{"id":21986,"date":"2023-02-01T12:23:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T20:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/?p=21986"},"modified":"2023-04-08T10:33:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T18:33:58","slug":"the-exile-of-st-john-chrysostom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/the-exile-of-st-john-chrysostom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Exile of St. John Chrysostom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The First Exile<\/h4>\n
\"John
St. John Chrysostom<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the departure of Epiphanius, John, when preaching in the church as usual, chanced to inveigh against the vices to which females are peculiarly prone. The people imagined that his strictures were enigmatically directed against the wife of the emperor. The enemies of the bishop did not fail to report his discourse in this sense to the empress; and she, conceiving herself to have been insulted, complained to the emperor, and urged the necessity for the speedy presence of Theophilus and the convocation of a council … I am not in possession of sufficient data to determine whether there was any truth in the current report that John delivered the discourse above mentioned with express allusion to the empress, because he suspected her of having excited Epiphanius against him. Theophilus arrived soon after at Chalcedon in Bithynia, and was followed thither by many bishops. Some of the bishops joined him in compliance with his own invitation, and others in obedience to the commands of the emperor. The bishops whom John had deposed in Asia repaired to Chalcedon with the utmost alacrity, as likewise all those who cherished any feeling of hostility against him
\n…
\nThe members of the council summoned all the clergy of Constantinople to appear before them, and threatened to depose those who did not obey the summons. … John acquainted them, through the medium of Demetrius, bishop of Pisinus, and of some of the other clergy, who were his friends, that he would not avoid investigation, but that he was ready, if the names of his accusers and the subject of his accusations were made known to him, to justify his proceedings before a larger council; for he did not choose to be considered insane, and to recognize his manifest enemies as judges … After John had been cited four times, and had appealed to a general council, no other accusation could be substantiated against him, except his refusal to obey the summons of the council; and upon this ground they deposed him.
\n— Sozomen: Ecclesiastical History. VIII.XVI-XVII. NPNF2. [1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Second Exile<\/h4>\n

At this time a silver statue of the Empress [Aelia] Eudoxia covered with a long robe was erected upon a column of porphyry supported by a lofty base … At this statue public games were accustomed to be performed; these John regarded as an insult offered to the church, and having regained his ordinary freedom and keenness of tongue, he employed his tongue against those who tolerated them. Now while it would have been proper to induce the authorities by a supplicatory petition to discontinue the games, he did not do this, but employing abusive language he ridiculed those who had enjoined such practices. The empress once more applied his expressions to herself as indicating marked contempt toward her own person: she therefore endeavored to procure the convocation of another council of bishops against him. When John became aware of this, he delivered in the church that celebrated oration commencing with these words: \u2018Again Herodias raves; again she is troubled; she dances again; and again desires to receive John\u2019s head in a charger.\u2019
\n…
\nNot long after the following bishops arrived: Leontius bishop of Ancyra in Asia, Ammonius of Laodicea in Pisidia, Briso of Philippi in Thrace, Acacius of Ber\u0153a in Syria, and some others. John presented himself fearlessly before them, and demanded an investigation of the charges which were made against him. … The bishops present, setting aside all other matters, said they would confine themselves to this sole consideration, that he had on his own responsibility, after his deposition, again seated himself in the episcopal chair, without being authorized by an ecclesiastical council. As he alleged that sixty-five bishops who had held communion with him had reinstated him, the partisans of Leontius objected, saying: \u2018A larger number voted against you, John, in the Synod.\u2019 But although John then contended that this was a canon of the Arians, and not of the catholic church, and therefore it was inoperative against him\u2014for it had been framed in the council convened against Athanasius at Antioch, for the subversion of the doctrine of consubstantiality \u2014the bishops would not listen to his defence, but immediately condemned him, without considering that by using this canon they were sanctioning the deposition of Athanasius himself. This sentence was pronounced a little before Easter; the emperor therefore sent to tell John that he could not go to the church, because two Synods had condemned him. … A decree of the emperor sent him into exile. Thus he was led into exile by force, and on the very day of his departure, some of the Johannites set fire to the church, which by means of a strong easterly wind, communicated with the senate-house. This conflagration happened on the 20th of June, under the sixth consulate of Honorius, which he bore in conjunction with Arist\u00e6netus.
\n— Socrates: Ecclesiastical History. VI.XVIII. NPNF2. [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

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