St. John Chrysostom

Church History I
Professor: The Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.

James Brzezinski
3 November 2009

St. John Chrysostom

With the commencement of my studies at Nashotah House Theological Seminary I have begun to see the many connections between the different areas of theological study. Each course seems to have intersecting relationships with the other courses that add value and exponentially contribute information and meaning to the other subjects. In this paper I will attempt to show that Saint John Chrysostom, through his life, writings, and ministry, has the same significance and importance today that he had when he lived in the 4th century A.D., by asking the question, “Do the words spoken by ‘golden-mouthed’ John Chrysostom the ascetic, preacher, and bishop, have the meaning in our post-Christian post-modern world?”

My first interest in St. John Chrysostom began many years ago when I first heard this prayer during Morning and Evening Prayer. The prayer, found in the Book of Common Prayer 1928, was titled, A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. Here follows the BCP 1979 version.

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.1

This prayer expresses the corporate nature of prayer, the promise that through Jesus, God the Father will be present with those gathered in the name of his Son Jesus and the request that our prayers be answered in the way the Lord sees fit for us, that we be given knowledge of the Lord’s truth and eternal life. This is an eloquent prayer, a prayer that expresses what we really need from the Lord.

This familiar prayer in the BCP was drawn by Thomas Cranmer from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom.2 Researching the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom revealed the interesting fact that the Prayer of St Chrysostom’s authorship is unknown,3 but recently however, many passages for which parallels can be found in Chrysostom’s works have led G. Wagner to defend the connection.4 This controversy does not negate the influence of Chrysostom on this liturgy and this prayer because there are extensive extant examples of John Chrysostom’s writing; far more than exist for many other writers.
John Chrysostom was born between 344 and 354 A.D. at Antioch in Syria… as an adult he was baptized in 367… from 370 – 376 he lived an ascetic lifestyle as a monk near Antioch… he was ordained a deacon in 381 and ordained a priest in 386 and thereafter he began preaching… the Affair of the Statues occurs in 387… he leaves Antioch to become Archbishop of Constantinople in 398… he visits Ephesus and elsewhere in 401… the Synod of the Oak takes place in 403 and Chrysostom is banished and recalled… in 404 he is definitively banished to Cucusus in lesser Armenia and in 407 dies at Comana in Pontus on 14 September.5

John Chrysostom’s practical, insightful, and pastorally sensitive writing about children’s education appear in his third book. “The most awful responsibility, he claims, which God imposes on parents is to bring their children up properly, yet most fathers, are really only concerned for their having a successful career. Instead of warning them against love of money and worldly ambition and holding up the gospel ideals before them, they surround them with superfluous luxuries...”6 John Chrysostom proposes a radical programe, that parents should entrust their children to monks from the start.7 Ten years later in his, “On Vain Glory and How Parents Should Educate Children,” we find a more practical frame of mind. A priest of pastoral experience, John Chrysostom had now abandoned all idea of packing children off to monasteries for their schooling. He is as insistent as ever on the need for a thoroughly Christian education based on the scriptures, but he now recognizes that it is in the home that children must receive it and that the duty of instructing them falls primarily on the father.8 This sounds so similar to the current trend toward homeschooling that seems to be gaining popularity in the last two decades.

These texts from “Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood” are of particular interest to seminary students because they are expert advice for those responding to the call to the priesthood. This whole treatise, consisting of introduction and six books, is full of wisdom for potential priests as well as practicing clergy.

Book V 7. … But let him not even consider the opinion, so erroneous and inartistic, of the outside world. Let, therefore, the man who undertakes the strain of teaching never give heed to the good opinion of the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such persons; but laboring at his sermons so that he may please God, (For let this alone be his rule and determination, in discharging this best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, nor good opinions,) if, indeed, he be praised by men, let him not repudiate their applause, and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek it, let him not be grieved. For a sufficient consolation in his labors, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to pleasing God.9

Book VI 4. …The soul of the Priest should shine like a light beaming over the whole world. … Priests are the salt of the earth. …For the Priest ought not only to be thus pure as one who has been dignified with so high a ministry, but very discreet, and skilled in many matters, and to be as well versed in the affairs of this life as they who are engaged in the world, …he too should be a many-sided man--I say many-sided, not unreal, nor yet fawning and hypocritical, but full of much freedom and assurance, and knowing how to adapt himself profitably, where the circumstances of the case require it, and to be both kind and severe, for it is not possible to treat all those under one's charge on one plan, … For, indeed, continual storms beset this ship of ours, and these storms do not assail from without only, but take their rise from within, and there is need of much condescension, and circumspection, … and all these different matters have one end in view, the glory of God, and the edifying of the Church.10

These two excerpts should give an obvious view of the timeliness of John Chrysostom’s writing which is as meaningful and helpful to us today, as it was in the 4th century.

