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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #53809 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53809)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saint John Chrysostom, his Life and Times, by
-W. R. W. Stephens
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Saint John Chrysostom, his Life and Times
- A sketch of the church and the empire in the fourth century
-
-Author: W. R. W. Stephens
-
-Release Date: December 27, 2016 [EBook #53809]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, LIFE, TIMES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: “COPIED FROM A FRONTISPIECE TO THE EDITION BY FRONTO
-DUCÆUS, A.D. 1636, OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM’S WORKS (IN THE CATHEDRAL LIBRARY,
-CHICHESTER). THE ORIGINAL IS STATED TO HAVE BEEN ENGRAVED FROM AN EIKON
-OF GREAT ANTIQUITY, AT CONSTANTINOPLE, AND AGREES WITH THE NOTICES
-OF CHRYSOSTOM’S APPEARANCE BY GREEK WRITERS, WHO DESCRIBE HIM AS
-SHORT, WITH A LARGE HEAD, AMPLE, WRINKLED FOREHEAD, EYES DEEP-SET BUT
-PLEASING, HOLLOW CHEEKS, AND A SCANTY GREY BEARD.”]
-
- SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
-
- HIS LIFE AND TIMES
-
- _A SKETCH OF THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE IN
- THE FOURTH CENTURY._
-
- BY W. R W. STEPHENS, M.A.
-
- PREBENDARY OF CHICHESTER AND RECTOR OF WOOLBEDING; AUTHOR OF “LIFE AND
- LETTERS OF WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D.,” “CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM,” ETC.
-
-
- With Portrait.
-
-
- _SECOND EDITION._
-
-
- LONDON
- JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
- 1880.
-
- _The right of translation is reserved._
-
-
-
-PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
-
-
-The present edition of this Essay is substantially a reproduction
-of the first. It is possible, indeed, and I hope probable, that the
-fruits of nine years’ more experience and study would have manifested
-themselves in some marked improvements upon the former work had I
-rewritten or recast the whole of it. But after mature consideration
-it did not seem to me that the defects of my original attempt were
-sufficient to warrant such an expenditure of time and toil.
-
-I have therefore contented myself with carefully revising the text and
-references, and making here and there a few slight alterations in the
-way either of addition or omission.
-
- WOOLBEDING RECTORY,
- _Feby. 20, 1880_.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
-
-
-The considerations which induced me to undertake this monograph are
-mentioned in the introductory chapter. How far the design there
-indicated has been satisfactorily fulfilled, it is for others to
-decide. I am of course conscious of defects, for every workman’s ideal
-aim should be higher than what he can actually accomplish. The work has
-incurred a certain risk from having been once or twice suspended for a
-considerable period; but I have always returned to it with increased
-interest and pleasure, nor can I charge myself with having wittingly
-bestowed less pains on one part than another. I have endeavoured to
-make it a trustworthy narrative by drawing from the most original
-sources to which I could gain access; and where, as in those portions
-which touch on secular history, the lead of general historians, such
-as Gibbon or De Broglie has been followed, I have, as far as possible,
-consulted the authorities to which they refer. To modern authors from
-whom I have derived valuable assistance for special parts of the
-work, such as M. Amédée Thierry and Dr. Foerster, my obligations are
-acknowledged in their proper place.
-
-Neander’s Life of St. Chrysostom has, of course, throughout been
-frequently consulted. It is marked by the customary merits and defects
-of that historian. It is full of research, information, thought, and
-refined religious sentiment; but he fails to bring out strongly the
-personality of his subject. We have abundance of Chrysostom’s sayings
-and opinions, but somehow too little of Chrysostom himself. The fact
-is that Neander seems always to be thinking more of those views and
-theories about the growth of Christian doctrine and the Church, which
-he wishes to impress upon men’s minds, than of the person about whom
-he is writing. Thus, the subject of his biography becomes too much a
-mere vehicle for conveying Neander’s own opinions, and the personality
-of the character fades away in proportion. Some passages in the life
-of his subject are related at inordinate length; others, because less
-illustrative of Neander’s views, are imperfectly sketched, if not
-omitted.
-
-In extracts from the works of Chrysostom, the somewhat difficult
-question of the comparative advantages of translation and paraphrase
-has been decided, on the whole, in favour of the latter. The
-condensation of matter gained by a paraphrase is an important, indeed
-necessary, object, if many specimens are to be given from such a very
-voluminous author as Chrysostom. A careful endeavour, at the same time,
-has been made to render faithfully the general sense of the original;
-and wherever the peculiar beauty of the language or the importance of
-the subject seemed to demand it, a translation has been given.
-
-From an early date in the sixteenth century down to the present
-time the works of Chrysostom have occupied the attention of learned
-editors. The first attempts, after the invention of printing, were
-mainly confined to Latin translations of different portions. Afterwards
-appeared—
-
-(1.) In 1529 the Greek text of the Homilies on St. Paul, published at
-Vienna, “typis Stephani et fratrum,” with a preface by Maximus Donatus.
-This was followed by the Commentaries on the New Testament, published
-by Commelin, a printer at Heidelberg, four vols. folio, A.D. 1591-1602.
-
-(2.) In 1612 appeared a magnificent edition of the whole works, in
-eight thick folio volumes, printed at Eton, and prepared by Sir
-Henry Savile. Savile, born in 1549, was equally distinguished for
-his knowledge of mathematics and Greek, in which he acted for a time
-as tutor to Queen Elizabeth. He became Warden of Merton in 1585, and
-Provost of Eton in 1596. Promotion in Church and State was offered
-to him by James I., but declined, though he accepted a knighthood in
-1604. His only son died about that time, and he devoted his fortune
-henceforth entirely to the promotion of learning. The Savilian
-Professorships of Geometry and Astronomy in Oxford were founded by
-him, and a library furnished with mathematical books for the use of
-his Professors. He spared no labour or expense to make his edition of
-St. Chrysostom handsome and complete. He personally examined most of
-the great libraries in Europe for mss., and, through the kindness of
-English ambassadors and eminent men of learning abroad, his copyists
-were admitted to the libraries of Paris, Basle, Augsburg, Munich,
-Vienna, and other cities. He used the Commelinian edition as his
-printer’s copy, carefully compared with five mss., the various readings
-of which are marked (by a not very distinct plan) in the margin. The
-chief value of the work consists in the prefaces and notes, contributed
-some of them by Casaubon and other learned men, though by far the best
-are Savile’s own. The whole cost of bringing out this grand edition is
-said to have been £8000. Savile’s wife was so jealous of her husband’s
-attachment to the work that she threatened to burn it.
-
-(3.) Meanwhile, Fronton le Duc, a French Jesuit, had been labouring
-independently, but in most amicable intercourse with Savile, not only
-to edit the works of Chrysostom complete, but accompanied by a Latin
-translation, which he supplied himself for those pieces of which he
-failed to find any good one already existing. His death arrested the
-work, which was taken up, after a time, by the two brothers, Frederick
-and Claude Morel, and completed by the latter in 1633. It was published
-in Paris in 1636, in twelve large folio volumes. The Commelinian was
-again used as the printer’s copy, with fewer alterations than in the
-edition of Savile.
-
-(4.) We now come to the great Benedictine edition, prepared under the
-care of Bernard de Montfaucon, who deserted the profession of arms at
-the age of twenty to become, as a member of the brotherhood of St Maur,
-one of the most marvellously industrious workers in literature that the
-world has ever seen. In 1698, when the Benedictines had completed their
-editions of SS. Augustine and Athanasius, they began to prepare for
-an edition of Chrysostom, which they had intended to do for more than
-thirty years. Montfaucon was sent to Italy, where he spent three years
-in examining libraries; and, on his return, obtained leave from the
-presidents of the congregation to employ four or five of the brethren
-in collating mss. in the Royal Library at Paris, and in those of
-Colbert and Coislin. Their labours extended over thirteen years; more
-than 300 MSS., containing different portions of Chrysostom’s works,
-having been discovered in those libraries. Montfaucon, meanwhile,
-corresponded with learned men in all parts of Europe, in order to
-procure materials and further collations. His correspondents in England
-were Potter, Bishop of Oxford, Bentley, and Needham; and in Ireland,
-Godwin, Bishop of Kilmore. The result was that, after more than twenty
-years of incessant toil, Montfaucon produced an edition, in which
-several pieces saw the light for the first time, and others, imperfect
-in previous editions, were presented entire. The text after all is the
-least satisfactory part of the work. Mr. Field has discovered that the
-eight principal MSS. employed were not very carefully collated, and
-that, though Savile’s text is extremely praised, that of Morel, by a
-curious inconsistency, is most closely followed, which is little more
-than a reproduction of the original Commelinian. The main value of the
-edition consists in the prefaces, written by Montfaucon to every set
-of homilies and every treatise, in which the chronology, contents, and
-character of the composition are most fully and ably discussed. The
-chronological arrangement also of the pieces is a great improvement
-on the editions of Savile and Fronton le Duc, who had made no attempt
-of that kind. The last volume, the thirteenth, contains a life of St
-Chrysostom, a most copious index, and dissertations on the doctrine,
-discipline, and heresies prevalent in his age, illustrated by notices
-collected from his works. On the whole, the edition must be pronounced
-a marvellous monument of ability and industry, especially when it is
-considered that at the date of its completion, 1738, Montfaucon was
-eighty-three years of age, and had been engaged for upwards of fifty
-years in literary work of a most laborious description. He died in 1741.
-
-(5.) The last edition, which leaves little or nothing to be desired,
-is that which I have used in preparing this volume—the Abbé Migne’s,
-in 13 vols., Paris, 1863. It is substantially a reproduction of the
-Benedictine, in a rather less cumbrous size, and embodies some of
-the best corrections, notes, and prefaces of modern commentators,
-especially those of Mr. Field to the Homilies of St. Matthew, and some
-by the learned editor himself.
-
-A brief sketch of the principal forms in which Chrysostom’s works have
-appeared seemed an appropriate introduction to the history of the man
-himself. If the perusal of that history shall afford to readers half
-as much interest, pleasure, and instruction as I have myself derived
-from the composition of it, I shall feel amply rewarded for my labour;
-and I gladly take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to my
-father-in-law for originally suggesting a work of this kind, and to
-many friends, and especially my wife, for constant encouragement,
-without which a mixture of indolence and diffidence might have
-prevented the completion of my design.
-
- DENSWORTH COTTAGE, CHICHESTER,
- _All Saints Day 1871_.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
- PAGE
-
- Introductory, 1
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
- From his Birth to his Appointment to the Office of
- Reader, A.D. 345 or A.D. 347 to A.D. 370, 9
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
- Commencement of ascetic life-Study under
- Diodorus—Formation of an ascetic Brotherhood—The Letters
- to Theodore, A.D. 370, 24
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
- Chrysostom evades forcible Ordination to a Bishopric—The
- Treatise “On the Priesthood.” A.D. 370, 371, 40
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
- Narrow Escape from Persecution—His Entrance into a
- Monastery—The Monasticism of the East. A.D. 372, 57
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
- Works produced during his monastic life—The letters to
- Demetrius and Stelechius—Treatises addressed to the
- Opponents of Monasticism—Letter to Stagirius, 69
-
-
- CHAPTER VII.
-
- Ordination as Deacon—Description of Antioch—Works
- composed during his Diaconate. A.D. 381-386, 86
-
-
- CHAPTER VIII.
-
- Ordination to the Priesthood by Flavian—Inaugural
- Discourse in the Cathedral—Homilies against the
- Arians—Animadversions on the Chariot Races, A.D. 386, 103
-
-
- CHAPTER IX.
-
- Homilies against Pagans and Jews—Condition of the Jews in
- Antioch—Judaising Christians—Homilies on Christmas Day
- and New Year’s Day—Censure of Pagan Superstitions. A.D.
- 386, 387, 120
-
-
- CHAPTER X.
-
- Survey of the first Decade of the Reign of Theodosius—His
- Character—His Efforts for the Extirpation of Paganism
- and Heresy—The Apologies of Symmachus and Libanius. A.D.
- 379-389, 139
-
-
- CHAPTER XI.
-
- The Sedition at Antioch—The Homilies on the Statues—The
- Results of the Sedition, A.D. 387, 150
-
-
- CHAPTER XII.
-
- Illness of Chrysostom—Homilies on Festivals
- of Saints and Martyrs—Character of these
- Festivals—Pilgrimages—Reliques—Character of Peasant
- Clergy in neighbourhood of Antioch. A.D. 387, 177
-
-
- CHAPTER XIII.
-
- Survey of Events between A.D. 387 and A.D. 397—Ambrose
- and Theodosius—Revolt of Arbogastes—Death of
- Theodosius—The Ministers of Arcadius—Rufinus and
- Eutropius, 186
-
-
- CHAPTER XIV.
-
- Death of Nectarius, Archbishop of
- Constantinople—Eager Competition for the See—Election
- of Chrysostom—His compulsory Removal from
- Antioch—Consecration—Reforms—Homilies on various
- subjects—Missionary Projects, 212
-
-
- CHAPTER XV.
-
- The Fall of Eutropius—His Retreat to the Sanctuary of the
- Church—Right of Sanctuary maintained by Chrysostom—Death
- of Eutropius—Revolt of Gothic Commanders Tribigild and
- Gaïnas—Demand of Gaïnas for an Arian Church refused by
- Chrysostom—Defeat and Death of Gaïnas. A.D. 399-401, 240
-
-
- CHAPTER XVI.
-
- Chrysostom’s Visit to Asia—Deposition of six simoniacal
- Bishops—Legitimate Extent of his Jurisdiction—Return to
- Constantinople—Rupture and reconciliation with Severian,
- bishop of Gabala—Chrysostom’s increasing unpopularity
- with the Clergy and wealthy Laity—His Friends—Olympias
- the Deaconess—Formation of hostile Factions, which invite
- the aid of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria. A.D. 400,
- 401, 265
-
-
- CHAPTER XVII.
