Vigils Reading – St John Chrysostom

St John Chrysostom – from a book:

The Fathers of the Church” By Pope Benedict XVI [1]

St John Chrysostom was born on Antioch in Syria om 344.. His father died when he was an infany, and his mother Anthusa raised him. He studied with the most famous rhetorician of the day, Libanus. Baptized as a young adult in 368, John undertook an ascetic life for four years, living alone on the neighboring Mount Silpius. He extended his stay for a further two years, living alone in a cave under the guidance of an old hermit.

Having fallen ill, he found it impossible to care for himself and returned to the city and was ordained a deacon and then a priest from 386 to 397 he preached in the cathedral at Antioch, perhaps the most satisfying and happiest years of his life. There he delivered courses of sermons on books of the Bible. John was nicknamed “Chrysostom”, that is, “golden mouthed”, because of his elqquebce,

In 397 he was taken, almost by force, to Constantinople, ordained bishop, and made patriarch of the capitol city. He lives ascetically and showed deep concern fpr the poor and the sick. But his style of life offended some powerful people, including the Empress Eudoxia. Theophilus, the patriarch of Alexandria, was also among his enemies, and in 403 Theophilus presided at a synod near Constantinople that deposed John. John was banished twice, the first time for only a short while. But during the second exile he died on September 14, 407 while being forced to travel in harsh weather. John is known for a large corpus of homilies, most of them on Scripture. Among his best known and most read books are the six books On the Priesthood.

[1] Fathwers of the Church – Pope Benedict XVI =erdmans Publishing C0 – Grahnd Rapids, MI – 2020 – pg 169