Saint Jean Chrysostome
Evêque de Constantinople,
Docteur de l'Église (+ 407)
Le 30
janvier, les Églises d'Orient font mémoire de la translation, à
Constantinople, des reliques de saint Jean Chrysostome que l'Église d'Occident
célèbre le 13 septembre. Son surnom 'Chrysostome' veut dire 'bouche d'or'.
Il soutint la foi catholique même contre la pression du pouvoir impérial. Ce
qui lui valut d'être destitué de son siège patriarcal de Constantinople et
d'être exilé sur les bords de la mer Noire, aux confins du Caucase, à Soukhoumi
en Abkhazie géorgienne.
Lire aussi: Benoît XVI
lors des audiences générales des 19 et 26 septembre 2007
Un père de la doctrine
sociale chrétienne
Le Pape a évoqué sa
nomination en 397 comme évêque de Constantinople, capitale de l'empire romain
d'orient, puis son projet de réforme de l'Église. "L'austérité de sa
résidence -a précisé le Saint-Père- devait être un exemple pour tous",
comme fut exemplaire "sa sollicitude envers les pauvres qui le fit
surnommer l'aumônier... Il créa des institutions caritatives très
appréciées".
"En vrai pasteur, il
traitait tout le monde avec cordialité...et avait une attention particulière à
la femme, au mariage et à la famille...invitant les fidèles à prendre leur part
à la vie liturgique, qu'il rendit splendide et attractive. En liturgie, il fut
d'une créativité géniale... Malgré sa bonté, il se trouva souvent plongé dans
des intrigues politiques à cause de ses difficiles relations avec les autorités
publiques". Ainsi finit-il par être condamné à l'exil, dans lequel il mourut
en 407.
"On a dit que Dieu
avait manifesté en Jean Chrysostome un second Paul, un docteur universel... Sa
hauteur intellectuelle se dégage clairement dans son commentaire de la Genèse
où il médite sur les huit œuvres accomplies par Dieu en six jours, conduisant
ensuite les fidèles de la Création au Créateur..., le Dieu de la
condescendance...qui s'adressa à l'homme déchu et pécheur par l'Écriture".
Cet Évêque de
Constantinople appelait Dieu "Père de tendresse, médecin des âmes, mère et
ami affectueux..., un Dieu qui s'est abaissé jusqu'à nous, s'est incarné...est
mort en croix...devenant vraiment Dieu avec nous, notre frère".
"A ce Dieu visible à
travers sa création, à ce Dieu qui nous parle dans l'Écriture, à ce Dieu devenu
l'un de nous, s'ajoute un quatrième aspect: dans la vie et les actions du
chrétien, le principe vital et dynamique est l'Esprit qui se manifeste
concrètement dans le monde. Ainsi Dieu entre dans nos vies...et nous transforme
de l'intérieur".
Dans son commentaire des
Actes des apôtres, Jean Chrysostome propose le "modèle de l'Église
primitive comme modèle de société, en développant le principe d'utopie sociale,
d'une cité idéale qui donnerait une âme et un visage chrétien à la société. Il
voulait faire comprendre que la charité ne suffit pas, qu'aider les pauvres
individuellement ne suffit pas, mais qu'il faut créer une nouvelle
architecture, un nouveau modèle social...fondé sur le message évangélique. Pour
tout cela, on peut le considérer comme un des Pères de la doctrine sociale de
l'Église".
Dans la lignée de Paul, a
poursuivi Benoît XVI, saint Jean Chrysostome a "soutenu le primat de la
personne, esclaves et pauvres compris", en opposition à la société du
temps dans laquelle "de vastes catégories étaient exclues de la
citoyenneté...alors que la communauté chrétienne reconnaît les mêmes droits à
tous, frères et sœurs".
A la fin de sa vie, a
conclu le Pape, Jean Chrysostome revint sur le "projet de Dieu pour
l'humanité", réaffirmant que "Dieu aime chacun de nous d'un amour
infini car il veut nous sauver tous".
Source: VIS 070926 (520)
le 26 septembre 2007, Benoît XVI, catéchèse sur saint Jean Chrysostome.
Mémoire de saint Jean,
évêque de Constantinople et docteur de l'Église; originaire d'Antioche, il
mérita, une fois ordonné prêtre, le surnom de Chrysostome (Bouche d'Or) à cause
du fleuve d'or de son éloquence. Élu au siège de Constantinople, il se montra
pasteur excellent et maître de foi, mais il fut envoyé en exil par la faction
de ses ennemis. Au moment où le pape saint Innocent Ier le rappelait par
décret, sur la route du retour, près de Comane dans le Pont, il rendit son âme
à Dieu, le 14 septembre 407, victime des mauvais traitements que lui
infligeaient les soldats qui le gardaient.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/5401/Saint-Jean-Chrysostome.html
Courage !
N’allons pas croire que
c’est une preuve que Dieu nous abandonne et détourne de nous son regard si les
épreuves nous assaillent. Car il n’est rien d’étrange ni de nouveau dans la
tribulation qu’endurent les justes sur le chemin de la vie présente. Écoute le
Christ, il le dit : « Dans le monde, vous avez à souffrir, mais
courage ! » Afin que ses auditeurs ne soient pas abattus,
d’emblée il leur inspire courage et leur promet son soutien : « Courage !
Moi, je suis vainqueur du monde. » « Tu as avec toi, dit-il,
celui qui allège les peines, qui ne te laisse pas submerger par l’assaut des
épreuves, qui avec l’épreuve fournit aussi son issue » – et qui ne permet
pas que les difficultés dépassent nos forces. Pourquoi avoir si peu de fermeté
d’âme ? Car si nous apportons ce qui est en notre pouvoir, je veux dire la
patience, la résilience et l’action de grâce, permet-il que nous soyons jamais
hors de son regard ? Même si les choses sont à désespérer, vont-elles
vaincre la sagesse de notre Maître ? Faisons notre part et ayons une foi
pure, sachant l’habileté du protecteur de nos âmes : infailliblement, lui
qui sait mieux que nous ce qui est bon pour nous l’agencera comme il convient à
lui comme à nous.
St Jean Chrysostome
(Traduction inédite de
Guillaume Bady pour Magnificat.)
Saint Jean Chrysostome,
ou « Bouche d’or » († 407), né à Antioche, fut évêque de
Constantinople. / Homélie 32 sur la Genèse, 9, PG 53, 304-305, trad. inédite de
Guillaume Bady pour Magnificat.
SOURCE : https://fr.aleteia.org/daily-prayer/lundi-13-mai-2/meditation-de-ce-jour-1/
BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Mercredi 19 septembre
2007
Saint Jean Chrysostome
Chers frères et sœurs!
On célèbre cette année le
seizième centenaire de la mort de saint Jean Chrysostome (407-2007). Jean
d'Antioche, appelé Chrysostome, c'est-à-dire "Bouche d'or" en raison
de son éloquence, peut se dire encore vivant aujourd'hui, également en raison
de ses œuvres. Un copiste anonyme écrivit que celles-ci "traversent le
monde entier comme des éclairs foudroyants". Ses écrits nous permettent
également, ainsi qu'aux fidèles de son temps, qui furent à plusieurs reprises
privés de sa présence en raison de ses exils, de vivre avec ses livres, malgré
son absence. C'est ce qu'il suggérait lui-même dans l'une de ses lettres (cf. A
Olympiade, Lettre 8, 45).
Né autour de 349 à
Antioche de Syrie (aujourd'hui Antakya, au sud de la Turquie), il y exerça son
ministère pastoral pendant environ onze ans, jusqu'en 397, puis, ayant été
nommé Evêque de Constantinople, il exerça le ministère épiscopal dans la
capitale de l'Empire avant ses deux exils, qui se suivirent à brève distance
l'un de l'autre, entre 403 et 407. Nous nous limitons aujourd'hui à prendre en
considération les années de Chrysostome vécues à Antioche.
Orphelin de père en bas
âge, il vécut avec sa mère, Antusa, qui lui transmit une extrême sensibilité
humaine et une profonde foi chrétienne. Après avoir terminé ses études
élémentaires et supérieures, couronnées par des cours de philosophie et de
rhétorique, il eut pour maître Libanios, un païen, le plus célèbre rhéteur de
son temps. A son école, Jean devint le plus grand orateur de l'antiquité
grecque tardive. Baptisé en 368 et formé à la vie ecclésiastique par l'Evêque
Melezio, il fut institué lecteur par celui-ci en 371. Ce fait marqua l'entrée
officielle de Chrysostome dans le cursus ecclésiastique. De 367 à 372, il
fréquenta l'Asceterio, une sorte de séminaire d'Antioche, avec un groupe de
jeunes, dont certains devinrent ensuite Evêques, sous la direction du célèbre
exégète Diodore de Tarse, qui initia Jean à l'exégèse historico-littérale,
caractéristique de la tradition antiochienne.
Il se retira ensuite pendant
quatre ans parmi les ermites du proche mont Silpio. Il poursuivit cette
retraite par deux autres années encore, vécues en totale solitude dans une
grotte sous la direction d'un "ancien". Au cours de cette période, il
se consacra totalement à méditer "les lois du Christ", les Evangiles
et en particulier les Lettres de Paul. Etant tombé malade, il se trouva dans
l'impossibilité de se soigner tout seul, et il dut donc revenir dans la
communauté chrétienne d'Antioche (cf. Palladius, Vie 5). Le Seigneur - explique
le biographe - intervint à un juste moment avec cette infirmité, pour permettre
à Jean de suivre sa véritable vocation. En effet, il écrira lui-même que, placé
dans l'alternative de choisir entre les vicissitudes du gouvernement de
l'Eglise et la tranquillité de la vie monastique, il aurait préféré mille fois
le service pastoral (cf. Sur le sacerdoce, 6, 7): c'est précisément à cela que
Chrysostome se sentait appelé. Et ici s'accomplit le tournant décisif de
l'histoire de sa vocation: pasteur d'âme à plein temps! L'intimité avec la
Parole de Dieu, cultivée au cours des années de son ermitage, avait fait mûrir
en lui l'urgence irrésistible de prêcher l'Evangile, de donner aux autres ce
qu'il avait reçu au cours des années de méditation. L'idéal missionnaire le
lança ainsi, âme de feu, dans le service pastoral.
Entre 378 et 379 il
revint en ville. Devenu diacre en 381 et prêtre en 386, il devint un célèbre
prédicateur dans les églises de sa ville. Il prononça des homélies contre les
ariens, suivies de celles pour commémorer les martyrs antiochiens, ainsi que
d'autres sur les festivités liturgiques principales: il s'agit d'un grand
enseignement de la foi dans le Christ, également à la lumière de ses saints.
387 fut l'"année héroïque" de Jean, celle de la "révolte des
statues". Le peuple abattit les statues impériales, en signe de
protestation contre l'augmentation des impôts. Au cours de ces journées de
Carême et d'angoisse en raison des punitions dont l'empereur menaçait, il
prononça ses 22 vibrantes Homélies sur les statues, finalisées à la pénitence
et à la conversion. Suivit ensuite la période sereine du ministère pastoral
(387-397).
Chrysostome s'inscrit
parmi les Pères les plus prolifiques: de lui, nous sont parvenus 17 traités,
plus de 700 homélies authentiques, les commentaires à Matthieu et à Paul
(Lettres aux Romains, aux Corinthiens, aux Ephésiens et aux Hébreux), et 241
lettres. Ce ne fut pas un théologien spéculatif. Il transmit cependant la
doctrine traditionnelle et sûre de l'Eglise, à une époque de controverses
théologiques suscitées en particulier par l'arianisme, c'est-à-dire par la
négation de la divinité du Christ. Il est donc un témoin digne de foi du
développement dogmatique atteint par l'Eglise aux IV-V siècles. Sa théologie
est typiquement pastorale, avec la constante préoccupation de la cohérence
entre la pensée exprimée par la parole et le vécu existentiel. Tel est, en
particulier, le fil conducteur des splendides catéchèses, avec lesquelles il
préparait les catéchumènes à recevoir le Baptême. Proche de la mort, il écrivit
que la valeur de l'homme se trouve dans la "connaissance exacte de la
véritable doctrine et dans la rectitude de vie" (Lettre de l'exil). Les
deux choses, connaissance de la vérité et rectitude de vie, vont de pair: la
connaissance doit se traduire en vie. Chacune de ses interventions visa à
développer chez les fidèles l'exercice de l'intelligence, pour comprendre et
traduire en pratique les exigences morales et spirituelles de la foi.
Jean Chrysostome se
soucia d'accompagner par ses écrits le développement intégral de la personne,
dans les dimensions physique, intellectuelle et religieuse. Les diverses phases
de la croissance sont comparées à tout autant de mers d'un immense océan!
"La première de ces mers est l'enfance" (Homélie 81, 5 sur l'Evangile
de Matthieu). En effet, "précisément au cours de ce premier âge se
manifestent les inclinations au vice et à la vertu". C'est pourquoi la loi
de Dieu doit être dès le début imprimée dans l'âme "comme sur une tablette
de cire" (Homélie 3,1 sur l'Evangile de Jean): de fait, c'est l'âge le
plus important. Nous devons nous rappeler qu'il est fondamental qu'en cette
première phase de la vie, entrent réellement dans l'homme les grandes
orientations qui donnent sa juste perspective à l'existence. Chrysostome
recommande donc: "Dès l'âge le plus tendre fortifiez les enfants avec des
armes spirituelles, et enseignez-leur à marquer le front avec la main"
(Homélie 12, 7 sur la première Lettre aux Corinthiens). Viennent ensuite l'adolescence
et la jeunesse: "A l'enfance suit la mer de l'adolescence, où les vents
soufflent avec violence..., car en nous croît... la concupiscence"
(Homélie 81, 5 sur l'Evangile de Matthieu). Arrivent enfin les fiançailles et
le mariage: "A la jeunesse succède l'âge de la personne mûre, où se
présentent les engagements de la famille: le temps est venu de chercher une
femme" (ibid.). Il rappelle les objectifs du mariage, en les enrichissant
- avec un rappel à la vertu de la tempérance - d'un riche tissu de relations
personnalisées. Les époux bien préparés barrent ainsi la route au divorce: tout
se déroule avec joie et l'on peut éduquer les enfants à la vertu. Lorsque naît
ensuite le premier enfant, celui-ci est "comme un pont; les trois
deviennent une seule chair, car l'enfant réunit les deux parties" (Homélie
12, 5 sur la Lettre aux Colossiens), et les trois constituent "une
famille, petite Eglise" (Homélie 20, 6 sur la Lettre aux Ephésiens).
La prédication de
Chrysostome se déroulait habituellement au cours de la liturgie,
"lieu" où la communauté se construit à travers la parole et
l'Eucharistie. L'assemblée réunie là exprime l'unique Eglise (Homélie 8, 7 sur
la Lettre aux Romains), la même parole est adressée en tout lieu à tous
(Homélie 24, 2 sur la première Lettre aux Corinthiens), et la communion
eucharistique devient le signe efficace de l'unité (Homélie 32, 7 sur
l'Evangile de Matthieu). Son projet pastoral était inséré dans la vie de
l'Eglise, dans laquelle les fidèles laïcs assument avec le Baptême la charge
sacerdotale, royale et prophétique. Il dit au fidèle laïc: "A toi aussi le
Baptême fait de toi un roi, un prêtre et un prophète" (Homélie 3, 5 sur la
deuxième Lettre aux Corinthiens). C'est de là que naît le devoir fondamental de
la mission, car chacun est dans une certaine mesure responsable du salut des
autres: "Tel est le principe de notre vie sociale... ne pas s'intéresser
seulement à nous!" (Homélie 9, 2 sur la Genèse). Le tout se déroulait
entre deux pôles: la grande Eglise et la "petite Eglise", la famille,
en relation réciproque.
Chers frères et sœurs,
comme vous pouvez le voir, cette leçon de Chrysostome sur la présence
authentiquement chrétienne des fidèles laïcs dans la famille et dans la
société, demeure encore aujourd'hui plus que jamais actuelle. Prions le
Seigneur, afin qu'il nous rende dociles aux enseignements de ce grand Maître de
la foi.
* * *
Je salue cordialement les
pèlerins francophones présents ce matin, notamment les pèlerins sénégalais,
guidés par Mgr Ndiaye, Évêque de Kaolack, les membres de l’Association des
Vieilles Maisons françaises, le groupe des Missionnaires d’Afrique et les
pèlerins de Côte d’Ivoire et du Canada. Je vous souhaite à tous un heureux
pèlerinage, source d’approfondissement de votre foi et de renouvellement pour
votre vie.
© Copyright 2007 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Saint
Jean Chrysostome, Constantinople, début ou milieu du XIe siècle. Stéatite
(pierre à savon) et rehauts d'or., 9.2 x 6.2, Louvre Museum, Department of Decorative Arts,
Richelieu, first floor, room 1
BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Mercredi 26 septembre
2007
Saint Jean Chrysostome
Chers frères et sœurs!
Nous poursuivons
aujourd'hui notre réflexion sur saint Jean Chrysostome. Après la période passée
à Antioche, il fut nommé en 397, Evêque de Constantinople, la capitale de
l'Empire romain d'Orient. Dès le début, Jean projeta la réforme de son Eglise:
l'austérité du palais épiscopal devait constituer un exemple pour tous -
clergé, veuves, moines, personnes de la cour et riches. Malheureusement, un
grand nombre d'entre eux, concernés par ses jugements, s'éloignèrent de lui.
Plein d'attention à l'égard des pauvres, Jean fut également appelé
l'"Aumônier". En effet, en administrateur attentif, il avait réussi à
créer des institutions caritatives très appréciées. Son esprit d'entreprise
dans les divers domaines fit de lui pour certains un dangereux rival. Toutefois,
comme un véritable pasteur, il traitait chacun de manière cordiale et
paternelle. En particulier, il avait toujours des accents tendres pour la femme
et des attentions spéciales pour le mariage et la famille. Il invitait les
fidèles à participer à la vie liturgique, qu'il rendit splendide et attrayante
grâce à une créativité de génie.
Malgré son bon cœur, il
ne connut pas une vie tranquille. Pasteur de la capitale de l'Empire, il se
trouva souvent concerné par des questions et des intrigues politiques, en
raison de ses relations permanentes avec les autorités et les institutions
civiles. De même, sur le plan ecclésiastique, ayant déposé en Asie en 401 six
Evêques illégitimement élus, il fut accusé d'avoir franchi les limites de sa
juridiction, et devint ainsi la cible d'accusations faciles. Un autre prétexte
contre lui fut la présence de plusieurs moines égyptiens, excommuniés par le
patriarche Théophile d'Alexandrie et qui s'étaient réfugiés à Constantinople.
Une vive polémique naquit ensuite en raison des critiques faites par Jean
Chrysostome à l'égard de l'impératrice Eudoxie et de ses courtisanes, qui
réagirent en jetant sur lui le discrédit et des insultes. On arriva ainsi à sa
déposition, lors du synode organisé par le Patriarche Théophile lui-même en
403, avec pour conséquence une condamnation à un premier bref exil. Après son
retour, l'hostilité suscitée contre lui par la protestation contre les fêtes en
l'honneur de l'impératrice - que l'Evêque considérait païennes, luxueuses -, et
l'expulsion des prêtres chargés des Baptêmes lors de la Veillée pascale de 404
marquèrent le début de la persécution des fidèles de Chrysostome, qu'on
appelait les "Johannites".
Jean dénonça alors les
faits, par écrit, à l'Evêque de Rome, Innocent I. Mais il était désormais trop
tard. En l'an 406, il dut à nouveau partir en exil, cette fois à Cucuse, en
Arménie. Le Pape était convaincu de son innocence, mais n'avait pas le pouvoir
de l'aider. Un Concile, voulu par Rome pour parvenir à une pacification entre
les deux parties de l'Empire et entre leurs Eglises, ne put avoir lieu. Le
voyage épuisant de Cucuse vers Pytius, un objectif qu'il n'atteignit jamais,
devait empêcher les visites des fidèles et briser la résistance de l'exilé qui
était épuisé: sa condamnation à l'exil fut une véritable condamnation à mort!
Les nombreuses lettres de son exil, dans lesquelles Jean manifeste ses
préoccupations pastorales avec des accents de participation et de douleur pour
les persécutions contre les siens, sont émouvantes. La marche vers la mort
s'arrêta à Comana dans le Pont. C'est là que Jean, moribond, fut conduit dans
la chapelle du martyre saint Basilisque, où il rendit son esprit à Dieu et fut
enseveli, martyr à côté d'un martyr (Pallade, Vie 119). C'était le 14 septembre
407, fête de l'Exaltation de la sainte Croix. La réhabilitation eut lieu en 438
avec Théodose II. Les reliques du saint Evêque, déposées dans l'église des
Apôtres, à Constantinople, furent ensuite transportées à Rome en 1204, dans la
Basilique constantinienne primitive, et elles reposent à présent dans la
chapelle du Chœur des Chanoines de la Basilique Saint-Pierre. Le 24 août 2004,
une partie importante de celles-ci fut donnée par le Pape Jean-Paul II au
Patriarche Bartholomaios I de Constantinople. La mémoire liturgique du saint
est célébrée le 13 septembre. Le bienheureux Jean XXIII le proclama patron du
Concile Vatican II.
On dit de Jean
Chrysostome que, lorsqu'il fut assis sur le trône de la nouvelle Rome,
c'est-à-dire de Constantinople, Dieu fit voir en lui un deuxième Paul, un
docteur de l'Univers. En réalité, chez Chrysostome, il existe une unité
substantielle entre la pensée et l'action, à Antioche comme à Constantinople.
Seuls le rôle et les situations changent. En méditant sur les huit œuvres
accomplies par Dieu dans la séquence des six jours dans le commentaire de la
Genèse, Chrysostome veut reconduire les fidèles de la création au Créateur:
"C'est un grand bien", dit-il, "de connaître ce qu'est la
créature et ce qu'est le Créateur". Il nous montre la beauté de la
création et la transparence de Dieu dans sa création, qui devient ainsi presque
comme une "échelle" pour monter vers Dieu, pour le connaître. Mais à
ce premier passage s'en ajoute un deuxième: ce Dieu créateur est également le
Dieu de la condescendance (synkatabasis). Nous sommes faibles dans notre
démarche de "monter", nos yeux sont faibles. Et ainsi, Dieu devient
le Dieu de la condescendance, qui envoie à l'homme déchu et étranger une
lettre, l'Ecriture Sainte, si bien que la Création et l'Ecriture se complètent.
Dans la lumière de l'Ecriture, de la Lettre que Dieu nous a donnée, nous
pouvons déchiffrer la création. Dieu est appelé "père tendre"
(philostorgios) (ibid.), médecin des âmes (Homélie 40, 3 sur la Genèse), mère
(ibid.) et ami affectueux (Sur la providence 8, 11-12). Mais, à ce deuxième
passage - tout d'abord la Création comme "échelle" vers Dieu, et
ensuite la condescendance de Dieu à travers une lettre qu'il nous a donnée,
l'Ecriture Sainte - s'ajoute un troisième passage. Dieu ne nous transmet pas
seulement une lettre: en définitive, il descend lui-même, il s'incarne, il
devient réellement "Dieu avec nous", notre frère jusqu'à la mort sur
la Croix. Et à ces trois passages - Dieu est visible dans la création, Dieu
nous donne une lettre, Dieu descend et devient l'un de nous - s'ajoute à la fin
un quatrième passage. A l'intérieur de la vie et de l'action du chrétien, le
principe vital et dynamique de l'Esprit (Pneuma), qui transforme les réalités
du monde. Dieu entre dans notre existence elle-même à travers l'Esprit Saint et
il nous transforme de l'intérieur de notre cœur.
C'est dans ce cadre que
Jean, précisément à Constantinople, dans le commentaire continu des Actes des
Apôtres, propose le modèle de l'Eglise primitive (Ac 4, 32-37), comme modèle
pour la société, en développant une "utopie" sociale (presque une
"cité idéale"). En effet, il s'agissait de donner une âme et un
visage chrétien à la ville. En d'autres termes, Chrysostome a compris qu'il
n'est pas suffisant de faire l'aumône, d'aider les pauvres ponctuellement, mais
il est nécessaire de créer une nouvelle structure, un nouveau modèle de
société; un modèle fondé sur la perspective du Nouveau Testament. C'est la
nouvelle société qui se révèle dans l'Eglise naissante. Jean Chrysostome
devient donc réellement ainsi l'un des grands Pères de la Doctrine sociale de
l'Eglise: la vieille idée de la "polis" grecque doit être remplacée
par une nouvelle idée de cité inspirée par la foi chrétienne. Chrysostome
soutenait avec Paul (cf. 1 Co 8, 11) le primat de chaque chrétien, de la
personne en tant que telle, également de l'esclave ou du pauvre. Son projet
corrige ainsi la vision grecque traditionnelle de la "polis", de la
cité, dans laquelle de larges couches de la population étaient exclues des
droits de citoyen, alors que dans la cité chrétienne, tous sont frères et sœurs
avec des droits égaux. Le primat de la personne est également la conséquence du
fait que c'est réellement à partir d'elle que l'on construit la cité, alors que
dans la "polis" grecque, la patrie était au-dessus de l'individu, qui
était totalement subordonné à la cité dans son ensemble. Ainsi, Chrysostome
définit la vision d'une société construite par la conscience chrétienne et il
nous dit que notre "polis" est une autre, "notre patrie est dans
les cieux" (Ph 3, 20) et, même sur cette terre, cette patrie nous rend
tous égaux, frères et sœurs, et nous oblige à la solidarité.
Au terme de sa vie, dans
son exil aux frontières de l'Arménie, "le lieu le plus reculé du
monde", Jean, se rapportant à sa première prédication de 386, reprit le
thème qui lui était cher du dessein que Dieu poursuit à l'égard de l'humanité:
c'est un dessein "indicible et incompréhensible", mais certainement
guidé par Lui avec amour (cf. Sur la Providence 2, 6). Telle est notre
certitude. Même si nous ne pouvons pas déchiffrer les détails de l'histoire
personnelle et collective, nous savons que le dessein de Dieu est toujours
inspiré par son amour. Ainsi, malgré ses souffrances, Chrysostome réaffirmait
la découverte que Dieu aime chacun de nous avec un amour infini, et désire donc
le salut de tous. Pour sa part, le saint Evêque coopéra généreusement à ce
salut, sans ménager ses forces, toute sa vie. En effet, il considérait comme le
but ultime de son existence cette gloire de Dieu, que - désormais mourant - il
laissa comme dernier testament: "Gloire à Dieu pour tout!" (Pallade,
Vie 11).
* * *
Je salue cordialement les
pèlerins francophones présents à cette audience, en particulier Mgr Guy
Thomazeau, Archevêque de Montpellier avec des pèlerins de Béziers, le groupe de
Frères Maristes en année de formation permanente, les jeunes de Tours et les
pèlerins de La Réunion. Puisse votre séjour à Rome vous donner l’occasion de
découvrir davantage le Seigneur, qui nous aime et qui veut nous sauver.
© Copyright 2007 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Bad Wurzach, Pfarrkirche St. Verena, Deckenfresko im
Mittelschiff von Andreas Brugger (1737–1812)
Mittelteil: der hl. Chrysostomus, 1777
SAINT JEAN CHRYSOSTOME
La traduction des oeuvres de saint Jean Chrysostome
était une oeuvre énorme ; elle vient d’être accomplie. Bien des architectes se
sont réunis pour construire ce monument. M. Jeannin, professeur au collège de
l’Immaculée-Conception de Saint-Dizier, a dirigé les travaux (Oeuvres complètes
de saint Jean Chrysostome, traduites pour la première fois en français).
Saint Jean Chrysostome est un de ces bommes qui
semblent avoir un titre particulier au nom de catholique : c’est un homme
universel.
Parmi les saints, il en est dont la vie intérieure constitue
un drame si terrible et si sublime que la vie extérieure est seulement un
détail dans leur biographie, détail important, mais qui permet au lecteur de
l’oublier par instants.
Il est des saints qui ont vécu surtout en eux-mêmes;
le reproche absurde d’inutilité et d’égoïsme sort naturellement des lèvres de
tous ceux qui les étudient sans les comprendre.
Il en est d’autres en qui la charité se montre plus
ostensiblement, et frappe le spectateur, même malgré lui. Il y a des hommes qui
se sont dépensés pour les autres hommes avec une si évidente libéralité que
l’étranger lui-même, les regardant de loin et ne pénétrant pas dans leur sanctuaire,
admire malgré lui leur vie extérieure, sans connaître le principe d’où elle
vient, et le foyer d’où sort ce feu.
Saint Siméon Stylite appartiendrait à la première de
ces deux classes ; saint Jean Chrysostome à la seconde; saint Augustin à toutes
les deux.
Saint Jean Chrysostome se dépensa toujours, en toutes
circonstances, vis-à-vis de tous, et à propos de tout. Il fut un don perpétuel
: il se donna par le sacerdoce ; il se donna par l’aumône ; il se donna par le
sacrifice ; il se donna par la parole.
Il parla immensément; il écrivit fort peu, et, même en
écrivant, il parlait encore.
Entre l'écrivain et l’orateur, la distance est grande.
L’orateur s’adresse à quelques-uns, l’écrivain à tous. L’orateur parle, dans
une circonstance donnée, et pour une circonstance donnée, à une assemblée
particulière dont il connaît les dispositions et les besoins spéciaux.
L’écrivain s'adresse à lui-même et à l’humanité. Il veut que son oeuvre soit
permanente ; il veut la soustraire, autant que possible, aux influences
délétères des choses accidentelles. L’orateur veut obtenir de certaines personnes,
qu’il voit et qu’il connaît, un certain acquiescement déterminé. Il veut agir sur
elles et s’emparer de leur esprit. L’écrivain pense moins aux personnes et
pense plus aux choses. Il traite moins directement avec les hommes, et se
préoccupe plus uniquement du sujet qu’il traite et de la vérité qu’il exprime.
Saint Jean Chrysostome, même quand il écrit, au lieu
de parler, reste orateur et ne devient pas écrivain. L’intention d’agir sur
quelqu’un est toujours actuelle et évidente chez lui.
Ce n’est pas á lui qu’il parle. Il ne se renferme pas dans
un lieu secret et profond pour se recueillir dans le mystère intime de l’âme.
Il a toujours une assemblée devant lui, toujours des adversaires, toujours des
pécheurs. Il ne s’abîme pas longuement, comme saint Augustin, dans ses souvenirs,
pour pleurer les jours d’autrefois et pour préparer les jours qui viendront. Il
ne s’enfonce pas dans son abîme intérieur avec l’ardeur terrible des contemplatifs
; il songe au présent. Il regarde autour de lui. Au lieu de fermer les yeux pour
se souvenir, il les ouvre pour examiner.
Évêque veut dire surveillant : saint Jean Chrysostome
fut vraiment Évêque. Il se précipitait de tous les côtés à la fois pour
défendre ses brebis, car les loups venaient de toutes parts.
Beaucoup plus moraliste que théologien, il avait sans
cesse devant les yeux la difficulté pratique avec laquelle on était
actuellement aux prises autour de lui. Il s’élève peu, il approfondit peu, s’il
faut prendre ces deux mots dans le sens humain et intellectuel : il regarde, il
examine, il cherche, il sonde, il exhorte, il encourage, il console, il
conseille. Son regard n’est pas habituellement d’une profondeur extraordinaire,
mais il s’adapte singulièrement aux circonstances de temps et de lieux, aux
personnes et aux choses.
Il n’est pas nécessaire, pour l’approcher, d’avoir vécu
longtemps dans l’atmosphère sombre et embrasée où brûlent, parmi les splendeurs
de la nuit sacrée, les mystères insondables de la théologie. Beaucoup de saints,
peut-être, ont été plus sublimes; très peu ont été si populaires. Il a cette
douce grâce naïve qui est la vraie bonté, la bonté féconde et lumineuse. Il
descend, sans s’abaisser, dans les détails de la vie humaine.
Sans compromettre la dignité de la chaire évangélique,
il s’y assoit pour raconter ou pour conseiller les choses les plus intimes et
les plus familières. Il ne prononce pas de ces paroles vagues qui passent à côté
des auditeurs sans les atteindre ; il s’adresse réellement à tous ceux qui l’entourent,
entrant dans les nécessités de leur existence quotidienne, les appelant, les
avertissant, les réprimandant, les conseillant, comme s’il connaissait chacun d’entre
eux par son nom, comme s'il était entré dans toutes les misères, dans toutes
les faiblesses, dans toutes les tentations qui remplissaient ses auditeurs,
comme s’il eût été réellement le frère ou le père de chacun; et ce n’était pas
une illusion; il était réellement le père et le frère de chacun. Il ne l’était
pas par hypothèse, il l’était en réalité.
Il semble que l’intention de briller, dans les discours
moraux et religieux, soit en quelque sorte une invention moderne. Autrefois,
chez les Grecs, par exemple, l’éloquence politique était le cri même de la
nécessité actuelle. Quand Démosthènes parlait, il ne visait vraisemblablement à
rien qu’à exciter le peuple. La vanité était combattue, peut- être étouffée,
peut-être prévenue par l’angoisse réelle d’une situation politique qui exigeait
non des phrases, mais des actes, non un succès, mais une délivrance. Cicéron,
qui est un moderne, inaugure peut-être la période de décadence où l’orateur se
regarde au lieu de s’oublier, et pense à l’élégance de son geste au lieu de
penser à sauver le peuple. Cicéron, dans son Traité de l’Art oratoire, a érigé
en système la décadence de l’art; il en a dressé le code; il en a formulé les
lois. Mais voici le monde romain qui meurt, et le christianisme se lève sur le
monde. Une éloquence naît, plus sévère que celle d’autrefois, encore plus dépourvue
de retour sur elle-même, ignorante des ruses et ne visant qu’au salut. Il ne
s'agit plus seulement désormais de sauver un certain peuple d’un certain peuple
ennemi, à l’occasion d’un danger accidentel; il s’agit de sauver les peuples et
les individus contre l’ennemi commun, contre l’ennemi du genre humain; il
s’agit de faire à la création rajeunie le don du salut, pour le temps et pour
l’éternité, sur la terre comme au ciel. Il s’agit d’enseigner le Pater pratiquement
et de le faire réciter aux hommes dans la vérité comme dans l’esprit.
Il semble que l’orateur chrétien, l’homme des premiers
siècles de l’Église, n’ait pas même la peine de s’oublier ; il semble que
jamais la pensée de lui-même ne se soit présentée à lui. Il semble qu’il n’ait
pas eu de précautions à prendre contre la recherche de soi, et qu’en face des
grandes catastrophes, et des grandes espérances; en face du monde écroulé, et
du monde prêt à naître ; en face des Romains qui s’en vont, des barbares qui arrivent,
des chrétiens qui surgissent ; en face des grandes ruines amoncelées et du
salut que la terre réclame ; il semble qu’en face de ce drame humain et divin où
toutes choses sont en présence, l’orateur n’ait pas le temps de penser à
lui-même, et que la vanité ne prenne pas sa place parmi tant de décombres,
parmi tant de préparations, tant de crimes, tant de vertus, tant de larmes de
toute espèce. Saint Jean Chrysostome est un des types les plus accomplis de la
simplicité pratique aux prises avec un travail gigantesque et minutieux qui
réclame à la fois tous les genres de courage. Ce n’est pas le type du génie,
c’est le type de l’activité ; ce n’est pas le vol de l’aigle, c’est le combat
pied à pied, ardent, doux, fort, calme et acharné. C’est la charité invincible
que rien ne rebute et ne fatigue; c est le dévouement sans ostentation, qui ne
s’étale ni vis-à-vis des autres, ni vis-à-vis de lui-même, qui va droit á son
but, fortement et tranquillement. Saint Jean Chrysostome ne plane pas
ordinairement, mais il marche d’un pas égal, assuré, qui féconde le sol sous
ses pieds.
Saint Jean Chrysostome, dans les homélies, reproche aux
auditeurs de voir en lui autre chose qu’un apôtre, et de chercher dans ses
discours autre chose que la pratique. Les considérations générales, métaphysiques,
théoriques, philosophiques, sociales qui constituent depuis quelque temps
l’apologétique chrétienne, étaient peu connues autrefois. La forme de la
prédication varie suivant la nature et le besoin des siècles auxquels elle
s’adresse. Il semble qu’en avançant à travers les âges, l’élévation augmente et
que l’intimité diminue. Peut-être une apologétique suprême résumera-t-elle,
avant la fin du monde, toutes les gloires de la métaphysique et de la
prédication chrétienne dans une synthèse où l’élévation et l’intimité
s’augmenteront, s’achèveront, se compléteront l’une l’autre.
Les détails les plus intimes de la vie, de la maison
et de la famille passent sous nos yeux quand nous lisons saint Jean
Chrysostome.
« Chez les Juifs, dit-il, pour prier il fallait monter
au temple, acheter une tourterelle, avoir du bois et du feu sous la main,
prendre un couteau, se présenter à l’autel, accomplir beaucoup d’autres
prescriptions Ici, rien de pareil.... Rien n’empêche une femme, en tenant sa
quenouille ou en ourdissant sa toile, d’élever sa pensée vers le ciel et
d’invoquer Dieu avec ferveur; rien n’empêche un homme qui vient sur la place ou
qui voyage seul de prier attentivement; tel autre, assis dans sa boutique, tout
en cousant des peaux, est libre d’offrir son âme au Maître. L’esclave, au marché,
dans les allées et venues, à la cuisine, s’il ne peut aller à l’église, est
libre de faire une prière attentive et ardente; l’endroit ne fait pas honte à
Dieu, etc... »
Cette familiarité est le caractère distinctif de saint
Jean Chrysostome. Jamais elle ne l’abandonne, et même quand sa parole s’élève,
elle garde ce caractère d’allocution personnelle et directe. Il n’échappe
jamais à son auditeur par un mouvement étranger; son sujet ne l’entraîne ni
plus loin ni plus haut que l’esprit de ceux qui écoutent. Essentiellement
populaire, il poursuit dans les conditions sociales et intellectuelles les plus
infimes, il poursuit ceux qui habitent là pour faire pénétrer en eux,
lentement, laborieusement, charitablement et patiemment les vérités les plus
hautes, accommodées à leur faiblesse et mises à leur portée. Les relations des
choses entre elles, les coups d’oeil généraux sont rares dans ses discours. On
dirait qu’il connaît chacun de ses auditeurs intimement et personnellement. On
dirait qu’il s’adresse tantôt á l’un, tantôt à l’autre, variant ses conseils suivant
les circonstances particulières de chaque nature et de chaque position, mais ne
disant pas un mot vague, impersonnel et purement théorique, ne prononçant pas
une phrase qui ne porte coup, dans tel endroit et dans telle direction pratique
déterminée. Il ne vous quitte pas la main, il vous conduit pas à pas dans le
sentier où vous marchez et qu’il connaît. Il est votre Évêque. Il connaît vos
voies et les surveille. Il compte vos pas; il ressemble à une mère qui regarde
son enfant s’essayer à courir pour la première fois.
Quand il explique aux époux leurs devoirs, saint Jean
Chrysostome entre dans des considérations si simples qu’elles étonneraient
beaucoup aujourd’hui. Les modernes ne sont pas assez humains pour supporter
tant de naïveté. Saint Jean Chrysostome conseille à l’époux de ne pas cacher
son affection, mais de la montrer tout entière, très simplement. Il lui
recommande de parler à sa jeune femme et lui indique comment pourrait s’engager
une de leurs premières contestations.
« Dis-Iui. continue le saint, dis-lui avec la grâce la
plus parfaite : Chère petite fille, j’ai associé mon existence à la tienne,
dans les choses les plus importantes et les plus nécessaires d’ici-bas... Je pouvais
épouser une femme plus riche, je ne l’ai pas voulu... j’ai tout dédaigné pour
ne voir que les qualités de ton âme, que j’estime au-dessus de tous les
trésors. »
Et l’orateur se livre aux transports d’horreur qui lui
inspirent les mariages d’argent.
« Une femme riche, dit il, vous apportera moins de
jouissances par la fortune que d’ennuis par ses exigences, ses prétentions, ses
dépenses, ses paroles hautaines et méprisantes. Elle dira peut-être : Je n’use
rien qui soit à toi; je m’habille à mes dépens et sur les revenus qui me
viennent de ma famille. »
Et, accablant cette insolente de son indignation
fougueuse et naïve, l’Évêque l’apostrophe et la prend à partie :
« Que dis-tu là? Ton corps ne t’appartient plus et tu
t’appropries tes biens ! Une fois mariés, l’homme et la femme ne font plus
qu’un. Et vous auriez non pas une fortune commune, mais deux fortunes
distinctes ! O fatal amour de l’argent ! Vous n’êtes qu’un même être, une même
vie, et vous parlez encore du tien et du mien ! Parole exécrable et criminelle,
inventée par l’enfer ! »
Saint Jean Chrysostome charge l’époux lui-même
d’instruire là-dessus l’épouse. C’est à lui d’enseigner, à elle d’écouter. Mais
il ne suffit pas d’enseigner, il faut enseigner utilement, sagement, doucement,
gracieusement. Et avec quelle grâce le saint Évêque recommande la grâce ! Avec quelle
douceur il recommande la douceur ! Comme il s’intéresse sincèrement au bonheur
de ses enfants ! comme il veille tendrement sur la fragilité de l’amour!
Il faut, pour étudier cet homme, ce saint, dans son
caractère, dans sa vie, dans ses prédications ; il faut aussi, pour connaître
le milieu social où il agissait et la naïveté des moeurs environnantes, suivre
saint Jean dans les charmants et tendres détails de ses soins paternels.
Supposons donc le cas où la femme, insolente et avare,
réclame la propriété particulière de tel objet et veut le disputer à son mari.
Que fera celui-ci ? Se fâchera-t-il ou cédera-t-il ? Il cédera, s’il suit
l’avis de l’Évêque, mais il cédera de manière à donner une leçon pleine de
sagesse et de douceur. Il avertira sa femme de son erreur, par sa manière même
de céder.
« Apprends ces choses à ta femme, dit saint Jean
Chrysostome, mais avec une grande bonté.
« L’exhortation à la vertu a, par elle-même, quelque
chose de trop sévère, surtout si elle s’adresse à une jeune personne délicate
et timide. Quand donc tu t’entretiendras avec elle de notre philosophie, mets-y
beaucoup de grâce, et cherche principalement à arracher de son âme le tien et
le mien. Si elle dit : Ceci est à moi ; réponds aussitôt : Que réclames-tu,
comme étant à toi ? je l’ignore; car, pour moi, je n n’ai rien en propre; et ce
n’est pas telle ou telle chose, c’est tout qui t’appartient !
« Passe-lui donc cette parole !... Si elle dit : Ceci
est à moi, dis-lui : Oui, tout est à toi, et moi aussi, tout le premier, je
suis à toi ! Et ce ne sera pas flatterie, mais sagesse. Ainsi tu pourras, tour
à tour, apaiser sa fougue, et guérir son abattement. »
Ainsi parle l’évêque ; mais il n’a pas encore tout dit
: c’est la tendresse qu’il demande, ce n’est pas seulement la douceur. Il veut
que l’époux dise à l’épouse :
« Je t’aime et je te préfère à ma propre vie...Ton
affection me plait par-dessus toute chose, et rien ne me serait aussi pénible
que d’avoir, en quoi que ce soit, une autre pensée que la tienne. Rien ne
m’effraie pourvu que je possède ton amour, et c’est encore toi que j’aimerai
dans nos enfants. »
« Ne crains pas, mon ami, ajoute saint Jean Chrysostome,
ne crains pas que ce langage donne à ta femme trop de prétention. Avoue-lui que
tu l’aimes ! »
Cette interpellation directe, qui part de l’orateur
pour aborder personnellement chaque auditeur, est le caractère de cette parole
vivante.
L’orateur moderne évite généralement les allusions
individuelles ; il embrasse l’ensemble des hommes et des choses, et croirait
manquer à l’une des nombreuses lois de sa dignité s’il avait l’air de savoir le
nom de ses auditeurs, de les considérer comme ses enfants et de leur adresser, personnellement,
des conseils privés. Il semble ignorer leurs affaires et ne pas s’occuper de
leurs maisons. Quelque chose d’officiel a pénétré partout : une certaine
grandeur peut très bien se rencontrer dans certaine façon de parler et d’agir.
Le style a sa solennité qu’il ne faut ni exagérer ni
méconnaître. Une certaine largeur d’horizon peut exclure ou exiger un certain
ton, et les convenances changent avec les moeurs qui les produisent.
Mais il faut se souvenir des parfums exquis qui
s’échappaient d’une éloquence paternelle. Il faut se souvenir des communications
chaudes et tendres qui se faisaient entre l’orateur et l’auditeur, entretenues
par la sollicitude de l’un et par la soumission de l’autre. Saint Jean
Chrysostome est peut-être l’exemple le plus complet et le type accompli de
cette éloquence, si contraire à la nôtre, si pleine d’oubli pour elle-même,
l’oubli de soi !... Ce charme est si rare qu’il embellit et colore, quand il se
rencontre, même isolé, là où manque la couleur. Peu de créatures sont assez
complètement disgraciées pour ne pas devenir gracieuses en quelque façon, si
elles reçoivent le don sublime de ne viser à rien, et de s’oublier
parfaitement.
Cet homme si simple, ce conseiller si intime et si
tendre était, vis-à-vis de l’injustice puissante, d’une fierté et d'une audace
à toute épreuve. L’histoire d’Eutrope semble un cadre placé là tout exprès pour
enchâsser la grande figure de Chrysostome.
Dans le superbe discours, que la circonstance
extraordinaire où il fut prononcé transforma en événement public, il apostrophe
encore, et plus directement que jamais, un de ses auditeurs. Mais de quelle
voix il lui parle ! Avec quelle autorité ! avec quelle douceur ! avec quelle
grandeur ! Quel drame que ce récit ! Comme il est supérieur aux drames de l’histoire
ancienne ! supérieur par l’intérêt, supérieur par l’enseignement, supérieur par
le pathétique ! Et comme il est moins célèbre !
Que de gens savent par coeur Cornélius Népos ? et,
parfaitement édifiés sur le compte de Pélopidas et d’Atticus, n’ont pas un
souvenir précis du rôle historique de saint Jean Chrysostome et de son attitude
magnifique devant l’empire et devant l’empereur ! C’est que le christianisme
est la. C’est pourquoi les hommes se taisent et oublient. La proximité de Dieu
mesure à leur injustice.
Leur méconnaissance est le témoignage qu’ils rendent à
la vérité.
Eutrope, l’eunuque Eutrope, était à peu près monté sur
le trône. Il était même question de l’y installer tout-à-fait, de l’y placer
officiellement. Cet esclave, devenu consul, menaçait déjà l’impératrice de sa
disgrâce. Claudien a fait le récit de ce consulat épouvantable... Les provinces
étaient mises à l’encan !
Avec les bijoux de sa femme, un certain personnage
acheta la Syrie !
L’histoire d’Eutrope serait invraisemblable, si la
honte et l’horreur pouvaient être invraisemblables, depuis Adam, dans l’histoire humaine. Ceux qui ont perdu de vue la réalité de notre nature, et en
qui l’idée de la chute originelle est voilée par l’orgueil qu’elle-même inspire,
et sous laquelle elle se dissimule, comme l’araignée sous sa toile; ceux-là
feraient bien de relire l’histoire d’Eutrope.
La nature humaine est visible, là, sans voile et sans
mensonge. Toute noblesse et toute richesse étaient punies par le bannissement,
la confiscation ou la mort. Les déserts de Lybie reçurent ce qu’il y avait dans
l’empire de plus honnête et de moins dégradé, tout ce qui avait l’honneur
d’être envoyé en exil !
Ce fut là que mourut Rimasius, l’ancien consul, exilé
d’abord, assassiné ensuite ; Rimasius, le vainqueur des Goths, le compagnon et
l’ami de Théodose ! C’était une fête pour Eutrope, c’était une proie agréable, plus
rare et plus illustre que ses victimes ordinaires. Le consul aimait à s’offrir
à lui-même des sacrifices de cette espèce-là. Mais ce n’était pas assez ; Rimasius
avait un fils, il fallait le tuer ; la chose fut faite. Mais ce n’était pas
assez. Il restait une veuve et une mère : Eutrope eut l’idée de l’immoler ; mais
cette femme, nommée Pentadie, se réfugia aux pieds des autels : elle invoquait
le droit d’asile !
Il faut se faire une idée des temps dont nous parlons
pour comprendre l’importance du droit d’asile, et de quelle façon les évêques
tenaient à cette chose sacrée.
Le droit d’asile qui, aux temps de la trêve de Dieu,
s’exerçait sur les grandes routes, aux pieds des croix plantées, dans les
champs auprès d’une charrue, le droit d’asile vivait, du temps de Chrysostome,
à l’ombre des autels. Pentadie l’invoqua ; Eutrope osa réclamer sa victime,
mais il rencontra Chrysostome. Le bourreau recula devant l’Évêque. Pentadie fut
sauvée; cependant le droit d’asile fut aboli en principe par Eutrope.
Tout pliait devant l’eunuque, tout, excepté saint Jean.
Sans faiblesse et sans ostentation, l’Évêque faisait son devoir, et sa grande
figure se dressait seule, au milieu de tout ce peuple prosterné.
Mais bientôt tout changea. Un de ces accidents de
palais si fréquents à cette époque, jeta Eutrope la face contre terre. La
révolte de Thibigilde, les menaces de la Perse qui venait de changer de maître,
les supplications de l’impératrice insultée, éplorée, furieuse, qui se
précipita aux pieds de l’empereur, ses deux enfants dans les bras, et demandant
vengeance, toutes les colères et toutes les douleurs qu’Eutrope avait excitées,
se tournèrent enfin contre lui. Arcadius le chassa du palais. Aussitôt toutes
les voix qui l’adoraient ne firent qu’une voix pour le détester. Un concert
d’imprécations s’éleva contre lui. Jamais le fameux voisinage du Capitole et de
la roche Tarpéienne ne fut vrai si littéralement. Tout le peuple demandait à
grands cris la mort d’Eutrope.
C’est ci que commence un drame sublime !
Que fit le misérable eunuque ? Il n’avait qu’une
ressource. Il l’employa. Il invoqua ce droit d’asile que lui-même avait aboli.
Consul, il l’avait bravé. Condamné, il l’invoqua. Mais ce qu’il avait détruit était
bien détruit, au moins dans l’esprit d’Arcadius. Eutrope réfugié aux pieds des
autels, et invoquant leur ombre jadis méprisée par lui, est un magnifique
tableau qui pourrait tenter un peintre ; mais là ne s’arrête pas le drame.
L’eunuque poursuivi fut traité par Arcadius comme Pentadie persécutée avait été
traitée par lui. Il avait réclamé Pentadie abritée derrière l’autel. Arcadius
réclama Eutrope, couché sous la table de l’autel. Mais là ne s’arrête pas le
drame. Eutrope, poursuivant Pentadie, avait rencontré Chrysostome qui la protégeait.
Arcadius, poursuivant Eutrope, rencontra Chrysostome qui le protégeait. Seul
défenseur autrefois de la liberté et de la justice contre Eutrope tout-puissant,
saint Jean Chrysostome fut le seul défenseur d’Eutrope poursuivi et caché sous
la table et serré contre l’autel. L’Évêque toujours fidèle, toujours fier, toujours
humble, toujours grand, toujours libre, invoqua solennellement et magnifiquement
en faveur d’Eutrope poursuivi ce même droit d’asile qu’il avait invoqué contre
Eutrope tout-puissant, et l’eunuque se cacha derrière ce même Évêque, contre
lequel, aux jours de sa puissance, sa colère s’était brisée !
Eutrope tremblait de tous ses membres, caché sous la
table de l’autel; la foule s’assembla tumultueuse, demandant la tête du
criminel, et exaltée par une nuit de fureur. Saint Jean prit la parole dans
cette église envahie par tant de passions, adressant tour à tour ses reproches
à la foule et à celui qu’elle poursuivait, montrant à celui-ci son orgueil et
sa bassesse, à celle-là ses adulations et ses colères.
« Vanité des vanités, s’écria l’orateur. Où est maintenant
cette splendeur illustre du consulat ? Où sont les flambeaux qu’on portait devant
cet homme, et ces applaudissements et ces danses, et ces banquets et ces fêtes?
Où sont ces couronnes et ces parures suspendues sur sa tête, et les faveurs
bruyantes de la ville et les acclamations du cirque ? »
C'est un lieu commun, il est vrai, mais comme ce lien
commun était rajeuni, vivifié, transfiguré par la réalité vívante et terrible
qui l’entourait et l’autorisait ! Vanité des vanités, répétait continuellement
l’orateur, et il aurait voulu voir ce mot gravé sur le front et dans la
conscience de chaque homme. Puis se tournant par un mouvement superbe vers
l’eunuque agenouillé, qui avait autrefois bravé l’Évêque :
« Ne t ai-je pas dit bien des fois, lui demanda
Chrysostome, que la richesse est fugitive? Roi, tu ne pouvais pas me supporter.
Ne t’ai-je pas bien dit qu’elle ressemble à un serviteur ingrat ? Roi, tu ne voulais
pas me croire, et l’expérience t’apprend qu’elle n est pas seulement fugitive
et ingrate, mais homicide, puisqu’elle t’a réduit en cet état.
« Ne te disais-je pas que les blessures faites par un
ami valent mieux que les baisers d un ennemi ? Si tu avais supporté nos
blessures, leurs baisers ne t’auraient pas perdu... Ceux qui te versaient à
boire ont pris la fuite ; ils ont renié ton amitié, ils cherchent leur sécurité
à tes dépens. Ce n’est pas ainsi que nous avons fait. Nous ne t’avons pas abandonné
alors, malgré tes emportements, et aujourd’hui, tombé, nous te protégeons, nous
t’entourons de nos soins. L’Église, que tu traitais si mal, te reçoit à bras
ouverts, et tous ces habitués du cirque, pour lesquels tu dépensais tes
richesses, ont levé le glaive contre toi ! Et si je parle ainsi, ce n’est pas
pour insulter celui qui est tombé, mais pour avertir ceux qui sont debout. Toutes
les paroles sont au-dessous de la vérité ! O fragilité des choses humaines ! Quand
je les appellerais herbe, fumée et songe, je n’aurais rien dit, rien ; elles
sont plus néant que le néant !..Vous vîtes, hier, quand on vint da la part de
l’empereur, pour l’arracher d’ici, comme il courut aux vases sacrés, aussi pâle
qu’un mort ; le claquement des dents, le tremblement du corps, le sanglot de la
voix, tout annonçait son angoisse mortelle ! »
Il est facile de concevoir l’impression que devait produire
sur cette foule furieuse, sur ce criminel prosterné, la magnifique
improvisation de saint Jean. Le grand évêque, aussi doux devant son ennemi
vaincu qu’il avait été ferme devant son ennemi vainqueur, gardait, au milieu de
toutes ces exaltations et de toutes ces chutes, un équilibre radieux. La foule
s’indignait de voir l’ennemi de l’Église invoquer celle qu’il venait de
persécuter et ce droit d’asile qu’il avait détruit. Saint Jean continua :
« Dieu, dit-il, permet qu’un tel homme apprenne par
ses malheurs la puissance et la clémence de l’Église… Voilà de quoi confondre
juifs et gentils ! Pour sauver son ennemi, qui se réfugie à son ombre, l’église
s’expose au courroux de l’empereur ! Oui, c’est là le plus bel ornement de
l’autel ! Le bel ornement, direz-vous, que cet avare, ce voleur, ce scélérat,
qui s’attache à la table sacrée ! - De grâce, ne parlez pas ainsi. Une courtisane
toucha les pieds de Jésus-Christ. La gloire du Seigneur en a-t-elle souffert ?
»
L’auditoire, furieux tout à l’heure, fondait en larmes
maintenant. Saint Jean vit qu’il avait gagné sa cause.
« Allons, dit-il alors, allons nous jeter aux pieds du
prince, ou plutôt prions Dieu de lui donner un coeur qui sache compatir. »
En effet, le grand orateur triompha de toutes les
fureurs. Il apaisa la foule, il apaisa l’impératrice, et le droit d’asile ne
fut pas violé. Le droit sacré qu’il avait sauvegardé contre Eutrope, il le sauvegarda
en faveur d’Eutrope. Pas un cheveu ne tomba de la tête du proscrit, qui se
retira tremblant à Chypre, vaincu et protégé par la même force et par la même
douceur.
C’est ainsi que saint Jean Chrysostome entendait le
sacerdoce. Or, cette dignité redoutable lui avait été imposée presque de force.
La situation morale des chrétiens de son époque est indiquée par les intrigues
qui se produisaient à l’élection des évêques. Il y avait des ambitions, il y
avait des cabales, il y avait des luttes et des rivalités.
Mais ces ambitions, ces cabales, ces rivalités et ces
luttes se passaient à rebours. C’était à qui ne serait pas nommé. C’étaient des
intrigues retournées, des ambitions qui se précipitaient dans la profondeur,
fuyant le jour et les hommes, cherchant le désert. C’était un sentiment profond
et épouvanté de la majesté épiscopale qui faisait reculer devant elle. Ces
hommes en étaient tellement dignes qu’ils tremblaient de l’accepter, et la sublimité
du sentiment qu’ils en avaient les mettait en fuite quand elle menaçait de les
atteindre réellement. Saint Martin fut arraché à son couvent. On le conduisit à Tours,
malgré lui, gardé à vue, escorté. Un tableau qui représenterait cette scène
aurait l’air de représenter aujourd’hui un criminel qu’on mène au supplice. Il
y en avait qui se calomniaient, afin d’échapper à un trop terrible honneur.
Saint Ambroise intrigua comme il put, il n’imagina rien de mieux que de se
faire passer pour cruel ; mais le peuple n’eut pas de confiance dans cette
cruauté. Ambroise se sauva la nuit mais il fut ramené dans la ville. Saint
Paulin livra, pour se sauver, un combat désespéré où il faillit laisser la vie.
Le peuple allait l’étouffer; la victime céda enfin.
Le traité de saint Jean Chrysostome sur le Sacerdoce
n’est pas seulement un éloquent discours sur la terrible dignité du prêtre ; il
est aussi un monument historique et contient sur les chrétiens du quatrième
siècle des révélations qu’on pourrait appeler curieuses, si la majesté du document
n’étouffait pas la curiosité. Là, comme toujours, saint Jean est familier, naïf
et causeur. Il raconte comment la chose s’est passée entre lui et son ami
Basile, et comment il a trompé ce digne homme par une ruse qui serait célèbre,
si le fait s'était passé dans l’histoire romaine, entre deux illustres païens.
De quel Basile s’agit-il ainsi ? Personne ne le sait. Plusieurs ont cru y voir
Basile le Grand, évêque de Césarée. Toutes les vraisemblances manquent, sans
excepter celle qui viendrait des dates. Saint Basile naquit en 329 : saint Jean
en 344. Or, les deux interlocuteurs du dialogue de Chrysostome semblent du même
âge. On a également pensé à Basile de Séleucie. Mais l’obstacle est bien plus
grand et touche à l’impossibilité complète. Basile de Séleucie écrivait en 458
á l’empereur Léon. S’il eût été sacré Évêque, comme l’ami de Jean, en 374, il
aurait gardé au moins quatre-vingt-quatre ans la dignité épiscopale.
Le savant auteur de la Vie de Saint Jean Chrysostome,
placée avant ses oeuvres complètes, admet avec Baronius qu’il s’agit de
l’Évêque de Raphamé. Quoi qu’il en soit, Chrysostome trompa Basile.
« Mon généreux ami, dit-il lui-même, étant venu me
trouver en particulier, et m'ayant communiqué la nouvelle comme si je l’ignorais
(la nouvelle de leur nomination) me pria de ne rien faire cette fois encore que
d’un commun accord entre nous, prêt à me suivre dans le parti que je prendrais,
qu’il fallût fuir ou céder. Sûr de ses dispositions, et convaincu que je
porterais un grand préjudice à l’Église si, à cause de ma faiblesse, je privais
le troupeau de Jésus-Christ d’un pasteur si capable de le gouverner, je lui
cachai ma pensée, moi qui l’avais habitué à lire jusqu’au fond de mon coeur. Je
lui répondis donc qu’il fallait prendre le temps de réfléchir, que rien ne
pressait, et lui laissai croire qu’en tous cas je serais du même avis que lui.
« Quelques jours après, arrive celui qui devait nous
imposer les mains. Je me cache. On s’empare de Basile, qui, ne sachant ce que
j’avais fait, se courbe sous le joug, persuadé, d’après ma promesse, que j’allais
suivre son exemple, ou plutôt qu’il suivait le mien. »
Ce récit n'est-il point merveilleux de naïveté ? Cette
simplicité ignorante de sa grandeur donne à cet historien un ton merveilleux,
une liberté incommunicable dans la parole et dans l’attitude. On arrive, je me
cache. On s’empare de Basile. Ne dirait-on pas qu'il s’agit de deux criminels poursuivis
par les gendarmes ? Et cette crainte, cette fuite, cette résistance mal vaincue,
tout cela lui parait trop naturel pour mériter un étonnement ou même une explication.
Mais ce n’est pas tout. Le peuple attendait deux victimes. Il n’en a qu’une. On
s’ameute.
« Quelques-uns, parmi les assistants, voyant Basile
exaspéré de la violence qu’on lui faisait, dirent tout haut qu’il était
absurde, quand celui des deux qui passait pour le plus intraitable (le plus intraitable
! c’était moi, Jean, qu'ils désignaient ainsi) s’était soumis avec une modestie
parfaite au jugement des Pères, que l’autre, plus modéré, plus sage,
s’emportât, résistât, se montrât si opiniâtre et si orgueilleux. »
Cette modestie dont on félicitait Chrysostome était
une illusion : Chrysostome, moins modeste qu’on ne le disait, s’était caché.
Quant á l’orgueilleux Basile, il se rendit et se soumit, dans la persuasion que
Chrysostome s’était soumis et rendu. Cette modestie et cet orgueil valent à eux
seuls mieux que plusieurs traités historiques sur les moeurs des premiers
chrétiens.
Mais l’illusion de Basile ne dura pas toujours. Après
avoir obéi pour imiter Chrysostome dont on célébrait l’obéissance, il
s’aperçut de son erreur. Le révolté Jean Chrysostome l’avait trompé, s’était
caché. Sa ruse et sa rébellion, victorieuses toutes les deux, avaient livré son
ami et sauvé sa personne. IL avait trahi Basile, et s’était tiré d’affaire aux
dépens de celui-ci. Quel procédé ! Rendons la parole à ce rusé personnage.
« Quand il sut que j’avais pris la fuite, raconte saint
Jean, il vint me trouver dans un profond abattement, et s’étant assis près de
moi, il essaya de me raconter la violence qu’il avait subie ; mais la douleur
l’empêchait de parler, et les mots expiraient sur ses lèvres. Le voyant couvert
de larmes et dans un grand trouble, moi qui savais la cause de tout cela, j’éclatai
de rire et, prenant sa main, je voulus l’embrasser et rendre gloire à Dieu du
succès de mon stratagème. A la vue de mon contentement, et voyant que je
l’avais trompé, sa douleur redoubla avec indignation. »
L’intraitable saint Jean céda cependant comme son ami
Basile. Et il aima tant son peuple qu’il se consola d’être Évêque. Et son
peuple l’aima tant qu’il lui pardonna sa résistance. Un Évêque, arrivant un
jour de Galicie, au moment où saint Jean parlait, celui-ci descendit de la
chaire et y fit monter son hôte. Le peuple fut mécontent, et saint Jean,
quelques jours après, lui raconta avec sa naïveté charmante l’histoire de son
mécontentement.
« Je vous voyais, dit-il, suspendus à mes lèvres,
comme les petits de l’hirondelle, quand ils attendent au bord du nid la
nourriture qui leur est apportée. Au moment où je cédais la place à mon frère,
pour honorer ses cheveux blancs, et remplir envers lui les devoirs de l’hospitalité,
vous en témoignâtes par vos murmures un grand mécontentement, comme si j’avais trompé
votre faim. »
Entre son peuple et Chrysostome, il y avait amitié, dans
le sens intime du mot. L’Évêque était l’ami tendre et sévère de chaque homme et
de tous les hommes. Il regardait, il prévenait, il surveillait, et surtout il aimait.
Ce n’était pas dans le langage vague et officiel, c’était dans la réalité de la
vie qu’il était le père, le frère, le soutien et l’ami de son peuple.
Saint Jean parlait de l’amitié en connaisseur, et, dans
le portrait qu’il a fait d’elle, on dirait presque qu’il a peint, tant la chose
est simple et belle, son troupeau et lui-même.
« L’homme sans amitié, dit-il, reproche les bienfaits,
exagère les moindres faveurs. L’ami cache les services rendus, en dissimule
l’importance, et semble tout devoir, quand tout lui est dû.
« Vous ne me comprenez pas ; hélas ! je parle d’une
chose qui ne se trouve maintenant qu’au ciel, et de même que si je vous
entretenais d’une plante des Indes que personne n’aurait vue, il me serait difficile,
avec beaucoup de paroles, de vous en donner une idée exacte ; ainsi mes
discours sur l’amitié demeurent inintelligibles pour vous, car c'est une plante
du ciel...Dans un ami, on possède un autre soi-même. Je souffre de ne pouvoir m’expliquer
par un exemple : vous auriez vu que je reste au-dessous de la vérité. »
Cet exemple, il ne le racontait pas, mais il faisait plus,
il le montrait. L’auteur de sa Vie, dans l’édition de MM. Palmé et Guérin,
remarque avec raison que cet ami introuvable qu’il dépeint. c’était lui-même.
Admirable ami, en effet, qui pouvait devenir universel, sans jamais devenir
banal.
Ernest HELLO. Physionomies de saints
SOURCE : https://archive.org/stream/PhysionomiesDeSaintsParErnestHello/physionomies%20de%20saints_djvu.txt
The
saint and bishop of Constantinople, Gregory of Nazianzus, addresses the emperor
and saint Theodosius the Great, who stands beside his jewelled throne enclosed
in a ciborium, attended by palace guards. Both worthies' heads are nimbate.
Detail
from a Greek manuscript dated 879-883 AD and containing the homilies of Gregory
of Nazianzus, now in the National Library of France.
(BnF
MS Gr510 folio 239 recto - detail).
Illustrated painted parchment Greek manuscript (879-883 AD) of the homilies of
Gregory of Nazianzus in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. (BnF MS grec 510)
folio 239r.
Les malheurs de Jean
Chrysostome, témoin intraitable de la vérité
Anne Bernet - publié
le 12/09/23
Jean Chrysostome,
surnommé "bouche d’or" tant il parlait bien, était un évangélisateur
infatigable. Il n’avait peur de rien ni de personne, prêt à dire à leur fait à
ceux qui bravent la loi de Dieu, même les plus puissants. L’Église le fête le 13
septembre.