-
- Circumstances which led to the interference of Theophilus
- with the affairs of Chrysostom—Controversy about the
- Writings of Origen—Persecution by Theophilus of the Monks
- called “The Tall Brethren”—Their Flight to Palestine—To
- Constantinople—Their Reception by Chrysostom—Theophilus
- summoned to Constantinople. A.D. 395-403, 286
-
-
- CHAPTER XVIII.
-
- Theophilus arrives in Constantinople—Organises a Cabal
- against Chrysostom—The Synod of the Oak—Chrysostom
- pronounced contumacious for Non-appearance and expelled
- from the city—Earthquake—Recall of Chrysostom—Ovations on
- his Return—Flight of Theophilus. A.D. 403, 306
-
-
- CHAPTER XIX.
-
- An Image of Eudoxia placed in front of the
- Cathedral—Chrysostom denounces it—Anger of the
- Empress—The enemy returns to the charge—Another Council
- formed—Chrysostom confined to his Palace—Violent scene in
- the Cathedral and other places—Chrysostom again expelled,
- A.D. 403, 404, 326
-
-
- CHAPTER XX.
-
- Fury of the people at the removal of
- Chrysostom—Destruction of the Cathedral Church and
- Senate-house by Fire—Persecution of Chrysostom’s
- followers—Fugitives to Rome—Letters of Innocent
- to Theophilus—To the Clergy of Constantinople—To
- Chrysostom—Deputation of Western Bishops to
- Constantinople repulsed—Sufferings of the Eastern
- Church—Triumph of the Cabal. A.D. 404, 405, 341
-
-
- CHAPTER XXI.
-
- Chrysostom ordered to be removed to Cucusus—Perils
- encountered at Cæsarea—Hardships of the Journey—Reaches
- Cucusus—Letters written there to Olympias and other
- Friends. A.D. 404, 361
-
-
- CHAPTER XXII.
-
- Chrysostom’s Sufferings from the winter cold—Depredations
- of the Isaurians—The Mission in Phœnicia—Letters to
- Innocent and the Italian Bishops—Chrysostom’s enemies
- obtain an order for his Removal to Pityus—He dies
- at Comana, A.D. 407—Reception of his Reliques at
- Constantinople, A.D. 438, 379
-
-
- CHAPTER XXIII.
-
- Survey of Chrysostom’s Theological Teaching—Practical
- tone of his Works—Reason of this—Doctrine of
- Man’s Nature—Original Sin—Grace—Free-will—How
- far Chrysostom Pelagian—Language on the
- Trinity—Atonement—Justification—The two Sacraments—No
- trace of Confession, Purgatory, or Mariolatry—Relations
- towards the Pope—Liturgy of Chrysostom—His character as a
- Commentator—Views on Inspiration—His Preaching—Personal
- Appearance—References to Greek Classical
- Authors—Comparison with St. Augustine, 390
-
- APPENDIX, 433
-
- INDEX, 435
-
-
-
-
- LIFE AND TIMES
-
- OF
-
- ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-INTRODUCTORY.
-
-
-I. There are many great names in history which have been familiar to
-us from almost our earliest years, but of the personal character, the
-actual life of those who bore them, we are comparatively ignorant. We
-know that they were men of genius; industrious, energetic workers, who,
-as statesmen, reformers, warriors, writers, speakers, exercised a vital
-influence for good or ill upon their fellow-men. They have achieved
-a reputation which will never die; but from various causes their
-personality does not stand out before us in clear and bold relief.
-We know something about some of the most important passages in their
-life, a few of their sayings, a little of their writings; but the men
-themselves we do not know.
-
-Frequently the reason of this is, that though they occupy a place,
-perhaps an important place, in the great drama of history, yet they
-have not played one of the _foremost_ parts; and general history cannot
-spare much time or space beyond what is necessary to describe the main
-progress of events, and the actions and characters of those who were
-most prominently concerned in them. Other men may have been greater
-in themselves; they may have been first-rate in their own sphere, but
-that sphere was too much secluded or circumscribed to admit of the
-extensive and conspicuous public influence of which alone history takes
-much cognisance. They are to history what those side or background
-figures in the pictures of great medieval painters are to the grand
-central subject of the piece: they do but help to fill up the canvas,
-yet the picture would not be complete without them. They are notable
-personages, well worthy of being separately depicted, though in the
-large historical representation they play a subordinate part.
-
-To take out one of these side figures of history, and to make it the
-centre of a separate picture, grouping round it all the great events
-and characters among which it moved, is the work of a biographer. And
-by many it will be felt that nothing invests the general history of
-any period with such a living interest as viewing it through the light
-of some one human life. How was this individual soul affected by the
-movement of the great forces with which it was surrounded? How did it
-affect them, in its turn, wherever in its progress it came into contact
-with them? This one consideration will confer on many details of
-history an importance and freshness of which they seemed too trivial or
-too dull to be susceptible.
-
-II. Among these side characters in history, characters of men in
-themselves belonging to the first rank, men whose names will be
-renowned and honoured to the end of time, but precluded, by disposition
-or circumstances, from taking the foremost place in the larger canvas
-of general history, must be reckoned many of the great ecclesiastics of
-the first four or five centuries of Christianity. Every one recognises
-as great such names as Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Basil, the two
-Gregories, and many more. Every one would admit that the Church owes
-them a debt, but it may be safely affirmed that here the acquaintance
-of many with these eminent men begins and ends. A few scraps from
-their writings quoted in commentaries, one or two remarkable acts
-or sayings which have been thought worthy to be handed down, a few
-passages in which their lives flit across the stage of general history,
-complete the knowledge of many more. Such men, indeed, as Athanasius
-and Ambrose are to some extent exceptions. The magnitude of the
-principles for which they contended, the energy and ability which
-they displayed in the contest, were too conspicuous to be passed over
-by the general historian, civil or ecclesiastical. The proverbial
-expression “Athanasius contra mundum” attests of itself the pre-eminent
-greatness of the man. But with other luminaries of the Church, whose
-powers were perhaps equally great, but not exercised on so public a
-field or on behalf of such apparently vital questions, history has not
-dealt, perhaps cannot consistently with its scope deal, in any degree
-commensurate with their merits. Nor does this remark apply entirely to
-civil history. Ecclesiastical history also is so much occupied with
-the consideration of subjects on a large scale and covering a large
-space of time,—the course of controversies, the growth of doctrines,
-the relations between Church and State, changes in discipline, in
-liturgies, in ritual,—that the history of those who lived among these
-events, and who by their ability made or moulded them, is comparatively
-lost sight of. The outward operations are seen, but the springs
-which set them going are concealed. How can general history, for
-instance, adequately set forth the character and the work of such men
-as Savonarola or Erasmus, both in their widely different ways men of
-such incomparable genius and incessant activity? It does not; it only
-supplies a glimpse, a sketch, which make us long for a fuller vision,
-a more finished picture.[1]
-
-III. It is designed to attempt, in the following pages, such a
-supplementary chapter in ecclesiastical history. An endeavour will be
-made not merely to chronicle the life and estimate the character of the
-great preacher of Antioch and Constantinople, but to place him in the
-centre of all the great movements, civil as well as religious, of his
-time, and see what light he and they throw upon one another.
-
-The age in which he lived was a troublous one. The spectacle of a
-tempestuous sea may in itself excite our interest and inspire us with
-awe, but place in the midst of it a vessel containing human life, and
-how deeply is our interest intensified!
-
-What was the general character and position of the clergy in the fourth
-century? What was the attitude of the Church towards the sensuality,
-selfishness, luxury, of an effete and debased civilisation on the one
-hand, and the rude ferocity of young and strong barbarian races on the
-other? To what extent had Christianity leavened, or had it appreciably
-leavened at all, popular forms of thought and popular habits of life?
-What was the existing phase of monasticism? what the ordinary form of
-worship in the Catholic Church? what the established belief respecting
-the sacraments and the great verities of the Christian faith? In answer
-to such inquiries, and to many more, much useful information may be
-extracted from the works of so prolific a writer and preacher as
-Chrysostom. Being concerned also, as a preacher, with moral practice
-more than with abstract theology, his homilies reflect, like the
-writings of satirists, the manners of the age. The habits of private
-life, the fashionable amusements, the absurdities of dress, all the
-petty foibles, as well as the more serious vices of the society by
-which he was surrounded, are dragged out without remorse, and made
-the subjects of solemn admonition, or fierce invective, or withering
-sarcasm, or ironical jest.
-
-IV. Nor does secular history, from which not a single chapter in
-ecclesiastical history can without injury be dissociated, want for
-copious illustration. Not only from the memorable story of the sedition
-at Antioch, and from the public events at Constantinople, in which
-Chrysostom played a conspicuous part, but from many an allusion or
-incidental expression scattered up and down his works, we may collect
-rays of light on the social and political condition of the Empire. We
-get glimpses in his pages of a large mass of the population hovering
-midway between Paganism and Christianity; we detect an oppressive
-system of taxation, a widely-spread venality in the administration
-of public business, a general insecurity of life arising from the
-almost total absence of what we understand by police regulations, a
-depressed agriculture, a great slave population, a vast turbulent army
-as dangerous to the peace of society as the enemies from whom it was
-supposed to defend it, the presence of barbarians in the country as
-servants, soldiers, or colonists, the constantly-impending danger from
-other hordes ever hovering on the frontier, and, like famished wolves,
-gazing with hungry eyes on the plentiful prey which lay beyond it. But
-in the midst of the national corruption we see great characters stand
-out; and it is remarkable that they belong, without exception, to the
-two elements which alone were strong and progressive in the midst of
-the general debility and decadence. All the men of commanding genius
-in this era were either Christian or barbarian. A young and growing
-faith, a vigorous and manly race: these were the two forces destined to
-work hand in hand for the destruction of an old and the establishment
-of a new order of things. The chief doctors of Christianity in the
-fourth century—Augustine, Chrysostom, Ambrose—are incomparably greater
-than their contemporary advocates of the old religion and philosophy,
-Symmachus or Libanius; even as the Gothic Alaric and Fravitta, and the
-Vandal Stilicho, were the only generals who did not disgrace the Roman
-arms.
-
-V. Some remarks on the theology of Chrysostom will be found in the
-concluding chapter. The appellation of preacher,[2] by which he is
-most generally known, is a true indicator of the sphere in which his
-powers were greatest. It was in upholding a pure and lofty standard of
-Christian morality, and in denouncing unchristian wickedness, that his
-life was mainly spent, rather than, like Augustine’s, in constructing
-and teaching a logical system of doctrine. The rage of his enemies,
-to which he ultimately fell a victim, was not bred of the bitterness
-of theological controversy, but of the natural antagonism between the
-evil and the good. And it is partly on this account that neither the
-remoteness of time, nor difference of circumstances, which separate
-us from him, can dim the interest with which we read his story. He
-fought not so much for any abstract question of theology or point
-of ecclesiastical discipline, which may have lost its meaning and
-importance for us, but for those grand principles of truth and justice,
-Christian charity, and Christian holiness, which ought to be dear to
-men equally in all ages.
-
-VI. But there is also in the struggle of Chrysostom with the secular
-power an ecclesiastical and historical interest, as well as a moral
-one. We see prefigured in his deposition the fate of the Eastern Church
-in the Eastern capital of the Empire. As the papacy grew securely by
-the retreat from the old Rome of any secular rival, so the patriarchate
-of the new Rome was constantly, increasingly depressed by the presence
-of such a rival. Of all the great churchmen who flourished in the
-fourth century, Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, Ambrose, Jerome,
-Augustine, and Chrysostom, the last three alone survived into the
-fifth century. But the glory of the Western Church was then only in
-its infancy; the glory of the Eastern culminated in Chrysostom. From
-his time the patriarchs of Constantinople fell more and more into
-the servile position of court functionaries. The working out of that
-grand idea, a visible organised Catholic Church, uniform in doctrine
-and discipline, an idea which grew more and more as the political
-disintegration of the Empire increased, was to be accomplished by the
-more commanding, law-giving spirit of the West. Intrepid in spirit,
-inflexible of purpose, though Chrysostom was, he could not subdue,
-he could only provoke to more violent opposition, the powers with
-which he was brought into collision. Ineffectual was his contest
-with ecclesiastical corruption and secular tyranny, as compared
-with a similar contest waged by his Western contemporary, Ambrose;
-ineffectual also were the efforts, after his time, of the Church which
-he represented to assert the full dignity of its position.
-
-VII. Chrysostom, and the contemporary fathers of the Eastern Church,
-naturally seem very remote from us; but, in fact, they are nearer to
-us in their modes of thought than many who in point of time are less
-distant. They were brought up in the study of that Greek literature
-with which we are familiar. Philosophy had not stiffened into
-scholasticism. The ethics of Chrysostom are substantially the same
-with the ethics of Butler. So, again, Eastern fathers of the fourth
-century are far more nearly allied to us in theology than writers of
-a few centuries later. If we are to look to “the rock” whence our
-Anglican liturgy “was hewn,” and “to the hole of the pit” whence
-Anglican reformed theology “was digged,” we must turn our eyes, above
-all other directions, to the Eastern Church and the Eastern fathers.
-It was observed by Mr. Alexander Knox,[3] that the earlier days of
-the Greek Church seem resplendent with a glow of simple, fervent
-piety, such as in a Church, as a whole, has never since been seen; and
-that this character is strikingly in harmony with our own liturgy, so
-overflowing with sublime aspirations, so Catholic, not bearing the
-impress of any one system of theology, but containing what is best in
-all. We may detect in Chrysostom the germ of medieval corruptions,
-such as the invocation of saints, the adoration of relics, and a
-sensuous conception of the change effected in the holy elements in the
-Eucharist; but these are the raw material of error, not yet wrought
-into definite shape. The Bishop of Rome is recognised, as will be seen
-from Chrysostom’s correspondence with Innocent, as a great potentate,
-whose intercessions are to be solicited in time of trouble and
-difficulty, and to whose judgment much deference is to be paid, but by
-no means as a supreme ruler in Christendom.
