Today's feast is that of St. John Chrysostom, who with Ss. Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen and Basil, is one of the four great Doctors of the Eastern Church.
As I am a bit short of time, I have again borrowed the following account
verbatim from
American Catholic's excellent 'Saint of the Day' webpages:-
St John Chrysostom
The
ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his name means
"golden-mouthed") from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man
in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly
service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to
make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing but
dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John
became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics.
If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons,
his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung
the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.
His lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He
offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and
ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him
precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man.
His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office
were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with
the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property
existed because of Adam's fall from grace any more than married men liked to
hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were.
When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards.
Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became excited in the pulpit,
John was a sure target for criticism and personal trouble. He was accused of
gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine foods. His faithfulness as
spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia, provoked much gossip attempting
to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and chastity were concerned. His actions
taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor were viewed by other ecclesiastics
as a greedy, uncanonical extension of his authority.
Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia were determined to
discredit John. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of
Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy.
Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress
resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial
court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel (1
Kings 9:1
—21:23) and
impious Herodias (Mark 6:17-29) were associated with the empress, who finally
did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.
John Chrysostom's
preaching, by word and example, exemplifies the role of the prophet to comfort
the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. For his honesty and courage he
paid the price of a turbulent ministry as bishop, personal vilification and
exile.Bishops "should set
forth the ways by which are to be solved very grave questions concerning the
ownership, increase and just distribution of material goods, peace and war, and
brotherly relations among all people" (Vatican II, Decree on the Pastoral
Office of Bishops, 12).
Orators
Preachers
Speakers
Ora pro nobis