La chaleur est écrasante,
en ce début septembre 407, dans les monts du Taurus, en Asie Mineure. Brûlée
par un été de sécheresse, la végétation a disparu, les sources ont tari,
l’ombre est absente de ce paysage presque désertique. Dès l’aube, s’aventurer dehors
est pénible et, tandis que le soleil monte vers son zénith, les habitants de
Comane n’ont qu’une envie : rentrer chez eux chercher un peu de fraîcheur
derrière leurs volets clos. Quant à s’aventurer sur les sentiers qui serpentent
le long des défilés, il faudrait être fou pour s’y risquer.
Prisonnier
d’État
Pourtant, à la sortie de
la ville, les rares passants croisent un étrange trio : deux officiers à
l’air peu aimable poussant devant eux un homme qui paraît plus que ses 63 ans,
très maigre, tête nue, ce qui le voue à l’insolation. À les voir, l’on pourrait
croire avoir affaire à un criminel promis aux pires châtiments ; il s’agit
bien, en effet, d’un prisonnier d’État que l’on emmène vers son nouveau lieu de
détention, non sans avoir, au préalable, fait comprendre à son escorte que l’on
serait content, en hauts lieux, s’il n’y arrivait pas vivant… Cet homme, ainsi
voué à la mort, est le patriarche Jean de Constantinople, surnommé Chrysostome, « bouche
d’or », en raison d’une prodigieuse éloquence qui fait, depuis sa
jeunesse, l’admiration de tous ceux qui l’entendent. Le motif de sa
condamnation ? Avoir encouru la haine de l’impératrice Eudoxie, femme de
pouvoir qu’il ne fait pas bon contrarier…
À 25 ans, il mène une vie
de labeur, et de plaisirs, au grand dam de son meilleur ami, Basile, le futur
et saint évêque de Césarée, qui le voit glisser sur la pente de la damnation.
En 397, à la mort du
patriarche de Constantinople, Nectaire, l’Église et le peuple lui ont donné
pour successeur un prêtre d’Antioche dont on chante les louanges à travers la
catholicité. Les électeurs ont juste perdu de vue un détail : Jean est un
saint et la sainteté fait rarement bon ménage avec les compromis mondains et
diplomatiques, les concussions, mensonges et crimes qui, trop souvent, vont de
pair avec l’exercice du pouvoir. Tôt ou tard, les intérêts de Dieu et ceux de
César finissent par se heurter…
Promis
à une magnifique carrière
Né à Antioche, en Syrie,
vers 344, Jean est le fils du commandant en chef des armées de Constantinople,
Secundus. Ce père est mort quelques semaines après sa naissance. Jean et sa
sœur aînée ont été élevés par leur mère, Anthusa, veuve à vingt ans qui, pour
sauvegarder la fortune de ses enfants, a dû se battre avec acharnement.
Chrétienne, fort pieuse, Anthusa n’a pas fait pour autant baptiser son fils.
C’est alors un usage prudent car, l’absolution n’étant accessible qu’une fois,
au prix de pénitences effrayantes, l’on repousse autant que possible le baptême
qui, selon la formule consacrée, « lavera tout ». Pour l’heure, Jean,
promis à une magnifique carrière dans la haute administration impériale, ne
s’en préoccupe guère. Après de brillantissimes études de rhétorique, de
philosophie et de droit, qui ont attiré l’attention sur ses exceptionnelles
qualités d’orateur, il s’est inscrit comme avocat au barreau d’Antioche. À 25
ans, il mène une vie de labeur, et de plaisirs, au grand dam de son meilleur
ami, Basile, le
futur et saint évêque de Césarée, qui le voit glisser sur la pente de la
damnation.
On admire ses discours,
ses écrits, ses dons d’orateur et d’administrateur, sa charité, sans voir sa
rigueur d’homme dressé contre l’injustice et le péché.
Jean ne doit pas être
aussi dissipé que le soupçonne Basile, puisque quelques mois suffisent à ce
dernier pour le convaincre de réclamer le baptême et partir avec lui au désert
embrasser la vie monastique. C’est compter sans Anthusa : l’idée de perdre
ce fils auquel elle a consenti tant de sacrifices est intolérable. Victime du
chantage maternel, Jean, s’il reçoit le baptême en 370, renonce à devenir moine
et entre dans le clergé diocésain comme lecteur, première marche vers le
sacerdoce. Son évêque, Mélèce, contraint de quitter Antioche en raison de la persécution
anticatholique déclenchée par l’empereur Valens, tenant de l’hérésie arienne,
le jeune clerc participe à la gestion d’un des plus grands diocèses de
l’Empire, attirant l’attention sur lui. Très vite, il est réclamé comme évêque
par une ville voisine ; qu’il ne soit pas prêtre ne constitue pas à
l’époque un empêchement.
Une
conscience de la chrétienté
Alors qu’il a poussé
Basile, sollicité par un autre diocèse, à accepter cette élévation, Jean, lui,
préfère prendre la fuite. Le décès de sa mère lui permet de se retirer au
désert, qu’il doit quitter car sa santé fragile n’en supporte pas les rigueurs.
De retour à Antioche, il est ordonné prêtre en 386. Il pourrait y vivre
paisiblement si, en février 387, n’éclatait une révolte contre le pouvoir impérial.
Les prédications de Jean, qui appelle ses ouailles à accepter les éventuels
châtiments, mérités, de l’empereur Théodose pour le rachat de leurs péchés et
le salut de leurs âmes le font encore remarquer du gouvernement. Dix ans, Jean
est observé. On admire ses discours, ses écrits, ses dons d’orateur et
d’administrateur, sa charité, sans voir sa rigueur d’homme dressé contre
l’injustice et le péché, prêt à dire à leur fait à ceux qui bravent la loi de
Dieu, seraient-ils riches, puissants, et nuisibles. Cette décennie fait de Jean
un homme célèbre, une conscience de la chrétienté. Voilà comment il se retrouve
patriarche de Constantinople. Le patriarche y siège au cœur même du pouvoir,
qu’il a intérêt à ménager. Jean en est incapable. Il y a en ce petit homme qui
dort trois heures par nuit, dort par terre, avale debout n’importe quoi, quand
il y pense, une fois par jour, la fougue du Baptiste, son patron. Comme le
Précurseur, il ne peut se taire face aux scandales, quand il s’agit de la
gloire de Dieu et du salut des âmes. À ses risques et périls…
Populaire
mais peu suivi
D’emblée, Jean s’aliène
une partie de son clergé, dont les mœurs dépravées et le luxe le heurtent, et
qu’il entend réformer ; puis le couple impérial, Arcadius, un incapable
qui n’a pas hérité des qualités de son père Théodose, et Eudoxie, qui dirige
l’empire en coulisses. Avide de pouvoir, d’honneurs, plus encore de richesses,
l’impératrice n’apprécie pas que le patriarche la corrige en public mais, face
à la popularité de Jean, elle n’ose, pour l’instant, s’en prendre à lui.
Populaire, en effet, Jean l’est vite devenu. Il s’emploie à soulager toutes les
souffrances de cette ville immense, qu’il dote d’hôpitaux, d’hospices de
vieillards, d’orphelinats, de logements gratuits pour les « pauvres
honteux », envoie des missionnaires auprès des Goths ariens et des Scythes
païens, soutenu par la générosité d’une très grande dame, apparentée à la
famille royale d’Arménie, restée veuve à vingt ans, désormais quinquagénaire,
Olympias, devenue sa dirigée et son amie. On se presse à Sainte Sophie afin de
l’écouter prêcher. On pleure quand il célèbre la messe, bouleversé par sa
dévotion eucharistique. Le bruit court que les anges l’entourent à l’autel. On
applaudit quand il introduit des hymnes et des cantiques dans le chant
liturgique.
Mourir ? Ma vie,
c’est le Christ. La mort m’est donc un gain. M’exiler ? Qu’importe !
Toute la terre est au Seigneur.
Hélas, les
Constantinopolitains sont versatiles ; s’ils goûtent les beaux discours et
se passionnent pour la théologie, ils ne se convertissent pas et continuent,
même en pleine Semaine sainte, de déserter les offices religieux pour se
rendre à l’hippodrome ou au théâtre. En 400, un violent tremblement de terre
frappe la ville, suivi d’un raz de marée. Un mois après, la population a déjà
repris ses mauvaises habitudes et Jean s’exclame, consterné : « Je
suis désolé que rien ne vous corrige… » Il a pourtant dit un jour qu’il
accepterait de devenir aveugle s’il pouvait « à ce prix, convertir ».
Il tient le même langage au couple impérial. Eudoxie, qu’il a pourtant
plusieurs fois tirée des difficultés politiques où elle a l’art de se
précipiter, ne l’en déteste que davantage. La jeune femme, renouvelant le geste
de Jézabel, s’est emparée, par caprice, de la vigne d’une pauvre veuve ;
Jean la somme publiquement de restituer le bien volé ; elle ne lui
pardonnera jamais. Elle fait interdire au patriarche l’accès du palais impérial ;
Jean lui fait interdire celui de Sainte Sophie… Avec l’aide d’évêques hostiles
à Jean, dont Théophile d’Alexandrie, furieux qu’il ait pris, dans la querelle
l’opposant aux monastères de Nitrie, le parti des moines, Eudoxie monte contre
le patriarche un dossier appuyé sur des faux témoignages et des calomnies puis,
au terme d’un procès qui contrevient à toutes les normes du droit canonique,
obtient sa déposition.
Sa
vie, c’est le Christ
Cela ne suffit pas :
elle veut le voir banni. Jean, qui a fait appel auprès du pape Innocent Ier,
s’enferme dans sa basilique. C’est de là qu’il fulmine contre « Hérodiade
qui veut, une fois de plus, la tête de Jean » ! Eudoxie Hérodiade,
folle de rage, envoie la force publique l’arrêter. Pour éviter de faire couler
le sang, il se rend. Ce premier exil sera bref : effrayée par la fureur
populaire, l’impératrice le rappelle. En fait, elle attend une nouvelle
occasion. Le 20 juin 404, Jean est arrêté, de même qu’Olympias qui, dépouillée
de ses biens, mourra le 27 décembre en exil à Nicomédie. Il pourrait lui
redire, en guise d’exhortation, ce qu’il a répondu à ceux qui le menaçaient de
la colère impériale : « Mourir ? Ma vie, c’est le Christ. La
mort m’est donc un gain. M’exiler ? Qu’importe ! Toute la terre est
au Seigneur. Me dépouiller des biens de ce monde ? Je n’ai rien apporté
ici-bas et ne puis rien emporter au tombeau… » Il est envoyé à Cucuse, une
ville du Taurus loin de tout. Il y reprend un apostolat actif. Eudoxie ne le
veut pas. Elle ordonne de l’expédier dans la région la plus désolée et de faire
en sorte qu’il n’y arrive pas vivant. Ce à quoi s’emploient, zélés, les deux
officiers chargés d’un transfert transformé en marche à la mort…
Dieu
soit glorifié en tout !
Ce 14 septembre 407,
force leur est d’admettre que leur prisonnier, tombé d’épuisement à deux lieues
de Comane, n’ira pas plus loin. Il faut le ramener dans cette ville où, la
veille, il a prié sur la tombe de l’évêque martyr Basilisque, lui demandant la
force de l’imiter dans son calvaire. Dans la nuit, Basilisque lui est apparu et
lui a dit : « Courage, mon frère ! Encore quelques heures et
nous serons réunis pour l’éternité. » Cette prophétie s’accomplira. Les
derniers mots de Jean Chrysostome seront : « Dieu soit glorifié en
tout ! »
Lire aussi :Thérèse de Lisieux, Jean Chrysostome… les grands saints
décrivent la force de l’Eucharistie
Lire aussi :L’humilité de Jean Chrysostome contre le vice de Constantinople
Lire aussi :Fraîchement marié ? Voici le saint à prier !
Первая половина XVII века
Дерево, темпера; 112x81,2 Инв. № ЯХМ И-1260 Происходит
из Троице-Варницкого монастыря под Ростовом Великим Поступила в 1962 году (вывезена
экспедицией музея) Реставрировалась в 2004 году А.Н. Клячиной
1. Крещение Иоанна. 2. Крещение родителей Иоанна. 3. Приведение Иоанна во учение. 4. Иоанн смиренно принимает поношение учеников. 5. Иоанн отказывается от слуг. 6. Мать просит Иоанна не уходить в монастырь. 7. Иоанн посрамляет в споре философа Анфима. 8. Чудесное исцеление Анфима от падучей. 9. Анфим с семьей принимает крещение. 10. Пострижение Иоанна в монахи. 11. Явление Иоанну апостолов Петра и Иоанна Богослова. 12. Чудесное исцеление Архелая. 13–14. Чудо усмирения кровожадного льва. 15. Явление ангела с повелением поставить Иоанна в священники. 16. Явление ангела Иоанну. 17. Архиерей благословляет Иоанна и беседует с братией. 1 8. Поставление Иоанна в священники. 19. Чудо исцеления сына Евклии. 20. Чудо исцеления жены, страдавшей за ересь мужа. 21. Иоанн обращает
13 septembre
Saint Jean Chrysostome
Évêque et docteur de l'Église
La jeunesse de saint Jean Chrysostome
Entre 344 et 350[1], à l'époque où l'Eglise reçut de la
munificence de Dieu Ambroise, Jérôme et Augustin, naquit à Antioche de Syrie[2] un enfant dont la renommée égalerait
leur gloire. Derrière lui, nul passé. Il serait de ceux qui n'ont, dit La
Bruyère, ni aïeuls ni descendants : ils composent seuls toute leur race. Le
long des siècles, la postérité continuera de l'appeler Chrysostome, la
bouche d'or.
Son père, Secundus, brillant officier romain[3], entrevit à peine ses premiers sourires.
Avec une petite soeur qui décèderait bientôt, il le laissa, par sa mort, à la
responsabilité d'une mère grecque de vingt ans. Je ne trouve pas de parole,
avouera Anthuse à son fils, pour décrire la violence de l'orage qui fond
sur une jeune femme récemment sortie de la maison paternelle, quand un
inexorable deuil l'accable, à l'improviste, de soucis qui dépassent son âge et
son sexe. Il lui faut corriger la paresse des domestiques, faire attention à
leur méchanceté, repousser les pièges tendus par la famille, supporter avec
courage les avanies des percepteurs et leurs exigences en fait de rentrées
d'impôts. Et quel poids plus lourd encore d'élever un garçon, tant pour le coût
de ses études que pour la surveillance de sa conduite ! Rien ne m'inclina
cependant à introduire un autre époux sous le toit de ton père. Les
circonstances aggravaient sa mission.
Fière de son prestige de capitale d'Orient, car le
légat impérial y résidait ; toujours ensoleillée, au bord de ses quatre
rivières et sur le flanc de son coteau[4] ; ceinturée de faubourgs, dont le
célèbre Daphné[5] ; opulente en statues et monuments,
fresques et collections d'art ; gardienne des ruines majestueuses des temples
de Jupiter, Junon et Apollon ; parée d'avenues, parmi lesquelles une enfilade
de portiques qui se déployaient parallèlement à l'Oronte, sur un parcours de
sept kilomètres, Antioche comptait alors plus de deux cent mille habitants,
pêle-mêle, Romains, Grecs, Perses, Arméniens, Arabes et Juifs, riches et
pauvres à l'extrême, tous volontiers turbulents. Mais elle était si abondamment
éclairée que les fauteurs de désordre et les amateurs de frasques nocturnes
étaient repérés aussitôt et, fussent-ils princes ou dignitaires, guéris de
récidive.
Cette grande cité lettrée, voluptueuse et non moins
commerçante, se considérait d'autant mieux l'égal d'Alexandrie et de
Constantinople, sinon de Rome, que les empereurs, plus attentifs, en ses murs,
aux frontières inquiétantes de la Perse, aimaient son séjour, la comblaient de
faveur.
C'est à Antioche que naquit la première communauté
chrétienne issue du paganisme, celle pour qui fut forgé le nom de Chrétiens, et
d'où partirent Paul et Barnabé, Marc et Luc. Saint Pierre, avant de partir à
Rome, avait occupé le siège d'Antioche.
Saint Jean Chrysostome appellera, dans un de ses
sermons, l'Eglise d'Antioche : Mère de toutes les églises. L'évêque
d'Antioche, depuis 325, avait la préséance sur ses quelques cent cinquante
collègues de l'éparchie d'Orient[6] dont il présidait chaque année, à la
mi-octobre, la réunion.
Que fut, dans ce cadre, la formation scolaire de
Chrysostome ? Se souvenait-il encore du tourment de ses classes, lorsqu'il
décrivit dans un sermon le maître rogue, minutieux, fatigant par d'incessantes
questions et maniant si brutalement la férule et le martinet que les élèves
s'empressaient de fuir, effarouchés et meurtris, sans avoir rien appris ni
retenu que la dissimulation ?
Sa mère se réserva son éducation religieuse. Mais,
quoique citée parmi les plus grandes chrétiennes qui honorèrent cette époque,
elle attendit pour le faire baptiser. Car l'usage retardait la cérémonie à la
maturité, à la vieillesse, même aux approches de la mort. Le prétexte d'une
préparation sérieuse, la crainte de l'apostasie en temps de persécution,
coloraient souvent un calcul moins surnaturel : on escomptait que, avec la
grâce de l'onction baptismale, qui efface les fautes et supprime leur pénalité,
le bonheur éternel succéderait ainsi sans intervalle aux délices de la terre.
L'Eglise réprouvait la pratique de ce baptême
intéressé, de la dernière heure, capable de procurer la gloire céleste en
dehors de tout mérite.
Jean venait d'atteindre sa dix-septième année quand le
nouvel empereur, Julien[7], secoua rudement la souriante mollesse de
l'Eglise d'Antioche où l'on pratiquait un arianisme modéré sans vouloir aller
jusqu'au schisme.
Euzoius, l'évêque en place, un arien radical, avait
succédé à Mélèce déposé en 361 pour être trop orthodoxe, tandis qu'exerçait
aussi Paulin, arien modéré ; Julien, pour mieux diviser les Chrétiens qui
représentaient plus de la moitié des habitants de la ville, permit à tous les
évêques de résider à Antioche : l'Eglise d'Antioche, déjà fort divisée, éclata
en trois ou quatre églises (arienne radicale, arienne modérée, orthodoxe
radicale, orthodoxe modérée). Ce bel esprit de Julien se targuait
d'abattre en se jouant le christianisme par ses sarcasmes. Il lança maints
pamphlets contre le Sauveur, interdit l'enseignement aux chrétiens, les
surchargea d'impôts, les chassa des fonctions publiques et les priva
d'avancement dans l'armée.
Mais, pas plus que son persiflage cavalier, ne
triompha sa tyrannie. Jean garda seulement l'horreur d'avoir vu massacrer de
vertueux personnages qui préférèrent le martyre à l'abjuration.
L'avènement de Valentinien pacifia la province et
permit aux lettres et aux arts de reprendre leur vogue. Jean fréquenta l'école
du philosophe Andragathius. Entre les rhéteurs et les philosophes réputés
primait Libanius, plus habile phraseur qu'homme de savoir et de goût. Il avait
collaboré aux libelles impies de Julien l'Apostat, et c'était, selon
Chrysostome, le plus superstitieux des païens. Anthuse n'osa toutefois
détourner son fils de ses cours, tant la louange, à la ronde, illustrait sa
chaire. N'entendait-elle pas les bateliers, en ramant, les ouvriers, à leur
travail, scander leur effort au rythme harmonieux d'un de ses exordes ?
Libanius, qui discerna vite le talent de son élève, ne
put lui insuffler son admiration poétique du paganisme ; mais sa luxuriance de
couleurs et d'images envoûta le jeune auditeur et prolongera sa fascination.
Chrysostome aura beau refuser à la littérature la touchante fidélité de saint
Basile et de saint Grégoire de Nanzianze, et ne voir dédaigneusement en elle
qu'une fumée d'orgueil ; il aura beau raconter avec facétie de menues anecdotes
de la vie de Socrate, d'Aristote et de Diogène, ou bracarder telle de leurs
sentences, son éloquence gardera l'empreinte des souvenirs classiques. Platon
traversera ses homélies, les amplifications fastueuses ou le cliquetis verbal
de Libanius résonneront parfois en ses périodes.
A vingt ans, distingué, ardent et subtil, Jean
s'inscrivit au barreau comme, en leurs cités respectives, saint Ambroise, saint
Paulin et Sulpice Sévère. Mais, après des débuts prometteurs, sans tendresse
pour les avocats et les juges, il s'éloigna d'un milieu qui ne lui avait révélé
que petites chicanes et grandes injustices.
Anthuse le mit en relation avec l'évêque d'Antioche,
Mélèce, prélat de haute vertu, glorifié par l'exil, et si bon que saint Basile
lui écrivait : Quand je reçois une de vos lettres, je l'aime d'abord à
proportion du nombre de ses lignes, et mon bonheur s'accroît durant toute la
lecture.
Cet homme dont le regard prêchait, gagna la
confiance de Jean. Secondé par Flavien, futur évêque d'Antioche, et Diodore, le
futur évêque de Tarse, il lui expliqua les saints Livres et le prépara au
baptême.
Jean fut baptisé dans la nuit de Pâques 368, puis
continua d'étudier les saintes Ecritures sous Diodore et après qu'il eut accédé
au lectorat (371), Mélèce se l'attacha pour secrétaire.
Brève collaboration, car le frère de Valentinien,
Valens, avait hérité Antioche, et cet Arien fanatique reprit avec fougue la
persécution. Mélèce fut banni, sans que la séparation ni le temps affaiblissent
la vénération de ses diocésains. L'astuce et la violence sévirent. De louches
individus dénoncèrent un prétendu complot de maléfices contre Valens. On
décapita, brûla ; des familles périrent ; Antioche, terrorisée, ruissela de
sang.
Jean faillit être victime. Comme je me promenais,
avec un ami, en ces jardins amènes qui bordent l'Oronte, il aperçut, glissant
au fil de l'eau, un livre dont il s'empara. C'était un formulaire de philtres
inachevé, qu'un rédacteur, poursuivi, avait lancé dans le fleuve. Je contestai
en riant la propriété du butin, et, pendant notre dispute, un soldat nous
rejoignit. Mon compagnon put à peine dissimuler le volume. Qui eût admis notre
bonne foi lorsque nous aurions allégué le hasard ?
Cette angoisse décida le jeune clerc à la vie solitaire
et ascétique. Sa conscience, ennoblie par le désir de Dieu, lui signalait le
clinquant des espérances mondaines. Sous les palmeraies du désert ou dans une
grotte de quelque roche escarpée, il disciplinerait la sève de ses passions.
L'amour maternel d'Anthuse protesta. Me prenant par la main, elle me
conduisit à sa chambre, me fit asseoir près du lit où elle m'avait mis au
monde, pleura et m'attendrit plus encore par ses plaintes : " Ne me rends
pas veuve une seconde fois ; ne ranime pas ma douleur assoupie. Quand tu
m'auras prochainement, dans le tombeau, réunie à ton père, rien ne t'empêchera
d'entreprendre de longs voyages. Mais, de grâce, mon enfant, supporte la
présence de ta mère ; ne t'ennuie pas de vivre avec moi. "
Elle sut avec souplesse consolider sa victoire.
Ménageant à son fils, dans sa maison, une impression d'isolement, elle feignit
d'ignorer ses veilles et ses jeûnes.
Non qu'il eût à expier quelque défaillance. Un examen
rigoureux de sa jeunesse lui dévoilera seulement l'attrait du théâtre. Il
pourra écrire sur la virginité en familier de la vertu. Sa répulsion du vice
l'invitera même aux exagérations, quand l'éloge de la continence lui fera
réduire la condition du mariage à une émulation d'antipathie et de querelles,
et avancer avec candeur ce paradoxe contraire à l'humanité et à l'Evangile
: Puisque l'union conjugale ôte la libre disposition de soi-même, qui ne
regimberait devant cette loi tyrannique ?
Quand sa mère fut morte, Jean se retira dans le
désert, loin de la ville, du forum et de leur tumulte, pour se mettre
pendant quatre ans à l'école d'un vieux moine, puis, pendant deux ans, il se
retira en solitaire dans une caverne (372-378). La santé fort altérée par le
jeûne, l'abstinence perpétuelle et des mortifications trop fortes, Jean dut
quitter le désert et la vie pénitentielle pour retourner à Antioche.
De retour à Antioche, fut ordonné diacre par Mélèce
(381) qui allait partir au concile de Constantinople, et servit dès lors dans
ce ministère jusqu'à ce que Flavien, successeur de Mélèce, l'ordonnât prêtre,
apparemment vers la fin de 385 ou au tout début du carême de 386 qu'il
prêcha.
Presque tous les traités que l'on a de lui datent de
son époque diaconale[8]. Prêtre, Jean Chrysostome fut surtout chargé
de prédication et la plupart de ses homélies datent de cette époque[9].
[1] On
place la naissance de saint Jean Chrysostome assez probablement en 349.
[2] Il
s'agit bien d'Antioche de Syrie, actuellement Antakya en Turquie, ville fondée
par Séleucus I° Nikator (311 + 281), compagnon d'Alexandre le Grand et
fondateur de la dynastie des Séleucides dont le royaume s'étendait sur l'Asie
Mineure, la Mésopotamie, l'Iran, la Haute Asie et les confins de l'Indus, en
l'honneur de son père Antiochus (22 mai 300 avant Jésus-Christ). Après avoir
été la résidence royale des Séleucides, Antioche est devenue la capitale de la
province romaine de Syrie. Antioche sur l'Oronte n'est pas à confondre avec
Antioche de Pisidie, actuellement Yalvaç en Turquie, dans la province romaine
de Galatie, fondée par Séleucus I° (vers 280 avant Jésus-Christ). Existaient
encore : Antioche, aujourd'hui Tcherkeskeuï et Antioche d'Isaurie ou Antioche
la Petite.
[3] Magister
militum : commandant militaire de la préfecture d'Orient.
[4] pentes
septentrionales du mont Silpios.
[5] Daphné,
lieu enchanteur à deux heures de la ville, célèbre par le temple et le culte
d'Apollon, le sanctuaire des Nymphes, la fontaine et le bois de cyprès
séculaires qu'un ancien édit défendait d'ébrancher.
[6] Le
concile de Nicée (325) fixe quatre grandes éparchies qui correspondaient aux
quatre diocèses civils de l'empire oriental : Antioche pour l'Orient, Césarée
pour le Pont, Ephèse pour l'Asie et Héraclée pour la Thrace.
[7] Julien
l'Apostat, Flavius Claudius, Julianus : empereur romain de la seconde dynastie
des Flaviens, petit-fils de Constance Chlore et de Théodora, neveu de
Constantin (empereur de 311 à 337) et cousin de Constance II (empereur de 337 à
361). Né à Constantinople (332), il perdit sa mère quelques mois après sa
naissance et le reste de sa famille, à l'exception de son demi-frère Gallus fut
assassinée après la mort de Constantin. Exilé avec Gallus dans la forteresse
Marcellum (Cappadoce), il y perdit la foi chrétienne et s'enthousiasma pour l'antique
paganisme. Libéré en 351, il est de nouveau emprisonné (à Milan) après
l'exécution de Gallus (354). Chargé de missions militaires qu'il accomplit avec
succés (victoire de Strasbourg en 357 et rétablissement de l'administration
romaine en Gaule), il est proclamé empereur par l'armée, à Paris (360) contre
Constance II dont la mort (361) évite la guerre civile. Pour affaiblir
l'Eglise, il use de toutes sortes de moyens comme de rappeler sur leur siège
les évêques ariens exilés, de supprimer les privilèges financier et
administratifs, d'interdire l'enseignement aux Chrétiens et de les chasser des
postes importants ; il rétablit le clergé et le culte païens traditionnels,
favorise les cultes locaux et nationaux et montre beaucoup d'indulgence envers
les Juifs auxquels il laisse espérer la reconstruction du temple de Jérusalem.
Il se rend à Antioche (362) pour préparer une campagne contre les Perses,. A
Daphné, il viole le tombeau de saint Babylas et les chrétiens, en riposte,
brûlent le temple d'Apollon. La campagne contre les Perses commence en mars
363, il trouve la mort le 26 juin 363.
[8] Si
le traité fait des deux Exhortation à Théodore après sa chute a été
rédigé pendant sa vie retirée, les deux autres traités sur la vie monastique
sont de l'époque diaconale : les deux livres Sur la componction (381-385)
et les trois livres Contre les adversaires de la vie monastique (381-385)
; trois traités sont consacrés à louer et à recommander la virginité et la
continence : De la virginité, A une jeune veuve (380) et De
la persévérance dans le veuvage ; le plus célèbre de ses traités est un
ouvrage de six livres, en forme de dialogue, intitulé : Sur le
sacerdoce (entre 381 et 385). On possède encore : un traité Sur la
vaine gloire et l'éducation des enfants, trois traités sur la souffrance dont
le seul premier, en trois livres, est de l'époque diaconale ; deux traités
apologétiques (Saint Babylas, contre Julien et les Gentils et Contre
les Juifs et les Gentils que le Christ est Dieu). Il reste enfin deux écrits
disciplinaires qui datent des débuts de son pontificat.
[9] 76
sermons sur la Genèse (9 de 386 et 67 de 389 ou 395) ; 8 sermons sur les livres
des Rois (5 sur Anne, 3 sur David et Saül) de 387 ; 60 sermons sur les
Psaumes ; 8 sermons : 2 sur les prophètes en général (386), 6 sermons
sur Isaïe (certains sont de Constantinople) ; 90 sermons sur l'évangile selon
saint Matthieu (390) ; 88 sermons sur l'évangile selon saint Jean (399) ; 63
sermons sur les Actes des Apôtres (8 qui sont de 388, les autres sont de
Constantinople) ; 240 sermons sur les épîtres de saint Paul (d'Antioche et de
Constantinople) ; s'ajoutent encore plus d'une centaine de sermons.
A Antioche, sur les bords de l'Oronte, Anthousa, veuve
à vingt ans du commandant militaire de la préfecture d'Orient, élève ses deux
enfants dont la fille mourra jeune ; devant cette éducatrice modèle, le
rhéteur païen Libanios, s’écrie : Dieux, quelle femme chrétienne
admirable !
Jean est d’abord élève de Mélèce d'Antioche, prélat
pondéré qui le baptise à vingt-quatre ans, selon la coutume du temps, puis de
Diodore de Tarse, fondateur de la fameuse école d'Antioche, dont il gardera le
goût de la recherche historique dans le commentaire exégétique, et, enfin, de
Carterius, directeur de l'école d'ascètes qui l’oriente vers la vie
monastique.
Cher fils, supplie Anthousa, ne me laisse
pas veuve une seconde fois. Quand tu m'auras fermé les yeux, il sera toujours
temps de choisir un état de vie à ta convenance. Toutefois, pendant que je
respire encore, je t'en supplie : supporte ma présence. Bouleversé, Jean
reste avec sa mère. Ordonné lecteur (373), il devient visiteur-consolateur des
pauvres et des affligés, et compose ses premiers traités. A la mort de sa mère
(375), libre de se faire moine, Jean rejoint le Stilpius, mont proche d'Antioche,
pour se mettre sous la direction d'un ermite syrien, pendant quatre ans.
Le véritable roi, c'est celui qui commande à la
colère, à l'envie, à toutes les passions ; qui assujettit tout aux lois
divines, et ne laisse pas la tyrannie des voluptés régner dans son âme.
J'aurais certes grand plaisir à voir un tel homme commander aux peuples de la
terre et à la mer, aux cités, aux nations et aux armées (...) Mais un esclave
de la colère, de l'ambition, des plaisirs coupables, qui a l'air de commander
aux hommes, ne mérite que le mépris des peuples. En effet, l'or et les diamants
couronnent sa tête, mais la sagesse ne couronne pas son coeur. Tout son corps
est resplendissant de pourpre, mais son âme reste sans ornement. (...) Si nous
voulons jeter un regard sur la lutte dernière, nous verrons le moine s'élever
triomphalement et tout radieux, dans les nuées du ciel, à la rencontre du
Seigneur dans les airs, suivant l'exemple de ce divin chef, de ce guide du
salut et de toutes les vertus. Quant au roi, s'il a fait régner avec lui, sur
le trône, le justice et l'humanité - ce qui est fort rare - , il sera sans
doute sauvé, mais avec moins d'honneur.
Ensuite, d’après Pallade, retiré pendant
vingt-quatre mois dans une caverne solitaire, il y réduit son sommeil au
strict minimum, pour y mieux étudier la loi du Christ. Ces terribles pénitences
ruinent sa santé et il doit retourner à Antioche. Jean est déjà un auteur
spirituel apprécié lorsqu’il est ordonné diacre par Mélèce (381). Au
commencement de 386, il est ordonné prêtre par le successeur de Mélèce,
Flavien, qui, pendant dix ans, le charge de prêcher dans tous les sanctuaires
de la seconde métropole de l'Empire et de l'Eglise, ce qu’il fait avec un
tel talent qu’on le surnomme Chrysostome (du grec chrusos qui
signifie or et stoma qui signifie bouche).
A la fin de l'hiver 386, comme le fisc impérial montre
une excessive âpreté, les antiochiens se soulèvent et renversent les statues de
la famille impériale, ce que Théodose veut châtier comme un crime de
lèse-majesté. Flavien court à Constantinople pour plaider la cause de ses
diocésains menacés de sévères sanctions ; resté à Antioche, Jean imagine,
dans le Discours sur les statues la plaidoirie de l'évêque suppliant
au monarque offensé : Regarde combien il sera beau, dans la postérité, que
l'on reconnaisse qu'au milieu des mérites d'un si grand peuple promis à la
vengeance et aux supplices, quand tous frissonnaient de terreur, quand les
chefs, les préfets et les juges, étaient saisis de crainte et n'osaient élever
la voix pour les malheureux, un vieillard se soit avancé avec le sacerdoce de
Dieu et, par sa seule présence, par ses simples paroles, ait vaincu l'empereur
; et qu'alors une grâce que l'empereur avait refusée à tous les grands de sa
cour, il l'ait accordée aux prières d'un vieillard, par respect pour les lois
de Dieu. En effet, ô prince ! mes concitoyens n'ont pas cru te rendre un
médiocre honneur, en me choisissant pour cette ambassade ; car ils ont jugé (et
ce jugement fait ta gloire) que tu préférais la religion dans ses plus faibles
ministres à toute la puissance du trône. Mais je ne viens pas seulement de leur
part ; je viens au nom du souverain des cieux pour dire à ton âme clémente et
miséricordieuse ces paroles de l'Evangile : " Si vous remettez aux hommes
leurs offenses, Dieu vous remettra les vôtres ". Saint Jean Chrysostome,
pendant tout le Carême, soutient l’espérance du peuple qui, au jour de Pâques,
sera récompensée lorsque Fabien apportera la nouvelle de l’amnistie.
Quand Nectaire, patriarche de Constantinople, meurt
(27 septembre 397), les prétendants sont nombreux à convoiter le siège
prestigieux de la nouvelle Rome. Théophile, patriarche d'Alexandrie, a beau
estimer que la place lui revient de droit, contre toute attente, Eutrope,
premier ministre du jeune empereur Arcadios, fait élire et acclamer Jean,
prêtre d'Antioche, contre le prêtre Isidore soutenu par le patriarche
d'Alexandrie. Jean est enlevé par surprise et conduit de force à
Constantinople. Le patriarche d'Alexandrie est bien obligé de procéder au sacre
du nouveau patriarche de Constantinople (15 décembre 397) mais il n’en garde
pas moins de la rancune. Jean entreprend énergiquement la réforme des mœurs du
clergé ce qui ne manque pas de lui faire de solides ennemis qui attendent
l’occasion favorable de lui nuire.
Or en 399, Gaïnas, chef des Goths ariens, pose, comme
préliminaires de paix avec l’Empire, cette exigence cruelle : Je
veux la tête de l'eunuque Eutrope. Ensuite seulement, nous négocierons. Le
veule Arcadios accepte d’abandonner son ministre, de livrer au bourreau celui
qui lui a conservé son trône. Eutrope se réfugie dans la Cathédrale où il
étreint l'autel, garantie du droit d'asile, tandis que le Patriarche affronte
la garnison et la populace excitées.
C'est aujourd'hui, plus que jamais,le moment de
s'écrier : Vanité des vanités, et tout est vanité (Ecclésiaste I 2). Où
est maintenant l'éclatante dignité d'Eutrope, le consul ? Où est aujourd'hui la
lumière des torches ? Où est le bruit de la foule, le vivat du cirque, la
flatteuse acclamation du théâtre ? Tout est passé ! Un orage soudain a fait
choir les feuilles et dévasté l'arbre, si bien que le voilà maintenant comme un
tronc dépouillé, dont la racine même est ébranlée, et qui vacille. Où sont
maintenant les amis douceureux qui sacrifiaient à la puissance et ne songeaient
qu'à plaire par leurs paroles et par leurs actes ? Tout n'était que le songe
d'une nuit, qui s'évanouit dès le lever du jour. C'étaient des fleurs
printanières ; le printemps a passé, toutes les fleurs se sont flétries.
C'était une ombre et elle n'est plus ; c'était une fumée et la voici
dissipée (...)
Ne t'ai-je pas toujours répété, Eutrope, que la
richesse est fugitive ? Mais alors tu ne voulais pas m'entendre (...)
Ne t'ai-je pas dit qu'elle est ingrate ? Mais tu ne
voulais pas me croire. Vois, aujourd'hui, l'expérience t'a montré qu'elle n'est
pas seulement fugitive, qu'elle n'est pas seulement ingrate mais qu'elle est
meurtrière.
Et Eutrope mourut.
Eusèbe, évêque de Valentinopolis dépose une plainte
contre Antonin, métropolite d'Ephèse, qu’il accuse de trafic de biens
ecclésiastiques. Saint Jean Chrysostome, sollicité comme arbitre part pour la
capitale d'Ionie tenir un synode où il entend les parties en présence, puis,
Eusèbe étant mort, il installe sur le siège son diacre Héraclide, et dépose une
dizaine d'évêques, avant de regagner Constantinople (14 avril 401).
Au début de l’année suivante, arrivent à Constantinople
une cinquantaine de moines de nitriens (région de Basse-Egypte), les Longs
Frères, ainsi nommés à cause de la haute taille de leurs
quatre supérieurs : Chassés par Théophile d'Alexandrie qui nous
accuse d'origénisme, nous avons tenté une implantation en Palestine. On nous en
a expulsés. Recevez-nous ! Chrysostome les héberge dans un hospice, près
de l'église Sainte-Anastasie, et sollicite pour eux l'indulgence du jaloux
Théophile d'Alexandrie qui répond : Mêle-toi de tes affaires, laisse-moi
traiter les miennes. L'impératrice Eudoxie intervient aussi en faveur des
moines proscrits et obtient qu’Arcadios convoque un concile pour régler le
litige et déterminer leur sort. Théophile d'Alexandrie s'allie Epiphane de
Salamine pour accuser saint Jean Chrysostome d’être un hérétique teinté
d'origénisme. Voyez-le donc, imprécis ou flottant, quand il utilise les
termes ousia et hypostase ! A la mi-septembre 403,
Théophile d'Alexandrie excite contre Chrysostome trente-six de ses partisans
épiscopaux réunis à Drys, près de Chalcédoine qui somment le Patriarche de
comparaître devant eux, ce qu’il refuse. Condamné à la déposition et au
bannissement, Jean est déporté à Prænetum, sur le golfe de Nicomédie, mais le
peuple se révolte, chasse Théophile et, lorsqu’un accident mystérieux frappe le
palais, Eudoxie obtient son retour où il est porté en triomphe.
Quelques semaines plus tard, l'impératrice Eudoxie qui
se reconnaît sous les traits d’Hérodiade dans un sermon du Patriarche, passe du
côté de ses ennemis et provoque toutes sortes de troubles au point que le sang
coule dans les églises et que Jean doit aller célébrer Pâques dans la campagne.
Sans attendre la réponse à son appel au pape Innocent 1°, le Patriarche est
confiné dans son palais ; le 9 juin, un édit impérial expulse le
rebelle, ce qui sera fait onze jours plus tard. Il est d’abord assigné à
résidence Cucuse, l'actuelle Göksum turque, au pied du Taurus, l’endroit
le plus désert de toute la terre, où il arrive au terme d’un voyage de
soixante-dix jours.
Soucieux du sort de ses diocésains, confiés au vieil
évêque Arcace, saint Jean Chrysostome rédige plus de deux cents lettres de
direction dont les dix-sept plus belles sont adressées à Olympiade : C'est
un état si malaisé, il exige une telle énergie que le Christ, descendu du ciel
pour faire de nous des anges, nous laisse entièrement libres de suivre ce
simple conseil. En effet, grande est la difficulté ! Rude est le combat ! Que
le chemin de cette vertu est escarpé ! (Seconde lettre à Olympiade, VII)
Pendant l’été 407, comme Jean Chrysostome reprend
contact avec le pape Innocent I° qui le veut voir rentrer à Constantinople,
arrive l’ordre impérial de le déporter à Pithionte (Pitsunda), quinze
cents kilomètres plus au nord, au pied du Caucase, en pleine région barbare, où
il part le 25 août. Epuisé, le 14 septembre, il s'affaisse en chemin, près de
Comane, et meurt en disant : Gloire à Dieu pour tout. Trente et un
ans après, le 27 juin 438, on rapportera triomphalement ses cendres à
Constantinople.
_-_St._John_Chrysostom_icon.jpg){kind=icon}
Old Saint Mary's Church (Cincinnati, Ohio) - St. John Chrysostom icon
Homélie XXIII, sur les Actes des Apôtres
Pourquoi renvoyez-vous votre conversion à la dernière
heure de votre vie, tels des fugitifs, tels des hommes voués au mal, comme si
vous ne deviez pas vivre pour Dieu ? Pourquoi vous conduisez-vous et
pensez-vous comme si vous avez un maître inhumain et sans pitié ? Quoi de
plus insipide, de plus misérable que ceux qui reçoivent le baptême à
l'extrémité de leur vie ?
Dieu t'a fait son ami. Il t'a comblé de biens pour que
tu lui donnes en retour les témoignages de l'amitié véritable. Dis-moi, si
quelqu'un que tu aurais outragé de mille manières, te tenant un jour sous sa
main, ne te punissant de tes injustices qu'en te traitant avec honneur, en te
faisant part de sa fortune, en te mettant au rang de ses amis, en se plaisant à
te nommer son enfant, ne verserais-tu pas d'abondantes larmes dans le cas où il
viendrait à mourir ? Ne ressentirais-tu pas cette perte ? Ne
dirais-tu pas : « je voudrais qu'il eût vécu, ne serait-ce que pour
avoir la possibilité de lui témoigner ma reconnaissance, de la payer en retour
de n'être pas accusé d'ingratitude envers un tel bienfaiteur ? »
Voilà ce que vous êtes pour l'homme, mais lorsqu'il
s'agit de Dieu, vous prenez vos dispositions pour quitter la terre sans avoir
prouvé votre reconnaissance à l'auteur de tant de dons. Allez donc à lui,
tandis que vous pouvez espérer faire quelque chose pour reconnaître ses
bienfaits. Pourquoi fuyez-vous de la sorte ? « Je comprends, me
direz-vous, mais je n'ai pas le courage de renoncer à mes passions. »
Accuserez-vous Dieu de vous commander l'impossible ? Si tout est
bouleversé dans le monde, si nous y voyons régner la corruption, c'est que
personne ne s'applique à vivre selon Dieu.
Les catéchumènes n'ont pas d'autre désir que de
retarder leur baptême et ne s'occupent nullement de la bonne direction de leur
vie. Les baptisés ne montrent pas plus de zèle, soit qu'ils ont reçu le baptême
quand ils étaient encore enfants, soit qu'ils ont été baptisés après bien des
retards dans une grave maladie. Ceux-là même qui l'ont été, se portant bien, ne
témoignent que de peu de zèle ; ils ont vite fait d'éteindre ce beau feu
dont ils étaient d'abord enflammés. Mais enfin, est-ce que je vous interdis la
gestion de vos affaires ? est-ce que je brise les liens du mariage ?
Je vous défends la fornication. Ai-je blâmé l'usage de vos biens ? Je
n'ai blâmé que l'injustice et la rapine. Est-ce que je vous oblige à tout
donner ? Je ne vous ai demandé pour les pauvres qu'une légère partie de
vos revenus.
Saint Jean Chrysostome
Homélie XXIV, sur les Actes des Apôtres
Ayons dans l'Eglise, des hommes remarquables par leurs
vertus et la foule ne tardera pas à le devenir elle-même. Si ceux-là ne
s'y trouvent pas, la multitude demeurera toujours dans ses ténèbres.
Combien pensez-vous qu'il y a, dans notre ville, de
personnes devant arriver au salut ? Il m'en coûte de le dire mais je
le dirai cependant. Dans cette foule immense, il n'en est pas cent qui seront
sauvés, et encore ne suis-je pas sûr de ce nombre. Quelle corruption dans la jeunesse,
et dans la vieillesse, quelle apathie ! Personne ne s'occupe d'élever les
enfants comme ils doivent l'être. Personne, en voyant un sage vieillard, ne
s'applique à l'imiter. Les bons exemples disparaissent : aussi chez les
jeunes gens, ne trouvons-nous plus rien qui mérite l'admiration.
Ne me dites pas : « nous sommes le grand
nombre ». C'est une parole dénuée de sens. Elle pourrait être admise s'il
fallait satisfaire les hommes mais elle n'est rien quand il s'agit de Dieu
qui n'a pas besoin de nous. Elle est même insipide à l'égard des hommes.
Ecoutez plutôt : que n'aura pas à souffrir un maître entouré de nombreux
domestiques s'ils sont pervers ? Celui qui n'en a pas juge pénible de
n'être pas servi, mais celui qui n'en a que de mauvais court avec eux à sa
perte et son malheur est tout autrement grand. Il est d'ailleurs bien plus
difficile d'être toujours en lutte avec autrui, que de se servir soi-même. Je
ne le dis pas pour qu'on n'admire plus la prodigieuse extension de
l'Eglise ; je le dis pour que nous travaillions avec zèle a rendre cette
multitude digne de lui appartenir, pour que chacun y contribue de son côté, en
attirant au bien non seulement ses parents, ses amis et ses voisins, comme je
le dis sans cesse, mais encore les étrangers.
Voyez néanmoins ce qui se passe à l'église même. La
prière a commencé. Jeunes gens et vieillards sont là, tous également saisis
d'une froideur mortelle. La jeunesse rit, se livre aux plaisanteries
grossières, aux conversations frivoles. Je l'ai moi-même entendu. Ils insultent
les autres, quoique se tenant à genoux comme eux. Quand vous serez là, témoins
de ces choses, que vous soyez jeunes ou vieux, reprenez-les avec force, ne
craignez pas ; et s'ils méprisent vos représentations, appelez le diacre ;
élevez la voix ; faites tout ce qui dépendra de vous pour rétablir
l'ordre.
Saint Jean Chrysostome
Homélie
LXXXII, sur l’évangile selon saint Matthieu
Faisons une absolue confiance à Dieu, ne lui opposons
aucune contradiction, même si ce qu'il nous dit nous paraît contraire à nos
raisonnements ou à notre intelligence ; que sa parole soit, au contraire,
plus forte que notre intelligence ou nos raisonnements. Faisons ainsi en ce qui
concerne les mystères eucharistiques : ne nous arrêtons pas seulement à ce
que nous voyons, mais attachons-nous aux paroles. Car la parole de Dieu ne
trompe pas, alors que nos sens peuvent se laisser facilement abuser. Sa parole
ne passe pas ; nos sens chancellent trop souvent. Puisque sa parole nous
dit : « Ceci est mon corps », faisons-lui confiance, croyons-le
et voyons-le avec les yeux de notre esprit. Car ce n'est pas chose qui tombe
sous les sens que le Christ nous a donnée ; même ce qui est réalité
sensible est totalement du domaine spirituel. C'est ainsi qu'au baptême par
l'eau, réalité sensible, la grâce est donnée et conférée, et que
spirituellement s'accomplit la nouvelle naissance, la régénération. Si tu
n'avais pas de corps, il t'aurait conféré des dons purement spirituels. Mais
l'âme est unie au corps : il te donne donc des biens spirituels par le
canal de choses sensibles. Beaucoup de chrétiens disent aujourd'hui :
J'aurais bien voulu le voir en personne, voir son visage, ses vêtements, ses
sandales. Eh bien ! tu le vois, tu le touches, tu le manges !
Que nul donc ne s'approche de cette Table sans appétit
ou avec mollesse. Tous doivent y venir brûlants de ferveur et de courage. Si
les Juifs ont mangé en hâte l'agneau de la Pâque, debout, les pieds chaussés et
le bâton en main, toi, tu dois être encore beaucoup plus courageux qu'eux. Ils
allaient partir pour la Palestine et se donnaient déjà figure de
vainqueurs ; toi, tu pars pour le Ciel.
Saint Jean Chrysostome
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/09/13.php
.jpg)
St John Chrysostom, the widow's vineyard, and the
transfer of his relic.
In the upper zone, John Chrysostom appears in bust. In
the middle zone, a small sailing ship carries the holy relic to Constantinople,
while in between leaves form the widow's vineyard. In the lower zone the city
of Komana is depicted, the Saint's place of exile. The icon narrates the story
of the vineyard of widow Kallitropi which was wronged, related to the
vineyard's sale to the eparch of Alexandria. In an attempt to be vindicated,
Kallitropi appealed to empress Eudocia, to no avail. St John Chrysostom
condemned the episode resulting in his exile to Komana of Cappadocia, where he
remained until his death.
« Pour tous les hommes »
Paul dit : J’encourage, avant tout, à faire
des demandes, des prières, des intercessions et des actions de grâce pour tous
les hommes. Car de là viennent deux biens : l’inimitié que nous avons pour
ceux qui sont en dehors de la foi se dissipe – personne en effet ne pourra
garder de l’inimitié à celui pour qui l’on fait des demandes –, et eux-mêmes
deviennent meilleurs par les prières adressées pour eux ainsi que par
l’apprivoisement de leur férocité contre nous. Car il n’est rien qui amène à se
laisser instruire comme d’aimer et d’être aimé. Songe ce que c’était, pour ceux
qui persécutaient, fouettaient, envoyaient en exil ou à la mort, d’apprendre
que ceux qui subissaient de tels traitements faisaient à Dieu des prières
assidues en leur faveur ! Vois-tu combien Paul veut que le chrétien ait de
hauteur ? Il en va comme pour les enfants, les tout-petits : si
l’enfant dans les bras de son père le frappe au visage, cela n’ampute pas la
tendresse de celui-ci ; de même, si l’un de ceux qui sont en dehors de la
foi nous frappe, nous ne devons en rien diminuer notre bienveillance à son
égard.
Oui, il faut rendre grâces à Dieu aussi pour le bien
qui arrive à d’autres ; ainsi, « il fait lever son soleil sur
les méchants et sur les bons, il fait tomber la pluie sur les justes et sur les
injustes » (Mt 5, 45). Vois-tu que c’est non seulement la prière,
mais aussi l’action de grâces qui nous unissent et nous rapprochent les uns des
autres ?
St Jean Chrysostome
(Traduction inédite de Guillaume Bady pour Magnificat.)
Saint Jean Chrysostome, ou « Bouche d’or »
(† 407), fut évêque de Constantinople avant de mourir en exil, persécuté. Son
œuvre monumentale est l’une des plus importantes de l’Orient chrétien. /
Homélies sur 1 Timothée 6, 1, traduction inédite de Guillaume Bady pour
Magnificat.
Être là où il est
C’est une chaîne que l’affection des choses présentes. Pour nous le faire comprendre, écoute ce que dit le Christ : « Qui aime sa vie la perd ; qui s’en détache en ce monde la gardera pour la vie éternelle. Si quelqu’un veut me servir, qu’il me suive ; et là où moi je suis, là aussi sera mon serviteur ». Ces paroles semblent être des énigmes, mais elles n’en sont pas : au contraire, elles sont remplies de sagesse.
Comme il allait alors parler aux disciples de la mort, de sa propre mort, et qu’il prévoyait que cela les jetterait dans l’accablement, il usa de propos extrêmes : « Que dire, si vous ne supportez pas noblement ma mort ? Car si vous-mêmes, vous ne mourez pas, vous n’en tirerez aucun profit. » Et vois quelle consolation dans sa parole ! Il aurait été très pénible et fâcheux pour l’homme, qui aime la vie, de s’entendre dire qu’il fallait mourir.
Et qu’il me suive : c’est-à-dire, sois toujours prêt aux dangers, à la mort et au départ d’ici-bas. Après avoir dit les choses pénibles, il fixe ensuite la récompense. Quelle est-elle ? C’est de le suivre, c’est d’être là où il est. Il leur montre ainsi que la résurrection suivra la mort, car, dit-il, là où moi je suis, là aussi sera mon serviteur. Et où est le Christ ? Dans les cieux. Avant même la résurrection, élevons-y donc notre âme et notre esprit !
St Jean Chrysostome
Saint Jean Chrysostome, ou « Bouche d’or » († 407), fut un des commentateurs les plus prolifiques des Écritures. / Sur Jean 67, 1, traduction inédite de Guillaume Bady pour Magnificat.
SOURCE : https://fr.aleteia.org/daily-prayer/mardi-10-aout/meditation-de-ce-jour-1/
La prière qui nous libère
Ce que ne peuvent ni la
richesse, ni la multitude des serviteurs, ni la science des hommes de l’art, ni
l’appareil de la royauté, la prière d’un seul homme, souvent pauvre et indigent,
l’obtient. Mais la prière dont je parle, ce n’est pas une prière médiocre et
pleine de négligence, c’est une prière faite avec ardeur dans l’affliction de
l’âme et la contention de l’esprit. Voilà la prière qui monte jusqu’au ciel. De
même que l’eau, lorsqu’elle coule en terrain plat et jouit d’un vaste espace
pour se répandre, ne s’élève pas dans les airs, mais que, si la main des
ouvriers l’oblige, en la resserrant d’en bas, à passer dans un étroit tuyau,
elle jaillit vers le ciel, plus rapide qu’une flèche, de même l’esprit humain,
lorsqu’il jouit d’une pleine tranquillité, se relâche et se disperse, tandis
que, si la pression des circonstances le met à l’étroit à son niveau inférieur,
alors, convenablement comprimé, il envoie vers le ciel de vraies et vigoureuses
prières.
La détresse, tant qu’elle
s’amasse dans notre cœur, plonge nos pensées dans les ténèbres, mais lorsque,
grâce aux paroles de la prière et aux larmes qui les accompagnent, elle s’est
vidée en s’exhalant au dehors, elle apporte à l’âme une grande lumière,
l’influence de Dieu se répandant alors comme un rayon de soleil dans l’âme de
celui qui prie.
St Jean Chrysostome
Saint Jean Chrysostome,
ou « Bouche d’or » († 407), fut un des commentateurs les plus
prolifiques des Écritures. / L’incompréhensibilité de Dieu, 5, 443-460,
471-482, trad. R. Flacelière, Paris, Cerf, 2000, Sources Chrétiennes 28bis, p.
309-311.
SOURCE : https://fr.aleteia.org/daily-prayer/samedi-26-mars/meditation-de-ce-jour-1/
La Semaine sainte - La Grande semaine
Voilà pourquoi
nous l’appelons la grande semaine. Ce n’est que les jours dont elle se compose
soient plus longs ou plus nombreux que ceux des autres semaines, puisqu’il y en
a de plus longs et que le nombre en est toujours le même; c’est à cause des
grandes choses opérées par le Seigneur en ces jours. La semaine où nous sommes
a vu l’antique tyrannie du démon renversée, la mort détruite, le fort enchaîné
et sa puissance abattue, le péché ôté du monde, la malédiction effacée, le
paradis rouvert, l’accès du ciel redonné à l’homme, les hommes unis aux anges,
le mur de séparation enlevé, le voile déchiré, le Dieu de paix pacifiant les
cieux et la terre. De là lui vient le nom de grande semaine. Or, de même
qu’elle est la principale dans l’année, de même le principal de ses jours est
le samedi; ce jour est dans cette semaine ce que la tête est dans le corps
humain. Aussi est-elle signalée chez les uns par un redoublement de zèle, chez
les autres par des jeûnes plus austères ou des veilles plus prolongées, chez
d’autres encore par des aumônes plus abondantes, de plus hautes vertus, une vie
plus fervente et plus pieuse: tous s’efforcent par-là de reconnaître l’immensité
des bienfaits que le Seigneur a répandus sur nous.
Saint Jean Chrysostome. Homélie
sur la grande semaine
Dieu ne force personne
Dieu n’a pas ramené Judas
à lui de force. C’est qu’il nous fait maîtres du libre choix de nos actions,
bonnes ou mauvaises, et veut que, si nous choisissons la bonne voie, ce soit de
notre plein gré. C’est pourquoi, si nous ne le voulons pas, il ne saurait nous
forcer ni nous contraindre.
Faire le bien sous la
contrainte, ça n’est pas faire le bien. De ce fait, Judas disposait bien de son
libre arbitre. Il avait la possibilité de ne pas céder, de ne pas s’abandonner
à sa cupidité. À cause d’elle pourtant il a perdu tout discernement, et a, de
ce fait, compromis son salut.
Que certains n’aillent
pas accuser le Christ en disant : « Pourquoi n’a-t-il pas changé le
cœur de Judas ? Pourquoi ne lui a-t-il pas permis de retrouver sagesse et
raison ? » Mais comment fallait-il le rendre sage ? Par la force
ou par la persuasion ? Si c’était par la force, il ne serait pas pour
autant devenu meilleur. Personne ne devient authentiquement bon pour y avoir
été forcé ! Si c’était par la persuasion et la libre décision, le Christ a
tenté tout ce qui était possible pour le ramener dans le droit chemin. Vois
plutôt tous les efforts qu’il a déployés pour l’amender et le sauver. Il lui a
enseigné toute sa doctrine par ses actes, ses paroles. Il lui a donné pouvoir
sur les démons, l’a rendu capable d’accomplir nombre de miracles. Il lui a lavé
les pieds ainsi qu’aux autres. Il a partagé avec lui le pain et le sel. Il n’a
rien négligé, d’importance ou de détail.
St Jean Chrysostome
Saint Jean Chrysostome ou
« Bouche d’or » fut évêque de Constantinople avant de mourir en exil
en 407, persécuté. / Sermon sur la trahison de Judas, 3, trad. M.-O. Goulet,
Marc commenté par Jérôme et Jean Chrysostome, Paris, DDB, Les Pères dans la foi
32, 1986, p. 120-122.
SOURCE : https://fr.aleteia.org/daily-prayer/mercredi-13-avril/meditation-de-ce-jour-1/
Saint Jean Chrysostome
Évêque et Docteur de
l'Église
(344-407)
Saint Jean, surnommé
Chrysostome, c'est-à-dire Bouche d'Or, à cause de la force et de la beauté de
son éloquence, naquit à Antioche, vers l'an 344. Veuve à vingt ans, sa mère,
femme très remarquable, n'épargna rien pour lui donner une brillante éducation.
Doué d'un génie supérieur, objet de l'admiration universelle, incliné au
plaisir, Jean fut ramené à la réalité des choses et conquis à la perfection de
l'Évangile, par l'amitié fidèle d'un jeune homme de son âge, qui fut saint
Basile. Noble exemple de l'apostolat qu'un véritable ami peut exercer dans son
entourage! L'amitié des deux jeunes gens ne fit que s'accroître par l'union
désormais parfaite des pensées et des aspirations.
Devenu clerc de l'Église
d'Antioche, Chrysostome renonce complètement aux vanités du siècle; il ne
paraît qu'avec une tunique pauvre; la prière, la méditation, l'étude de
l'Écriture Sainte, partagent son temps: il jeûne tous les jours et prend sur le
plancher de sa chambre le peu de sommeil qu'il accorde à son corps, après de
longues veilles. S'élevant par degré dans les fonctions ecclésiastiques, il
devient l'oeil, le bras, la bouche de son évêque. Son éloquence est si grande
que toute la ville accourt à ses premières prédications où il y avait souvent
jusqu'à cent mille auditeurs et plus à l'entendre.
A trente ans, Chrysostome
fuit, dans la vie monastique, l'épiscopat auquel, plus tard, il ne pourra
échapper. C'est en 398, qu'il est emmené de force à Constantinople et sacré
patriarche de la ville impériale. Son zèle, l'indépendance de son langage ne
furent égalés que par sa charité; son éloquence séduisante, qui brillait alors
de tout son éclat, attirait les foules autour de sa chaire; il ranimait la foi
au coeur des fidèles et convertissait une multitude d'hérétiques et de païens.
Jamais pasteur ne fut à ce point l'idole de son peuple; jamais pasteur ne
souleva autour de lui un pareil mouvement chrétien: c'est que l'éloquence de
l'orateur dévoilait le coeur d'un père, d'un apôtre et d'un saint.
Dieu permit que la croix
vint achever en Chrysostome l'oeuvre de la perfection. Le courage invincible du
Pontife, sa liberté à flétrir les désordres de la cour, lui valurent l'exil. En
quittant Constantinople, il fit porter à l'impératrice cette fière réponse:
"Chrysostome ne craint qu'une chose: ce n'est ni l'exil, ni la prison, ni
la pauvreté, ni la mort, c'est le péché." Il mourut en exil, victime des
mauvais traitements de ses ennemis. Bien qu'il ne porte pas le titre de martyr,
il en a tout le mérite et toute la gloire.
Saint Paul était l'objet
de son admiration et de sa dévotion. Il a dit de lui cette belle parole:
"Le coeur de Paul était le coeur du Christ."
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_jean_chrysostome.html
Saint Jean Chrysostome,
évêque, confesseur et docteur
St Jean Chrysostome
mourut le 14 septembre 407. Son corps fut transféré à Constantinople le 27
janvier 438.
La fête fut d’abord reçue
à Rome le 13 novembre, date de la célébration byzantine qui fête le jour de son
retour après son premier exil en 403. Puis le missel de la chapelle papale la
fixe au 27 janvier en accord avec les martyrologes latins.
Leçons des Matines avant
1960
AU DEUXIÈME NOCTURNE.
Quatrième leçon. Jean, né
à Antioche, fut surnommé Chrysostome, à cause du fleuve d’or de son éloquence.
Il quitta le barreau et les affaires du siècle pour s’adonner entièrement à
l’étude des saintes lettres, dans laquelle il s’attira beaucoup de louanges par
son génie et par sa science. Aussi ayant été initié aux mystères sacrés, puis
fait Prêtre de l’Église d’Antioche, il fut préposé, malgré lui, à l’Église de
Constantinople, après la mort de Nectaire, par les soins de l’empereur
Arcadius. Dès qu’il eut reçu la charge pastorale, il commença à s’élever avec
force contre la corruption des mœurs et la vie licencieuse des grands. Cette
liberté le rendit l’objet d’une haine profonde de la part d’un grand nombre. Il
blessa même vivement l’impératrice Eudoxie, en lui reprochant de s’être emparée
de l’argent de la Veuve Callitrope, et du champ d’une autre veuve.
Cinquième leçon. C’est
pourquoi les ennemis du Saint réunirent à Chalcédoine une assemblée de quelques
Évêques ; Jean ayant été cité, ne voulut pas s’y rendre, disant que ce concile
n’était ni public ni légitime. Il fut donc envoyé en exil, principalement par
les efforts d’Eudoxie ; mais peu après, le regret de son absence excita une
sédition parmi le peuple, et on le rappela aux grands applaudissements de la
cité. Comme il ne laissait pas de tonner contre les vices, et qu’il défendait
de célébrer des jeux devant la statue d’argent d’Eudoxie, sur la place de
Sainte-Sophie, une conspiration des Évêques s.es ennemis le contraignit de
nouveau à s’exiler, tandis que les veuves et les indigents pleuraient le
bannissement de leur père commun. On ne saurait croire combien de maux
Chrysostome souffrit en exil, ni combien d’âmes il convertit à la foi de
Jésus-Christ.
Sixième leçon. Tandis que
le souverain Pontife Innocent Ier, par un décret porté dans un concile tenu à
Rome, le rétablissait sur son siège, il était accablé durant le voyage, de
souffrances et de privations inouïes par les soldats qui le gardaient. Comme on
le conduisait par l’Arménie, le Martyr saint Basilisque, dans l’église duquel
il avait auparavant prié, lui parla ainsi durant la nuit : « Jean, mon frère,
le jour de demain nous réunira dans un même lieu. » Il prit donc le lendemain
le sacrement de l’Eucharistie, et, s’étant muni du signe de la croix, il rendit
son âme à Dieu, le dix-huit des calendes d’octobre. Après sa mort, une
effroyable grêle tomba sur Constantinople, et quatre jours plus tard,
l’impératrice quitta cette vie. Théodose, fils d’Arcadius, fit apporter le
corps du Saint à Constantinople avec une pompe insigne et au milieu d’une
grande affluence de peuple : il le fit ensevelir honorablement le six des
calendes de février, et lui-même, vénérant ses reliques, implora le pardon de
ses parents. Depuis, le corps du Saint, ayant été transporté à Rome, fut
enseveli dans la basilique Vaticane. Tous admirent le nombre, la piété, la
beauté de ses sermons et de ses autres écrits, sa manière d’interpréter les
livres sacrés et de les expliquer en s’attachant au sens littéral des paroles.
Il semble que saint Paul lui ait dicté beaucoup des choses qu’il a écrites ou
prêchées, et tout le monde l’estime digne d’une telle faveur. Pie X a déclaré
et constitué cet illustre saint, Docteur de l’Église universelle et céleste
patron de tous les orateurs sacrés.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année
Liturgique
Avant l’arrivée de notre
Emmanuel, les hommes étaient comme des brebis sans pasteur ; le troupeau était
dispersé, et le genre humain courait à sa ruine. Jésus ne s’est donc pas
contenté d’être l’Agneau destiné à l’immolation pour nos péchés ; il a voulu
revêtir le caractère de Pasteur, pour nous rallier tous dans le divin bercail.
Mais, comme il devait remonter aux cieux, il a pourvu aux besoins de ses brebis
en établissant une suite de pasteurs qui paissent, en son nom, le troupeau,
jusqu’à la consommation des siècles. Or, les brebis du Seigneur ont
principalement besoin de la doctrine, qui est la lumière dévie ; c’est pourquoi
l’Emmanuel a voulu que les Pasteurs fussent aussi docteurs. La Parole divine et
les Sacrements, telle est la dette des pasteurs envers leurs troupeaux. Ils
doivent dispenser par eux-mêmes, et sans cesse, cette double nourriture à leurs
brebis, et donner leur vie, s’il le faut, pour l’accomplissement d’un devoir
sur lequel repose l’œuvre tout entière du salut du monde.
