Saint John Chrysostom Bishop-Catholic Saint

Saint John Chrysostom Bishop

Catholic Saint

 

September 13

 

St John Chrysostom Bishop Confessor Father and Doctor of the Universal Church (349-40 7)

 

St John Chrysostom was the son of a Latin father who was a pagan and a high ranking military officer, and a Greek mother. At 23, his friend St Basil, and St Meletius, Bishop of his native Antioch, turned him away from the Greek classical studies, in which he had already attained considerable proficiency, and directed him instead to the study of Holy Scripture. Two years later he was baptized, ordained a “lector” and thereafter lived for several years as an anchorite in a cave.

 

Made a Priest in 386, John became the very “eyes, ears and hands of his Bishop”, and turned more and more to the writing of treatises and books, many of which have come down to us. His greatest asset, however, was the spiritually deep content of h s preaching, which came to influence life throughout the East, earning him, in the process, the Greek suffix, Chrysostom, meaning “golden-mouthed”. God granted him the privilege of beholding the blessed come down from heaven during his Mass lo assist at the consummation of the great mystery.

 

After he had spent 12 years in priestly ministry, John was brought by stealth to Constantinople by the Emperor Arcadius - for he realized that the people of Antioch would not willingly let their idol depart  and there consecrated Bishop of that great Eastern metropolis. He immediately began to correct abuses and to initiate much needed ecclesiastical reform. He reduced radically the expenses of his episcopal household and, himself, continued to live in the greatest simplicity; the ranks of the clergy were purged of unworthy elements, and monastic discipline was tightened.

 

In his sermons he fearlessly inveighed against the dissolute lives, the excessive luxuries and vanities of the imperial court. In so doing he greatly delighted the common people who came (o hear him by the thousands and who, often moved to tears, frequently applauded him even in church. But, on the other hand, this also served to swell the ranks of his intriguing enemies at court, even alienating Queen Eudoxia. In the 5th year of his cpiscopate the Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria, who had been Summoned to Constantinople to answer certain ecclesiastical Charges convened instead the so-called “Oak-Synod” which, with Emperor's consent, declared John deposed under various Pretexts and sent him into exile. But the temper of the people was such that the Empress had him recalled almost immediately. As soon as things had calmed down, however, and after two failed Attempts on his life, John was again banished to Armenia and The wilds east of the Black Sea, where, subjected to long marches and exposed to the elements, he passed away on 14 September 407.

 

St John Chrysostom is one of the four great Fathers of the Eastern Church and the reformer of its liturgy. Its most eminent Doctor and writer, he is the patron of preachers, and is invoked against epilepsy.