Saint John Chrysostom
St. John Chrysostom
Hebrews 7:26-28; John 10:9-16
He was born in 347 in Antioch into a wealthy family. Both his father and mother were Christians (his mother was much younger than his father). The parents had two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter died at an early age, and the mother, being a young widow (in her 20s), beautiful and wealthy, with many suitors circling, decided to devote all her attention to raising her children and not to remarry. John's mother's name was Anthusa.
John's mother personally educated her son in basic education, and, as John himself testified, he owes his perfect knowledge of Scripture to her. Later, he studied at higher schools of philosophy and oratory, where there were both Christian and non-Christian professors. He received the highest education that could be obtained at that time in those schools, but nothing could shake the foundations laid by his mother.
In reference to Anthusa, the mother of John Chrysostom, the well-known pagan teacher Livani spoke out of envy:
“Oh, what women among those Christians!”
The esteemed leader of the oratory school, Livani, before his death, when asked who could replace him, said:
“Of course, John, if the Christians had not stolen him from us.”
“Stolen” was used here in a spiritual sense, but this only affirms that the mother of John Chrysostom, through the teaching of Christ in which she raised her son, overcame all oratorical arguments and all philosophical systems of the pagan (non-Christian) world.
After graduating from the philosophical and oratorical schools, John became a lawyer in Antioch. He gained fame as a celebrated, eloquent lawyer. He was also fond of theater. However, the foundations laid by his mother's upbringing restrained him from pursuing prideful ambition.
John was greatly influenced by Basil, a school friend (not St. Basil the Great), who encouraged him to enter a monastery. John also became close to St. Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch, and at the age of 27, he was baptized by him.
The mother, although she wanted to have her son be a highly worthy and true Christian, did not want him to become a monk. When, under the influence of St. Basil, John wished to accept monasticism, his mother asked him not to do so, at least during her lifetime.
John obeyed his mother’s wishes... When his mother died three years later, at the age of 36 (in 381), he took his monastic vows and was ordained a deacon that year. As a deacon, John had the duty to seek out and visit the sick and the poor.
At the age of 40, in 386, he was ordained a priest. He became a preacher, an evangelizer of Antioch. He was such an extraordinarily powerful preacher that the people gave him the endearing nickname Chrysostom (meaning “golden-mouthed”, in Greek).
Christians at that time made up only half of the inhabitants of Antioch. And even among them, there were many shortcomings, drunkenness, and strife. But the Antiochians, when St. John Chrysostom served, forgot about entertainment and amusement and came in droves to the services where he preached.
In the biography of St. John Chrysostom, it is written that he was brought to Constantinople by force and deception, and there he was elected archbishop and patriarch of Constantinople. At that time in Constantinople, there were many intrigues at the royal court.
John, while serving as patriarch, put much effort into the moral rehabilitation or healing of the society of that time. He threw out all the luxury items that had previously come into the patriarchal palace.
He opposed the moral decay of the imperial court. He defended the right to protect criminals who reached the altar of the church. He strongly opposed the erection of a silver statue of Empress Eudocia in front of St. Sophia's Church and the pagan revelry in front of the cathedral (this was in 403).
In 404, before Easter, on Holy Saturday, when three thousand "catechumens" (persons intending to convert to Christianity and receiving instruction to do so) were being baptized, the imperial guards took John Chrysostom out of the church. He was kept a prisoner until the Feast of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost). Later, he was exiled to the city of Kukuz (Kuku) in Armenia. There, John Chrysostom gained great favour and support.
John Chrysostom's persecutors, having learned that in exile he had gained great authority and love among faithful believers, decided to exile him to the most remote city in the empire, Pitius, in the Caucasus.
Traveling in difficult conditions, St. John Chrysostom did not reach the city of exile, and on 14.9.407, he breathed his last in the city of Kamani, in Abkhazia, Georgia (now Sukhumi oblast/region). His body was temporarily laid in the tomb of the Holy Martyr Basilisk.
His persecutor, Emperor Arcadius, died a few months later.
Thirty years after the repose of John Chrystostom, the children of Arcadius and Eudoxia, Emperor Theodosius the Younger and his sister Tsulcheria, solemnly transferred the relics of the great saint from Kamani to Constantinople (at the popular request of believers and clergy).
St. John Chrysostom is one of the great fathers of the Church of Christ, the so-called “pillars of the Church”, along with St. Athanasius the Great, St. Basil the Great, and St. Gregory the Theologian. His sermons, which were published in the collections Margarit and Spiritual Flower Garden, were used to educate entire Christian generations for many ages.
The liturgy, compiled and edited by St. John Chrysostom, serves as the main service of the Divine Liturgy throughout the year. Also, the prayers in preparation for Holy Communion and in many other occasions of Christian life are spiritual creations of this righteous man of Christ's Church.
His life, steadfastness for the Truth of God, adherence to Christ's covenants under any circumstances, in the fight against evil, refusal to make any agreement with the lawlessness of earthly rulers, is a model for every Christian, and especially for archpastors and pastors in general.
Amen.
Because September 14/27 is the day of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord, the Church traditionally moved the celebration of the memory of John Chrysostom to September 13/26.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