Mais, comme le disciple
n’est point au-dessus du Maître, les Pasteurs et Docteurs du peuple chrétien,
s’ils sont fidèles, sont en butte à la haine des ennemis de Dieu ; car ils ne
peuvent étendre le royaume de Jésus-Christ qu’au détriment de la domination de
Satan. Aussi l’histoire de l’Église n’est-elle, à chaque page, que le récit des
persécutions qu’ont endurées les Pasteurs et Docteurs qui ont voulu continuer
le ministère de zèle et de charité que le Christ a ouvert sur la terre. Trois
sortes de combats leur ont été livrés dans la suite des siècles, et ont donné
occasion à trois admirables victoires. Les Pasteurs et Docteurs des Églises ont
eu à lutter contre l’erreur païenne, qui s’opposait par le carnage à la
prédication de la loi sublime du Christ ; c’est cette persécution qui a
couronné et réuni autour du berceau de l’Emmanuel, dans les quarante jours
consacrés à sa Naissance, les Polycarpe, les Ignace, les Fabien, les Marcel,
les Hygin, les Télesphore.
Après l’âge des persécutions,
une nouvelle arène, non moins glorieuse, s’est ouverte pour les Pasteurs et
Docteurs du peuple chrétien. Les princes, devenus d’abord enfants de l’Église,
ont voulu bientôt l’enchaîner. Ils ont cru dans l’intérêt de leur politique
d’asservir cette parole qui doit librement parcourir le monde en tous sens,
comme la lumière visible qui est son image. Ils ont voulu être prêtres et
pontifes, comme aux jours du paganisme, et mettre arrêt sur ces sources de vie
qui se tarissent dès qu’une main profane les a touchées. Une lutte incessante
s’est établie entre les deux pouvoirs, spirituel et temporel ; cette longue
période a produit aussi ses athlètes et ses martyrs. En chaque siècle, Dieu a
glorifié son Église par les combats et les triomphes de plus d’un vaillant
champion de la parole et du ministère. Thomas de Cantorbéry, Hilaire de
Poitiers, représentent dignement ces chevaliers à la Cour du Roi nouveau-né.
Mais il est une autre
série de combats pour les Pasteurs et Docteurs du peuple fidèle : c’est la
lutte contre le monde et ses vices. Elle dure depuis le commencement du
Christianisme, elle occupera les forces de l’Église jusqu’au dernier jour ; et
c’est parce qu’ils l’ont soutenue avec courage, que tant de saints prélats ont
été odieux pour le nom de Jésus-Christ. Ni la charité, ni les services de tout
genre, ni l’humilité, ni la mansuétude, ne les ont garantis de l’ingratitude,
de la haine, de la calomnie, des persécutions ; parce qu’ils étaient fidèles à
proclamer la doctrine de leur Maître, à venger la vertu, à s’opposer aux
pécheurs. François de Sales n’a pas été plus exempt des effets de la malice des
hommes que Jean Chrysostome lui-même, dont le triomphe réjouit aujourd’hui
l’Église, et qui se présente au berceau de l’Emmanuel comme le plus illustre
des martyrs du devoir pastoral.
Disciple du Sauveur des
hommes jusque dans la pratique de ses conseils par la profession monastique, ce
prédicateur à la bouche d’or n’a employé le don de son éloquence sublime qu’à
recommander les vertus apportées par le Christ sur la terre, qu’à reprendre
toute sorte de pécheurs. Une impératrice, dont il avait dénoncé les vanités
païennes ; des hommes puissants, dont il avait signalé les œuvres mauvaises ;
des femmes influentes, aux oreilles desquelles sa voix importune tonnait trop
souvent ; un évêque d’Alexandrie, des prélats de cour, plus jaloux encore de sa
réputation que de sa vertu : telles sont les forces que l’enfer réunit contre
Jean. L’amour de son peuple ne le garantira pas plus que la sainteté de sa vie
; et l’on verra cet illustre pontife qui avait ravi par le charme de sa parole
les habitants d’Antioche, et autour duquel Constantinople tout entière se
réunissait dans un enthousiasme qui ne se ralentit pas un seul jour, après
s’être vu déposé dans un indigne conciliabule, après avoir vu son nom effacé
des diptyques de l’autel, malgré la protestation énergique du Pontife romain,
s’en aller mourir de fatigue, entre les mains des soldats, sur la route de
l’exil.
Mais ce Pasteur, ce
Docteur n’était pas vaincu. Il répétait, avec le grand Paul : « Malheur à moi,
si je ne prêche pas l’Évangile ! » [1]. Et encore : « La parole de Dieu ne
s’enchaîne pas. » [2]. L’Église triomphait en lui, plus glorifiée et plus
consolidée par la constance de Chrysostome mené en captivité pour avoir prêché
la doctrine de Jésus-Christ, que par les succès de cette éloquence que Libanius
avait enviée pour le paganisme. Écoutons les fortes paroles de Chrysostome, à
la veille de partir pour son dernier exil. Déjà il a été enlevé une fois ; mais
un affreux tremblement de terre, présage de la colère du ciel, a contraint
Eudoxie elle-même à demander avec larmes son rappel à l’Empereur. De nouveaux
orages se forment contre Jean ; mais il sent que toute la force de l’Église est
en lui, et il défie la tempête. Apprenons ce que c’est qu’un Évêque formé à
l’école de Jésus-Christ, le Pasteur et l’Evêque de nos âmes [3], comme parle
saint Pierre :
« Les flots et la
tourmente s’avancent contre nous ; cependant nous ne craignons pas d’en être
submergés ; car nous sommes assis sur la pierre. Que la mer s’élance dans tout
son courroux, elle ne dissoudra pas la pierre ; que les flots montent, ils ne
submergeront pas le vaisseau de Jésus. Je vous le demande, que craindrions-nous
? La mort ? Mais le Christ est ma vie, et mourir m’est un gain. [4] L’exil, me
direz-vous ? Mais la terre est au Seigneur, avec tout ce qu’elle renferme. [5]
La confiscation des biens ? Mais nous n’avons rien apporté en venant en ce
monde, et nous rien pouvons rien emporter. [6] Les terreurs de ce monde me sont
à mépris, et ses biens n’excitent que ma risée. Je ne crains pas la pauvreté,
je ne convoite pas les richesses, je ne redoute pas la mort ; et si je désire
vivre, c’est uniquement pour votre avantage. Votre intérêt est même le seul
motif qui me porte à faire allusion à la circonstance présente.
« Voici la prière que je
fais à votre charité : « Ayez confiance. Nul ne pourra nous séparer ; ce que
Dieu a joint, ce n’est pas à l’homme de le désunir. Dieu l’a dit à propos de
l’union de l’homme et de la femme. Tu ne peux, ô homme ! briser le lien d’un
seul mariage ; comment pourrais-tu diviser l’Église de Dieu ? C’est donc elle
que tu attaques, parce que tu ne peux atteindre celui que tu poursuis. Le moyen
de rendre ma gloire plus éclatante, d’épuiser plus sûrement encore tes forces,
c’est de me combattre ; car il te sera dur de regimber contre l’aiguillon. [7]
Tu n’en émousseras pas la pointe, et tes pieds en seront ensanglantés. Les
flots n’entament pas le rocher ; ils retombent sur eux-mêmes, écume
impuissante.
« O homme ! Rien n’est
comparable à la force de l’Église. Cesse la guerre, si tu ne veux pas sentir
épuiser tes forces ; ne fais pas la guerre au ciel. Si tu déclares la guerre à
l’homme, tu peux vaincre, ou succomber ; mais quand tu attaques l’Église, l’espoir
de vaincre t’est interdit ; car Dieu est plus fort que tout. Serions-nous donc
jaloux du Seigneur ? Serions-nous plus puissants que lui ? Dieu a fondé, il a
affermi ; qui essaiera d’ébranler ? Tu ne connais donc pas sa force ? Il
regarde la terre, et il la fait trembler ; il commande, et ce qui était ébranlé
devient solide. Si naguère il a raffermi votre ville agitée par un tremblement
de terre, combien plus pourra-t-il rasseoir l’Église ! Mais elle est plus
solide que le ciel même. Le ciel et la terre passeront, dit le Seigneur ; mais
mes paroles ne passeront point. Et quelles paroles ? Tu es Pierre, et sur cette
pierre qui est à moi, je bâtirai mon Église, et les portes de l’enfer ne
prévaudront pas contre elle.
« Si tu ne crois pas à
cette parole, crois aux faits. Combien de tyrans ont essayé d’écraser l’Église
? Que de bûchers, que de bêtes féroces, que de glaives ! Et tout cela pour ne
rien produire. Où sont maintenant ces redoutables ennemis ? Le silence et
l’oubli en ont fait justice. Et l’Église, où est-elle ? Sous nos yeux, plus
resplendissante que le soleil. Mais si, lorsque les chrétiens étaient en petit
nombre, ils n’ont pas été vaincus ; aujourd’hui que l’univers entier est plein
de cette religion sainte, comment les pourrais-tu vaincre ? Le ciel et la terre
passeront, dit le Christ, mais mes paroles ne passeront, pas. Et il en doit
être ainsi ; car l’Église a est plus aimée de Dieu que le ciel même. Ce n’est
pas du ciel qu’il a pris un corps ; la chair qu’il a prise appartient à
l’Église. Le ciel est pour l’Église, et non pas l’Église pour le ciel.
« Ne vous troublez pas de
ce qui est arrivé. Faites-moi cette grâce, d’être immobiles dans la foi.
N’avez-vous pas vu Pierre, lorsqu’il marchait sur les eaux, pour avoir douté un
instant, courir le risque d’être submergé, non par l’impétuosité des flots,
mais à cause de la faiblesse de sa foi ? Sommes-nous donc montés sur ce siège
par les calculs humains ? L’homme nous a-t-il élevé, pour que l’homme nous
puisse renverser ? Je ne le dis pas par arrogance, ni par une vaine jactance :
à Dieu ne plaise ! je veux seulement affermir ce qui en vous serait flottant.
« La ville était rassise
sur ses bases ; le diable a voulu ébranler l’Église. O esprit de scélératesse
et d’infamie ! tu n’as pas su renverser des murailles, et tu espères ébranler
l’Église ! Consiste-t-elle donc dans des murailles, l’Église ? Non ; l’Église,
c’est la multitude des fidèles ; ils sont ses fermes colonnes, non liées avec
le fer, mais serrées par la foi. Je ne dis pas seulement qu’une telle multitude
a plus de force que le feu ; ta rage ne saurait triompher même d’un seul
chrétien. Rappelle-toi quelles blessures t’ont infligées les martyrs. N’a-t-on
pas vu souvent comparaître une jeune fille délicate, amenée devant le juge, avant
l’âge nubile ? Elle était plus tendre que la cire, et cependant plus ferme que
la pierre. Tu déchirais ses flancs ; tu ne lui enlevais pas la foi. La chair
cédait sous l’instrument de torture, la constance dans la foi ne cédait pas. Tu
n’as pu vaincre même une femme, et tu espères surmonter tout un peuple ? Tu
n’as donc pas entendu le Seigneur qui disait : Là où deux ou trois sont
rassemblés en mon Nom, j’y suis au milieu d’eux ? [8] Et il ne serait pas
présent au milieu d’un peuple nombreux, enchaîné par les liens de la charité !
« J’ai en mes mains le
gage, je possède sa promesse écrite ; c’est là le bâton sur lequel je m’appuie,
c’est là ma sécurité, c’est là mon port tranquille. Que l’univers entier
s’agite ; je me contente de relire ces caractères sacrés ; c’est là mon mur,
c’est là ma forteresse. Mais quels caractères ? Ceux-ci : Je suis avec vous
tous les jours, jusqu’à la consommation des siècles. Le Christ est avec moi !
qu’ai-je à craindre ? Quand les flots s’élèveraient contre moi, quand les mers,
quand la fureur des princes ; pour moi, tout cela est moins qu’une toile
d’araignée. Si votre charité ne m’eût retenu, j’étais prêt à partir pour
l’exil, dès aujourd’hui même. Voici ma prière : « Seigneur, que votre volonté
se fasse ; non telle ou telle volonté, mais la vôtre. Qu’il arrive ce que Dieu
voudra ; s’il veut que je reste ici, je l’en remercie ; en quelque lieu qu’il
veuille que je sois transporté, je lui rends grâces. »
Tel est le cœur du
ministre de Jésus-Christ, humble et invincible. Et Dieu donne de ces hommes
dans tous les siècles ; et quand ils deviennent rares, tout languit et
s’éteint. Quatre Docteurs de ce caractère ont été donnés à l’Église Orientale :
Athanase, Grégoire de Nazianze, Basile et Chrysostome ; et le siècle qui les a
produits conserva la foi, malgré les plus redoutables périls. Les deux premiers
brillent au Cycle, à l’époque où l’Église est toute radieuse de l’éclat de son
Époux ressuscité ; le troisième signale le temps où les dons de l’Esprit
d’amour ont fécondé l’Église ; Chrysostome nous réjouit par sa présence, en ce
jour où le Verbe de Dieu nous apparaît sous les livrées de l’infirmité et de
l’enfance. Nous, heureux fils de l’Église latine qui seule a eu le bonheur de
conserver la foi primitive, parce que Pierre est avec elle, honorons ces quatre
fortes colonnes de l’édifice de la tradition ; mais rendons aujourd’hui nos
hommages à Chrysostome, le Docteur de toutes les Églises, le vainqueur du
monde, le Pasteur inébranlable, le successeur des Martyrs, le prédicateur par
excellence, l’admirateur de Paul, l’imitateur du Christ.
L’Église Grecque emploie
tout son enthousiasme liturgique, dans les Menées, pour exalter la gloire de
son grand Docteur. Nous lui emprunterons quelques strophes.
Célébrons, dans des
hymnes mélodieuses la trompette d’or, l’orgue au souffle divin, l’inépuisable
mer de la science, l’appui de l’Église, l’intelligence céleste, l’abîme de
sagesse, la coupe dorée, de laquelle découlent, à flots de miel, les fleuves de
doctrine qui arrosent toute créature.
Honorons dignement Jean
le Chrysologue, l’astre sans couchant, qui illumine des rayons de la doctrine
tout ce qui est sous le soleil, le prédicateur de la pénitence, l’éponge d’or
qui sèche l’humidité du désespoir funeste dans les âmes, et qui humecte de
rosée le cœur desséché par le péché.
Glorifions dans nos
cantiques Chrysostome, l’Ange de la terre, l’homme céleste, la lyre éloquente
aux sons variés, le trésor des vertus, la pierre immobile, la forme des
fidèles, l’émule des Martyrs, le compagnon des saints Anges, le commensal des
Apôtres.
La grâce est répandue sur
tes lèvres, ô Père saint, Jean Chrysostome ! car Dieu t’a sacré Pontife de son
peuple, pour paître son troupeau dans la sainteté et la justice. Ceint du
glaive de la puissance, tu as tranché les discours insensés de l’hérésie ;
aujourd’hui prie sans cesse afin que le monde soit dans la paix, et que nos
âmes soient sauvées.
Richement ornée de tes
discours d’or, comme d’un or pur, ô Jean Chrysostome, l’Église, dans la joie de
ta fête, s’écrie : « Je me suis rassasiée dans tes pâturages où croît l’or,
désaltérée à tes courants où l’or coule avec le miel ; tes exhortations me font
passer de l’action à la contemplation, et m’unissent au Christ, mon Époux
spirituel, pour régner avec lui » ; c’est pourquoi nous qui sommes réunis pour
célébrer ta mémoire, nous te crions : Ne te lasse pas de prier pour le salut de
nos âmes.
Il convenait que la reine
des villes se glorifiât d’avoir possédé Jean, comme l’ornement de sa royauté,
d’avoir entendu la trompette d’or, qui fait retentir par toute la terre les
dogmes du salut, et qui convoque tous les hommes au concert des cantiques
divins. C’est à lui que nous crions : Chrysologue et Chrysostome, supplie le
Christ de sauver nos âmes.
Réjouis-toi, père des
orphelins, puissant secours de ceux qui souffrent, trésor des pauvres,
nourriture de ceux qui ont faim, appui qui relevé les pécheurs, habile médecin
des âmes, mesure exacte de la plus haute théologie, interprète des Écritures,
loi lumineuse donnée par l’Esprit-Saint, règle très droite, théorie et pratique
de la plus haute sagesse ; supplie le Christ d’envoyer à nos âmes une grande
miséricorde.
Tu as été un soleil
éclatant, illuminant la terre de tes paroles, un astre étincelant, une lampe
brillante, un phare sur la mer du monde, appelant au port tranquille du salut,
dans la charité, les hommes battus par la tempête, ô Chrysostome, bouche d’or,
avocat de nos âmes.
Dans ta charge pastorale.
Père saint, tu as souffert l’injustice, tu as participé aux amères tribulations
et aux exils, par lesquels tu t’es rendu digne d’une fin bienheureuse, ô toi
qui, comme un athlète généreux, as surmonté l’artificieux ennemi ; c’est
pourquoi le Christ t’a couronné du diadème de la victoire, ô Jean Chrysostome,
avocat de nos prières !
Que de couronnes ornent
votre front, ô Chrysostome ! Que votre nom est glorieux dans l’Église de la
terre et dans l’Église du ciel ! Vous avez enseigné avec vérité, vous avez
combattu avec constance vous avez souffert pour la justice, vous êtes mort pour
la liberté de la parole de Dieu. Les applaudissements des hommes ne vous ont
point séduit ; le don de l’éloquence évangélique, dont l’Esprit-Saint vous
avait enrichi, n’était qu’une faible image de la splendeur et de la force des
feux dont le Verbe divin remplissait votre cœur. Vous l’avez aimé, ce Verbe, ce
Jésus, plus que votre gloire, plus que votre repos, plus que votre vie. Votre
mémoire a été poursuivie par les hommes ; des mains perfides ont effacé votre
nom des tables de l’autel ; d’indignes passions ont dicté une sentence dans
laquelle, comme votre Maître, vous étiez mis au rang des criminels, et vous
avez été précipité des degrés de la chaire sacrée. Mais il n’est pas au pouvoir
des hommes d’éteindre le soleil, ni d’effacer la mémoire de Chrysostome. Rome
vous a été fidèle ; elle a gardé avec honneur votre nom, comme aujourd’hui
encore elle garde votre corps sacré, près de celui du Prince des Apôtres. Le
monde chrétien tout entier vous proclame comme l’un des plus fidèles
dispensateurs de la Vérité divine.
En retour de nos
hommages, ô Chrysostome, regardez-nous du haut du ciel comme vos brebis ;
instruisez-nous, réformez-nous, rendez-nous chrétiens. Comme votre sublime
maître Paul, vous ne saviez que Jésus-Christ ; mais c’est en Jésus-Christ que
tous les trésors de la science et de la sagesse sont cachés. Révélez-nous ce
Sauveur qui est venu à nous, avec tant de charmes et de douceur ; faites-nous
connaître son esprit ; enseignez-nous la manière de lui plaire, les moyens de
l’imiter ; faites-lui agréer notre amour. Comme vous, nous sommes exilés ; mais
nous aimons trop le lieu de notre exil ; souvent nous sommes tentés de le prendre
pour une patrie. Détachez-nous de ce séjour terrestre, et de ses illusions. Que
nous ayons hâte d’être réunis à vous, comme vous fûtes réuni à Basilisque, afin
d’être avec Jésus-Christ, en qui nous vous retrouverons pour jamais.
Pasteur fidèle, priez
pour nos Pasteurs ; obtenez-leur votre esprit, et rendez leurs troupeaux
dociles. Bénissez les prédicateurs de la parole sainte, afin qu’ils ne se
prêchent pas eux-mêmes, mais Jésus-Christ. Rendez-nous l’éloquence chrétienne
qui s’inspire des Livres saints et de la prière, afin que les peuples, séduits
par un langage du ciel, se convertissent et rendent gloire à Dieu. Protégez le
Pontife romain dont le prédécesseur osa seul vous défendre ; que son cœur soit
toujours l’asile des Évêques persécutés pour la justice. Rendez la vie à votre
Église de Constantinople, qui a oublié vos exemples et votre foi. Relevez-la de
l’avilissement où elle languit depuis longtemps. Touché enfin par vos prières,
que le Christ, Sagesse éternelle, se souvienne de son Église de Sainte-Sophie ;
qu’il daigne la purifier, et y rétablir l’autel sur lequel il s’immola durant
tant de siècles. Aimez toujours les Églises de l’Occident, auxquelles votre
gloire a constamment été chère. Hâtez la chute des hérésies qui ont désolé
plusieurs de nos chrétientés, dissipez les ténèbres de l’incrédulité, ranimez
la foi parmi nous et faites fleurir les vertus.
[1] I Cor. IX, 16.
[2] II Tim. II, 9.
[3] I Petr. II, 25.
[4] Philip, I, 21.
[5] Psalm. XXXIII, I.
[6] I Tim. VI, 7.
[7] Act. IX, 5.
[8] Matth. XVIII, 20.
Bhx Cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Cet invincible champion
de la vérité succomba aux peines de l’exil à Comane, dans le Pont, le 14
septembre 407. Toutefois comme ce jour-là l’Église romaine célébra d’abord la
fête des martyrs Corneille et Cyprien, puis celle de l’Exaltation de la sainte Croix,
sa mémoire fut transférée au 27 janvier, anniversaire de la translation de son
corps à Constantinople.
Saint Jean Chrysostome
mourut victime des mauvais traitements et des peines subis pour la foi et pour
l’exercice intrépide de ses devoirs épiscopaux en face de la cour corrompue de
Byzance. Toutefois comme quelques prélats notoirement catholiques prirent part
à la persécution qu’il souffrit — le Seigneur le permettant ainsi pour
perfectionner la vertu du saint — et comme il ne mourut pas à proprement parler
de mort sanglante pour la défense du dogme catholique, la messe en son honneur
est celle des évêques confesseurs et non celle des martyrs.
La fête de saint Jean
Chrysostome dans le calendrier romain aujourd’hui assume une signification
spéciale et démontre comment la primauté pontificale représente une source de
bien et une garantie de liberté pour toute l’Église catholique. Jean, vaincu
par ses adversaires et déposé de son siège, selon le jugement des évêques
inféodés à la Cour, en appela à la Chaire apostolique. Le pape Innocent Ier
prit immédiatement la défense du persécuté, annula l’injuste sentence et, après
la mort de Chrysostome, exigea de ses adversaires, comme condition de communion
avec le Siège pontifical, que son nom serait de nouveau inséré dans les
diptyques épiscopaux, ce qui, dans les formes juridiques de l’époque, était
comme une canonisation. Aujourd’hui les Orientaux ont trop facilement oublié
l’œuvre de l’Église romaine et les luttes soutenues jadis par les papes pour
défendre précisément l’orthodoxie et la renommée de leurs plus grands docteurs,
tels que Basile, Athanase, Jean Chrysostome, etc. Mais on ne change pas
l’histoire, et elle démontre que, pour l’Orient surtout, l’exercice de la
Primauté pontificale a été dans l’antiquité la garantie des premiers conciles
œcuméniques et l’ancre du salut, que, dans le naufrage qui menaçait déjà les
malheureuses Églises orientales, saisissaient avec confiance ces champions de
l’orthodoxie catholique.
L’antienne pour
l’introït, qui est celle du Commun des docteurs, est identique à celle assignée
à la fête de saint Ambroise le 7 décembre.
Dans la collecte
suivante, l’Église implore, par les mérites du grand Proscrit, la grâce
céleste, surtout celle d’une foi éclairée, féconde en œuvres énergiques : «
Nous vous prions, Seigneur, afin que la grâce céleste dilate votre Église, que
vous avez daigné illustrer par les mérites glorieux et la doctrine de votre
bienheureux confesseur et pontife, Jean Chrysostome. Par notre Seigneur, etc. »
La lecture est celle du
Commun des docteurs ; nous l’avons déjà rapportée le jour de saint Ambroise.
Saint Paul, à la veille du martyre, ou, comme il le dit, sur le point d’être
offert en sacrifice, y instruit Timothée des périls qui menaceront l’Église, du
fait des faux docteurs ; il y expose la nécessité, pour le ministre de
Jésus-Christ, d’opposer à tous ces sophismes de l’orgueil humain une saine
doctrine et un apostolat patient et longanime. Mais cela ne suffit pas. Paul a
prêché, il ne s’est jamais épargné mais il n’a pas encore accompli sa mission.
Comme le Christ, après avoir enseigné, s’est offert sur la croix pour mériter
aux âmes la grâce de croire à l’Évangile et de se sauver, ainsi doit faire
aussi le prêtre de Jésus. Il doit être non seulement docteur, mais aussi
victime, parce que c’est seulement dans la douleur qu’il pourra mériter la
gloire de la paternité spirituelle.
Le verset alléluiatique
n’est pas celui du Commun des pontifes ou des docteurs, mais il convient
cependant fort bien à saint Jean Chrysostome, qui succomba à la cruauté de ses
persécuteurs.
Après la Septuagésime, le
psaume-trait est celui que nous avons déjà trouvé le 15 janvier, et il en est
ainsi à toutes les fêtes des confesseurs et des martyrs qui se célèbrent durant
ce cycle préparatoire à la solennité pascale.
Le verset de l’offertoire
est pris du psaume 91 : Le juste fleurira comme le palmier, et il étendra ses
rameaux comme un cèdre sur le Liban.
La secrète est la
suivante : « Que ne nous fasse pas défaut, Seigneur, la pieuse intercession de
votre saint pontife Jean Chrysostome, laquelle vous rende nos dons agréables et
implore sans cesse pour nous votre miséricorde. Par notre Seigneur, etc. »
L’antienne pour la
communion est la même que pour la fête de saint Sabbas, le 6 décembre, mais
contrairement à l’antique usage des messes des saints, elle ne correspond pas
au texte de l’Évangile du jour. Cela nous révèle que la messe des docteurs fut
définitivement rédigée très tard, alors que cette loi liturgique était déjà tombée
en oubli.
Que Dieu soit loué de
tout ! Ce fut le dernier cri de notre saint, vaillant champion de la foi, quand
déjà la mort s’apprêtait à mettre fin à ses tourments et à le soustraire à la
main des sbires. Oui, en vérité, qu’en tout Dieu soit loué, mais plus
spécialement quand il nous confère l’honneur inestimable de souffrir quelque
chose pour lui, puisque la croix est toujours la condition la plus propice pour
faire de grands progrès dans les voies de Dieu.
La
traslazione delle reliquie Giovanni Crisostomo nella chiesa dei Santi Apostoli.
Miniatura
dal Menologion di Basilio II.
Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide
dans l’année liturgique
Je porte les stigmates de
Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ dans mon corps.
Saint Jean Chrysostome. —
Jour de mort : 14 septembre 407, en exil. Tombeau : son corps fut d’abord
apporté à Constantinople ; plus tard, il fut transporté à Rome, à Saint-Pierre.
Sa vie : le martyrologe annonce au 14 septembre : « A Constantinople, la mort
de saint Jean, évêque de cette ville ; à cause du flot d’or de son éloquence,
il avait reçu le surnom de Chrysostome (Bouche d’or). Par les intrigues d’un
parti ennemi, il fut exilé. Mais, après que le pape Innocent 1er eut décidé en
sa faveur, on fut obligé de le rappeler. Comme le saint avait beaucoup souffert
des mauvais traitements des soldats qui l’accompagnaient, il succomba sur le
chemin du retour. »
Faisons aujourd’hui un
pèlerinage à Saint-Pierre de Rome, au tombeau du grand évêque. Il est difficile
de dire en peu de mots toute son importance : c’est un docteur de l’Église, un
évêque et un martyr. Maintenant encore, il se tient « au milieu de l’Église »
et toujours « le Seigneur ouvre sa bouche », car ses écrits continuent son
influence dans l’Église. Ce fut un prédicateur béni de Dieu, peut-être le plus
grand de tous les temps, il eut un culte ardent pour saint Paul, si bien qu’on
croyait que l’Apôtre l’avait aidé dans la rédaction de ses écrits. Ses
commentaires de l’Écriture, à cause de leur caractère concret, sont plus
intelligibles pour nous que les commentaires allégoriques des autres Pères de
l’Église. Ses écrits sont très nombreux, et ses œuvres complètes forment treize
volumes in-folio. Elles comprennent des traités sur la vie monastique, la
virginité, le sacerdoce, des sermons, des homélies.
Ce fut aussi, dans tout
le sens du mot, un pasteur des âmes, un protecteur de la veuve et de
l’orphelin, un évêque courageux, qui savait « reprendre opportunément et
importunément », qui ne craignait pas le mécontentement des princes, même celui
de l’impératrice. Son devoir pastoral fit de lui un martyr : deux fois il dut
partir pour l’exil, et bien que l’Église ne le fête pas comme martyr, il porte
cependant la palme du martyre à la main, car sa mort fut la conséquence des
mauvais traitements qu’il subit. Signalons encore qu’il exerça une grande
influence sur la liturgie de l’Église d’Orient : les cérémonies de la messe qui
sont, aujourd’hui encore, les plus employées dans l’Église grecque, s’appellent
liturgie de saint Jean Chrysostome.
La fin de sa vie. — Les
soldats de la garde de l’empereur le conduisaient et le forçaient de marcher
rapidement. Ils espéraient parvenir, au moyen des fatigues excessives, à se
débarrasser du saint. En dépit de la pluie qui tombait violemment, les soldats
le poussaient sans pitié devant eux. Jamais on ne faisait halte dans les villes
et les bourgades. Malgré tous ces mauvais traitements, le saint garda, pendant
ces trois mois d’un voyage pénible, son calme et sa sérénité. Après avoir
traversé, sans s’y arrêter, la ville de Komona, on fit halte à cinq ou six
milles de là, près du sanctuaire d’un martyr. Là, pendant la nuit, le saint
évêque vit, dans une vision, saint Basilisque évêque de Komona, qui avait été
martyrisé en Bithynie, sous l’empereur Maximin ; il était accompagné du martyr
Lucien d’Antioche : « Courage Jean, mon frère », lui dit-il, « demain nous
serons réunis ensemble. » Dans la foi à cette promesse, le saint demanda le
lendemain matin aux soldats de le laisser en ce lieu jusqu’à la cinquième
heure. Ceux-ci refusèrent et le forcèrent à partir. Mais à peine avaient-ils
fait trente stades, qu’ils se virent forcés de revenir sur leurs pas, car Jean
était tombé malade. Le saint évêque demanda des habits blancs qui convenaient à
la pureté de sa vie. Il distribua ses propres habits aux personnes présentes,
ne gardant que ses chaussures. Après avoir reçu les saints mystères et fait
devant les fidèles rassemblés sa dernière prière, avec la formule accoutumée «
Béni soit Dieu pour tout », celui dont les pieds s’étaient fatigués pour amener
les pénitents au salut et détourner les grands pécheurs de la voie de la
perdition, entra dans l’éternel repos.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/27-01-St-Jean-Chrysostome-eveque#nh8
.jpg)
Свтятитель Иоанн Златоуст (иконописная мастерская Елеон)
SAINT JEAN CHRYSOSTOME *
Jean, surnommé
Chrysostome, naquit à Antioche, de parents nobles. Son père se nommait Second,
et sa mère Anthura. Sa vie, son genre, ses actions et sa persécution, sont
décrits au long dans l’Histoire tripartite (l. X). Quand il eut étudié la
philosophie, il la délaissa pour s'adonner à la lecture des choses de Dieu.
Après sa promotion à la prêtrise, le zèle qu'il avait pour la chasteté le
faisait passer pour trop sévère, et il penchait plus vers l’emportement que
vers la mansuétude; la raideur de sa conduite ne lui laissait pas la ressource
de prendre des précautions pour l’avenir. Dans ses conversations il était
regardé comme arrogant par les ignorants. Ses leçons étaient solides, ses
explications exquises. Il était fort habile pour diriger les âmes. Ce fut sous
le règne d'Arcade et d'Honorius et du temps que Damase occupait le siège de
Rome qu'il fut ordonné évêque. En voulant corriger tout d'un coup la vie des
clercs, il s'attira la haine de tous. Ils l’évitaient comme un furieux et ils
le calomniaient auprès de tout le monde : sous prétexte qu'il n'invitait jamais
personne à sa table et qu'il ne voulait recevoir aucune invitation, ils
avançaient qu'il en agissait ainsi parce qu'il mangeait d'une manière sale.
D'autres disaient tout haut que c'était parce qu'il usait seulement de mets
choisis et délicats ; et en réalité c'était pour faire abstinence; et comme il
souffrait souvent de l’estomac et de la tête, il évitait les repas somptueux.
Le peuple, à cause des sermons qu'il prêchait à l’église, l’aimait beaucoup et
ne tenait aucun cas de ce que les envieux pouvaient répandre contre lui. Jean
s'appliqua encore à reprendre quelques-uns des grands, et il en résulta que
l’envie redoubla. de violence contre lui.
Un autre fait souleva
extraordinairement tout le monde. Eutrope, ministre de l’empereur, et jouissant
de la dignité consulaire, voulant instrumenter contre ceux qui cherchaient un
asile dans les églises, prit tous les moyens de faire porter, par l’empereur,
une loi par laquelle personne ne pourrait s'y réfugier à l’avenir, et de plus
que ceux qui s'y étaient réfugiés depuis longtemps, en seraient arrachés. Or,
peu de jours après, Eutrope ayant offensé l’empereur, s'empressa de se réfugier
dans l’église ; et l’évêque qui le sut vint trouver cet homme qui se cachait
sous l’autel, et dans une homélie qu'il fit contre lui, il lui adressa les
reproches les plus durs ; ceci offensa bien des gens parce que loin d'user de
miséricorde à l’égard d'un malheureux, il ne s'abstint pas de lui adresser des
réprimandes. L'empereur fit enlever Eutrope qui eut la tète tranchée. Pour
différents motifs, il se laissait aller à attaquer une certaine quantité de
personnes, ce qui le rendit généralement odieux. Or, Théophile, évêque
d'Alexandrie, voulait déposer Jean et prenait tous les moyens pour mettre à sa
place par intrusion un prêtre nommé Isidore : c'est pourquoi il cherchait avec
soin des motifs de déposition. Cependant le peuple prenait la défense de Jean
dont il écoutait avec une admirable avidité toutes les instructions. Jean
forçait aussi les prêtres à vivre selon la discipline ecclésiastique, et il
disait que celui-là ne devait pas jouir de l’honneur attaché au sacerdoce qui
ne daignerait pas en pratiquer les lois. Ce n'était pas seulement la ville de
Constantinople que le saint gouvernait avec courage, mais il établissait encore
des lois sages dans plusieurs provinces circonvoisines, en s'aidant de
l’autorité impériale. Quand il eut appris que l’on offrait encore des
sacrifices aux démons dans la Phénicie, il y envoya des clercs et des moines,
et fit détruire tous les temples des idoles. En ce temps-là, existait un
certain Gaymas, Celte d'origine, barbare dans ses projets, extrêmement emporté
par des goûts tyranniques, infecté de l’hérésie arienne, et cependant il avait
été créé officier dans l’armée, Il pria l’empereur de lui donner pour soi et
pour les siens une église dans l’intérieur de la ville. L'empereur le permit,
et pria Jean de céder une église à Gaymas, espérant ainsi mettre un frein à sa
tyrannie. Mais Jean, rempli d'un courage extraordinaire et enflammé de zèle,
dit à l’empereur : « Prince, veuillez ne pas permettre cela, et lie donnez pas
les choses saintes aux chiens; M'appréhendez rien de ce barbare : commandez
qu'on nous fasse venir tous les deux, et écoutez, sans parler, ce qui se dira
entre nous : je mettrai un tel frein à sa langue qu'il n'aura pas la
présomption de vous renouveler sa demande. » L'empereur, en entendant cela, fut
réjoui, et il les manda l’un et l’autre pour le lendemain.
Gaymas ayant réclamé pour
lui un oratoire, Jean lui dit : « Partout la maison de Dieu vous est ouverte,
en sorte que personne ne vous empêche de prier.» Gaymas reprit : « Je suis
d'une autre secte, et je demande à avoir un temple pour les miens et pour moi.
J'ai entrepris bien des choses pour l’empire romain, c'est, pour cela que je ne
dois pas éprouver l’affront d'un refus. » Jean lui dit : « Vous avez reçu des
récompenses plus que n'en méritent vos combats : vous avez été fait commandant
des armées, en outre vous avez été orné de la toge consulaire ; et il vous faut
considérer ce que vous avez été autrefois et ce que vous êtes aujourd'hui, quelle
fut jadis votre pauvreté et quelles sont à présent vos richesses, quels étaient
auparavant vos habits, et ceux dont vous vous ornez maintenant. Donc puisque
des services de peu de valeur vous ont procuré de si hautes récompenses, ne
soyez pas ingrat envers celui qui vous honore. »
Par ces paroles, Jean lui
ferma la bouche et le força à se taire. Or, pendant que Chrysostome gouvernait
avec vigueur la ville de Constantinople, Gaymas qui visait à l’empire, ne
pouvant rien faire de jour, envoya pendant la nuit des barbares, pour brûler le
palais. On acquit alors la preuve évidente que saint Jean était le gardien de
la ville; car une nombreuse troupe d'anges armés et qui avaient pris un corps,
apparut aux Barbares qui furent à l’instant mis en fuite. Quand ils
rapportèrent cela à leur maître, celui-ci en fut dans une grande admiration;
car il savait que les troupes étaient en garnison dans d'autres villes. La nuit
suivante, il leur donna donc encore le même ordre, et ils furent comme la
première fois mis en fuite par des anges qu'ils aperçurent. Enfin il y vint
lui-même, vit le miracle, et s'enfuit, dans la pensée que des soldats se
cachaient pendant le jour et gardaient la cité pendant la nuit. Il quitta
Constantinople et vint dans la Thrace où il portait partout le ravage avec une
armée nombreuse qu'il avait ramassée. Tout le monde redoutait la férocité de
ces barbares. Alors l’empereur chargea saint Jean de l’office de légat auprès
de Gaymas. Le saint oublia toutes les causes d'inimitié et partit avec joie. Gayrnas,
tenant compte de la confiance du saint, revint à de meilleurs sentiments, et
s'avança fort loin au-devant de lui; alors il lui prit la main qu'il porta à
ses yeux, et commanda à ses enfants de lui baiser les genoux avec respect.
Telle était en effet la vertu de Jean qu'il forçait les hommes les plus
terribles à s'humilier et à craindre.
Dans le même temps
encore, il s'émut une question : c'était de savoir si Dieu a un corps. Cela
donna lieu à des contestations et à des luttes; les uns soutenant une opinion,
les autres une autre. Ce fut surtout la classe des simples moines, qui se
laissa entraîner à dire que Dieu avait une forme corporelle. Or, Théophile,
évêque d'Alexandrie, pensait le contraire; en sorte que, dans l’église, il
soutenait l’opinion contraire à ceux qui avançaient que Dieu avait une forme
humaine, et il prêchait que Dieu est incorporel. Les moines d'Egypte, ayant eu
connaissance de cela, quittèrent leurs retraites et vinrent à Alexandrie où ils
excitèrent une sédition contre Théophile, en sorte qu'ils prenaient des mesures
pour le tuer. Quand il le sut, il eut peur et leur dit : « Comme je vous vois,
comme je vois le visage de Dieu. » « Si vous dites vrai, répondirent-ils, que
le visage de Dieu soit comme le nôtre, anathématisez donc les livres d'Origène,
contraires à notre opinion. Que si vous ne le faites pas, comme vous êtes
rebelle envers l’empereur et envers Dieu, vous aurez à endurer des opprobres de
notre part. » Et Théophile dit : « Ne commettez aucune violence contre ma personne,
et je ferai tout ce qui vous plaît. » Ce fut ainsi qu'il détourna les moines de
l’attaquer. Niais ceux-ci, expérimentés et arrivés à la perfection, ne se
laissèrent pas séduire, tandis que les simples, entraînés par l’ardeur de leur
foi, s'insurgèrent contre ceux de leurs frères qui croyaient le contraire, et
en firent tuer un grand nombre. Pendant que ces faits se passaient en Egypte,
saint Jean brillait à Constantinople par sa doctrine, et passait auprès de tous
pour un homme admirable. Or, les ariens, dont le nombre se multipliait
beaucoup, et qui avaient une église hors de la ville, s'assemblaient le samedi
et le dimanche entre les portes et les portiques, où ils chantaient, pendant la
nuit, des hymnes et des antiennes. Quand venait le point du jour, ils
traversaient la ville en répétant ces mêmes antiennes et, sortant hors des
portes, ils venaient en foule à leur église. Ils ne cessaient d'agir ainsi pour
vexer les orthodoxes, car ils répétaient souvent ces paroles : « Où sont ceux
qui disent qu'en trois il n'y a qu'une puissance? » Alors saint Jean, dans la
crainte que les simples ne se laissassent entraîner par ces chants, institua
que tous les fidèles passeraient la nuit à chanter des Hymnes, afin que
l’oeuvre des hérétiques fût étouffée et que les fidèles fussent affermis dans
leurs pratiques; de plus, il fit faire des croix d'argent que l’on portait avec
des cierges argentés. Les ariens, excités par la jalousie, s'emportèrent
jusqu'à vouloir sa mort: et une nuit Brison, eunuque de l’impératrice, fut
frappé d'une pierre. Jean l’avait chargé d'exercer à chanter les hymnes; il y
eut même quelques gens du peuple qui furent tués de part et d'autre. Alors
l’empereur ému défendit aux ariens de chanter publiquement leurs hymnes. En ce
temps-là, Sévérien, évêque de Gabales, qui était en honneur auprès d'un certain
nombre de grands, et chéri par l’empereur lui-même et par l’impératrice, vint à
Constantinople, où saint Jean e reçut avec des félicitations; pendant son
voyage en Asie, il lui confia le soin de son église. Mais Sévérien ne se
comportait pas avec fidélité et tâchait de s'attirer l’estime du peuple.
Sérapion, qui était clerc de Jean, s'empressa d'en informer le saint. Or, une
fois que Sévérien passait, Séraphin ne se- leva pas : alors l’évêque indigné
s'écria : « Si le clerc Sérapion ne meurt pas, J.-C. n'est pas né de nature
humaine. » Saint Jean, apprenant ces excès, revint et chassa Sévérien de la
ville comme un blasphémateur. Cela déplut beaucoup à l’impératrice qui fit
rentrer l’évêque en priant saint Jean de se réconcilier avec lui : mais le
saint n'y consentit en aucune manière : jusqu'au moment où l’impératrice mit
son fils Théodose sur les genoux de Jean, en le suppliant, en le conjurant de
faire la paix avec Sévérien.
Dans le même temps encore,
Théophile, évêque d'Alexandrie, chassa injustement Dyoscore, un très saint
homme, et Isidore qui était auparavant un de ses grands amis. Ceux-ci vinrent à
Constantinople pour raconter au prince et à Jean ce qui s'était passé. Or, Jean
les traita honorablement, mais il ne voulut pas les recevoir en sa communion
avant de connaître l’état des choses. Cependant un faux bruit parvint à
Théophile, que Jean était en communion avec eux, et qu'il leur donnait aide.
Alors Théophile indigné ne se contenta pas d'exercer sa vengeance contre eux,
mais il s'arma de toutes pièces pour déposer Jean. Il dissimula donc son
intention et il envoya des messages aux évêques de chaque ville pour annoncer
qu'il voulait condamner les livres d'Origène. Epiphane, évêque de Chypre, très
saint et très illustre personnage, se laissa circonvenir par Théophile qui s'en
fit un ami, et qu'il pria de condamner aussi lui-même les livres d'Origène.
Epiphane, dont la sainteté ne découvrait pas ces ruses, convoqua ses évêques à
Chypre et interdit, la lecture d'Origène ; il adressa des lettres à saint Jean
par lesquelles il le priait de s'abstenir à l’avenir de lire ces ouvrages, et
de confirmer les décisions qui avaient été prises. Mais Jean, qui fit peu de
cas de cette démarche, s'appliquait aux soins du ministère ecclésiastique où il
excellait, et ne s'inquiétait aucunement de ce qu'on pouvait machiner contre
lui. Enfin Théophile dévoila cette haine qu'il avait longtemps cachée, et fit
connaître qu'il voulait déposer Jean. Aussitôt les ennemis du saint, un grand
nombre de clercs, et les seigneurs du palais, trouvant l’occasion favorable,
usaient de toutes sortes de moyens pour faire assembler contre Jean un concile
à Constantinople. Après quoi, Epiphane vint en cette ville portant avec soi le décret
de condamnation d'Origène; mais il ne voulut pas accepter l’invitation de Jean,
en considération de Théophile. Or, quelques-uns, par respect pour Epiphane,
souscrivirent à la condamnation des livres d'Origène; beaucoup cependant
refusaient de le faire. L'un de ces derniers fut Théotin, évêque de Sicée,
homme très recommandable par la droiture de sa conduite, qui répondit ainsi : «
Pour moi, Epiphane, je ne veux pas faire injure à qui est mort depuis longtemps
dans la justice, et je n'ai pas la présomption de m’exposer à commettre un
sacrilège en condamnant ce que nos devanciers n'ont pas voulu flétrir; car je
ne vois pas qu'il se trouve une mauvaise doctrine dans ses livres. Ceux qui
s'attachent à les mépriser ne se connaissent pas eux-mêmes. Athanase le
défenseur du concile de Nicée, invoque le témoignage de ce grand homme en
faveur de la foi ; il met ses livres avec les siens quand il dit : «L’admirable
et infatigable Origène nous apporte ce témoignage du Fils de Dieu, alors qu'il
affirme qu'il est coéternel au Père. » Jean conçut de l’indignation de ce que,
contre tous les règlements, Epiphane fit une ordination dans son église ;
cependant il le priait de demeurer avec lui parmi les évêques. Mais Epiphane
répondit qu'il ne voulait ni rester, ni prier avec lui, à moins qu'il ne
chassât Dyoscore et qu'il ne souscrivît à la condamnation des livres d'Origène.
Jean refusant de le faire, Epiphane fut excité contre lui par ceux qui lui
portaient envie. Epiphane alors condamna les livres d'Origène et porta un jugement
contre Dyoscore ; ensuite il commença à détracter Jean comme leur adversaire.
Alors Jean lui manda ce qui suit : «Vous avez agi, Epiphane, en beaucoup de cas
contre les règles; d'abord vous avez fait une ordination dans une église placée
sous ma juridiction; ensuite de votre autorité, privée, vous y avez célébré les
saints mystères ; en outre quand je vous ai invité, vous vous êtes excusé; et
en dernier lieu maintenant, vous ne vous en rapportez qu'à vous-même. Or,
prenez garde qu'une sédition ne s'élève parmi le peuple, et que le péril n'en
retombe sur vous. » Epiphane informé de cela partit, et avant de se mettre eu
route pour Chypre, il fit dire à Jean : « J'espère que vous ne mourrez pas
évêque. » Et Jean lui fit tenir cette réponse : « J'espère que vous ne
rentrerez pas dans votre patrie. » C'est ce qui eut lieu, car Epiphane mourut
en route, et peu après Jean, déposé de l’épiscopat, finit sa vie dans l’exil.
Au tombeau de cet Epiphane, personnage d'une haute sainteté, les démons sont
mis en fuite. Sa générosité envers les pauvres fut prodigieuse. Un jour qu'il
avait, donné tout l’argent de l’église sans qu'il lui restât rien, quelqu'un
vint tout à coup lui offrir un sac avec beaucoup d'argent et disparut sans
qu'on ait su ni d'où il venait, ni où il allait. Quelques pauvres voulurent
tromper Epiphane afin qu'il leur donnât l’aumône. L'un d'eux se coucha sur le
dos par terre, et debout auprès de lui un autre le pleurait comme s'il était
mort, et criait piteusement qu'il n'avait pas de quoi le pouvoir ensevelir.
Alors Epiphane survint ; il pria pour que le mort dormît en paix ; ensuite, il
donna ce qui était nécessaire pour la sépulture, puis après avoir consolé
l’autre, il s'en alla. Alors celui-ci disait à son compagnon en le poussant : «
Lève-toi, allons manger ce due tu as gagné. » Mais après l’avoir remué
plusieurs fois, il reconnut qu'il était mort ; il courut alors à Epiphane lui
dire ce qui était arrivé, et le pria de ressusciter cet homme. Epiphane le
consola avec bonté, mais ne ressuscita pas le mendiant afin qu'on ne se jouât
pas facilement des ministres de Dieu. Or, quand Epiphane fut parti, on rapporta
à Jean que l’impératrice Eudoxie avait excité Epiphane contre lui. Jean,
toujours enflammé de zèle, fit au peuple un discours renfermant toutes sortes
de critiques contre les femmes sans exception. Ce sermon fut pris par tout le
monde comme une attaque directe contre l’impératrice. Celle-ci, qui en fut
instruite, se plaignit à l’empereur en disant que le blâme infligé à sa femme
retombait principalement sur lui. L'empereur ému fit célébrer un synode contre
Jean. Alors Théophile se hâta de convoquer les évêques; et tous les ennemis de
Pan vinrent en foule avec grande joie, en le traitant d'orgueilleux et d'impie.
Tous les évêques donc réunis à Constantinople ne s'occupaient plus des livres
d'Origène, mais se déclaraient ouvertement contre Jean. Ils le firent citer,
mais le saint jugea prudent de ne pas se livrer à ses ennemis et déclara qu'il
fallait assembler un concile universel. Ils le firent citer encore jusqu'à
quatre fois. Or, comme il refusait de comparaître et qu'il réclamait un
concile, ils le condamnèrent, sans articuler contre lui d'autre fait qu'ayant
été appelé il n'avait pas voulu obéir. Le peuple, qui en fut informé, se livra
à une violente sédition ; il ne laissa pas enlever Jean de l’église, mais il
demanda hautement que l’affaire fût portée à un concile plus nombreux.
Cependant l’ordre du prince exigeait qu'il fût enlevé par force et qu'il fût
déporté en exil. Alors Jean, qui craignait les suites de la sédition, se livra
lui-même, à l’insu du peuple, pour être mené en exil. Quand le peuple le sut,
il s'éleva une émeute tellement grave que beaucoup de ceux qui étaient les
ennemis de Jean, et un instant auparavant désiraient sa déposition, se
laissèrent aller à la pitié en proclamant qu'il était victime de la calomnie.
Alors Sévérien, dont il a
été question plus haut, se mit à détracter Jean dans les instructions qu'il
faisait à l’église : il disait que quand bien même il n'y aurait pas d'autre
crime à lui imputer, c'était assez de son orgueil pour le déposer. La sédition
contre l’empereur et contre les évêques ayant pris d'énormes proportions,
Eudoxie pria l’empereur de faire ramener Jean de l’exil. Il se fit encore un
violent tremblement de terre dans la ville, et tout le monde disait que cela
arrivait parce que Jean avait été injustement chassé. On envoya donc des
ambassadeurs à l’évêque pour le prier de revenir au plus tôt secourir la ville
ruinée et calmer la sédition excitée parmi le peuple. Après les premiers on en
fit partir d'autres, et après ceux-ci d'autres encore pour le forcer à hâter
son retour. Jean s'y refusait ; cependant ils le ramenèrent le plus vite qu'ils
purent. Le peuple tout entier alla à sa rencontre avec des cierges et des
lampes. Cependant il ne voulait pas se placer sur son siège épiscopal, en
disant que cela ne pouvait se faire sans un jugement synodal et que c'était à
ceux qui l’avaient condamné à révoquer leur sentence. Cependant le peuple était
soulevé pour le voir assis sur son siège et pour entendre parler ce saint
docteur. Il l’emporta enfin, Jean fut donc forcé d'adresser un discours et de
s'asseoir sur son trône épiscopal. Théophile alors prit la fuite. Arrivé à
Hiérapolis, l’évêque de cette ville vint à mourir, et on élut Lamon, qui était
un moine d'une haute sainteté. Il refusa à plusieurs reprises, mais Théophile
lui conseillant d'accepter, Lamon le promit en disant: « Demain, il en sera ce
qu'il plaît au Seigneur. » Le lendemain, on vint à sa cellule le conjurer de
recevoir l’épiscopat: « Prions auparavant le Seigneur, dit-il. » Et pendant
qu'il priait, il rendit le dernier soupir. Jean cependant instruisait son
peuplé avec assiduité. Or, dans le même temps, on avait élevé, sur la place qui
se trouvait vis-à-vis de l’église de Sainte-Sophie, une statue d'argent revêtue
d'une chlamyde, en l’honneur de l’impératrice Eudoxie; les soldats et les
grands y célébraient des jeux publics: ce qui déplaisait fort à Jean parce
qu'il voyait en cela un outrage à l’église.
Il compta assez sur ses
forces pour s'élever, dans ses discours, avec vigueur contre cet abus. Et quand
il fallait employer des paroles de supplication pour détourner les seigneurs de
se livrer à ces jeux, il ne le fit pas, mais il usa de toute l’impétuosité de
son éloquence pour maudire ceux qui commandaient de pareils excès.
L'impératrice. qui regardait tout cela comme une injure personnelle,
travaillait de nouveau à faire célébrer encore un concile contre lui. Jean qui
le pressentit prononça dans l’église cette fameuse homélie commençant par ces
mots: « Hérodiade est encore en délire, elle est encore agitée, elle danse
encore, elle demande encore une fois qu'on lui donne 1a tête de Jean dans un
plat. » Ce fait excita bien davantage la colère de l’impératrice. Alors un
homme voulut tuer Jean; or, le peuple surprit l’assassin et le traîna devant le
juge; mais le préfet se saisit de lui afin qu'il ne fût pas massacré. Le
serviteur d'un prêtre voulut aussi se jeter sur lui et tenter de le tuer, mais
il en fut empêché par un particulier qui fut égorgé par l’assassin, ainsi qu'un
autre qui se trouvait là. On se mit alors à crier, et comme la foule accourait,
il en massacra encore plusieurs. Dès ce moment, Jean fut protégé parle peuple
qui montait la garde jour et nuit dans sa maison. Par les conseils de
l’impératrice, les évêques s'assemblèrent à Constantinople et les accusateurs
de Jean s'opiniâtrèrent de plus en plus. La fête de la naissance du Seigneur
étant survenue, l’empereur fit dire à Jean que, s'il ne se justifiait pas des
crimes dont on l’accusait, il ne communiquerait pas avec lui. Cependant les
évêques ne trouvèrent rien à lui reprocher, si ce n'est qu'après sa déposition,
il avait osé siéger dans sa chaire sans le décret d'un concile. Et ainsi, ils
le condamnèrent. Enfin, à l’approche de la fête de Pâques, l’empereur lui manda
qu'il ne pouvait rester dans l’église avec un homme condamné par deux conciles.
Jean se tint donc à l’écart et il ne descendait plus du tout dans l’église.
Ceux qui tenaient pour lui étaient appelés Johannites. Cependant l’empereur le
fit ensuite chasser de la ville et conduire en exil dans une petite ville sur
les limites du Pont et de l’empire romain, pays voisin de cruels barbares. Mais
dans sa clémence, le Seigneur ne permit pas longtemps que l’un de ses plus
fidèles athlètes restât dans de pareils lieux.
Le pape Innocent, qui
apprit cela, en fut contrasté ; et voulant célébrer un concile, il écrivit au
clergé de Constantinople de ne pas donner un successeur à Jean. Mais le saint,
fatigué par la longueur de la route et tourmenté très violemment de douleurs de
tête, souffrait encore de l’insupportable chaleur du soleil. Cette sainte âme
fut déliée de son corps à Comanes, le lie jour du mois de septembre. A sa mort,
une grêle violente tomba sur Constantinople et sur tous ses faubourgs; chacun
disait que c'était le fait de la colère de Dieu parce que Jean avait été
condamné injustement. La mort de l’impératrice, arrivée aussitôt après,
confirma ces dires: car elle mourut quatre jours après la grêle. Quand le
docteur de l’univers fut mort, les évêques d'Occident ne voulurent plus rester
en communion avec ceux d'Orient, jusqu'à ce que son très saint nom eût été
rétabli sur les dyptiques avec ceux des évêques, ses prédécesseurs. Cependant
Théodose, fils très chrétien de l’empereur Arcade, qui avait hérité de la piété
et, du nom de son aïeul, fit transporter dans la cité impériale les saintes
reliques de ce docteur, dans le mois de janvier. Le peuple, toujours resté
fidèle à son évêque, alla au-devant avec des lampes et des cierges.
Alors Théodose se
prosterna devant les reliques du saint, en le suppliant de pardonner à Arcade,
son père, et à Eudoxie, sa mère, comme ayant péché par ignorance; ils étaient
morts depuis longtemps. Ce Théodose porta si loin la clémence; qu'il ne laissa mourir
aucun criminel de lèse-majesté, et il disait : « Plût à Dieu qu'il me fût
possible plutôt' de rappeler les morts à la vie. » Sa cour paraissait être un
Monastère, car on célébrait les matines et on lisait les livres saints. Sa
femme, nommée Eudoxie, composa beaucoup de poèmes en vers héroïques. Il eut
une, fille, nommée aussi Eudoxie : il la donna en mariage à Valentinien qu'il
avait fait empereur. Tous ces détails sont extraits de l’Histoire tripartite.
Saint Jean mourut vers l’an du Seigneur 407.
* Tiré de la vie du
saint.
La Légende dorée de
Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction,
notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine
honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de
Seine, 76, Paris mdccccii
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/voragine/tome03/137.htm
.jpg)
Круг Федора Игнатьева. Конец XVII – начало XVIII века
Дерево, темпера; 147 х 84 Инв. № ЯХМ И-612 Происходит
из церкви Владимирской Богоматери Иоанно-Златоустовского прихода в ярославской
слободе Коровники Поступила в 1970 году
Реставрировалась в 2004 году Т.Л. Шабановой. Belarusian National Arts Museum
Autres pères de l’Église d’Orient (III) : Jean
Chrysostome († 407)
Cours de patrologie de soeur Gabriel Peters o.s.b.,
chapitre 3
Sommaire
• I - VIE
1. Famille et formation intellectuelle
2. Baptême, formation théologique et monachisme
3. Diaconat et prêtrise à Antioche
4. L’évêque de Constantinople (398-407)
Le premier exil (403)
Le deuxième exil (404-407)
La mort (407)
5. La survie
• II – ŒUVRES
1. Homélies et sermons
2. Le Traité du Sacerdoce
3. Les lettres d’exil
• III - QUELQUES ASPECTS DE LA PENSÉE
1. Sur le monachisme
2. Le moralisme
3. L’apôtre des laïcs
4. Le sens social
5. Le Docteur de l’Eucharistie
6. Sur le travail
• CONCLUSION
O SOUFFRANCE qui resplendis
O Croix qui étincelles !
Le soleil s’obscurcit, les astres tombent comme des
feuilles,
mais la croix brille plus éclatante qu’eux tous,
elle occupe le ciel tout entier !
Homélie Sur la Providence de Dieu
• LAISSONS LE CHRIST s’exprimer à travers nous. Tel un
instrument, tiens-toi tout prêt pour la main de l’artiste. Ne laisse pas les
cordes se détendre et s’amollir sous l’effet des plaisirs, ne deviens pas une
cithare inutilisable. Serre les cordes, tends-les pour le chant. Rends-toi
digne des mains très pures qui se serviront de toi !… Si le Christ se met à
jouer sur son instrument, alors le Saint-Esprit viendra sûrement et le miracle
qui dépasse tous les autres se manifestera : la charité !
Commentaire de l’épître aux Romains, homélie 8, 7
I - VIE
1. Famille et formation intellectuelle
Jean naît en 344 à Antioche de parents chrétiens. Son
père, Secundus, est un officier (princeps militum), peu de temps après la
naissance de son fils, il meurt. Sa mère, Anthousa, très pieuse, est une
grecque de pure race. Elle demeure veuve à 20 ans, elle perd aussi sa fille
aînée et elle se dévoue entièrement à l’éducation de son fils unique.
Après avoir parcouru le cycle de la paideia (programme
d’éducation classique des jeunes Grecs), Jean étudie sous la direction du
célèbre rhéteur Libanios, païen convaincu. Parmi ses condisciples, il faut
mentionner Théodore, le futur évêque de Mopsueste.
Les empereurs comblaient Libanios d’honneurs ! Jean
raconte lui-même qu’un jour son maître fit publiquement l’éloge de sa mère.
Apprenant qu’âgée maintenant de 40 ans, elle était veuve depuis 20 ans, il
s’était écrié : « Ah ! Quelles femmes il y a chez les chrétiens ! » Devenu
vieux, il aurait répondu à quelqu’un qui lui avait demandé qui il désirait
avoir pour successeur : « Jean, mais les chrétiens me l’ont enlevé ! »
2. Baptême, formation théologique et monachisme
En 369, Jean reçoit le baptême. Il aimerait vivre en
moine avec son ami Basile, le futur évêque de Raphanée en Syrie, dans l’école
cléricale et monacale de Diodore de Tarse, mais sa mère s’y oppose ! Tandis que
Basile devient moine, Jean demeure élève externe ! Pendant trois ans, il
s’initie dans cette célèbre école d’Antioche aux côtés de son ami, Théodore de
Mopsueste, à l’exégèse littérale et à la théologie.
En 370, il est ordonné lecteur par Mélèce, l’évêque
d’Antioche. C’est en cette même année qu’à Césarée en Cappadoce, Basile le
Grand était élu évêque.
En 374, Jean épris de perfection fuit au désert malgré
sa répugnance instinctive.
• Je me demandais d’où me viendraient les provisions
nécessaires, s’il me serait encore possible de manger du pain frais du jour, si
l’on ne m’obligerait pas à me servir de la même huile pour ma lampe et pour ma
nourriture, si l’on ne me réduirait pas au pauvre régime des légumes et si l’on
ne m’obligerait pas à un travail pénible comme de bêcher, de porter du bois et
de l’eau et de faire toutes sortes de travaux de ce genre. Je me souciais
beaucoup de tout ce qui est confortable.
De compunctione ad Demetrium, 1, 6
Pendant quatre ans, Jean mène la vie cénobitique.
Ensuite, il passe deux ans solitaire dans une caverne. Son austérité, sans être
extravagante, est effrayante et sa santé en demeurera marquée.
• Pendant deux ans, il passa la plus grande partie du
temps sans dormir. Il apprit par cœur le Testament du Christ afin de se
débarrasser complètement de l’ignorance. Jamais il ne s’est couché ni de jour
ni de nuit.
PALLADIUS, V
L’expérience du désert révèle à Jean sa vocation : il
y saisit le sens profond d’une vie qu’il avait pratiquée sans en comprendre la
richesse ; désormais son idéal personnel est d’associer à la vie monastique la
vie apostolique au service de l’Église.
3. Diaconat et prêtrise à Antioche
En 380, Jean revient à Antioche où il devient diacre
en 381, en l’année du Concile de Constantinople. Mélèce, l’évêque d’Antioche,
meurt en cette même année. Jean restera diacre cinq ans, il reçoit ensuite la
prêtrise des mains de l’évêque Flavien. Il se voit confier la charge de
prédicateur.
• Mon sacerdoce est de prêcher et d’annoncer
l’Évangile.
Homélie 29, 1 in Rm
• Ma prédication me guérit, dès que j’ouvre la bouche
pour prêcher, toute fatigue est vaincue.
Homélie après le tremblement de terre
C’est le corps même du Christ qui est confié à notre
garde.
De Sac, 4, 2
Dès février 387 éclate une sédition. Mécontents de
l’augmentation des impôts, les citoyens renversent et brisent les statues de
l’empereur Théodose, de l’impératrice défunte et des deux jeunes princes
Arcadius et Honorius. En ce carême de panique et d’effroi, Jean prononce
dix-neuf homélies et calme le peuple, tandis que l’évêque Flavien se rend à
Constantinople pour implorer et obtenir la grâce de la malheureuse cité. Dès ce
moment, Jean est reconnu par tous comme la grande voix de l’Orient.
L’insignifiant Nectaire, évêque de Constantinople,
meurt. Les intrigues se succèdent et Théophile, évêque d’Alexandrie, s’efforce
de faire accéder au siège de Constantinople un de ses protégés. Cependant
Eutrope, favori et conseiller de la cour, désigne Jean. Jean fut littéralement
enlevé et emmené à Constantinople où Théophile d’Alexandrie dut présider au
sacre.
4. L’évêque de Constantinople (398-407)
Jean reçut la consécration épiscopale le 26 février
398. Il devint aussitôt le prédicateur de la grande église dédiée au
Christ-Sagesse [1]. Sa fidélité héroïque à l’idéal chrétien et sa liberté de
langage l’opposeront bientôt à l’empereur et à l’impératrice qui le
condamneront à la disgrâce.
Tout commença bien cependant. Le jeune empereur
Arcadius, qui avait vingt ans et se montrait très faible de caractère sinon
franchement incapable, l’honorait de son estime. Quant à l’impératrice Eudoxie,
autoritaire et passionnée, elle fit tout pour se montrer chrétienne exemplaire.
Elle voulut présider elle-même une procession de transfert de reliques et
l’évêque l’en remercia dans le style de cour :
Vous êtes grande, ô reine, nous vous appelons
bienheureuse, hôtesse des saints, patronne des Églises, rivale des Apôtres par
votre zèle !
Homélie 2
En 399, le conseiller de la cour Eutrope est
disgracié. Lui qui peu de temps auparavant avait voulu supprimer le droit
d’asile des églises, il se réfugie auprès de l’autel.
L’évêque protège le fugitif, il prononce les deux
homélies sur Eutrope. Il lui sauve ainsi momentanément la vie, car elle lui
sera enlevée, peu après, par la décapitation. L’impératrice Eudoxie est nommée
Augusta en l’an 400, c’est elle qui, désormais, exerce le pouvoir.
En 401, Jean se rendit en Asie pour y déposer des
évêques simoniaques.
En 402, les « Longs Frères », moines accusés
d’origénisme, fuient l’Égypte et viennent solliciter la protection de Jean de
Constantinople contre l’évêque Théophile d’Alexandrie.
Le premier exil (403)
Théophile irrité se venge et il réunit en 403 près de
Chalcédoine le Synode du Chêne. Jean fut condamné à l’exil. Mais très peu de
temps après, il fut rappelé par l’impératrice effrayée d’un incident qu’elle
interpréta comme un châtiment divin.
Les circonstances ont changé mais la doxologie reste
la même. Que le nom du Seigneur soit béni ! Béni soit Dieu qui a permis mon
exil, béni soit Dieu qui ordonne mon rappel.
Homélie, Post reditum
Mais deux mois plus tard, Jean se compromet : on a
fêté avec un luxe effréné l’inauguration d’une statue de l’impératrice Eudoxie.
Et dans une homélie, Jean fait allusion à l’impératrice :
• De nouveau, Hérodiade fait rage, de nouveau, elle
s’emporte, de nouveau, elle danse, de nouveau, elle demande à recevoir la tête
de Jean sur un plateau !
