St. John Chrysostom
Feast day: Sept. 13
“Violent storms encompass me on all sides. Though the sea roar and the waves rise high, they cannot overwhelm the ship of Jesus Christ. I fear not death, which is my gain; nor banishment, for the whole earth is the Lord’s; nor the loss of things, for I came naked into this world, and I can carry nothing out of it.”
These are the last words said to his congregation by the archbishop of Constantinople in the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom, who was later declared a Doctor of the Church. Born in Antioch, Syria in 347, he became a priest and later an archbishop against his will during a tumultuous time in the Church. Dealing with calumny, St. John Chrysostom was forced to march for three months into his final exile while in ill health. Nevertheless, he was always a bold defender of the faith, particularly of the poor as, he spurred on his congregation to examine their accumulation of fine clothes and jewelry while others went without food. A skilled orator, he also encouraged the faithful to receive the Eucharist as often as possible and described it as the banquet of heaven where rich and poor could meet as equals in Christ. A victim of political intrigue, St. John Chrysostom rose above it all through his belief that no tragedy could separate him from the love of Christ.
Losing his father when he was a young boy, St. John Chrysostom was raised primarily by his pious mother, who provided the best education for him. He learned rhetoric from a renowned teacher and saw this skill in speaking as an attribute after he converted to Christianity at age 23 and became a priest. But first he pursued the monastic life by joining the community of hermits and monks living in the mountains near Antioch. He spent four years under the spiritual direction of a monk and lived in fasting and prayer while learning the truths of sacred Scripture.
It was this spiritual foundation which prepared St. John Chrysostom for his time in the episcopate. Returning to the city with an illness, he was ordained a deacon and assisted the bishop with preaching the liturgy. From the start of his religious life, Chrysostom exhorted his people to be witnesses to their pagan neighbors by showing radical love to the poor. Christianity was not a private affair, as he preached, but a call to transform the culture, and he was unafraid to call out the imperial family for living an extravagant lifestyle.
Ordained a priest and later named bishop of Constantinople, the capital of the new Roman empire, St. John Chrysostom scandalized the wealthy by avoiding dinner parties and fine clothing. Instead, he was known for supporting the poor through building urban public hospitals. He boldly preached to his congregation that they had no right to withhold their riches from the starving, who were their brothers and sisters. He called them all to repentance. While he was also deposing corrupt bishops, Chrysostom found that naturally, he had made few friends but he continued preaching the Word of Christ and the unity of the liturgy with everyone’s life as follows:
“Do you wish to honor the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. … He who said: ‘This is my body’ is the same who said: ‘You saw me hungry and you gave me no food,’ and ‘Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me.’ … What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger?”
Not involved in any dogmatic controversies, St. John Chrysostom is known instead for his sermons on morality. In them he also defends as a rule of faith Tradition as laid down by the authoritative teaching of the Church which he describes as one by unity of her doctrine. The homily of St. John Chrysostom roughly translated as, “No One Can Harm the Man Who Does Not Harm Himself” is a fourth century Catholic version of the modern book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” While lengthy, his homily is a good means of looking at several examples from Scripture, all of which point to the fact that no bad experience can ultimately hurt a person who chooses to live a virtuous life.
St. John Chrysostom practiced what he taught as he withstood the angered response of the wealthy, in which the emperor and empress conspired with bishops who opposed him by sending him into exile twice. Chrysostom finally died on a march to the destination of his final exile with the words, “Glory be to God for all things.”
Reflection
Dear Jesus, may I love you with the love of St. John Chrysostom! May I never doubt your love and that you are by my side to defend me as I speak the truth.
Prayer
O God, strength of those who hope in you,
who willed that the Bishop St. John Chrysostom
should be illustrious by his wonderful eloquence
and his experience of suffering,
grant us, we pray,
that, instructed by his teachings,
we may be strengthened through the example
of his invincible patience.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