-
-Thus, the tone of Chrysostom’s language is far more akin to that of
-our own Church than of the medieval or present Church of Rome. In his
-habit of referring to Holy Scripture as the ultimate source and basis
-of all true doctrine, “so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor
-may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man as an article
-of faith;” in his careful endeavour to ascertain the real meaning of
-Scripture, not seeking for fanciful or mystical interpretations, or
-supporting preconceived theories, but patiently labouring, with a
-mixture of candour, reverence, and common sense, to ascertain the exact
-literal sense of each passage;—in these points, no less than in his
-theology, he bears an affinity to the best minds of our own reformed
-Church, and fairly represents that faith of the Catholic Church before
-the disruption of East and West in which Bishop Ken desired to die;
-while his fervent piety, and his apostolic zeal as a preacher of
-righteousness, must command the admiration of all earnest Christians,
-to whatever country, age, or Church, they may belong.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
- FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE OFFICE OF
- READER, A.D. 345 OR A.D. 347 TO A.D. 370.
-
-
-It has been well remarked by Sir Henry Savile, in the preface to his
-noble edition of Chrysostom’s works, published in 1612, that, as with
-great rivers, so often with great men, the middle and the close of
-their career are dignified and distinguished, but the primary source
-and early progress of the stream are difficult to ascertain and trace.
-No one, he says, has been able to fix the exact date, the year, and the
-consulship of Chrysostom’s birth. This is true; but at the same time
-his birth, parentage, and education are not involved in such obscurity
-as surrounds the earliest years of some other great luminaries of the
-Eastern Church; his own friend, for instance, Theodore, Bishop of
-Mopsuestia, and yet more notably, the great Athanasius.
-
-There is little doubt that his birth occurred not later than the year
-A.D. 347, and not earlier than the year A.D. 345; and there is no doubt
-that Antioch in Syria was the place of his birth, that his mother’s
-name was Anthusa, his father’s Secundus, and that both were well born.
-His mother was, if not actually baptized, very favourably inclined
-to Christianity,[4] and, indeed, a woman of no ordinary piety. The
-father had attained the rank of “magister militum” in the Imperial
-army of Syria, and therefore enjoyed the title of “illustris.” He
-died when his son John was an infant, leaving a young widow, about
-twenty years of age, in comfortable circumstances, but harassed by the
-difficulties and anxieties of her unprotected condition as mistress
-of a household in days when servants were slaves, and life in large
-cities altogether unguarded by such securities as are familiar to us.
-Greatly did she dread the responsibility of bringing up a son in one of
-the most turbulent and dissolute capitals of the Empire. Nothing, she
-afterwards[5] declared to him, could have enabled her to pass through
-such a furnace of trial but a consoling sense of divine support, and
-the delight of contemplating the image of her husband as reproduced
-in his son. How long a sister older than himself may have lived we
-do not know; but the conversation between him and his mother, when
-he was meditating a retreat into a monastery, seems to imply that he
-was the only surviving child. All her love, all her care, all her
-means and energies, were concentrated on the boy destined to become so
-great a man, and exhibiting even in childhood no common ability and
-aptitude for learning. But her chief anxiety was to train him in pious
-habits, and to preserve him uncontaminated from the pollutions of the
-vicious city in which they resided. She was to him what Monica was to
-Augustine, and Nonna to Gregory Nazianzen.
-
-The great influence, indeed, of women upon the Christianity of
-domestic life in that age is not a little remarkable. The Christians
-were not such a pure and single-minded community as they had been.
-The refining fires of persecution which burnt up the chaff of
-hypocrisy or indifference were now extinguished; Christianity had a
-recognised position; her bishops were in kings’ courts. The natural
-consequences inevitably followed this attainment of security; there
-were more Christians, but not more who were zealous; there were many
-who hung very loosely to the Church—many who fluctuated between
-the Church and Paganism. In the great Eastern cities of the Empire,
-especially Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, the mass of the
-so-called Christian population was largely infected by the dominant
-vices—inordinate luxury, sensuality, selfish avarice, and display.
-Christianity was in part paganised long before it had made any
-appreciable progress towards the destruction of Paganism. But the
-sincere and ardent piety of many amongst the women kept alive in many
-a home the flame of Christian faith which would otherwise have been
-smothered. The Emperor Julian imagined that his efforts to resuscitate
-Paganism would have been successful in Antioch but for the strenuous
-opposition of the Christian women. He complains “that they were
-permitted by their husbands to take anything out of the house to bestow
-it upon the Galilæans, or to give away to the poor, while they would
-not expend the smallest trifle upon the worship of the gods.”[6] The
-efforts also of the Governor Alexander, who was left in Antioch by
-the Emperor to carry forward his designs of Pagan reformation, were
-principally baffled through this female influence. He found that the
-men would often consent to attend the temples and sacrifices, but
-afterwards generally repented and retracted their adherence. This
-relapse Libanius the sophist, in a letter[7] to the Governor, ascribes
-to the home influence of the women. “When the men are out of doors,” he
-says, “they obey you who give them the best advice, and they approach
-the altars; but when they get home, their minds undergo a change; they
-are wrought upon by the tears and entreaties of their wives, and they
-again withdraw from the altars of the gods.”
-
-Anthusa did not marry again; very possibly she was deterred from
-contracting a second marriage by religious scruples which Chrysostom
-himself would certainly have approved.[8] The Pagans themselves
-admired those women who dedicated themselves to a single life, or
-abstained from marrying again. Chrysostom himself informs us that when
-he began to attend the lectures of Libanius, his master inquired who
-and what his parents were; and on being told that he was the son of a
-widow who at the age of forty had lost her husband twenty years, he
-exclaimed in a tone of mingled jealousy and admiration: “Heavens! what
-women these Christians have!”[9]
-
-What instruction he received in early boyhood, beside his mother’s
-careful moral and religious training; whether he was sent, a common
-custom among Christian parents in that age,[10] to be taught by the
-monks in one of the neighbouring monasteries, where he may have
-imbibed an early taste for monastic retirement, we know not. He was
-designed, however, not for the clerical but for the legal profession,
-and at the age of twenty he began to attend the lectures of one of
-the first sophists of the day, capable of giving him that secular
-training and learning which would best enable him to cope with men of
-the world. Libanius had achieved a reputation as a teacher of general
-literature, rhetoric, and philosophy, and as an able and eloquent
-defender of Paganism, not only in his native city Antioch, but in
-the Empire at large. He was the friend and correspondent of Julian,
-and on amicable terms with the Emperors Valens and Theodosius. He
-had now returned to Antioch after lengthened residence in Athens
-(where the chair of rhetoric had been offered to him, but declined),
-in Nicomedia, and in Constantinople.[11] In attending daily lectures
-at his school, the young Chrysostom became conversant with the best
-classical Greek authors, both poets and philosophers. Of their teaching
-he in later life retained little admiration,[12] and to the perusal
-of their writings he probably seldom or never recurred for profit
-or recreation, but his retentive memory enabled him to the last to
-point and adorn his arguments with quotations from Homer, Plato, and
-the Tragedians. In the school of Libanius also he began to practise
-those nascent powers of eloquence which were destined to win for him
-so mighty a fame, as well as the appellation of Chrysostomos, or the
-Golden Mouth, by which, rather than by his proper name of John, he will
-be known to the end of time.[13] Libanius, in a letter to Chrysostom,
-praises highly a speech composed by him in honour of the Emperors,
-and says they were happy in having so excellent a panegyrist.[14] The
-Pagan sophist helped to forge the weapons which were afterwards to be
-skilfully employed against the cause to which he was devoted. When he
-was on his deathbed, he was asked by his friends who was in his opinion
-capable of succeeding him. “It would have been John,” he replied, “had
-not the Christians stolen him from us.”[15] But it did not immediately
-appear that the learned advocate of Paganism was nourishing a traitor;
-for Chrysostom had not yet been baptized, and began to seek an opening
-for his powers in secular fields of activity.[16] He commenced practice
-as a lawyer; some of his speeches gained great admiration, and were
-highly commended by his old master Libanius. A brilliant career of
-worldly ambition was open to him. The profession of the law was at that
-time the great avenue to civil distinction. The amount of litigation
-was enormous. One hundred and fifty advocates were required for the
-court of the Prætorian Prefect of the East alone. The display of
-talent in the law-courts frequently obtained for a man the government
-of a province, whence the road was open to those higher dignities of
-vice-prefect, prefect, patrician, consul, which were honoured by the
-title of “illustrious.”[17]
-
-But the pure and upright disposition of the youthful advocate recoiled
-from the licentiousness which corrupted society; from the avarice,
-fraud, and artifice which marked the transactions of men of business;
-from the chicanery and rapacity that sullied the profession which he
-had entered.[18] He was accustomed to say later in life that “the
-Bible was the fountain for watering the soul.” If he had drunk of
-the classical fountains in the school of Libanius, he had imbibed
-draughts yet deeper of the spiritual well-spring in quiet study of Holy
-Scripture at home. And like many another in that degraded age, his
-whole soul revolted from the glaring contrast presented by the ordinary
-life of the world around him to that standard of holiness which was
-held up in the Gospels.
-
-He had formed also an intimate friendship with a young man, his equal
-in station and age, by whose influence he was diverted more and more
-from secular life, and eventually induced altogether to abandon it.
-This was Basil, who will come before us in the celebrated work on
-the priesthood. He must not be confounded with the great Basil,[19]
-Bishop of Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, who was some fifteen years older
-than Chrysostom, having been born in A.D. 329, nor with Basil, Bishop
-of Seleucia, who was present at the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451,
-and must therefore have been considerably younger. Perhaps he may be
-identified with a Basil, Bishop of Raphanea in Syria, not far from
-Antioch, who attended the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381.
-
-Chrysostom has described his friendship with Basil in affecting
-language:[20] “I had many genuine and true friends, men who understood
-and strictly observed the laws of friendship; but one there was out of
-the many who exceeded them all in attachment to me, and strove to leave
-them all behind in the race, even as much as they themselves surpassed
-ordinary acquaintances. He was one of those who accompanied me at all
-times; we engaged in the same studies, and were instructed by the same
-teachers; in our zeal and interest for the subjects on which we worked,
-we were one. As we went to our lectures or returned from them, we were
-accustomed to take counsel together on the line of life it would be
-best to adopt; and here, too, we appeared to be unanimous.”
-
-Basil early determined this question for himself in favour of
-monasticism; he decided, as Chrysostom expresses it, to follow the
-“true philosophy.” This occasioned the first interruption to their
-intercourse. Chrysostom, soon after the age of twenty, had embarked
-on a secular career, and could not immediately make up his mind to
-tread in the footsteps of his friend. “The balance,” he says, “was no
-longer even;” the scale of Basil mounted, while that of Chrysostom was
-depressed by the weight of earthly interests and desires.[21] But the
-decisive act of Basil made a deep impression on his mind; separation
-from his friend only increased his attachment to him, and his aversion
-from life in the world. He began to withdraw more from ordinary
-occupations and pleasures, and to spend more of his time in the study
-of Holy Scripture. He formed acquaintance with Meletius, the deeply
-respected Catholic Bishop of Antioch, and after three years, the usual
-period of probation for catechumens, was baptized by him.
-
-A natural question arises: Why was he not baptized before, since his
-mother was a Christian, and there is abundant evidence that infant
-baptism was and had been the ordinary practice of the Church?[22] In
-attempting a solution of the difficulty, it will be proper to mention
-first certain reasons for delaying baptism which were prevalent in that
-age, and which may partially have influenced the mind of Chrysostom’s
-mother or himself. It may sound paradoxical to say that an exaggerated
-estimation of the import and effect of baptism contributed in two ways
-to its delay. But such appears to have been the case. It was regarded
-by many as the most complete and final purgation of past sin, and
-the most solemn pledge of a new and purified life for the future. To
-sin, therefore, before baptism was comparatively harmless, if in the
-waters of baptism the guilty stains could be washed away; but sin after
-the reception of that holy sacrament was almost, if not altogether,
-unpardonable—at least fraught with the most tremendous peril. Hence
-some would delay baptism, as many now delay repentance, from a secret
-or conscious reluctance to take a decisive step, and renounce the
-pleasures of sin; and under the comfortable persuasion that some
-day, by submitting to baptism, they would free themselves from the
-responsibilities of their past life. Others, again, were deterred from
-binding themselves under so solemn a covenant by a distrust of their
-ability to fulfil their vows, and a timorous dread of the eternal
-consequences if they failed. Against these misconceptions of the true
-nature and proper use of the sacrament, the great Basil, the two
-Gregories, and Chrysostom himself contend[23] with a vehemence and
-indignation which proves them to have been common. Many parents thought
-they would allow the fitful and unstable season of youth to pass before
-they irrevocably bound their children under the most solemn engagements
-of their Christian calling. The children, when they grew up, inherited
-their scruples, and so the sacrament was indefinitely deferred.
-
-It is not impossible that such feelings may have influenced
-Chrysostom’s mother and himself; but considering the natural and
-healthy character of his piety, which seems to have grown by a gentle
-and unintermitting progress from his childhood, they do not seem very
-probable in his case. A more cogent cause for the delay may perhaps be
-found in the distracted state of the Church in Antioch, which lasted,
-with increasing complications, from A.D. 330, or fifteen years prior to
-Chrysostom’s birth, up to the time of his baptism by Meletius, when a
-brighter day was beginning to dawn.
