12.10.2013 CHURCH FATHERS 16 - chrysostom; b347; archbishop of constantinople 397 d. in exile 407

the active life of chrysostom was spent during a truce in what canon bright called 'the wars of the Lord'.
the great THEO-logical controversy with the arians was practically over, when he was ordained priest in 384
and became a great preacher at antioch
the great CHRISTO-logical controversy, as to the relation of the divine and human natures in Christ,
had hardly begun.
the interest of his life lies, therefore, partly in his conflict with the state,
in which he was by no means successful;
but chiefly in his edification of the christian life by means of that eloquence
which won him the title of the Golden-Mouthed,
and also in his learned and practical commentaries on the bible.

john, surnamed chrysostom, was born at antioch in 347 of christian parents;
but his father dying when he was an infant, his education was carried out by his pious mother anthusa.
he was baptized when already an adult, after three years careful preparation by meletius
and was only prevented by his mother's earnest entreaty
to stay with her from at once becoming a monk....
at his mother's death he did retire for some time into a monastery
but the ascetic life so injured his health,
that he was obliged to return to antioch,
where he was ordained deacon by meletius just before his departure to the council of constantinople
and priest by his successor, flavian, in 384
from 384 then till 397 chrysostom was constantly preaching at antioch
and it was during this period that his best exegetical sermons were delivered.

...in chrysostom's homilies will be found valuable hints at to the order and date of the gospels;
he believed john's gospel was clearly written within a generation of the events described
and he pointed out that it's intention was entirely theological.
the parables, on the other hand, he held, were always intended to encourage
a holy life rather than orthodoxy.
throughout his sermons is the closest attention to words;
for instance, in the parable of the sower he points out that the seed FELL by the wayside,
the divine sower did not cast it there.

..when the english reformers discouraged those, who were not then communicating, from remaining in church (as they certainly did, though it was never actually forbidden),
they appealed to the example of the primitive church, and the words of chrysostom.
the same words have continually been quoted since..
he asked his people how, if they were not fit to communicate, were they fit to join in the prayer?
the author of notitia eucharistica also gives this as the patristic authority..
but he quaintly adds that the result of the rebuke was not to bring them to communion.
they took him rather at his word and stayed at home. (note: do not root out the tares?)

in 404 chrysostom was exiled.
after a fortnight's stay at nicaea, he was deported to cucusus in lower armenia.
from there he wrote most of his 242 letters that are extant
and from these we gather that he still exercised a considerable influence even at constatinople
he also evangelized the lebanon district, a stronghold of paganism
and at that time in a condition almost of savagery.
but by a cruel order of the Court he was dragged away to a more desert spot by forced marches
which caused his death, before he had arrived at pityus his destination.

..that he was so greatly hated by some is hardly to be wondered at,
when we remember the scorn with which he spoke of the empress; or of eutropius, as he lay at his feet.
or when we remember that he deposed 13 asia minor bishops, over whom he had no legitimate jurisdiction
and on one occasion told his hearers that he thought very few of the bishops would be saved,
that most of them were eternally lost.

but the poor and the good alike adored him.
in every poor man he saw Christ.
'gain a victory, he says, over the church
put us to shame
surpass us in liberality
keep a room in which Christ may come
say this is Christ's cell, this is set apart for Him.
be it but an underground chamber
He disdains it not
naked and a stranger Christ goes about
it is only a shelter He wants
give it Him, though only this
you ought, indeed, to receive Him in an upper chamber,
but if you cannot do this, then though it be below, and where thy servants and mules are housed,
at least there receive Him.
perhaps you shudder at this,
but you do not even do this'
'better at least receive Christ in the stable than outside the gate.

cardinal newman says he was 'a bright and cheerful and gentle soul,
whose unrivalled charm lay in his singleness of purpose, his fixed grasp of aim, his noble earnestness;
he had a sensitive heart, a temperament open to emotion and impulse
and all was elevated, refined and transformed by the touch of heaven.
he was indeed a man to make both friends and enemies
to inspired affection and kindle resentment;
but his friends loved him with a love that was stronger than death
and his enemies hated him with a hatred more burning than hell
and it was well to be so hated, to be so loved.'