Sayings of John Chrysostom, a Church Father - The Gold Scales


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John Chrysostom

Considering john chrysostom as a church father
Anticipating things well is a task of wisdom.
John Chrysostom (347-407):

Chrysostomos means "golden-mouthed" - a sign of his eloquence. He is often thought to the most prominent doctor of the Greek Church and the greatest preacher ever heard in a Christian pulpit, one of zeal and clarity combined. He was good at vivid images.
The usual preaching of Chrysostom consisted in consecutive explanations of the Scripture.
He often preached against the unseemly extravagances of the rich and dressing up gorgeously, affected by women. He offended the rich, but delighted his people. The superb orator spoke plainly and combined penetration into the meaning with a genius for how to apply it personally. Each sermon had a moral or social lesson.

Surprising letter?
St John's influence
Evaluations
St John's writings
"On the Statues, Homily 4": highlights

Supporting "well medleys" are presupposed throughout:

Surprising letter?

TO ESTIMATE the value of this modern rendition with all the changes made, see Bishop John (Goldmouth) Chrysostom's letter here.

1st letter, 1st part

Eager deaconess, I send greeting inside the deep salmon you know ...

1

Let me relieve your despondency
disperse the thoughts which gather this cloud of care.
It upsets your mind,
why are you sorrowful and dejected?
Is it because of the fierce black storm which has overtaken the Church,
enveloping all things in darkness
like a night without a moon,
growing to a head every day,
travailing to bring forth disastrous shipwrecks,
increasing the ruin of the world?

IF YOU LIKE I'll form an image of the things now taking place so as to present the tragedy yet more distinctly to you:

We behold a sea up-heaved from the very lowest depths,
some sailors floating dead on the waves,
others engulfed by them,
the oars dashed out of the sailors' hands,
the pilots seated on the deck
small hands
bewailing the hopelessness of their situation
with sharp, bitter and lamenting cries.

Neither sky nor sea clearly visible,
all one deep and impenetrable darkness.
None can see his neighbour,
The roaring of the billows is mighty,
monsters of the sea attack the crew on every side.

Well, how much further shall I pursue the unattainable?
When I look at these calamities I don't abandon the hope of better things,
Now, let's consider the expert pilot in the storm
he's quite calm, not reverse.
When dreadful evils increase to extremes, common people are reduced to despair - it shows up, this norm works wondrously, beyond all expectation, thus manifesting who's fit for the steering-wheel or social power,
So don't be cast down.

What's really terrible is just sin.
As for all other things,
warfare of the whole world,
or anything else, they're tales,
quite transitory and perishable.
You and I, let's go on and operate in a mortal body without doing any injury to the vigilant trout deep inside.
[As you can see, trout is a metaphor for what Germans conceive as die Seele from the ocean of deep mind inside]

Therefore a careful and strong one long ago declared the whole truth in one sentence when he said,
"Then you fear temporal things which pass away like the stream of a river - I speak of present things whether pleasant or painful."
He didn't single out any one part and proudly said,
"All the glory of man is deep as flowering grass."

Influence

John Goldmouth

John was born at Antioch, c. 347; and died at Commana in Helenopontus, 14 September, 407.
   His father, Secundus, was an officer of high rank in the Syrian army. When widowed at 20 his wife Anthusa instructed her son in piety and sent him to the best schools of Antioch.
   One day when John was about 20, he met the earnest and mild bishop Meletius. Due to his influence John withdrew from classical and profane studies and devoted himself to an ascetic, religious life. He was baptised after some more years.
   Some years leater he wanted to live as an anchorite in a cave. He stayed there for two years and ruined his health by watchings and fastings in frost and cold. Then he returned to Antioch to regain his health and an office as lector in the church.
   Meletius made him deacon in 381. In the year 386 Chrysostom was ordained priest, and his influence in church history is enlarged. The earliest notable occasion that showed his power of speaking and his great authority was when he delivered his sermons "On the Statues". They were "full of vigour, consolatory, exhortative, tranquilizing" at a time when it was particularly needed: The citizens of Antioch had treated the images of the sacred emperors with disrespect and were threatened with reprisals. The sermons were in more than one way a help out of the dangerous situation.
   The usual preaching of Chrysostom consisted in consecutive explanations of Holy Scripture.
   John's fame spread far beyond the limits of his home town. He became well known in the Byzantine Empire, especially the capital. In 397 the bishop of Constantinople died. There was a general rivalry in the capital for the vacant see. After some months Emperor Areadius had John Chrysostom called out of Antioch without the knowledge of the people there. Against his will he was sent to Constantinople, and surprisingly ordained archbishop of Constantinople on 26 February, 398 in the presence of a great assembly of bishops in the middle of "an upstart metropolis, half Western, half Oriental".
   In his new office, Chrysostom began "sweeping the stairs from the top" rather than indulging in flattery - He saw to it that the expenses of the episcopal household were lessened; he put an end to frequent banquets, and lived little less strictly than when he was a priest and monk.
   John took manifold action. For example, he excluded two deacons from the clergy: the one for murder ... And monks were not allowed to roam about any longer in town. He confined them to monasteries.
   He often preached against ways of the world: gorgeous extravagances. Thus he offended the rich. But the people were delighted with the sermons of their new bishop and often applauded him in the church. And they did not forget his care for the poor and miserable, and that in his first year he had built a great hospital with the money he had saved in his own household as bishop.