-
-The vicissitudes of the Church in Antioch during that period form
-a curious, though far from pleasing, picture of the inextricable
-difficulties, the deplorable schisms, into which the Church at large
-was plunged by the Arian controversy. Two years after the Council of
-Nice, A.D. 327, the Arians, through the assistance of Constantia,
-the Emperor’s sister, won the favour of Constantine. He lost no
-time during this season of prosperity in procuring the deposition
-of Catholic bishops. Eminent among these was Eustathius, Bishop of
-Antioch. He was ejected by a synod held in his own city on false
-charges of Sabellianism and adultery.[24] An Arian Bishop, Euphronius,
-was appointed, but the Catholic congregation indignantly withdrew to
-hold their services in another quarter of the town, on the opposite
-side of the Orontes.[25] The see remained for some time entirely in
-the hands of the Arians. When the Council of Sardica met in A.D. 342,
-and the Arian faction seceded from it to hold a Council of their own
-in Philippopolis, Stephen, Bishop of Antioch, was their president.
-He was deposed in A.D. 349 by the Emperor Constantius, having been
-detected as an accomplice in an infamous plot against some envoys
-from the Western Church.[26] But “uno avulso non deficit alter;” he
-was succeeded by another Arian, the eunuch Leontius.[27] He tried
-to conciliate the Catholics by an artful and equivocating policy,
-of which his manner of chanting the doxology was an instance. The
-Arian form of it was “Glory be to the Father BY the Son _in_ the Holy
-Ghost;” this the bishop was accustomed to slur in such an indistinct
-voice that the prepositions could not be clearly if at all heard,
-while he joined loudly in the second part of the hymn where all were
-agreed.[28] He died towards the close of A.D. 357, when the see was
-fraudulently seized by Eudoxius, Bishop of Germanicia. He favoured the
-extreme Arians so openly that the Semi-Arians appealed to the Emperor
-Constantius to summon a General Council. Their request was granted; but
-the Arians, fearing that the Catholics and Semi-Arians would coalesce
-to overwhelm them, artfully suggested that Rimini, the place proposed
-for the Council, was too distant for the Eastern prelates, and that
-the Assembly should be divided, part meeting at Rimini, and part at
-Nice.[29] Their suggestion was accepted, and the result is well known.
-Partly by arguments, partly by artifices and delays which wore out the
-strength and patience of the members, the Arians completely carried the
-day; the creed of Rimini was ordered by the Emperor to be everywhere
-signed, and in the words of Jerome, “the world groaned and found itself
-Arian.”[30] An Arian synod sat at Constantinople. Macedonius, the
-archbishop, being considered too moderate, was deposed, and Eudoxius,
-the usurper of Antioch, was elevated to the see in his stead;[31] and
-Meletius, Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, was translated to the vacant
-see of Antioch, A.D. 361. But in him the Arians had mistaken their man.
-He was one of those who attended more to the practical moral teaching
-than to the abstract theology of Christianity; and, being not perhaps
-very precise in his language on doctrinal points, he had been reckoned
-an Arian.[32] After his elevation to the see of Antioch, he confined
-himself in his discourses to those practical topics on which all could
-agree. But this was not allowed to last long. The Emperor Constantius
-paid a visit to Antioch soon after the appointment of Meletius, and he
-was instigated by the Arians to put the bishop to a crucial test. He
-was commanded to preach on Proverbs viii. 22: “The Lord _possessed_
-me” (Septuagint ἔκτισε, that was the fatal word) “in the beginning,”
-etc. The interpretation put on the word “formed” ἔκτισε would reveal
-the man. Two other bishops discoursed first upon the same text: George
-of Laodicea, Acacius of Cæsarea. The first construed the passage in a
-purely Arian sense: the Word was a κτίσμα, “a created being,” though
-the first in time and rank; the second preacher took a more moderate
-line. Then came the turn of Meletius; short-hand writers took down
-every word as it fell. Meletius was a mild and temperate man, but he
-had his convictions, and he was no coward. To the horror of the Arians
-(the secret joy, perhaps, of those who disliked him) he entirely
-dissented from the Arian interpretation. The people loudly applauded
-his sermon, and called aloud for some brief and compendious statement
-of his doctrine. Meletius replied by a symbolical action: he held
-up three fingers, and then closing two of them, he said: “Our minds
-conceive of three, but we speak as to one.”[33] This was conclusive;
-the objectionable prelate was banished to Melitene, his native place
-in Armenia, thirty days after he had entered Antioch. Euzoius, who had
-been an intimate friend and constant associate of Arius himself, was
-put into the see. The Church of Antioch now split into three parties:
-the old and rigid orthodox set, who, ever since the deposition of
-Eustathius in A.D. 327, had adhered to his doctrine, and were called
-after his name; the moderate Catholics, who regarded Meletius as their
-bishop; and the Arians under Euzoius. The synod which had deposed him
-published a thoroughly Arian creed, which declared the Son to have been
-created out of nothing, and to be unlike the Father both in substance
-and will.[34]
-
-This first banishment of Meletius, which occurred in A.D. 361, did
-not last long. Julian, who became Emperor the same year, recalled all
-the prelates who had been exiled in the two preceding reigns; partly,
-perhaps, from a really liberal feeling, partly from a willingness to
-foment the internal dissensions of the Church by placing the rival
-bishops in close antagonism. Athanasius returned to Alexandria amidst
-great ovations.[35] One of the questions which occupied the attention
-of a synod convened by him was the schism of Antioch. Eusebius, Bishop
-of Vercelli, a staunch Italian friend of Athanasius, was despatched
-to Antioch in order to heal the division; but he had been unhappily
-anticipated by another Western prelate, Lucifer of Cagliari, in
-Sardinia, a brave defender of orthodoxy, for which with Eusebius he had
-suffered exile, but a most unskilful peacemaker. He only complicated
-the existing confusion by consecrating as bishop a priest of the
-old Eustathian party, named Paulinus, instead of strengthening the
-hands of Meletius.[36] The unhappy Church at Antioch, where the whole
-Christian community amounted to not more than 100,000 souls,[37] was
-thus torn to tatters. There were now three bishops: the Arian Euzoius,
-Meletius, generally acknowledged by the Eastern Church, and Paulinus
-by the Western. And, as if three rival heads were not sufficient, the
-Apollinarians soon afterwards added a fourth. But the mild, prudent,
-and charitable disposition of Meletius procured for him the affection
-and esteem of the largest and most respectable part of the population,
-as well as of the common people. Even when he was banished for the
-first time after he had been only a month in Antioch, the populace
-endeavoured to stone the prefect as he was conducting the bishop out
-of the city. He was saved by Meletius himself, who threw a part of his
-own mantle round him, to protect him from their fury. And after he
-returned from exile the popularity of Meletius increased. In paintings
-on the walls of houses and engravings on signet rings, his face was
-often represented, and parents gave his name to their children both
-to perpetuate his memory and to remind them of an example which was
-worthy of their imitation.[38] Once more in A.D. 367, and yet again
-in A.D. 370 or A.D. 371, when the Arians recovered the favour of the
-Court under the Emperor Valens, he was sent into exile, but he returned
-after the death of Valens in A.D. 378; and it was as Bishop of Antioch
-that he presided over the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381, and
-died during its session.[39] His funeral oration, pronounced by Gregory
-Nyssen, is extant. The final reparation of that schism which he nobly
-and constantly endeavoured to heal was not effected for nearly twenty
-years, when Chrysostom, then Archbishop of Constantinople, accomplished
-that good service for his native city.
-
-It is interesting to dwell at some length upon the history of the
-Church in Antioch at this period, because it represents the painful
-feuds in which the Church at large became entangled through the baneful
-influence of the Arian controversy, that first great blow to the unity
-of Christendom; when bishop was set up against bishop, and rival
-councils manufactured rival creeds, when violence, and intrigue, and
-diplomatic arts were employed too often by both sides to gain their
-ends. But the distracted state of the Church at Antioch also supplies
-a possible answer to the question why the baptism of Chrysostom was
-delayed so long. One of the reasons frequently alleged for deferring
-the reception of that sacrament was the desire of the candidate to
-receive it at the hands of some particular bishop.[40] Now who were
-the bishops of Antioch during the infancy and boyhood of Chrysostom?
-The Arians were in possession of the see at the time of his birth, and
-retained it till A.D. 361, when Meletius was appointed, but banished
-almost immediately. The pious sensible mother and the well-disposed
-youth would not unnaturally hold aloof from a Church over which
-presided such prelates as Stephen, Leontius, Eudoxius, Euzoius. Their
-minds may well have been so sorely perplexed and suspended between the
-claims of opposing factions as to delay the reception of baptism from
-the hands of any.
-
-But the prudent, conciliatory policy, the mild and amiable disposition
-of Meletius, would engage the sympathy and respect of an affectionate,
-pious, and sensible youth, such as Chrysostom was. He was about twenty
-when Meletius was banished in 367 by the Emperor Valens; but the bishop
-returned in a short time, when Chrysostom’s friend Basil had withdrawn
-into religious seclusion, and he himself was feeling an increasing
-repugnance to the world. He presented himself as a candidate for
-baptism to the bishop, and after the usual three years of preparation
-as a catechumen, was admitted into the Christian Church.
-
-There can be no doubt that baptism, from whatever cause delayed, must
-on that very account have come home to the recipient with a peculiar
-solemnity of meaning. It was an important epoch, often a decisive
-turning-point in the life, a deliberate renunciation of the world, and
-dedication of the whole man to God. So Chrysostom evidently felt it;
-from this point we enter on a new phase in his life. He becomes for
-a time an enthusiastic ascetic, and then settles down into that more
-tranquil and steady, but intense glow of piety and love to God which
-burned with undiminished force till the close of his career.
-
-The wise Bishop Meletius, however, desired to employ his powers in some
-sphere of active labour in the Church. As a preliminary step to this
-end, he ordained him soon after his baptism to the office of reader.
-This order appears not to have been instituted in the Church before
-the third century; at least there is no allusion to it in writers of
-the first two centuries, and frequent references in writers of the
-third and fourth.[41] The duty of readers was to read those portions
-of Scripture which were introduced into the first service or “Missa
-Catechumenorum,” which preceded the Communion, or “Missa Fidelium,” so
-called because only the baptized were admitted to it. They read from
-the Pulpitum or Tribunal Ecclesiæ, or Ambo, the reading-desk of the
-Church, which must not be confounded with the Bema, or Tribunal of the
-Sanctuary. This last was identical with the altar, or rather the steps
-of the altar, and no rank lower than that of deacon was permitted to
-read from this position. By the Novells of Justinian,[42] eighteen was
-fixed as the youngest age at which any one could be ordained to this
-office. But previous to this limitation, it was not uncommon to appoint
-mere children. Cæsarius of Arles is said to have been made a reader at
-the tender age of seven, and Victor Uticensis, describing the cruelties
-of the Vandalic persecution in Africa, affirms that among 500 clergy or
-more who perished by sword or famine, were many “infant readers.”[43]
-
-The ceremony of ordination appears to have been very simple. The Fourth
-Council of Carthage ordains that the bishop should testify before
-the congregation to the purity, the faith, and conversation of the
-candidate. Then in their presence he is to place a Bible in his hands
-with these words: “Take thou this book, and be thou a reader of the
-word of God, which office if thou discharge faithfully and profitably
-thou shalt have part with those who have ministered the word of
-God.”[44]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
- COMMENCEMENT OF ASCETIC LIFE—STUDY UNDER
- DIODORUS—FORMATION OF AN ASCETIC BROTHERHOOD—THE LETTERS
- TO THEODORE. A.D. 370.
-
-
-The enthusiasm of minds newly awakened to a full perception of
-Christian holiness, and a deep sense of Christian obligations, was in
-early times seldom contented with anything short of complete separation
-from the world. The Oriental temperament especially has been at all
-times inclined to passionate extremes. It oscillates between the most
-abandoned licentiousness and intense asceticism. The second is the
-corrective of the first; where the disease is desperate, the remedies
-must be violent. Chrysostom, as will be perceived throughout his life,
-was never carried to fanatical extremes; a certain sober-mindedness and
-calm practical good sense eminently distinguished him, though mingled
-with burning zeal. But in his youth especially he was not exempt from
-the spirit of the age and country in which he lived. He irresistibly
-gravitated towards that kind of life which his friend Basil had already
-adopted—a life of retirement, contemplation, and pious study—“the
-philosophy” of Christianity, as it was called at that time.[45]
-
-It does not appear that Basil had actually joined any monastic
-community, but merely that he was leading a life of seclusion, and
-practising some of the usual monastic austerities. Chrysostom,
-indeed, distinctly asserts that, previous to his own baptism, their
-intercourse had not been entirely broken off; only that it was
-impossible for him, who had his business in the law-courts and found
-his recreation in the theatre, to be so acceptable as formerly to one
-who now never entered public places, and who was wholly devoted to
-meditation, study, and prayer.[46] Their intercourse was necessarily
-more rare, though their friendship was substantially unshaken. “When,
-however, I had myself also lifted my head a little above this worldly
-flood, he received me with open arms” (probably referring here to
-his baptism or preparation for it); “but even then I was not able to
-maintain my former equality, for he had the advantage of me in point of
-time, and having manifested the greatest diligence, he had attained a
-very lofty standard, and was ever soaring beyond me.”[47]
-
-This disparity, however, could not diminish their natural affection
-for one another; and Basil at length obtained Chrysostom’s consent
-to a plan which he had frequently urged—that they should abandon
-their present homes and live together in some quiet abode, there to
-strengthen each other in undisturbed study, meditation, and prayer.
