The Holy Church of
Christ celebrates the blessed memory of Saint John Chrysostom, our great
teacher, confessor, and preacher, on November 26 (November 13 according to
Julian calendar). The great John is seen as the beacon of faith and enjoys
indisputable authority among all Orthodox Christians. He is venerated in Roman
Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Oriental Orthodox churches, too. Many of us
know a lot about this great Christian man of faith. Some of us have read his
works and homilies. Let us list several facts from his life so as to praise the
Lord who acts through His saints.
1. St. John
Chrysostom was born in Syria in the great city of Antioch to a noble family.
His father Secundus was a high-ranking military officer who died when St. John
was a young boy. His mother Anthusa was widowed when she was 20. As a true
Christian widow, she decided to not marry again. Instead, she devoted her life
to bringing up her son.
2. The great
preacher was well-versed in all Greek wisdom, i.e., in all sciences of his day.
He attained outstanding mastery in the art of eloquence thanks to his teacher
Libanius, a pagan rhetorician. Libanius is supposed to have said on his
deathbed that John would have been his successor "if the Christians had
not stolen him from us".
3. The future holy
hierarch was baptized as an adult, at the age of about 20, in spite of having
been born in a Christian family. Notwithstanding this fact, he was in favor of
infant baptism and considered it more suitable for Christian families.
4. John spent about
4 years in extreme asceticism in a desert not far from Antioch. He became a
hermit after the death of his mother. He led a stringent and extremely harsh
life, as a result of which his stomach and kidneys were permanently damaged,
and he is believed to have suffered from gastritis or ulcer.
5. When John
returned to Antioch, he was ordained as a deacon and later as a presbyter at
the age of 40 and entrusted with preaching the Word of God to the people. That
was how the most fruitful period in the creative and public speaking career of
this great Christian preacher from Antioch began. It was during that period
that most homilies and exegetical works of the talented pastor were written.
John would preach daily in front of large crowds. The people nicknamed him
Chrysostom, or Gold Mouth, for his exceptional eloquence.
6. St. John
Chrysostom knew the Scripture so well that his sermons include ca. 7 thousand
Old Testament quotations and 11 thousand New Testament quotations.
7. St. John
Chrysostom belonged to the School of Antioch. He knew Theodore of Mopsuestia
and studied under Diodore of Tarsus but for some mind-boggling reason managed
to avoid the extremes of their school and remained strictly Orthodox in his
theology.
8. When St. John
Chrysostom was appointed the Archbishop of Constantinople, he had to deal with
depravity of the clergy, bribery, lavish social gatherings and enormous
spendings of the Church of Constantinople. The holy hierarch fought against
those vices, which made him an enemy of many people, especially Empress Eudoxia
whom he publicly shamed for her transgressions.
9. St. John
Chrysostom believed that you can serve Christ best by being merciful to the
poor, for, by giving alms to beggars, we help Christ. That is why he is said to
have ordered to sell marble plated meant for decoration of a church, donate the
earned money to a hospital and build several new hospitals.
10. A wide
coalition of St. John’s opponents, led by Eudoxia and Theophilus, the
Archbishop of Alexandria, who wanted to bring Constantinople under his sway and
influence the imperial house directly, convened a synod, which resulted in St.
John’s deposition, banishment, and exile.
11. St. John was
exiled to Pitiunt (Pityus) but never reached this destination, as he died at
Comana Pontica on September 14, 407 during the journey due to numerous
difficulties during the journey and mistreatment by his guards. When he was
dying, he was comforted by an apparition of Martyr Basiliscus near his shrine,
took the Holy Eucharist, and reposed in the Lord, his last words being “Glory
be to God for all things.” Given that September 14 is the Feast of Exaltation
of the Holy Cross, the Church instituted a separate commemoration of this saint
on November 13 (November 26), the day when he started his ministry in
Constantinople.
12. His relics were
transferred to Constantinople in 438. The honorable remains of the saint were
transferred to Rome during the 4th Crusade. The relics were placed in a special
chapel in St. Peter Cathedral. The relics of St. John Chrysostom and St.
Gregory the Theologian were returned to the Orthodox Church of Constantinople
by the decree of Pope John Paul II in 2004.
Saint John
Chrysostom remains one of the most highly revered Orthodox saints. He left a
formidable treasure of homilies and exegeses of the Holy Scripture, as well as
several prayers before Holy Communion and prayers used during the Sacrament of
Unction. This holy hierarch of Constantinople is also famous for laying out a
new rite of the Divine Liturgy based on the ancient anaphora of the Twelve
Apostles, which was used in Antioch. The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
went on to become the most widely used in the Byzantine rite, which makes St.
John who created this rite one of the most frequently mentioned saints in
Orthodox churches—another case in point emphasizing the uniqueness of this
remarkable man of God.
Kontakion — Tone 6
Having received
divine grace from heaven, / with your mouth you teach all men to worship one
God in Trinity. / All-blest and venerable John Chrysostom, we worthily praise
you, / for you are our teacher, revealing things divine!
a Bachelor of Theology,
specialized in Biblical Studies.
The Catalog Of Good Deeds, 2018
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