John Chrysostom. John Chrysostom Feast day: Sep Latest news. Ready for the big bishops' meeting? Here are 8 things you need to know. Stats show Irish women benefit from waiting period before abortion, observers say. Cuban bishops back freedom of expression ahead of protests. New resource informs doctors about abortion pill reversal. Pope Francis: Governments must act urgently against child pornography.
Liturgical Calendar Show this year. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire.
Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics. If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours. His lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favors.
John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He railed against abuses of wealth and power. Even his lifestyle itself was a scandal: he lived an ascetic life, used his considerable household budget to care for the poor, and built hospitals.
He continued preaching against the great public sins. In a sermon against the theater, for example, he said, "Long after the theater is closed and everyone is gone away, those images [of "shameful women" actresses] still float before your soul, their words, their conduct, their glances, their walk, their positions, their excitation, their unchaste limbs … And there within you she kindles the Babylonian furnace in which the peace of your home, the purity of your heart, the happiness of your marriage will be burnt up!
His lack of tact and political skill made him too many enemies—in the imperial family and among fellow bishops. For reasons too complex to elaborate, Theophilus, the archbishop of Alexandria, was able to call a council outside of Constantinople and, trumping up charges of heresy, had John deposed from office.
John was sent into exile by Empress Eudoxia and Emperor Arcadius. John was transported across the plains of Asia Minor in the heat of summer, and almost immediately his health began to fail him. He was visited by loyal followers, and wrote letters of encouragement to others: "When you see the church scattered, suffering the most terrible trials, her most illustrious members persecuted and flogged, her leader carried away into exile, don't only consider these events, but also the things that have resulted: the rewards, the recompense, the awards for the athlete who wins in the games and the prizes won in the contest.
On the eastern shore of the Black Sea, at the edges of the empire, his body gave out and he died. Thirty-four years later, after John's chief enemies had died, his relics were brought back in triumph to the capital. Emperor Theodosius II, son of Arcadius and Eudoxia, publicly asked forgiveness for the sins of his parents. He was later given the caption of "Doctor of the Church" because of the value of his writings sermons and letters survive.
Along with Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Athanasius, he is considered one of the greatest of the early Eastern church fathers. Sections Home. Bible Coronavirus Prayer. Subscribe Member Benefits Give a Gift.
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