-But this project of the young enthusiasts was for a time frustrated
-by the irresistible entreaties of Chrysostom’s mother, that he would
-not deprive her of his protection, companionship, and help. The scene
-is described by Chrysostom himself,[48] with a dramatic power worthy
-of Greek tragedy. It reminds the reader of some of those long and
-stately, yet elegant and affecting, narratives of the messenger who,
-at the close of the play, _describes_ the final scene which is not
-represented. Certainly it bespeaks the scholar of a man who had made
-his pupils familiar with the best classical writers in Greek. “When
-she knew that we were meditating this course, my mother took me by the
-right hand and led me into her own chamber, and there, seating herself
-near the bed on which she had given birth to me, wept fountains of
-tears; to which she added words of lamentation more pitiable even than
-the tears themselves. ‘I was not long permitted to enjoy the virtue of
-thy father, my child: so it seemed good to God. My travail-pangs at
-your birth were quickly succeeded by his death; bringing orphanhood
-upon thee, and upon me an untimely widowhood, with all those miseries
-of widowhood which those only who have experienced them can fairly
-understand. For no description can approach the reality of that storm
-and tempest which is undergone by her who having but lately issued
-from her father’s home, and being unskilled in the ways of the world,
-is suddenly plunged into grief insupportable, and compelled to endure
-anxieties too great for her sex and age. For she has to correct the
-negligence, to watch against the ill-doings, of her slaves, to baffle
-the insidious schemes of kinsfolk, to meet with a brave front the
-impudent threats and harshness of tax-collectors.’”[49]
-
-She then describes minutely the expense, and labour, and constant
-anxiety which attended the education of a son; how she had refrained
-from all thoughts of second marriage, that she might bestow her
-undivided energies, time, and means upon him; how amply it had all been
-rewarded by the delight of his presence, recalling the image of her
-husband;—and now that he had grown up, would he leave her absolutely
-forlorn? “In return for all these my services to you,” she cried, “I
-implore you this one favour only—not to make me a second time a widow,
-or to revive the grief which time has lulled. Wait for my death—perhaps
-I shall soon be gone; when you have committed my body to the ground,
-and mingled my bones with your father’s bones, then you will be free to
-embark on any sea you please.” Such an appeal to his sense of filial
-gratitude and duty could not be disregarded. Chrysostom yielded to
-his mother’s entreaties, although Basil did not desist from urging his
-favourite scheme.[50]
-
-At the same time he assimilated his life at home as much as possible
-to the condition of a monk. He entirely withdrew from all worldly
-occupations and amusements. He seldom went out of the house; he
-strengthened his mind by study, his spirit by prayer, and subdued his
-body by vigils and fasting, and sleeping upon the bare ground. He
-maintained an almost constant silence, that his thoughts might be kept
-abstracted from mundane things, and that no irritable or slanderous
-speech might escape his lips. Some of his companions naturally lamented
-what they regarded as a morose and melancholy change.[51]
-
-But the intercourse between him and Basil was more frequent than
-before; and two other young men, who had been their fellow-students
-at the school of Libanius, were persuaded to adopt the same kind
-of secluded life. These two were Maximus, afterwards Bishop of
-Seleucia, in Isauria; and Theodore, who became Bishop of Mopsuestia,
-in Cilicia.[52] This little fraternity formed, with some others not
-named, a voluntary association of youthful ascetics. They did not
-dwell in a separate building, nor were they in any way established
-as a monastic community, but (like Wesley and his young friends at
-Oxford) they lived by rule, and practised monastic austerities. The
-superintendence of their studies and general conduct they submitted
-to Diodorus and Carterius, who were presidents of monasteries in the
-vicinity of Antioch.[53] In addition to his own intrinsic merits and
-eminence, Diodorus claims our attention, because there can be no doubt
-that he exercised a great influence upon the minds of his two most
-distinguished scholars, Chrysostom and Theodore. Indeed, judging from
-the fragments of his works, and the notices of him by historians, it
-is not too much to say that he was the founder of a method of Biblical
-interpretation of which Chrysostom and Theodore became the most able
-representatives.
-
-He was of noble family, and the friend of Meletius, who confided to
-him and the priest Evagrius the chief care of his diocese during his
-second exile under Valens about A.D. 370. And one of the first acts
-of Meletius, on his return in A.D. 378, was to make Diodorus Bishop
-of Tarsus. His writings in defence of Christianity were sufficiently
-powerful and notorious to provoke the notice of Julian, who, in a
-letter to Photinus, attacks him with no small asperity.[54] The Emperor
-finds occasion for ridicule in the pale and wrinkled face and the
-attenuated frame of Diodorus, wasted by his severe labours and ascetic
-practices; and represents these disfigurements as punishments from the
-offended gods against whom he had directed his pen. Being well known
-as a warm friend of Meletius, Diodorus was exposed to some risk from
-the Arian party during the exile of the bishop from A.D. 370-378. But
-he was not deterred from frequenting the old town on the south side of
-the Orontes, where the congregation of Meletius held their assemblies,
-and diligently ministering to their spiritual needs. He accepted no
-fixed stipend, but his necessities were supplied by the hospitality
-of those among whom he laboured.[55] Of his voluminous writings,
-a commentary on the Old and New Testament is that most frequently
-quoted by ecclesiastical writers. They expressly and repeatedly
-affirm that he adhered very closely to the literal and historical
-meaning of the text, and that he was opposed to those mystical and
-allegorical interpretations of Origen and the Alexandrian school,
-which often disguised rather than elucidated the true significance
-of the passage.[56] One evil of the allegorical method was, that it
-destroyed a clear and critical perception of the differences between
-the Older Revelation and the New. The Old Testament was regarded as a
-kind of vast enigma, containing _implicitly_ the facts and doctrines
-of the New. To detect subtle allusions to the coming of our Saviour,
-to the events of his life, to his death and resurrection, in the acts,
-speeches, and gestures of persons mentioned in the Old Testament,
-was regarded as a kind of interpretation no less satisfactory than
-it was ingenious. To believe indeed that the grand intention running
-through Scripture from the beginning to the end is to bring men to
-Jesus Christ; that the history of the fall of man is given to enable
-us to appreciate the need of a Restorer, and to estimate his work at
-its proper value; that the history of a dispensation based on law
-enables us to accept with more thankfulness a dispensation of spirit;
-that the history of the Jewish system of sacrifices is intended to
-conduct us to the one great Sacrifice as the substance of previous
-shadows, the fulfilment of previous types; that, alike in the law and
-the prophets, intimations and hints and significant parallels of the
-subsequent history to which they lead on are to be discerned;—this may
-be reasonable, profitable, and true: but it can be neither profitable
-nor true to see allusions, prophecies, and parallels in every minute
-and trivial detail of that earlier history.
-
-From this vital error Diodorus appears to have emancipated himself and
-his disciples. He perceived, as we shall see Chrysostom perceived, a
-gradual development in Revelation: that the knowledge, and morality,
-and faith of men under the Old Dispensation were less advanced than
-those of men who lived under the New. One instance must suffice. He
-remarks that the Mosaic precept, directing the brother of a man who had
-died childless to raise up posterity to his brother by marrying his
-wife, was given for the consolation of men who had as yet received no
-clear promise respecting a resurrection from the dead.[57] There is
-an approach to what some might deem rationalistic criticism, when he
-affirms that the speech of God to men in the Old Testament was not an
-external voice, but an inward spiritual intimation. When, for instance,
-it is said that God gave a command to Adam, it is evident, he says,
-that it was not made by a sound audible to the bodily ear, but that
-God impressed the knowledge of the command upon him according to his
-own proper energy, and that when Adam had received it his _condition_
-was the same _as_ if it had come to him through the actual hearing of
-the ear. And this, he observes, is what God effected also in the case
-of the prophets.[58] A similar rationalistic tendency is observable
-in his explanation of the relation between the Divine and human
-elements in the person of our blessed Lord. His language, in fact, on
-this subject is Nestorian: a distinction was to be made between Him
-who, according to his essence, _was_ Son of God—the Logos—and Him who
-through Divine decree and adoption _became_ Son of God. He who was
-born as Man from Mary was Son according to grace, but God the Logos
-was Son according to nature. The Son of Mary became Son of God because
-He was selected to be the receptacle or temple of God the Word. It was
-only in an improper sense that God the Word was called Son of David;
-the appellation was given to Him merely because the human temple in
-which He dwelt belonged to the lineage of David.[59] It is clear that
-Diodorus would have objected equally with Nestorius to apply the title
-of “God-bearer” (Θεοτόκος) to the blessed Virgin. Sixty years later,
-in A.D. 429, the streets of Constantinople and Alexandria resounded
-with tumults excited by controversy about the subject of which this was
-the watchword. But Diodorus happily lived too early for these dreadful
-conflicts, and his scholar Theodore was not personally disturbed;
-though long after his death, in A.D. 553, his writings were condemned
-by the Fifth Œcumenical Council, because the Nestorians appealed
-to them in confirmation of their tenets, and revered his memory. The
-practical element in Diodorus, his method of literal and common-sense
-interpretation of Holy Scripture, was inherited chiefly by Chrysostom;
-the intellectual vein, his conceptions of the relation between the
-Godhead and Manhood in Christ, his opinions respecting the final
-restoration of mankind, which were almost equivalent to a denial of
-eternal punishment, were reproduced mainly by Theodore.
-
-It was inevitable that those who, in an access of religious fervour,
-had renounced the world and subjected themselves to the sternest
-asceticism, should sometimes find that they had miscalculated their
-powers. The passionate enthusiasm which for a time carried them
-along the thorny path would begin to subside; a hankering after a
-more natural, if not more worldly, life ensued; and occasionally the
-reaction was so violent, the passions kept down in unnatural constraint
-reasserted themselves with such force, that the ascetic flew back
-to the pleasures and sometimes to the sins of the world, with an
-appetite which was in painful contrast to his previous abstinence.
-The youthful Theodore was for a time an instance, though far from an
-extreme instance, of such reaction: the strain was too great for him;
-he relapsed for a season into his former habits of life; he retired
-from the little ascetic brotherhood to which Chrysostom and Basil
-belonged. There is no evidence that he fell into any kind of sin; he
-simply returned to the occupations and amusements of ordinary life. He
-was in love with and desirous of marrying a young lady named Hermione.
-But Chrysostom was at this period such an ardent ascetic; he was so
-deeply impressed with the evil of the world; and regarded an austere
-and absolute separation from it as so indispensable to the highest
-standard of Christian life, that to him any divergence from that path,
-when once adopted, seemed a positive sin. The relapse of Theodore
-called forth two letters of lamentation, remonstrance, and exhortation
-from his friend. They are the earliest of his extant works, and exhibit
-a command of language which does credit to the training of Libanius
-as well as to his own ability, and an intimate acquaintance with Holy
-Scripture, which proves how much time he had already spent in diligent
-and patient study. Since these epistles have been justly considered
-among the finest of his productions, and represent his opinions at
-an early stage of his life respecting repentance, a future life, the
-advantages of asceticism and celibacy, some paraphrases from them will
-be presented to the reader.
-
-He begins his first letter by quoting the words of Jeremiah: “Oh that
-my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears!”
-
-“If the prophet uttered that lamentation over a ruined city, surely I
-may express a like passionate sorrow over the fallen soul of a brother.
-That soul which was once the temple of the Holy Spirit now lies open
-and defenceless to become the prey of any hostile invader. The spirit
-of avarice, of arrogance, of lust, may now find a free passage into
-a heart which was once as pure and inaccessible to evil as heaven
-itself. Wherefore I mourn and weep, nor will I cease from my mourning
-until I see thee again in thy former brilliancy. For though this may
-seem impossible to men, yet with God it is possible, for He it is
-who lifteth the beggar from the earth and taketh the poor out of the
-dunghill, that He may set him with the princes, even with the princes
-of his people.” An eminent characteristic of Chrysostom is that he
-is always hopeful of human nature; he never doubts the capacity of
-man to rise, or the willingness of God to raise him. Theodore himself
-appears to have been stricken with remorse, and to have drooped into
-despondency, to rouse him from which and lead him to repose more
-trustfully on the goodness of God, was one main purpose of Chrysostom’s
-letters. “Despair was the devil’s work;” “it is he who tries to cut
-off that hope whereby men are saved, which is the support and anchor
-of the soul, which, like a long chain, let down from heaven, little
-by little draws those who hold tightly to it up to heavenly heights,
-and lifts them above the storm and tempest of these worldly ills. The
-devil tries to extinguish that trust which is the source and strength
-of prayer, which enables men to cry, ‘as the eyes of a maiden look unto
-the hand of her mistress, even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God
-until He have mercy upon us.’ Yet if man will only believe it, there
-is never a time at which any one, even the most abandoned sinner, may
-not turn and repent and be accepted by God. For God being impassible,
-his wrath is not a passion or an emotion; He punishes not in anger,
-since He is unsusceptible by nature of injury from any insult or wrong
-done by us, but in mercy, that He may bring men back to Himself.[60]
-The many instances of God’s mercy; his relenting towards the Jews, and
-even to Ahab, when he humbled himself; the repentance of Manasseh—of
-the Ninevites—of the penitent thief—all accepted, although preceded by
-a long course of sin, prove that the words ‘today if ye will hear his
-voice’ are applicable to any time:—it is always ‘to-day’ as long as a
-man lives; repentance is estimated not by length of time, but by the
-disposition of the heart.” He acutely observes that “despondency often
-conceals moral weakness; a secret though perhaps unconscious sympathy
-with the sin which the man professes to deplore and hate.” “To fall is
-natural, but to remain fallen argues a kind of acquiescence in evil, a
-feebleness of moral purpose which is more displeasing to God than the
-fall itself.”[61]
-
-But although he speaks in the most hopeful, encouraging language of
-the efficacy of repentance, however late, if sincere, in _this life_,
-no one can assert more strongly the impossibility of restoration when
-the limits of this present existence have once been passed. In this
-respect he differs alike from Origen, Diodorus, and his fellow-student
-Theodore, and from believers in the later developed doctrine of
-purgatory. “As long as we are here, it is possible, even if we sin
-ten thousand times, to wash all away by repentance; but when once we
-have been taken to that other world, even if we manifest the greatest
-penitence, it will avail us naught, but however much we may gnash
-with our teeth, and beat our breasts, and pour forth entreaties, no
-one will be able even with the tip of his finger to cool us in the
-flame; we shall only hear the same words as the rich man: ‘between us
-and you there is a great gulf fixed.’”[62] Nothing is more remarkably
-characteristic of Chrysostom’s productions, especially the earlier,
-than a frequent recurrence to this truth: the existence of a great
-impassable chasm between the two abodes of misery and bliss. Heaven
-and hell were no distant dreamlands to him, but realities so nearly
-and vividly present to his mind that they acted as powerful motives,
-encouraging to holiness, deterring from vice. He paints the two
-pictures in glowing colours, and submits them to the contemplation of
-his friend. “When you hear of fire, think not that the fire in that
-other world is like it; for this earthly fire burns up and consumes
-whatever it lays hold of, but that burns continually those who are
-seized by it and never ceases, wherefore it is called unquenchable.