Spuria
Le deuxième exil (404-407)
Les intrigues contre Jean se succèdent et vers Pâques
404, l’empereur ordonne l’exil. Après la Pentecôte, il part, il dit adieu à son
Église, à l’Ange qui en a la garde, puis, au baptistère, à Olympias [2] et aux
autres diaconesses.
Il se livre ensuite aux soldats, on le conduit au
port, il embarque et le soir du même jour, un violent incendie ravage
Sainte-Sophie (20 juin).
Jean en appelle à Rome.
Le premier voyage dure soixante-dix jours et le
conduit à Cucuse. Les deux soldats qui l’escortent se montrent pleins d’égards.
La vaste correspondance de Jean révèle en lui un
professeur d’énergie.
Jean demeura trois ans à Cucuse, les visites se
multiplient, Cucuse devient un lieu de pèlerinage ! Aussi une nouvelle
déportation est-elle exigée.
La mort (407)
Ici se place le calvaire de Jean, le long voyage de
trois mois en direction de Pityonte (sur la Mer Noire).
Jean, épuisé, meurt en route. Il demande, sentant la
mort venir, d’être revêtu de blanc (foi en la résurrection) et prononce ses
paroles habituelles : « Gloire à Dieu pour toutes choses ». C’est le 14
septembre 407.
• Gloire à Dieu pour toutes choses… Ne cesse de
répéter ce mot et de l’enseigner aux autres. C’est ce mot qui a fait couronner
Job, ce mot qui fait fuir le diable. C’est lui qui enlève tout trouble.
Continue donc d’en charmer tout ce qui t’arrive.
Ad Paenium, Ep. 193
5. La survie
En janvier 438, le successeur de Jean sur le siège de
Constantinople fit ramener les reliques du saint qui reposaient au martyrium de
Cumana et il les fit déposer à côté de la sépulture de l’impératrice Eudoxie.
En 451, le Concile de Chalcédoine proclame Jean
docteur de l’Église. Au VIe s., Jean fut appelé « Bouche d’or », Chrysostome.
Bossuet appelle - Jean Chrysostome « le Démosthène chrétien ». Pie X le
proclame patron des prédicateurs.
II – ŒUVRES
La plus grande partie des œuvres de Jean Chrysostome
est constituée par ses Homélies. On possède aussi quelques traités et les
Lettres d’exil.
1. Homélies et sermons
Il y a les homélies exégétiques et les sermons de
circonstance. Parmi les homélies exégétiques, signalons celles Sur la Genèse,
sur 58 Psaumes, sur Isaïe, - pour le Nouveau Testament, les importantes
Homélies sur saint Matthieu (90) dont saint Thomas d’Aquin a dit qu’il les
préférerait à la possession d’une ville comme Paris, les Homélies sur saint
Jean (88), 3 séries d’homélies sur les Actes des Apôtres et son chef d’œuvre :
les homélies (environ 250) sur toutes les Épîtres de saint Paul dont les plus
belles sont celles Sur l’Épître aux Romains. _ Une affinité spirituelle unit
Jean Chrysostome à saint Paul qu’il aime avec passion et dont le programme de
vie est le sien.
Dans son exégèse, Jean Chrysostome dépend de l’école
littérale d’Antioche. Toute son œuvre est pénétrée de l’amour de l’Écriture.
• Les saintes Écritures ne nous ont pas été données
pour que nous les laissions dans les livres mais pour que, par la lecture et la
méditation, nous les gravions dans nos cœurs. La loi doit être écrite sur des tablettes
de chair, nos cœurs.
In Jn. Hom. 32, 3
Parmi les sermons de circonstance, relevons les
fameuses 21 Homélies sur les Statues, les 2 Homélies sur la disgrâce d’Eutrope,
les 12 très belles Homélies contre les anoméens [3] sur l’incompréhensibilité
de Dieu, les 12 Catéchèses baptismales dont 8 furent découvertes par le Père
Wenger en 1967.
Notes sur les Homélies sur l’incompréhensibilité de
Dieu
Soulignons l’importance des Homélies sur
l’incompréhensibilité de Dieu. Elles ont été prononcées contre l’anoméisme,
forme antiochienne de l’arianisme. Eunome réfuté tour à tour par saint Basile
et Grégoire de Nysse s’en faisait le fanatique propagateur : rien de plus
simple que l’essence divine, disait-il, rien de plus aisé que de la connaître
et Dieu ne sait de son être rien de plus que nous. Les homélies de Jean forment
un vrai traité de la transcendance divine.
Dans son livre Le Sacré, Rudolf Otto en a montré toute
l’importance, tant au point de vue du concept de transcendance qu’à celui de la
réaction subjective de l’homme. Voici ce que dit saint Jean Chrysostome :
• Tu m’as terriblement étonné (Ps 138, 14). Pourquoi
terriblement ?… Quand nous admirons la grandeur de la mer et son abîme immense,
alors nous admirons terriblement, en nous penchant sur sa profondeur. C’est
ainsi que le prophète s’étant penché sur l’océan infini et sans fond de la
Sagesse divine et, saisi de vertige, ayant admiré terriblement, est pris d’un
mouvement de recul.
Hom. 1, 4 ; PG, 48, 705 B
Jean Chrysostome considère tout particulièrement la
crainte sacrée dans le climat de la liturgie, moment essentiel de la
manifestation de Dieu et expression officielle d’adoration, et surtout au
moment de la messe, kairos par excellence :
• Le moment (kairos) de la messe où les hommes
s’unissent à la liturgie des anges et où Dieu se manifeste est rempli d’une
grande terreur.
cf. Hom. IV, 5 ; PG, 48, 733 C
• Avec quelle vénération faut-il s’approcher de ces
réalités très remplies de terreur.
Hom. III, 7 ; PG, 48, 725 C
• L’homme se tient alors près du trône de gloire et il
chante l’hymne très saint - cri rempli de terreur sacrée - aussi doit-il se
tenir devant Dieu dans la terreur et le tremblement.
Hom. IV, 6 ; PG, 48, 734 C
Cette crainte se pénètre d’attirance, de fascinatio.
Le sacrifice eucharistique constitue un événement
extraordinaire, un moment unique, un temps de grâce.
• Quelle espérance de salut ne peux-tu pas avoir en ce
moment (kairos) ?
Hom. III, 7 ; PG, 48, 726 D
L’Eucharistie est présence en mystère du kairos unique
de la croix.
Trois éléments principaux justifient l’exceptionnelle
importance de la circonstance historique de la messe : l’assemblée de la
communauté - la présence des anges - l’offrande du Corps du Christ :
• Tu ne peux pas prier à la maison comme à l’église où
il y a le grand nombre, où le cri est lancé à Dieu d’un seul cœur. Il y a là
quelque chose de plus, l’union des esprits, l’accord des âmes, le lien de la
charité, les prières des prêtres.
Hom. III, 6 ; PG, 48, 725 C-D
• Représente-toi dans quels chœurs tu vas entrer.
Revêtu d’un corps, tu as été jugé digne de célébrer avec les Puissances
célestes le commun Seigneur de tous.
Hom. IV, 5 ; PG, 48, 734
• Les hommes agitent devant les rois des rameaux
d’olivier afin qu’ils se souviennent (l’anamnèse) de leur amour et de leur
pitié, ainsi les anges présentent le corps du Seigneur et prient le Seigneur
pour la nature humaine :…
Nous te prions pour ceux-ci que tu as daigné le
premier aimer, jusqu’à donner ta vie. Nous répandons nos supplications pour
ceux pour lesquels toi, tu as répandu ton sang. Nous intercédons pour ceux pour
lesquels tu as offert ce corps en sacrifice.
Hom. III, 7 ; PG, 48, 726 D - 727 A
Ce qui fait l’efficacité souveraine du Kairos de la
messe, c’est qu’il est l’anamnèse (la memoria) du sacrifice de la croix par
lequel le Christ a engagé son amour irrévocable : rappel à Dieu de son amour
des hommes et rappel aux hommes de l’amour de Dieu envers eux.
Jean Chrysostome n’est pas l’auteur de la liturgie qui
porte son nom et qui résulte d’un développement de plusieurs siècles, mais on a
pu se rendre compte que l’esprit de la liturgie byzantine est bien le sien. Les
principales sources de la liturgie dite de saint Jean Chrysostome sont ses
catéchèses et prédications, celles de Théodore de Mopsueste et celles de
Cyrille de Jérusalem.
2. Le Traité du Sacerdoce
Retenons seulement, parmi d’autres traités, le célèbre
traité De Sacerdotio. Il imite en l’amplifiant le discours de Grégoire de
Nazianze, Sur sa fuite. Il étudie l’éminente dignité de l’épiscopat et de
l’apostolat sacerdotal, supérieur à la vie monastique.
3. Les lettres d’exil
On compte 236 Lettres qui datent toutes du second
exil, les 17 Lettres à Olympias sont un petit traité de la providence et de la
souffrance chrétienne.
Notes sur les Lettres à Olympias
Olympias était la pupille et la protégée de Grégoire
de Nazianze. Elle resta veuve à 19 ans. « Quel homme que cette femme », disait
d’elle Palladius ! Nectaire l’admit au rang des diaconesses et elle s’occupa,
avec quelques autres diaconesses, du temporel de l’évêque Jean. Affligée par
son exil, elle tomba dans un état maladif d’apathie. Jean, avec une simplicité
charmante et une délicatesse exquise, oublie ses propres souffrances pour la
réconforter :
• On ne saurait vous empêcher d’être comptée parmi le
chœur des vierges bien que mariée. Car, pour Paul, la vierge n’est pas celle
qui ne connaît pas le mariage, mais celle qui fait du Seigneur l’objet de sa
sollicitude. Le Christ lui-même montre combien est supérieure à la virginité la
charité (parabole des dix vierges).
Ep. 8, 4
• Il n’y a, Olympias, qu’une seule chose à craindre,
une seule épreuve, le péché. Je n’ai pas cessé et ne cesserai pas de le dire :
une seule chose doit nous affliger : le péché.
Ep. 7, 1
• C’est sur le visage que se concentrent tous les
sentiments et tous les sens… donnez-moi donc de jouir de la présence de l’être
aimé : je veux lui parler, entendre sa voix. Je veux le voir, ce visage d’où
s’échappe le son de la voix que j’aime. Je veux entendre cette parole qui me
révèle la pensée de ce cœur, voir ce visage où des oreilles recueillent mes
propres paroles et où les yeux peignent à mon regard tous les mouvements de
l’âme : ce n’est que face à face que réellement je puis jouir de ceux que
j’aime.
Ep. 8, 12
• Auriez-vous sous les yeux toutes sortes de troubles,
de bouleversements et de tempêtes, ne vous tourmentez de rien. Notre Maître
peut tout… Ne vous laissez pas troubler par les événements, mais cessant de
rechercher un appui auprès d’un tel ou d’un tel et de poursuivre des ombres
(car c’est cela le secours humain), suppliez sans cesse Dieu que vous adorez de
faire un signe seulement et tout en un instant s’arrangera.
Ep. 7, 2
• Souffrez, je le veux bien, mais souffrez en mettant
une mesure à votre peine.
Ep. 8, 1
• Si vous voulez vous soigner comme il faut, vous vous
porterez mieux !
Ep. 17, 1
• Montrez-moi que vous m’aimez en obéissant à mes
lettres : ce que je désire c’est que vous retrouviez la même joie que je vous
ai connue jadis !
Ep. 8, 13
• Ce n’est pas dans la nature des choses mais dans la
pensée des hommes que réside le bonheur.
Ep. 10, 1
Le style
Jean de Constantinople fut un orateur de race
semblable à un Démosthène ou à un Cicéron. Ses prédications sont toujours
directes et il joue de main de maître sur le clavier des sentiments. Le style
est animé d’un mouvement intense, tantôt simple, familier, naturel, tantôt
frémissant et indigné, parcouru d’éclairs d’une ironie cinglante.
La parole interpelle l’auditeur, aussi communicative
que le sera plus tard celle d’Augustin.
Mais tandis que la prédication de l’évêque d’Hippone
sera théologique, celle de Jean est nettement moralisante, elle poursuit
directement un but utilitaire. Augustin est homme de pensée, Jean est homme
d’action.
Un petit exemple de style pittoresque :
• Le coureur qui s’élance est celui qui tout en
courant des pieds s’efforce de prendre les devants avec le reste de son corps :
il se tend en avant et étend les mains afin de couvrir un peu plus d’espace.
In Ep ad Phil.,
homélie 12, 2
III - QUELQUES ASPECTS DE LA PENSÉE
1. Sur le monachisme
Après avoir mené une vie quasi-monacale auprès de sa
mère, fréquentant l’Asketerion de Diodore de Tarse, Jean fut moine six ans, il
passa après quatre ans de noviciat cénobitique à l’érémitisme le plus
rigoureux.
Il semble que cette expérience révéla à Jean sa vraie
vocation : la vie apostolique au service de la communauté des fidèles.
Désormais son but sera d’élever le niveau spirituel de la communauté chrétienne
en proposant à des laïcs une spiritualité conforme à leur état.
• Gens du monde et moines ont le devoir d’atteindre au
même sommet de la perfection.
Adv. opp. vit. mon., 3, 14 [6]
De part et d’autre, il faut rechercher l’amour de Dieu
le plus total.
• Aimer le Christ, c’est n’être pas mercenaire, ne pas
s’adonner au petit commerce, mais pratiquer la vertu d’une façon absolue et
tout faire pour l’amour de Dieu.
Homélie 6in Ac
La différence réside donc pour Chrysostome uniquement
dans le devoir de la virginité et de la pauvreté, imposé au moine qui s’y
engage librement. Mais au moine autant qu’au laïc est demandé le service de la
communauté chrétienne : service de prière, service d’édification, service
apostolique. C’est dans ce dernier point que se trouve la pensée essentielle de
Jean Chrysostome, pasteur et apôtre, sur le monachisme.
• Tu aurais beau rester à jeûn, coucher à la dure,
manger de la cendre, pleurer sans cesse, si tu n’es pas utile à d’autres, tu ne
fais rien de grand.
In Tit. 6, 2
• Les moines prient pour l’univers, voilà le plus
grand témoignage de leur amitié.
Homélie 78, in Jn
Que le monachisme soit donc le signe de la possibilité
de l’idéal évangélique réalisé d’une façon absolue dans l’Église qui demeure
malgré les persécutions :
• Nous vous exhortons à faire l’aumône, un autre s’est
dépouillé de tous ses biens, nous vous pressons de vivre chastement dans le
mariage, un autre a renoncé au mariage.
Homélie 3 9 in Mt
Les moines sont un « signe eschatologique » car déjà
ils réalisent la parole du Seigneur : « ils seront comme des anges » (Mt 22,
30). Et certes d’abord par leur virginité mais cette virginité les rend plus
aptes au service de tous leurs frères :
• En quoi consiste le ministère des anges ? A servir
Dieu pour notre salut. C’est donc une œuvre angélique de tout faire pour le
salut de ses frères.
Homélie 3, 2 in He
L’accent est toujours mis chez saint Jean Chrysostome
sur l’utilité des moines. Aussi tandis qu’il insiste auprès des laïcs pour
qu’ils se rendent dans les solitudes, afin de faire halte auprès des moines, il
insiste auprès des moines, afin qu’il n’hésitent pas à venir établir leurs
solitudes dans les villes. C’est le message dont le moine est porteur qu’il
importe de faire connaître. La mission d’accueil, la vertu d’hospitalité sont
donc aspects essentiels, corollaires indispensables de la vie monastique :
• Les monastères sont des phares qui brillent de haut
pour éclairer au loin ceux qui viennent à eux. Établis dans le port, ils
invitent tout le monde à partager leur tranquillité, ne permettant pas que ceux
qui les voient fassent naufrage ou demeurent dans les ténèbres.
Homélie in 1 Tim, 14, 3
2. Le moralisme
Oui, Jean Chrysostome est un moraliste et il l’est
toujours, mais par nécessité. Cet aspect de sa pensée ne doit pas nous porter à
perdre de vue que Jean avait comme seul but la croissance de l’amour chrétien
• Presque toutes nos instructions sont consacrées aux
exhortations morales. Il ne devrait pas en être ainsi. Vous devriez veiller
vous-mêmes à la réforme de vos mœurs.
De Statuis, 16, 2
• N’applaudissez pas. Je ne vous ai pas parlé pour me
faire applaudir mais pour provoquer chez vous une sainte émulation.
Discours sur le mariage, III, 9
Ce fougueux dénonciateur des vices fut accusé au
synode du Chêne d’encourager à pécher en disant : « Si tu as péché de nouveau,
fais de nouveau pénitence, aussi souvent que tu auras péché, viens à moi et je
te guérirai ». Cet homme qui consacra sa vie à combattre le mal sait que la
miséricorde de Dieu est plus puissante que la faiblesse de l’homme.
• Ne désespérez pas, gardez-vous du désespoir. Je le
répéterai mille fois : si vous péchez tous les jours, faites pénitence tous les
jours… Oui, tu seras sauvé. Parce que le Seigneur a pour les hommes une grande
bonté. Mon espoir n’est pas fondé sur ta pénitence. Ta pénitence ne peut
effacer tes crimes, mais bien la clémence de Dieu qui s’y joint aussitôt, qui
n’a pas de mesure, qu’aucune parole ne peut expliquer. Ta malice est celle d’un
homme, elle est bornée, la miséricorde qui pardonne est celle de Dieu, elle n’a
pas de bornes, elle est infinie. La malice de l’homme est à la bonté de Dieu ce
qu’une étincelle tombant dans l’océan est à l’océan. Non, moins encore. L’océan
a des rives, la bonté de Dieu n’en a aucune.
Homélie 31 in Ro
• Vous redoutez l’enfer ? Mais moi, je ne cesserai de
vous crier que d’offenser le Christ est plus insupportable et plus redoutable
que n’importe quel enfer.
Homélie 36, 4 in Mt
• Je vous aime et je suis aimé. Mais ce n’est pas cela
que je vous demande. Aimons Jésus-Christ d’abord. C’est le premier
commandement. Vous remplissez si bien le second, appliquez-vous au premier !
Aimons Jésus-Christ, aimons-le de toute l’ardeur de nos âmes.
Homélie 44,4 in Ac.
3. L’apôtre des laïcs
L’ardeur apostolique de Jean Chrysostome trouve sa
source dans la doctrine de notre incorporation au Christ, telle qu’il l’a
comprise en étudiant saint Paul. Tout chrétien est membre, membre uni au Christ
dans la solidarité à tous ses frères. Voilà pourquoi incombe à tout chrétien le
devoir de l’apostolat. Les laïcs sont, dit Jean Chrysostome, « le plérôme de
l’évêque ». À chacun d’eux de particulariser l’enseignement épiscopal.
• Tu ne peux corriger l’Église, mais tu peux avertir
ta femme. Tu ne peux prêcher à la multitude, mais tu peux ramener ton fils… ce
petit cercle n’excède pas tes forces…
Homélie 4, 2 in princ. Ac
• Ce qui entretient le corps de l’Église, c’est la
diffusion de la nourriture spirituelle dans tous ses membres. Le membre qui
garde pour lui toute la nourriture sans la communiquer à son voisin se nuit à
lui-même et nuit au corps entier.
Sermon 9, 2 Gn
• Le Christ nous a laissés ici-bas pour que nous
répandions la lumière… pour que nous soyons le levain… pour que nous soyons des
adultes parmi les enfants, des spirituels parmi les charnels, des semences qui
porteront de nombreux fruits. Les actes remplacent avantageusement les paroles.
Il n’y aurait plus de païens si nous nous comportions en vrais chrétiens.
Homélie 10, 3 in 1 Tim
• Certes, il faut désirer le ciel, mais avant que le
ciel ne soit concédé le Christ nous ordonne de réaliser le ciel sur la terre,
de nous comporter sur terre comme si nous étions au ciel et de porter dans nos
prières la sollicitude du monde entier. Il ne nous a pas enseigné à dire : que
ta volonté soit faîte en moi - ou en nous - mais sur la terre partout.
Homélie 19, 5
• Rien n’est plus vain qu’un chrétien non appliqué à
sauver les autres.
Homélie 62, 4 in Mt
• Si le ferment ne fait lever toute la pâte, comment
est-il ferment ? Si le parfum ne parfume pas, comment est-il parfum ? Ne dis
pas : c’est impossible. Si tu es chrétien, il est impossible qu’il ne se passe
rien. Cela fait partie de l’essence même du chrétien. Autant dénier au soleil
la possibilité d’éclairer qu’au chrétien celle c’être utile à son prochain. Ne
dis donc pas : impossible. C’est le contraire qui est impossible. Cesse
d’insulter Dieu.
Homélie 20, 34 in Ac
Comment fera le chrétien pour devenir parfum ? Qu’il
prie Dieu, qu’il fréquente l’église. Il pourra alors diffuser la parole
entendue.
• Si quelqu’un entre dans la boutique d’un parfumeur
et s’y arrête un peu, il sentira bon, il répandra autour de lui une douce
odeur, à plus forte raison la répandra-t-il, cette bonne odeur, s’il fréquente
l’église.
Homélie 53, 3 in Jn
Le pire tourment de Jean en exil ne fut-il pas la
pensée de son « peuple »(les laïcs = le laos - le peuple) demeuré sans pasteurs
zélés.
• J’ai été très peiné d’apprendre que vous et
Théophile manquez de zèle. L’un de vous n’a prêché que cinq fois depuis octobre
et l’autre pas du tout. Voilà qui m’accable plus que la désolation de mon état
présent. Dans un temps où les autres sont persécutés, bannis, tourmentés, vous
êtes impardonnables de ne soutenir votre peuple malheureux ni par votre
présence, ni par vos paroles.
Ep 203
4. Le sens social
L’amour de Jean pour le pauvre est au premier plan de
sa pensée [7]. Cet amour est au cœur de la doctrine chrétienne car le pauvre
est membre et membre éminent du Christ. Le « c’est à moi que vous l’avez fait »
(Mt., 25) du jugement dernier ne cesse de le hanter avec tout son réalisme :
Jésus s’offre à nous dans les pauvres.
• Ses paroles en effet sont plus dignes d’être crues
que nos propres yeux. Quand donc tu vois un pauvre, souviens-toi de ses paroles
qui t’affirment que c’est lui qui est nourri.
Homélie 88, sur Mt
Jean n’a rien épargné pour aider le pauvre et il a
invité à donner aux pauvres avant de donner aux églises. La richesse de
l’Église le peinait et il voulait qu’elle revienne à ceux auxquels elle
appartient : les pauvres.
Il rendait la dureté des fidèles responsable de la
richesse de l’Église. Le riche ne devrait être qu’un bon administrateur des
richesses.
• C’est votre dureté qui oblige l’Église à posséder
des champs, des maisons de rapport, des véhicules, des chevaux, des mulets.
Elle eût mieux aimé vous les laisser et que votre zèle fût sa richesse… Votre
amour pour les biens du monde a effrayé vos pasteurs : ils ont dû réserver un
patrimoine à l’Église afin que les veuves, les orphelins et les vierges ne
restassent pas dans l’abandon.
Homélie 85, in Mt
Aussi Jean nourrit-il un rêve et il en propose en vain
l’accomplissement à ses fidèles, se faisant ainsi le prophète d’une charité
communautaire dont les trois éléments seraient :
• une pauvreté volontaire à l’instar de celle des
moines,
• une fraternité effective dans le partage,
• un modeste standard de vie.
Peine perdue ! Si du moins les 100.000 fidèles de
Constantinople offraient chacun un pain ou même une obole… (Homélie 85, in Mt).
Mais les gens d’Église eux-mêmes comprennent-ils mieux
?
• Autrefois, je me suis moqué des princes qui ne
regardaient qu’à la fortune, qu’à l’influence… Mais depuis que j’ai vu les
mêmes abus chez nous, je n’en suis plus scandalisé… Les gens du monde sont
dominés par leur misérable passion pour l’or et pour la gloire, mais ceux qui
font profession d’y renoncer agissent-ils mieux ?
De Sac., 15
Il faut signaler aussi la délicatesse de Jean envers
le pauvre.
• Que le pauvre soit païen ou Juif, s’il a besoin de
miséricorde, n’hésite pas. Il a droit à être secouru.
Homélie 10, in He
• Que l’amitié se resserre entre vous. Demandez-leur
quelque service pour qu’ils ne rougissent pas de recevoir. Ainsi ils seront
plus à l’aise et entre vous régnera liberté et confiance.
Homélie 48, 7, in Mt
5. Le Docteur de l’Eucharistie
Le réalisme eucharistique de Jean Chrysostome nous est
bien connu [8] En fait, et précisément à cause de l’importance que Jean accorde
à la doctrine de notre incorporation au Christ, Jean est reconnu comme le
docteur de l’Eucharistie. Citons seulement deux beaux textes [9] :
• Moi, je m’insinue en toi de toutes parts. Je ne veux
plus rien entre nous deux : je veux que les deux deviennent un.
Homélie in 1 Tim, 15
• Bâtissons donc sur le Christ, qu’il soit notre
fondement, comme la vigne l’est pour le sarment, et que rien ne s’intercale
entre nous et lui : si venait la moindre séparation, nous péririons à
l’instant. Car le sarment vit de son rattachement et la construction tient par
l’appui qu’elle trouve : si celui-ci venait à se dérober, elle s’effondrerait,
n’ayant pas de soutien. Et ne nous attachons pas seulement au Christ,
accolons-nous à lui ; le moindre intervalle nous ferait mourir. Car il est
écrit (Ps 72, 27) : « Ceux qui s’éloignent de toi périront » Accolons-nous donc
à lui et accolons-nous par les œuvres. Car, dit-il, « C’est celui qui observe
mes commandements qui demeure en moi » (Jn 14, 21). Et en vérité, il fait notre
union avec lui de beaucoup de manières. Vois : il est la tête, nous, le corps,
peut-il y avoir un espace vide entre la tête et le corps ? Il est le fondement,
nous l’édifice ; lui, la vigne, nous, les sarments ; lui, l’époux, nous,
l’épouse ; lui, le berger, nous, les brebis ; lui, la voie, nous, les voyageurs
nous, le temple, lui, l’habitant ; lui, l’aîné, nous, les frères lui,
l’héritier, nous, les cohéritiers, lui, la vie, nous les vivants ; lui, la
résurrection, nous, les ressuscités ; lui, la lumière, nous, les illuminés.
Tout cela parle d’union, tout cela indique qu’il ne peut demeurer d’intervalle,
fût-ce le plus petit. Qui se sépare, même très peu, verra la brèche grandir et
sera écarté. Est-ce que notre corps, quand un glaive y fait une déchirure même
exiguë, ne périt pas ? Est-ce qu’un édifice, par des fissures même étroites, ne
va pas à sa ruine ? Est-ce qu’une branche, coupée de la racine, même
délicatement, ne dessèche pas ? Ce, peu de chose, vous le voyez, n’est pas peu,
c’est presque tout.
Homélie 8 in 1 Co, 4
6. Sur le travail
Notre âge scientifique, où la technique modifie les
conditions de vie, s’interroge sur la valeur du travail et, pour la première
fois peut-être dans l’histoire, l’Église se montre soucieuse d’élaborer une
théologie du travail. Une enquête dans la tradition patristique s’impose. Quels
éléments la pensée de Jean Chrysostome pourra-telle apporter ?
Les renseignements sont épars et lorsque les textes
sont réunis, nous constatons qu’en fait Jean n’a guère parlé que du travail «
corporel », invitant les riches à le respecter, à en comprendre la dignité.
Instinctivement, Jean répugnait à ce travail… Voici ce
qu’il dit au moment de se faire moine :
• Je me demandais… si on n’allait pas me faire faire
un travail pénible, par exemple me faire bêcher, porter du bois ou de l’eau…
De Compunctione ad Dem., 1, 6
L’estime du travail
La riche société d’Antioche méprise l’humble
travailleur et Jean, pasteur d’âmes, réagit.
• Ne dis pas : c’est un ouvrier en airain, c’est un
cordonnier, un cultivateur,… ne le méprise pas. Ne regardons jamais le travail
comme une honte.
In Prisc. et Aquila, 1, 5
• Paul était corroyeur, après avoir prêché, il se
mettait à son métier.
In 1 Co, homélie 20, 5-6
• Nous sommes les disciples de pêcheurs, de
publicains, de faiseurs de tentes, de celui qui a été nourri dans la maison
d’un charpentier.
Ad pop. Ant., 19, 2
• Paul… a consacré dans ses lettres comme sur une
stèle d’airain le souvenir de son métier, et nous, indignes que nous sommes,…
nous rougissons de ce dont il se montre fier.
In Prisc. et Aquila, 1, 5
Aussi Jean veut-il s’adresser aux plus humbles :
• Je veux que les serviteurs et les servantes, la
pauvre veuve, le marchand, le matelot, le simple laboureur, puissent aisément
me comprendre.
Quod Christus sit Deus, 1
Et en une fête de l’Ascension, Jean se réjouit de
saluer dans la basilique d’Antioche, des prêtres-agriculteurs.
• Je regarde ce jour comme une très grande fête à
cause de la présence de nos frères. Ils ne rougissent pas de travailler comme
les habitants de notre cité. Tantôt ils courbent les bœufs sous le joug, tantôt
montant en chaire, ils cultivent les âmes qui leur sont soumises, tantôt, serpe
en main, ils coupent les épines du sol, tantôt ils purifient les âmes de leurs
péchés, par la parole.
Ad pop. Ant., 19, 1
Jean, qui n’envisage guère que le travail manuel,
semble quelque peu méprisant pour les vains jeux de l’esprit
• Diogène n’est pas plus admirable que les charlatans
qui avalent des clous et mangent des souliers ; tout travail qui ne produit
aucun fruit n’a droit à aucune louange.
De S. Babyla cont. Jul., 8
Si le riche cependant apprend à faire un bon usage de
ses richesses, alors il possède « un art supérieur à tous les autres, car son
atelier est dans les cieux »(Homélie 49 in Mt, 34).
Le rôle de l’art
L’art, la technè est pour Jean une réaction de la sagesse
mise par Dieu dans l’homme aux besoins et difficultés que lui pose la vie.
• Voyez quelle grande chose est l’art. Un homme plein
de force ne vient pas toujours à bout de maîtriser un seul cheval, tandis
qu’avec le secours de l’art un adolescent souvent en gouverne deux sans peine
et les guide à son gré.
In Act. Ap. Hom. 29,4
• Le cheval est plus rapide que l’homme, mais tandis
que le cheval le plus rapide parcourra 200 stades en un jour, l’homme en
attelant successivement plusieurs chevaux pourra en parcourir jusqu’à 2000…
Ad pop. Ant., II, 4
L’art engage l’homme tout entier, corps et âme, dans
l’œuvre de domination et de transformation du monde - par là se manifeste sa
qualité d’image de Dieu.
L’homme, image de Dieu, est maître sous un Maître
L’homme est situé entre le Dieu pantocrator et le
monde créé pour lui. Quelles sont les incidences du travail sur la vie
spirituelle ?
La tendance eschatologique de Jean l’amène à affirmer
avec force que la fin de l’homme n’est pas la construction de la cité
terrestre, car « la figure de ce monde passe » (De Virginitate, 73), on ne peut
donc oublier la fin supérieure, s’aliéner dans les choses temporelles. Il faut
travailler comme les moines, sans se laisser prendre aux soucis de cette vie.
Tout chrétien doit prendre du « loisir » pour vaquer aux choses spirituelles.
Le labeur spirituel de la prière est un art supérieur (De Resurr. Mort., 5).
• Moi, je ne vous demande pas de rester sept, dix
jours sans travailler, mais de me prêter deux heures dans une journée et de
garder les autres.
In inscr. alt., 2
• Tu es ouvrier ? Chante des psaumes, assis au
travail. Mais tu ne peux pas chanter à haute voix ? Fais-le par l’esprit. Tu
peux être dans ton atelier comme dans un monastère.
Ad illum. Cat., 2, 4
Tout chrétien a une première profession : être
chrétien. Il y a donc le primat de la prière, le premier labeur de la prière :
• L’Église de Dieu se lève pendant la nuit pour offrir
à Dieu le sacrifice de louanges. Lève-toi donc aussi… Tu vas objecter : j’ai
travaillé tout le jour, je suis fatigué, je suis incapable de me lever. Ta
fatigue égale-t-elle celle du métallurgiste qui travaille péniblement la plus
grande partie de la nuit ? Ouvre donc un atelier spirituel, non pour y fabriquer
des marmites et des bassins, mais pour y façonner ton âme. Cette âme vieillie
dans le péché, plonge-la dans le creuset de la confession…
Homélie 26, 3-4 in Ac
Dieu par sa parole a donné à la terre l’impulsion
initiale (Hom. in Gen., 6, 4) et c’est sous la main bénissante du Maître
suprême que l’homme doit travailler. Avant d’offrir aux paysans des bains,
qu’on leur construise une église, si simple soit-elle :
• Que personne n’ait une terre sans église. Vous
trouvez que c’est une dépense trop considérable ? Commencez ; par une
construction modeste : votre héritier l’agrandira.
Homélie 18 in Ac
• Une campagne où il y a une église ressemble au
paradis de Dieu.
Homélie 23 in 2 Co
• Que ce soit de là que les mains prennent leur élan
vers le labeur ; qu’elles soient d’abord étendues pour la prière, qu’ensuite
elles partent au travail.
Homélie 18 in Ac
Deux thèmes dominent dans la pensée de Jean
Chrysostome sur le travail : • Toute la création est pour l’homme. • L’homme
est « dominateur » à l’image de Dieu : à lui de dominer la création. La
création est pour l’homme
• Comme quelqu’un qui aurait construit un palais
magnifique, étincelant d’or, éblouissant de l’éclat des pierreries, ayant
disposé le monde, Dieu introduisit l’homme pour régner sur tout ce qui s’y
trouve.
De Comp. ad Stel., 2, 5
• Lorsque la création fut achevée, lorsqu’il ne resta
rien d’imparfait et que tout fut terminé, le corps réclama sa tête, la cité son
chef, la création son roi, l’homme.
Contra Anomeos, II, 2
• Le monarque est nécessaire aux sujets et les sujets
au monarque.
Ad pop. Ant., II, 4
Le monde est ainsi un signe de la philanthropie
divine, le inonde est tout entier « la nourrice d’un enfant royal » (In Rom.
hom. 14, 5).
La venue de l’homme au terme de la création est bien
plus qu’un symbole, l’homme est à tous les sens du mot la fin (l’achèvement, le
but) de la création.
L’homme est « dominateur » à l’image de Dieu
La dignité de l’homme est celle d’image de Dieu et
certes, de là vient d’abord sa nécessaire soumission à l’Être suprême dont il
est l’image, mais de là découle aussi son droit d’empire absolu sur la
création.
• Ce petit être de trois coudées, tellement inférieur
aux animaux par la force du corps, Dieu l’a élevé au-dessus de tous, lui
donnant avec lui-même la parenté de la raison, le gratifiant d’une âme
raisonnable, ce qui est le sommet de l’honneur.
In pasc. 48, 7
Le terme d’ « image de Dieu » est compris expressément
par Jean Chrysostome comme signifiant une similitude de pouvoir.
• Ce qu’est Dieu, en effet dans le ciel, l’homme l’est
sur la terre, je veux dire quant au pouvoir.
In He homélie 2, 2
À l’homme responsable de ne pas décevoir l’espérance
de la créature, de ne pas décevoir - en restant fidèlement son image l’amour de
Dieu qui lui transmet son pouvoir créateur.
La création soumise à l’homme chante ainsi la gloire
de Dieu :
• Tout est au service de l’homme, c’est-à-dire de
l’image du Maître. La création n’honore pas l’être terrestre, elle révère le
signe céleste, le signe du roi.
Texte cité dans Échos
d’Orient, II, 1908, p. 81
Bien des notations devraient être ajoutées ! Signalons
seulement que le travail est la source première de l’aumône, service du pauvre,
et qu’il est facteur d’union entre les hommes soumis ensemble au labeur et
travaillant au service des autres.
• Ne comprenez-vous pas que si l’abeille l’emporte en dignité
sur les autres, ce n’est pas parce qu’elle travaille, mais parce qu’elle
travaille pour les autres. L’araignée aussi travaille, elle prend beaucoup de
peine à tisser ses toiles, mais son œuvre ne nous est en rien profitable.
CONCLUSION
Peut-on tracer un portrait de Jean Chrysostome ? On
sait qu’il fut d’un aspect physique insignifiant : petit de taille, chétif, de
mine souffrante, très sensible au froid. Mais la parole qui fut sa vocation et
sa passion le transfigurait.
La postérité ne s’est pas trompée en choisissant de
désigner Jean de Constantinople sous le nom de Jean Bouche d’Or (Chrysostome) :
l’éloquence de Jean est si vivante, si familière qu’elle nous atteint
aujourd’hui encore. Ce prédicateur infatigable parle encore et il développe pour
nous ses thèmes préférés : l’Eucharistie, l’amour du pauvre, la charité,
l’appel universel à la sainteté.
S Jean Chrysostome fut en effet le défenseur passionné
des humbles, il sut dénoncer avec véhémence le révoltant contraste qui existait
entre les pauvres auxquels le Christ s’identifie et les riches qui se
prétendaient chrétiens :
• Ton chien est repu et le Christ est dévoré par la
faim.
Homélie 17 in 2 Co
Condamnant le luxe, Jean vécut pauvrement et suscita
ainsi l’inimitié de ceux pour lesquels cet exemple était une trop dure leçon.
Jean Chrysostome fut formé à l’exégèse à l’école
d’Antioche, aussi s’attache-t-il avec soin au commentaire du sens littéral,
mais il le fait toujours en prédicateur, en pasteur, soucieux du progrès
spirituel de ses auditeurs.
Les lettres d’exil nous révèlent un Jean Chrysostome
très humain : oublieux de lui jusqu’à l’héroïsme, il sait cependant reconnaître
ses souffrances très dures, mais surtout il se préoccupe de chacun avec une
affection délicate et vibrante, une étonnante compréhension.
Newman s’est demandé longuement pourquoi Jean Chrysostome lui était si particulièrement cher : « Je l’aime comme j’aime David ou saint Paul. Comment l’expliquer ? » Il répond en décrivant avec finesse la « bienveillance attentive », l’amour personnel de Jean pour chacun.
• Je considère, dit-il, que le charme de Chrysostome
réside dans sa sympathie et sa compassion profonde pour le monde entier, non
seulement dans sa force, mais dans sa faiblesse… Tout possédé qu’il est du feu
de la divine charité, il n’a pas perdu une fibre, il ne laisse échapper aucune
vibration de l’ensemble compliqué de la sentimentalité et de l’affectivité
humaines, tout pareil au buisson miraculeux du désert qui, malgré la flamme qui
l’enveloppait, n’était pas pour cela consumé. [11]
Source :
SOEUR GABRIEL PETERS, Lire les Pères de l’Église. Cours de patrologie, DDB, 1981.
Avec l’aimable autorisation des Éditions Migne
[1] Cette église - la Mégalè - est Sainte-Sophie, elle
fut endommagée par l’incendie de 404, détruite en 532 lors de la sédition Nika
et reconstruite sous Justinien dans sa forme actuelle.
[2] Olympias est une veuve diaconesse. Lors de son
deuxième exil, Jean lui écrira 17 lettres sur la souffrance.
[3] Les anoméens disaient que le Fils était totalement
différent du Père, seul inengendré.
[4] Nous avons traduit « terreur », mais le terme
propre est plus fort encore, c’est l’« horreur », c’est-à-dire la crainte
sacrée.
[5] Pour plus de détails, voir Théologie de la vie
monastique, Paris 1961, à l’article de J. - M. LEROUX, p. 143-190.
[6] Contre les ennemis du monachisme : Adversus
oppugnatores vitae monasticae.
[7] Voir de très beaux textes réunis dans E. MERSCH,
Le Corps mystique du Christ, t. 1, 1936, p. 476-485.
[8] Voir les lectures lues autrefois au 2e dimanche
après la Pentecôte, homélie 60 au peuple d’Antioche.
[9] On en trouvera d’autres dans E. MERSCH, op. cit.,
t. I, p. 469-476.
[10] D’après Lucien DALOZ, Le travail selon saint Jean
Chrysostome, Paris 1959.
[11] Voir J.H. NEWMAN, Esquisses patristiques, trad.
D. Gorce, Paris 1962, p. 383-388. Il faut lire ces pages merveilleuses que
Newman n’a pu écrire que parce qu’en cela, il fut si semblable à saint Jean
Chrysostome.
SOURCE : http://www.patristique.org/Autres-peres-de-l-Eglise-d-Orient-III-Jean-Chrysostome-407.html
« Fais de ta maison le ciel », la charité selon saint
Jean Chrysostome
Mathilde
de Robien | 12 septembre 2019
L’Église catholique fête ce 13 septembre saint Jean
Chrysostome, évêque de Constantinople à la fin du IVe siècle et docteur de
l’Église. L’occasion de revenir sur cette expression très suggestive, « Fais de
ta maison le ciel », qu’il a eue lors d’une de ses homélies, exhortant par-là
ses fidèles à l’exercice de la charité.
Que peut bien signifier « faire de sa maison le Ciel »
? Une invitation de saint Jean Chrysostome, appelé aussi saint
Jean Bouche d’Or en raison de sa belle éloquence, adressée aux
chrétiens d’Antioche, peu après son ordination en 386. Il ne s’agit pas de
refaire toute la déco intérieure ni de vivre sur un petit nuage ! Il exhorte
simplement d’inviter le Seigneur à sa table. Car le Seigneur est présent là où
règnent « la concorde et l’amour », là où s’épanouit la justice et la
miséricorde. Accueillir le plus pauvre à sa table, c’est accueillir le Christ à
travers lui, et saisir ainsi « une très grande occasion de voir ses greniers
emplis de beaucoup de biens ». La grâce suprême étant d’être jugé digne
d’entrer dans le Royaume des Cieux.
« Toi, fais de ta maison le ciel. Tu le feras,
non en changeant les murs ni en transformant les fondations, mais en invitant à
la table le Seigneur des cieux lui-même. Dieu n’a pas honte de tels repas.
En effet, là où existe un enseignement spirituel, là
existe aussi la sagesse, la sainteté et l’équité. Là où l’homme, la femme et
les enfants sont liés par les liens de la vertu, et là où règnent la concorde
et l’amour, là, au milieu, le Christ est présent. En effet il ne recherche ni
un toit en or ni l’éclat des colonnes ni les beaux objets de marbre mais la
fleur de l’âme et l’élévation de la pensée, et une table où abonde la justice
et qui porte des fruits de miséricorde. Et s’il voit une telle table, vite il
participe à la réunion et il est présent.
En effet, c’est lui-même qui a dit : « J’avais faim,
et vous m’avez donné à manger » (Mt
25, 35). Donc, toutes les fois où vous entendez un indigent crier fortement
d’en bas et qu’ensuite vous donnez à celui qui est dans le besoin quelque chose
de ce qui se trouve sur votre table, c’est le Seigneur que vous avez invité à
votre table, par l’intermédiaire de l’esclave, vous avez chargé votre table
tout entière de bénédictions et par cette offrande vous avez saisi une très
grande occasion de voir vos greniers emplis de beaucoup de biens.
Que le Dieu de la paix, qui donne le pain pour
nourriture et la semence au semeur, multiplie vos semailles et augmente en vous
tous les fruits de la justice, vous donnant la grâce qui vient de lui, et qu’il
vous juge dignes du royaume des cieux ! »
(Sermons sur la Genèse)
Trois conseils de Jean Chrysostome pour dire « je
t’aime » à sa femme
Mathilde
de Robien | 02 mars 2019
Archevêque de Constantinople à la fin du IVe siècle,
père de l’Église, saint Jean Chrysostome n’en demeure pas moins, à travers ses
homélies que des fidèles ont retranscrites, un fin conseiller conjugal.
Dans une de ses Homélies sur l’Epître aux Ephésiens, saint Jean Chrysostome s’adresse aux maris. Il les incite à avouer leur amour et à faire preuve de tendresse envers leurs femmes. Voici trois conseils, qui, même s’ils remontent aux premiers temps du christianisme, conservent encore de précieux atouts pour exprimer son amour et fortifier son mariage.
Dites à votre femme les qualités qui vous ont séduit
chez elle
Choisir, c’est renoncer. En épousant votre femme, vous
avez tourné le dos aux autres. Ce choix, qui a engagé votre vie entière, ne
s’est pas fait sur un coup de tête, il vous a fallu un temps de discernement.
Au terme de ce discernement, vous avez librement pris une décision, basée,
entre autres, sur les qualités physiques, morales et spirituelles de votre
future épouse. Eh bien, selon saint Jean Chrysostome, il est utile de redire à
votre femme, même après plusieurs années de mariage, les raisons qui vous ont
poussé à vous unir à elle.
Le grand orateur engage ainsi chaque homme à justifier son choix, en disant par exemple : « Il y avait beaucoup de femmes que je pouvais épouser, des plus fortunées et de plus illustre naissance (vous pouvez trouver d’autres critères plus actuels, comme plus belles, plus minces, plus intelligentes… — ndlr) ; je ne l’ai pas voulu, car c’est toi que j’ai désirée, ta manière d’être, ta beauté, ta douceur, ta prudence. » Là encore, c’est à vous d’adapter !
Montrez que vous tenez à cet amour qui vous unit
« Moi, je mets ton amour au-dessus de tout, et rien ne me serait difficile ni pénible comme d’avoir un jour un différend avec toi », souffle encore Jean Chrysostome. Montrer que vous considérez votre mariage comme un trésor absolu est une belle preuve d’amour. Néanmoins, il ne suffit pas de le dire, mais de le vivre comme tel. Comment ? Saint Jean Bouche d’Or se montre plutôt pragmatique : « Montre-lui qu’il est précieux pour toi d’être avec elle et que tu aimes mieux être à la maison pour elle que dehors », ou encore : « Préfère-la à tous tes amis et même aux enfants qui te sont nés d’elle ».
Soyez prêt à tout partager avec elle
Les biens matériels, mais aussi les joies, les
épreuves, la vie. « Si elle dit : « Ceci est à moi », réponds-lui : « Je n’ai,
moi, rien en propre. Pourquoi donc dis-tu : c’est à moi, alors que tout est à
toi ?… Oui, tout est à toi, et moi aussi je suis à toi. » Un hymne à l’amour
qui ne manquera pas de faire fondre le cœur de votre bien-aimée !
Lire aussi :
Quand
saint Jean Chrysostome se mêle d’amour conjugal
Saint Jean Chrysostome et Saint Grégoire de Nazianze
Also known as
Greatest of the Greek Fathers
Golden-Mouth
Giovanni Crisostomo
John Chrysostum
14
September (Comana del Pont, Italy)
formerly 27 January
13
November (Eastern Orthodox – ascension to archbishopric of
Constantinople)
27 January (Eastern
Orthodox – translation of relics)
30 January (Eastern
Orthodox – as one of the Three Holy Heirarchs)
Profile
John’s father died when
he was young, and he was raised by a very pious mother.
Well educated; studied rhetoric
under Libanius, one of the most famous orators of
his day. Monk. Preacher and priest for
a dozen years in Syria.
While there he developed a stomach ailment that troubled him the rest of his
life.
It was for his sermons that John earned the
title Chrysostom = golden mouthed. They were always on point,
they explained the Scriptures with clarity, and they sometimes went on for
hours. Made a reluctant bishop of Constantinople in 398,
a move that involved him in imperial politics. He criticized the rich for not
sharing their wealth, fought to reform the clergy,
prevented the sale of ecclesiastical offices, called for fidelity in marriage,
encouraged practices of justice and charity. Archbishop and
Patriarch of Constantinople.
Revised the Greek Liturgy.
Because John’s sermons advocated a change in their lives, some nobles and bishops worked
to remove him from his diocese;
he was twice exiled from
his diocese. Banished to
Pythius, he died on
the road.
Greek Father
of the Church. Proclaimed Doctor
of the Church in 451.
Born
c.347 at Antioch, Asia
Minor
407 of
natural causes
Name Meaning
God is gracious; gift of God (John)
golden-mouthed (Chrysostom)
orators,
lecturers, public speakers (proclaimed on 8 July 1908 by Pope Pius
X)
–
Istanbul,
Turkey
Additional Information
A
Garner of Saints, by Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
John
of Antioch, Saint Chrysostom, by James Maynard
Leaves
from Saint John Chrysostom, by Thomas William Allies
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
On
the Writings of Saint John Chrysostom, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
by Pope Benedict
XVI
On
the Occasion of the 16th Centenary of the Death of Saint John Chrysostom
General
Audience, 19
September 2007
General
Audience, 26
September 2007
by Saint John
Chrysostom
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
Catholic Herald: The Saints Who Spent Two Years Standing
Catholic Herald: A Patron Saint for Public Speakers
David
Bradshaw: Saint John Chrysostom on Grace and Free Will
Dr
David C Ford: The Home as a Little Church: The Vision of Sanit John
Chrysostom
Orthodox
Christian Information Center: Was Saint John Chrysostom Anti-Semitic?
Orthodox Church in America: Saint John Chrysostom
Orthodox Church in America: Translation of Relics
Orthodox
Church in America: Repose of Saint John
Saint John Chrysostom Antiochan Orthodox Church: Liturgy of
Saint John Chrysostom
Catholic Book Blogger
Saint John: Stave Satan
Saint John: Forget the Good You’ve Done
Saint John: Listen to Your Conscience
Saint John: Weep, and Find Joy
Saint John: Bear Fruit that Befits Repentance
Saint John: Trust Your Physician Even if the Cure Hurts
Saint John: Five Ways to Repent
Saint John: Think of the Future
Saint John: Deposit Your Wealth in Heaven
Saint John: Beware the Temptations of Power
Saint John: Invest in Heaven
Saint John: Use What We’ve Been Given for Good
Saint John: Beware the Life of Ease
Saint John: See the Real Power of Wealth
Saint John: Holy Yourself to Your Own Standard
Saint John: Live Like a Christian in Marriage
Saint John: Don’t Rely on Worldly Things
Saint John: Take Time to Relfect After Mass
Saint John: Don’t Be Link Herod
Saint John: Avoid the Smoke of Worldly Cares
Saint John: Take the Medicine That Costs You Nothing
Saint John: Don’t Let Confusing Scriptures Discourage You
Saint John: Don’t Neglect Scripture
Saint John: Pay Careful Attention to Scripture
Saint John: The More You Work, The More You Need Scripture
Saint John: Only We Can Hurt Our Own Salvation
Saint John: Give Praise Instead of Blasphemy
Saint John: Train Our Tongues to Serve Righteousness
Saint John: Life a Life Worthy of Our Baptism
Saint John: Let Difficulties Be Our Teachers
Saint John: We are Called to Endure Pain and Illness
Saint John: Use the Gifts God Gave You Rightly
Saint John: Relay on What No One Can Take Away
Saint John: Expect Satan’s Attack
Saint John: Christ Taught by Doing
Saint John: Follow the Magi
Saint John: Thank God for the Wicked
Saint John: Appreciate God’s Mercy After the Fall
images
audio
The Birth, Baptism, Temptation, and Early Ministry of Jesus
Christ – Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, by Saint John
Chrysostom (audio book)
The Miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ – Commentary on the
Gospel of Saint Matthew, by Saint John Chrysostom (audio book)
The Sermon on the Mount – Commentary, by Saint John
Chrysostom (audio book)
Commentary
on 2nd Timothy, by Saint John Chrysostom (audio book)
Commentary on Galatians, by Saint John Chrysostom (audio
book)
Commentary on the Epistle of Titus, by Saint John
Chrysostom (audio book)
Homilies on Philippians, by Saint John
Chrysostom (audio book)
Three Homilies on the Devil, by Saint John
Chrysostom (audio book)
video
YouTube PlayList: About Saint John
YouTube PlayList: Works by Saint John
YouTube PlayList: Homilies on Philippians, by Saint John
Chrysostom
works by Saint John at other
sites
Against the Games and the Theatres
On the
Acts of the Apostles, and the Letter to the Hebrews
On the Birth of Our Saviour Jesus Christ
On the
Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians
On
the Epistles of Paul to the Philippians, Thessalonians and Colossians
On
the Epistles of Paul to Timothy, Titus and Philemon
On the
Gospel of Saint Matthew
On the
Gospel of Saint Matthew
—
Library
of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v01, by Saint John Chrysostom
Library
of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v03, by Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v04, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v05, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v06, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v07, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v09, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v11, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v12, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v14, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v15, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v27, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v28, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v33, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v34, by
Saint John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v35, by Saint
John Chrysostom
Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, v36, by
Saint John Chrysostom
—
Documenta Catholica Omnia: Assorted works in several
languages
ebooks about Saint John
A
Guide to the Holy Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, by Leighton Pullan
Chrysostom: The Orator, by John Heston Wiley
Leaves
of Saint John Chrysostom, by Thomas William Allies and Mary Helen Allies
Life of Saint Chrysostom, by August Neander and John
Charles Stapleton Jr
Saint
Chrysostom: His Life and Times, by William Richard W Stephens
Saint
Chrysostom’s Picture of His Age
Saint
John Chrysostom, by Aimé Puech
The
Mouth of Gold, by Edwin Johnson
sheet music
Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
webseiten auf deutsch
Stadler’s Bollstandiges Heiligenlexikon
sites en français
Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti in italiano
websites in nederlandse
Readings
But you, when you see the priest offering
the Sacrifice, consider not the priest who
is ministering, but the hand of God invisibly
outstretched. – Saint John
Chrysostom
When you perceive that God is
chastening you, fly not to his enemies…but to his friends, the martyrs,
the saints,
those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power in God. – Saint John
Chrysostom, Orations, 396
If we approach with faith, we too will see Jesus…for
the Eucharistic table takes the place of the crib. Here the Body of the Lord is
present, wrapped not in swaddling clothes but in the rays of the Holy
Spirit. – Saint John
Chrysostom
Let us relieve the poverty of those that beg of us and
let us not be over-exact about it. – Saint John
Chrysostom
It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of
prayer, a virtuous life. – Saint John
Chrysostom
What prayer could be more true before God the Father
than that which the Son, who is Truth, uttered with His own lips? – Saint John
Chrysostom
God asks little, but He gives much. – Saint John
Chrysostom
The love of husband and wife is the force that welds
society together. – Saint John
Chrysostom
Why force the day to receive more than the distress
which is allotted to it, and together with its own trouble add to it also the
burden of the following day? – Saint John
Chrysostom
When you are before the altar where Christ reposes,
you ought no longer to think that you are amongst men; but believe that there
are troops of angels and archangels standing
by you, and trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and
earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and
veneration. – Saint John
Chrysostom
If the Lord should give you power to raise the dead,
He would give much less than He does when he bestows suffering. By miracles you
would make yourself debtor to Him, while by suffering He may become debtor to
you. And even if sufferings had no other reward than being able to bear
something for that God who loves you, is not this a great reward and a
sufficient remuneration? Whoever loves, understands what I say. – Saint John
Chrysostom
It is clear through unlearned men that the cross was
persuasive; in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Paul had this in mind when
he said, “The weakness of God is stronger than men.” That the preaching of
these men was indeed divine is brought home to us in the same way. For how
otherwise could twelve uneducated men, who lived on lakes and rivers and
wastelands, get the idea for such an immense enterprise? How could men who
perhaps had never been in a city or public square think of setting out to do
battle with the whole world? That they were fearful, timid men, the evangelist
makes clear; he did not reject the fact or try to hide their weaknesses. Indeed
he turned these into a proof of the truth. What did he say of them? That when
Christ was arrested, the others fled, despite all the miracles they
had seen, while he who was leader of the others denied him! How then account
for the fact that these men, who in Christ’s lifetime did not stand up to the
attacks by the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world once Christ
was dead – if, as you claim, Christ did not rise and speak to them and rouse
their courage? It is evident, then, that if they had not seen him risen and had
proof of his power, they would not have risked so much. – from a homily by
Saint John Chrysostom on the first letter to the Corinthians
O envious one, you injure yourself more than he whom
you would injure, and the sword with which you wound will recoil and wound
yourself. What harm did Cain do
to Abel?
Contrary to his intention he did him the greatest good, for he caused him to
pass to a better and a blessed life, and he himself was plunged into an abyss
of woe. In what did Esau injure Jacob? Did not his envy prevent him from being
enriched in the place in which he lived; and, losing the inheritance and the
blessing of his father, did he not die a miserable death? What harm did the
brothers of Joseph do to Joseph, whose envy went so far as to wish to shed his
blood? Were they not driven to the last extremity, and well-nigh perishing with
hunger, whilst their brother reigned all through Egypt? It is ever thus; the
more you envy your brother, the greater good you confer upon him. God, who sees
all, takes the cause of the innocent in hand, and, irritated by the injury you
inflict, deigns to raise up him whom you wish to lower, and will punish you to
the full extent of your crime. If God usually punishes those who rejoice at the
misfortunes of their enemies, how much more will He punish those who, excited
by envy, seek to do an injury to those who have never injured them? – Saint John
Chrysostom
Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn
him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments
while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked. For he who said: ‘This
is my body,’ and made it so by his words also said: ‘You saw me hungry and did
not feed me, and inasmuch as you did not do it for one of these, the least of
my brothers, you did not do it for me.’ – Saint John
Chrysostom
To commit a murder, besides the not having the person
in your power, there are many measures and precautions to take. A favorable
opportunity must be waited for, and a place must be selected before we can put
so damnable a design into execution. More than this, the pistols may miss fire,
blows may not be sufficient, and all wounds are not mortal. But to deprive a
man of his reputation and honor, one word is sufficient. By finding out the
most sensitive part of his honor, you may tarnish his reputation by telling it
to all who know him, arid easily take away his character for honor and
integrity. To do this, however, no time is required, for scarcely have you
complacently cherished the wish to calumniate him, than the sin is
effected. – Saint John
Chrysostom
I beseech you, my brothers, to be ever on your guard
against the habit of swearing and blaspheming. If a slave dare to pronounce the
name of his master, he does it but seldom, and then only with respect;
therefore is it not a shocking impiety to speak with contempt and irreverence
of the name of the Master of angels and
seraphim? People handle the book of the Gospel with a religious fear, and then
only with clean hands, and yet your rash tongue would inconsiderately profane
the name of the Divine Author of the Gospel. Would you wish to know with what
respect, fear, and wonder the choirs of the angels pronounce
the adorable name? Listen to the prophet Isaiah: ” I saw,” says Isaiah, “the
Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated; upon it stood the seraphim, who
cried one to another and said, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the
earth is full of His glory.” See with what terror they are seized, even while
they praise and glorify Him. As for you, my brethren, you know how cold and
indifferent are the prayers you say, and you know how frequently you blaspheme
a name so majestic, so sacred, and how you try to make excuses for the bad
habit you have contracted. It is easy, yes, I say, it is easy, with a little
care, attention, and reflection, to leave off this vicious habit. Since we have
fallen, my brethren, into this sin of blasphemy, I conjure you, in the name of
our Lord, to rebuke openly these blasphemers. When you meet with such who
publicly sin in this respect, correct them by word of mouth, and, if necessary,
by your strong arm. Let these shameless swearers be covered with confusion. You
could not employ your hand to a holier work. And if you are given into custody,
go boldly before the magistrate, and say in your defense that you have avenged
a blasphemy. For if a person is punished for speaking contemptuously of a
prince, is it not reasonable to suppose that a person who speaks irreverently
of God should be sentenced to a severer punishment? It is a public crime, a
common injury which all the world ought to condemn. Let the Jews and infidels
see that our magistrates are Christians, and that they will not allow those to
go unpunished who insult and outrage their Master. Do you remember that it was
a false oath that overturned the houses, temples, and walls of Jerusalem,
and from a superb city it became a mass of ruins? Neither the sacred vessels
nor the sanctuary could stay the vengeance of a God justly angered against a
violater of His word. Sedecias did not receive a more favored treatment
than Jerusalem.
Flight did not save him from his enemies. This prince, escaping secretly, was
pursued and taken by the Assyrians,
who led him to their king. The king, after asking him the reason of his
perfidy, not only caused his children to
be killed, but deprived him of his sight, and sent him back to Babylon,
loaded with iron chains.
Would you know the reason why? It was that the barbarians and Jews who
inhabited the country adjoining Persia should know, by this terrible example,
that the breach of an oath is punishable. – Saint John
Chrysostom, from the Seventh Homily
MLA Citation
“Saint John Chrysostom“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7
September 2021. Web. 13 September 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-chrysostom/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-chrysostom/
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Saint John Chrysostom (1)
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
This year is the 16th
centenary of St John Chrysostom's death (407-2007). It can be said that John of
Antioch, nicknamed "Chrysostom", that is, "golden-mouthed",
because of his eloquence, is also still alive today because of his works. An
anonymous copyist left in writing that "they cross the whole globe like
flashes of lightening".
Chrysostom's writings
also enable us, as they did the faithful of his time whom his frequent exiles
deprived of his presence, to live with his books, despite his absence. This is
what he himself suggested in a letter when he was in exile (To Olympias, Letter
8, 45).
He was born in about the
year 349 A.D. in Antioch, Syria (today Antakya in Southern Turkey). He carried
out his priestly ministry there for about 11 years, until 397, when, appointed
Bishop of Constantinople, he exercised his episcopal ministry in the capital of
the Empire prior to his two exiles, which succeeded one close upon the other -
in 403 and 407. Let us limit ourselves today to examining the years Chrysostom
spent in Antioch.
He lost his father at a
tender age and lived with Anthusa, his mother, who instilled in him exquisite
human sensitivity and a deep Christian faith.
After completing his
elementary and advanced studies crowned by courses in philosophy and rhetoric,
he had as his teacher, Libanius, a pagan and the most famous rhetorician of
that time. At his school John became the greatest orator of late Greek
antiquity.
He was baptized in 368
and trained for the ecclesiastical life by Bishop Meletius, who instituted him
as lector in 371. This event marked Chrysostom's official entry into the
ecclesiastical cursus. From 367 to 372, he attended the Asceterius, a
sort of seminary in Antioch, together with a group of young men, some of whom
later became Bishops, under the guidance of the exegete Diodore of Tarsus, who
initiated John into the literal and grammatical exegesis characteristic of
Antiochean tradition.
He then withdrew for four
years to the hermits on the neighbouring Mount Silpius. He extended his retreat
for a further two years, living alone in a cave under the guidance of an
"old hermit". In that period, he dedicated himself unreservedly to
meditating on "the laws of Christ", the Gospels and especially the
Letters of Paul. Having fallen ill, he found it impossible to care for himself
unaided, and therefore had to return to the Christian community in Antioch (cf.
Palladius, Dialogue on the Life of St John Chrysostom, 5).
The Lord, his biographer
explains, intervened with the illness at the right moment to enable John to
follow his true vocation. In fact, he himself was later to write that were he
to choose between the troubles of Church government and the tranquillity of
monastic life, he would have preferred pastoral service a thousand times
(cf. On the Priesthood, 6, 7): it was precisely to this that
Chrysostom felt called.
It was here that he
reached the crucial turning point in the story of his vocation: a full-time
pastor of souls! Intimacy with the Word of God, cultivated in his years at the
hermitage, had developed in him an irresistible urge to preach the Gospel, to
give to others what he himself had received in his years of meditation. The
missionary ideal thus launched him into pastoral care, his heart on fire.
Between 378 and 379, he
returned to the city. He was ordained a deacon in 381 and a priest in 386, and
became a famous preacher in his city's churches. He preached homilies against
the Arians, followed by homilies commemorating the Antiochean martyrs and other
important liturgical celebrations: this was an important teaching of faith in
Christ and also in the light of his Saints.
The year 387 was John's
"heroic year", that of the so-called "revolt of the
statues". As a sign of protest against levied taxes, the people destroyed
the Emperor's statues. It was in those days of Lent and the fear of the
Emperor's impending reprisal that Chrysostom gave his 22 vibrant Homilies
on the Statues, whose aim was to induce repentance and conversion. This
was followed by a period of serene pastoral care (387-397).
Chrysostom is among the
most prolific of the Fathers: 17 treatises, more than 700 authentic homilies,
commentaries on Matthew and on Paul (Letters to the Romans, Corinthians,
Ephesians and Hebrews) and 241 letters are extant. He was not a speculative
theologian.
Nevertheless, he passed
on the Church's tradition and reliable doctrine in an age of theological
controversies, sparked above all by Arianism or, in other words, the denial of
Christ's divinity. He is therefore a trustworthy witness of the dogmatic
development achieved by the Church from the fourth to the fifth centuries.
His is a perfectly
pastoral theology in which there is constant concern for consistency between
thought expressed via words and existential experience. It is this in
particular that forms the main theme of the splendid catecheses with which he
prepared catechumens to receive Baptism.
On approaching death, he
wrote that the value of the human being lies in "exact knowledge of true
doctrine and in rectitude of life" (Letter from Exile). Both these
things, knowledge of truth and rectitude of life, go hand in hand: knowledge
has to be expressed in life. All his discourses aimed to develop in the
faithful the use of intelligence, of true reason, in order to understand and to
put into practice the moral and spiritual requirements of faith.
John Chrysostom was
anxious to accompany his writings with the person's integral development in his
physical, intellectual and religious dimensions. The various phases of his
growth are compared to as many seas in an immense ocean: "The first of
these seas is childhood" (Homily, 81, 5 on Matthew's Gospel).
Indeed, "it is
precisely at this early age that inclinations to vice or virtue are
manifest". Thus, God's law must be impressed upon the soul from the outset
"as on a wax tablet" (Homily 3, 1 on John's Gospel): This
is indeed the most important age. We must bear in mind how fundamentally
important it is that the great orientations which give man a proper outlook on
life truly enter him in this first phase of life.
Chrysostom therefore
recommended: "From the tenderest age, arm children with spiritual weapons
and teach them to make the Sign of the Cross on their forehead with their
hand" (Homily, 12, 7 on First Corinthians).
Then come adolescence and
youth: "Following childhood is the sea of adolescence, where violent winds
blow..., for concupiscence... grows within us" (Homily 81, 5 on
Matthew's Gospel).
Lastly comes engagement
and marriage: "Youth is succeeded by the age of the mature person who
assumes family commitments: this is the time to seek a wife" (ibid.).
He recalls the aims of
marriage, enriching them - referring to virtue and temperance - with a rich fabric
of personal relationships. Properly prepared spouses therefore bar the way to
divorce: everything takes place with joy and children can be educated in
virtue. Then when the first child is born, he is "like a bridge; the three
become one flesh, because the child joins the two parts" (Homily 12,
5 on the Letter to the Colossians), and the three constitute "a family, a
Church in miniature" (Homily 20, 6 on the Letter to the
Ephesians).
Chrysostom's preaching
usually took place during the liturgy, the "place" where the
community is built with the Word and the Eucharist. The assembly gathered here
expresses the one Church (Homily 8, 7 on the Letter to the Romans),
the same word is addressed everywhere to all (Homily 24, 2 on First
Corinthians), and Eucharistic Communion becomes an effective sign of unity (Homily 32,
7 on Matthew's Gospel).