His brilliant exposition and moral teaching have the note of universality; his words strike the reader today as forcefully as ever, and his humorous sallies are as pungent as when they provoked laughter in the congregations of Antioch and Constantinople. He was concerned, above all, for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the needy and oppressed. He was not alone among the early Fathers in speaking out against the abuse of wealth ... none surpassed John Chrysostom in ... insistence on almsgiving - Encyclopedia Britannica, "John Chrysostom"

John Chrysostom also had very intimate friends among the rich and noble classes. The most famous of these was Olympias, widow and deaconess, a relation of Emperor Theodosius. The empress herself was at first most friendly towards the new bishop, and showed it in public in significant ways. But it did not last. Relations cooled down and many sorts of troubles came to Constantinople. Yet Chrysostom's authority was strengthened by the magnanimity and firmness of character shown during these troubles.
Jealousy sowed intrigues, John now saw he was in disgrace with the empress. Among other set-backs there was a double attempt on Chrysostom's life. Enemies schemed, and the emperor Arcadius banished Chrysostom from the city, recalled him at once, and finally banished him again the next year. Then he was taken to Cucusus and kept in in confinement there, a secluded and rugged place on the east frontier of Armenia; it was often invaded.
It appears John survived too long there for his intriguing enemies. In the summer, 407, an 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 and wore him down by it. His body, already weakened by some severe illnesses, broke down at last. In the morning of 14 September Chrysostom asked to rest at a place because of his state of health. Instead he was forced to continue his march. Very soon he felt so weak that they had to return to a place called Comana. Some hours later he was dead. His last words were "Glory be to God for all things".

Evaluations

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. ... frequent outbursts of applause among his congregation may have told Chrysostom that he was on the right path." - Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 8: "St. John Chrysostom"

Although a detailed history of Christian theology could be written without mentioning the name of John Chrysostom, he has got his renown mainly as a doctor of the church. He was so declared in 438, when his relics were brought back to Constantinople some 30 years after an ignoble death lorded over by mighty enemies. We do not have so many writings from any other Greek Father.
   As an exegete (one who explains and interprets texts) he is the chief and almost the only successful representative of the School of Antioch. [Check]
   There are 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 the faith: So at the Council of Ephesus in 431 both parties invoked him on behalf of their opinions. In the Latin Church Chrysostom was still earlier invoked as an authority on matters of faith.
   At the time of the Reformation there arose long discussions as to whether Chrysostom was a Protestant or a Catholic, and such polemics have never wholly ceased. Long before this schizma John seems to ignore private confession to a priest, and there is no clear and any direct passage in favour of the primacy of the pope in his writings.
   Chrysostom acknowledges tradition as a rule of the faith, tradition as laid down by the teaching of the church spread over the whole world, the one Bride of Christ.
   There is very much literature on Chrysostom in addition to his own works.

Writings

His writings may be divided into three parts;

Minor works called opuscula;
Homilies (sermons);
Letters.

B. Homilies

Among the homilies (sermons) there are (1) commentaries on books of the Bible, (2) groups of homilies on particular subjects, and (3) a many single homilies.