-For sinners must be clothed with immortality, not for honour, but
-merely to supply a constant material for this punishment to feed upon;
-and how terrible this is, a description would indeed never be able to
-present, but from our experience of small sufferings it is possible to
-form some little conception of those greater miseries. If you should
-ever be in a bath which has been overheated, then I pray you consider
-the fire of hell; or if ever you have been parched by a severe fever,
-transfer your thoughts to that flame, and you will be able clearly to
-distinguish the difference. For if a bath or a fever so distress and
-agitate us, what will be our condition when we fall into that river of
-fire which flows past the terrible Judge’s throne.”[63] “Heaven is,
-indeed, a subject which transcends the powers of human language, yet
-we can form a dim image of what it is like. It is the place ‘whence
-sorrow and sighing shall flee away’ (Is. xxxv. 10); where poverty and
-sickness are not to be dreaded; where no one injures or is injured, no
-one provokes or is provoked; no one is harassed by anxiety about the
-necessary wants, or frets over the loftier ambitions, of life; it is
-the place where the tempest of human passions is lulled; where there is
-neither night nor cold nor heat, nor changes of season, nor old age;
-but everything belonging to decay is taken away, and incorruptible
-glory reigns alone. But far above all these things, it is the place
-where men will continually enjoy the society of Jesus Christ, together
-with angels and archangels and all the powers above.”[64] “Open
-your eyes,” he cries in a transport of feeling, “and contemplate in
-imagination that heavenly theatre crowded not with men such as we see,
-but with those who are nobler than gold or precious stones or sunbeams,
-or any brilliant thing that can be seen; and not with men only, but
-angels, thrones, dominions, powers ranged about the King whom we dare
-not describe for his transcendent beauty, majesty, and splendour. If we
-had to suffer ten thousand deaths every day; nay, if we had to undergo
-hell itself, for the sake of beholding Christ coming in his glory, and
-being numbered among the band of saints, would it not be well to submit
-to all these things? ‘Master, it is a good thing for us to be here:’
-if such an exclamation burst from St. Peter on witnessing a partial and
-veiled manifestation of Christ’s glory, what are we to say when the
-reality shall be displayed, when the royal palace shall be thrown open
-and we shall see the King Himself; no longer by means of a mirror, or
-as it were in a riddle, but face to face; no longer through faith, but
-actual sight.”[65] He passes on to some remarks upon the soul, which
-are Platonic in character: “Man cannot alter the shape of his body,
-but God has conceded to him a power, with the assistance of Divine
-grace, of increasing the beauty of the soul. Even that soul which has
-become deformed by the ugliness of sin may be restored to its pristine
-beauty. No lover was ever so much captivated by the beauty of the
-body as God loves and longs for the beauty of the human soul.[66] You
-who are now transported with admiration of Hermione’s beauty” (the
-girl whom Theodore wished to marry) “may, if you will, cultivate a
-beauty in your own soul as far exceeding hers as heaven surpasses
-earth. Beauty of the soul is the only true and permanent kind, and
-if you could see it with the eye, you would admire it far more than
-the loveliness of the rainbow and of roses, and other flowers which
-are evanescent and feeble representations of the soul’s beauty.”[67]
-He tells some curious stories of men who had relapsed from monastic
-life and subsequently been reclaimed to it. One, a young man of noble
-family and heir to great wealth, had thrown up all the splendour which
-he might have commanded, and exchanged his riches and his gay clothing
-for the poverty and mean garb of a recluse upon the mountains, and had
-attained an astonishing degree of holiness. But some of his relations
-seduced him from his retreat, and once more he might be seen riding on
-horseback through the forum followed by a crowd of attendants. But the
-holy brethren whom he had deserted ceased not to endeavour to recover
-him; at first he treated them with haughty indifference, when they met
-and saluted him, as he proudly rode through the streets. But at last,
-as they desisted not day by day, he would leap from his horse when
-they appeared, and listen with downcast eyes to their warnings; till,
-as time went on, he was rescued from his worldly entanglements, and
-restored to his desert and the study of the true philosophy, and now,
-when Chrysostom wrote, he bestowed his wealth upon the poor, and had
-attained the very pinnacle of virtue.[68] Earnestly, therefore, does he
-implore Theodore to recover his trust in God, to repent and return to
-the brotherhood which was buried in grief at his defection. “Now the
-unbelieving and the worldly rejoice; but return to us, and our sorrow
-and shame will be transferred to the adversary’s side.” “It was the
-beginning of penitence which was arduous; the devil met the penitent
-at the door of the city of refuge, but, if defeated there, the fury of
-his assaults would diminish.” He warned him against an idle confession
-of sinfulness not accompanied by any honest effort to amend. “Such was
-no true confession, because not joined with the tears of contrition or
-followed by alteration of life.”[69] But of Theodore he hoped better
-things; as there were different degrees of glory reserved for men,
-implied in our Lord’s mention of “many mansions,” and his declaring
-that every one should be rewarded according to his works, he trusted
-that Theodore might still obtain a high place; that he might be a
-vessel of silver, if not of gold or precious stone, in the heavenly
-house.[70]
-
-In the second epistle Chrysostom expresses more distinctly his view
-respecting the solemn obligations of those who joined a religious
-fraternity. “If tears and groanings could be transmitted through a
-letter, this of mine would be filled with them; I weep that you have
-blotted yourself out of the catalogue of the brethren, and trampled
-on your covenant with Christ.” “The devil assaulted him with peculiar
-fury, because he was anxious to conquer so worthy an antagonist; one
-who had despised delicate fare and costly dress, who had spent whole
-days in the study of Holy Scripture, and whole nights in prayer, who
-had regarded the society of the brethren as a greater honour than any
-worldly dignity. What, I pray you, is there that appears blessed and
-enviable in the world? The prince is exposed to the wrath of the people
-and the irrational outbursts of popular feeling—to the fear of princes
-greater than himself—to anxieties about his subjects; and the ruler of
-to-day is to-morrow a private man: for this present life no way differs
-from a stage; as on that, one man plays the part of a king, another of
-a general, a third of a common soldier; but when evening has come the
-king is no king, the ruler no ruler, the general no general; so will
-it be in _that_ day; each will receive his due reward, not according
-to the character which he has enacted, but according to the works
-which he has done.”[71] Theodore had clearly expressed his intention
-of honourably marrying Hermione; but though Chrysostom allows that
-marriage is an honourable estate, yet he boldly declares that for one
-who like Theodore had made such a solemn renunciation of the world, it
-was equally criminal with fornication. He had wholly dedicated himself
-to the service of God, and he had no right to bind himself by any other
-tie: to marry would be as culpable as desertion in a soldier. He points
-out the miseries, the anxieties, the toils, often fruitless, which
-accompanied secular life, especially in the married state. From all
-such ills the life of the brotherhood was exempt: he alone was truly
-free who lived for Christ; he was like one who, securely planted on
-an eminence, beholds other men below him buffeting with the waves of
-a tumultuous sea. For such a high vantage-ground Chrysostom implores
-Theodore to make. He begs him to pardon the length of his letter:
-“nothing but his ardent love for his friend could have constrained him
-to write this second epistle. Many indeed had discouraged what they
-regarded as a vain task and sowing upon a rock; but he was not so to
-be diverted from his efforts: he trusted that by the grace of God his
-letters would accomplish something; and if not, he should at least have
-delivered himself from the reproach of silence.”[72]
-
-These letters are the productions of a youthful enthusiast, and
-as such, allowances must be made for them. They abound not only
-in eloquent passages, but in very fine and true observations upon
-human nature—on penitence—on God’s mercy and pardon. It is only the
-application of them to the case of Theodore which seems harsh and
-overstrained. At a later period Chrysostom’s views on ascetic and
-monastic life were modified; but in early life, though never fanatical,
-they were what we should call extreme. His earnest efforts for the
-restoration of his friend were crowned with success. Theodore abandoned
-the world once more and his matrimonial intentions, and retired into
-the seclusion of the brotherhood. Some twenty years later, in A.D.
-394, he was made Bishop of Mopsuestia, which is pretty nearly all we
-know about him, but the extant fragments of his voluminous writings
-prove him to have been a man of no ordinary ability, and a powerful
-commentator of the same sensible and rational school as Chrysostom
-himself. We may be disposed to say, What of Hermione? Had she no claims
-to be considered? But the ascetic line of life was regarded by the
-earnest-minded as so indisputably the noblest which a Christian could
-adopt, that her disappointment would not have been allowed to weigh
-in the balance for a moment against what was considered the higher
-call.[73]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-CHRYSOSTOM EVADES FORCIBLE ORDINATION TO A BISHOPRIC—THE TREATISE “ON
-THE PRIESTHOOD.” A.D. 370, 371.
-
-
-We now come to a curious passage in Chrysostom’s life; one in which
-his conduct, from our moral standpoint, seems hardly justifiable. Yet
-for one reason it is not to be regretted, since it was the originating
-cause of his treatise “De Sacerdotio;” one of the ablest, most
-instructive, and most eloquent works which he ever produced.
-
-Bishop Meletius had been banished in A.D. 370 or 371. The Arian Emperor
-Valens, who had expelled him, was about to take up his residence in
-Antioch. It was desirable therefore, without loss of time, to fill up
-some vacant sees in Syria. The attention of the bishops, clergy, and
-people was turned to Chrysostom and Basil, as men well qualified for
-the episcopal office.
-
-According to a custom prevalent at that time, they might any day be
-seized and compelled, however reluctant, to accept the dignity. So St.
-Augustine was dragged, weeping, by the people before the bishop, and
-his immediate ordination demanded by them, regardless of his tears.[74]
-So St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, was torn from his cell, and conveyed
-under a guard to his ordination.[75] The two friends were filled with
-apprehension and alarm. Basil implored Chrysostom that they might act
-in concert at the present crisis, and together accept or together evade
-or resist the expected but unwelcome honour.
-
-Chrysostom affected to consent to this proposal, but in reality
-determined to act otherwise. He regarded himself as totally unworthy
-and incompetent to fill so sacred and responsible an office; but
-considering Basil to be far more advanced in learning and piety, he
-resolved that the Church should not, through his own weakness, lose
-the services of his friend. Accordingly, when popular report proved
-correct, and some emissaries from the electing body were sent to carry
-off the young men (much, it would seem from Chrysostom’s account,
-as policemen might arrest a prisoner), Chrysostom contrived to hide
-himself. Basil, less wary, was captured, and imagined that Chrysostom
-had already submitted; for the emissaries acted with subtlety when
-he tried to resist them. They affected surprise that he should make
-so violent a resistance, when his companion, who had the reputation
-of a hotter temper, had yielded so mildly to the decision of the
-Fathers.[76] Thus Basil was led to suppose that Chrysostom had already
-submitted; and when he discovered too late the artifice of his friend
-and his captors, he bitterly remonstrated with Chrysostom upon his
-treacherous conduct. “The character of them both,” he complained, “was
-compromised by this division in their counsels.” “You should have told
-us where your friend was hidden,” said some, “and then we should have
-contrived some means of capturing him;” to which poor Basil was ashamed
-to reply that he had been ignorant of his friend’s concealment, lest
-such a confession should cast a suspicion of unreality over the whole
-of their supposed intimacy. “Chrysostom, on his side, was accused of
-haughtiness and vanity for declining so great a dignity; though others
-said that the electors deserved a still greater dishonour and defeat
-for appointing over the heads of wiser, holier, and older men, mere
-lads,[77] who had been but yesterday immersed in secular pursuits; that
-they might now for a little while knit their brows, and go arrayed
-in sombre robes and affect a grave countenance.”[78] Basil begged
-Chrysostom for an explanation of his motives in this proceeding. “After
-all their mutual protestations of indivisible friendship, he had been
-suddenly cast off and turned adrift, like a vessel without ballast, to
-encounter alone the angry tempests of the world. To whom should he now
-turn for sympathy and aid in the trials to which he would surely be
-exposed from slander, ribaldry, and insolence? The one who might have
-helped him stood coldly aloof, and would be unable even to hear his
-cries for assistance.”[79]
-
-We may be strongly disposed to sympathise with the disconsolate Basil.