His pastoral project was
incorporated into the Church's life, in which the lay faithful assume the
priestly, royal and prophetic office with Baptism. To the lay faithful he said:
"Baptism will also make you king, priest and prophet" (Homily 3,
5 on Second Corinthians).
From this stems the
fundamental duty of the mission, because each one is to some extent responsible
for the salvation of others: "This is the principle of our social life...
not to be solely concerned with ourselves!" (Homily 9, 2 on
Genesis). This all takes place between two poles: the great Church and the
"Church in miniature", the family, in a reciprocal relationship.
As you can see, dear
brothers and sisters, Chrysostom's lesson on the authentically Christian
presence of the lay faithful in the family and in society is still more timely
than ever today. Let us pray to the Lord to make us docile to the teachings of
this great Master of the faith.
To special groups
I extend a cordial
welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims present at today's Audience, including
groups from Vietnam, India and Nigeria. I also greet the Catholic and Greek
Orthodox pilgrims from the United States. May God bless all of you!
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BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
St John Chrysostom (2)
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
Today, let us continue
our reflection on St John Chrysostom. After the period he spent in Antioch, in
397 he was appointed Bishop of Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire
of the East. John planned the reform of his Church from the outset: the austerity
of the episcopal residence had to be an example for all - clergy, widows,
monks, courtiers and the rich. Unfortunately, many of those he criticized
distanced themselves from him. Attentive to the poor, John was also called
"the Almoner". Indeed, he was able as a careful administrator to
establish highly appreciated charitable institutions. For some people, his
initiatives in various fields made him a dangerous rival but as a true Pastor,
he treated everyone in a warm, fatherly way. In particular, he always spoke
kindly to women and showed special concern for marriage and the family. He
would invite the faithful to take part in liturgical life, which he made
splendid and attractive with brilliant creativity.
Despite his kind heart,
his life was far from peaceful. He was the Pastor of the capital of the Empire,
and often found himself involved in political affairs and intrigues because of
his ongoing relations with the authorities and civil institutions. Then, within
the Church, having removed six Bishops in Asia in 401 A.D. who had been
improperly appointed, he was accused of having overstepped the boundaries of
his own jurisdiction and thus he easily became the target of accusations.
Another accusation against him concerned the presence of some Egyptian monks,
excommunicated by Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria, who had sought refuge in
Constantinople. A heated argument then flared up on account of Chrysostom's
criticism of the Empress Eudoxia and her courtiers who reacted by heaping
slander and insults upon him. Thus, they proceeded to his removal during the
Synod organized by the same Patriarch Theophilus in 403, which led to his
condemnation and his first, brief exile. After Chrysostom's return, the
hostility he had instigated by his protests against the festivities in honour
of the Empress, which the Bishop considered as sumptuous pagan celebrations,
and by his expulsion of the priests responsible for the Baptisms during the
Easter Vigil in 404, marked the beginning of the persecution of Chrysostom and
his followers, the so-called "Johannites".
John then denounced the
events in a letter to Innocent I, Bishop of Rome, but it was already too late.
In 406, he was once again forced into exile, this time to Cucusus in Armenia.
The Pope was convinced of his innocence but was powerless to help him. A
Council desired by Rome to establish peace between the two parts of the Empire
and among their Churches could not take place. The gruelling journey from
Cucusus to Pityus, a destination that he never reached, was meant to prevent
the visits of the faithful and to break the resistance of the worn-out exile:
his condemnation to exile was a true death sentence! The numerous letters from
his exile in which John expressed his pastoral concern in tones of
participation and sorrow at the persecution of his followers are moving. His
journey towards death stopped at Comana in Ponto. Here, John, who was dying,
was carried into the Chapel of the Martyr St Basiliscus, where he gave up his
spirit to God and was buried, one martyr next to the other (Palladius, Dialogue
on the Life of St John Chrysostom, 119). It was 14 September 407, the
Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross. He was rehabilitated in 438 through
Theodosius II. The holy Bishop's relics, which had been placed in the Church of
the Apostles in Constantinople, were later, in 1204, translated to the first
Constantinian Basilica in Rome, and now rest in the chapel of the Choir of the
Canons in St Peter's Basilica. On 24 August 2004, Pope John Paul II gave a
large part of the saint's relics to Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
The Saint's liturgical Memorial is celebrated on 13 September. Blessed John
XXIII proclaimed him Patron of the Second Vatican Council.
It is said of John
Chrysostom that when he was seated upon the throne of the New Rome, that is,
Constantinople, God caused him to be seen as a second Paul, a doctor of the
Universe. Indeed, there is in Chrysostom a substantial unity of thought and
action, in Antioch as in Constantinople. It is only the role and situations
that change. In his commentary on Genesis, in meditating on God's eight acts in
the sequence of six days, Chrysostom desired to restore the faithful from the
creation to the Creator: "It is a great good", he said, "to know
the creature from the Creator", He shows us the beauty of the creation and
God's transparency in his creation, which thus becomes, as it were, a
"ladder" to ascend to God in order to know him. To this first step,
however, is added a second: this God Creator is also the God of indulgence (synkatabasis).
We are weak in "climbing", our eyes grow dim. Thus, God becomes an
indulgent God who sends to fallen man, foreign man, a letter, Sacred Scripture,
so that the creation and Scripture may complete each another. We can decipher
creation in the light of Scripture, the letter that God has given to us. God is
called a "tender father" (philostorgios) (ibid.), a healer of souls (Homily
on Genesis, 40, 3), a mother (ibid.) and an affectionate friend (On
Providence 8, 11-12). But in addition to this second step - first, the
creation as a "ladder" to God, and then, the indulgence of God
through a letter which he has given to us, Sacred Scripture - there is a third
step. God does not only give us a letter: ultimately, he himself comes down to us,
he takes flesh, becomes truly "God-with-us", our brother until his
death on a Cross. And to these three steps - God is visible in creation, God
gives us a letter, God descends and becomes one of us - a fourth is added at
the end. In the Christian's life and action, the vital and dynamic principle is
the Holy Spirit (Pneuma) who transforms the realities of the world. God enters
our very existence through the Holy Spirit and transforms us from within our
hearts.
Against this background,
in Constantinople itself, John proposed in his continuing Commentary on
the Acts of the Apostles the model of the primitive Church (Acts 4: 32-37)
as a pattern for society, developing a social "utopia" (almost an
"ideal city"). In fact, it was a question of giving the city a soul
and a Christian face. In other words, Chrysostom realized that it is not enough
to give alms, to help the poor sporadically, but it is necessary to create a
new structure, a new model of society; a model based on the outlook of the New
Testament. It was this new society that was revealed in the newborn Church.
John Chrysostom thus truly became one of the great Fathers of the Church's
social doctrine: the old idea of the Greek "polis" gave way to the
new idea of a city inspired by Christian faith. With Paul (cf. I Cor 8: 11),
Chrysostom upheld the primacy of the individual Christian, of the person as
such, even of the slave and the poor person. His project thus corrected the
traditional Greek vision of the "polis", the city in which large sectors
of the population had no access to the rights of citizenship while in the
Christian city all are brothers and sisters with equal rights. The primacy of
the person is also a consequence of the fact that it is truly by starting with
the person that the city is built, whereas in the Greek "polis" the
homeland took precedence over the individual who was totally subordinated to
the city as a whole. So it was that a society built on the Christian conscience
came into being with Chrysostom. And he tells us that our "polis"
[city] is another, "our commonwealth is in heaven" (Phil 3: 20) and
our homeland, even on this earth, makes us all equal, brothers and sisters, and
binds us to solidarity.
At the end of his life,
from his exile on the borders of Armenia, "the most remote place in the
world", John, linking up with his first preaching in 386, took up the
theme of the plan for humanity that God pursues, which was so dear to him: it
is an "indescribable and incomprehensible" plan, but certainly guided
lovingly by him (cf. On Providence, 2, 6). Of this we are certain.
Even if we are unable to unravel the details of our personal and collective
history, we know that God's plan is always inspired by his love. Thus, despite
his suffering, Chrysostom reaffirmed the discovery that God loves each one of
us with an infinite love and therefore desires salvation for us all. For his
part, throughout his life the holy Bishop cooperated generously in this
salvation, never sparing himself. Indeed, he saw the ultimate end of his
existence as that glory of God which - now dying - he left as his last
testament: "Glory be to God for all things" (Palladius, op. cit.,
n. 11).
To special groups
I extend a warm welcome
to all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present at today's Audience,
including groups from Britain and Ireland, New Zealand, Thailand, and North
America. I greet in particular the new students from the Venerable English
College and the priests from Ireland who are taking part in a renewal course
here in Rome. May the time that you spend in this city deepen your love for
Christ and his Church, and may God's blessings of peace and joy be with you
always!
Lastly, my thoughts go to
the young people, the sick and the newly-weds. May
St Vincent de Paul's example of charity, which we will commemorate tomorrow,
encourage you, dear young people, to plan your future as a generous
service to your neighbour. May it help you, dear sick people, to feel
Christ's comfort in our suffering. And may it prompt you, dear newly-weds,
always to be attentive to the poor in your family.
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St. John Chrysostom
(Chrysostomos, "golden-mouthed" so called on
account of his eloquence).
Doctor
of the Church, born at Antioch,
c. 347; died at Commana in Pontus,
14 September, 407.
John — whose surname "Chrysostom" occurs for
the first time in the "Constitution" of Pope
Vigilius (cf. P.L., LX, 217) in the year 553 — is generally considered
the most prominent doctor of
the Greek
Church and the greatest preacher ever heard in a Christian pulpit.
His natural gifts, as well as exterior circumstances, helped him to
become what he was.
Life
Boyhood
At the time of Chrysostom's birth, Antioch was
the second city of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. During the
whole of the fourth century religious struggles had troubled the
empire and had found their echo at Antioch.Pagans, Manichaeans, Gnostics, Arians, Apollinarians, Jews,
made their proselytes at Antioch,
and the Catholicswere
themselves separated by the schism between
the bishops Meletius and Paulinus.
Thus Chrysostom's youth fell in troubled times. His father, Secundus, was an
officer of high rank in the Syrian army.
On his death soon after the birth of John, Anthusa, his wife, only twenty
years of age, took the sole charge of her two children, Johnand an elder
sister. Fortunately she was a woman of intelligence and character.
She not only instructed her son in piety,
but also sent him to the best schools of Antioch,
though with regard to morals and religion many
objections could be urged against them. Beside the lectures of Andragatius,
a philosopher not
otherwise known, Chrysostom followed also those of Libanius, at once the
most famous orator of that period and the most tenacious adherent of the
declining paganism of Rome.
As we may see from the later writings of Chrysostom, he attained then
considerable Greek scholarship and classical culture, which he by no
means disowned in his later days. His alleged hostility to classical learning
is in reality but a misunderstanding of certain passages in which he
defends the philosophia of Christianity against
the myths of the heathen gods,
of which the chief defenders in histime were the representatives and
teachers of the sophia ellenike (see A. Naegele in "Byzantin.
Zeitschrift", XIII, 73-113; Idem, "Chrysostomus und Libanius"
in Chrysostomika, I, Rome, 1908, 81-142).
Chrysostom as lector and monk
It was a very decisive turning-point in
the life of Chrysostom when he met one day (about 367) the bishopMeletius.
The earnest, mild, and winning character of
this man captivated Chrysostom in such a measure that he soon began
to withdraw from classical and profane studies and to devote himself to
an ascetic and religious
life. He studied Holy
Scripture and frequented the sermons of Meletius.
About three years later he received HolyBaptism and was ordained lector.
But the young cleric, seized by the desire of a
more perfect life, soon afterwards entered one of
the ascetic societies near Antioch,
which was under the spiritual
direction of Carterius and especially of the famous Diodorus,
later Bishop of Tarsus (see Palladius,
"Dialogus", v; Sozomenus, Church
History VIII.2). Prayer,
manual labour and the study of Holy
Scripture were his chief occupations, and we may safely suppose that
his first literary works date from this time, for nearly all his
earlier writings deal with asceticand monastic subjects [cf.
below Chrysostom writings: (1) "Opuscuia"]. Four years later,
Chrysostom resolved to live as an anchorite in
one of the caves near Antioch.
He remained there two years, but then as his health was quite ruined by
indiscreet watchings and fastings in frost and cold, he prudently returned
to Antioch to
regain his health, and resumed his office as lector in
the church.
Chrysostom as deacon and priest at Antioch
As the sources of the life of Chrysostom
give an incomplete chronology,
we can but approximately determine thedates for this Antiochene period.
Very probably in the beginning of 381 Meletius made
him deacon,
just before his own departure to Constantinople, where he died as
president of the Second
Ecumenical Council. Thesuccessor of Meletius was
Flavian (concerning whose succession see F. Cavallera, "Le
Schime d'Antioche", Paris, 1905). Ties of sympathy and friendship
connected Chrysostom with his new bishop.
As deacon he
had to assist at the liturgical functions,
to look after the sick and poor, and was probably charged also in some
degree with teaching catechumens.
At the same time he continued his literary work, and we may suppose
that he composed his most famous book, "On the Priesthood", towards
the end of this period (c. 386, see Socrates, Church
HistoryVI.3), or at latest in the beginning of his priesthood (c.
387, as Nairn with good reasons puts it, in his edition of "De
Sacerd.", xii-xv). There may be some doubt if
it was occasioned by a real historical fact, viz., that Chrysostom
and his friend Basil were requested to accept bishoprics (c.
372). All the earliest Greek biographers seem not to have taken it in
that sense. In the year 386 Chrysostom was ordained priest by
Flavian, and from that dates his real importance in ecclesiastical
history. His chief task during the next twelve years was that of preaching,
which he had to exercise either instead of or with Bishop Flavian.
But no doubt the
larger part of the popular religious instruction and education devolved upon
him. The earliest notable occasion which showed his power of speaking and his
great authority was the Lent of
387, when he delivered his sermons "On
the Statues" (P.G., XLVIII, 15, xxx.). The people of Antioch,
excited by the levy of new taxes, had thrown down the statues ofEmperor
Theodosius. In the panic and fear of punishment which followed,
Chrysostom delivered a series of twenty or twenty-one (the nineteenth is
probably not authentic) sermons, full of vigour, consolatory,
exhortative, tranquilizing, until Flavian, the bishop,
brought back from Constantinople the emperor's pardon. But the usual
preaching of Chrysostom consisted in consecutive explanations of Holy
Scripture. To that custom, unhappily no longer in use, we owe his
famous and magnificent commentaries, which offer us such an inexhaustible
treasure of dogmatic, moral, and historical knowledge of
the transition from the fourth to the fifth century. These years, 386-98, were
the period of the greatest theological productivity
of Chrysostom, a period which alone would have assured him for ever a place
among the first Doctors
of the Church. A sign of this may be seen in the fact that in the year
392 St.
Jerome already accorded to the preacher of Antioch a
place among his Viri illustres ("De Viris ill.", 129, in
P.L., XXIII, 754), referring expressly to the great and successful activity of
Chrysostom as a theological writer.
From this same fact we may infer that during this time his fame had spread far
beyond the limits of Antioch,
and that he was well known in the Byzantine
Empire, especially in the capital.
St. Chrysostom as bishop of Constantinople
In the ordinary course of things Chrysostom might have
become the successor of Flavian at Antioch.
But on 27 September 397, Nectarius, Bishop of Constantinople,
died. There was a general rivalry in the capital, openly or in secret, for
the vacant see. After some months it was known, to the great
disappointment of the competitors, that Emperor Areadius, at the suggestion of
his minister Eutropius, had sent to the Prefect of Antioch to
call JohnChrysostom out of the town without the knowledge of
the people, and to send him straight to Constantinople. In this sudden way
Chrysostom was hurried to the capital, and ordained Bishop of Constantinople on
26 February, 398, in the presence of a great assembly of bishops,
by Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria,
who had been obliged to
renounce the idea of
securing the appointment of Isidore, his own candidate. The change for
Chrysostom was as great as it was unexpected. His new position was not an easy
one, placed as he was in the midst of an upstart metropolis,
half Western, half Oriental, in the neighbourhood of a court in which
luxury and intrigue always played the most prominent parts, and at the head of
the clergy composed
of most heterogeneous elements, and even (if not canonically, at least
practically) at the head of the whole Byzantine episcopate. The
first act of the new bishop was
to bring about a reconciliation between Flavian and Rome. Constantinople itself
soon began to feel the impulse of a new ecclesiastical life.
The necessity for reform was undeniable.
Chrysostom began "sweeping the stairs from the top" (Palladius, op.
cit., v). He called his oeconomus, and ordered him to reduce the expenses
of the episcopal household; he put an end to the frequent banquets,
and lived little less strictly than he had formerly lived as a priest and monk.
With regard to the clergy,
Chrysostom had at first to forbid them to keep in their houses syneisactoe,
i.e. womenhousekeepers
who had vowed virginity. He also proceeded against others who,
by avarice or
luxury, had givenscandal.
He had even to exclude from the ranks of the clergy two deacons,
the one for murder and
the other foradultery.
Of the monks,
too, who were very numerous even at that time at Constantinople, some had
preferred to roam about aimlessly and without discipline. Chrysostom
confined them to their monasteries.
Finally he took care of the ecclesiastical widows.
Some of them were living in a worldly manner: he obliged them
either to marryagain, or to observe the rules of decorum demanded by their
state. After the clergy,
Chrysostom turned his attention to his flock. As he had done at Antioch,
so at Constantinople and with more reason, he frequently
preached against the unreasonable extravagances of the rich, and
especially against the ridiculous finery in thematter of dress affected
by women whose
age should have put them beyond such vanities. Some of them, thewidows Marsa,
Castricia, Eugraphia, known for such preposterous tastes, belonged to
the court circle. It seems that the upper classes
of Constantinople had not previously been accustomed to such
language. Doubtless some felt the rebuke to be intended for themselves, and
the offence given was the greater in proportion as the rebuke was the
more deserved. On the other hand, the people showed themselves delighted with
the sermons of their new bishop,
and frequently applauded him in the church (Socrates, Church
History VI). They never forgot his care for the poor and
miserable, and that in his first year he had built a great hospital with
the money he hadsaved in his household. But Chrysostom had also very
intimate friends among the rich and noble classes. The most famous of
these was Olympias, widow and deaconess,
a relation of Emperor
Theodosius, while in the Courtitself there was Brison, first usher
of Eudoxia, who assisted Chrysostom in instructing his choirs, and
always maintained a true friendship
for him. The empress herself was at first most friendly towards the new bishop.
She followed the religious processions, attended his sermons,
and presented silver candlesticks for the use of thechurches (Socrates,
op. cit., VI, 8; Sozomenus,
op. cit., VIII, 8).
Unfortunately, the feelings of amity did not last. At
first Eutropius, the former slave, now minister and consul,
abused his influence. He deprived some wealthy persons of
their property,
and prosecuted others whom he suspected of being adversaries of rivals. More
than once Chrysostom went himself to the minister (see "Oratio
ad Eutropium" in P.G., Chrys. Op., III, 392) to remonstrate with
him, and to warn him of the results of his own acts, but without success.
Then the above-named ladies, who immediately surrounded the empress,
probably did not hide their resentment against the strict bishop.
Finally, the empress herself committed an injustice in
depriving awidow of
her vineyard (Marcus Diac., "Vita Porphyrii", V, no. 37, in P.G.,
LXV, 1229). Chrysostom interceded for the latter.
But Eudoxia showed herself offended. Henceforth there was a certain
coolness between the imperial Court and the episcopal palace, which,
growing little by little, led to a catastrophe. It is impossible to ascertain
exactly at what period this alienation first began; very probably
it dated from the beginning of the year 401. But before this state of
things became known to the public there happened events of the highest
political importance, and Chrysostom, without seeking it, was implicated in
them. These were the fall of Eutropius and the revolt of Gainas.
In January, 399, Eutropius, for a reason not
exactly known, fell into disgrace. Knowing the feelings of the
people and of his personal enemies, he fled to the church. As he had
himself attempted to abolish the immunity of the ecclesiastical asylums not
long before, the people seemed little disposed to spare him. But Chrysostom
interfered, delivering his famous sermon on Eutropius, and the
fallen minister was saved for the moment. As, however, he
tried to escape during the night, he was seized, exiled, and some time
later put
to death. Immediately another more exciting and more dangerous event
followed. Gainas, one of the imperial generals, had been sent out to
subdue Tribigild, who had revolted. In the summer of 399 Gainas united
openly withTribigild, and, to restore peace, Arcadius had to submit to the most
humiliating conditions. Gainas was named commander-in-chief of the
imperial army, and even had Aurelian and Saturninus, two men of the
highest rank atConstantinople, delivered over to him. It seems that Chrysostom
accepted a mission to Gainas, and that, owing to his intervention, Aurelian
and Saturninus were spared by Gainas, and even set at liberty. Soon
afterwards, Gainas, who was an Arian Goth,
demanded one of the Catholic churches at Constantinople for
himself and his soldiers. Again Chrysostom made so energetic an opposition that
Gainas yielded. Meanwhile the people ofConstantinople had become excited,
and in one night several thousand Goths were slain.
Gainas however escaped, was defeated, and slain by the Huns. Such was
the end within a few years of three consuls of theByzantine
Empire. There is no doubt that
Chrysostom's authority had been greatly strengthened by the magnanimity and
firmness of character he had shown during all these troubles. It may
have been this that augmented the jealousy of those who now governed
the empire — a clique of courtiers, with the empress at their head. These were
now joined by new allies issuing from the ecclesiastical ranks
and including some provincialbishops — Severian of Gabala,
Antiochus of Ptolemais, and, for some time, Acacius
of Beroea — who preferred the attractions of the capital to residence
in their own cities (Socrates,
op. cit., VI, 11; Sozomenus,
op. cit., VIII, 10). The most intriguing among them was Severian, who
flattered himself that he was the rival of Chrysostom in eloquence. But so far
nothing had transpired in public. A great change occurred during the absence of
Chrysostom for several months from Constantinople. This absence
was necessitated by an ecclesiastical affair
inAsia
Minor, in which he was involved. Following the express invitation of
several bishops,
Chrysostom, in the first months of 401, had come to Ephesus, where he
appointed a new archbishop,
and with the consent of the assembled bishops deposed six bishops for simony.
After having passed the same sentence on Bishop Gerontius of Nicomedia,
he returned to Constantinople.
Meanwhile disagreeable things had happened
there. Bishop Severian, to whom Chrysostom seems to have entrusted
the performance of some ecclesiastical functions,
had entered into open enmity with Serapion, thearchdeacon and oeconomus of
the cathedral and
the episcopal palace. Whatever the real reason may have
been, Chrysostom, found the case so serious that he
invited Severian to return to his own see. It was solely owing
to the personal interference of Eudoxia, whose
confidence Serapion possessed, that he was allowed to come back
from Chalcedon, whither he had retired. The reconciliation which followed
was, at least on the part of Severian, not a sincere one, and the public
scandal had excited much ill-feeling. The effects soon became visible.
When in the spring of 402, Bishop Porphyrius of Gaza (see Marcus Diac.,
"Vita Porphyrii", V, ed. Nuth, Bonn, 1897, pp. 11-19) went to
the Court at Constantinople to obtain a favour for
his diocese,
Chrysostom answered that he could do nothing for him, since he was himself in
disgrace with the empress. Nevertheless, the party of malcontents were not
really dangerous, unless they could find some prominent and unscrupulous
leader. Such a person presented
himself sooner than might have been expected. It was the well-known Theophilus, Patriarch ofAlexandria.
He appeared under rather curious circumstances, which in no way foreshadowed
the final result.Theophilus,
toward the end of the year 402, was summoned by the emperor
to Constantinople to apologize before a synod, over which
Chrysostom should preside, for several charges, which were brought against him
bycertain Egyptian monks,
especially by the so-called four "tall brothers". The patriarch,
their former friend, had suddenly turned against them, and had them persecuted as Origenists (Palladius,
"Dialogus", xvi; Socrates,
op. cit., VI, 7; Sozomenus,
op. cit., VIII, 12).
However, Theophilus was
not easily frightened. He had always agents and friends at Constantinople,
and knewthe
state of things and the feelings at the court. He now resolved to take
advantage of them. He wrote at once toSt.
Epiphanius at Cyprus,
requesting him to go to Constantinople and prevail upon Chrysostom at
to condemn the Origenists. Epiphanius went.
But when he found that Theophilus was
merely using him for his own purposes, he left the capital, dying on his return
in 403. At this time Chrysostom delivered a sermon against the vain
luxury of women.
It was reported to the empress as though she had been personally alluded to. In
this way the ground was prepared. Theophilus at
last appeared at Constantinople in June, 403, not alone, as he had
been commanded, but with twenty-nine of his suffragan bishops,
and, as Palladius (ch.
viii) tells us, with a good deal of money and all sorts of gifts. He took
his lodgings in one of the imperial palaces, and held conferences with all the
adversaries of Chrysostom. Then he retired with his suffragans and seven
other bishops to
a villa nearConstantinople, called epi dryn (see Ubaldi,
"La Synodo ad Quercum", Turin, 1902). A long list of the most
ridiculous accusations was drawn up against Chrysostom (see Photius,
"Bibliotheca", 59, in P.G., CIII, 105-113), who, surrounded by
forty-two archbishops and bishops assembled
to judge Theophilus in
accordance with theorders of the emperor, was now summoned to present
himself and apologize. Chrysostom naturally refused to recognize the
legality of a synod in which his open enemies were judges. After
the third summons Chrysostom, with the consent of the emperor, was
declared to be deposed. In order to avoid useless bloodshed, he
surrendered himself on the third day to the soldiers who awaited him. But the
threats of the excited people, and a sudden accident in the imperial
palace, frightened the empress (Palladius, "Dialogus", ix).
She feared some punishment from heaven for
Chrysostom's exile, and immediately ordered his recall. After some hesitation
Chrysostom re-entered the capital amid the great rejoicings of the
people. Theophilus and
his party savedthemselves by flying from Constantinople. Chrysostom's
return was in itself a defeat for Eudoxia. When her alarms had gone, her
rancour revived. Two months afterwards a silver statue of
the empress was unveiled in the square just before the cathedral.
The public celebrations which attended this incident, and lasted several days,
became so boisterous that the offices in the church were disturbed.
Chrysostom complained of this to the prefectof the city, who reported
to Eudoxia that the bishop had
complained against her statue.
This was enough to excite the empress beyond all bounds. She summoned Theophilus and
the other bishops to
come back and todepose Chrysostom again. The prudent patriarch,
however, did not wish to run the same risk a second time. He only wrote
to Constantinople that Chrysostom should be condemned for having
re-entered his see in
opposition to an article of the Synod of Antioch held in
the year 341 (an Arian synod).
The other bishops had
neither the authority nor the courage to
give a formal judgment. All they could do was to urge the emperor to sign
a newdecree of
exile. A double attempt on Chrysostom's life failed. On Easter
Eve, 404, when all the catechumens were
to receive baptism,
the adversaries of the bishop,
with imperial soldiers, invaded the baptistery and
dispersed the whole congregation. At last Arcadius signed the decree,
and on 24 June, 404, the soldiers conducted Chrysostom a second time into
exile.
Exile and death
They had scarcely left Constantinople when a
huge conflagration destroyed the cathedral,
the senate-house, and other buildings. The followers of the exiled bishop were
accused of the crime and prosecuted. In haste Arsacius, an old man, was
appointed successor of Chrysostom, but was soon succeeded by the
cunning Atticus. Whoever refused to enter into communion with
them was punished by confiscation of property and
exile. Chrysostom himself was conducted to Cucusus, a secluded and rugged place
on the east frontier of Armenia,
continually exposed to the invasions of the Isaurians. In the following
year he had even to fly for some time to the castle of Arabissus to
protect himself from these barbarians. Meanwhile he always maintained a
correspondence with his friends and never gave up the hope of return.
When the circumstances of his deposition were known in the West,
the pope and
the Italian bishops declared
themselves in his favour. Emperor
Honorius and Pope
Innocent Iendeavoured to summon a new synod, but their legates were imprisoned and
then sent home. The pope broke
off all communion with
the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch (where
an enemy of Chrysostom had succeeded Flavian), and Constantinople, until
(after the death of Chrysostom) they consented to admit his name into
the diptychs of
the Church.
Finally all hopes for the exiled bishop had
vanished. Apparently he was living too long for his adversaries. In the summer,
407, the order was given to carry him to Pithyus, a place at the extreme
boundary of the empire, near the Caucasus. One of the two soldiers who had to
lead him caused him all possible sufferings. He was forced to make
long marches, was exposed to the rays of the sun, to the rains and the cold of
the nights. His body, already weakened by several severe illnesses, finally
broke down. On 14 September the party were at Comanan in Pontus.
In the morning Chrysostom had asked to rest there on the account of his state
of health. In vain; he was forced to continue his march. Very soon he felt so
weak that they had to return toComana. Some hours later Chrysostom died. His
last words were: Doxa to theo panton eneken (Glory be to Godfor
all things) (Palladius, xi, 38). He was buried at Comana.
On 27 January, 438, his body was translated toConstantinople with great
pomp, and entombed in the church of
the Apostles where Eudoxia had been buried in the
year 404 (see Socrates,
VII, 45; Constantine Prophyrogen., "Cæremoniale Aul Byz.",
II, 92, in P.G., CXII, 1204 B).
The writings of St. Chrysostom
Chrysostom has deserved a place in ecclesiastical
history, not simply as Bishop of Constantinople,
but chiefly as a Doctor
of the Church. Of none of the other Greek Fathers do
we possess so many writings. We may divide them into three portions, the
"opuscula", the "homilies", and the "letters". (1)
The chief "opuscula" all date from the earlier days of
his literary activity. The following deal with monastical subjects:
"Comparatio Regis cum Monacho" ("Opera", I,
387-93, in P.G., XLVII-LXIII), "Adhortatio ad Theodorum (Mopsuestensem?)
lapsum" (ibid., 277-319), "Adversus oppugnatores vitae
monasticae" (ibid., 319-87). Those dealing
with ascetical subjects in general are the treatise "De
Compunctione" in two books (ibid., 393-423), "Adhortatio ad
Stagirium" in three books (ibid., 433-94), "Adversus
Subintroductas" (ibid., 495-532), "De Virginitate" (ibid.,
533-93), "De Sacerdotio" (ibid., 623-93). (2) Among the "homilies" we
have to distinguish commentaries on books of Holy
Scripture, groups of homilies (sermons)
on special subjects, and a great number of single homilies.
(a) The chief "commentaries" on the Old
Testament are the sixty-seven homilies "On
Genesis" (with eight sermons on Genesis, which are probably
a first recension) (IV, 21 sqq., and ibid., 607 sqq.); fifty-nine homilies "On
the Psalms" (4-12, 41, 43-49, 108-117, 119-150) (V, 39-498), concerning
which see Chrys. Baur,
"Der ursprangliche Umfang des Kommentars des hl.
Joh. Chrysostomus zu den Psalmen" in Chrysostomika, fase. i
(Rome, 1908), 235-42, acommentary on the first chapters of
"Isaias" (VI, 11 sqq.). The fragments on Job (XIII, 503-65)
are spurious (see Haidacher, "Chrysostomus Fragmente" in Chrysostomika,
I, 217 sq.); the authenticity of the fragments on
theProverbs (XIII, 659-740),
on Jeremias and Daniel (VI, 193-246), and the Synopsis of the
Old and the New
Testament (ibid., 313 sqq.), is doubtful.
The chief commentaries on the New
Testament are first the ninetyhomilies on
"St. Matthew" (about the year 390; VII), eighty-eight homilies on
"St. John" (c. 389; VIII, 23 sqq. — probably from a later edition),
fifty-five homilies on
"the Acts" (as preserved by stenographers, IX, 13 sqq.), andhomilies "On
all Epistles of St. Paul" (IX, 391 sqq.). The best and most
important commentaries are those on thePsalms, on St. Matthew,
and on the Epistle to the Romans (written c. 391). The
thirty-four homilies on
the Epistle to the Galatians also very probably comes to us from the
hand of a second editor. (b) Among the "homiliesforming
connected groups", we may especially mention the five homilies "On
Anna" (IV, 631-76), three "On David" (ibid., 675-708), six
"On Ozias" (VI, 97-142), eight "Against the Jews" (II,
843-942), twelve "De Incomprehensibili Dei Naturæ" (ibid., 701-812),
and the seven famous homilies "On
St. Paul" (III, 473-514). (c) A great number of "single homilies"
deal with moral subjects, with certain feasts or saints.
(3) The "Letters" of Chrysostom (about 238 in number: III, 547 sqq.)
were all written during his exile. Of special value for their contents and
intimate nature are the seventeen letters to the deaconess Olympias.
Among the numerous "Apocrypha" we may mention
the liturgy attributed to Chrysostom, who perhaps modified, but did
not compose the ancient text. The most famous apocryphon is the
"Letter to Cæsarius" (III, 755-760). It contains a passage on
the holy Eucharist which seems to favour the theory of "impanatio",
and the disputes about it have continued for more than two centuries. The most
important spurious work in Latin is the "Opus imperfectum",
written by anArian in
the first half of the fifth century (see Th. Paas, "Das Opus imperfectum
in Matthæum", Tübingen, 1907).
Chrysostom's theological importance
Chrysostom as orator
The success of Chrysostom's preaching is chiefly due
to his great natural facility of speech, which was extraordinary even
to Greeks, to the abundance of his thoughts as well as the popular way of
presenting and illustrating them, and, last but not least, the whole-hearted
earnestness and conviction with which he delivered the message which he felt
had been given to him. Speculative explanation did not attract
his mind, nor would they have suited the tastes of his hearers. He
ordinarily preferred moral subjects, and very seldom in his sermons followed
a regular plan, nor did he care to avoid digressions when any opportunity
suggested them. In this way, he is by no means a model for our modern thematic
preaching, which, however we may regret it, has to such a great extent
supplanted the old homiletic method. But the frequent outbursts of
applause among his congregation may have told Chrysostom that he was on the
right path.
Chrysostom as an exegete
As an exegete Chrysostom
is of the highest importance, for he is the chief and almost the only
successful representative of the exegetical principles
of the School of Antioch. Diodorus
of Tarsus had initiated him into the grammatico-historical method of
that school,
which was in strong opposition to the eccentric, allegorical,
andmystical interpretation of Origen and
the Alexandrian School. But Chrysostom rightly avoided pushing his principles
to that extreme to which, later on, his friend Theodore
of Mopsuestia, the teacher of Nestorius, carried them. He did not even
exclude all allegorical or mystical explanations, but confined them
to the cases in which the inspired author himself suggests this
meaning.
Chrysostom as dogmatic theologian
As has already been said, Chrysostom's was not a
speculative mind, nor was he involved in his lifetime in
greatdogmatic controversies. Nevertheless it would be a mistake to
underrate the great theological treasures
hidden in his writings. From the very first he was considered by
the Greeks and Latins as a most
important witness to theFaith. Even at the Council of
Ephesus (431) both parties, St. Cyril and the Antiochians,
already invoked him on behalf of their opinions, and at the Seventh
Ecumenical Council, when a passage of Chrysostom had been read in favour of
the veneration of images, Bishop Peter of Nicomedia cried
out: "If John Chrysostom speaks in the way of the images, who
would dare to speak against them?" which shows clearly the progress his
authority had made up to that date.
Strangely enough, in the Latin
Church, Chrysostom was still earlier invoked as an authority on
matters of faith.
The first writer who quoted him was Pelagius,
when he wrote his lost book "De Naturæ" against St.
Augustine (c. 415). The Bishop of Hippo himself
very soon afterwards (421) claimed Chrysostom for the Catholic
teaching in his controversy with Julian
of Eclanum, who had opposed to him a passage of Chrysostom (from the
"Hom. ad Neophytos", preserved only in Latin) as being
against original
sin (see Chrys. Baur, "L'entrée littéraire de St.
Jean Chrys. dans le monde latin" in the "Revue d'histoire
ecclés.", VIII, 1907, 249-65). Again, at the time of the Reformation there
arose long and acrid discussions as to whether Chrysostom was a Protestant or
a Catholic,
and these polemics have never wholly ceased. It is true that
Chrysostom has some strange passages on our Blessed
Lady (see Newman,
"Certain difficulties felt
by Anglicans in Catholic Teachings", London, 1876, pp.
130 sqq.), that he seems to ignore private confession to
a priest,
that there is no clear and any direct passage in favour of
the primacy of the pope.
But it must be remembered that all the respective passages contain nothing
positive against the actual Catholic
doctrine. On the other side Chrysostom explicitly acknowledges as a rule
of faithtradition (XI, 488), as laid down by the authoritative
teaching of the Church (I,
813). This Church, he says, is but one, by the unity of
her doctrine (V,
244; XI, 554); she is spread over the whole world, she is the one Bride
ofChrist (III, 229, 403; V, 62; VIII, 170). As to Christology,
Chrysostom holds clearly that Christ is God and man in
one person,
but he never enters into deeper examination of the manner of this
union. Of great importance is hisdoctrine regarding
the Eucharist.
There cannot be the slightest doubt that
he teaches the Real
Presence, and his expressions on the change wrought by the words of
the priest are
equivalent to the doctrine of transubstantiation(see Naegle,
"Die Eucharistielehre des hl. Joh. Chry.", 74 sq.).
Sources
A complete analysis and critique of the enormous
literature on Chrysostom (from the sixteenth century to the twentieth) is given
in BAUR, S. Jean Chrysostome et ses oeuvres dans l'histoire litt raire (Paris
and Louvain, 1907), 223-297.
(1) LIFE OF CHRYSOSTOM. (a) Sources. — PALLADIUS,
Dialogue cum Theodoro, Ecclesioe Romanoe Diacono, de vit et conversatione b.
Joh. Chrysostomi (written c. 408; best source; ed. BIGOT, Paris, 1680; P.G.,
XLVII, 5-82) MARTYRIUS, Panegyricus in S. Joh. Chrysostomum (written c. 408;
ed. P.G., loc. cit., XLI-LII); SOCRATES, Church
History VI.2-23 and VII.23,
45 (P.G., LXVII, 661 sqq.); SOZOMENUS, Church
History VIII.2-28 (P.G., ibid., 1513 sqq.), more complete than
Socrates, on whom he is dependent; THEODORET, Church
History V.27; P.G., LXXXII, 1256-68, not always reliable; ZOSIMUS, V,
23-4 (ed. BEKKER, p. 278-80, Bonn. 1837), not trustworthy.
(b) Later Authors. — THEODORE OF THRIMITUS, (P.G.,
XLVII, col. 51-88), without value, written about the end of the seventh
century; (PSEUDO-) GEORGIUS ALEXANDRINUS, ed. SAVILE, Chrys. opera omnia (Eton,
1612), VIII, 157-265 (8th - 9th century); LEO IMPERATOR, Laudatio Chrys. (P.G.,
CVII, 228 sqq.); ANONYMUS, (ed. SAVILE, loc. cit., 293-371); SYMEON
METAPHRASTES, (P.G., CXIV, 1045-1209).
(c) Modern Biographies. — English: STEPHENS, Saint
John Chrysostom, his life and times, a sketch of the Church and the empire in
the fourth century (London, 1871; 2nd ed., London, 1880), the best English
biography, but it anglicanizes the doctrine of Chrysostom; BUSH, The Life and Times
of Chrysostom (London, 1885), a popular treatise. French: HERMANT, La Vie
de Saint Jean Chrysostome . . . divis e en 12 livres (Paris, 1664; 3rd ed.,
Paris, 1683), the first scientific biography; DE TILLEMONT, Mémoires pour
servir l'histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers siècles, XI, 1-405, 547-626
(important for the chronology); STILTING, De S. Jo. Chrysostomo . . .
Commentarius historicus in Acta SS., IV, Sept., 401-700 (1st ed., 1753), best
scientific biography in Latin; THIERRY, S. Jean Chrysostome et l'impératrice
Eudoxie (Paris, 1872; 3rd ed., Paris, 1889), "more romance than
history"; PUECH, Saint Jean Chrysostome (Paris, 1900); 5th ed., Paris,
1905), popular and to be read with caution. German: NEANDER, Der hl. Joh.
Chrysostomus und die Kirche, besonders des Orients, in dessen Zeitalter, 2
vols. (Berlin, 1821 - 22; 4th ed., Berlin 1858); first vol., translated into
English by STAPLETON (London, 1838), gives an account of the doctrine of
Chrysostom with Protestant views; LUDWIG, Der hl. Joh. Chrys. in seinem Verh
liniss zum byzantinischen Hof. (Braunsberg, 1883), scientific. Chrysostom as
orator: ALBERT, S. Jean Chrysostome considéré comme orateur populaire (Paris,
1858); ACKERMANN, Die Beredsamkeit des hl. Joh. Chrys. (Würzburg, 1889); cf.
WILLEY, Chrysostom: The Orator (Cincinnati, 1908), popular essay.
(2) CHRYSOSTOM'S WRITINGS. (a) Chronology. — See
TILLEMONT, STILTING, MONTFAUCON, Chrys. Opera omnia; USENER,
Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, I (Bonn, 1889), 514-40; RAUSCHEN, Jahrb
cher der christl. Kirche unter dem Kaiser Theodosius dem Grossen (Freiburg im
Br., 1897), 251-3, 277-9, 495-9; BATIFFOL, Revue bibl., VIII, 566-72; PARGOIRE,
Echos d'Orient, III 151-2; E. SCHARTZ, J dische und chrisl. Ostertafeln
(Berlin, 1905), 169-84.
(b) Authenticity. — HAIDACHER, Zeitschr. für Kath.
Theologie, XVIII-XXXII; IDEM, Deshl. Joh. Chrys. Buchlein ber Hoffart u.
Kindererziehung (Freiburg, im Br., 1907).
(3) CHRYSOSTOM'S DOCTRINE. MAYERUS, Chrysostomus
Lutheranus (Grimma, 1680: Wittenberg, 1686); HACKI, D. Jo. Chrysostomus . . . a
Lutheranismo . . . vindicatus (Oliva, 1683); F RSTER, Chrysostomus in seinem
Verh ltniss zur antiochen. Schule (Gotha, 1869); CHASE, Chrysostom, A Study in
the History of Biblical Interpretation (London, 1887); HAIDACHER, Die Lehre des
hl. Joh. Chrys. ber die Schriftinspiration (Salzburg, 1897); CHAPMAN, St.
Chrysostom on St. Peter in Dublin Review (1903), 1-27; NAEGLE, Die
Eucharistielehre des hl. Johannes Chrysostomus, des Doctor Eucharisti (Freiburg
im Br., 1900).
(4) EDITIONS. (a) Complete. — SAVILE (Eton, 1612), 8
volumes (the best text); DUCAEUS, (Paris, 1609-1636), 12 vols.; DE MONTFAUCON,
(Paris, 1718-1738), 13 vols.; MIGNE, P.G., XLVII - LXIII.
(b) Partial. — FIELD, Homilies in Matth. (Cambridge,
1839), 3 vols., best actual text reprinted in MIGNE, LVII - LVIII; IDEM,
Homilioe in omnes epistolas Pauli (Oxford, 1845-62), VII. The last critical
edition of the De Sacerdotio was edited by NAIRN (Cambridge, 1906). There exist
about 54 complete editions (in five languages), 86 percent special editions of
De Sacerdotio (in twelve languages), and the whole number of all (complete and
special) editions is greatly over 1000. The oldest editions are the Latin; of
which forty-six different incunabula editions (before the year 1500) exist. See DIODORUS
OF TARSUS, METETIUS OF ANTIOCH, ORIGENISTS, PALLADIUS, THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA.
Baur, Chrysostom. "St. John
Chrysostom." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1910.13 Sept.
2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08452b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Mike Humphrey.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October
1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08452b.htm
Anonymous (Byzantine Empire), Unidentified Saint and
Saint John Chrysostom, 10th century (Middle
Ages), ivory,
8 × 16.5 × 1, Walters Art Museum. This rectangular
plaque, which may once have decorated the side of a box, shows at the right St.
John Chrysostom (d. 407), archbishop of Constantinople and one of the great
authorities of the Orthodox Church, with his right hand raised in blessing. The
identity of the second saint remains uncertain, although his clothes, and
especially his tunic clasped at the shoulder, suggest that he was an early
martyr.
Golden
Legend – Life of Saint John Chrysostom
Here followeth the
Life of Saint John Chrysostom.
John Chrysostom was of Antioch, and was born of noble
kindred, of whom the life, the lineage, the conversation, and the persecution,
is more plainly contained in the History Tripartite. When he had been in the
study of philosophy, he left it and gave himself to the service of God, and was
made a priest.
And for the love of chastity he was reputed old, for he entended more to the
burning love of God than to the outerward debonairty, and for the righteousness
of his life he entended most to the things to come, and was deemed proud of
them that knew him not. He was noble in teaching, he was wise in expounding,
and right good in refraining of vain manners. Arcadius and Honorius reigned
then in the empire, and Damasus sat then in the see of Rome. And when
Chrysostom was made bishop of Constantinople, he began to correct hastily the
life of clerks, and therefore all they were moved and stirred to hate him, and
eschewed him as he had been a madman, and spake evil of him. And because he
would not bid them to dine and eat with him, ne would not eat with them, they
said that he did it because he ate his meat so foul, and the other said that he
did it for the excellence and noblesse of his meats. And the truth was because
that his stomach was oft sore and grieved, wherefore he eschewed the great
dinners and the feasts. And the people loved him much for the good sermons that
he made to them, and set little by that his enemies said. Then Chrysostom began
to reprove some of the barons, and therefore the envy was the more against him.
And yet he did other things that moved yet more. For Eutropius, provost of the
empire, which had the dignity of consul, would have avenged him on some that
fled to the church for succour, and studied that a law should be ordained by
the emperor that none should flee to the church, and that they that had been
therein tofore should be drawn out. And a little while after, Eutropius had
trespassed to the emperor, and fled anon to the church, and when the bishop
heard thereof, he came to him, which was hid under the altar, and made a homily
against him, in the which he reproved him right sharply. And therefore many
were wroth, because he would do no mercy to that cursed man, and yet he did
nothing but chide. And when the emperor saw his will, he made Eutropius to be
borne out of the church, and did do smite off his head. And he reproved sharply
many men for divers causes, and therefore he was hateful to many. And
Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, would have deposed John Chrysostom, and would
have set in his see Isidore the priest,
and therefore he sought diligently cause to depose him. And the people, that
were fed marvellously with the doctrine of Saint John, defended him strongly.
And John Chrysostom constrained the priests
to live after the holy ordinances of Holy Church, and said that they should not
use the honour of priesthood,
for they despised the life of a priest and
would not follow it. And John governed not only the bishopric of
Constantinople, but he ordained to the other provinces by authority of the
emperor such laws were much profitable. And then when he knew that yet the
people sacrificed about the other provinces to the devils, he sent thither
monks and clerks, and made them destroy all the temples of the idols.
In that same time was a man which was made master of
the chivalry, and was named Gaimas, of the lineage of Celtic barbarians, which
strongly was lifted up, and by study of tyranny was corrupt of the heresy Arian.
And that same Gaimas prayed the emperor that he would give to him a church
within the city for him and his to make in their prayers. And when the emperor
had granted him, he came to John Chrysostom for to have a church as was granted
to him by the emperor, but John, which was strong in virtue and all embraced in
the love of God, said to the emperor: Promise not, ne give no such thing, ne
holy thing unto dogs. And dread thee nothing of this barbarian, but command
that we both two be called tofore thee, and take heed what shall be said
between us both softly, for I shall so refrain him that he shall no more dare
demand such thing. And when the emperor heard this he was glad, and the next
day he did do call that one and that other. And as an orator required for him,
John said: The house of God is open in every place to thee, whereas no man is
warned to adore and pray. And he said: I am of another law, and make request
that I may have a temple for myself; for I have emprised many travails for the
common profit of Rome, and therefore I ought not to be warned of my petition.
And John said to him: Thou hast received many rewards which amount to more than
thy pains, and hast been made master of the knights, and clad with the
adornments of consul, and it behoveth thee to consider what thou wert late and
what thou art now, and thy rather poverty, and thy riches now, and what
clothing thou usedest tofore, and what array thou wearest now. And because that
a little labour hath given to thee so great rewards, be not now disagreeable to
him that hath so much honoured thee. And by such manner words he stopped his
mouth and constrained him to be still. And as Saint John governed nobly the
city of Constantinople, this same Gaimas coveted the empire, and because he
might do nothing by day he sent by night his barbarians for to burn the palace.
And then it was well showed how Saint John kept the city, for a great company
of angels, which had great bodies and were armed, appeared to the barbarians
and chased them away anon. And when they had told to their lord that which was
happed, he marvelled strongly, for he knew well that the host of the other
knights were spread in other cities. And then he sent them the second time, and
they were rechased again by the vision of the angels. And at the last he issued
himself with them and saw the miracle and fled, and supposed they had been
knights that had by day-time been within, and had watched by night. And then he
went to Tarsus with great strength, and wasted and destroyed all the country,
so that all the people dreaded the cruelty of the barbarians. And then the
emperor committed to Saint John the charge of his legation, and he, not
remembering the enmity between them, went forth joyously. And Gaimas, which
knew the truth of him, came to meet him on the way, for he knew well that he
came for pity, and took him by the hand, and kissed his mouth and his eyes, and
commanded his sons that they should kiss his holy knees. And he was of such
virtue and so holy that he constrained the most cruel men to dread him.
In this time when these things were done Saint John
flourished in Constantinople by doctrine, and was holden marvellous of all them
of the sect of the Arians, which then increased greatly. And they had a church
without the city, and on the Saturday and Sunday they would sing within the
gates, by night, hymns and anthems, and on the morn they would go through the
city singing anthems, and issued by the gates and entered into their church,
and ceased not to do thus in despite of christian men, and sung oft this song:
Where be they that say one only to be three things by his virtue? And then John
doubted that by this song simple men might be deceived, and ordained that the
good christian people should go by night with tapers, torches, and lanterns,
singing glorious hymns of the church that, the evil works of the others might
be destroyed, and the faith of the good men might be aflirmed. And did do make
crosses of gold and of silver which were borne, with tapers burning. And then
the sect of the Arians, embraced with envy rebelled unto the death, so that
Brison, on a night, which was chamberlain of the emperor, was smitten with a
stone, who was ordained by Saint John Chrysostom for to go with the hymns, and
of the people were many slain on that one party and on that other. Then the
emperor moved by these things, defended that the Arians should sing no more
hymns in common. And after, this holy man suffered great persecution for
righteousness and true doctrine, and was exiled and after repealed again. And
yet after, for envy he was exiled again. And so, after many a great labour and
noble doctrine he ended his life, being in exile, the fourteenth day of
September. And when he was passed, a strong hail fell in Constantinople upon
the city and upon the suburbs, which did much harm, and then all the people
said it was done by wrath of God for the wrongful exiling and condemning of the
holy man Saint John Chrysostom, and that was showed well by the death of the
empress, his greatest enemy, which died the fourth day after the hail. And when
this noble doctor of the church was passed out of
this world, the bishops of the west would in no wise commune ne have to do with
the bishops of the east till that, the name of that holy man Saint John was set
among the bishops his predecessors. And then Theodosius, a right good christian
man, son of the said emperor, which held the name and party of his grandsire,
did do bring the holy relics of this doctor in to the royal city with tapers
and lights. Then Theodosius did do put and bury the said body of Saint John
Chrysostom in the church of Saint Sophia in the month of January. And all the
people went to meet with it, and accompanied it with torches and lights. And
then Theodosius worshipped devoutly the holy relics, and visited oft his
sepulchre, praying to the holy saint to pardon Arcadius his father, and Eudoxia
his mother, and to forgive them that they had done ignorantly against him. And
they were dead long tofore. This emperor was of so great debonairty that he
judged no man to death that had offended him, and said that his will was to
call the dead to life again if he might. It seemed that his court was a
monastery, for therein were said continually matins and lauds, and he read the
books divine. And his wife was called Eudoxia, he had also a daughter named
Eudoxia whom he gare to wife to Valentinian, whom he made emperor. And all these
things be written more plainly in the History Tripartite. And this holy holy
man Saint John Chrysostom passed about the year of our Lord three hundred and
ninety.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/golden-legend-life-of-saint-john-chrysostom/
Saint John Chrysostom, miniature, Liturgies of John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, Dujcev Research Centre - Sofia, Gr. 64, fol. 1v
January 27
St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, and
Doctor of the Church
From Socrates, Theodoret, and other historians: as
also from the saint’s works; and his life, written by way of dialogue, with
great fidelity, by his friend and strenuous advocate Palladius, a holy bishop,
but a distinct person from Palladius the bishop of Helenopolis, and author of
the Lausiac history, who was then young, and is evidently distinguished by this
writer in many places, as Tillemont, Moutfaucon, and Stilting, show against
Baillet and others; though also Palladius, bishop of Helenopolis, exerted
himself in defence of St. Chrysostom. Palladius, author of the Dialogue on the
Life of St. Chrysostom, was never accused of Origenism except by those who, at
least in the proofs alleged for this charge, confounded him with the bishop of
Helenopolis. F. Stilting clears also the latter from the charge of Origenism,
and answers the arguments produced by Baronius against him. Comm. Hist. s. 1.
p. 404. The later Greek panegyrists, George, patriarch of Alexandria, in 620,
the Emperor Leo the Wise, in 890, &c. deserve very little notice. See the
life of our saint compiled by Dom Montfaucon. Op. T. 13. And lastly the accurate
commentary on his life given by F. Stilting the Bollandist, on the 14th of
September, from p. 401 to 709, T. 4.
THIS
incomparable doctor, on account of the fluency and sweetness of his eloquence,
obtained soon after his death the surname of Chrysostom or Golden Mouth, which
we find given him by St. Ephrem of Antioch, Theodoret, and Cassiodorus. But his
tender piety, and his undaunted courage and zeal in the cause of virtue, are
titles far more glorious, by which he holds an eminent place among the greatest
pastors and saints of the church. About the year 344, according to F. Stilting,
Antioch, the capital city of the East, was ennobled by his illustrious birth.
He had one elder sister, and was the only son and heir of Secundus, master of
the horse, that is, chief commander of the imperial troops in Syria. His mother
Anthusa, left a widow at twenty years of age, continued such the remainder of
her life, dividing her time between the care of her family and the exercises of
devotion. Her example in this respect made such an impression on our saint’s
master, a celebrated pagan sophist, that he could not forbear crying out: “What
wonderful women have the Christians!” 1 She managed the estate of her
children with great prudence and frugality, knowing this to be part of her duty
to God, but she was sensible that their spiritual instruction in virtue was of
infinitely greater importance. From their cradle she instilled into them the most
perfect maxims of piety, and contempt of the world. The ancient Romans dreaded
nothing more in the education of youth, than their being ill-taught the first
principles of the sciences; it being more difficult to unlearn the errors then
imbibed, than to begin on a mere tabula rasa, or blank paper. Wherefore Anthusa
provided her son the ablest masters in every branch of literature, which the
empire at that time afforded. Eloquence was esteemed the highest
accomplishment, especially among the nobility, and was the surest means of
raising men to the first dignities in the state. John studied that art under
Libanius, the most famous orator of that age; and such was his proficiency,
that even in his youth he excelled his masters. Libanius being asked by his pagan
friends on his death-bed, about the year 390, who should succeed him in his
school: “John,” said he, “had not the Christians stolen him from us.” 2 Our saint was then priest.
Whilst he was only a scholar, that sophist one day read to an assembly of
orators a declamation composed by him, and it was received with unusual tokens
of admiration and applause. Libanius pronounced the young orator happy, “as
were also the emperors,” he said, “who reigned at a time when the world was
possessed of so great a treasure.” 3 The progress of the young
scholar in Philosophy, under Andragatius, was no less rapid and surprising; his
genius shone in every disputation. All this time his principal care was to
study Christ, and to learn his spirit. He laid a solid foundation of virtue, by
perfect humility, self-denial, and a complete victory over himself. Though
naturally hot and inclined to anger, he had extinguished all emotions of
passion in his breast. 4 His modesty, meekness, tender
charity, and singular discretion, rendered him the delight of all he conversed
with.The first dignities of the empire were open to John. But his principal
desire was to dedicate himself to God, without reserve, in holy solitude.
However, not being yet twenty years of age, he for some time pleaded at the
bar. In that employment he was drawn by company into the diversions of the
world, and sometimes assisted at the entertainments of the stage. His virtue
was in imminent danger of splitting against that fatal rock, when God opened
his eyes. He was struck with horror at the sight of the precipice upon the
brink of which he stood; and not content to flee from it himself, he never
ceased to bewail his blindness, and took every occasion to caution the faithful
against that lurking place of hellish sirens, but more particularly in his
vehement sermons against
the
stage. Alarmed at the danger he had narrowly escaped, full of gratitude to God
his deliverer, and to prevent the like danger for the time to come, he was
determined to carry his resolution of renouncing the world into immediate
execution. He began by the change of his garb, to rid himself the more easily
of the importunities of friends: for a penitential habit is not only a means
for preserving a spirit of mortification and humility, but is also a public
sign and declaration to the world, that a person has turned his back on its
vanities, and is engaged in an irreconcilable war against them. His clothing
was a coarse gray coat; he watched much, fasted every day, and spent the
greater part of his time in prayer and meditation on the holy scriptures: his
bed was no other than the hard floor. In subduing his passions, he found none
of so difficult a conquest as vain-glory; 5 this enemy he disarmed by
embracing every kind of public humiliation. The clamours of his old friends and
admirers, who were incensed at his leaving them, and pursued him with their
invectives and censures, were as arrows shot at random. John took no manner of
notice of them: he rejoiced in contempt, and despised the frowns of a world
whose flatteries he dreaded: Christ crucified was the only object of his heart,
and nothing could make him look back after he had put his hand to the plough.
His progress in virtue was answerable to his zealous endeavours.
St.
Meletius, bishop of Antioch, called the young ascetic to the service of the
church, gave him suitable instructions, during three years, in his own palace,
and ordained him Reader. John had learned the art of silence, in his
retirement, with far greater application than he had before studied that of
speaking. This he discovered when he appeared again in the world, though no man
ever possessed a greater fluency of speech, or a more ready and enchanting
eloquence, joined with the most solid judgment and a rich fund of knowledge and
good sense; yet in company he observed a modest silence, and regarded
talkativeness as an enemy to the interior recollection of the heart, as a
source of many sins and indiscretions, and as a mark of vanity and
self-conceit. He heard the words of the wise with the humble docility of a
scholar, and he bore the impertinence, trifles, and blunders of fools in
discourse, not to interrupt the attention of his soul to God, or to make an
ostentatious show of his eloquence or science: yet with spiritual persons he
conversed freely on heavenly things, especially with a pious friend named
Basil, one of the same age and inclinations with himself, who had been his most
beloved school-fellow, and who forsook the world to embrace a monastic life, a
little before our saint. After three years, he left the bishop’s house to
satisfy the importunities of his mother, but continued the same manner of life
in her house, during the space of two years. He still saw frequently his friend
Basil, and he prevailed on two of his school-fellows under Libanius to embrace
an ascetic life, Theodorus, afterwards bishop of Mopsuestia, and Maximus,
bishop of Seleucia. The former returned in a short time to the bar, and fell in
love with a young lady called Hermione. John lamented his fall with bitter
tears before God, and brought him back to his holy institute by two tender and
pathetic exhortations to penance, “which breath an eloquence above the power of
what seems merely human,” says Sozomen. Not long after, hearing that the
bishops of the province were assembled at Antioch, and deliberating to raise
him and Basil to the episcopal dignity, he privately withdrew, and lay hidden
till the vacant sees were filled. Basil was made bishop of Raphanæa near
Antioch; and had no other resource in his grief for his promotion, but in tears
and complaints against his friend who had betrayed him into so perilous a
charge. John being then twenty-six years old, wrote to him in his own
justification six incomparable books, Of the Priesthood.
Four
years after, in 374, he retired into the mountains near Antioch, among certain
holy anchorets who peopled them, and whose manner of life is thus described by
our saint. 6 They devoted all the morning to
prayer, pious reading, and meditating on the holy scriptures. Their food was
bread with a little salt; some added oil, and those who were very weak, a few
herbs or pulse; no one ever eat before sun-set. After the refection it was allowed
to converse with one another, but only on heavenly things. They always closed
their night prayers,. with the remembrance of the last judgment, to excite
themselves to a constant watchfulness and preparation; which practice St.
Chrysostom earnestly recommends to all Christians with the evening examination. 7 These monks had no other bed
than a mat spread on the bare ground. Their garments were made of the rough
hair of goats or camels, or of old skins, and such as the poorest beggars would
not wear, though some of them were of the richest families, and had been
tenderly brought up. They wore no shoes; no one possessed any thing as his own;
even their poor necessaries were all in common. They inherited their estates
only to distribute them among the poor; and on them, and in hospitality to
strangers, they bestowed all the spare profits of their work. They all used the
same food, wore a uniform habit, and by charity were all of one heart. The cold
words mine and thine, the baneful source of law-suits and animosities among
men, were banished from their cellsThey rose at the first crowing of the cock,
that is, at midnight, being called up by the superior; and after the morning
hymns and psalms, that is, matins and lauds, all remained in their private
cells, where they read the holy scriptures, and some copied books. All met in
the church at the canonical hours of tierce, sext, none, and vespers, but
returned to their cells, none being allowed to speak, to jest, or to be one
moment idle. The time which others spend at table, or in diversions, they
employed in honouring God; even their meal took up very little time, and after
a short sleep, (according to the custom of hot countries,) they resumed their
exercises, conversing not with men, but with God, with the prophets and
apostles in their writings and pious meditation; and spiritual things were the
only subjects of their entertainment. For corporal exercise they employed
themselves in some mean manual labour, such as entertained them in humility,
and could not inspire vanity or pride: they made baskets, tilled and watered
the earth, hewed wood, attended the kitchen, washed the feet of all strangers,
and waited on them without distinction whether they were rich or poor. The
saint adds, that anger, jealousy, envy, grief, and anxiety for worldly goods
and concerns, were unknown in these poor cells; and he assures us, that the
constant peace, joy, and pleasure which reigned in them, were as different from
the bitterness and tumultuous scenes of the most brilliant worldly felicity, as
the security and calmness of the most agreeable harbour are, from the dangers
and agitation of the most tempestuous ocean. Such was the rule of these
cenobites, or monks who lived in community. There were also hermits on the same
mountains who lay on ashes, wore sack-cloth, and shut themselves up in
frightful caverns, practising more extraordinary austerities. Our saint was at
first apprehensive that he should find it an insupportable difficulty to live
without fresh bread, use the same stinking oil for his food and for his lamp,
and inure his body to hard labour under such great austerities. 8 But by courageously despising
his apprehension, in consequence of a resolution to spare nothing by which he
might learn perfectly to die to himself, he found the difficulty entirely to
vanish in the execution. Experience shows that in such undertakings, the imagination
is alarmed not so much by realities as phantoms, which vanish before a
courageous heart which can look them in the face with contempt. Abbot Rancé,
the reformer of la Trappe, found more difficulty in the thought of rising
without a fire in winter, in the beginning of his conversion, than he did in
the greatest severities which he afterwards practised. St. Chrysostom passed
four years under the conduct of a veteran Syrian monk, and afterwards two years
in a cave as a hermit. The dampness of this abode brought on him a dangerous
distemper, and for the recovery of his health he was obliged to return into the
city. By this means he was restored to the service of the church in 381, for
the benefit of innumerable souls. He was ordained deacon by St. Meletius that
very year, and priest by Flavian in 386, who at the same time constituted him
his vicar and preacher, our saint being then in the forty-third year of his
age. 9 He discharged all the duties of
that arduous station during twelve years, being the hand and the eye of his
bishop, and his mouth to his flock. The instruction and care of the poor he
regarded as his first obligation; this he always made his favourite employment
and his delight. He never ceased in his sermons to recommend their cause and
the precept of almsdeeds to the people. Antioch, he supposes, contained at that
time one hundred thousand Christian souls; all these he fed with the word of
God, preaching several days in the week, and frequently several times on the
same day. He confounded the Jews and pagans, also the Anomæans, and other
heretics. He abolished the most inveterate abuses, repressed vice, and changed
the whole face of that great city. It seemed as if nothing could withstand the
united power of his eloquence, zeal, and piety.Theodosius I. finding himself
obliged to levy a new tax on his subjects, on occasion of his war with Maximus,
who had usurped the Western empire in 387, the populace of Antioch, provoked at
the demand, mutinied, and discharged their rage on the emperor’s statue, those
of his father, his two sons, and his late consort Flavilla; dragged them with
ropes through the streets, and then broke them to pieces. The magistrates durst
not oppose the rabble in their excesses. But as soon as their fury was over,
and that they began to reflect on what they had been guilty of, and the natural
consequences of their extravagances, they were all seized with such terror and
consternation, that many abandoned the city, others absconded, and scarcely any
durst appear publicly in the streets. The magistrates in the mean time were
filling the prisons with citizens, in order to their trials, on account of
their respective share in the combustion. Their fears were heightened on the
arrival of two officers despatched from Constantinople to execute the emperor’s
orders with regard to the punishment of the rioters. The reports which were
spread abroad on this occasion imported, that the emperor would cause the
guilty to be burned alive, would confiscate their estates, and level the city
with the ground. The consternation alone was a greater torment than the
execution itself could have been. Flavian, notwithstanding his very advanced
age, and though his sister was dying when he left her, set out without delay in
a very severe season of the year, to implore the emperor’s clemency in favour
of his flock. Being come to the palace, and admitted into the emperor’s
presence, he no sooner perceived that prince but he stopped at a distance,
holding down his head, covering his face, and speaking only by his tears, as
though himself had been guilty. Thus he remained for some time. The emperor
seeing him in this condition, carrying as it were the weight of the public
guilt in his breast, instead of employing harsh reproaches, as Flavian might
naturally have expected, summed up the many favours he had conferred on that
city, and said at the conclusion of each article: “Is this the acknowledgment I
had reason to expect? Is this their return for my love? What cause of complaint
had they against me? Had I ever injured them? But granting that I had, what can
they allege for extending their insolence even to the dead? Had they received
any wrong from them? Why were they to be insulted too? What tenderness have I
not shown on all occasions for their city? Is it not notorious that I have
given it the preference in my love and esteem to all others, even to that which
gave me birth? Did not I always express a longing desire to see it, and that it
gave me the highest satisfaction to think I should soon be in a condition of
taking a journey for this purpose?”