1 - Sermon commentaries

The chief "commentaries" on the Old Testament are:

67 homilies "On Genesis" (with some additional matter);
59 homilies "On the Psalms";
A commentary on the first chapters of "Isaias".
The fragments on Job are spurious,
The authenticity of the fragments on the Proverbs, on Jeremias and Daniel, and the Synopsis of the Old and the New Testament, is doubtful.

The chief commentaries on the New Testament are:

90 homilies on "St. Matthew";
88 homilies on "St. John";
55 homilies on "the Acts";
Homilies "On all Epistles of St. Paul".

The best and most important commentaries are considered to be those on the Psalms, on Matthew, and on the Epistle to the Romans. The thirty-four homilies on the Epistle to the Galatians very probably come from the hand of a second editor.

2 - Grouped sermons

Among the "homilies forming connected groups", one may mention the five homilies "On Anna"; three "On David", six "On Ozias", eight "Against the Jews", twelve "De Incomprehensibili Dei Natur", and seven famous homilies "On St. Paul".

3 - Specified sermons

A great number of "single homilies" deal with moral subjects and with certain feasts or saints.

C. Letters

There are about 238 "Letters" of Chrysostom. They were all written during his exile. Of special value for content and intimacy are the 17 letters to the deaconess Olympias.

From bishop John Chrysostom's On the Statues. Homily 4

Let me shorten and give out Church Father John Chrysostom's significant utterances in his homily 4 in my own way:

Tribulations try us

"If you have any sins remaining, they will disappear, and easily be burnt up by the tribulation." - From section 4.
"The sinner, if he obtains rest, is enervated and corrupted ... and should he undergo trial, he is burnt up and destroyed," - From section 3.

For pleasure rejoice - something less has much lost meaning to it

"If you desire to rejoice, and to enjoy ease and pleasure, seek neither for pleasure nor ease." - From section 4.

A ruin should be avoided if you are involved

ONE MAN built a house, and the other built a house. The building was the same; the trials were the same; but the end was not the same ... The folly of the builder caused the fall of the building. - Excerpt from section 4.

What to learn

Not everybody would agree with John here.
In selection 1 he talks against himself. As I said, "Not everyone would agree with John here." Case proved. That's often easy to do. Remember I almost stated: "There can be differences of opinion among Church Fathers [too]" - not only inside them in one and the same text.
In selection 2 he gives vent to the paradox "Don't seek pleasure if you desire it." Jesus endorses the opposite: "Go and dig up the pearl of great price - do your best each day to enter heaven inside yourself" - freely rendered. It's in the gospels. "There can be differences of opinion -" be smart enough. Make the fit selection and stick to it - it may be the variant that serves yourself. To select a bundle of phrases and then nail down that the selection is the central one, is much used among all sorts of denominations also. Know the trick and apply it for your own help if you can.
At any rate, it's good to know of it. In our study the peacock idol takes to it much to tame the salt of the earth, in my opinion.
In selection 3 holy John says much the same as Jesus in a parable of bringing forth good fruit. But let's face it: During an earthquake and tornado different observations overrule gospel sayings very often. Also, a well built house can be attacked by insects, men, the officials.
Let's face it: A foundation of sand is not the big problem in modern housing. Houses (personalities) fall for lots of reasons, but it helps to be well built and well situated.
What's more, Jesus talks along these lines rather often, he too: Be clever as snakes" means that it may help to be smart - Later, in the letters, one fragmented but handy counsel is to have next to nothing to do with terrible sinners or unrighteous persons - the ones Jesus tried to save or herd.
What's more, whereas John Chrysostom talks for fortitude in just this homily, all animals and most persons learn to take heed and be careful. "Safety first" is the good thing for many a good man. However, overmuch cunning and vigilance (that Jesus also said yes to), must be called wise cowardice -

It's easy to get fooled.

Be not offended. Truth is a boon in the eyes of God. Then, is too much of a good thing a bad thing? It can be, depending on how well linked you are when you stand up to tell the truths you take a liking to inside. Let us remember the lot of prophets - stoned for deep truths that were unwelcome. Others might find your lore or truths unwelcome. Let that pertinent note come in addition. If all original Christians had been killed for the cause, no one could have furthered the Christian tradition. So take heart! (#1.1)

The man said: "It's easy to get fooled, so take heart: Leave room for divergent opinions to your own benefit to steer well. And let's learn to enjoy our own ease and the folly of others, if needs be."

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