chrysostom still persevered in the practice of monastic simplicity. The ample revenues which his predecessors had consumed in pomp and luxury he diligently applied to the See also:establishment of hospitals; and the multitudes who were supported by his charity preferred the eloquent discourses of their benefactor to the amusements of the See also:theatre or of the See also:circus.

His homilies, which are still preserved, furnish ample See also:

apology for the partiality of the See also:people, exhibiting the See also:free command of a pure and copious vocabulary, an inexhaustible fund of metaphors and similitudes, giving variety and See also:grace to the most See also:familiar topics, with an almost dramatic exposure of the folly and turpitude of See also:vice, and a deep moral earnestness. His zeal as a bishop and eloquence as a preacher, however, gained him enemies both in the church and at the See also:court. The ecclesiastics who were parted at his command from the See also:lay-sisters (whom they kept ostensibly as servants), the thirteen bishops whom he deposed for See also:simony and licentiousness at a single visitation, the idle monks who thronged the avenues to the court and found themselves the public See also:object of his scorn—all conspired against the powerful author of their wrongs. Their resentment was inflamed by a powerful party, embracing the magistrates, the ministers, the favourite eunuchs, the ladies of the court, and Eudoxia the empress herself, against whom the preacher thundered daily from the See also:pulpit of St See also:Sophia. A favourable pretext for gratifying their revenge was discovered in the shelter which Chrysostom had given to four Nitrian monks, known as the tall See also:brothers, who had come to Constantinople onbeing excommunicated by their bishop, See also:Theophilus of See also:Alexandria, a See also:man who had See also:long circulated in the See also:East the See also:charge of Origenism against Chrysostom. By Theophilus's instrumentality a See also:synod was called to try or rather to condemn the archbishop; but fearing the violence of the See also:mob in the See also:metropolis, who idolized him for the fearlessness with which he exposed the vices of their superiors, it held its sessions at the imperial See also:estate named " The See also:Oak " (Synodus ad quercum), near See also:Chalcedon, where See also:Rufinus had erected a stately church and monastery. A bishop and a deacon were sent to accuse the archbishop, and presented to him a See also:list of charges, in which See also:pride, inhospitality and Origenism were brought forward to procure the votes of those who hated him for his austerity, or were prejudiced against him as a suspected heretic. Four successive summonses were signified to Chrysostom, but he indignantly refused to appear until four of his notorious enemies were removed from the See also:council. Without entering into any examination of the charges brought before them, the synod condemned him on the ground of See also:contumacy, and, hinting that his audacity merited the See also:punishment of See also:treason, called on the emperor to ratify and enforce their decision. He was immediately arrested and hurried to See also:Nicaea in See also:Bithynia. As soon as the See also:news of his banishment spread through the See also:city, the astonishment of the people was quickly exchanged for a spirit of irresistible fury, which was increased by the occurrence of an See also:earthquake. In crowds they besieged the See also:palace, and had already begun to take vengeance on the See also:foreign monks and sailors who had come from Chalcedon to the metropolis, when, at the entreaty of Eudoxia, the emperor consented to his recall.

His return was graced with all the pomp of a triumphal entry, but in two months after he was again in See also:

exile. His fiery zeal could not See also:blind him to the vices of the court, and heedless of See also:personal danger he thundered against the profane honours that were addressed almost within the precincts of St Sophia to the statue of the empress. The haughty spirit of Eudoxia was inflamed by the See also:report of a discourse commencing with the words—" Herodias is again furious; Herodias again dances; she once more demands the See also:head of John "; and though the report was false, it sealed the See also:doom of the archbishop. A new council was summoned, more numerous and more subservient to the wishes of Theophilus; and troops of barbarians were quartered in the city to overawe the people. Without examining it, the council confirmed the former See also:sentence, and, in accordance with See also:canon 12 of the Synod of Antioch (341), pronounced his deposition for having resumed his functions without their permission. He was hurried away to the desolate See also:town of Cucusus (Cocysus), among the ridges of See also:Mount See also:Taurus, with a See also:secret See also:hope, perhaps, that he might be a victim to the Isaurians on the See also:march, or to the more implacable fury of the monks. He arrived at his destination in safety; and the sympathies of the people, which had roused them to See also:fire the See also:cathedral and See also:senate-See also:house on the See also:day of his exile, followed him to his obscure See also:retreat. His influence also became more powerfully See also:felt in the metropolis than before. In his solitude he had ample leisure for forming schemes of missionary enterprise among Persians and Goths, and by his See also:correspondence with the different churches he at once baffled his enemies and gave greater See also:energy to his See also:friends. This roused the emperor to visit him with a severer punishment, though See also:Innocent I. of See also:Rome and the emperor See also:Honorius recognized his orthodoxy and besought his return. An See also:order was despatched for his removal to the extreme desert of Pityus; and his See also:guards so faithfully obeyed their instructions that, before he reached the See also:sea-See also:coast of the Euxine, he expired at See also:Comana in See also:Pontus, in the year 407. His exile gave rise to a See also:schism in the church, and the Johannists (as they were called) did not return to communion with the archbishop of Constantinople till the See also:relics of the See also:saint were, 30 years after, brought back to the Eastern metropolis with See also:great pomp and the emperor publicly implored forgiveness from See also:Heaven for the See also:guilt of his ancestors.