Then
the holy bishop, being unable to bear such stinging reproaches or vindicate
their conduct, made answer: “We acknowledge, Sir, that you have on all
occasions favoured us with the greatest demonstrations of your singular
affection; and this it is that enhances both our crime and our grief, that we
should have carried our ingratitude to such a pitch as to have offended our
best friend and greatest benefactor: hence whatever punishment you may inflict
upon us, it will still fall short of what we deserve. But alas! the evil we
have done ourselves is worse than innumerable deaths: for what can be more
afflicting than to live, in the judgment of all mankind, guilty of the blackest
ingratitude, and to see ourselves deprived of your sweet and gracious
protection, which was our bulwark? We dare not look any man in the face; no,
not the sun itself. But as great as our misery is, it is not irremediable; for
it is in your power to remove it. Great affronts among private men have often
been the occasion of great charity. When the devil’s envy had destroyed man,
God’s mercy restored him. That wicked spirit, jealous of our city’s happiness,
has plunged her into this abyss of evils, out of which you alone can rescue
her. It is your affection, I dare say it, which has brought them upon us, by
exciting the jealousy of the wicked spirits against us. But like God himself,
you may draw infinite good out of the evil which they intended us. If you spare
us, you are revenged on them.
Your
clemency on this occasion will be more honourable to you than your most
celebrated victories. It will adorn your head with a far brighter diadem than
that which you wear, as it will be the fruit only of your own virtue. Your
statues have been thrown down: if you pardon this insult, you will raise
yourself others, not of marble or brass, which time destroys, but such as will
exist eternally in the hearts of all those who will hear of this action. Your
predecessor, Constantine the Great, when importuned by his courtiers to exert
his vengeance on some seditious people who had disfigured his statues by
throwing stones at them, did nothing more than stroke his face with his hand,
and told them smiling, that he did not feel himself hurt. This his saying is
yet in the mouths of all men, and is a more illustrious trophy to his memory
than all the cities which he built, or all the barbarous nations which he
subdued. Remember your own memorable saying, when you ordered the prisons to be
opened, and the criminals to be pardoned at the feast of Easter: ‘Would to God
I were able in the same manner to open the graves, and restore the dead to
life!’ That time is now come. Here is a city whose inhabitants are already
dead; and is, as it were, at the gates of its sepulchre. Raise it then, as it
is in your power to do, without cost or labour. A word will suffice. Suffer it
by your clemency to be still named among the living cities. It will then owe
more to you than to its very founder. He built it small, you will raise it
great and populous. To have preserved it from being destroyed by barbarians
would not have been so great an exploit, as to spare it on such an occasion as
now offers.
Neither
is the preservation of an illustrious city the only thing to be considered;
your own glory, and, above all, the honour of the Christian religion are highly
interested in this affair. The Jews and pagans, all barbarous nations, nay, the
whole world, have their eyes fixed on you at this critical juncture; all are
waiting for the judgment you will pronounce. If it be favourable, they will be
filled with admiration, and will agree to praise and worship that God, who
checks the anger of those who acknowledge no master upon earth, and who can
transform men into angels; they will embrace that religion which teaches such
sublime morality. Listen not to those who will object that your clemency on
this occasion may be attended with, and give encouragement to, the like
disorders in other cities. That could only happen, if you spared for want of a
power to chastise: but whereas you do not divest yourself by such an act of
clemency of this power, and as by it you endear and rivet yourself the more in
the affections of your subjects, this, instead of encouraging such insults and
disorders, will rather the more effectually prevent them. Neither immense sums
of money, nor innumerable armies could ever have gained you so much the hearts
of your subjects and their prayers for your person and empire, as will this
single action. And if you stand fair for being such a gainer from men, what
rewards may you not reasonably expect from God? It is easy for a master to
punish, but rare and difficult to pardon.
It
will be extremely glorious to you to have granted this pardon at the request of
a minister of the Lord, and it will convince the world of your piety, in that
you overlooked the unworthiness of his person, and respected only the power and
authority of that master who sent him. For though deputed immediately by the
inhabitants of Antioch to deprecate your just displeasure on this occasion, it
is not only in their name that I appear in this place, for I am come from the
sovereign Lord of men and angels to declare to you in his name, that if you
pardon men their faults, he will forgive you your sins. Call to mind then that
dreadful day on which we shall all be summoned to give in an account of all our
actions. Reflect on your having it now in your power, without pain or labour,
to efface your sins, and to find mercy at that terrible tribunal. You are about
to pronounce your own sentence. Other ambassadors bring gold, silver, and other
like presents, but as for me, I offer nothing but the law of God, and entreat
you to imitate his example on the cross.” He concluded his harangue by assuring
the emperor that if he refused to pardon the city, he would never more return
to it, nor look upon that city as his country, which a prince of his humane
disposition could not prevail upon himself to pardon.
This
discourse had its desired effect on the emperor, who with much difficulty
suppressed his tears while the bishop spoke, whom he answered in these few
words: “If Jesus Christ, the Lord of all things, vouchsafed to pardon and pray
for those very men that crucified him, ought I to hesitate to pardon them who
have offended me? I, who am but a mortal man like them, and a servant of the
same master.” The patriarch, overjoyed at his success, prostrated himself at
the emperor’s feet, wishing him a reward for such an action suitable to its
merit. And whereas the prelate made an offer of passing the feast of Easter
with the emperor at Constantinople, he, to testify how sincerely he was
reconciled to the city of Antioch, urged his immediate return, saying: “Go,
Father, delay not a moment the consolation your people will receive at your
return, by communicating to them the assurance of the pardon I grant them; I
know they must be in great affliction.” The bishop set out accordingly; but, to
delay as little as possible the joy of the citizens, he despatched a courier
before him with the emperor’s letter of pardon, which produced a comfortable
change in the face of affairs. The bishop himself arrived time enough before
Easter to keep that solemnity with his people. The joy and triumph of that city
could not be greater; it is elegantly described by St. Chrysostom, extolling
above all things the humility and modesty of Flavian, who attributed the whole
change of Theodosius’s mind, and all the glory of the action to God alone. The
discourse which Flavian addressed to the emperor, except the introduction, had
been composed by St. Chrysostom, who recited it to the people to comfort them,
and ceased not strongly to exhort them to penance, and the fervent exercise of
good works, during the whole time of their bishop’s absence. 10 After this storm our saint
continued his labours with unwearied zeal, and was the honour, the delight, and
the darling not of Antioch only, but of all the East, and his reputation spread
itself over the whole empire. 11 But God was pleased to call him
to glorify his name on a new theatre, where he prepared for his virtue other
trials, and other crowns.
St.
Chrysostom had been five years deacon, and twelve years priest, when Nectarius,
bishop of Constantinople, dying in 397, the emperor Arcadius, at the suggestion
of Eutropius the eunuch, his chamberlain, resolved to procure the election of
our saint to the patriarchate of that city. He therefore despatched a secret
order to the Count of the East, enjoining him to send John to Constantinople,
but by some stratagem; lest his intended removal, if known at Antioch, should
cause a sedition, and be rendered impracticable. The Count repaired to Antioch,
and desiring the saint to accompany him out of the city to the tombs of the
martyrs, on the pretence of devotion, he there delivered him into the hands of
an officer sent on purpose, who, taking him into his chariot, conveyed him with
all possible speed to the imperial city. Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, a
man of a proud and turbulent spirit, was come thither to recommend a creature
of his own to that dignity. He endeavoured by illegal practices secretly to
traverse the canonical promotion of our saint; but was detected, and threatened
to be accused in a synod. Whereupon he was glad to desist from his intrigues,
and thus John was consecrated by him on the 26th of February, in 398. 12 In regulating his own conduct
and his domestic concerns, he retrenched all the great expenses which his
predecessors had entailed on their dignity, which he looked upon as superfluous,
and an excessive prodigality, and these sums he applied to the relief of the
poor, especially of the sick. For this purpose he erected and maintained
numerous hospitals, under the government of holy and charitable priests, and
was very careful that all the servants and attendants were persons of great
virtue, tenderness, compassion, and prudence. His own family being settled in
good order, the next thing he took in hand after his promotion was the
reformation of his clergy. This he forwarded by zealous exhortations and proper
rules for their conduct, tending both to their sanctification and exemplarity.
And to give these his endeavours their due force, he lived an exact model of
what he inculcated to others: but his zeal exasperated the tepid part of that
order, and raised a storm against himself. The immodesty of women in their
dress in that gay capital, excited in him sentiments of the most just
abhorrence and indignation. Some young ladies seemed to have forgotten that
clothing is the covering of the ignominy of sin, and ought to be an instrument
of penance, and a motive of confusion and tears, not of vanity. But the
exhortations of St. Chrysostom moved many to despise and lay aside the use of
purple, silks, and jewels. It was a far more intolerable scandal that some
neglected to cover their necks, or used such thin veils as served only to
invite the eyes of others more boldly. Our saint represented to such persons
that they were in some respects worse than public prostitutes: for these hide
their baits at home only for the wicked: “but you,” said he, “carry your snare
every where, and spread your nets publicly in all places. You allege, that you
never invited others to sin. You did not by your tongue, but you have done it
by your dress and deportment more effectually than you could by your voice:
when you have.made another to sin in his heart, how can you be innocent? You
sharpened and drew the sword: you gave the thrust by which the soul is wounded. 13 Tell me whom does the world
condemn? whom do judges punish? Those who drink the poison, or those who
prepare and give the fatal draught? You have mingled the execrable cup; you
have administered the potion of death; you are so much more criminal than
poisoners, as the death which you cause is the more terrible; for you murder
not the body, but the soul. Nor do you do this to enemies; nor compelled by
necessity, nor provoked by an injury; but out of a foolish vanity and pride.
You sport yourselves in the ruin of the souls of others, and make their
spiritual death your pastime.” Hence he infers, how false and absurd their
excuse is in saying, they mean no harm. These and many other scandals he
abolished. He suppressed the wicked custom of swearing, first at Antioch, then
at Constantinople. By the invincible power of his eloquence and zeal he tamed
the fiercest sinners, and changed them into meek lambs: he converted an
incredible number of idolators and heretics. 14 His mildness towards sinners
was censured by the Novatians; he invited them to repentance with the
compassion of the most tender father, and was accustomed to cry out: “If you
are fallen a second time, or even a thousand times into sin, come to me, and
you shall be healed.” 15 But he was firm and severe in
maintaining discipline though without harshness; to impenitent sinners he was
inflexible
To
mention one instance of the success of his holy zeal out of the many which his
sermons furnish; in the year 399, the second of his episcopacy, on Wednesday in
Holy Week, so violent a rain fell as to endanger the corn, and threaten the
whole produce of the country. Hereupon public processions were made to the
church of the apostles by the bishop and people, to avert the scourge by
imploring the intercession chiefly of St. Peter, St. Andrew, (who is regarded
as the founder of the church of Byzantium,) St. Paul, and St. Timothy. 16 The rain ceased, but not their
fears. Therefore they all crossed the Bosphorus to the church of SS. Peter and
Paul, on the opposite side of the water. This danger was scarcely over when on
the Friday following many ran to see certain horse-races, and on Holy Saturday
to games exhibited at the theatre. The good bishop was pierced to the quick
with grief, and on the next day, Easter-Sunday, preached a most zealous and
eloquent sermon, against the Games and Shows of the Theatre and Circus.
Indignation made him not so much as mention the paschal solemnity; but by an
abrupt exordium he burst into the most vehement pathos, as follows: “Are these
things to be borne? Can they be tolerated? I appeal to yourselves, be you your
own judges.” Thus did God expostulate with the Jews. 17 This exclamation he often
repeated to assuage his grief.
He
put the people in mind of the sanctity of our faith; of the rigorous account we
must give to God of all our moments, and the obligation of serving him
incumbent on us from his benefits, who has made for us the heaven and earth,
the sun, light, rivers, &c. The saint grieved the more, because, after all,
they said they had done no harm, though they had murdered not only their own
souls, but also those of their children. “And how will you,” said he, “after
this, approach the holy place? How will you touch the heavenly food? Even now
do I see you overwhelmed with grief, and covered with confusion. I see some
striking their foreheads, perhaps those who have not sinned, but are moved with
compassion for their brethren. On this account do I grieve and suffer, that the
devil should make such a havoc in such a flock. But if you join with me, we
will shut him out. By what means? If we seek out the wounded, and snatch them
out of his jaws. Do not tell me their number is but small: though they are but
ten, this is a great loss: though but five, but two, or only one. The shepherd
leaving ninety-nine, did not return till he had completed his number by
recovering that sheep which was lost. Do not say, it is only one; but remember
that it is a soul for which all things visible were made; for which laws were
given, miracles wrought, and mysteries effected: for which God spared not his
only Son. Think how great a price hath been paid for this one sheep, and bring
him back to the fold. If he neither hears your persuasions nor my exhortations,
I will employ the authority with which God hath invested me.” He proceeds to
declare such excommunicated. The consternation and penance of the city made the
holy pastor forbear any further censure, and to commend their conversion.
Palladius writes that he had the satisfaction to see those who had been most
passionately fond of the entertainments of the stage and circus, moved by his
sermons on that subject, entirely renounce those schools of the devil. God is
more glorified by one perfect soul than by many who serve him with tepidity.
Therefore, though every individual of his large flock was an object of his most
tender affection and pastoral concern, those were particularly so, who had
secluded themselves from the world, by embracing a religious state of life, the
holy virgins and nuns. Describing their method of life, he says, 18 their clothing was sackcloth,
and their beds only mats spread on the floor; that they watched part of the
night in prayer, walked barefoot, never ate before evening, and never touched
so much as bread, using no other food than pulse and herbs, and that they were
always occupied in prayer, manual labour, or serving the sick of their own sex.
The spiritual mother, and the sun of this holy company, St. Nicareta, is
honoured December the 27th. Among the holy widows who dedicated themselves to
God under the direction of this great master of saints, the most illustrious
were the truly noble ladies St. Olympias, Salvina, Procula, and Pantadia. This
last (who was the widow of Timasus, formerly the first minister to the emperor)
was constituted by him deaconess of the church of Constantinople. Widows he
considered as by their state called to a life of penance, retirement, and
devotion; and he spared no exhortations or endeavours to engage them faithfully
to correspond to the divine grace, according to the advice which St. Paul gives
them. 19 St. Olympias claimed the
privilege of furnishing the expenses of the saint’s frugal table. He usually
ate alone; few would have been willing to dine so late, or so coarsely and
sparingly as he did; and he chose this to save both time and expenses: but he kept
another table in a house near his palace, for the entertainment of strangers,
which he took care should be decently supplied. He inveighed exceedingly
against sumptuous banquets. All his revenues he laid out on the poor; for whose
relief he sold the rich furniture which Nectarius had left, and once, in a
great dearth, he caused some of the sacred vessels to be melted down for that
purpose. This action was condemned by Theophilus, but is justly regarded by St.
Austin as a high commendation of our holy prelate. Besides the public hospital
near his cathedral, and several others which he founded and maintained, he
erected two for strangers. His own patrimony he had given to the poor long
before, at Antioch. His extraordinary charities obtained him the name of John
of Almsdeeds. 20 The spiritual necessities of
his neighbour were objects of far greater compassion to his tender charity. His
diocess, nay, the whole world, he considered as a great hospital of souls,
spiritually blind, deaf, sick, and in danger of perishing eternally; many
standing on the brink, many daily falling from the frightful precipice into the
unquenchable lake. Not content with tears and supplications to the Father of mercies
for their salvation, he was indefatigable in labours and in every endeavour to
open their eyes; feared no dangers, no, not death itself in its most frightful
shapes, to succour them in their spiritual necessities, and prevent their fall.
Neither was this pastoral care confined to his own flock or nation: he extended
it to the remotest countries. He sent a bishop to instruct the Nomades or
wandering Scythians: another, an admirable man, to the Goths. Palestine,
Persia, and many other distant provinces felt the most beneficent influence of
his zeal. He was himself endued with an eminent spirit of prayer: this he knew
to be the great channel of heavenly graces, the cleanser of the affections of
the soul from earthly dross, and the means which renders them spiritual and
heavenly, and makes men angels, even in their mortal body. He was therefore
particularly earnest in inculcating this duty, and in instructing others in the
manner of performing it.
He
warmly exhorted the laity to rise to the midnight office of matins together
with the clergy: “Many artizans,” said he, “watch to labour, and soldiers watch
as sentries; and cannot you do as much to praise God?” 21 He observes, that the silence
of the night is peculiarly adapted to devout prayer, and the sighs of
compunction: which exercise we ought never to interrupt too long; and by
watching, prayer becomes more earnest and powerful. Women he will not have to
go easily abroad to church in the night-time; but advises that even children
rise in the night to say a short prayer, and as they cannot watch long, be put
to bed again: for thus they will contract from their infancy a habit of
watching, and a Christian’s whole house will be converted into a church. The
advantages and necessity of assiduous prayer he often recommends with singular
energy; but he expresses himself on no subject with greater tenderness and
force than on the excess of the divine love, which is displayed in the Holy
Eucharist, and in exhorting the faithful to the frequent use of that heavenly
sacrament. St. Proclus says, 22 that he abridged the liturgy of
his church. St. Nilus 23 assures us, that he was often
favoured with visions of angels in the church during the canonical hours,
surrounding the altars in troops during the celebration of the divine
mysteries, and at the communion of the people. The saint himself confidently
avers, that this happens at those times, 24 which he confirms be the
visions of several hermits.
The
public concerns of the state often called on the saint to afford the spiritual
succours of his zeal and charity. Eutropius was then at the head of affairs. He
was an eunuch, and originally a slave; but had worked himself into favour with
the emperor Arcadius. In 395 he was instrumental in cutting off Rufinus, the
chief minister, who had broke out into an open rebellion, and he succeeded the
traitor in all his honours: golden statues were erected to him in several parts
of the city, and what Claudian, Marcellinus in his chronicle, Suidas, and others,
represent as the most monstrous event that occurs in the Roman Fasti, was
declared consul, though an eunuch. Being placed on so high a pinnacle, a
situation but too apt to turn the strongest head, forgetful of himself and the
indispensable rules of decency and prudence, it was not long before he
surpassed his predecessor in insolence, ambition, and covetousness. Wholesome
advice even from a Chrysostom, served only to exasperate a heart devoted to the
world, and open to flatterers, who added continually new flames to its
passions. In the mean time the murmurs and indignation of the whole empire at
the pride and avarice of Eutropius, were a secret to him, till the pit was
prepared for his fall. Gainas, general of the auxiliary Goths in the imperial
army, was stirred up to revenge an affront which his cousin Trigibildus, a
tribune, had received from the haughty minister. At the same time the empress
Eudoxia, having been insulted by him, ran to the emperor, carrying her two
little babes in her arms, and cried out for justice against the insolent
servant. Arcadius, who was as weak in abandoning as he was imprudent in
choosing favourites, gave orders that the minister should be driven out of the
court, and his estates confiscated. Eutropius found himself in a moment
forsaken by all the herds of his admirers and flatterers, without one single
friend, and fled for protection to the church, and to those very altars whose
immunities he had infringed and violated. The whole city was in an uproar
against him; the army called aloud for his death, and a troop of soldiers
surrounded the church with naked swords in their hands, and fire in their eyes.
St. Chrysostom went to the emperor, and easily obtained of him that the unhappy
criminal might be allowed to enjoy the benefit of the sanctuary; and the
soldiers were prevailed upon, by the tears of the emperor and the remonstrances
of the bishop to withdraw. The next day the people flocked to behold a man
whose frown two days before made the whole world to tremble, now laying hold of
the altar, gnashing his teeth, trembling and shuddering, having nothing before
his eyes but drawn swords, dungeons, and executioners. St. Chrysostom on this
occasion made a pathetic discourse on the vanity and treachery of human things,
the emptiness and falsehood of which he could not find a word emphatical enough
to express. The poor Eutropius could not relish such truths a few days ago, but
now found his very riches destructive. The saint entreated the people to
forgive him whom the emperor, the chief person injured, was desirous to
forgive: he asked them how they could beg of God the pardon of their own sins
if they did not pardon a man who then, by repentance, was perhaps a saint in
the eyes of God. At this discourse not a single person in the church was able
to refrain from tears, and all things seemed in a state of tranquillity. 25 Some days after, Eutropius left
the church, hoping to escape privately out of the city, but was seized, and
banished into Cyprus. 26 He was recalled a few months
after, and being impeached of high treason was condemned and beheaded, chiefly
at the instigation of Gainas; in compliance with whose unjust demands the weak
emperor consented to the death of Aurelianus and Saturninus, two principal
lords of his court. But St. Chrysostom, by several journeys, prevailed with the
barbarian to content himself with their banishment, which they underwent, but
were soon after recalled. As unjust concessions usually make rebels the more
insolent, Gainas hereupon obliged the emperor to declare him commander-in-chief
of all his troops. Yet even when his pride and power were at the highest, St.
Chrysostom refused him the use of any Catholic church in Constantinople for the
Arian worship. And when, some time after, he laid seige to that capital, the
saint went out to him, and by kind expostulations prevailed on him to withhold
his design and draw off his army. He was afterwards defeated in passing the
Hellespont; and fleeing through the country of the Huns, was overthrown, and
slain by them in 400.
This
same year, 400, St. Chrysostom held a council of bishops in Constantinople; one
of whom had preferred a complaint against his metropolitan Antoninus, the
archbishop of Ephesus, which consisted of several heads, but that chiefly
insisted on was simony. 27 All our saint’s endeavours to
discuss this affair being frustrated by the distance of places, he found it
necessary, at the solicitation of the clergy and people of Ephesus, to go in
person to that city, though the severity of the winter season, and the ill
state of health he was then in, might be sufficient motives for retarding this
journey. In this and the neighbouring cities several councils were held, in
which the archbishop of Ephesus and several other bishops in Asia, Lycia, and
Phrygia, were deposed for simony. Upon his return after Easter, in 401, having
been absent a hundred days, he preached the next morning, 28 calling his people, in the
transport of tender joy, his crown, his glory, his paradise planted with
flourishing trees; but if any bad shrubs should be found in it, he promised
that no pains should be spared to change them into good. He bid them consider
if they rejoiced so much as they testified, to see him again who was only one,
how great his joy must be which was multiplied in every one of them: he calls
himself their bond-slave, chained to their service, but says, that slavery was
his delight, and that during his absence he ever had them present to his mind,
offering up his prayers for their temporal and spiritual welfare.
It
remained that our saint should glorify God by his sufferings as he had already
done by his labours: and if we contemplate the mystery of the cross with the
eyes of faith, we shall find him greater in the persecutions he sustained than
in all the other occurrences of his life. At the same time we cannot
sufficiently deplore the blindness of envy and pride in his enemies, as in the
Pharisees against Christ himself. We ought to tremble for ourselves: if that
passion does not make us persecute a Chrysostom, it may often betray us into
rash judgments, aversions, and other sins, even under a cloak of virtue. The
first open adversary of our saint was Severianus, bishop of Gabala, in Syria,
to whom the saint had left the care of his church during his absence. This man
had acquired the reputation of a preacher, was a favourite of the empress
Eudoxia, and had employed all his talents and dexterity to establish himself in
the good opinion of the court and people, to the prejudice of the saint,
against whom he had preached in his own city. Severianus being obliged to leave
Constantinople at the saint’s return, he made an excellent discourse to his
flock on the peace Christ came to establish on earth, and begged they would
receive again Severianus, whom they had expelled the city. Another enemy of the
saint was Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, whom Sozomen, Socrates,
Palladius, St. Isidore of Pelusium, and Synesius accuse of avarice and
oppressions to gratify his vanity in building stately churches; of pride, envy,
revenge, dissimulation, and an uncontroulable love of power and rule, by which
he treated other bishops as his slaves, and made his will the rule of justice.
His three paschal letters, which have reached us, show that he wrote without
method, and that his reflections and reasonings were neither just nor apposite:
whence the loss of his other writings is not much to be regretted. These
spiritual vices sullied his zeal against the Anthropomorphites, and his other
virtues. He died in 412, wishing that he had lived always in a desert,
honouring the name of the holy Chrysostom, whose picture he caused to be
brought to his bed-side, and by reverencing it, showed his desire to make
atonement for his past ill conduct towards our saint. 29 This turbulent man had driven
from their retreat four abbots of Nitria, called the tall brothers, on a
groundless suspicion of Origenism, as appears from Palladius, though it was
believed by St. Jerom, which is maintained by Baronius. St. Chrysostom admitted
them to communion, but not till they had juridically cleared themselves of it
in an ample manner. 30 This however was grievously
resented by Theophilus: but the empress Eudoxia, who after the disgrace of
Eutropius, governed her husband and the empire, was the main spring which moved
the whole conspiracy against the saint. Zozimus, a heathen historian, says that
her flagrant avarice, her extortions and injustices knew no bounds, and that
the court was filled with informers, calumniators, and harpies, who being
always on the watch for prey, found means to seize the estates of such as died
rich, and to disinherit their children or other heirs. No wonder that a saint
should displease such a court whilst he discharged his duty to God.
He
had preached a sermon against the extravagance and vanity of women in dress and
pomp. This was pretended by some to have been levelled at the empress; and
Severianus was not wanting to blow the coals. Knowing Theophilus was no friend
to the saint, the empress, to be revenged of the supposed affront, sent to
desire his presence at Constantinople, in order to depose him. He obeyed the summons
with pleasure, and landed at Constantinople, in June 403, with several Egyptian
bishops, his creatures; refused to see or lodge with John, and got together a
packed cabal of thirty-six bishops, the saint’s enemies, in a church at
Chalcedon, calling themselves the synod at the Oak, from a great tree which
gave name to that quarter of the town. The heads of the impeachment drawn up
against the holy bishop were, that he had deposed a deacon for beating a
servant; that he had called several of his clergy base men; had deposed bishops
out of his province; had ordained priests in his domestic chapel, instead of
the cathedral; had sold things belonging to the church; that nobody knew what
became of his revenues; that he ate alone; and that he gave the holy communion
to persons who were not fasting: all which were false or frivolous. The saint
held a legal council of forty bishops in the city at the same time; and refused
to appear before that at the Oak, alleging most notorious infractions of the
canons in their pretended council. The cabal proceeded to a sentence of
deposition, which they sent to the city and to the emperor, to whom they also
accused him of treason, for having called the empress Jezabel; a false
assertion, as Palladius testifies. The emperor hereupon issued out an order for
his banishment, but the execution of it was opposed by the people, who
assembled about the great church to guard their pastor. He made them a farewell
sermon, 31 in which he spoke as follows:
“Violent storms encompass me on all sides; yet I am without fear, because I
stand upon a rock. Though the sea roars, and the waves rise high, they cannot
sink the vessel of Jesus. I fear not death, which is my gain; nor banishment,
for the whole earth is the Lord’s; nor the loss of goods, for I came naked into
the world, and must leave it in the same condition. I despise all the terrors
of the world, and trample upon its smiles and favour. Nor do I desire to live
unless for your service. Christ is with me: whom shall I fear? Though waves rise
against me: though the sea, though the fury of princes threaten me, all these
are to me more contemptible than a spider’s web. I always say: O Lord, may thy
will be done: not what this or that creature wills, but what it shall please
thee to appoint, that shall I do and suffer with joy. This is my strong tower:
this is my unshaken rock: this is my staff that can never fail. If God be
pleased that it be done, let it be so. Wheresoever his will is that I be, I
return him thanks.” He declared that he was ready to lay down a thousand lives
for them, if at his disposal, and that he suffered only because he had
neglected nothing to save their souls.
On
the third day after the unjust sentence given against him, having received
repeated orders from the emperor to go into banishment, and taking all possible
care to prevent a sedition, he surrendered himself, unknown to the people, to
the Count, who conducted him to Prænetum in Bithynia. After his departure his
enemies entered the city with guards, and Severianus mounted the pulpit, and
began to preach, pretending to show the deposition of the saint to have been
legal and just. But the people would not suffer him to proceed, and ran about
as if distracted, loudly demanding in a body the restoration of their holy
pastor. The next night the city was shook with an earthquake. This brought the
empress to reflect with remorse on what she had done against the holy bishop.
She applied immediately to the emperor under the greatest consternation for his
being recalled; crying out: “Unless John be recalled, our empire is undone:”
and with his consent she despatched letters the same night, inviting him home
with tender expressions of affection and esteem, and protesting her ignorance
of his banishment. Almost all the city went out to meet him, and great numbers
of lighted torches were carried before him. He stopped in the suburbs, refusing
to enter the city till he had been declared innocent by a more numerous
assembly of bishops. But the people would suffer no delay: the enemies of the
saint fled, and he resumed his functions, and preached to his flock. He pressed
the emperor to call Theophilus to a legal synod: but that obstinate persecutor
alleged, that he could not return without danger of his life. However, Sozomen
relates, that threescore bishops ratified his return: but the fair weather did
not last long. A silver statue of the empress having been erected on a pillar
before the great church of St. Sophia, the dedication of it was celebrated with
public games, which, besides disturbing the divine service, engaged the
spectators in extravagancies and superstition. Saint Chrysostom had often
preached against licentious shows: and the very place rendered these the more
criminal. On this occasion, fearing lest his silence should be construed as an
approbation of the thing, he, with his usual freedom and courage, spoke loudly
against it. Though this could only affect the Manichæn overseer of those games,
the vanity of the empress made her take the affront to herself, and her desires
of revenge were implacable. 32 His enemies were invited back:
Theophilus durst not come, but sent three deputies. Though St. John had
forty-two bishops with him, this second cabal urged to the emperor certain
canons of an Arian council of Antioch, made only to exclude Saint Athanasius,
by which it was ordained that no bishop who had been deposed by a synod, should
return to his see till he was restored by another synod. This false plea
overruled the justice of the saint’s cause, and Arcadius sent him an order to
withdraw. He refused to forsake a church committed to him by God, unless
forcibly compelled to leave it. The emperor sent troops to drive the people out
of the churches on Holy-Saturday, and the holy places were polluted with blood
and all manner of outrages. The saint wrote to Pope Innocent, begging him to
declare void all that had been done; for no injustice could be more notorious. 33 He also wrote to beg the
concurrence of certain other holy bishops of the West. The pope having received
from Theophilus the acts of the false council at the Oak, even by them saw the
glaring injustice of its proceedings, and wrote to him, exhorting him to appear
in another council, where sentence should be given according to the canons of
Nice, meaning by those words to condemn the Arian canons of Antioch. He also
wrote to Saint Chrysostom, to his flock, and several of his friends: and
endeavoured to redress these evils by a new council: as did also the emperor
Honorius. But Arcadius and Eudoxia found means to prevent its assembling, the
very dread of which made Theophilus, Severianus, and other ring-leaders of the
faction to tremble.
St.
Chrysostom was suffered to remain at Constantinople two months after Easter. On
Thursday in Whitsun-week the emperor sent him an order for his banishment. The
holy man, who received it in the church, said to those about him: “Come, let us
pray, and take leave of the angel of the church.” He took leave of the bishops,
and, stepping into the baptistery, also of St. Olympias and the other
deaconesses, who were overwhelmed with grief and bathed in tears. He then
retired privately out of the church, to prevent a sedition, and was conducted
by Lucius, a brutish captain, into Bithynia, and arrived at Nice on the 20th of
June, 404. After his departure a fire breaking out, burnt down the great church
and the senate-house, two buildings which were the glory of the city: but the
baptistery was spared by the flames, as it were to justify the saint against
his calumniators; for not one of the rich vessels was found wanting. In this
senate-house perished the incomparable statues of the muses from Helicon, and
other like ornaments, the most valuable then known: so that Sozimus looks upon
this conflagration as the greatest misfortune that had ever befallen that city.
Palladius ascribes the fire to the anger of heaven. Many of the saint’s friends
were put to the most exquisite tortures on this account, but no discovery could
be made. The Isaurians plundered Asia, and the Huns several other provinces.
Eudoxia ended her life and crimes in childbed on the 6th of October following,
five days after a furious hail-storm had made a dreadful havoc in the city. The
emperor wrote to St. Nilus to recommend himself and his empire to his prayers.
The hermit answered him with a liberty of speech which became one who neither
hoped nor feared any thing from the world. “How do you hope,” said he, “to see
Constantinople delivered from the destroying angel of God, after such
enormities authorized by laws? after having banished the most blessed John, the
pillar of the church, the lamp of truth, the trumpet of Jesus Christ!” 34 And again: “You have banished
John, the greatest light of the earth:—At least do not persevere in your
crime.” 35 His brother, the emperor
Honorius, wrote still in stronger terms, 36 and several others. But in
vain: for certain implacable court ladies and sycophants, hardened against all
admonitions and remorse, had much too powerful an ascendant over the unhappy
emperor for these efforts of the saint’s friends to meet with success.
Arsacius, his enemy and persecutor, though naturally a soft and weak man, was
by the emperor’s authority intruded into his see. The saint enjoyed himself
comfortably at Nice: but Cucusus was pitched upon by Eudoxia for the place of
his banishment. He set out from Nice in July 404, and suffered incredible hardships
from heats, fatigues, severity of guards, almost perpetual watchings, and a
fever which soon seized him with pains in his breast. He was forced to travel
almost all night, deprived of every necessary of life, and was wonderfully
refreshed if he got a little clear water to drink, fresh bread to eat, or a bed
to take a little rest upon. All he lamented was the impenitence of his enemies,
for their own sake: calling impunity in sin, and honour conferred by men on
that account, the most dreadful of all judgments. 37 About the end of August, after
a seventy days’ journey, he arrived at Cucusus, a poor town in Armenia, in the
deserts of Mount Taurus. The good bishop of the place vied with his people in
showing the man of God the greatest marks of veneration and civility, and many
friends met him there both from Constantinople and Antioch. In this place, by
sending missionaries and succours, he promoted the conversion of many heathen
countries, especially among the Goths, in Persia and Phœnicia. He appointed
Constantius, his friend, a priest of Antioch, superior of the apostolic
missions in Phœnicia and Arabia.
The
letters of Constantius are added to those of St. Chrysostom. The seventeen letters
of our saint to St. Olympias might be styled treatises. He tells her, 38 “I daily exult and am
transported with joy in my heart under my sufferings, in which I find a hidden
treasure: and I beg that you rejoice on the same account, and that you bless
and praise God, by whose mercy we obtain to such a degree the grace of
suffering.” He often enlarges on the great evils and most pernicious
consequences of sadness and dejection of spirit, which he calls 39 “the worst of human evils, a
perpetual domestic rack, a darkness and tempest of the mind, an interior war, a
distemper which consumes the vigour of the soul, and impairs all her
faculties.” He shows 40 that sickness is the greatest
of trials, a time not of inaction, but of the greatest merit, the school of all
virtues, and a true martyrdom. He advises her to use physic, and says it would
be a criminal impatience to wish for death to be freed from sufferings. He
laments the fall of Pelagius, whose heresies he abhorred. He wrote to this lady
his excellent treatise, “That no one can hurt him who does not hurt himself.”
Arsacius dying in 405, many ambitiously aspired to that dignity, whose very
seeking was sufficient to prove them unworthy. Atticus, one of this number, a
violent enemy to St. Chrysostom, was preferred by the Court, and placed in his
chair. The Pope refused to hold communion with Theophilus, or any of the
abettors of the persecution of our saint. 41 He and the emperor Honorius
sent five bishops to Constantinople to insist on a council, and that in the
mean time St. Chrysostom should be restored to his see, his deposition having
been notoriously unjust. 42 But the deputies were cast into
prison in Thrace, because they refused to communicate with Atticus. The
persecutors saw that, if a council was held, they would be inevitably condemned
and deposed by it, therefore they stopped at nothing to prevent its meeting.
The incursions of the Isaurian plunderers obliged St. Chrysostom to take
shelter in the castle of Arabissus, on Mount Taurus. He enjoyed a tolerable
state of health during the year 406 and the winter following, though it was
extremely cold in those mountains, so that the Armenians were surprised to see
how his thin weak body was able to support it. When the Isaurians had quitted
the neighbourhood, he returned to Cucusus. But his impious enemies, seeing the
whole Christian world honouring and defending him, resolved to rid the world of
him. With this view they procured an order from the emperor that he should be
removed to Arabissus, and thence to Pytius, a town situated on the Euxine sea,
near Colchis, at the extremity of the empire, on the frontiers of the
Sarmatians, the most barbarous of the Scythians. Two officers were ordered to
convey him thither in a limited number of days, through very rough roads, with
a promise of promotion if, by hard usage, he should die in their hands. One of
these was not altogether destitute of humanity, but the other could not bear to
hear a mild word spoken to him. They often travelled amidst scorching heats,
from which his head, that was bald, suffered exceedingly. In the most violent
rains they forced him out of doors, obliging him to travel till the water ran
in streams down his back and bosom. When they arrived at Comana Pontica, in
Cappadocia, he was very sick; yet was hurried five or six miles to the
martyrium or chapel in which lay the relics of the martyr St. Basiliscus. 43 The saint was lodged in the
oratory of the priest. In the night, that holy martyr appearing to him, said:
“Be of good courage brother John; tomorrow we shall be together.” The confessor
was filled with joy at this news, and begged that he might stay there till
eleven o’clock. This made the guards drag him out the more violently; but when
they had travelled four miles, perceiving him in a dying condition, they
brought him back to the oratory. He there changed all his clothes to his very
shoes, putting on his best attire, which was all white, as if he meant it for
his heavenly nuptials. He was yet fasting, and having received the holy
sacrament, poured forth his last prayer, which he closed with his usual
doxology: Glory be to God for all things. Having said Amen, and signed himself
with the sign of the cross, he sweetly gave up his soul to God, on the feast of
the exaltation of the holy cross, the 14th of September, as appears from the
Menæa, in 407, having been bishop nine years and almost seven months. 44
His
remains were interred by the body of St. Basiliscus, a great concourse of holy
virgins, monks, and persons of all ranks from a great distance flocking to his
funeral. The pope refused all communion with those who would not allow his name
a place in the Dyptics or registers of Catholic bishops deceased. It was
inserted at Constantinople by Atticus, in 417, and at Alexandria, by St. Cyril,
in 419: for Nestorius tells him that he then venerated the ashes of John
against his will. 45 His body was translated to
Constantinople in 434, by St. Proclus with the utmost pomp, the Emperor
Theodosius and his sister Pulcheria accompanying St. Proclus in the procession,
and begging pardon for the sins of their parents who had unadvisedly persecuted
this servant of God. The precious remains were laid in the church of the
apostles, the burying place of the emperors and bishops, on the 27th of
January, 438; on which day he is honoured by the Latins: but the Greeks keep
his festival on the 13th of November. 46 His ashes were afterwards
carried to Rome, and rest under an altar which bears his name in the Vatican
church. The saint was low in stature; and his thin, mortified countenance
bespoke the severity of his life. The austerities of his youth, his cold
solitary abode in the mountains, and the fatigues of continual preaching, had
weakened his breast, which occasioned his frequent distempers. But the
hardships of his exile were such as must have destroyed a person of the most
robust constitution. Pope Celestine, St. Austin, St. Nilus, St. Isidore of
Pelusium, and others call him the illustrious doctor of churches, whose glory
shines on every side, who fills the earth with the light of his profound sacred
learning, and who instructs by his works the remotest corners of the world,
preaching every where, even where his voice could not reach. They style him the
wise interpreter of the secrets of God, the sun of the whole universe, the lamp
of virtue, and the most shining star of the earth. The incomparable writings of
this glorious saint, make his standing and most authentic eulogium.
In
the character which St. Chrysostom has in several places drawn of divine and
fraternal charity and holy zeal, we have a true portraiture of his holy soul.
He excellently shows, from the words of our Lord to St. Peter, 47 that the primary and essential
disposition of a pastor of souls is a pure and most ardent love of God, whose
love for these souls is so great, that he has delivered his Son to death for
them. Jesus Christ shed his blood to save this flock, which he commits to the
care of St. Peter. Nothing can be stronger or more tender than the manner in
which this saint frequently expresses his charity and solicitude for his
spiritual children. 48 When he touches this topic, his
words are all fire and flame, and seem to breathe the fervour of St. Peter, the
zeal of St. Paul, and the charity of Moses. This favourite of God was not
afraid, for the salvation of his people, to desire to be separated from the
company of the saints, provided this could have been done without falling from
the love of God; though he knew that nothing would more closely unite him for
ever to God than this extraordinary effort of his love. The apostle of nations
desired to be an anathema for his brethren, and for their salvation; 49 and the prince of the apostles
gave the strongest proof of the ardour of his love for Christ by the floods of
tears which he shed for his flock. From the same furnace of divine love St.
Chrysostom drew the like sentiments towards his flock, joined with the
sovereign contempt of all earthly things; another distinguishing property of
charity, which he describes in the following words: 50 “Those who burn with a
spiritual love, consider as nothing all that is shining or precious on earth.
We are not to be surprised if we understand not this language; who have no
experience of this sublime virtue. For whoever should be inflamed with the fire
of the perfect love of Jesus Christ, would be in such dispositions with regard
to the earth, that he would be indifferent both to its honours and to its
disgrace, and would be no more concerned about its trifles than if he were
alone in the world. He would despise sufferings, scourges, and dungeons, as if
they were endured in another’s body, not in his own; and would be as insensible
to the pleasures and enjoyments of the world, as we are to the bodies of the
dead, or as the dead are to their own bodies. He would be as pure from the
stain of any inordinate passions, as gold perfectly refined is from all rust or
spot. And as flies beware of falling in to the flames, and keep at a distance,
so irregular passions dare not approach him.”
Note
1. S.
Chrys. ad Vid. jun. T. 1. p. 340. [back]
Note 2. Sozom. l. 8. c. 22. [back]
Note
3. Liban.
ep. ad Joan, apud S. Isidor. Pelus. l. 2. ep. 42. [back]
Note 4. L. 3. de Sacerd. c. 14. p.
390. [back]
Note
5. L.
3. de Sacerd. c. 14. [back]
Note 6. Hom. 72. (ol. 73.) & 68. (ol. 69.)
in Matt. Hom. 14. in 1 Tim. T. 11. p. 628. 630. l. 3. contra vitup. vitæ Mon.
c. 14. [back]
Note
7. Lib.
de Compunct. p. 132. [back]
Note 8. Lib. l. de Compunct. &c. [back]
Note
9. Flavian
I. was a native of Antioch, of honourable extraction, and possessed of a
plentiful estate, which he employed in the service of the church and relief of
the poor. He was remarkably grave and serious, and began early to subdue his
flesh by austerities and abstinence, in which he remitted nothing even in his
old age. Thus was his heart prepared to receive and cherish the seeds of divine
grace, the daily increase of which rendered him so conspicuous in the world,
and of such advantage to the church. The Arians being at that time masters of
the church of Antioch, Flavian and his associate Diodorus, afterwards bishop of
Tarsus, equally distinguished by their birth, fortune, learning, and virtue,
were the great supports of the flock of St. Eustathius had been forced to
abandon. In 348, they undertook the defence of the Catholic faith against
Leontius, the Arian bishop, who made use of all his craft and authority to
establish Arianism in that city; one of whose chief expedients was to promote
none to holy orders but Arians. The scarcity of Catholic pastors, on this
account, called for all their zeal and charity in behalf of the abandoned
flock. The Arians being in possession of the churches in the city, these two
zealous laymen assembled them without the walls, at the tombs of the martyrs,
for the exercise of religious duties. They introduced among them the manner of
singing psalms alternately, and of concluding each psalm with Glory be to
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was, &c,
which pious custom was soon after spread over all the eastern and western
churches. Theodoret (l. 2. c. 19.) says, that Flavian and Diodorus were the
first who directed the psalms to be sung in this manner by two choirs: though
Socrates (l. 6. c. 8.) attributes its institution to St. Ignatius the martyr;
who having, as he there relates, heard angels in a vision singing the divine
praises alternately, instituted that manner of singing in the church of
Antioch; but this might have been disused. Pliny’s famous letter to Trajan
shows, that singing was then in use among the Christians in Bithynia; and it
appears from Philo, that the Therapeuts did the same before that time. Leontius
stood so much in awe of Flavian and Diodorus while they were only laymen, that,
in compliance with their demands, he deposed Aëtius, that most impious and
bare-faced blasphemer of all the Arians, from the rank of deacon.
St. Meletius, on his being promoted to the see of Antioch, about
the year 361, raised them both to the priesthood, and they took care of that
church, as his delegates, during his banishment by Constantius. Thus they
continued together their zealous labours till Diodorus was made bishop of
Tarsus. In 381, Saint Meletius took Flavian with him to the general council
which was assembled at Constantinople; but dying in that Capital, Flavian was
chosen to succeed him. His life was a perfect copy of the eminent episcopal
virtues, and especially of the meekness, the candour, and affability of his
worthy predecessor.
Unhappily the schism, which for a long time had divided the church
of Antioch, was not yet extinguished. The occasion was this: after the death of
St. Eustathius, they could not agree in the choice of his successor: those who
were most attached to this holy prelate, with Saint Athanasius and the West,
followed Paulinus: the Apollinarists declared for Vitalis: and the greater body
of the orthodox of Antioch, with Flavian, Diodorus, and all the East, adhered
to St. Meletius, who, as we have seen already, was succeeded by Flavian.
Paulinus, bishop of that part of the Catholics called Eustathians, from their
attachment to that prelate, though long since dead, still disputed that see
with Flavian: but dying in 383, the schism of Antioch must have ended, had not
his abettors kept open the breach by choosing Evagrius in his room; though it
does not appear that he had one bishop in communion with him, Egypt and the
West being now neuter, and the East all holding communion with Flavian.
Evagrius dying in 395, the Eustathians, though now without a pastor, still
continued their separate meetings, and kept up the schism several years longer.
St. Chrysostom being raised to the see of Constantinople, in 398, laboured
hourly to abolish this fatal schism, which was brought about soon after by
commissioners constituted for this purpose by the West, Egypt, and all the
other parties concerned, and the Eustathians received Flavian as their lawful
bishop. In the year 404, when Saint Chrysostom was banished, Flavian testified
his indignation against so unjust a proceeding, and wrote upon that subject to
the clergy of Constantinople. But he did not live to be witness of all the
sufferings his dear friend was to meet with, dying about three years before
him, in 404. The general council of Chalcedon calls him blessed, (Conc. t. 4.
p. 840.) and Theodoret (l. 5. c. 232.) gives him the titles of the great, the
admirable saint. St. Chrysostom is lavish in his praises of him. Flavian’s
sermons and other writings are all lost, except his discourse to Theodosius,
preserved by St. Chrysostom. No church or Martyrology, whether among the Greeks
or Latins, ever placed Flavian I. of Antioch in the catalogue of the saints.
Whence Chatelain, in his notes, speaking of St. Meletius, February the 12th, p.
630; and on St. Flavian of Constantinople, February the 17th, p. 685, expresses
his surprise at the boldness of Baillet and some others, who, without regard to
the decrees of Urban VIII. presumed to do it of their own private authority,
and without any reason, have assigned for his feast the 21st of February.
Chatelain, in his additions to his Universal Martyrology, p. 711, names him
with the epithet of venerable only, on the 26th of September. He is only spoken
of here, to answer our design of giving in the notes some account of the most
eminent fathers of the church who have never been ranked among the saints. On
Saint Flavian II. of Antioch, banished by the emperor Anastasius with St. Elias
of Jerusalem, for their zeal in defending the council of Chalcedon against the
Eutychians, see July the 4th, on which these two confessors are commemorated in
the Roman Martyrology. [back]
Note 10. St. Chrys. Hom. 21. ad Pap. Antioch.
seu de Statuis. T, 2. [back]
Note
11. Sozom.
l. 8. c. 2, &c. [back]
Note 12. Socrat. c. 2. See Stilting, s. 35. p.
511. [back]
Note
13. St.
Chrys. l. Quod regulares fœminæ, T. 1. p. 250. [back]
Note 14. Stilting, s. 41. p. 526. [back]
Note
15. Phot.
Cod. 59. Socr. l. 6. c. 21. Stilting, s. 40. p. 523. [back]
Note 16. [Greek]. Chrys. Serm. contra ludos et
spect. T. 6. p. 272. Ed. Ben. [Greek]. [back]
Note
17. Mich.
vr. 3. Jer. ii. 5. [back]
Note 18. Hom. 13. in Ephes. T. 11. p.
95. [back]
Note
19. Pallad.
in Vit. Chrysost. Item S. Chrysost. Hom. in 1 Tim. v. 5. l. 3. de Sacerd. c. 8.
& 1. ad Vid. junior. Stilting, s. 67. p. 603. [back]
Note 20. [Greek]. Pallad. c. 12. [back]
Note
21. Hom.
2. & 25. in Acta. Hom. 14. in Hebr. Pallad. in Vit. S. Chrys. [back]
Note 22. S. Procl. Or. 22. p. 581. See Le Brun
des Litur. [back]
Note 23. L. 2. Ep. 294. p. 266. [back]
Note
24. L.
3. de Sacerd. [back]
Note 25. Stilting, s. 43. p. 530 et
seq. [back]
Note
26. About
this time the poet Claudian wrote his two books against Eutropius, as he had
done before against Rufinus. [back]
Note 27. Pallad. Dial. p. 127. Stilting, s.
47. p. 542. [back]
Note
28. T.
3. p. 411. [back]
Note 29. S. Joan. Damasc. Orat. 3. de
Imaginibus, p. 480. ed. Billii. See F. Sollier, in Hist. Chronol. Patriarch.
Alexand. in Theophilo, p. 52. [back]
Note
30. See
Stilting, s. 54, 55, 56. p. 567. [back]
Note 31. T. 3. p. 415. [back]
Note
32. Socrates
and Sozomen say that he preached another sermon against the empress, beginning
with these words: Herodias is again become furious. But Montfaucon refutes this
slander, trumped up by his enemies. The sermon extant under that title is a
manifest forgery. T. 3. in spuriis, p. 1. See Montfaucon, and Stilting, s. 63.
p. 593. [back]
Note 33. Op. T. 3. p. 515. Pallad. Dial.
Stilting, s. 53. p. 578. [back]
Note
34. S.
Nilus, l. 2. ep. 265. [back]
Note 35. L. 3. ep. 279. [back]
Note
36. T.
3. p. 525. [back]
Note 37. Ep. 8. [back]
Note
38. Ep.
8. p. 589. [back]
Note 39. Ibid. 3. p. 552. [back]
Note
40. Ibid.
4. p. 570. [back]
Note 41. Pallad. Theodoret, l. 5. c.
34. [back]
Note
42. Pallad.
Sozom. l. 8. c. 28. [back]
Note 43. The passage of Palladius, in which
St. Basiliscus is called bishop of Comana, is evidently falsified by the
mistake of copiers, as Stilting demonstrates; who shows this Basiliscus to have
suffered not at Nicomedia, but near Comana, in the country where his relics
remained; the same that is honoured on the 3rd of March. It is without grounds
that Tillemont, Le Quien, &c. imagine there were two martyrs of the same
name; the one a soldier, who suffered at Comana under Galerius Maximian: the
other, bishop of that city. T. 5. in S. Basilisc. note 4. See Stilting, s. 83.
p. 665. [back]
Note
44. Sir
Harry Saville is of opinion that he was only fifty-two years old: but he must
have been sixty-three, as born in 344. [back]
Note 45. Nestorius, Or. 12. apud Marium
Mercat. par. 2. p. 86. ed Garnier. Stilting, s. 88. p. 685. [back]
Note
46. Jos. Assemani.
Comm. in Calend. Univ. T. 6. p. 105. and Stilting. [back]
Note 47. Joan. xxi. 17. St. Chrys. l. 2. de
Sacerd. c. 1. [back]
Note
48. Hom. 3. & 44. in Act. et alibi
sæpe. [back]
Note 49. See St. Chrys. hom. 16 in Rom. [back]
Note
50. Hom. 52. in Acta. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume I:
January. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/1/271.html
January 27
On the Writings of St. John Chrysostom
IN the Benedictine edition of his works given by
Dom Montfaucon, we have in the first tome his Two Exhortations to Theodorus;
three Books Against the Adversaries of a Monastic Life:—The Comparison between
a King and a Monk: two books on Compunction: three books to Stagirius the monk,
on Tribulation and Providence: Against those Clergymen who harbour Women, under
their roof to serve them: another treatise to prove, That Deaconesses, or other
Regular Women, ought not to live under the same roof with Men: On Virginity: To
a young Widow: On the Priesthood: and a considerable number of scattered
homilies. Theodorus, after renouncing the advantages which high birth, a plentiful
estate, a polite education, and an uncommon stock of learning offered him in
the world, and having solemnly consecrated himself to God in a monastic state,
violated his sacred engagement, returned into the world, took upon him the
administration of his estate, fell in love with a beautiful young woman named
Hermione, and desired to marry her. St. Chrysostom, who had formerly been his
schoolfellow, under Libanius, and been afterwards instrumental in inducing him
to forsake the world, and some time his companion in a religious state,
grievously lamented his unhappy fall; and by two most tender and pathetic
exhortations to repentance, gained him again to God. Every word is dictated by
the most ardent zeal and charity, and powerfully insinuates itself into the
heart by the charm of an unparalleled sweetness, which gives to the strength of
the most persuasive eloquence an irresistible force. Nothing of the kind extant
is more beautiful, or more tender, than these two pieces, especially the
former. The saint, in the beginning, borrows the most moving parts of the
lamentations of Jeremy, showing that he had far more reason to abandon himself
to bitter grief than that prophet; for he mourned not for a material temple and
city with the holy ark and the tables of the law; but for an immortal soul, far
more precious than the whole material world. And if one soul which observes the
divine law is greater and better than ten thousand which transgress it, what
reason had he to deplore the loss of one which had been sanctified, and the
holy living temple of God, and shone with the grace of the Holy Ghost: one in
which the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, had dwelt; but was stripped of its glory
and fence, robbed of its beauty, enslaved by the devil, and fettered with his
bolts and chains. Therefore the saint invites all creatures to mourn with him,
and declares he will receive no comfort, nor listen to those who offer him any,
crying out with the prophet: Depart from me; I will weep bitterly: offer
not to comfort me. Isa. xxii. 4. His grief, he says, was just, because he
wept for a soul that was fallen from heaven to hell, from grace into sin: it
was reasonable, because by tears she might yet be recovered; and he protests
that he would never interrupt them, till he should learn that she was risen
again. To fortify his unhappy friend against the temptation of despair, he
shows by the promises, examples, and parables of the Old and New Testament,
that no one can doubt the power or goodness of God, who is most ready to pardon
every sinner that sues for mercy. Observing that hell was not created for man,
but heaven, he conjures him not to defeat the design of God in his creation,
and destroy the work of his mercy by persevering in sin. The difficulties which
seemed to stand in his way, and dispirited him, the saint shows would be all
removed, and would even vanish of themselves, if he undertook the work with
courage and resolution: this makes the conversion of a soul easy. He terrifies
him by moving reflections on death, and the divine judgments, by a dreadful
portraiture which he draws of the fire of hell, which resembles not our fire,
but burns souls, and is eternal: lastly, by the loss of heaven, on the joys of
which kingdom he speaks at large; on its immortality, the company of the angels,
the joy, liberty, beauty, and glory of the blessed, adding that such is this
felicity, that in its loss consists the most dreadful of all the torments of
the damned. Penance averts these evils, and restores to a soul all the titles
and advantages which she had forfeited by her fall; and its main difficulty and
labour are vanquished by a firm resolution, and serious beginning of the work.
This weakens and throws down the enemy: if he be thoroughly vanquished in that
part where he was the strongest, the soul will pursue, with ease and
cheerfulness, the delightful and beautiful course of virtue upon which she has
entered. He conjures Theodorus, by all that is dear, to have compassion on
himself: also to have pity on his mourning friends, and not by grief send them
to their graves: he exhorts him resolutely to break his bonds at once, not to
temporize only with his enemy, or pretend to rise by degrees; and he entreats
him to exert his whole strength in labouring to be of the happy number of
those, who, from being the last, are raised by their fervour to the first rank
in the kingdom of God. To encourage him by examples, he mentions a young
nobleman of Phœnicia, the son of one Urbanus, who having embraced with fervour
the monastic state, insensibly fell into lukewarmness, and at length returned
into the world, where he enjoyed large possessions, lived in pomp, and
abandoned himself to the pursuit of vanity and pleasures; till, opening his
eyes upon the remonstrances of certain pious friends, he distributed his whole
estate amongst the poor, and spent the rest of his life in the desert with
extraordinary fervour. Another ascetic, falling by degrees, in an advanced age,
committed the crime of fornication; but immediately rising, attained to an
eminent degree of sanctity, and was honoured with the gift of miracles. The
disciple of St. John, who had been a captain of a troop of robbers and
murderers, became an illustrious penitent. In like manner, our saint exhorts
and conjures this sinner to rise without delay, before he was overtaken by the
divine judgments, and to confess his sins with compunction of heart abundant
bitter tears, and a perfect change of life, labouring to efface his crimes by
good works, to the least of which Christ has promised a reward.
St. Chrysostom begins his second Exhortation to
Theodorus, which is much shorter than the first, by expressing his grief as
follows: (t. 1. p. 35.) “If tears and groans could have been conveyed by
letters, this would have been filled. I grieve not that you have taken upon you
the administration of your affairs; but that you have trampled under your feet
the sacred engagement you had made of yourself to Christ. For this I suffer
excessive trouble and pain; for this I mourn: for this I am seized with fear
and trembling, having before my eyes the severe damnation which so treacherous
and base a perfidiousness deserves.” He tells him yet “that the case is not
desperate for a person to have been wounded, but for him to neglect the cure of
his wounds. A merchant after shipwreck labours to repair his losses; many
wrestlers after a fall have risen, and fought so courageously as to have been
crowned: and soldiers, after a defeat, have rallied and conquered. You allege,”
says he, “that marriage is lawful. This I readily acknowledge; but it is not
now in your power to embrace that state: for it is certain that one who by a
solemn engagement, has given himself to God as his heavenly spouse if he
violate this contract, he commits an adultery, though he should a thousand times
call it marriage. Nay, he is guilty of a crime so much the more enormous as the
majesty of God surpasses man. Had you been free, no one would charge you with
desertion; but since you are contracted to so great a king, you are not at your
own disposal.” Saint Chrysostom pathetically shows him the danger, baseness,
and crime of deferring his repentance, sets before him hell, the emptiness of
the world, the uneasiness and troubles which usually attend a married life, and
the sweetness of the yoke of Christ. He closes this pressing exhortation by
mentioning the tears and prayers of his friends, which they would never
interrupt, till they had the comfort of seeing him raised from his fall. St.
Chrysostom wrote these two exhortations about the year 369, which was the
second that he spent in his mother’s house at Antioch when he led there an
ascetic life. The fruit of his zeal and charity was the conversion of
Theodorus, who broke his engagements with the world, and returned to his
solitude. In 381 he was made bishop of Mopsuestia. In opposing the Apollinarist
heresy, he had the misfortune to lay the seeds of Nestorianism in a book which
he composed on the Incarnation, and other writings. He became a declared
protector of Julian the Pelagian, when he took refuge in the East; wrote an
express treatise against original sin, and maintained the Pelagian errors in a
multitude of other works, which were all condemned after his death, though only
fragments of them have reached us, preserved chiefly in Facundus, Photius, and
several councils. He died in 428, before the solemn condemnation of his errors,
and in the communion of the Catholic Church. See Tillemont, t. 12.
During St. Chrysostom’s retreat in the mountains, two
devout servants of God desired of him certain instructions on the means of
attaining to the virtue of compunction. Demetrius, the first of these, though
he was arrived at a high degree of perfection in an ascetic life, always ranked
himself among those who crawl on the earth, and said often to St. Chrysostom,
kissing his hand and watering it with his tears: “Assist me to soften the
hardness of my heart.” St. Chrysostom addressed to him his first book On
Compunction, in which he tells him that he was not unacquainted with this
grace, of which he had a pledge in the earnestness of his desire to obtain it,
his love of retirement, his watching whole nights, and his abundant tears, even
those with which, squeezing him by the hand, he had begged the succour of his
advice and prayers, in order to soften his dry stony heart into compunction.
With the utmost confusion for his own want of this virtue, he yielded to his
request, begging in return his earnest prayers for the conversion of his own
soul. Treating first on the necessities and motives of compunction, he takes
notice that Christ pronounces those blessed who mourn, and says we ought never
to cease weeping for our own sins, and those of the whole world, which deserve
and call for our tears so much the more loudly, as it is insensible of its own
miseries. We should never cease weeping, if we considered how much sin reigns
among men. The saint considers the sin of rash judgment as a general vice among
men, from which he thinks scarcly any one will be found to have lived always
free. He says the same of anger: then of detraction: and considering how
universally these crimes prevail among men, cries out: “What hopes of salvation
remain for the generality of mankind, who commit, without reflection, some or
other of these crimes, one of which is enough to damn a soul?” He mentions also
as general sins, swearing, evil words, vain glory, not giving alms, want of
confidence in divine providence, and of resignation to his will, covetousness,
and sloth in the practice of virtue. He complains that whereas the narrow path
only leads to heaven, almost all men throw themselves into the broad way,
walking with the multitude in their employs and actions, seeking their
pleasure, interest, or convenience, not what is safest for their souls. Here
what motives for our tears! A life of mortification and penance he prescribes,
as an essential condition for maintaining a spirit of compunction: saying, that
water and fire are not more contrary to each other, than a life of softness and
delights is to compunction; pleasure being the mother of dissolute laughter and
madness. A love of pleasure renders the soul heavy and altogether earthly; but
compunction gives her wings, by which she raises herself above all created
things. We see worldly men mourn for the loss of friends and other temporal
calamities. And are not we excited to weep for our spiritual miseries? We can
never cease if we have always before our eyes our sins, our distance from
heaven, the pains of hell, God’s judgments, and our danger of losing Him, which
is the most dreadful of all the torments of the damned.
In his second book on Compunction, which is addressed
to Stelechius, he expresses his surprise that he should desire instructions on
compunction of one so cold in the divine service as he was; but only one whose
breast is inflamed with divine love, and whose words are more penetrating than
fire, can speak of that virtue. He says that compunction requires, in the first
place, solitude, not so much that of the desert, as that which is interior, or
of the mind. For seeing that a multitude of objects disturbs the sight, the
soul must restrain all the senses, remain serene, and without tumult or noise
within herself, always intent on God, employed in his love, deaf to corporeal
objects. As men placed on a high mountain hear nothing of the noise of a city
situated below them, only a confused stir which they no way heed; so a
Christian soul, raised on the mountain of true wisdom, regards not the hurry of
the world; and though she is not destitute of senses, is not molested by them,
and applies herself and her whole attention to heavenly things. Thus St. Paul
was crucified and insensible to the world, raised as far above its objects, as
living men differ from carcases. Not only St. Paul, amidst a multiplicity of
affairs, but also David, living in the noise of a great city and court, enjoyed
solitude of mind, and the grace of perfect compunction, and poured forth tears
night and day, proceeding from an ardent love and desire of God and his
heavenly kingdom, the consideration of the divine judgments, and the
remembrance of his own sins. Persons who are lukewarm and slothful, think of
what they do or have done in penance to cancel their debts; but David nourished
perpetually in his breast a spirit of compunction, by never thinking on the
penance he had already done, but only on his debts and miseries, and on what he
had to do in order to blot out or deliver himself from them. St. Chrysostom
begs his friends prayers that he might be stirred up by the divine grace to
weep perpetually under the load of his spiritual evils, so as to escape
everlasting torments.
The saint’s three books, on Providence,
are an exhortation to comfort, patience, and resignation, addressed to
Stagirius, a monk possessed by an evil spirit. This Stagirius was a young
nobleman, who had exasperated his father by embracing a monastic state: but
some time after fell into lukewarmness, and was cruelly possessed by an evil
spirit, and seized with a dreadful melancholy, from which those who had
received a power of commanding evil spirits, were not able to deliver him. St.
Chrysostom wrote these books soon after he was ordained deacon in 380. In the
first he shows that all things are governed by divine providence, by which even
afflictions are always sent and directed for the good of the elect. For any one
to doubt of this is to turn infidel: and if we believe it, what can we fear
whatever tribulations befall us, and to whatever height their waves ascend.
Though the conduct of divine providence, with regard to the just, be not
uniform, it sends to none any tribulations which are not for their good; when
they are most heavy they are designed by God to prepare men for the greatest
crowns. Moreover, God is absolute master to dispose of us, as a potter of his clay.
What then have we to say? or how dare we presume to penetrate into his holy
counsels? The promise of God can never fail: this gives us an absolute security
of the highest advantages, mercy, and eternal glory, which are designed us in
our afflictions. St. Chrysostom represents to Stagirius that his trials had
cured his former vanity, anger and sloth, and it was owing to them that he now
spent nights and days in fasting, prayer, and reading. In the second book he
presses Stagirius strenuously to reject all melancholy and gloomy thoughts, and
not to be uneasy either about his cure, or the grief his situation was likely
to give his father, but leaving the issue to God, with perfect resignation to
ask of him this mercy, resting in the entire confidence that whatever God
ordained would turn to his greatest advantage. In the third book he mentions to
Stagirius several of his acquaintance, whose sufferings, both in mind and body,
were more grievous than those with which he was afflicted. He bids him also pay
a visit to the hospitals and prisons; for he would there see that his cross was
light in comparison of what many others endured. He tells him that sin ought to
be to him the only subject of grief; and that he ought to rejoice in sufferings
as the means by which his sins were to be expiated. A firm confidence in God, a
constant attention to his presence, and perpetual prayer, he calls the strong
ramparts against sadness.
When the Arian emperor Valens, in 375, commanded the
monks to be turned out of their deserts, and enrolled in the troops, and
several Catholics reviled them as bigots and madmen, Saint Chrysostom took up
his pen to justify them, by three books entitled, Against the Impugners of a
Monastic State. T. 1. p. 44. he expresses his surprise that any Christians
could speak ill of a state which consists in the most perfect means of
attaining to true virtue, and says they hurt themselves, not the monks, whose
merit they increase; as Nero’s persecution of St. Paul, because he had
converted one of the tyrant’s concubines, enhanced the apostle’s glory. A more
dreadful judgment is reserved to these enemies of the love of Christ. They
said, they drew no one from his faith. The saint retorts: What will faith avail
without innocence and virtue? they alleged that a Christian may be saved
without retiring into the desert. He answers: Would to God men lived so in the
world that monasteries were of no advantage! but seeing all disorders prevail
in it, who can blame those who seek to shelter themselves from the storm? He
elegantly shows that the number of those that are saved in the world is
exceeding small, and that the gate of life is narrow. The multitude perished in
Noah’s flood, and only eight escaped in the Ark. How foolish would it have been
to rely carelessly on safety in such danger! Yet here the case is far more
dreadful, everlasting fire being the portion of those that are lost. Yet in the
world how few resist the torrent, and are not carried down with the crowd,
sliding into anger, detraction, rash judgment, covetousness, or some other sin.
Almost all, as if it were by common conspiracy, throw themselves into the gulf,
where the multitude of companions will be no comfort. Is it not then a part of
wisdom, to fly from these dangers, in order to secure our only affair in the
best manner possible?
Whereas parents sometimes opposed the vocation of
their children to a monastic state, in his second book he addresses himself to
a pagan father, who grieved to see his son and heir engaged in that profession.
