John Chrysostom - Warrior of Words

John earned the nickname "Chrysostom," which means "the golden-mouthed," because of his profound preaching, in which he battled the forces of evil (Gonzalez 225). He trained as a lawyer and studied rhetoric under Libanius, the greatest rhetorician of the time. Legend has it that Libanius thought John should be his successor, but Christ got a hold of John first when he was 20 years old. He studied theology under Diodore of Tarsus with a sharp focus on Scripture that would shape his public career. He was originally drawn to the monastic life, first practicing it at home, then training for 4 years under Syrian monks and living in solitude for another 2 years. During that time, he memorized the entire New Testament. Perhaps he would have stayed there, fostering a deep relationship with God but largely unknown to the rest of the Church if illness had not driven him back to the city of Antioch (Edwards x-xii, Gonzalez 225-226, Mitchell 29).

John served as a deacon from 381-386 and then as a priest from 386-398 in the city of Antioch (Mitchell 29). His rhetorical training soon bore fruit as his bishop regularly called on him to preach at important events, including calling the city to repent after defacing the emperor's image and on major feasts of the Church. When he preached, there were large crowds, ready to hear the skilled orator. These feast day sermons are rich with instruction in ways you might not expect of a holiday. He would explain the meaning of the day and how it is celebrated, rooting his explanation in Scripture to explain how Christ saves us. He talks as if the original events are happening in the present, drawing his hearers in to what Christ has done for them. These sermons end with a feisty exhortation to take communion reverently, contrary to what he describes as the disorderly and raucous manner people would come in his day (Edwards xii-xxxi).

While he served as an ordinary pastor in a significant city, the city politics of Constantinople, the empire's capital, would soon draw him into a bigger, more complex world. The emperor called him in 397 to serve as the new Patriarch (Archbishop) of Constantinople. He was so popular in Antioch that the authorities kept the emperor’s decree a secret to prevent a riot. They invited him to a small chapel outside the city, and there ordered him into a carriage which took him to Constantinople. He became bishop in early 398 (Gonzalez 227, Mitchell 29). As a monk, John had been a disciplined man. He was appalled by the lack of discipline among the clergy in the capital. Some priests had “spiritual sisters” in their homes, despite claiming celibacy. Others were rich while the Church was in a poor financial state and the people uncared for. John ordered the spiritual sisters out of the priests’ homes and commanded the priests to live an austere life. He made a system of scrutiny for Church finances. Luxury items in the bishop’s palace were sold to feed the poor. Churches were ordered open at hours that suited those who had to work, and not just the wealthy (Gonzalez 227-228). 

As with all reformers, his changes made him many powerful enemies, especially the Empress Eudoxia. He preached against the powerful, especially the way they lived in luxury and showed no care for the poor. Eudoxia felt all eyes in the church looking at her as he preached. She worked with another bishop to fabricate charges against him. Her husband, the emperor Arcadius, took these charges and ordered John into exile. Furious at the injustice, other bishops came to Constantinople to support John, and the people of the city prepared to riot. Rather than draw on his support and influence to take down the conspiracy, John peacefully went into exile. An earthquake that night seemed to suggest judgment on the emperor's actions, and Eudoxia begged John to return (Gonzalez 228-229). Yet his preaching continued the same, calling out the injustice and corruption of those in power, and he was exiled a second time (Gonzalez 229-230). The emperor kept ordering him to move further and further away from the capital. Each journey taxed his strength, and he finally became sick and died in 407 (Gonzalez 230-231). Thirty-one years later, his reputation was restored, and his body was returned to Constantinople, but the wrongs committed against him were corrected too late (Gonzalez 231).

He left behind a large body of writings, especially sermons that cover much of the Bible. Rather than allegorical readings of Scripture, he focused on the “flow and logic” of the passage, key terms, and historical meaning of key concepts. He would then exhort his audience to a set of actions commanded by the Gospel and urge them away from things in urban life he deemed out of line (Mitchell 29-31). In each passage of Scripture, he saw God speaking through the human author, adapting Himself to what humans could understand at the time, and giving us His perfect Word in every detail of the biblical text. John pored over every word of a Bible passage, treating it as a treasure given from God. In his preaching, he wanted to pass that same love of the Bible on to others and call them to live out lives that embody the character of the Gospel (Mitchell 31-33). He left behind some of the clearest examples of how people interpreted the Scriptures at the time. His writings would go on to influence other theological giants such as Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. His exegesis would feel right at home with much modern scholarship that focuses on the history and grammar of Scripture (Mitchell 33-34). God used his fiery and influential preaching to make the Scriptures clear and call people to follow Jesus more faithfully. He certainly was "golden-mouthed".

To explore some of St. John Chrysostom's preaching, check out the Vintage Sermons Podcast.

Sources

Edwards, Robert G. T. “Introduction.” In Sermons on the Life of Christ, edited by Robert G. T. Edwards. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2025.

González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. HarperOne, 2010.

Mitchell, Margaret M. “Chrysostom, John.” In Historical Handbook of Major Biblical

Interpreters, edited by Donald K. McKim. InterVarsity Press, 1998.