Saint John Chrysostom

Saint John Chrysostom was born about 344-347 in Antioch, Syria. His father, Secundus, was an army general, and his mother, Anthusa, was an admirable woman of faith and piety. He rapidly ran through the whole cycle of Christian and profane literature. Baptized in 369 in Meletios, the Archbishop of Antioch, for his piety, he merited to receive minor orders from him also. About 374-375, he withdrew to the wilderness in the vicinity of Antioch. He was ordained a deacon in 381 by Meletios, and a priest in 386 by Flavian. He exhorted the people by his discourses, and commented the entire Holy Scriptures before them. In 397, upon the unexpected death of Nectarius, the Archbishop of Constantinople, he was transferred from Antioch to Constantinople by vote of the bishops and by order of Emperor Arcadius, and was consecrated Archbishop of the Imperial City in 398. In his fight against greed, he attacked Empress Eudoxia. He was unjustly exiled in 403 by order of Arcadius and Eudoxia, but recalled to his see almost immediately. Exiled a second time in 404, he suffered much during his three year exile, transferring unceasingly from one place to another. He died during one of these transfers, in Comana, on September 14, 407. His eloquence brought him the title of Chrysostom (Golden-mouthed). (From the Synaxarion)


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