John Chrysostom
How
think you that you obey Christ’s commandments, when you spend your time
collecting interest, piling up loans, buying slaves like livestock, and merging
business with business? . . . And that is not all. Upon all this you heap
injustice, taking possession of lands and houses, and multiplying poverty and
hunger- JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
But for John Chrysostom the pulpit was not simply a podium
from which to deliver brilliant pieces of oratory. It was rather the verbal
expression of his entire life, his battlefield against the powers of evil, an
unavoidable calling that eventually led to exile and to death itself.
Libanius. It is said that when someone asked the old teacher
who should succeed him, he responded: “John,
but the Christians have laid claim on him.” Anthusa, John’s mother, was a fervent Christian who
loved her child with a deep and possessive love. She was quite happy when her
lawyer son, then twenty years of age, asked that his name be added to the list
of those training for baptism. Three years later, when he completed the time of
preparation that was then required, he was baptized by Bishop Meletius of
Antioch.
Once again his mother rejoiced. But when he told her that he
intended to withdraw from the city and follow the monastic way she was adamant,
and made him promise that he would never leave her as long as she lived. It may
well be that some of these experiences are reflected in his later sermons on
topics such as marriage and the family.
In 397, the bishopric of Constantinople became vacant, and
the emperor ordered that John be taken to the capital city to occupy that
prestigious position. But his popularity in Antioch was such that the
authorities feared a riot, and therefore kept the imperial decree secret. They
simply invited the famous preacher to visit a small chapel on the outskirts of
the city, and when he was there they ordered him into a carriage, in which he
was forcefully taken to the capital. There he was consecrated bishop early in
398.
Constantinople was a rich town, and one given to luxury and
intrigue. The great Emperor Theodosius was dead, and the two sons who had
succeeded him, Honorius and Arcadius, were indolent and inept. Arcadius, who
supposedly ruled the East from the capital city of Constantinople, was in fact
ruled by a certain Eutropius, the palace chamberlain, who used his power to satisfy
his own ambition and that of his cronies. Eudoxia, the empress, felt humiliated
by the chamberlain’s power, although in fact it was
Eutropius who had arranged her marriage to Arcadius. The intrigues that
enveloped everything in that city had also had a hand in John’s elevation to the patriarchal throne, for Patriarch
Theophilus of Alexandria had been actively campaigning in favor of a fellow
Alexandrine, and John had been given the post through Eutropius’s intervention.
The new bishop of Constantinople was not completely aware of
all of this. From what we know of his character, it is probable that, had he
been aware, he would have acted just as he did. The former monk was still a
monk, and could not tolerate the manner in which the rich inhabitants of
Constantinople sought to wed the gospel with their own luxuries and comforts.
His first task was to reform the life of the clergy. Some
priests who claimed to be celibate had in their homes what they called “spiritual sisters,” and
this was an occasion of scandal for many. Other clergymen had become rich, and
lived with as much luxury as the potentates of the great city. The finances of
the church were in a shambles, and the care of the flock was largely unattended.
John took all of those issues head on. He ordered that the “spiritual sisters”
move out of the priests’ homes, and that the latter lead an
austere life.
But such a reformation could not be limited to the clergy. It
was necessary that the laity also be called to lead lives more in accordance
with gospel mandates. Therefore, the golden-mouthed preacher thundered from the
pulpit:
The gold bit on your horse, the gold
circlet on the wrist of your slave, the gilding on your shoes, mean that you
are robbing the orphan and starving the widow. When you have passed away, each
passer-by who looks upon your great mansion will say, “How many tears did it take to build that mansion; how
many orphans were stripped; how many widows wronged; how many laborers deprived
of their honest wages?” Even death itself will not deliver
you from your accusers.
As we
compare the lives of Chrysostom and Ambrose, we see an indication of what would
be the future course of the churches in the East compared with the West.
Ambrose faced the most powerful emperor of his time, and won.
Chrysostom, on the other hand, was deposed and banished by
the weak Arcadius. From then on, the Latin-speaking church of the West would become
increasingly powerful, as it filled the vacuum left by the crumbling empire. In
the Greek-speaking East, on the other hand, the empire would last another
thousand years. Sometimes weak, and sometimes strong, this Eastern offshoot of
the old Roman Empire—the Byzantine Empire—would zealously guard its prerogatives over the church.
Theodosius was not the last Western emperor to be humbled by a Latin-speaking
bishop. And John Chrysostom was not the last Greek-speaking bishop banished by
an Eastern emperor.
.jpg)