The festival of St Chrysostom is kept in the Greek Church on the 13th of See also:

November, and in the Latin Church on the 27th of See also:January. In his See also:general teaching Chrysostom elevates the ascetic See also:element in See also:religion, and in his homilies he inculcates the need of personal acquaintance with the Scriptures, and denounces See also:ignorance of them as the source of all See also:heresy. If on one or two points, as, for instance, the invocation of See also:saints, some germs of subsequent See also:Roman teaching may be discovered, there is a want of anything like the See also:doctrine of indulgences or of compulsory private See also:confession. Moreover, in See also:writing to Innocent, bishop of Rome, he addresses him as a See also:brother See also:metropolitan, and sends the same See also:letter to Venerius, bishop of See also:Milan, and Chromatius, bishop of See also:Aquileia. His correspondence breathes a most See also:Christian spirit, especially in its See also:tone of charity towards his persecutors. In exegesis he is a pure Antiochene, basing his expositions upon thorough grammatical study, and proceeding from a knowledge of the See also:original circumstances of See also:composition to a forceful and See also:practical application to the needs of his day and of all See also:time. With his exegetical skill (he was inferior in pure See also:dogma to See also:Theodore of Mopsuestia) he See also:united a wide sympathy and a marvellous See also:power of See also:oratory. The voluminous See also:works of Chrysostom fall into three See also:groups. To the days of his early desert life is probably to be assigned the treatise On Priesthood, a See also:book full of See also:wise counsel. To the years of his presbyterate and episcopate belong the great See also:mass of homilies and commentaries, among which those On the Statues, and on See also:Matthew, See also:Romans and See also:Corinthians, stand out pre-eminently. His letters belong to the last years, the time of exile, and with his other works are valuable See also:sources for the See also:history of his time. The See also:manuscripts are very numerous, and many of them are of great antiquity, as are the See also:Syriac and other See also:translations.

The best edition is that of See also:

Bernard de See also:Montfaucon in 13 vols. fol. (1718-1738), reproduced with some improvements by See also:Migne (See also:Patrol. See also:Gram xlvii.-lxiv.); but this edition is greatly indebted to the one issued more than a See also:century earlier (1612) by See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Savile, See also:provost of See also:Eton See also:College, from a See also:press established at Eton by himself, which See also:Hallam (Lit. of See also:Europe, iii. 10, it) calls " the first See also:work of learning, on a great See also:scale, published in See also:England." F. See also:Field admirably edited S. Matthew (See also:Cambridge, 1839) and Epistles of S. See also:Paul (See also:Oxford, 1849-1855). J. A. See also:Bengel's edition of De Sacerdotio (1725) has been often reprinted (e.g. See also:Leipzig, 1887). As authorities for the life, the most valuable are the ecclesiastical histories of See also:Socrates, See also:Sozomen and Theodoret; and amongst the moderns, See also:Erasmus, See also:Cave, See also:Lardner and See also:Tillemont, with the church history of See also:Neander, and his monograph on the Life and Times of Chrysostom, translated by J.

C. Stapleton. More See also:

recent are the lives by W. R. W. See also:Stephens (See also:London, 1871), R. W. See also:Bush (London, 1885) and A. See also:Peach (See also:Paris, 1891). F. W. See also:Farrar's See also:romance Gathering Clouds gives a See also:good picture of the man and his times.

For mono-graphs on See also:

special points such as Chrysostom's theological position and his preaching, see the very full bibliography in E. Preuschen's See also:article in See also:Herzog-Hauck's Realencyk. iv.; also A. See also:Harnack, Hist, of Dogma, iii. and iv. Some of the commentaries and homilies are translated in the Oxford Library of the Fathers.

End of Article: CHRYSOSTOM

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