He tells him he has the greatest reason to rejoice; proving from Socrates, and
other heathen philosophers, that his son is more happy in voluntary poverty and
contempt of the world than he could have been in the possession of empires:
that he is richer than his father, whom the loss of one bag of his treasures
would afflict, whereas the monk, who possessed only a single cloak could see
without concern even that stolen, and would even rejoice though condemned to
banishment or death. He is greater than emperors, more happy than the world,
out of the reach of its malice or evil, whom no one could hurt if he desired
it. A father who loves his son ought more to rejoice at his so great happiness
than if he had seen him a thousand times king of the whole earth, and his life
and kingdom secured to him for ten thousand years. What treasures would not
have been well employed to purchase for him such a soul as his was rendered by
virtue, could this blessing have been procured for money? He displays the
falsehood of worldly pleasure; the inconstancy, anxiety, trouble, grief, and
bitterness of all its enjoyments, and says that no king can give so sensible a
joy, as the very sight of a virtuous man inspires. As he speaks to a pagan, he
makes a comparison between Plato and Dionysius the tyrant; then mentions an
acquaintance of his own. This was a holy monk whom his pagan father, who was a
rich nobleman, incensed at his choice of that state, disinherited; but was at
length so overcome by the virtue of his son that he preferred him to all his
other children, who were accomplished noblemen in the world, often saying that
none of them was worthy to be his slave; and he honoured and respected him as
if he had been his own father. In the third book Saint Chrysostom directs his
discourse to a Christian father, whom he threatens with the judgment of Hell,
if he withdrew his children from this state of perfection, in which they would
have become suns in heaven, whereas if they were saved in the world, their
glory would probably be only that of stars. He inveighs against parents, who,
by their discourse and example, instil into their children a spirit of vanity,
and sow in their tender minds the seeds of covetousness and all those sins
which overrun the world. He compares monks to angels, in their uninterrupted
joy, and attention to God; and observes that men in the world are bound to
observe the same divine law with the monks; but cannot so easily acquit
themselves of this obligation, as he that is hampered with cords cannot run so
well as he that is loose and at liberty. He exhorts parents to breed up their
children for some years in monasteries, and to omit nothing in forming them to
perfect virtue. In his elegant short treatise, entitled “A Comparison between a
King and a Monk,” t. 1. p. 116. he beautifully shows that a pious monk is
incomparably more honourable, more glorious, and more happy than the greatest
monarch, by enjoying the favour of heaven, and possessing God: by the empire
over himself and his own passions, by which he is king in his own breast,
exercising the most glorious command; by the sweetness and riches of divine
grace; by the kingdom of God established in his soul; by prayer, by which all
things are in his power; by his universal benevolence and benificence to others,
procuring to every one all spiritual advantages as far as lies in him; by the
comfort which he finds in death, which is terrible to kings, but by which he is
translated to an immortal crown, &c. This book is much esteemed by
Montfaucon and the devout Blosius.
St. Chrysostom in his treatise On Virginity, t. 1. p.
268, says, this virtue is a privilege peculiar to the true church, not to be
found, at least pure, amongst heretics; he proves against the Manichees, that
marriage is good: yet says that virginity as far excels it as angels men, but
that all its excellency is derived from the consecration of a soul to God, and
her attention to please him, without which this state avails nothing.
After he was ordained deacon at Antioch, he composed
his book “To a young Widow,” (t. 1. p. 337.) a lady who had lost her husband
Tarasius, candidate for the prefectship of the city. He draws motives to
comfort her from the spiritual advantages of holy widowhood, and the happiness
to which her husband was called. His second book “To the Widow,” (t. 1. p.
349.) is a dissuasive from second marriages, when they are contracted upon
worldly motives.
His six incomparable books “On the Priesthood,” he
composed to excuse himself to his friend Basil, who complained that he had been
betrayed by him into the episcopal charge; for Chrysostom persuaded him they
had time yet to conceal themselves; yet secretly absconded himself and left the
other to be chosen. Basil, when he met him afterwards, was not able to speak
for some time, but by a flood of tears; and at length broke through them only
to give vent to his grief in bitter complaints against the treachery of his
friend. This work is wrote in a dialogue between the two friends. St.
Chrysostom in the first book alleges (t. 1. p. 362.) that he could not deprive
the church of a pastor so well qualified to serve it as Basil was; nor
undertake himself a charge for which he had not the essential talents, and in
which he should involve others and himself in ruin. In the second book he
justifies his own action in not hindering the promotion of his friend to the
episcopacy, by observing that to undertake the charge of souls is the greatest
proof we can give of our love for Christ, which He declared by putting the
question thrice to St. Peter whether he loved him, before he committed to him
the care of his flock. John xxi. 15. If we think it an argument of our love for
a friend to take care of his servants or cattle, much more will God recompense
faithful pastors, who feed those dear souls to save which God died. The
pastoral charge is certainly the first of all others in merit and dignity. The
saint therefore, thinks he should have prevaricated if he had deprived the
church of a minister capable of serving it. But in order to justify his own
flight, he adds that the dangers and difficulties of this state are
proportioned to its preeminence and advantages. For what can be more difficult
and dangerous, than the charge of immortal souls, and of applying to them
remedies which to take effect depend upon their own co-operation and consent,
and must be always proportioned to their dispositions and character which must
be sounded, as well as to their wounds. Remissness leaves a wound half cured:
and a suitable penance often exasperates and makes it wider. Herein the
greatest sagacity and prudence are necessary. Nor is the difficulty less in
bringing back to the church members which are separated from it. Basil replied
to this discourse of St. Chrysostom: “You then love not Christ, who fly from
the charge of souls.” St. Chrysostom answered, that he loved him and fled from
this charge because he loved him, fearing to offend him by taking upon him such
an office, for which he was every way unqualified. Basil retorts with warmth,
that his treachery towards himself was unpardonable, because he was acquainted
with his friend’s incapacity. Chrysostom answers, that he should never have
betrayed him into that dignity, if he had not known his charity and other
qualifications. In order to show that he had reason to shun that charge, he in
his third book sets forth the excellence and obligations of that dignity; for
it is not earthly, but altogether heavenly, and its ministry would do honour to
the angels; and a pastor ought to look upon himself as placed among the
heavenly spirits, and under an obligation of being no less pure and holy. This
he shows, first, from the tremendous sacrifice of the altar, which requires in
the offerer a purity truly becoming heaven, and even far surpassing the
sanctity which was required in so terrible a manner of priests in the Old Law,
a mere shadow of ours. “For,” says he, “when you behold the Lord himself lying
the victim on the altar, and offered, and the priest attending, and praying
over the sacrifice, purpled with his precious blood, do you seem to remain
among men and on earth, or not rather to be translated into heaven? O wonderful
prodigy! O excess of the divine mercy! He who is seated above at the right hand
of the Father, is in that hour held by all in their hands, and gives himself to
be touched and received. Figure to yourself Elias before the altar praying
alone, the multitude standing around him in silence and trembling, and the fire
falling from heaven and consuming the sacrifice. What is now done is far more extraordinary,
more awful, and more astonishing. The priest is here standing, and calls down
from heaven, not fire, but the Holy Ghost: he prays a long time, not that a
flame may be kindled, but that grace may touch the sacrifice, and that the
hearts of all who partake of it may be purged by the same.” c. 5. p. 385. (See
the learned prelate Giacomelli’s Note on St. Chrysostom’s doctrine on the real
presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist, and on the sacrifice of the
altar, in hunc librum, c. 4. p. 340.) Secondly, he mentions the eminent
prerogative of binding and loosing, not bodies, but souls, with which the
priesthood of the New Law is honoured: a power reaching the heavens, where God
confirms the sentence pronounced by priests below: a power never given to
angels, yet granted to men. John xx. 22. All power was given by the Father to
the Son, who again transferred it on men. It is esteemed a great authority if
an emperor confers on a private person power to imprison others or to set them
at liberty. How great then is the authority with which God honours the
priesthood? The priests of the Old Law declared lepers healed; those of the New
really cleanse and heal our souls. They are our spiritual parents, by whom we
are re-born to eternal life: they regenerate us by baptism, again remit our
sins by Extreme Unction, (James v. 14.) and by their prayers appease God whom
we have offended. From all which he infers that it is arrogance and presumption
to seek such a dignity, which made Saint Paul himself tremble. (1 Cor. xi. 3,
&c.) If the people in a mad phrensy should make an ignorant cobbler general
of their army, every one would commend such a wretch if he fled and hid himself
that he might not be instrumental in his own and his country’s ruin. “If any one,”
says he, “should appoint me pilot, and order me to steer a large vessel in the
dangerous Egæan or Tyrrhenian sea, I should be alarmed and struck with fear,
and rather fly than drown both myself and crew.” The saint proceeds to mention
the principal temptations to which a pastor of souls is himself exposed, and
the storms by which he is assailed; as vain-glory, for instance, a more
dreadful monster than the sirens of the poets, which passengers, by standing on
their guard, could sail by and escape. “This rock,” says he, “is so troublesome
to me even now, when no necessity drives me upon it, that I do not quite escape
being hurt by it. But if any one had placed me on so high a pinnacle, it would
have been as if, having tied my hands behind my back, he had exposed me to wild
beasts to be torn in pieces.” He adds the danger of human respect, fear of the
great ones, contempt or neglect of the poor; observing that none can encounter
such dangers, but such as are perfect in virtue, disinterested, watchful over
themselves, inured to mortification by great abstinence, resting on hard beds,
and assiduous labour: lastly what is most rare, dead to themselves by meekness,
sweetness and charity, which no injuries or reproaches, no ingratitude, no
perverseness or malice can ever weary or overcome: for a perfect victory over
anger is a most essential part of the character of a good pastor, without which
all his virtues will be tarnished, and he will reap no fruit of his labours. He
makes this dreadful remark, that within the circle of his own acquaintance he
had known many who in solitude led lives pleasing to God, but being advanced to
the priesthood, lost both themselves and others. If no Christian can call to
mind, without trembling, the dreadful account which he is to give at the
tribunal of Christ for his own sins, how must he tremble at this thought, who
sees himself charged with the sins and souls of others? (Heb. xiii. 17.) In the
fourth book he proves, that one unfit for the pastoral charge is not excused
because it is imposed on him by others, as one unacquainted with the rules of
architecture can by no means undertake to build, nor one to practice medicine
who is a stranger to that profession. He speaks of the crime of those who
choose unworthy pastors, and of the learning necessary for this charge,
especially in applying suitable remedies to every spiritual disorder, in
confuting Pagans, Jews, and heretics, and in instructing the faithful. A talent
for preaching is an indispensable qualification. In the fifth book he prescribes
the manner in which a preacher ought to announce the word of God, with what
indefatigable pains, and with what purity of intention, desiring only to please
God and plant his love in all hearts, and despising the applause of men,
insensible both to their praise and censures. His discourse must be set off by
piety, natural eloquence, plain simplicity, and dignity, that all may hear the
divine word willingly, and with respect and pleasure, so as to wish at the end
of the sermon that it were longer. The extreme danger of vain-glory so much
alarmed him, that in the close of this book he again speaks against that vice,
and says, that he who has entirely subdued this furious wild beast, and cut off
its numberless heads, enjoys a great interior calm, with infinite spiritual
advantages; and that every one is bound to stand always armed against its
assaults. In the sixth book he shows, that priests will be punished for the
sins of others. It is no excuse for a watchman to say, I heard not the
trumpet: I saw not the enemy approach: (Ezech. xxxiii. 3.) for he is
appointed centinel to watch and announce the danger to others. If a single soul
perishes through his neglect, this will condemn him at the last day. In how
great watchfulness must he live not to be infected with the contagion of the
world, with which he is obliged to converse? With what zeal, vigilance, and
fervour, is he bound to acquit himself of all his duties and functions? For
priests are ambassadors of heaven, sent not to one city, but to the whole earth,
with a strict charge never to cease scattering the divine seed, preaching and
exhorting with so great diligence, that no secret sinner may be able to escape
them. They are moreover appointed by God mediators to intercede with him for
the sins both of the living and the dead; to offer the tremendous sacrifice,
and hold the common Lord of all things in their hands. With what purity, with
what sanctity ought he to be adorned, who exercises so sublime a function? In
it angels attend the priest, all the choir of heaven joins, and the holy place
near the altar is occupied by legions of blessed spirits, in honour of Him who
is laid upon it. This he confirms by a vision of a holy old man, who saw a
multitude of bright spirits surrounding the altar, profoundly bowing their
heads. “Another,” says the saint, “assured me, that he had both seen himself,
and heard from others, that the souls of those who receive the holy mysteries
before death, depart out of their bodies attended by angels as troops of
heavenly guards.” Lastly, he shows, that sins are more easily committed, and
are more grievous in the episcopal ministry than in holy retirement. Basil at
this discourse almost swooned away in the excess of grief and fear with which
he was seized, till after some time, recovering himself, he said in the
bitterness of his heart, What has the church of God committed to have deserved
so dreadful a calamity, that the pastoral charge should be intrusted to the
most unworthy of men? For he had before his eyes on one side the glory, the
sanctity, the spiritual beauty and wisdom of the sacred spouse of Christ; and
on the other, the sins and miseries of his own soul; and this consideration
drew from him a flood of tears. Chrysostom. said, that as to himself, upon the
first news of his danger he had swooned away, and only returned to himself to
vent his grief by abundance of tears; in which agony he passed all that time.
He adds: “I will now discover to you the deplorable state of my mind at that
time, that out of mere compassion you may forgive me what I have done; and I
wish I could show you my wretched heart itself.—But all my alarms are now
converted into joy.” Basil replied, “But I am now plunged in bitter sorrow and
tears: and what protection can I seek? If you have still any bowels of
tenderness and compassion for my soul, any consolation in Christ, I conjure you
never to forsake me in the dangers in which you have engaged me.” St.
Chrysostom answered, smiling, “In what can I serve you in your exalted station?
However, when a respite from your functions affords you any leisure, I will
wait upon you, and will never be wanting in any thing in my power.” Basil at
this arose weeping. St. John, embracing him and kissing his head, said, “Be of
good courage, trusting in Christ, who has called you to his holy ministry.”
In the first tome of his works, p. 228, we have a book
which he composed when he was first made bishop of Constantinople, in 397,
Against those who have sub-introduced Women; that is, against such of the
clergy as kept deaconesses, or spiritual sisters, under the same roof to take
care of their household. Saint Chrysostom condemns this custom as criminal in
itself, both because dangerous, and because scandalous to others. Whatever
pretexts such persons allege of imaginary necessities, and of their security
and precautions against the danger, he shows that there is always danger of
their finding a lurking pleasure in such company. Though they perceive not any
secret passion, he will not believe them exempt; for men are often the greatest
strangers to their own hearts. He urges that this conduct is at least criminal,
because it is an occasion and incentive of evil. Job, so holy a man, so dead to
himself by long habits of mortification, durst not cast his eye upon a virgin.
St. Paul, not content with his continual fatigues and sufferings, added
voluntary chastisements of his flesh to subdue it. What austerities do
anchorets practice to tame their bodies, by perpetual fasts, watching, and
sackcloth! yet never suffer even visits of persons of the other sex. Ironically
inveighing against the presumption of such as had not the like saving
apprehension of danger, he tells them: “I must indeed call these strong men
happy, who have nothing to fear from such a danger, and I could wish myself to
be endowed with equal strength.” (t. 1. p. 231.) But he tells them this is as
impossible as for a man to carry fire in his bosom without being burnt. “You
bid me,” says he, “believe that though I see you converse with a virgin, this
is a work of piety, not passion. O wonderful man! this may be said of those who
live not with men but among stones.” (t. 1. p. 235.) Our zealous pastor shows,
that the capital point in this warfare is, not to awake our domestic enemy, but
by watchfulness to shun whatever can rouse him: and he adds, that though a man
were invulnerable, he ought not to scandalize the weak, and by his example,
draw them into a like snare. The stronger a person is, the more easy must it be
to him not to give scandal. To the pretext of necessity, he answers, that this
is mere madness, for a clergyman ought not to be so nice either in his
furniture or table. The saint addressed a like book to women, under this title:
That regular (or religious) Women ought not to live in the same House with Men.
(t. 1. p 248.) Besides condemning this abuse and scandal, he zealously inveighs
against the airy light dress of many ladies, and pathetically invites all
servants of God to mingle floods of tears with his in the bitter anguish of his
soul, for a scandal by which snares are laid for others, souls murdered,
(though undesignedly,) and sin against the divine Majesty propagated.
St. Chrysostom seems to have been only deacon when he
compiled his book, On St. Babylas, against the Gentiles; in which he speaks of
the miracles wrought at his relics, as of facts to which he and his auditors
had been eye-witnesses. (t. 2. p. 530.) Montfaucon refers to the same time his
Synopsis of the Old Testament: in which he places in the canon the
deutero-canonical books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Esther, Toby, and Judith;
and out of the seven canonical epistles counts only three, viz.: that of St.
James, one of St. Peter, and one of St. John (no others being received by the
Syrians, as appears from Cosmas Indicopleustes.) t. 6. p. 308
St. Chrysostom was ordained priest by the patriarch
Flavian, in 386, and appointed his ordinary preacher. On this occasion the
saint made a sermon (t. 1. p. 436.) in which he expresses his dread and
surprise at his promotion, earnestly begs the prayers of the people, and says,
he desires to entertain them on the praises of God, but was deterred by the
checks of his conscience, and remorse for his sins: for the royal prophet, who
invites all creatures, even dragons and serpents, to sound forth the praises of
God, passes by sinners as unworthy to be allowed a place in that sacred choir:
they are ignominiously ejected, as a musician cats off a string that is not
tunable with the rest.
The holy doctor, grieving for the spiritual blindness
of many who were seduced by heresy, and considering their dangers as most
grievous, and their miseries most pressing, preached five most eloquent
sermons, on the Incomprehensible Nature of God, against the Anomæans. He had
taken notice that these heretics, who were very numerous in Syria, resorted
willingly to his sermons with the Catholics, which afforded him an opportunity
of more easily reclaiming them. The Anomæans were the followers of Eunomius,
who to the errors of the rankest Arianism added a peculiar blasphemy, asserting
that both the blessed in heaven, and also men in this mortal life, not only
know God, but also comprehend and fathom the divine nature as clearly as we
know our own, and even as perfectly as God comprehends himself. This fanaticism
and impiety St. Chrysostom confutes in these five homilies, demonstrating from
the infinitude of the divine attributes, and from holy scriptures, that God is
essentially incomprehensible to the highest angels. He strongly recommends to
Catholics a modest and mild behaviour towards heretics; for nothing so
powerfully gains others as meekness and tender charity; this heals all wounds,
whereas harshness exasperates and alienates the mind. (Hom. 2. p. 461.) His
method is to close every discourse with some pathetic moral exhortation. In his
third homily, On the Incomprehensible, he complains bitterly that many who
heard his sermon with patience, left the church when it was at an end, without
attending the celebration of the divine mysteries. He shows the efficacy of
public prayer to be far greater than that of private, and a far more glorious
homage to be paid by it to God; by this St. Peter was delivered from his
chains; to it the apostles ascribed the wonderful success of their preaching.
He mentions that ten years ago, when a magistrate condemned for high treason
was led to execution with a halter about his neck, the citizens ran in a body
to the hippodrome to beg a reprieve; and the emperor, who was not able to
reject the request of the whole city, readily granted the criminal a full
pardon. Much more easily will the Father of mercy suffer himself to be overcome
by the concord of many in prayer, and show mercy to sinners. Not only men join
the tremendous voice during the sacred mysteries, but the angels and archangels
present to the Father of all things the Body of the Lord, entreating him to
have mercy on them for whom he shed his blood, and sacrificed this very body.
“By your acclamations you testify your approbation of what is said; but by your
compliance show that your applause is sincere. This is the only applause that
can give me pleasure or joy,” &c. (p. 471.) In the following sermon (Hom.
4. p. 477.) he commends their compliance by all assisting to the end of the
public office, but severely finds fault that some conversed together in the
church, and in that awful hour when the deacon cried out, “Let us stand
attentive.” He bids them call to mind that they are then raised above created
things, placed before the throne of God, and associated with the seraphims and
cherubims in sounding forth his praises, (p. 477.) In the fifth homily he again
makes fervent and humble prayer, by which all things are obtained and effected,
the subject of his moral exhortation. Public prayer is a duty which he frequently
inculcates as a most essential obligation, an homage most honourable to God,
and a most powerful means of grace to ourselves and all mankind. (See Hom. de
Obscur. Prophet. t. 6. p. 187, &c.) We have seven other homilies of this
father against the Anomæans, in which he proves the consubstantiality of God
the Son; subjoining exhortations to prayer, humility, good works, &c. His
sermon upon not Anathematizing, (t. 1. p. 691.) was the fruit of his pious zeal
to induce the Meletians and Paulinians to concord, and prevent private persons
from anathematizing or branding others with the crime of heresy or schism;
censures being reserved to the chief pastors, who are very sparing in using
them. The spirit of Christ is meekness, and compassion and tenderness the means
to gain souls. By this discourse he healed the sores left in the church of
Antioch by the late schism. The Jews and the Gentiles shared in the fruits of
his zeal and charity. Eight sermons which he preached against the Jews, whom he
proves to have been cast off by God, and their ceremonial rites abolished, have
reached us, and many others are lost. In his book against the Jews and
Gentiles, he demonstrates the Christian religion from the propagation of the
gospel, the martyrs, prophecies, and the triumph of the cross: this ensign now
adorns the crowns of emperors, is carried by every one on his forehead, and
placed every where with honour, in houses, market-places, deserts, highways,
mountains, hills, woods, ships, beds, clothes, arms, vessels, jewels, and
pictures; on the bodies of beasts when sick, on energumens, &c. We are all
more adorned with it than with crowns and a thousand precious stones; all
eagerly visit the wood on which the sacred body was crucified; men and women
have small particles of it set in gold, which they hang about their necks. On
the 20th of December, 386, our saint pronounced his discourse on St.
Philogonius, the twenty-first bishop of Antioch, who had zealously opposed the
rising heresy of Arius, and died on this day in 322. St. Chrysostom left the
subject of the panegyric to his bishop Flavian, who was to speak after him, and
entertained his people with an exhortation to the holy communion on
Christmas-day, five days after. He tells them the Magi had the happiness only
of adoring Christ, but that they who should approach him with a pure
conscience, would receive him and carry him with them: that he whose life is
holy and free from crimes may communicate every day; but he who is guilty in
the sight of God, not even on the greatest festival. Nevertheless the sinner
ought to prepare himself, by a sincere conversion and by good works, during the
interval of five days, and then communicate. The Ninevites appeased the divine
vengeance in three days by the fervour of their penance.
In his homily on the Calends, or First Day
of the Year, (t. 1. p. 697.) he inveighs with great zeal against rioting and
revels usual in that season, and strongly exhorts all to spend that day in
works of piety, and in consecrating the year to God. As builders raise a wall
by a ruler or plummet that no unevenness may spoil their work, so must we make
the sincere intention of the divine glory our rule in our prayers, fasts,
eating, drinking, buying, selling, silence, and discourse. This must be our
great staff, our arms, our rampart, our immense treasure: wherever we are, and
whatever we say or do, we must bear this motto always written on our heart, “To
the glory of God;” ever glorifying God, not barely in words, but by all our
actions in the sincere affections of our hearts, that we may receive glory from
him who says: “Those who glorify me, I will crown with glory.” (p. 697.)
In seven discourses, on Lazarus and the Rich Man, he
shows that a life of sensuality and pleasures is condemned by Christ; laments
that any Christian should abandon himself to debauchery, and declares he will
never cease to pursue sinners by his exhortations, as Christ did Judas to the
last moment: if any remain obstinately incorrigible, he shall esteem it a great
happiness if he reclaim but one soul, or even prevent but one sin; at least
that he can never see God offended and remain silent. (Hom. 1.) He sets off the
advantages of afflictions which are occasions of all virtue, and even in the
reprobate, at least abate the number of their sins, and the torments of another
life. In the seventh homily he severely condemns the diversions of the Circus,
and expresses the most tender grief that any Christian should so far forget God
as to frequent them. He paternally exhorts all such to repentance; proves
afflictions and the cross to be the portion of the just in this life, and says,
“That they whom God does not visit with tribulations, ought at least to afflict
themselves, by the labours of penance, the only path which can conduct us with
Lazarus to God.” (p. 736.)
In the second tome we have the holy
doctor’s twenty-one sermons to the people of Antioch, or, On the Statutes; the
following discourses, to the number of sixty, in the old editions not being
genuine; but patched up by modern Greeks, chiefly out of several works of this
father. The great sedition happened at Antioch on the 26th of February, 387,
just after the saint had preached the first of the sermons, in which he spoke
against drunkenness and blasphemy, pressing all persons to expel their company
any one who should blaspheme. After the sedition he was silent, in the general
grief and consternation, for seven days: then made his second sermon, in which
he tells the people that their confusion and remorse is itself a greater
punishment than it was in the power of the emperor to inflict; he exhorts them
to alms-deeds, and to hope in the mercy of Christ, who, leaving the earth, left
us his own flesh, which yet he carried with him to heaven, and that blood which
he spilt for us, he again imparted to us. After this, what will he refuse to do
for our salvation? The third sermon being made in the beginning of Lent, the
preacher inculcates the obligation of fasting: from his words it is clear that
Christians then abstained from wine and fish no less than from fowls and all
flesh. He insists chiefly on the moral fast of the will from all sin, and of
all the senses by self-denials in each of them. Detraction he singles out as
the most common sin, and exhorts us to abhor, with the royal prophet, every one
who secretly detracts another; to say to such: “If you have any thing to say to
the advantage of another, I will hear you with pleasure; but if you have only
ill to tell me, this is what I cannot listen to.” If detracters were thoroughly
persuaded that by their evil speeches they rendered themselves more odious than
those of whom they speak ill, they would be effectually cured of this
pestilential habit. The saint draws an inference from what the people then saw
before their eyes, and represented to them that if emperors punish with extreme
rigour those who injure their statues, with what severity will God revenge the
injury done by the detractor to his living image, and that offered by the
blasphemer to his own adorable name? In the fourth homily, he speaks on the
usefulness of afflictions, which withdraw men from many dangers of sin, and
make them earnestly seek God. In the fifth he continues the same subject, and
shows that they ought not to fear death, if they prepare themselves for it by
sincere penance. Their conversion he would have them begin by correcting the
habit of swearing, which had taken deep root among many of them. This victory,
he says, would be easy if every one who had contracted such a habit, would
enjoin himself some penance for every oath which should escape him, as the loss
of a meal. “Hunger and thirst,” says the saint, “will put you in mind always to
watch over yourself, and you will stand in need of no other exhortation.” In
the sixth he shows that death is desirable to a Christian, who, by a
penitential life, in imitation of the holy anchorets, is dead to the world and
himself. In the thirteenth he describes the dreadful consternation with which
the whole city was filled at the sight of new troops, and of a tribunal
erected; and, to awaken sinners to a sincere repentance, he sets before their
eyes the terrors of the last judgment. In the twentieth he exhorts them to
redouble their fervour in preparing their souls for the Paschal communion, the
nearer that time approached: especially by forgiving all injuries. In the
twenty-first, which was spoken on Easter-day, after the return of the
patriarch, he recites a great part of Flavian’s speech, and the emperor’s
gracious answer, whose clemency he elegantly extols, with a pathetic
exhortation to the people never to forget the divine mercy. From the mention he
makes of Flavian’s speech, (Hom. 3. p. 35.) it appears that our saint had
concerted it with him. He preached every day that Lent; but only these
twenty-one have reached us: and only two catechetical discourses, out of many
others which he made about Easter that year to the catechumens. In the first he
censures those who defer baptism, and explains the names and fruits of that
great sacrament: in the second he exhorts them always to bear in mind, and to
repeat to themselves, on every occasion, those solemn words, “I renounce thee,
Satan;” and to make it the study of their whole lives to be ever faithful to
this most sacred engagement. He next puts them in mind, that they ought to pray
without intermission, and always to have God before their eyes, at work, in the
shop, abroad, sitting, or whatever else they were doing.
About the year 392, Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus,
formerly St. Chrysostom’s master, happened to preach at Antioch, and in his
sermon highly commended our saint, whom he called John the Baptist, the voice
of the church, and the rod of Moses. The people, by loud acclamations,
testified how agreeable these encomiums of their preacher were to them: only
St. Chrysostom heard them with grief and confusion, and ascribed them to the
fondness of a good master, and the charity of the people. Afterwards, ascending
the pulpit, he said, that every word of the discourse had struck him to the
heart, and made him sigh within himself: for praises sting the conscience no
less than sins, when a soul is conscious to herself how far she is from what is
said of her: they only set before her eyes the last day, in which, to her
greater confusion, all things will appear naked and as they are; for we shall
not be judged by the masks which are put on us by other men. T. 3. p. 747.
In three sermons on the Devil, he shows, that the
divine mercy has restored us more by grace in our redemption, than the devil
has robbed us of by the sin of Adam; and that the punishment itself of that sin
served to set forth the excess of the divine mercy and goodness. (Hom. 1. de
Diabolo, t. p. 246.) That temptations and the devil’s malice are occasions of
great advantage, if we make a good use of them: that temporal calamities are
sent by God: we fall into sin only by our own malice: the devil has no power
against us but by the divine permission, and all his efforts are weak, unless
by our sloth we give him power over us. He draws a parallel between Adam
sinning in paradise by his free will, and Job victorious by patience on his
dunghill under his sufferings, of which he gives a lively description, showing
them to have been far more grievous than all the calamities under which we so
easily lose our patience and crown.
In nine homilies on Penance, he extols its efficacy,
and invites all sinners to repentance. Hom. 6. p. 316. he vehemently condemns
stage entertainments, which he calls the school of pleasure, the seat of
pestilence, and the furnace of Babylon. Hom. 3. he calls alms the queen of
virtues, and charity and compassion the key of the divine mercy. Hom. 9. p.
347. he presses all to assist assiduously at the divine mysteries; but with
attention, awe, and trembling.
In two homilies on the Treason of Judas, (p. 376.) he
recommends meekness toward persecutors, and the pardon of injuries, by which we
reap from them, without trouble or expense, the most precious of all
advantages, grace and the pardon of our sins. Speaking on the holy eucharist,
he says, that Christ gives us in it the same body which he delivered to death
for us, and that he refused not to present to Judas the very blood which that
traitor sold. (Hom. 1. de proditione Judæ, t. 2. p. 383.) He repeats the same thing.
(Hom. 2. ib. p. 393.) He observes, that as God, by his word, Gen. i. 28.
propagates and multiplies all things in nature to the end of the world, so it
is not the priest, but Christ, by the words pronounced by the priest, and by
virtue of those which he spoke at his last supper, saying, “This is my body,”
who changes the offering (or bread and wine) in every church from that to this
time, and consummates the sacrifice till his coming. (Hom. 1. ib. p. 383.)
In two homilies, on the Cross, and on the Good Thief,
preached on Good Friday, he makes many excellent reflections on the conversion
of the latter, and on the precept of our forgiving injuries, by which we become
true imitators of Christ, and inherit the privileges of his disciples. The
cross he commends as the instrument of Christ’s glorious triumph, and of our
happiness.
In a homily “On the Resurrection of the Dead,” he
proves this article to be the foundation both of our faith, and of our morals.
In that on the Resurrection of our Lord, he tells his flock, that on that day
(which was the solemnity of Easter) they were no longer obliged to drink only
water, to abstain from the bath, to live on herbs and pulse, and to fast as in
Lent; but that they were bound to shun intemperance: he speaks against
drunkenness, and says, the poor have equal reason for joy and thanksgiving with
the rich on that solemnity, the advantages which it brings consisting in
spiritual graces, not in feasting or pomp. In the first homily, on Whitsunday,
he proves, that though the descent of the Holy Ghost is no longer manifested by
miracles, since the faith had been sufficiently established by them, it was not
less real, though made in an invisible manner in our souls, by his grace and
peace. In the second, on the same feast, he calls Whitsunday the accomplishment
of all the mysteries of our faith; and teaches, that the Holy Ghost delayed his
descent, that he might not come upon the apostles in vain, or without having
been long and earnestly desired: and that he manifested his descent by the
emblem of tongues of fire to represent that he consumes like fire the thorns of
our souls, and that his principal gift is charity. His seven homilies on St.
Paul, are standing proofs of his singular veneration for that great apostle,
and admiration of his divine virtues. In the third, speaking of that apostle’s
ardent love of God, which made ignominies and torments for his sake a triumph,
and a subject of joy and pleasure, he seems to surpass himself, (p. 481.) In
the sixth he speaks of miracles wrought at the relics of St. Babylas at Daphne,
and says, that the devil trembled at the name of Christ, and fled whenever it
was pronounced. In many other homilies he speaks in raptures on the admirable
virtues of St. Paul, whose spirit he had imbibed and studied in his writings
and example. The miracles of St. Babylas are the subject of a panegyric which
St. Chrysostom has left us on that holy martyr. (ib. p. 531.) We have his
panegyrics or homilies on St. Meletius, St. Lucian, SS. Juventinus and Maximin,
St. Pelagia, St. Ignatius, St. Eustathius, St. Romanus, the Maccabees, SS.
Bernice, Prosodoche, and Domnina, St. Drosis. St. Phocas, &c., in which he
frequently and strongly recommends the most devout veneration for their relics.
See that on St. Ignatius, p. 693. &c. In hom. 1. On the Martyrs, (p. 650.)
he says, that the very sight of their relics more strongly move to virtue than
the most pathetic sermons, that their shrines are more precious than the
richest earthly treasures, and that the advantages which these relics afford,
are not diminished by their division, but multiplied. Some being surprised that
in this discourse he had compared the crime of an unworthy communion to that of
the Jews, who crucified Christ, he made another under this title, That we are
not to preach to please Men; in which he repeats and enforces the same
comparison; but, adds a serious exhortation to frequent communion, after a
sincere repentance, and the distinct confession of every sin: “For it is not
enough to say, I am a sinner, but every kind of sin is to be expressed.” (p.
667.) Though some circumstances aggravate a sacrilegious communion beyond the
crime of Judas and that of the crucifiers of Christ; the last was, doubtless,
as St. Thomas Aquinas shows, far more enormous in itself; an injury offered to
Christ in his own natural form differing from an insult which he receives
hidden under sacramental veils, though it is hard to imagine that any crime
into which a Christian can fall since the death of Christ, can be more enormous
than an unworthy communion. St. Chrysostom, in his second sermon On the
Martyrs, (p. 668.) bids the faithful remain a long time in prayer at their
tombs, and devoutly kiss their shrines, which abound with blessings. In that On
the Martyrs of Egypt, (p. 699.) he calls their relics dispersed in different
places, “the ramparts of the cities,” &c. In that “On the Earthquake,” he
expresses a deep and tender concern for the public calamity; but rejoices at
the spiritual advancement of the people, saying, that this scourge had wrought
such a change in them, that they seemed to become angels. Two books “On
Prayer,” bear the name of St. Chrysostom: if they are not mentioned by the
ancients among his works, that most important subject is treated in them in a
manner not unworthy his pen. This book is made use of in many pious schools as
a Greek classic, with another “On the Education of Children,” full of excellent
maxims, ascribed to our saint; but unjustly, for it is a compilation made
without much method out of several of his sermons and other works.
The first part of the third tome, in the Benedictin
edition, presents us thirty-four elegant sermons of this saint on divers texts
of holy scripture, and on various Christian virtues and duties. Those on
forgiving injuries, humility, alms, prayer, widowhood, and three on marriage,
particularly deserve attention. That “On Alms,” he took occasion to preach from
the extreme miseries under which he saw the beggars groan, lying abandoned in
the streets as he passed through them coming to the church; whence it is
inferred by Tillemont and others, that it was spoken extempore, or without
preparation. He says, that water does not so easily wash away the spots of our
clothes, as alms blot out the stains of our souls. “On Marriage,” he proves
that state to be holy, and will not have it dishonoured by profane pomps, which
no custom can authorize; as by them God is offended. Christ is to be invited to
give the nuptial blessing in the persons of the priests, and what many throw
away on musicians, would be a grateful sacrifice to God if bestowed on the
poor. Every one ought to be ambitious to set the example of so wholesome and
holy a custom, which others would imitate. What incomparable advantages does a
wife bring to a house, when she enters it loaded with the blessings of heaven?
This is a fortune far beyond all the riches of the world. In the third
discourse, he speaks of the inviolable precept of mutual tender love which the
husband and wife are bound constantly to bear each other, and of forgetting one
another’s faults. As a man in engaging in this state seeks a companion for
life, the saint observes that nothing is baser than for him to make it an
affair of traffic, or a money job. A wife with a moderate fortune usually
brings more complaisance and submission, and blesses a house with peace, union,
and friendship. How many rich men, by marrying great fortunes, in seeking to
increase their estates, have forfeited the repose of their minds for the rest
of their lives. A virtuous wife gives every succour and comfort to a family, by
the virtuous education of her children, by possessing the heart of her husband,
and by furnishing supplies for every necessity and comfort in every distress.
Virtue was the only quality and circumstance which Abraham was solicitous about
in the choice which he made of a wife for his son. Among the letters of the
saint, which, with certain scattered homilies, fill up the latter part of this
volume, the seventeen addressed to St. Olympias, both by the subjects and
style, deserve rather the title of treatises than of epistles.
The fourth tome, contains sixty-seven homilies on
Genesis, which were preached at Antioch during Lent, some year later than 386.
Photius takes notice, that in these his style is less correct than in any of
his other writings, and as far beneath his comments on the Acts of the
Apostles, as these fall short of his most eloquent discourses on Isaiah, or on
the Epistles of St. Paul. His parentheses are sometimes so long, that he
forgets to wind up his discourse and return to his subject: for speaking not
only with little or no preparation, but without much attention to a regular
method for the instruction of the people, he suffered himself often to be
carried away with the ardour with which some new important thought inspired
him. Yet the purity of his language, the liveliness of his images and similes,
the perspicuity of his expression, and the copiousness of his invention, never
fail: his thoughts and words flow every where in a beautiful stream, like an
impetuous river. He interweaves excellent moral instructions against
vain-glory, detraction, rash judgment, avarice, and the cold words mine and
thine; on prayer. &c. His encomiums of Abraham and other patriarchs, are set
off by delicate strokes. In the first thirty-two he often explains the
conditions of the Lent fast. In the year 386, during Lent, at which time the
church read the book of Genesis, he explained the beginning thereof in eight
elegant sermons, t. 4. p. 615. In the first he congratulates the people for the
great joy and holy eagerness for penance with which they received the
publication of the Lent fast, this being the most favourable season for
obtaining the pardon of sins, and reaping the most abundant heavenly blessings
and graces; a season in which the heavens are in a particular manner open,
through the joint prayers, fasts, and alms of the whole church. These are
usually called Sermons on Genesis, in order to be distinguished from the
foregoing homilies, which were posterior to them in time. Five sermons “On
Anna, the mother of Samuel,” (t. 4. p. 699.) were preached at Antioch in 387,
after the emperor had granted his gracious pardon for the sedition. The saint
treats in them on fasting, the honour due to martyrs and their relics, on
purity, the education of children, the spiritual advantages of poverty, and on
perpetual earnest prayer, which he recommends to be joined with every ordinary
action, and practised at all times, by persons whilst they spun, walked, sat,
lay down, &c. Invectives against stage-entertainments occur both in these,
and in the following three discourses “On David,” in which he says many
excellent things also on patience, and on forgiving injuries, (t. 4. p. 747.)
The fifth tome presents us with fifty-eight sermons on
the Psalms. He explained the whole Psalter; but the rest of the discourses are
lost; a misfortune much to be regretted, these being ranked among the most
elegant and beautiful of his works. In those notice is taken of several
differences in the Greek translations of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion;
also in the Hebrew text, though wrote in Greek letters, as in Origen’s Hexapla.
The critics find the like supply for restoring parts of those ancient versions
also in the spurious homilies in the appendix of this volume, compiled by some
other ancient Greek preacher. In this admired work of St. Chrysostom the moral
instructions are most beautiful, on prayer, especially that of the morning,
meekness, compunction, careful self-examination every evening, fasting,
humility, alms, &c. In Ps. 43. p. 146. he thus apostrophizes the rich;
“Hear this, you all who are slack in giving alms: hear this, you who, by
hoarding up your treasures, lose them yourselves: hear me you, who, by
perverting the end of your riches, are no better by them than those who are
rich only in a dream; nay your condition is far worse,” &c. He says, that
the poor, though they seem so weak, have arms more powerful and more terrible
than the greatest magistrates and princes; for the sighs and groans which they
send forth in their distresses, pierce the heavens, and draw down vengeance
without thinking to demand it, upon the rich, upon cities, and upon whole
nations. In Ps. 11. p. 120. he will have prayer to be made effectual by the
exercise of all virtues and good works, especially by a pure love of God,
hunger after his justice alone, and disengagement of the heart from all love of
earthly things. In Ps. 41. p. 190. this prayer by aspirations, which may be borrowed
from the psalms, he recommends to be practised in all places and times. Ib. He
insists, that with David we begin the day by prayer, doing nothing before this
duty to God be complied with: and that with him we consecrate part of the night
to compunction and prayer. In Ps. 6. he says many excellent things on the
remedies we are bound to employ against.concupiscence, especially assiduous
prayer, shunning all occasions which can prove incentives to this enemy or to
our senses, and above all dangerous company; assiduous meditation on death and
hell, &c. Ib. God only afflicts the just out of the excess of his love for
them, and desire to unite them closely to himself. In Ps. 114. p. 308. as the
Jews obtained not their return from their captivity to Jerusalem, but by long
and earnestly desiring it, so only an ardent and pure desire of the heavenly
Jerusalem can raise us thither: and an attachment to earthly goods and
pleasures links us to our slavery, and chains us down too fast for us ever to
rise so high. In Ps. Graduales, p. 328. he says, it was the custom at Antioch
for all the faithful to recite every morning the 140th psalm, which he desires
them carefully to understand, so as to penetrate the riches of the excellent
sentiments every word contains, in order to repeat it with more dilated
affections of the heart. In like manner he mentions that the 62nd psalm was
recited by all every evening. From his exposition of Psalm 41. p. 131. it
appears that the people answered by repeating the first verse of every psalm,
after every verse, as it was sung by the clergy
In the sixth tome, occur his excellent discourses on
the seven first chapters of Isaiah: then his four homilies on the fall of king
Ozias, (Isa. vi.) in which he sets forth the danger of pride, and necessity of
perseverance and constant watchfulness, (t. 6. p. 94.) After several homilies
on certain texts of Jeremy, Daniel, &c. we have his two elegant discourses
on the “Obscurity of the Prophets,” in which he shows that the wisdom of Providence
is displayed; for too great perspicuity would not have so well answered the
various ends of the Old Law. The advantages of public prayer are here strongly
set forth; and in the second the saint declaims against detraction, a vice
which brings neither profit nor pleasure, yet is most enormous even in those
who only listen to it. If he who scandalize one brother is so grievously
punished, what will be the chastisement of him who scandalizes so many? We are
bound to cover, not to proclaim the faults of others: but it is our duty to
endeavour to reclaim and save sinners, according to the precept of Christ. The
very company of detracters ought to be shunned: to correct, or at least set a
mark upon such, he wishes, in order that they may be known and avoided, they
were publicly branded with the name of flies, because, like these insects, they
delight to dwell on filth and corruption. In the homily “On Perfect Charity,”
he draws a most amiable portraiture of that virtue in society; and another, in
striking colours, of the day of judgment. It is uncertain by what accident the
imperfect work of St. Matthew was formerly taken by some for a performance of
St. Chrysostom. The mistake is notorious; for the author declares himself an
advocate of Arianism, (Hom. 19. 22. 28, &c.) and for the re-baptization of
heretics. (Hom. 13 and 15.) He seems to have written about the beginning of the
seventh century, and to have been a Latin, (not a Greek,) for he follows
closely the Latin text.
The commentary of St. Chrysostom on St. Matthew fills
the seventh tome, and consists of ninety homilies: the old Latin version, by
dividing the nineteenth into two, counts ninety-one. They were preached at
Antioch, probably in the year 390. This literal and most pious exposition of
that gospel contains the whole practical science of virtues and vices, and is
an inexhausted source of excellent morality, and a finished model of preaching
the work of God, and of expounding the oracles of eternal life for the
edification of souls. St. Thomas Aquinas was possessed only of a bad Latin
translation of this unparalleled work, yet said he would rather be master of
this single book than of the whole city of Paris. The example of the saint
shows that the most essential preparation for the study of the holy scriptures
consists in simplicity and purity of heart, an eminent spirit of prayer, and
habitual profound meditation on the sacred oracles. Thus qualified, he with
admirable sagacity and piety penetrates and unfolds the unbounded spiritual
riches of the least tittle in the divine word; and explains its sacred truths
with incomparable ease, perspicuity, elegance, and energy of style. The moral
instructions are enforced by all the strength and ornaments of the most sweet
and persuasive eloquence. Inveighing against the stage, he calls it the reign
of vice and iniquity, and the ruin of cities: and commends the saying of that
ancient Roman, who, hearing an account of the usual entertainments which were
represented on the stage, and how eagerly the citizens ran to them, cried out:
“Have they then neither wives nor children at home?” giving to understand, that
men ought not to seek diversion abroad which they would more rationally procure
at home with those whom they love. (Hom. 37. p. 414.) On the precept of self-denial
he takes notice, that by it Christ commands us, first, to be crucified to our
own flesh and will; secondly, to spare ourselves in nothing; thirdly, not only
to deny ourselves; but thoroughly to deny ourselves; by this little particle
thoroughly, adding great force to his precept. He says further, Let him take up
his cross; this is bearing not only all reproaches and injurious words, but
also every kind of sufferings or death. (Hom. 55. p. 556.) On Vain-Glory, he
calls it the most tyranical of all the diseases of the soul, (Hom. 19. p. 244.)
and pathetically laments the extreme misery of a soul that forsakes God, who
would commend and reward her, to court the empty esteem of the vainest of all
creatures, and those who will the more hate and despise her as she more eagerly
hunts after applause. He compares her to a king’s daughter who should abandon a
most amiable and rich prince, to run night and day through the streets after
fugitives and slaves, who hate and fly from her as the basest of prostitutes.
Those she seeks to have for witnesses and applauders, or rather she herself,
act the part of robbers, and rifle treasures laid up even in heaven in a place
of safety. The devil sees them inaccessible to his arts therefore employs this
worm to devour them. When you bestow an alms, shut your door; let him alone to
whom you give it be witness, nor even him if possible: if others see you they
will proclaim your vain-glory, and you will lose your reward both before God
and men. If you conceal your charity, it will be published by God himself.
(Hom. 71.) Speaking on alms, (Hom. 66.) he says, that the church of Antioch was
then possessed only of the revenue of one rich and of one poor man, yet
maintained three thousand virgins and widows, besides hospitals, &c. What
then is not one rich man able to do? But they have children. The saint replies,
that the best fortune they can leave them is a treasure laid up in heaven.
Every one is bound at least to count the poor among his children, and allot to
them one half, a third, or at least a tenth part. He declares, (Hom. 88.) that
he will never cease preaching on the obligation, efficacy, and advantages of
alms. He asserts, (Hom. 85.) that in the church of Antioch were contained one
hundred thousand souls; besides whom as many Jews and idolaters dwelt in that
city. (Hom. in St. Ignat. t. 2. p. 597.) He applauds the constancy and virtue
of a famous actress, (Hom. 67.) who being converted to God, would not be
compelled by the threats of the governor or any punishment, to appear again
upon the stage. In Hom. 68 and 69, he gives an amiable and edifying account of
the lives of the monks of Syria; and (Hom. 47. 80, 81. 90, &c.) commends a
state of voluntary poverty, and preaches on the contempt of the world. On
visiting the tombs of martyrs, to obtain health of body and every spiritual
advantage, see Hom. 37. p. 424. On the sign of the cross he says, (Hom. 54. p.
551.) “Let us carry about the cross of Christ as a crown, and let no one blush
at the ensign of salvation. By it is every thing in religion done: the cross is
employed if a person is regenerated, or fed with the mystical food, or
ordained: whatever else is to be done, this ensign of victory is ever present:
therefore we have it in our houses, paint it on our walls and windows, make it
on our foreheads, and always carry it devoutly in our hearts.—We must not
content ourselves with forming it with our finger, but must do it with great
sentiments of faith and devotion. If you thus form it on your face, no unclean
spirit will be able to stand against you when he beholds the instrument which
has given him the mortal stab. If we tremble at the sight of the place where
criminals are executed, think what the devils must suffer when they see that
weapon by which Christ stripped them of their power, and cut off the head of
their leader. Be not ashamed of so great a good which has been bestowed on you,
lest Christ should be ashamed of you when he shall appear in glory, and this
standard be borne before him brighter than the rays of the sun: for then the
cross shall appear speaking as it were with a loud voice.—This sign, both in
the time of our forefathers and in our own, has opened gates, deadened
malignant poisons, and healed wounds made by the sting or bite of venomous
creatures. If it has broken down the gates of hell, unbolted those of paradise,
opened its glory to us, destroyed the empire and weakened the power of the
devil, what wonder if it overcome poisons and wild beasts?” On the virtue of
the sign of the cross, see also Hom. 8. ib. and Hom. 4. de St. Paulo, t. 2. p.
494, et de libello repudii, t. 3. p. 204, &c. On the Holy Eucharist he
gives frequent and admirable instructions. Speaking of the sick, who were cured
by touching the hem of Christ’s garments, he adds, (Hom. 50. p. 517.) “What
graces is it not in our power to receive by touching and receiving his whole
body? What if you hear not his voice; you see him laid.—-He has given us
himself to eat, and has set himself in the state of a victim sacrificed before
us,” &c. And Hom. 82. p. 787. he writes: “How many now say, they wish to
see his shape, his garments? You desire to see his garments, but he gives you
himself, not only to be seen, but to be touched, to be eaten, to be received
within you. Than what beam of the sun ought not that hand to be more pure which
divides this flesh? that mouth which is filled with this spiritual fire? that
tongue which is purpled with this adorable blood? The angels beholding it
tremble, and dare not look thereon through awe and fear, and on account of the
rays which dart from that wherewith we are nourished, with which we are
mingled, being made one body, one flesh with Christ. What shepherd ever fed his
sheep with his own limbs? nay, many mothers give their children to other
nurses; whereas he feeds us with his own blood,” &c.
It is a familiar reflection of our saint, that by the
communion we become of one flesh and of one blood with Christ, to express the
close union of our souls with him in this divine sacrament. In the same Homily,
82. (olim 83.) on St. Matthew, p. 782. t. 7. he says, the apostles were not
affrighted when they heard Christ assure them, This is my body; because
he had before initiated them in most wonderful mysteries, and made them
witnesses to many prodigies and miracles, and had already instructed them in
this very sacrament, at which they had been at first much struck, and some of
them scandalized.—John vi. Moreover, that they might not fear, or say, Shall we
then drink his blood and eat his flesh; he set the example in taking the cup,
and drinking his own blood the first of all. The saint charges us (ib. p. 787.)
not to question or contradict the words of Christ but to captivate our reason
and understanding in obeying him, and believing his word, which cannot deceive us,
whereas our senses often lead us into mistakes. When, therefore, he tells
us, This is my body, we must believe him, and consider the mystery
with spiritual eyes; for we learn from him, that what he gives us is something
spiritual, which falls not under our senses. See this further on the same
subject, Hom. 50. (olim 51.) in Matt. p. 516, 517, 518. Hom. de Baptismo
Christi, t. 2. p. 374, 375. Hom. in Laudem Martyrum, t. 2. p. 654. Hom. non
esse ad gratiam concionandum, ib. p. 658, 659. Expos. in Ps. 46. t. 5. p. 189.
and in Ps. 133, p. 382. Hom. 5. in illud: Vidi Dominum, t. 6. p. 143. Hom. de
St. Philogonio, t. 1. p. 498. besides the passages quoted in this abstract. In
the same comments on St. Matthew, t. 7. Hom. 82. p. 788. he vehemently exhorts
the faithful to approach the holy table with a burning thirst and earnest
desire to suck in the spiritual milk, as it were, from the divine breast. As
children throw themselves into the bosom of their nurse or mother, and eagerly
suck their breast, so ought we with far greater ardour to run to the sacred
mysteries, to draw into our hearts, as the children of God, the grace of his
Holy Spirit. To be deprived of this heavenly food ought to be to us the most,
sensible, nay, our only grief, (ib. p. 788.) Nothing can be more tender than
his exhortations to frequent communion; he even recommends it daily (Hom. de
St. Philogonio, t. 1. p. 499, 500.) provided persons lead Christian lives, and
bring suitable dispositions. But no solemnity can be a reason for those who are
under the guilt of sin ever to approach in that state. (Ib.) No terms can he
stronger than those in which he speaks in many places of the enormity of a
sacrilegious communion, which he compares to the crime of Judas who betrayed
Christ, of the Jews who crucified him, and of Herod who sought to murder him in
his cradle, (Hom. 7. in Matt. p. 112, &c.) and frequently explains the
dispositions requisite to approach worthily the holy table, insisting chiefly
on great purity of soul, fervent devotion, and a vehement hunger and thirst
after this divine banquet. (Hom. 17. in Heb. t. 12. p. 169. Hom. 24. in 1 Cor.
t. 10. p. 218, &c.) He denounces the most dreadful threats of divine
vengeance against unfaithful ministers who admit to it notorious sinners. (Hom.
72. in Matt. t. 7. p. 789, 790.) “Christ,” says he, “will demand of you an
account of his blood, if you give it to those who are unworthy. If any such
person present himself, though he were general of the army, or emperor, drive
him from the holy table. The power with which you are invested is above that of
an emperor.—If you dare not refuse to admit the unworthy, inform me. I will
rather suffer my blood to be spilt than offer this sacred blood to one who is
unworthy,” &c. (ib.)
In this work of St. Chrysostom upon St. Matthew, we
meet with beautiful instructions on almost every Christian virtue. Read Hom.
38. on humility, which he styles the queen of all virtues; Hom. 58. where he
calls it the beginning of a virtuous life; and Hom. 65. where he shows that it
exalts a man above the highest dignities. On the entire contempt of the world
as a nothing, Hom. 12. 33, &c. On the happiness of him who serves God, whom
the whole world cannot hurt, Hom. 24. 56. 90. Against avarice, Hom. 28. 63. 74.
Against drunkenness, Hom. 70. On compunction, Hom. 41. where he proves it
indispensable from the continual necessity of penance for hidden sins, and for
detraction, vain-glory, avarice, &c. We ought also to weep continually for
our dangers. Speaking on the same virtue, Hom. 6. p. 94. he teaches that
compunction is the daughter of divine love, which consumes in the heart all
affections for temporal things, so that a man is disposed with pleasure to part
with the whole world and life itself. A soul is by it made light, and soaring
above all things visible, despises them as nothing. He who is penetrated with
this spirit of love and compunction, frequently breaks into floods of tears;
but these tears afford him incredible sweetness and pleasure. He lives in
cities as if he were in a wilderness; so little notice does he take of the
things of this life. He is never satiated with tears which he pours forth for
his own sins and those of others. Hence the saint takes occasion to launch
forth into the commendation of the gift of holy tears, p. 96, 97. He inveighs
against stage entertainments, Hom. 6, 7. 17. 37, &c. See especially Hom.
contra ludos et theatra, t. 6. 274
On Hell he says, (Hom. 23. in Mat.) that the loss of
God is the greatest of all the pains which the damned endure, nay more grievous
than a thousand hells. Many tremble at the name of hell: but he much more at
the thought of losing God, which the state of damnation implies. (Ib.) He
distinguishes in hell the loss of God, and secondly, fire and the other pains
of sense. (Hom. 47.) He shows that company abates nothing in its torments.
(Hom. 43.) Some object that to meditate on those torments is too frightful: to
whom he answers, that this is most agreeable, because by it we learn to shun
them, the hope of which inspires joy, and so great earnestness in the practice
of penance, that austerities themselves become agreeable. (Ib.) He often
mentions grace before and after meat: and, Hom. 55. p. 561. recites that which
the monks about Antioch used before their meals, as follows: “Blessed God, who
feedest me from my youth, who givest nourishment to all flesh, fill our hearts
with joy, that being supported by thy bounty we may abound in every good work
in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be all honour, praise, and glory given with
the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen. Glory be to thee, O Lord; glory be to
thee, O Holy: glory be to thee, O King, because thou hast given us food in
joyfulness. Fill us with thy Holy Spirit, that we may be found acceptable in
thy sight, that we may not be covered with confusion when Thou shalt render to
every one according to his works.” This whole prayer is admirable, says the
saint, but especially the close, the remembrance of the last day being a bridle
and check to sensuality and concupiscence. (Ib.) The saint shows (Hom. 86. p.
810.) the malice and danger of small faults wilfully committed, which many are
apt to make slight of: but from such the most dreadful falls take their rise.
The old Latin translation of St. Chrysostom’s homilies on St. Matthew, is too
full of words, and often inaccurate. Anian, the author, seems to have been the
Pelagian deacon of that name, who assisted at the council of Diospolis in 415.
The new Latin translation is far more exact, but very unequal in elegance and
dignity of expression to the general.
The eighth tome is composed of the homilies of St.
Chrysostom upon St. John, which are eighty-eight in number, though in former
Latin editions, in imitation of Morellus, the first is called preface, and only
eighty-seven bear the title of homilies. They were preached at Antioch, about
the year 394, at break of day, long before the usual hour of the sermon. (Hom.
31.) We find here the same elevation of thought, the same genius and lively
imagination, and the same strength of reasoning which we admire in those on St.
Matthew; but the method is different. After a short literal exposition of the
text, the holy doctor frequently inserts polemical discussions, in which he
proves the Consubstantiality of the Son against the Anomæans. Hence his moral
reflections in the end are short: in which nevertheless he is always admirable,
especially when he speaks of the love which God testifies for us, in the
mystery of the Incarnation. (See Hom. 27. olim 26. p. 156.) He observes that Christ
miraculously multiplied five loaves, before he gave his solemn promise of the
Eucharist, which he calls “The miracle of mysteries, and this he did,” says our
saint, “That being taught by that miracle they might not doubt in giving credit
to his words—that not only by love, but in reality we are mingled with his
flesh.” (Hom. 46. olim 45. in Joan. t. 8. p. 272.) Christ by this institution
thus invites us to his heavenly banquet, says our saint. “I feed you with my
flesh, I give you myself for your banquet. I would become your brother: for
your sake, I took upon myself flesh and blood: Again, I give you the flesh and
blood, by which I have made myself of the same nature and kindred with you
([Greek], congener.)—This blood by being poured forth has cleansed the whole
world.—This blood has purified the sanctuaries and the Holy of Holies. If its
figure had so great efficacy in the temple of the Hebrews and sprinkled on the
doors of Egypt, the truth will have much greater.” (Ib. p. 273.) He calls the
holy Eucharist “the tremendous mysteries, the dreadful altar,” [Greek] (ib.)
and says, “When you approach the sacred cup, come as if you were going to drink
the blood flowing from his side.” (Hom. 85. olim 84. in Joan. p. 507.)
The fifty-five Homilies On the Acts of the
Apostles, he preached at Constantinople, in the third year of his
episcopal dignity, of our Lord 401, as appears from Hom. 44. p. 335. t. 9. The
famous censure of Erasmus, who judged them absolutely unworthy of our saint,
(ep. ad Warham. archiepiscopum Cantuarens.) is well known: Billius, on the
contrary, thinks them very elegant. Both judgments show how far prepossession
is capable of misleading the most learned men. That this work is undoubtedly
genuine, is demonstrated by Sir Henry Saville. Photius justly admires an
admirable eloquence, rich veins of gold scattered through it, and the moral
instructions are so noble and beautiful, that no other genius but that of a
Chrysostom could have formed them. The style indeed in many parts of the comments,
is not regular or correct: which might be owing to some indisposition, or to an
extraordinary hurry of troublesome affairs, to a confusion of mind, and to
alarms, the city being then in imminent danger by the revolt and blockade of
Gainas, and in daily fears of being plundered by that barbarian. In the first
homily our saint speaks against those who deferred to receive baptism, for fear
of forfeiting the grace by relapsing into sin: which delay he shows to imply a
wilful and obstinate contempt of God and his grace, with the guilt of a base
and inexcusable sloth, like one who should desire to enrol himself in the army
when the war was over, yet expect a share in the triumph; or a wrestler who
should enter the lists when the games are closed. He adds, that in sickness,
under alarms and pains, it is scarcely to be hoped that a person will be able
to dispose himself for so great a sacrament. Prudent men make their wills
whilst in health, imagining that at best they will retain their senses but by
halves at the approaches of death; and can we think dying men capable of duly
making so solemn an engagement with God. He assures his flock that he is not
able to express the consternation, grief, and agony, with which he is seized
whenever he hears of any one being dead without baptism or penance, (p. 13.) In
Hom. 3. p. 30. he exaggerates the grievousness of sin in a priest, and has
these remarkable words, “I do not believe that many priests are saved; but that
far the greater number is lost: for this dignity requires a great soul and much
courage.”
In Hom. 7. he draws a most amiable and beautiful
portraiture of the charity which reigned in the primitive church, when all with
joy cast away their money; setting no value but on the inestimably greater
treasures which they possessed in God: when all lived without envy, jealousy,
pride, contempt of any one, and without any cunning or ill-will; and when the
cold words mine and thine were banished from among them. p. 58. 59. A passage
often quoted by those who write on the small number of the elect, occurs Hom.
24. p. 198. “How many,” says he, “do you think there are in this city who will
be saved? What I am going to say is frightful indeed; yet I will speak it. Out
of so many thousands not one hundred belongs to the number of the elect: and
even of these I doubt. How much vice among the youth! What sloth in the old! No
one takes due care of the education of his children. If we see a man truly
devout in his old age, he is imitated by nobody. I see persons behave disrespectfully
and without due attention in the church, and even when the priest is giving his
blessing. Can any insolence be found equal to this? Amidst such scandals, what
hopes can we entertain of the salvation of many? At a ball every one dances in
his rank, every thing is regulated, and done without confusion. And here in the
company of angels, and singing the praises of God with the blessed spirits, you
talk and laugh. Should we be surprised if thunder fell from heaven to punish
such impiety?” The monks then lived without the walls, and could not be
included by him: nor probably the clergy, deaconesses, or others particularly
consecrated to a devout life; as appears from his invective. Nor does he speak
this with any certitude, but from his private apprehension by comparing the
lives of the generality of the people with the severe maxims of the gospel.
This is manifest from the proof he draws from the manners of the people, and
from a like invective in Hom. 61. olim 62. on St. Matthew, (t. 7. p. 612.) spoken
at Antioch ten years before. See also l. 1. adv. Oppugnatores Vitæ Mon. n. 8.
t. 1. p. 55. Speaking on the general impiety of the world (Hom. 10. in 1 Tim.)
he says “We have great reason to weep: scarcely the least part of the world is
saved: almost all live in danger of eternal death.” But he shows that the
multitude will only increase the torments of the wicked, as if a man saw his
wife and children to be burnt alive with him. St. Chrysostom counts in
Constantinople, at that time, one hundred thousand Christians, (Hom. 11. in
Acta.) and says that the poor in that city amounted to fifty thousand, and the
riches of the particulars to about one million pounds of gold. Yet he reckons
the assembly of the Christians greater at Antioch than at Constantinople. (Hom.
1. adv. Judæos. p. 592. t. 1.) If the estate of one rich and that of one poor
man maintained three thousand poor at Antioch, and the like estates often rich
men would have supported all the poor of that city, it is inferred that there
were in Antioch only thirty thousand poor, though it might perhaps have more
inhabitants than Constantinople. See Bandurius on the site and extent of
Constantinople under the emperors Arcadius and Honorius; and Hasius de
magnitudine urbium, p. 47.
St. Chrysostom teaches that grace is conferred by God
at the imposition of hands in the ordination of priests, Hom. 14. in Acta. p.
114. also, Hom. 3. de Resurrect, t. 2. p. 436. and Hom. 21. in Acta. p. 175.
that “Oblations (or masses) are not offered in vain for the dead.” It is his
pious counsel (Hom. 17. in Acta.) that when we find ourselves provoked to
anger, we form on our breast the sign of the cross; and Hom. 26. he exhorts all
Christians, even the married, and both men and women, to rise every midnight to
pray in their own houses, and to awake little children at that hour that they
may say a short prayer in bed. He says that saints and martyrs are commemorated
in the holy mysteries, because this is doing them great honour, (Hom. 21. in
Acta. p. 276.) and by the communion with them in their virtues the rest of the
faithful departed reap much benefit. (Hom. 51. in 1 Corinth, t. 10. p. 393.)
For a specimen of the zeal and charity with which this
great preacher instructed his flock, two or three passages are here inserted.
Hom. 3. in Acta. p. 31. t. 9. “I wish,” says he, “I could set before your eyes
the tender charity and love which I bear you: after this no one could take it
amiss or be angry if I ever seem to use too harsh words in correcting
disorders. Nothing is dearer to me than you; not even life or light. I desire a
thousand times over to lose my sight, if by this means I could convert your
souls to God; so much more sweet is your salvation to me. If it happens that
any of you fall into sin, you are present even in my sleep: through grief I am
like persons struck with a palsy, or deprived of their senses. For what hope or
comfort can I have left, if you advance not in virtue? And if you do well, what
can afflict me? I seem to feel myself taking wing when I hear any good of
you. Make my joy complete. Phil. ii. 2. Your progress is my only
desire. You are to me all, father and mother, and brothers and children.” Hom.
44. in Act. p. 335. having appealed to his closet and secret retreats to bear
witness how many tears he shed without intermission for them, he says, “What
shall I do? I am quite spent daily crying out to you: Forsake the stage. Yet
many laugh at our words: Refrain from oaths and avarice, and no one listens to
us. For your sakes I have almost abandoned the care of my own soul and
salvation; and whilst I weep for you, I bewail also my own spiritual miseries,
to which, through solicitude for you, I am not sufficiently attentive: so true
it is that you are all things to me. If I see you advance in virtue, through
joy I feel not my own ills; and if I perceive you make no progress, here again
through grief I forget my own miseries. Though I am sinking under them, on your
account, I am filled with joy: and whatever subject of joy I have in myself, I
am overwhelmed with grief if all is not well with you. For what comfort, what
life, what hope can a pastor have, if his flock be perishing? How will he stand
before God? What will he say? Though he should be innocent of the blood of them
all, still he will be pierced with bitter sorrow which nothing will be able to
assuage. For though parents were no way in the fault, they would suffer the
most cruel anguish for the ruin or loss of their children. Whether I shall be
demanded an account of your souls or no, this will not remove my grief. I am
not anxious that you may attain to happiness by my labours, but that you be
saved at any rate, or by any means. You know not the impetuous tyranny of
spiritual travails, and how he who spiritually brings forth children to God desires
a thousand times over to be hewn to pieces rather than to see one of his
children fall or perish. Though we could say with assurance, we have done all
that lay in us, and are innocent of his blood, this will not be enough to
comfort us. Could my heart be laid open and exposed to your view, you would see
that you are every one there and much dilated, women, children, and men. So
great is the power of charity that it makes a soul wider than the heavens. St.