-But the conscience of Chrysostom appears to have been quite at ease
-from first to last in this transaction. He regarded it as a “pious
-fraud.” “When he beheld the mingled distress and displeasure of his
-friend, he could not refrain from laughing for joy, and thanking God
-for the successful issue of his plan.”[80] In the ensuing discussion
-he boldly asserted the principle that deceit claims our admiration
-when practised in a good cause and from a good motive. The greatest
-successes in war, he argues, have been achieved through stratagem, as
-well as by fair fighting in the open field; and, of the two, the first
-are most to be admired, because they are gained without bloodshed,
-and are triumphs of mental rather than bodily force.[81] But, retorts
-poor Basil, I was not an enemy, and ought not to have been dealt
-with as such. “True, my excellent friend,” replies Chrysostom, “but
-this kind of fraud may sometimes be exercised towards our dearest
-acquaintance.” “Physicians were often obliged to employ some artifice
-to make refractory patients submit to their remedies. Once a man in a
-raging fever resisted all the febrifugal draughts administered to him,
-and loudly called for wine. The physician darkened the room, steeped
-a warm oyster shell in wine, then filled it with water, and put it to
-the patient’s lips, who eagerly swallowed the draught, believing it,
-from the smell, to be wine.”[82] In the same category of justifiable
-stratagem he places, not very discriminatingly, the circumcision of
-Timothy by St. Paul, in order to conciliate the Jews, and St. Paul’s
-observance of the ceremonial law at Jerusalem (Acts xxi. 26), for the
-same purpose. Such contrivances he calls instances, not of treachery,
-but of “good management” (οἰκονομία). There is something highly
-Oriental, and alien to our Western moral sense, in the sophistical tone
-of this whole discussion. If Basil really submitted to such arguments,
-he was easily vanquished. He says, however, no more about the injustice
-of his treatment, but, apparently accepting Chrysostom’s position that
-for a useful purpose deceit is justifiable, he begs to be informed
-“what advantage Chrysostom thought he had procured for himself or his
-friend by this piece of management, or good policy, or whatever he
-pleased to call it.”
-
-The remaining books on the Priesthood are occupied with the answer
-to this inquiry. The line which Chrysostom takes is to point out the
-pre-eminent dignity, difficulty, and danger of the priestly office, and
-then to enlarge upon the peculiar fitness of his friend to discharge
-its duties.[83] “What advantage could be greater than to be engaged
-in that work which Christ had declared with his own lips to be the
-special sign of love to Himself? For when He put the question three
-times to the leader of the apostles (κορυφαῖος), ‘Lovest thou me?’ and
-had been answered by a fervent asseveration of attachment, he added
-each time, ‘Feed my sheep,’ or ‘Feed my lambs.’ ‘Lovest thou me _more_
-than these?’ had been the question, and the charge which followed it
-had been always, ‘Feed my sheep;’ not, If thou lovest Me, practise
-fasting, or incessant vigils, and sleep on the bare ground, or protect
-the injured and be to the orphans as a father, and to their mother
-as a husband; no, he passes by all these things, and says, ‘Feed my
-sheep.’ Could his friend, therefore, complain that he had done ill in
-compassing, even by fraud, his dedication to so glorious an office?[84]
-As for himself, it was obvious that he could not have refused so great
-an honour out of haughty contempt or disrespect to the electors. On
-the contrary, it was when he considered the exceeding sanctity and
-magnitude of the position, and its awful responsibilities—the heavenly
-purity, the burning love towards God and man, the sound wisdom and
-judgment, and moderation of temper required in those who were dedicated
-to it—that his heart failed him. He felt himself utterly incompetent
-and unworthy for so arduous a task. If some unskilled person were
-suddenly to be called upon to take charge of a ship laden with a costly
-freight, he would immediately refuse; and in like manner he himself
-dared not risk by his present inexperience the safety of that vessel
-which was laden with the precious merchandise of souls.[85] Vain-glory,
-indeed, and pride would have induced him not to reject, but to covet,
-so transcendent a dignity. The office of priest was discharged indeed
-on earth, yet it held a place among heavenly ranks. And rightly;
-for neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor created power of any
-kind, but the Paraclete Himself, ordained this ministry. Therefore,
-it became one who entered the priesthood to be as pure as if he had
-already taken his stand in heaven itself among the powers above. ‘When
-thou seest the Lord lying slain, and the priest standing and praying
-over the sacrifice, when thou seest all sprinkled with that precious
-blood, dost thou deem thyself still among men, still standing upon
-this earth? art thou not rather transported immediately to heaven,
-and, every carnal imagination being cast out, dost thou not, with
-soul unveiled and pure mind, behold the things which are in heaven?
-O miracle! O the goodness of God! He who is sitting with the Father
-is yet at that hour held in the hands of all, and gives Himself to be
-embraced and grasped by those who desire it. And this all do through
-the eye of faith. Do these things seem to you to merit contempt? does
-it seem possible to you that any one should be so elated as to slight
-them?’[86]
-
-“Human nature possessed in the priesthood a power which had not been
-committed by God to angels or archangels; for to none of _them_ had it
-been said, ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth or loose on earth shall
-be bound or loosed in heaven.’ Was it possible to conceive that any
-one should think lightly of such a gift? Away with such madness!—for
-stark madness it would be to despise so great an authority, without
-which it was not possible for man to obtain salvation, or the good
-things promised to him. For if it were impossible for any one to enter
-into the kingdom of heaven, except he were born again of water and
-the Spirit; and if he who did not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink
-his blood was ejected from life eternal, and if these things were
-administered by none but the consecrated hands of the priest, how would
-any one, apart from them, be able to escape the fire of hell, or obtain
-the crown laid up for him?”[87]
-
-There are, perhaps, no passages elsewhere in Chrysostom expressed in
-such a lofty sacerdotal tone; but it must be remembered that on any
-supposition as to the date of this treatise, he was young when it was
-composed, holding therefore, as on the subject of monasticism, more
-enthusiastic, highly-wrought opinions than he afterwards entertained;
-and moreover, that the whole treatise is written in a somewhat vehement
-and excited style, as by one who was maintaining a position against an
-antagonist.
-
-Having proved that his evasion of the episcopal office could have
-arisen from no spirit of pride, but from a consciousness of his
-infirmity and incapacity, he proceeds to point out the manifold and
-peculiar dangers which encompassed it. “Vain-glory was a rock more
-fatal than the Sirens. Many a priest was shipwrecked there, and torn to
-pieces by the fierce monsters which dwelt upon it—wrath, despondency,
-envy, strife, slander, falsehood, hypocrisy, love of praise, and a
-multitude more. Often he became the slave and flatterer of great
-people, even of women who had most improperly mixed themselves up with
-ecclesiastical affairs, and especially exercised great influence in the
-elections.”[88]
-
-The scenes, indeed, which often took place about this period at the
-elections to bishoprics occasioned much scandal to the Church. In
-earlier times, when the Christians were less numerous, more simple in
-their habits, more unanimous,—when liability to persecution deterred
-the indifferent, or pretenders, from their ranks,—the episcopal
-office could be no object of worldly ambition. The clergy and the
-people elected their bishop; and the fairness and simplicity with
-which the election was usually conducted won the admiration of the
-Emperor Alexander Severus.[89] But when Christianity was recognised
-by the State, a bishopric in towns of importance became a position
-of high dignity; and warm debates, often fierce tumults, attended
-the election of candidates. Up to the time of Justinian at least, the
-whole Christian population of the city or region over which the bishop
-was to preside possessed a right to elect. Their choice was subject to
-the approval of the bishops, and the confirmation of the metropolitan
-of the province; but, on the other hand, neither the bishops nor the
-metropolitan could legally obtrude a candidate of their own upon the
-people. A charge brought against Hilary of Arles was, that he ordained
-several bishops against the will and consent of the people. A just and
-legitimate ordination, according to Cyprian, was one which had been
-examined by the suffrage and judgment of all, both clergy and people.
-Such, he observes, was the election of Cornelius to the see of Rome in
-A.D. 251.[90] If the people were unanimous, there were loud cries of
-ἄξιος, _dignus_, ἀνάξιος, _indignus_, as the case might be; but if they
-were divided, it was usual for the metropolitan to give the preference
-to the choice of the majority; or, if they appeared equally divided,
-the metropolitan and his synod selected a man indifferent, if possible,
-to both parties. Occasionally also, as in the case of Nectarius, the
-predecessor of Chrysostom in the see of Constantinople, the Emperor
-interposed, and appointed one chosen by himself. Sanguinary often
-were the tumults which attended contested elections. The greater the
-city, the greater the strife. In the celebrated contest for the see of
-Rome in A.D. 366, between Damasus and Ursicinus, there was much hard
-fighting and copious bloodshed. Damasus, with a furious and motley mob,
-broke into the Julian Basilica, where Ursicinus was being consecrated
-by Paul, Bishop of Tibur, and violently stopped the proceedings. Frays
-of this kind lasted for some time. On one occasion, one hundred and
-thirty dead bodies strewed the pavement of the Basilica of Licinius
-till Damasus at last won the day. It is especially mentioned that
-the ladies of Rome favoured his side.[91] It seems scarcely possible
-to doubt that as these events must have been fresh in Chrysostom’s
-recollection, he must be specially referring to them when, insisting on
-freedom from ambition as one grand qualification for the priesthood,
-he says “that he will pass by, lest they should seem incredible, the
-tales of murders perpetrated in churches, and havoc wrought in cities
-by contentions for bishoprics;” and when also he alludes indignantly
-to the interference of women in the elections. “The elections,” he
-says, “were generally made on public festivals, and were disgraceful
-scenes of party feeling and intrigue. The clergy and the people were
-never unanimous. The really important qualifications for the office
-were seldom considered. Ambitious men spared no arts of bribery or
-flattery by which to obtain places for themselves in the Church,
-and to keep them when obtained. One candidate for a bishopric was
-recommended to the electors because he belonged to a distinguished
-family; another because he was wealthy, and would not burden the funds
-of the Church.”[92] The provocations to ambition and worldly glory were
-so great, both in the acquisition and in the exercise of the episcopal
-office, that Chrysostom says he had “determined partly for these
-reasons to avoid the snare.”[93] He shrank also from many other trials
-incident to the office. There were always persons ready to detect and
-magnify the slightest mistake or transgression in a priest. One little
-error could not be retrieved by a multitude of successes, but darkened
-the man’s whole life; for a kind of immaculate purity was exacted by
-popular opinion of a priest, as if he were not a being of flesh and
-blood, or subject to human passions. Often his brethren, the clergy,
-were the most active in spreading mischievous reports about him, hoping
-to rise themselves upon his ruin; like avaricious sons waiting for
-their father’s death. Too often St. Paul’s description of the sympathy
-between the several parts of the Christian body was inverted. ‘If one
-member suffered, all the others rejoiced; if one member rejoiced, the
-others suffered pain.’ A bishop had need be as impervious to slander
-and envy as the three children in the burning fiery furnace.[94] What
-a rare and difficult combination of qualities was required for the
-efficient discharge of his duties in the face of such difficulties!
-‘He must be dignified, yet not haughty; formidable, yet affable;
-commanding, yet sociable; strictly impartial, yet courteous; lowly,
-but not subservient; strong, yet gentle; promoting the worthy in spite
-of all opposition, and with equal authority rejecting the unworthy,
-though pushed forward by the favour of all; looking always to one
-thing only—the welfare of the Church; doing nothing out of animosity
-or partiality.’[95] The behaviour also of a priest in ordinary society
-was jealously criticised. The flock were not satisfied unless he was
-constantly paying calls. Not the sick only, but the sound desired to be
-‘looked after’ (ἐπισκοπεῖσθαι),—not so much from any religious feeling,
-as because the reception of such visits gratified their sense of their
-own importance. Yet if a bishop often visited the house of a wealthy or
-distinguished man to interest him in some design for the advantage of
-the Church, he would soon be stigmatised as a parasitical flatterer.
-Even the manner of his greetings to acquaintance in the streets was
-criticised: ‘He smiled cordially on Mr. Such-an-one, and talked much
-with him; but to me he only threw a commonplace remark.’”[96]
-
-It is amusing and instructive to read these observations. They prove
-what important personages bishops had become. The interests of the
-people were violently excited over their elections. They were subjected
-to the mingled reverence, deference, and court, criticism, scandal,
-and gossip, which are the inevitable lot of all persons who occupy an
-exalted position in the world.
-
-In the fourth book Chrysostom speaks of some of the more mental
-qualifications indispensable for a priest. Foremost among these was a
-power of speaking: “That was the one grand instrument which enabled
-him to heal the diseases of the body intrusted to his care. And, in
-addition to this, he must be armed with a prompt and versatile wit, to
-encounter the various assaults of heretics. Jews, Greeks, Manichæans,
-Sabellians, Arians, all were narrowly watching for the smallest
-loophole by which to force a breach in the walls of the Church. And,
-unless the defender was very vigilant and skilful, while he was
-keeping out the one he would let in the other. While he opposed the
-blind deference of the Jews to their Mosaic Law, he must take care
-not to encourage the Manichæans, who would eliminate the Law from
-the Scriptures. While he asserted the Unity of the Godhead against
-the Arians, there was danger of slipping into the Sabellian error of
-confounding the Persons; and, while he divided the Persons against the
-Sabellians, he must be careful to avoid the Arian error of dividing the
-substance also. The line of orthodoxy was a narrow path hemmed in by
-steep rocks on either side. Therefore it was of the deepest importance
-that the priest should be a learned and effective speaker, that he
-might not fall into error himself or lead others astray. For, if he
-was seen to be worsted in a controversy with heretics, many became
-alienated from the truth, mistaking the weakness of the defender for a
-weakness in the cause itself.”[97]
-
-“But there was yet another task fraught with peril—the delivery of
-sermons. The performances of a preacher were discussed by a curious and
-critical public like those of actors. Congregations attached themselves
-to their favourite preachers. Woe to the man who was detected in
-plagiarisms! He was instantly reprobated like a common thief.
-
-“To become an effective preacher two things were necessary: first,
-indifference to praise; secondly, power of speech; two qualities, the
-one moral, the other intellectual, which were rarely found coexisting.
