Know Your Faith IV: The Fathers of the Church

1. Know Your Faith IV:The Fathers of the Church • Lesson 9 • St John Chrysostom, • Archbishop of Constantinople

2. St John Chrysostom 347 Antioch to 407 Comana, Asia Minor Bishop of Constantinople from 397-407

3. Life of St John Chrysostom 370: Baptized and made a Reader 375: Begins hermitic life 381: Ordained to the Diaconate 386: Ordained to the Priesthood in Antioch 397: Consecrated as Bishop of Constantinople 403: Exiled 403: Recalled 407: Exiled to the Caucasus and Black Sea

4. Asceticism St John took up a life of strict asceticism soon after being baptized. This life of austerity helped shape his teachings as a pastor and advocate for the poor later in his life.

5. Politics and the Holy Man, Part 1 The historian Edward Gibbon described Theophilus of Alexandria as "...the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue, a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood.” – History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Pope Theophilus of Alexandria

6. Politics and the Holy Man, Part 2 "Again Herodias rages; again she is confounded; again she demands the head of John on a charger."

8. Glory to God for All Things When the lightning flash has lit up the camp dining hall, how feeble seems the light from the lamp. Thus do You, like the lightning, unexpectedly light up my heart with flashes of intense joy. After Your blinding light, how drab, how colorless, how illusory all else seems. Glory to You, the highest peak of men’s dreaming.Glory to You for our unquenchable thirst for communion with God.Glory to You, making us dissatisfied with earthly things.Glory to You, turning on us Your healing rays.Glory to You, subduing the power of the spirits of darkness and dooming to death every evil.Glory to You for the signs of Your presence, for the joy of hearing Your voice and living in Your love.Glory to You, O God, from age to age. -Ode 6, Akathist “Glory to God for All Things” The Three Holy Hierarchs

9. Return of the Relics of Ss John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian November 27, 2004 His relic were returned to Constantinople in 438, looted by the Crusaders of the 4th Crusade in 1204

10. The Golden Mouth Chrysostom is not a family name, but a nickname that was applied after his death. It means Golden Mouth, or Golden Tongue. St John was a gifted orator and teacher through his inspired homilies, letters and writings.

11. Themes in His Preaching • Obedient service through love • Almsgiving • Against Abuse of Wealth • Against the Abuse of Property • The Person of Christ

12. The Alexandrian and Antiochian Schools of Theology Alexandrian School Tendency toward Platonic metaphysical approach; a desire to move beyond appearances to the 'truly real'. Favours an allegorical reading of scripture, first proffered in a notable way by Origen; driven here by a desire to 'get to the real meaning' of given biblical passages. With regard to Christ, a tendency to focus on inner, metaphysical composition and activity. Soteriological convictions driven most often by notions of sanctification/divinisation, mystical relation, etc. Generally: stress laid upon the ontological oneness of Christ-the divinity and humanity form one being-wrought most often by reference to the Logos/sarx framework (though not always; cf. Cyril of Alexandria). Key weakness lies in the routine jeopardy into which the persistent distinction of natures is cast in the maintenance of the single ontological reality of the incarnate Christ. Antiochian School Tendency toward Aristotelian stress on concrete realities, factual historicity and its analysis, and the discernable characteristics of concrete reality. Favours an historical/factual, 'literal', reading of scripture. A tendency to focus upon the factual/historical aspects of the human life of Christ-what he did, said, accomplished, etc. Cf. Theodore's exegetical interest in the 'historical Jesus'. Soteriological convictions driven by corrective agency of divinity on humanity. Generally: stress laid upon the distinction between God and man in Christ-these not only distinct in discernable attributes, but in substantive reality. Preservation of full reality and integrity of both natures. Logos/anthropos model predominates. Key weakness lies in the difficulty in expressing the genuine union of the two natures, and indeed the true oneness or singular subjectivity of the incarnate Christ.

13. Writings As listed in the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers Volume IX. On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes Volume X. Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew Volume XI. Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans Volume XII. Homilies on First and Second Corinthians Volume XIII. Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon Volume XIV. Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

14. The Divine Liturgy

15. An Easy Way to Understand the Paschal Homily In a 3 page flow chart

18. Discussion St John Chrysostom’s Homily III on Philemon Covering Verses 17-19

19. Glory to God for All Things!