Paul bore all Corinth within his breast. 2 Corinth, vii. 2. I can make you no
reproaches for any indifference toward me on your side. I am sensible of the
love which you reciprocally bear me. But what will be the advantage either of
your love for me or of mine for you, if the duties you owe to God are
neglected? It is only an occasion of rendering my grief more heavy. You have
never been wanting in any thing towards me. Were it possible you would have
given me your very eyes: and on our side we were desirous to give you with the
gospel also our lives. Our love is reciprocal. But this is not the point. We
must in the first place love Christ. This obligation both you and I have great
need to study: not that we entirely neglect it; but the pains we take are not
adequate to this great end.”
To abolish the sacrilegious custom of swearing at
Constantinople, as he had done at Antioch, he strained every sinew, and in
several sermons he exerted his zeal with uncommon energy, mingled with the most
tender charity. In Hom. 8. in Act. t. 9. p. 66, 67. he complains that some who
had begun to correct their criminal habit, after having fallen through
surprise, or by a sudden fit of passion, had lost courage. These he animates to
a firmer resolution and vigour, which would crown them with victory. He tells
them he suffers more by grief for them than if he languished in a dungeon, or
was condemned to the mines; and begs, by the love which they bear him, they
would give the only comfort which could remove the weight of his sorrow by an
entire conversion. It will not justify him, he says, at the last day, to allege
that he had reprimanded those who swore. The judge will answer: “Why didst not
thou check, command, and by laws restrain those that disobeyed?” Heli
reprimanded his sons; but was condemned for not having done it, because he did
not use sufficient severity. 1 Kings xi. 24. “I every day cry aloud,” says the
saint, “yet am not heard. Fearing to be myself condemned at the last day for
too great lenity and remissness, I raise my voice, and denounce aloud to all, that
if any swear, I forbid them the church. Only this month is allowed for persons
to correct their habit.” His voice he calls a trumpet, with which in different
words he proclaims thrice this sentence of excommunication against whosoever
should persist refractory, though he were a prince, or he who wears the diadem.
Hom. 9. p. 76. he congratulates with his audience for the signs of compunction
and amendment which they had given since his last sermon, and tells the
greatest part of the difficulty is already mastered by them. To inspire them
with a holy dread and awe for the adorable name of God, he puts them in mind
that in the Old Law only the high priest was allowed ever to pronounce it, and
that the devils trembled at its sound. Hom. 10. he charges them never to name
God but in praising him or in imploring his mercy. He takes notice that some
among them still sometimes swore, but only for want of attention, by the force
of habit, just as they made the sign of the cross by mere custom, without
attention, when they entered the baths, or had lighted a candle. He tells them
(Hom. 11. p. 95.) that the term of a month, which he had fixed, was almost
elapsed, and most affectionately conjures them to make their conversion entire.
A sight of one such conversion, he says, gave him more joy, than if a thousand
imperial diadems of the richest jewels had been placed upon his head. Other
specimens of the saint’s ardent love for his people at Constantinople, see Hom.
9. in Hebr. t. 12. p. 100. Hom. 23. in Hebr. p. 217. Hom. 9. in 1 Thess. t. 11.
p. 494. Hom. 7. in 1 Coloss. Hom. 39. in Act. p. 230, &c. For his people at
Antioch, t. 3. v. 362, t. 2. p. 279, t. 7. p. 374, &c. On his humility, t.
2. p. 455. t. 4. p. 339. On his desire to suffer for Christ, t. 1. p. 453. t.
7. p. 243. t. 11. p. 53. 55.
The inspired epistles of St. Paul were the favourite
subject of this saint’s intense meditation, in which he studied the most
sublime maxims, and formed in himself the most perfect spirit of Christian
virtue. The epistle to the Romans is expounded by him in thirty-two homilies,
(2. 9. p. 429.) which he made at Antioch, as is clear from Hom. 8. p. 508, and
Hom. 30. p. 743. Nothing can go beyond the commendations which St. Isidore of
Pelusium bestows on this excellent work, (l. 5. ep. 32.) to which all
succeeding ages have subscribed. The errors of Pelagius, which were broached
soon after in the West, are clearly guarded against by the holy preacher,
though he is more solicitous to confute the opposite heresy of the Manichees,
which then reigned in many parts of the East. He also confounds frequently the
Jews. But what we most admire is the pious sagacity with which he unfolds the
deep sense of the sacred text, and its author, the true disciple of Christ, and
the perspicuity and eloquence with which he enforces his moral instructions.
Whoever reads any one of these homilies, will bear testimony to this eulogium.
See Hom. 24. (t. 9. p. 694.) on the shortness of human life: Hom. 8. on
fraternal charity and forgiving injuries: Hom. 20. on our obligation of
offering to God a living sacrifice of our bodies by the exercise of all
virtues, and the sanctity of our affections: Hom. 22 and 27. on patience in
bearing all injuries, by which we convert them into our greatest treasure: Hom.
5. on the fear of God’s judgment, and on his love, to which he pathetically
says, it would be more grievous to offend God than to suffer all the torments
of hell, which every one incurs who is not in this disposition, (p. 469.)
though it is a well-known maxim that persons ought not to propose to themselves
in too lively a manner such comparisons, or to become their own tempters: Hom.
7. against envy, and on alms, he says this is putting out money at interest for
one hundred fold from God, who is himself our security, and who herein
considers not the sum, but the will, as he did in St. Peter, who left for him
only a broken net, a line, and a hook. The promise of a hundred fold made to
him, is no less made to us.
The commentary on the First Epistle to the
Corinthians, (t. 10.) in forty-four homilies, was likewise the fruit of his
zeal at Antioch, and is one of the most elaborate and finished of his works.
The interpreter seems animated with the spirit of the great apostle whose
sacred oracles he expounds, so admirably does he penetrate the pious energy of
the least tittle. If St. Paul uses the words My God, he observes,
that out of the vehement ardour and tenderness of his love he makes Him his
own, who is the common God of all men; and that he names Him with a sentiment
of burning affection and profound adoration, because he had banished all
created things from his heart, and all his affections were placed in God. He
extols the merit and advantages of holy virginity, (Hom. 19.) and Hom. 26.
speaks on the duties of a married state, especially that of mutual love and
meekness in bearing each other’s faults: this he bids them learn from Socrates,
a pagan, who chose a very shrew for his wife, and being asked how he could bear
with her, said: “I have a school of virtue at home, in order to learn meekness
and patience by the daily practice.” The saint adds, it was a great grief to
him to see Christians fall short of the virtue of a heathen, whereas they ought
to be imitators of the angels, nay of God himself. Recommending the most
profound respect for the holy eucharist and a dread of profaning it, he says,
Hom. 24. p. 217, 218. “No one dares touch the king’s garments with dirty hands.
When you see Him (i. e. Christ) exposed before you, say to yourself: This
body was pierced with nails; this body which was scourged, death did not
destroy; this body was nailed to a cross, at which spectacle the sun withdrew
its rays; this body the Magi venerated,” &c. The saint inveighs against
several superstitious practices of that age, Hom. 12. His discourses are
animated and strong on the characters of fraternal charity, and against
avarice, envy, &c.
The thirty homilies, on the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, (t. 10. p. 417.) were also preached at Antioch: for he speaks of
Constantinople as at a distance, (Hom. 26.) which passage Sir Henry Saville has
mistaken, as Montfaucon clearly shows. This commentary is inferior to the last,
though not in elegance, yet in fire, the moral instructions being shorter. The
saint mentions several of the ceremonies used still at mass, or in the public
office of the church. Hom. 18. p. 568. Hom. 39. p. 650. On visiting the shrines
of martyrs, he says, Hom. 26. p. 629. “The tombs of those who served the
crucified Christ surpass in splendour the courts of kings. Even he who wears
purple visits and devoutly kisses them, and standing suppliant, prays the saint
to be a protection to him before God.”
He adds that emperors sue for their patronage, and
count it an honour to be porters to them in their graves. By this he alludes to
the burial of Constantine the Great in the porch of the church of the apostles.
He proves, Hom. 3. p. 441. and Hom. 14. p. 537. that the essence of repentance
consists in a change of the heart: that without an amendment of life, penance
is only a mask and a shadow, what fasts or other works soever attend it, and
that it must be founded not barely in the fear of hell, but in the love of so
good and loving a God. He teaches, Hom. 10. p. 505. that a Christian ought to
rejoice at the approaches of death. He speaks in many places on the precept of
alms-deeds with great vehemence. He says, Hom. 16. that to be animated with a
spirit of charity and compassion is something greater than to raise the dead to
life: our alms must be liberal, plentiful, voluntary, and given with joy. He
says, Hom. 19. that Christ stripped himself of his immense glory and riches for
love of us; yet men refuse him a morsel of bread. They throw away on dogs and
what is superfluous among servants that which Christ wants in his members, to
whom all strictly belongs whatever we enjoy beyond what is necessary for life.
He enters into a severe and elegant detail of these superfluities, Hom. 19. p.
570. The apostle, as he observes, (Hom. 20. p. 577.) justly calls alms a seed,
because it is not lost, but sown, and produces a most plentiful harvest.
His commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, (t.
10.) is an accurate interpretation of the text, with frequent remarks against
the Anomæans, Marcionites, and Manichees, but very sparing in moral
exhortations: these the saint probably added in the pulpit, and gave to the
work the form of discourses; for it appears to have been delivered in homilies
to the people, though it is not now divided into discourses. It was certainly
compiled at Antioch.
The twenty-four homilies on the Epistle to the
Ephesians, (t. 11.) were preached at Antioch; and though some passages might
have received a higher polish from a second touch of the saint’s masterly file,
they are a most useful and excellent work. From Hom. 3. p. 16. it is clear that
his predecessor Nectarius had not abolished canonical public penances, when he
removed the public penitentiary; but that this office, as before the
institution of such a charge, was exercised altogether by the bishop. For St.
Chrysostom having taken notice that many assisted at mass who did not
communicate, tells them, that those who were guilty of any grievous sin could
not approach the holy table even on the greatest solemnity; but that such
persons ought to be in a course of penance, and consequently not at mass with
the rest of the faithful: and he terrifies them by exaggerating the danger and
crime of delaying to do penance. Those who are not excluded by such an
obstacle, he exhorts strongly to frequent communion, seeming desirous that many
would communicate at every day’s mass. “With a pure conscience,” he says,
“approach always; without this disposition, never. In vain is the daily
sacrifice offered; to no purpose do we assist at the altar: no one
communicates. I say not this to induce any one to approach unworthily, but to
engage all to render yourselves worthy. The royal table is prepared, the
administering angels are present, the King himself is there waiting for you:
yet you stand with indifference,” &c. (Hom. 3. in Ephes. p. 23.) The
virtues of St. Paul furnish the main subject of his sixth and seventh homilies;
in the eighth he speaks of that apostle’s sufferings for Christ, and declares
in a kind of rapturous exclamation, that he prefers his chains to cold.and
diadems, and his company in prison to heaven itself. He wishes he could make a
pilgrimage to Rome, to see and kiss those chains at which the devils tremble,
and which the angels reverence, whilst they venerate the hands which were bound
with them. For it is more desirable and more glorious to suffer with Christ,
than to be honoured with him in glory: this is an honour above all others.
Christ himself left heaven to meet his cross: and St. Paul received more glory
from his chains, than by being rapt up to the third heaven, or by curing the
sick by the touch of his scarfs, &c. He desires to feast his heart by
dwelling still longer on the chains of this apostle, being himself fettered
with a chain from which he could not be separated: for he declares himself to
be closer and faster linked to St. Paul’s chains by desire, than that apostle
was in prison. In the like strain, he speaks of the chains of St. Peter, and of
St. John the Baptist. In the next Homily (9.) he returns in equal raptures to
St. Paul in chains for Christ: in which state he calls him a spectacle of glory
far beyond all the triumphs of emperors and conquerors. Our saint gives
excellent instructions on the duties of married persons, Hom. 20.; on the
education of children in the practice and spirit of obedience and piety, Hom.
21.; and on the duties of servants, Hom. 22
The eighteen homilies on the First Epistle to Timothy,
and ten on the Second, seem also to have been preached at Antioch. (t. 11. p.
146.) They are not equally polished; but contain excellent instructions against
covetousness, and the love of the world; on alms, on the duties of bishops, and
those of widows, &c.; on the education of children, Hom. 10. p. 596. The
six, on the Epistle to Titus, are more elaborate: also three on the Epistle to
Philemon, which seem all to have been finished at Antioch.
In the eleventh tome we have also eleven sermons,
which St. Chrysostom preached at Constantinople about the end of the year 398.
The second was spoken upon the following occasion: (ib. p. 332.) The empress
Eudoxia procured a solemn procession and translation of the relics of certain
martyrs, to be made from the great church in Constantinople to the church of
St. Thomas the apostle in Drypia, on the sea-shore, nine miles out of town. The
princes without any retinue, priests, monks, nuns, ladies, and the people,
attended the procession in such multitudes, that from the light of the burning
tapers which they carried in their hands, the sea seemed as it were on fire.
The empress walked all the way behind, touching the shrine and the veil which
covered it. The procession set out in the beginning of the night, passed
through the market-place, and arrived at Drypia about break of day. There St.
Chrysostom made an extemporary sermon, in which he described the pomp of this
ceremony, commended the piety of the empress, and proved that if the clothes,
handkerchiefs, and even shadow of saints on earth had wrought many miracles, a
blessing is certainly derived from their relics upon those who devoutly touch
them. The next day the emperor Arcadius, attended by his court and guards,
arrived, and the soldiers having laid aside their arms, and the emperor his
diadem, he paid his devotions before the shrine. After his departure St.
Chrysostom preached again. (p. 336.)
St. Chrysostom was removed to Constantinople in 397.
The fifteen (or if, with some editors, we include the prologue, sixteen)
homilies on the Epistle to the Philippians, (t. 11. p. 189.) were preached in
that capital of the empire. The moral instructions turn mostly on alms and
riches. The order which prudence prescribes in the distribution of alms, he
explains, (Hom. 1. t. 11. p. 201.) and condemns too anxious an inquiry and
suspicion of imposture in the poor, as contrary to Christian simplicity and
charity, affirming that none are so frequently imposed upon by cheats as the
most severe inquirers. Prudence and caution he allows to be necessary
ingredients of alms, in which those whose wants are most pressing, or who are
most deserving, ought to be first considered. Hom. 3. p. 217. he lays it down
as a principle, that catechumens who die without baptism, and penitents without
absolution, “are excluded from heaven with the damned:” which we are to
understand, unless they were justified by perfect contrition joined with a
desire of the sacrament, as St. Ambrose, St. Austin, and all the fathers and
councils declare. St. Chrysostom adds, that it is a wholesome ordinance of the
apostles in favour of the faithful departed, to commemorate them in the
adorable mysteries: for how is it possible God should be deaf to our prayers
for them, at a time when all the people stand with stretched forth hands with
the priests, in presence of the most adorable sacrifice? But the catechumens
are deprived of this comfort, though not of all succour, for alms may be given
for them, from which they receive some relief or mitigation of their pains.
Though such not dying within the exterior pale of the church, cannot be
commemorated in its public suffrages and sacrifices; yet if by desire they were
interiorly its members, and by charity united to Christ its head, they may be
benefited by private suffrages which particulars may offer for them. This is
the meaning of this holy doctor. Exhorting the faithful to live in perpetual
fear of the dangers with which we are surrounded, (Hom. 8. in Ephes. t. 11.) he
says, “A builder on the top of a house always apprehends the danger of falling,
and on this account is careful how he stands: so ought we much more to fear,
how much soever we may be advanced in virtue. The principal means always to
entertain in our souls this saving fear, is to have God always before our eyes,
who is every where present, hears and sees all things, and penetrates the most
secret foldings of our hearts. Whether you eat, go to sleep, sit at dainty
tables, are inclined to anger, or any other passion, or whatever else you do,
remember always,” says he, “that God is present, and you will never fall into
dissolute mirth, or be provoked to anger; but will watch over yourselves in
continual fear.” With great elegance he shows (Hom. 10. p. 279.) that precious
stones serve for no use, are not so good even as common stones, and that all
their value is imaginary, and consists barely in the mad opinion of men; and he
boldly censures the insatiable rapaciousness and unbounded prodigality of the
rich, in their sumptuous palaces, marble pillars, and splendid clothes and
equipages. Houses are only intended to defend us from the weather, and raiment
to cover our nakedness. All vanities he shows to be contrary to the designs of
nature, which is ever content with little. In Hom. 12. we have an excellent
instruction on that important maxim in a spiritual life, that we must never
think how far we nave run, but what remains of our course, as in a race a man
thinks only on what is before him. It will avail nothing to have begun, unless
we finish well our course. In Hom. 13. he excellently explains the mystery of
the cross which we bear if we study continually to crucify ourselves by
self-denial. We must in all places arm ourselves with the sign of the cross.
The Exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians, in
twelve homilies, (t. 11.) was made at Constantinople in the year 399. In the
second homily (p. 333.) he says, that a most powerful means to maintain in
ourselves a deep sense of gratitude to God, and to increase the flame of his
love in our hearts, is to bear always in mind his numberless benefits to us,
and the infinite evils from which he has mercifully delivered us. In Hom. 8. p.
319. he teaches that no disposition of our souls contributes more effectually
to our sanctification, than that of returning thanks to God under the severest
trials of adversity, a virtue little inferior to martyrdom. A mother who,
without entertaining the least sentiment of complaint at the sickness and death
of her dearest child, thanks God with perfect submission to his will, will
receive a recompense equal to that of martyrs. After condemning the use of all
superstitious practices for the cure of distempers, he strongly exhorts mothers
rather to suffer their children to die, than ever to have recourse to such
sacrilegious methods; and contenting themselves with making the sign of the
cross upon their sick children, to answer those who suggested any superstitious
remedy: “These are my only arms; I am utterly a stranger to other methods of
treating this distemper.” The tenth homily (p. 395.) contains a strong
invective against the excessive luxury and immodesty of ladies in their dress,
and their vanity, pride, and extravagance. The empress Eudoxia, who was at the
head of these scandalous customs, and the mistress of court fashions and vices,
could not but be highly offended at this zealous discourse. The saint says,
that many ladies used vessels of silver for the very meanest uses, and that the
king of Persia wore a golden beard.
The eleven homilies on the First Epistle to the Thessalonians,
were also part of the fruit of his episcopal labours at Constantinople. (t.
11.) In the second he shows the excellency of fraternal love and friendship, by
which every thing is as it were possessed in common, and those cold words mine
and thine, the seed of all discords, are banished as they were among the
primitive Christians. In the third, he doubts not but perfect patience, under
grievous sicknesses, may equal the merit of martyrdom. In the fifth, he speaks
incomparably on the virtue of purity, and against occasions which may kindle in
the heart the contrary passion, which, with St. Paul, he will not have so much
as named, especially against the stage, and all assemblies where women make
their appearance dressed out to please the eyes and wound the hearts of others.
In Hom. 6. he condemns excessive grief for the death of friends. To indulge
this sorrow for their sake, he calls it want of faith: to grieve for our own
sake because we are deprived of a comfort and support in them, he says, must
proceed from a want of confidence in God: as if any friend on earth could be
our safeguard, but God alone. God took this friend away, because he is jealous
of our hearts, and will have us love him without a rival. (p. 479.) In Hom. 10.
we are instructed, that the best revenge we can take of an enemy is to forgive
him, and to bear injuries patiently. In Hom. 11. p. 505. he gives an account,
that a certain lady being offended at a slave for a great crime, resolved to
sell him and his wife. The latter wept bitterly; and a mediator, whose good
offices with her mistress in her behalf she implored, conjured the lady in
these words: “May Christ appear to you at the last day in the same manner in
which you now receive our petition.” Which words so strongly affected her, that
she forgave the offence. The night following Christ appeared to her in a
comfortable vision, as St. Chrysostom was assured by herself. In Hom. 7. (ib.)
he shows the possibility of the resurrection of the flesh against infidels.
The five homilies on the Second Epistle to the
Thessalonians, were also preached at Constantinople. (T. 11. p. 510.) In the
second, he exhorts all to make the torments of hell a frequent subject of their
meditation, that they may never sin; and to entertain little children often
with some discourse on them instead of idle stories, that sentiments of holy
fear and virtue may strike deep roots in their tender hearts. On traditions
received by the church from the apostles he writes as follows: (Hom. 4. in 2.
Thess. p. 532.) “Hence it is clear that they did not deliver all things by
their epistles, but communicated also many things without writing: and these
likewise deserve our assent or faith. It is a tradition: make no further
inquiry.” In the same Hom. 4. p. 534. he expresses how much he trembled at the
thought of being, by the obligation of his office, the mediator between God and
his people; and declares, that he ceased not most earnestly to pour forth his
prayers for them both at home and abroad. In Hom. 4. ib, he severely reprimands
those who reproach the poor in harsh words, adding to the weight of their
affliction and misery.
The thirty-four homilies on the Epistle to the
Hebrews, (t. 12. p. 1.) were compiled at Constantinople. In the seventh he
shows, that the evangelical precepts and counsels belong to all Christians, not
only to monks, if we except the vow of perpetual virginity: though also men
engaged in a married state are bound to be disentangled in spirit, and to use
the world as if they used it not. Hom. 17. ib. p. 169. he explains that the
sacrifice of the New Law is one, because the same body of Christ is every day
offered; not one day one sheep, another day a second, &c. (On this
sacrifice see also Hom. 5. in 1. Tim. t. 11. p. 577. Hom. 3. contra. Judæos. t.
1. p. 611. Hom. 7. contra Judæos. t. 1. p. 664. Hom. in St. Eustath. t. 2. p.
606. Hom. 24. in 1. Cor. t. 10. p. 213.) In Hom. 34. ad. Hebr. p. 313. he
expresses his extreme fears for the rigorous account which a pastor is obliged
to give for every soul committed to his charge, and cries out, “I wonder that
any superior of others is saved.”
A letter to a certain monk called Cæsarius, has passed
under the name of St. Chrysostom ever since Leontius and St. John Damascen; and
not only many Protestants, but also F. Hardouin, (Dissert. de ep. ad Cæsarium
Monachum,) Tillemont, (t. 11. art. 130. p. 340.) and Tournelly, (Tr. de Euchar.
t. 1. p. 282. and Tract. de Incarnat. p. 486.) are not unwilling to look upon
it as a genuine work of our holy doctor. But it is demonstrated by P. Le Quien,
(Diss. 3. in St. Joan. Damasc.) Dom Montfaucon, (in Op. St. Chrys. t. 3. p.
737.) Ceillier, (t. 9. p. 249.) F. Merlin in his learned dissertations on this
epistle (in Mémoires de Trevoux. an. 1737. p. 252. 516. and 917.) and F. Stilting,
the Bollandist, (t. 4. Sept. Comment. in vitam. St. Chrys. s. 82. p. 656.) that
it has been falsely ascribed to him, and is a patched work of some later
ignorant Greek writer, who has borrowed some things from the first letter of
St. Chrysostom to Olympias, as Stilting shows. Merlin thinks the author
discovers himself to have been a Nestorian heretic. At least the style is so
opposite to that of St. Chrysostom, both in the diction and in the manner of
reasoning, that the reader must find himself quite in another world, as
Montfaucon observes. The author’s long acquaintance with this Cæsarius seems
not easily reconcilable with the known history of Saint Chrysostom’s life. This
piece, moreover, is too direct a confutation of the Eutychian error to have been
written before its birth; or if it had made its appearance, how could it have
escaped all the antagonists of that heresy? Whoever the author was, he is far
from opposing the mystery of the real presence, or that of transubstantiation,
in the blessed eucharist, for both of which he is an evident voucher in these
words, not to mention others: “The nature of bread and that of our Lord’s body
are not two bodies, but one body of the Son,” which he introduces to make a
comparison with the unity of Christ’s Person in the Incarnation. It is true,
indeed, that he says the nature of bread remains in the sacrament: but it is
easy to show that by the nature of bread he means its external natural
qualities or accidents.
Among former Latin translations of St. Chrysostom’s
works, only those made by the learned Jesuit Fronto-le-Duc are accurate. These
are retained by Montfaucon, who has given us a new version of those writings
which Le Duc had not translated. The edition of Montfaucon in twelve volumes,
an. 1718, is of all others the most complete. But it is much to be wished that
he had favoured us with a more elegant Latin translation, which might bear some
degree of the beauty of the original. The Greek edition, made by Sir Henry
Saville at Eton, in nine volumes, in 1612, is more correct and more beautiful
than that of the learned Benedictin, and usually preferred by those who stand
in need of no translation.
As to the French translations, that of the homilies on
the epistles to the Romans, Ephesians, &c., by Nicholas Fontaine, the
Port-Royalist, in 1693, was condemned by Harlay, archbishop of Paris; and
recalled by the author, who undesignedly established in it the Nestorian error.
The French translation of the homilies on St. John, was given us by Abbé le
Merre: of those on Genesis and the Acts, with eighty-eight chosen discourses,
by Abbé de Bellegarde, though for some time attributed to de Marsilly, and by
others to Sacy. That of the homilies on St. Matthew, ascribed by many to de
Marsilly, was the work of le Maitre and his brother Sacy. That of the homilies
to the People of Antioch was given us by Abbé de Maucroix in 1671. That of the
saint’s panegyrics on the martyrs is the work of F. Duranty de Bonrecueil, an
Oratorian, and made its appearance in 1735.
St. Chrysostom wrote comments on the whole scripture,
as Cassiodorus and Suidas testify; but of these many, with a great number of
sermons, &c. are lost. Theophylactus, Æcumenius, and other Greek
commentators, are chiefly abridgers of St. Chrysostom. Even Theodoret is his
disciple in the excellent concise notes he composed on the sacred text. Nor can
preachers or theologians choose a more useful master or more perfect model in
interpreting the scripture; but ought to join with him some judicious, concise,
critical commentator. As in reading the classics, grammatical niceties have
some advantage in settling the genuine text: yet if multiplied or spun out in
notes, are extremely pernicious, by deadening the student’s genius and spirit,
and burying them in rubbish, whilst they ought to be attentive to what will
help them to acquire true taste, to be employed on the beauties, ease, and
gentleness of the style, and on the greatness, delicacy, and truth of the
thoughts or sentiments, and to be animated by the life, spirit and fire of an
author. So much more in the study of the sacred writings, a competent skill in
resolving grammatical and historical scruples in the text is of great use, and
sometimes necessary in the church: in which, among the fathers, Origen and St.
Jerom are our models. Yet from the conduct of divine providence over the
church, and the example of the most holy and most learned among the primitive
fathers, it is clear, as the learned doctor Hare, bishop of Chichester,
observes, that assiduous, humble, and devout meditation on the spirit, and
divine precepts of the sacred oracles is the true method of studying them both
for our own advantage, and for that of the church. Herein St. Chrysostom’s
comments are our most faithful assistant and best models. The divine majesty
and magnificence of those writings is above the reach, and beyond the power, of
all mortal wit. None but the Spirit of God could express his glory, and display
either the mysteries of his grace, or the oracles of his holy law. And none but
they whose hearts are disengaged from objects of sense, and animated with the
most pure affections of every sublime virtue, and whose minds are enlightened
by the beams of heavenly truth, can penetrate the spirit of these divine
writings, and open it to us. Hence was St. Chrysostom qualified to become the
interpreter of the word of God, to discover its hidden mysteries of love and
mercy, the perfect spirit of all virtues which it contains, and the sacred
energy of each word or least circumstance.
The most ingenious Mr. Blackwall, in his excellent
Introduction to the Classics, writes as follows, on the style of St.
Chrysostom, p. 139. “I would fain beg room among the classics for three
primitive writers of the church, St. Chrysostom, Minutius Felix, and
Lactantius. St. Chrysostom is easy and pleasant to new beginners; and has
written with a purity and eloquence which have been the admiration of all ages.
This wondrous man in a great measure possesses all the excellencies of the most
valuable Greek and Roman classics. He has the invention, copiousness, and
perspicuity of Cicero; and all the elegance and accuracy of composition which
is admired in Isocrates, with much greater variety and freedom. According as
his subject requires, he has the easiness and sweetness of Xenophon, and the
pathetic force and rapid simplicity of Demosthenes. His judgment is exquisite,
his images noble, his morality sensible and beautiful. No man understands human
nature to greater perfection, nor has a happier power of persuasion. He is
always clear and intelligible upon the loftiest and greatest subjects, and
sublime and noble upon the least.” All that has been said of St. Chrysostom’s
works is to be understood only of those which are truly his. The irregular
patched compilations from different parts of his writings, made by modern
Greeks, may be compared to scraps of rich velvet, brocade, and gold cloth,
which are clumsily sewed together with packthread.
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume I:
January. The Lives of the Saints. 1866
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/1/272.html
.jpg)
San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice
ST. JOHN was born at
Antioch, in 344. In order to break with the world which admired and courted
him, he in 374 retired for six years to a neighboring mountain. Having thus
acquired the art of Christian silence, he returned to Antioch, and there
labored as priest, until he was ordained Bishop of Constantinople in 398. The
effect of his sermons was everywhere marvellous. He was very urgent that his
people should frequent the Holy Sacrifice, and in order to remove all excuse he
abbreviated the long Liturgy until then in use. St. Nilus relates that St. John
Chrysostom was wont to see, when the priest began the holy sacrifice,
"many of the blessed ones coming down from heaven in shining garmetns, and
with bare feet, eyes intent, and bowed heads, in utter stillness and silence,
assisting at the consummation of the tremendous mystery." Beloved as he
was in Constantinople, his denunciations of vice made him numerous enemies. In
403 these procured his banishment; and although he was almost immediately
recalled, it was not more than a reprieve. In 404 he was banished Cucusus in
the deserts of Taurus. In 407 he was wearing out, but his enemies were impatient.
They hurried him off to Pytius on the Euxine, a rough journey of nigh 400
miles. He was assiduously exposed to every hardship, cold, wet, and
semi-starvation, but nothing could overcome his cheerfulness and his
consideration for others. On the journey his sickness increased, and he was
warned that his end was nigh. Thereupon, exchanging his travel-stained clothes
for white garments, he received Viaticum, and with his customary words,
"Glory be to God for all things, amen," passed to Christ.
REFLECTION.—We should try
to understand that the most productive work in the whole day, both for time and
eternity, is that involved in hearing Mass. St. John Chrysostom felt this so
keenly, that he allowed no consideration of venerable usage to interfere with the
easiness of hearing Mass.
BENEDETTO XVI
UDIENZA GENERALE
Piazza San Pietro
Mercoledì, 19
settembre 2007
San Giovanni
Crisostomo
I: Gli anni di
Antiochia
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
quest’anno ricorre il sedicesimo centenario della
morte di san Giovanni Crisostomo (407-2007). Giovanni di Antiochia, detto
Crisostomo, cioè «Bocca d’oro» per la sua eloquenza, può dirsi vivo ancora
oggi, anche a motivo delle sue opere. Un anonimo copista lasciò scritto che
esse «attraversano tutto l’orbe come fulmini guizzanti». I suoi scritti
permettono anche a noi, come ai fedeli del suo tempo, che ripetutamente furono
privati di lui a causa dei suoi esili, di vivere con i suoi libri, nonostante
la sua assenza. E’ quanto egli stesso suggeriva dall’esilio in una sua lettera
(cfr A Olimpiade, Lettera 8,45).
Nato intorno al 349 ad Antiochia di Siria (oggi
Antakya, nel sud della Turchia), vi svolse il ministero presbiterale per circa
undici anni, fino al 397, quando, nominato Vescovo di Costantinopoli, esercitò
nella capitale dell’Impero il ministero episcopale prima dei due esili, seguiti
a breve distanza l’uno dall’altro, fra il 403 e il 407. Ci limitiamo oggi a
considerare gli anni antiocheni del Crisostomo.
Orfano di padre in tenera età, visse con la madre,
Antusa, che trasfuse in lui una squisita sensibilità umana e una profonda fede
cristiana. Frequentando gli studi superiori, coronati dai corsi di filosofia e
di retorica, ebbe come maestro Libanio, pagano, il più celebre retore del
tempo. Alla sua scuola, Giovanni divenne il più grande oratore della tarda
antichità greca. Battezzato nel 368 e formato alla vita ecclesiastica dal
Vescovo Melezio, fu da lui istituito lettore nel 371. Questo fatto segnò
l’ingresso ufficiale del Crisostomo nel cursus ecclesiastico.
Frequentò, dal 367 al 372, l’Asceterio, una sorta di seminario di Antiochia,
insieme con un gruppo di giovani, alcuni dei quali divennero poi Vescovi, sotto
la guida del famoso esegeta Diodoro di Tarso, che avviò Giovanni all'esegesi
storico-letterale, caratteristica della tradizione antiochena.
Si ritirò poi per quattro anni tra gli eremiti sul
vicino monte Silpio. Proseguì quel ritiro per altri due anni, vissuti da solo
in una grotta sotto la guida di un «anziano». In quel periodo si dedicò
totalmente a meditare «le leggi di Cristo», i Vangeli e specialmente le Lettere
di Paolo. Ammalatosi, si trovò nell’impossibilità di curarsi da solo, e dovette
perciò ritornare nella comunità cristiana di Antiochia (cfr Palladio, Vita 5). Il
Signore – spiega il biografo – intervenne con l’infermità al momento giusto per
permettere a Giovanni di seguire la sua vera vocazione. In effetti scriverà lui
stesso che, posto nell’alternativa di scegliere tra le traversie del governo
della Chiesa e la tranquillità della vita monastica, avrebbe preferito mille
volte il servizio pastorale (cfr Il sacerdozio 6,7): proprio a questo
il Crisostomo si sentiva chiamato. E qui si compie la svolta decisiva della sua
storia vocazionale: Pastore d’anime a tempo pieno! L’intimità con la Parola di
Dio, coltivata durante gli anni del romitaggio, aveva maturato in lui l’urgenza
irresistibile di predicare il Vangelo, di donare agli altri quanto egli aveva
ricevuto negli anni della meditazione. L’ideale missionario lo lanciò così,
anima di fuoco, nella cura pastorale.
Fra il 378 e il 379 ritornò in città. Diacono nel 381
e presbitero nel 386, divenne celebre predicatore nelle chiese della sua città.
Tenne omelie contro gli ariani, seguite da quelle commemorative dei martiri
antiocheni e da altre sulle festività liturgiche principali: si tratta di un
grande insegnamento della fede in Cristo, anche alla luce dei suoi Santi. Il
387 fu l’«anno eroico» di Giovanni, quello della cosiddetta «rivolta delle
statue». Il popolo abbatté le statue imperiali, in segno di protesta contro
l’aumento delle tasse. Si vede che alcune cose nella storia non cambiano! In
quei giorni di Quaresima e di angoscia, a motivo delle incombenti punizioni da
parte dell’imperatore, egli tenne le sue 22 vibranti Omelie sulle
statue, finalizzate alla penitenza e alla conversione. Seguì il periodo
della serena cura pastorale (387-397).
Il Crisostomo si colloca tra i Padri più prolifici: di
lui ci sono giunti 17 trattati, più di 700 omelie autentiche, i commenti a
Matteo e a Paolo (Lettere ai Romani, ai Corinti, agli Efesini e agli
Ebrei), e 241 lettere. Non fu un teologo speculativo. Trasmise, però, la
dottrina tradizionale e sicura della Chiesa in un’epoca di controversie
teologiche suscitate soprattutto dall’arianesimo, cioè dalla negazione della
divinità di Cristo. È pertanto un testimone attendibile dello sviluppo
dogmatico raggiunto dalla Chiesa nel IV-V secolo. La sua è una teologia
squisitamente pastorale, in cui è costante la preoccupazione della coerenza tra
il pensiero espresso dalla parola e il vissuto esistenziale. È questo, in
particolare, il filo conduttore delle splendide catechesi, con le quali
egli preparava i catecumeni a ricevere il Battesimo. Prossimo alla morte,
scrisse che il valore dell’uomo sta nella «conoscenza esatta della vera
dottrina e nella rettitudine della vita» (Lettera dall’esilio). Le due cose,
conoscenza della verità e rettitudine nella vita, vanno insieme: la conoscenza
deve tradursi in vita. Ogni suo intervento mirò sempre a sviluppare nei fedeli
l’esercizio dell’intelligenza, della vera ragione, per comprendere e tradurre
in pratica le esigenze morali e spirituali della fede.
Giovanni Crisostomo si preoccupa di accompagnare con i
suoi scritti lo sviluppo integrale della persona, nelle dimensioni fisica,
intellettuale e religiosa. Le varie fasi della crescita sono paragonate ad
altrettanti mari di un immenso oceano: «Il primo di questi mari è l’infanzia» (Omelia 81,5 sul
Vangelo di Matteo). Infatti «proprio in questa prima età si manifestano le
inclinazioni al vizio e alla virtù». Perciò la legge di Dio deve essere fin
dall’inizio impressa nell’anima «come su una tavoletta di cera» (Omelia 3,1 sul
Vangelo di Giovanni): di fatto è questa l’età più importante. Dobbiamo tener
presente come è fondamentale che in questa prima fase della vita entrino
realmente nell’uomo i grandi orientamenti che danno la prospettiva giusta
all’esistenza. Crisostomo perciò raccomanda: «Fin dalla più tenera età
premunite i bambini con armi spirituali, e insegnate loro a segnare la fronte
con la mano» (Omelia 12,7 sulla prima Lettera ai Corinzi). Vengono
poi l’adolescenza e la giovinezza: «All'infanzia segue il mare
dell’adolescenza, dove i venti soffiano violenti..., perchè in noi cresce... la
concupiscenza» (Omelia 81,5 sul Vangelo di Matteo). Giungono infine
il fidanzamento e il matrimonio: «Alla giovinezza succede l’età della persona
matura, nella quale sopraggiungono gli impegni di famiglia: è il tempo di
cercare moglie” (ibid.). Del matrimonio egli ricorda i fini, arricchendoli –
con il richiamo alla virtù della temperanza – di una ricca trama di rapporti
personalizzati. Gli sposi ben preparati sbarrano così la via al divorzio:
tutto si svolge con gioia e si possono educare i figli alla virtù. Quando
poi nasce il primo bambino, questi è «come un ponte; i tre diventano una carne
sola, poiché il figlio congiunge le due parti» (Omelia 12,5 sulla
Lettera ai Colossesi), e i tre costituiscono «una famiglia, piccola Chiesa» (Omelia 20,6 sulla
Lettera agli Efesini).
La predicazione del Crisostomo si svolgeva
abitualmente nel corso della liturgia, «luogo» in cui la comunità si costruisce
con la Parola e l’Eucaristia. Qui l’assemblea riunita esprime l’unica Chiesa (Omelia 8,7 sulla
Lettera ai Romani), la stessa parola è rivolta in ogni luogo a tutti (Omelia 24,2 sulla
prima Lettera ai Corinzi), e la comunione eucaristica si rende segno efficace
di unità (Omelia 32,7 sul Vangelo di Matteo). Il suo progetto
pastorale era inserito nella vita della Chiesa, in cui i fedeli laici col
Battesimo assumono l’ufficio sacerdotale, regale e profetico. Al fedele laico
egli dice: «Pure te il Battesimo fa re, sacerdote e profeta» (Omelia 3,5 sulla
seconda Lettera ai Corinzi). Scaturisce di qui il dovere fondamentale della
missione, perché ciascuno in qualche misura è responsabile della salvezza degli
altri: «Questo è il principio della nostra vita sociale... non interessarci
solo di noi!» (Omelia 9,2 sulla Genesi). Il tutto si svolge tra due
poli: la grande Chiesa e la «piccola Chiesa», la famiglia, in reciproco
rapporto.
Come potete vedere, cari fratelli e sorelle, questa
lezione del Crisostomo sulla presenza autenticamente cristiana dei fedeli laici
nella famiglia e nella società, rimane ancor oggi più che mai attuale.
Preghiamo il Signore perché ci renda docili agli insegnamenti di questo grande
Maestro della fede.
Saluti:
Je salue cordialement les pèlerins francophones
présents ce matin, notamment les pèlerins sénégalais, guidés par Mgr Ndiaye,
Évêque de Kaolack, les membres de l’Association des Vieilles Maisons
françaises, le groupe des Missionnaires d’Afrique et les pèlerins de Côte
d’Ivoire et du Canada. Je vous souhaite à tous un heureux pèlerinage, source
d’approfondissement de votre foi et de renouvellement pour votre vie.
I extend a cordial welcome to the English-speaking
pilgrims present at today’s audience, including groups from Vietnam, India and
Nigeria. I also greet the Catholic and Greek Orthodox pilgrims from the United
States. May God bless all of you!
Herzlich heiße ich alle Pilger und Besucher aus dem
deutschen Sprachraum willkommen. Besonders begrüße ich die vielen Jugendlichen.
Liebe Freunde, der Glaube braucht, wie uns der hl. Chrysostomus zeigt, einen
klaren Verstand und ein offenes Herz! Mit seinem Glaubenszeugnis trägt jeder
Getaufte dazu bei, daß auch seine Mitmenschen den Weg und das Heil finden. Der
Heilige Geist stärke euch, damit ihr diesen Auftrag erfüllen könnt. Eine
gesegnete Zeit euch allen hier in Rom!
Saludo cordialmente a los peregrinos de lengua
española, en particular al grupo de la diócesis de Tudela, Navarra, al del
Colegio Francisco de Asís, de Santiago de Chile, a los provenientes de la
Arquidiócesis de Salta y a los miembros de la Obra Hogares Nuevos. Invito a
todos a acoger con gozo la lección de san Juan Cristóstomo sobre la presencia y
testimonio auténticamente cristiano de los fieles en la familia y en la
sociedad. Muchas gracias.
Saúdo os peregrinos de língua portuguesa,
especialmente os visitantes vindos de Lisboa, e os brasileiros do
Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, juntamente com o Bispo de Petrópolis, e os
paroquianos de São Bernardo do Campo de São Paulo e de Maceió. Sejam
bem-vindos! Faço votos de que a vossa passagem por Roma possa servir de
estímulo para um compromisso com Cristo pelo Batismo, e proclamar, com renovado
ardor missionário, a grandeza do amor de Deus pelos homens. Que Deus vos
abençoe!
Saluto in lingua polacca:
Pozdrawiam serdecznie pielgrzymów polskich. Bracia i
Siostry, Święty Jan Chryzostom, poprzez dzisiejszą katechezę, przypomniał nam o
potrzebie autentycznego życia Ewangelią, szczególnie o potrzebie świadectwa
chrześcijańskiego życia w rodzinie i społeczności. Niech nasze serca będą
otwarte na nauczanie tego wielkiego mistrza wiary. Niech będzie pochwalony
Jezus Chrystus.
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto cordialmente i pellegrini polacchi. Cari
fratelli e sorelle, san Giovanni Crisostomo, attraverso l’odierna catechesi, ci
ha ricordato la necessità dell’autentica vita evangelica e, particolarmente,
l’esigenza della testimonianza cristiana nella vita di famiglia e nella
società. Che i nostri cuori siano aperti all’insegnamento di questo grande
Maestro della fede. Sia lodato Gesù Cristo.
Saluto in lingua ungherese:
Isten hozta a magyar híveket Magyarországról és a
határokon túlról! Ez a zarándokút erősítse meg hiteteket és hűségteket az
Egyházhoz. Kísérjen Bennetek mindig apostoli áldásom. Dicsértessék a Jézus
Krisztus!
Traduzione italiana:
Un cordiale saluto ai pellegrini ungheresi pervenuti
sia dall’Ungheria, sia da altri paesi. Il vostro pellegrinaggio rafforzi la
vostra fede e la vostra fedeltà alla Chiesa. Vi accompagni sempre la mia
benedizione! Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua lituana:
Nuoširdžiai sveikinu piligrimus lietuvius. Brangūs
bičiuliai, linkiu, kad jūsų piligrimystė prie Apaštalų kapų sustiprintų jūsų
tikėjimą ir meilę artimui. Širdingai suteikiu savo palaiminimą!
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto cordialmente i pellegrini Lituani. Cari amici,
auguro che il vostro pellegrinaggio alle tombe degli Apostoli rafforzi la
vostra fede e il vostro amore per il prossimo. Di cuore vi imparto la mia
benedizione!
Saluto in lingua ceca:
Srdečně vítám poutníky Fatimského apoštolátu
královéhradecké diecéze, dále poutníky z Prahy a z farnosti
Krnov. Nechť tato pouť do Říma k hrobům apoštolů Petra a Pavla ve vás
rozhojní touhu po duchovní dokonalosti. K tomu vám rád žehnám.Chvála Kristu!
Traduzione italiana:
Un cordiale benvenuto ai pellegrini dell'Apostolato di
Fatima, della Diocesi di Hradec Králové, come anche ai pellegrini di Praga e
della Parrocchia di Krnov. Possa questo vostro pellegrinaggio alle tombe degli
Apostoli Pietro e Paolo accrescere in voi il desiderio di perfezione
spirituale. Con questi voti, volentieri vi benedico. Sia lodato Gesù
Cristo!
Saluto in lingua slovacca:
S láskou vítam pútnikov zo Slovenska. Bratia a sestry,
pozajtra budeme slávit sviatok svätého Matúsa, apostola a evanjelistu. Jeho
velkodusná odpoved na Kristovo povolanie nech osvecuje vás krestanský zivot. S
týmto zelaním zo srdca zehnám vás i vase rodiny. Pochválený bud Jezis Kristus!
Traduzione italiana:
Con affetto do un benvenuto ai pellegrini provenienti
dalla Slovacchia. Fratelli e sorelle, dopodomani celebreremo la festa di San
Matteo, Apostolo ed Evangelista. La sua generosa risposta alla chiamata di
Cristo illumini la vostra vita cristiana. Con tali voti di cuore benedico voi e
le vostre famiglie. Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua croata:
Pozdravljam sve hrvatske hodočasnike, a na poseban
način pripadnike hrvatskih zračnih snaga i djelatnike Vojnoga Ordinarijata.
Neka Božji blagoslov bude uvijek nad vama i nad vašim obiteljima te vas čuva u
radosti i miru. Hvaljen Isus i Marija!
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto i pellegrini croati, in modo speciale i membri
delle forze aeree croate e gli ufficiali dell’Ordinariato Militare. La
benedizione di Dio sia sempre su di voi e sulle vostre famiglie e vi custodisca
nella gioia e nella pace. Siano lodati Gesù e Maria!
* * *
Rivolgo ora un cordiale saluto ai pellegrini di lingua
italiana, in particolare ai Carmelitani e ai Chierici Regolari
della Madre di Dio che, durante le rispettive Assemblee capitolari, sono
venuti a rinnovare al Successore di Pietro i sentimenti di affetto. Su ciascuno
invoco la continua protezione di Dio e della Vergine Santissima per un fecondo
servizio alla Chiesa.
Saluto, poi, i partecipanti al corso di aggiornamento
in diritto canonico, promosso dall’Ateneo della Santa Croce, e li esorto a far
tesoro di tale preziosa occasione di formazione giuridica per poter offrire
alle proprie Diocesi e comunità un servizio qualificato e zelante. Saluto,
altresì, i fedeli della parrocchia di S. Leonardo in Malgrate,
convenuti con il loro concittadino il Signor Cardinale Angelo Scola in
occasione del quarto centenario di fondazione della parrocchia. Cari amici,
auspico che tale fausta ricorrenza costituisca per voi un'occasione di vitalità
spirituale nella fedele e generosa adesione a Cristo e alla Chiesa.
Il mio pensiero va, infine, ai giovani, ai malati e
agli sposi novelli. L'amicizia nei confronti di Gesù, cari giovani,
sia per voi fonte di gioia e motivo per compiere scelte impegnative.Essa rechi conforto
anche a voi, cari malati, nei momenti difficili ed infonda sollievo al
corpo e allo spirito. Cari sposi novelli, rimanete uniti a Cristo per
corrispondere fedelmente alla vostra vocazione nell'amore reciproco.
© Copyright 2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
SOURCE : http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/it/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070919.html
_-_S._Giovanni_Crisostomo_01.JPG)
Église
San Giovanni Grisostomo, Roma, quartier Monte Sacro Alto, via Emilio de Marchi
BENEDETTO XVI
UDIENZA GENERALE
Piazza San Pietro
Mercoledì, 26 settembre 2007
San Giovanni Crisostomo
II: Gli anni di Costantinopoli
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
continuiamo oggi la nostra riflessione su san Giovanni
Crisostomo. Dopo il periodo passato ad Antiochia, nel 397 egli fu nominato
Vescovo di Costantinopoli, la capitale dell’Impero romano d’Oriente. Fin
dall’inizio, Giovanni progettò la riforma della sua Chiesa: l’austerità del
palazzo episcopale doveva essere di esempio per tutti – clero, vedove, monaci,
persone della corte e ricchi. Purtroppo, non pochi di essi, toccati dai suoi
giudizi, si allontanarono da lui. Sollecito per i poveri, Giovanni fu
chiamato anche «l’Elemosiniere». Da attento amministratore, infatti, era
riuscito a creare istituzioni caritative molto apprezzate. La sua
intraprendenza nei vari campi ne fece per alcuni un pericoloso rivale. Egli,
tuttavia, come vero Pastore, trattava tutti in modo cordiale e paterno. In
particolare, riservava accenti sempre teneri per la donna e cure speciali per
il matrimonio e la famiglia. Invitava i fedeli a partecipare alla vita
liturgica, da lui resa splendida e attraente con geniale creatività.
Nonostante il suo cuore buono, non ebbe una vita
tranquilla. Pastore della capitale dell’Impero, si trovò coinvolto spesso in
questioni e intrighi politici, a motivo dei suoi continui rapporti con le
autorità e le istituzioni civili. Sul piano ecclesiastico, poi, avendo deposto
in Asia nel 401 sei Vescovi indegnamente eletti, fu accusato di aver varcato i
confini della propria giurisdizione, e diventò così bersaglio di facili accuse.
Un altro pretesto contro di lui fu la presenza di alcuni monaci egiziani,
scomunicati dal patriarca Teofilo di Alessandria e rifugiatisi a
Costantinopoli. Una vivace polemica fu poi originata dalle critiche mosse dal
Crisostomo all’imperatrice Eudossia e alle sue cortigiane, che reagirono
gettando su di lui discredito e insulti. Si giunse così alla sua deposizione,
nel sinodo organizzato dallo stesso patriarca Teofilo nel 403, con la
conseguente condanna al primo breve esilio. Dopo il suo rientro, l’ostilità
suscitata contro di lui dalla protesta contro le feste in onore
dell’imperatrice – che il Vescovo considerava come feste pagane, lussuose –, e
la cacciata dei presbiteri incaricati dei Battesimi nella Veglia pasquale del
404 segnarono l’inizio della persecuzione di Crisostomo e dei suoi seguaci, i
cosiddetti «Giovanniti».
Allora Giovanni denunciò per lettera i fatti al
Vescovo di Roma, Innocenzo I. Ma era ormai troppo tardi. Nell’anno 406 dovette
di nuovo recarsi in esilio, questa volta a Cucusa, in Armenia. Il Papa era
convinto della sua innocenza, ma non aveva il potere di aiutarlo. Un Concilio,
voluto da Roma per una pacificazione tra le due parti dell’Impero e tra le loro
Chiese, non poté avere luogo. Lo spostamento logorante da Cucusa verso Pytius,
mèta mai raggiunta, doveva impedire le visite dei fedeli e spezzare la
resistenza dell’esule sfinito: la condanna all’esilio fu una vera condanna a
morte! Sono commoventi le numerose lettere dall’esilio, in cui Giovanni
manifesta le sue preoccupazioni pastorali con accenti di partecipazione e di
dolore per le persecuzioni contro i suoi. La marcia verso la morte si arrestò a
Comana nel Ponto. Qui Giovanni moribondo fu portato nella cappella del martire
san Basilisco, dove esalò lo spirito a Dio e fu sepolto, martire accanto al
martire (Palladio, Vita 119). Era il 14 settembre 407, festa
dell’Esaltazione della santa Croce. La riabilitazione ebbe luogo nel 438 con
Teodosio II. Le reliquie del santo Vescovo, deposte nella chiesa degli Apostoli
a Costantinopoli, furono poi trasportate nel 1204 a Roma, nella primitiva
Basilica costantiniana, e giacciono ora nella cappella del Coro dei Canonici
della Basilica di San Pietro. Il 24 agosto 2004 una parte cospicua di esse fu
donata dal Papa Giovanni Paolo II al Patriarca Bartolomeo I di Costantinopoli.
La memoria liturgica del Santo si celebra il 13 settembre. Il beato Giovanni
XXIII lo proclamò patrono del Concilio Vaticano II.
Di Giovanni Crisostomo si disse che, quando fu assiso
sul trono della Nuova Roma, cioè di Costantinopoli, Dio fece vedere in lui un
secondo Paolo, un dottore dell’Universo. In realtà, nel Crisostomo c’è
un’unità sostanziale di pensiero e di azione ad Antiochia come a
Costantinopoli. Cambiano solo il ruolo e le situazioni. Meditando sulle otto
opere compiute da Dio nella sequenza dei sei giorni nel commento della Genesi,
il Crisostomo vuole riportare i fedeli dalla creazione al Creatore: «È un gran
bene», dice, «conoscere ciò che è la creatura e ciò che è il Creatore». Ci
mostra la bellezza della creazione e la trasparenza di Dio nella sua creazione,
la quale diventa così quasi una «scala» per salire a Dio, per conoscerlo. Ma a
questo primo passo se ne aggiunge un secondo: questo Dio creatore è anche il
Dio della condiscendenza (synkatábasis). Noi siamo deboli nel «salire», i
nostri occhi sono deboli. E così Dio diventa il Dio della condiscendenza, che
invia all’uomo caduto e straniero una lettera, la Sacra Scrittura, cosicché
creazione e Scrittura si completano. Nella luce della Scrittura, della
lettera che Dio ci ha dato, possiamo decifrare la creazione. Dio è
chiamato «padre tenero» (philostórghios) (ibid.), medico delle anime
(Omelia 40,3 sulla Genesi), madre (ibid.) e amico affettuoso (La
provvidenza 8,11-12). Ma a questo secondo passo – prima la creazione
come «scala» verso Dio e poi la condiscendenza di Dio tramite una lettera che
ci ha dato, la Sacra Scrittura – si aggiunge un terzo passo. Dio non solo ci
trasmette una lettera: in definitiva, scende Lui stesso, si incarna, diventa
realmente «Dio con noi», nostro fratello fino alla morte sulla Croce. E a
questi tre passi – Dio è visibile nella creazione, Dio ci dà una sua lettera,
Dio scende e diventa uno di noi – si aggiunge alla fine un quarto passo.
All’interno della vita e dell’azione del cristiano, il principio vitale e
dinamico è lo Spirito Santo (Pneuma), che trasforma le realtà del mondo. Dio
entra nella nostra stessa esistenza tramite lo Spirito Santo e ci trasforma
dall’interno del nostro cuore.
Su questo sfondo, proprio a Costantinopoli Giovanni,
nel commento continuato degli Atti degli Apostoli, propone l’esperienza
della Chiesa primitiva (At 4,32-37) come modello per la società, sviluppando
un’ «utopia» sociale (quasi una «città ideale»). Si trattava infatti di
dare un’anima e un volto cristiano alla città. In altre parole, Crisostomo ha
capito che non è sufficiente fare elemosina, aiutare i poveri di volta in
volta, ma è necessario creare una nuova struttura, un nuovo modello di società:
un modello basato sulla prospettiva del Nuovo Testamento. È la nuova società
che si rivela nella Chiesa nascente. Quindi Giovanni Crisostomo diventa
realmente così uno dei grandi Padri della Dottrina sociale della Chiesa: la
vecchia idea della «polis» greca va sostituita da una nuova idea di città
ispirata alla fede cristiana. Crisostomo sosteneva con Paolo (cfr 1 Cor 8,11)
il primato del singolo cristiano, della persona in quanto tale, anche dello
schiavo e del povero. Il suo progetto corregge così la tradizionale visione
greca della «polis», della città, in cui larghi strati della popolazione erano
esclusi dai diritti di cittadinanza, mentre nella città cristiana tutti sono
fratelli e sorelle con uguali diritti. Il primato della persona è anche la
conseguenza del fatto che realmente partendo da essa si costruisce la città,
mentre nella «polis» greca la patria era al di sopra del singolo, il quale era
totalmente subordinato alla città nel suo insieme. Così con Crisostomo comincia
la visione di una società costruita dalla coscienza cristiana. Ed egli ci dice
che la nostra «polis» è un’altra, «la nostra patria è nei cieli» (Fil 3,20)
e questa nostra patria ci rende tutti uguali, fratelli e sorelle, anche su questa
terra, e ci obbliga alla solidarietà.
Al termine della sua vita, dall’esilio ai confini
dell’Armenia, «il luogo più remoto del mondo», Giovanni, ricongiungendosi alla
sua prima predicazione del 386, riprese il tema a lui caro del piano che Dio
persegue nei confronti dell’umanità: è un piano «indicibile e incomprensibile»,
ma sicuramente guidato da Lui con amore (cfr La provvidenza 2,6).
Questa è la nostra certezza. Anche se non possiamo decifrare i dettagli della
storia personale e collettiva, sappiamo che il piano di Dio è sempre ispirato
dal suo amore. Così, nonostante le sue sofferenze, il Crisostomo riaffermava la
scoperta che Dio ama ognuno di noi con un amore infinito, e perciò vuole la
salvezza di tutti. Da parte sua, il santo Vescovo cooperò a questa salvezza
generosamente, senza risparmiarsi, lungo tutta la sua vita. Considerava infatti
ultimo fine della sua esistenza quella gloria di Dio, che – ormai morente –
lasciò come estremo testamento: «Gloria a Dio per tutto!» (Palladio, Vita 11).
Saluti:
Je salue cordialement les pèlerins francophones
présents à cette audience, en particulier Mgr Guy Thomazeau, Archevêque de
Montpellier avec des pèlerins de Béziers, le groupe de Frères Maristes en année
de formation permanente, les jeunes de Tours et les pèlerins de La Réunion.
Puisse votre séjour à Rome vous donner l’occasion de découvrir davantage le
Seigneur, qui nous aime et qui veut nous sauver.
I extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking
visitors and pilgrims present at today’s Audience, including groups from
Britain and Ireland, New Zealand, Thailand, and North America. I greet in
particular the new students from the Venerable English College and the priests from
Ireland who are taking part in a renewal course here in Rome. May the time that you spend in this city deepen your
love for Christ and his Church, and may God’s blessings of peace and joy be
with you always!
Einen frohen Gruß richte ich an die Pilger aus
Deutschland, Österreich, aus der Schweiz, aus Südtirol und auch aus den
Niederlanden. Ich grüße die vielen Gruppen und heute besonders die
Schulgemeinschaft des Gymnasiums St. Kaspar in Neuenheerse. Danke auch für die
Blaskapelle! Das Leben des hl. Johannes Chrysostomus, der sich als Prediger und
Hirte mit einem ganz anspruchsvollen und einfachen Leben völlig in den Dienst
der Liebe Gottes gestellt hat, soll für uns alle Ermutigung und Ansporn
sein! Der Herr begleite euch alle mit seinem Segen.
Saludo cordialmente a los peregrinos de lengua
española, especialmente a los sacerdotes del Pontificio Colegio Mexicano, a los
diversos grupos parroquiales, al Centro de Capacitación de Toledo, así como a
los demás peregrinos venidos de España, México, Chile, Argentina y de otros
países latinoamericanos. Que las enseñanzas de san Juan Crisóstomo nos ayuden a
descubrir el amor infinito con que Dios nos ama y que quiere la Salvación de
todos los hombres. Muchas gracias.
Amados peregrinos de língua portuguesa, possa a vossa
vinda a Roma cumprir-se nas vestes de um verdadeiro peregrino que, sabendo de
não possuir ainda o seu Bem maior, põe-se a caminho decidido a encontrá-Lo!
Sabei que Deus Se deixa encontrar por quantos assim O procuram; e, com Ele e
n’Ele, a vossa vida não poderá deixar de ser feliz. Sobre vós e vossas famílias
desça a minha Bênção. Ide com Deus!
Saluto in lingua ceca:
Srdečně vítám poutníky z Čech a Moravy, zejména z
farnosti Jimramov! Pozítří oslavíme patrona české církve, mučedníka svatého Václava.
Zůstaňte vždy věrni duchovnímu odkazu tohoto velikána dějin vaší vlasti!
Upřímně vám žehnám. Chvála Kristu!
Traduzione italiana:
Un cordiale benvenuto ai pellegrini della Boemia e
della Moravia, in particolare ai parrocchiani di Jimramov. Dopodomani
festeggeremo il Patrono della Chiesa Ceca, San Venceslao, martire. Rimanete
sempre fedeli all'eredità spirituale di questo gigante della storia della
vostra Patria! Di cuore vi benedico. Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua slovacca:
S láskou pozdravujem účastníkov Druhej púte
Ordinariátu ozbrojených síl a zborov pod vedením jeho biskupa Františka Rábeka,
študentov Gymnázia svätého Tomáša Akvinského z Košíc ako aj pútnikov z
Bratislavy, Nitry, Mokroluhu, Tarnova a Piešťan. Drahí bratia a sestry,
uisťujem vás o mojej modlitbe za vás. Prijmite Apoštolské požehnanie, ktoré
vďačne udeľujem všetkým vám i vašim drahým. Pochválený buď Ježiš Kristus!
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto con affetto i partecipanti al Secondo
pellegrinaggio dell’Ordinariato militare guidato dal loro Vescovo S.E.Mons.
František Rábek, gli studenti del Ginnasio di S. Tommaso d’Aquino di Košice
come pure i pellegrini provenienti da Bratislava, Nitra, Mokroluh, Tarnov e
Piešťany. Cari fratelli e sorelle, vi assicuro il mio ricordo nella
preghiera e volentieri imparto la Benedizione Apostolica a tutti voi ed ai
vostri familiari. Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua croata:
Pozdravljam sve hrvatske hodočasnike, a na poseban
način vjernike župe Svetoga Petra i Pavla iz Mačkovca. Redovito pristupajući
sakramentima Pomirenja i Euharistije, čuvajte svoje zajedništvo s Kristom i
njegovom Crkvom. Hvaljen Isus i Marija!
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto i pellegrini croati, in modo speciale i fedeli
della parrocchia di San Pietro e Paolo di Mačkovec. Ricevendo
frequentemente i Sacramenti della Riconciliazione e dell’Eucaristia, potrete
custodire la vostra comunione con Cristo e con la sua Chiesa. Siano lodati Gesù
e Maria!
Saluto in lingua polacca:
Pozdrawiam obecnych tu Polaków. Św. Jan Chryzostom
życiem i nauczaniem dawał świadectwo, że Bóg kocha każdego i każdą z nas
nieskończoną miłością i pragnie zbawienia wszystkich. Niech pobyt w Rzymie
pomaga wam z wiarą przeżywać tę prawdę. Niech Bóg wam błogosławi.
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto i polacchi qui presenti. San Giovanni
Crisostomo con la sua vita e la parola diede la testimonianza che Dio ama
ognuno e ognuna di noi con un amore infinito, e vuole la salvezza di
tutti. La presenza a Roma vi aiuti a vivere in fede questa verità. Dio vi
benedica.
* * *
Rivolgo un cordiale saluto ai pellegrini di lingua
italiana. In
particolare, sono lieto di accogliere i sacerdoti dei Pontifici Collegi
San Pietro e San Paolo, provenienti da vari Paesi, come pure i Legionari
di Cristo, ed auguro a ciascuno un sereno e proficuo impegno di studio.
Saluto
poi i fedeli della parrocchia Santa Maria Assunta, in Gioia dei Marsi, i
rappresentanti dell'Unione Consoli Onorari d'Italia e l'Associazione
Ragazzi del Cielo-Ragazzi della terra. Auspico che da questa sosta presso
le tombe degli Apostoli, tutti possano ricavare abbondanti frutti sia per la
vita personale che per quella comunitaria.
Il mio pensiero va infine ai giovani, ai malati ed
agli sposi novelli. L'esempio di carità di san Vincenzo de' Paoli, di cui
domani faremo memoria, incoraggi voi, cari giovani, a progettare il vostro
futuro come un generoso servizio al prossimo. Aiuti voi, cari malati, a
trovare nella sofferenza il conforto di Cristo. E solleciti voi, cari sposi
novelli, a conservare nella vostra famiglia una costante attenzione ai poveri.
© Copyright 2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
SOURCE : http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/it/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070926.html
(14 settembre: A Gumenek nel Ponto, nell’odierna Turchia, anniversario della morte di san Giovanni Crisostomo, vescovo, la cui memoria si celebra il giorno precedente a questo).
Nel 398 Giovanni di Antiochia - il soprannome di Crisostomo, cioè, Bocca d'oro, gli venne dato tre secoli dopo dai bizantini - fu chiamato a succedere al patriarca Nettario sulla prestigiosa cattedra di Costantinopoli. Nella capitale dell'impero d'Oriente Giovanni esplicò subito un'attività pastorale e organizzativa che suscita ammirazione e perplessità: evangelizzazione delle campagne, creazione di ospedali, processioni anti-ariane sotto la protezione della polizia imperiale, sermoni di fuoco con cui fustigava vizi e tiepidezze, severi richiami ai monaci indolenti e agli ecclesiastici troppo sensibili al richiamo della ricchezza. I sermoni di Giovanni duravano oltre un paio d'ore, ma il dotto patriarca sapeva usare con consumata perizia tutti i registri della retorica, non certo per vellicare l'udito dei suoi ascoltatori, ma per ammaestrare, correggere, redarguire. Predicatore insuperabile, Giovanni mancava di diplomazia per cautelarsi contro gli intrighi della corte bizantina. Deposto illegalmente da un gruppo di vescovi capeggiati da quello di Alessandria, Teofilo, ed esiliato con la complicità dell'imperatrice Eudossia, venne richiamato quasi subito dall'imperatore Arcadio, colpito da varie disgrazie avvenute a palazzo. Ma due mesi dopo Giovanni era di nuovo esiliato, dapprima sulla frontiera dell'Armenia, poi più lontano, sulle rive del Mar Nero.
Durante quest'ultimo trasferimento, il 14 settembre 407, Giovanni morì. Dal sepolcro di Comana, il figlio di Arcadio, Teodosio il Giovane, fece trasferire i resti mortali del santo a Costantinopoli, dove giunsero la notte del 27 gennaio 438, tra una folla osannante. Dei numerosi scritti del santo ricordiamo il volumetto “Sul sacerdozio”, un classico della spiritualità sacerdotale.
Autore: Piero Bargellini
Jean-Paul Laurens (1838–1921), Saint
Jean Chrysostome et l'Impératrice Eudoxie, 1893, 131 x 164, Musée des Augustins