John, surnamed from his remarkable and singular eloquence ‘Chrysostom,’ 0Iwa/nnhs Xruso/stomos or the ‘golden-mouthed’…could scarcely have been given to him during his life, since no allusion is made to it during that period of time by any writer... But when we come to the close of the fifth century, we find that writers almost invariably assigned to him the title of Chrysostom and his original name of John… in combination.11

Bishops deserve credit for the zeal with which their flocks sought to make Christianity the sole religion of the empire… John Chrysostom constantly urged his people to live lives of such commendable piety that others would want to imitate them by becoming Christian.12

St. John Chrysostom’s preaching is full of instruction for an epoch such as ours… Today as then, the world is in need of lives entirely consecrated to the service of God and souls… the spoken word cultivated by an ardent convinced and outspoken soul, will always remain one of the most essential and influencing forms… Chrysostom gave his whole life to it with a talent flavoring of genius, a conviction, an enthusiasm and all the disinterestedness of a saint.13

From various references in the sermons surviving from John Chrysostom’s years in Antioch, it is clear that the preacher planned his sermons carefully with his listeners in mind and that they led him to concentrate upon what they wanted or needed to know… the congregation seems to have been … ordinary people who knew enough about their religion to debate doctrine among themselves and evangelize others.14 The writings of St. John Chrysostom are timeless in their expression of the faith, truth, and doctrine that they convey. These eloquent words have empowered believers to express their faith to others for centuries and still have the ability encourage the reader to be transformed into new creations for the sake of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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1 The Church Hymnal Corporation. The Book Of Common Prayer. (New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979), 126.
2 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd Edition Revised. F. L. Cross, and E. A. Livingstone, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 346.
3 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 346.
4 Ibid. 346.
5 Donald Attwater, St. John Chrysostom - Pastor and Preacher. (London: Harvill Press, 1959),192
6 J. N. D. Kelly, Golden Mouth - The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995), 53.
7 Ibid. 53.
8 Kelly, Golden Mouth - The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop, 54.
9 Philip Schaff, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father of the Christian Church - Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the statues. Edited by Philip Schaff. Translated by W. R. W. Stephens. Vol. IX. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmanns Publishing Company, 1889), 71.
10 Schaff, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father of the Christian Church - Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, 76-77.
11 R. Wheler Bush, The Life and Times of Chrysostom. (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1885) 34-35.
12 E. Glenn Hinson, The Early Church - Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages. (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1996) 275-276.
13 Bruno H. Vandenberghe, John of the Golden Mouth. Translated by Bruno H. Vandenberghe. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1958) 89.
14 Jaclyn L. Maxwell, Jaclyn L. Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity - John Chrysostom and his Congreagation in Antioch. (Cambridge: Cambrigde University Press, 2006), 117.

WORKS CITED

Attwater, Donald. St. John Chrysostom - Pastor and Preacher. London: Harvill Press, 1959.

Bush, R. Wheler. The Life and Times of Chrysostom. London: The Religious Tract Society, 1885.

Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd Edition Revised. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hinson, E. Glenn. The Early Church - Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1996.

Kelly, J. N. D. Golden Mouth - The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995.

Maxwell, Jaclyn L. Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity - John Chrysostom and his Congregation in Antioch. Cambridge: Cambrigde University Press, 2006.

Schaff, Philip. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father of the Christian Church - Saint Chrysostom: on the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the Statues. Edited by Philip Schaff. Translated by W. R. W. Stephens. Vol. IX. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmanns Publishing Company, 1889.

The Church Hymnal Corporation. The Book Of Common Prayer. New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979.

Vandenberghe, Bruno H. John of the Golden Mouth. Translated by Bruno H. Vandenberghe. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1958.