-If a man possessed the first only, he became distasteful and despicable
-to his congregation; for if he stood up and at first boldly uttered
-powerful words which stung the consciences of his hearers, but, as he
-proceeded, began to blush and hesitate and stumble, all the advantage
-of his previous remarks would be wasted. The persons, who had secretly
-felt annoyed by his telling reproofs would revenge themselves by
-laughing at his embarrassment in speaking. If, on the other hand,
-he was a weighty speaker, but not indifferent to applause, he would
-probably trim his sails to catch the popular breeze, and study to be
-pleasant rather than profitable, to the great detriment of himself and
-of his flock.”[98]
-
-He makes some remarks eminently wise and true on the necessity of
-study for the preparation of sermons. “It might seem strange, but in
-truth study was even more indispensable for an eloquent than for an
-ordinary preacher. Speaking was an acquired art, and when a man had
-attained a high standard of excellence he was sure to decline unless
-he kept himself up by constant study. The man of reputation was always
-expected to say something new, and even in excess of the fame which
-he had already acquired. Men sat in judgment on him without mercy, as
-if he were not a human being subject to occasional despondency, or
-anxiety, or irritation of temper; but as if he were an angel or some
-infallible being, who ought always to remain at the same high level
-of excellence. The mediocre man, on the other hand, from whom much was
-not expected, would obtain a disproportionate amount of praise if he
-said a good thing now and then.[99] The number of persons, however, in
-any congregation, who were capable of appreciating a really learned
-and powerful preacher, was very small; therefore a man ought not to
-be much disheartened or annoyed by unfavourable criticisms. He should
-be his own critic, aiming in all his work to win the favour of God.
-Then, if the admiration of men followed, he would quietly accept it;
-or, if withheld, he would not be distressed, but seek his consolation
-in honest work and in a conscience void of offence.[100] But if a
-priest was not superior to the love of admiration, all his labour
-and eloquence would be wasted; either he would sacrifice truth to
-popularity, or, failing to obtain so much applause as he desired, he
-would relax his efforts. This last was a common defect in men whose
-powers of preaching were only second-rate. Perceiving that even the
-highly gifted could not sustain their reputation without incessant
-study and practice, while they themselves, by the most strenuous
-efforts, could gain but a very slender meed of praise, if any, they
-abandoned themselves to indolence. The trial was especially great when
-a man was surpassed in preaching by one who occupied an inferior rank
-in the hierarchy, and who perhaps took every opportunity of parading
-his superior powers. A kind of passion for listening to preaching
-possessed, he says, both Pagans and Christians at this time; hence it
-was very mortifying for a man to see a congregation looking forward to
-the termination of his discourse, while to his rival they listened with
-the utmost patience and attention, and were vexed only when his sermon
-had come to an end.”[101]
-
-In the sixth book, Chrysostom enlarges on the dangers and trials which
-beset the priest as compared with the tranquillity and security of the
-monk—that life to which he still felt himself powerfully attracted.
-“‘Who watch for your souls as they that must give an account.’ The
-dread of the responsibility implied in that saying constantly agitated
-his mind. For if it were better to be drowned in the sea than to offend
-one of the little ones of Christ’s flock, what punishment must they
-undergo who destroyed not one or two but a whole multitude?”[102] “Much
-worldly wisdom was required in the priest; he must be conversant with
-secular affairs, and adapt himself with versatility to all kinds of
-circumstances and men; and yet he ought to keep his spirit as free, as
-unfettered by worldly interests and ambitions as the hermit dwelling on
-the mountains.”[103]
-
-The trials, indeed, which beset the priest so far exceeded those of
-the monk, that Chrysostom considered the monastery, on the whole, a
-bad school for active clerical life. “The monk lived in a calm; there
-was little to oppose or thwart him. The skill of the pilot could not
-be known till he had taken the helm in the open sea amidst rough
-weather. Too many of those who had passed from the seclusion of the
-cloister to the active sphere of the priest or bishop proved utterly
-incapable of coping with the difficulties of their new situation.
-They lost their head (ἰλιγγιῶσιν), and, often, instead of adding to
-their virtue, were deprived of the good qualities which they already
-possessed. Monasticism often served as a screen to failings which the
-circumstances of active life drew out, just as the qualities of metal
-were tested by the action of fire.”[104]
-
-Chrysostom concludes by saying that he was conscious of his own
-infirmities; the irritability of his temper, his liability to
-violent emotions, his susceptibility to praise and blame. All such
-evil passions could, with the help of God’s grace, be tamed by the
-severe treatment of the monastic life; like savage beasts who must
-be kept on low fare. But in the public life of a priest they would
-rage with incontrollable fury, because all would be pampered to the
-full—vain-glory by honour and praise, pride by authority, envy by
-the reputation of other men, bad temper by perpetual provocations,
-covetousness by the liberality of donors to the Church, intemperance
-by luxurious living.[105] He bids Basil picture the most implacable
-and deadly contest between earthly forces which his imagination could
-draw, and declares that this would but faintly express the conflict
-between the soul and evil in the spiritual warfare of the world. “Many
-accidents might put an end to earthly combat, at least for a time—the
-approach of night, the fatigue of the combatants, the necessity of
-taking food and sleep. But in the spiritual conflict there were no
-breathing spaces. A man must always have his harness on his back, or he
-would be surprised by the enemy.”[106]
-
-It is not surprising that Basil, after the fearful responsibilities
-and perils of his new dignity had been thus powerfully set before him,
-should declare that his trouble now was not so much how to answer the
-accusers of Chrysostom as to defend himself before God. He besought his
-friend to promise that he would continue to support and advise him in
-all emergencies. Chrysostom replied that as far as it was possible he
-would do so; but that he doubted not Christ, who had called Basil to
-this good work, would enable him to discharge it with boldness. They
-wept, embraced, and parted. And so Basil went forth to the unwelcome
-honours and trials of his bishopric, while Chrysostom continued to lead
-that monastic kind of life which was only a preparatory step to the
-monastery itself. His friendship with Basil is curious and romantic.
-Their intercourse was brought to a singular conclusion by the stratagem
-of Chrysostom. Basil may have, according to his own earnest request,
-continued to consult his friend in any difficulty or distress; but he
-is never mentioned again. Although so intimately bound up with this
-passage in Chrysostom’s life, there is something indistinct and shadowy
-about his whole existence. He flits across the scene for a few moments,
-and then disappears totally and for ever.
-
-The books on the Priesthood may be regarded as containing partly a real
-account of an actual conversation between the two friends. But, as in
-the dialogues of Plato, far more was probably added by the writer, so
-that in parts the dialogue is only a form into which the opinions of
-the author at the time of composition were cast. It is impossible to
-decide with certainty the exact time at which the treatise may have
-been written. It is not likely to have been later than his diaconate
-in 381,[107] but more probably[108] the work may be assigned to the
-six years of leisure spent in the seclusion of the monastery and
-mountains—that is, to the period between Basil’s election to the
-bishopric, and his own ordination as deacon. The treatise reads like
-the production of one who had acquired considerable experience of
-monastic life; who had deliberately calculated its advantages on the
-one hand, and, on the other, had keenly observed and seriously weighed
-the temptations and difficulties which attended the more secular career
-of priest or bishop. It is a more mature work than the Epistles to
-Theodore, and is free from such rapturous and excessive praise of the
-ascetic life as they contain.
-
-
- NOTE TO FOREGOING CHAPTER.
-
- It may excite surprise that men so young as Chrysostom
- and Basil, the former at least being not more than
- twenty-five or twenty-six, and not as yet ordained
- deacon, should have been designated to the highest
- office in the Church. The Council of Neocæsarea (about
- A.D. 320—_vide_ Hefele, vol. i., Clark’s transl. p. 222)
- fixed thirty as the age at which men became eligible for
- the priesthood. The same age, then, at least, must have
- been required for a bishop.
-
- The Constitutions called Apostolical fix the age at
- fifty, but add a clause which really lets in all the
- exceptions, “unless he be a man of singular merit and
- worth, which may compensate for the want of years.” And,
- in fact, there are numerous instances of men, both before
- and after the time of Chrysostom, who were consecrated as
- bishops under the age of thirty. The Council of Nice was
- held not more than twenty years after the persecution of
- Maximian, which Athanasius (Epist. ad Solitar., p. 382,
- Paris edition) says he had only heard of from his father,
- yet in five months after that Council he was ordained
- Archbishop of Alexandria. Remigius of Rheims was only
- twenty-two when he was made bishop, in A.D. 471. In like
- manner, though it was enacted by the Council of Sardica,
- A.D. 343-344, that none should rise to the Episcopal
- throne _per saltum_, yet there are not a few examples of
- this rule being transgressed.
-
- Augustine, when he created a See at Fassula, presented
- Antonius, a reader (the very position Chrysostom now
- filled) to the Primate, who ordained him without scruple
- on Augustine’s recommendation (Aug. Ep. 261, ad Cælest.).
- Cyprian, Ambrose, and Nestorius are celebrated instances
- of the consecration of laymen to bishoprics.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
- NARROW ESCAPE FROM PERSECUTION—HIS ENTRANCE INTO A
- MONASTERY—THE MONASTICISM OF THE EAST, A.D. 372.
-
-
-About this time, 372-373, while Chrysostom was still residing in
-Antioch, he narrowly escaped suffering the penalties of an imperial
-decree issued by Valentinian and Valens against the practisers of
-magical arts, or possessors even of magical books. A severe search was
-instituted after suspected persons; soldiers were everywhere on the
-watch to detect offenders. The persecution was carried on with peculiar
-cruelty at Antioch, where it had been provoked by the detection of a
-treasonable act of divination. The twenty-four letters of the alphabet
-were arranged at intervals round the rim of a kind of charger, which
-was placed on a tripod, consecrated with incantations and elaborate
-ceremonies. The diviner, habited as a heathen priest, in linen robes,
-sandals, and with a fillet wreathed about his head, chanted a hymn
-to Apollo, the god of prophecy, while a ring in the centre of the
-charger was slipped rapidly round a slender thread. The letters in
-front of which the ring successively stopped indicated the character
-of the oracle. The ring on this occasion was supposed to have pointed
-to the first four letters in the name of the future Emperor, Θ Ε Ο
-Δ. Theodorus, and probably many others who had the misfortune to own
-the fatal syllables, were executed. There were, of course, multitudes
-of eager informers, and zealous judges, who strove to allay the
-suspicious fears of the Emperors, and to procure favour for themselves
-by vigorous and wholesale prosecutions. Neither age, nor sex, nor rank
-was spared; women and children, senators and philosophers, were dragged
-to the tribunals, and committed to the prisons of Rome and Antioch
-from the most distant parts of Italy and Asia. Many destroyed their
-libraries in alarm—so many innocent books were liable to be represented
-as mischievous or criminal; and thus much valuable literature
-perished.[109] It was during this dreadful time, when suspicion was
-instantly followed by arrest, and arrest by imprisonment, torture,
-and probably death, that Chrysostom chanced to be walking with a
-friend to the Church of the Martyr Babylas, outside the city. As they
-passed through the gardens by the banks of the Orontes, they observed
-fragments of a book floating down the stream. Curiosity led them to
-fish it out; but, to their dismay, on examining it, they found that it
-was inscribed with magical formulæ, and, to increase their alarm, a
-soldier was approaching at no great distance. At first they knew not
-how to act; they feared the book had been cast into the river by the
-artifice of an informer to entrap some unwary victim. They determined,
-however, to throw their dangerous discovery back into the river, and
-happily the attention or suspicions of the soldier were not roused.
-Chrysostom always gratefully looked back to this escape as a signal
-instance of God’s mercy and protection.[110]
-
-It must have been soon after this incident and previous to the edict of
-persecution against the monks issued by Valens in 373, that Chrysostom
-exchanged what might be called the amateur kind of monastic life passed
-in his own home for the monastery itself. Whether his mother was now
-dead or had become reconciled to the separation, or whether her son’s
-passionate enthusiasm for monastic retirement became irresistible,
-it is impossible to determine. His mother is not mentioned by him in
-his writings after this point, except in allusion to the past, which
-is a strong presumption that she was no longer living. Bishop Meletius
-would probably have endeavoured to detain him for some active work in
-the Church, but he was now in exile; and to Flavian, the successor of
-Meletius, Chrysostom was possibly not so intimately known.
-
-During the first four centuries of the Christian era, the enthusiasm
-for monastic life prevailed with ever increasing force. We are,
-perhaps, naturally inclined to associate monasticism chiefly with the
-Western Christianity of the Middle Ages. But the original and by far
-the most prolific parent of monasticism was the East. There were always
-ascetics in the Christian Church; yet asceticism is the product not
-so much of Christianity as of the East; of the oriental temperament,
-which admires and cultivates it; of the oriental climate, which makes
-it tolerable even when pushed to the most rigorous extremes. Asceticism
-is the natural practical expression of that deeply-grounded conviction
-of an essential antagonism between the flesh and spirit which pervades
-all oriental creeds. Even the monastic form of it was known in the East
-before Christianity. The Essenes in Judæa, the Therapeutæ in Egypt,
-were prototypes of the active and contemplative communities of monks.
-
-The primitive ascetics of the Christian Church were not monks. They
-were persons who raised themselves above the common level of religious
-life by exercises in fasting, prayer, study, alms-giving, celibacy,
-bodily privations of all kinds. These habits obtained for them great
-admiration and reverence. Such persons are frequently designated by
-writers of the first three centuries as “an ascetic,” “a follower of
-the religious ascetics.”[111] But they did not form a class distinctly
-marked off by dress and habitation from the rest of the world, like the
-monks or even the anchorites of later time. They lived in the cities or
-wherever their home might be, and were not subject to any rules beyond
-those of their own private making. Eusebius calls them σπουδαῖοι,
-“earnest persons;” and Clemens Alexandrinus ἐκλεκτῶν ἐκλεκτότεροι,
-“more elect than the elect.”[112] Midway between the primitive ascetic
-and the fully-developed monk must be placed the anchorite or hermit,
-who made a step in the direction of monasticism by withdrawing
-altogether from the city or populous places into the solitudes of
-mountain or desert. Persecution assisted the impulse of religious
-fervour. Paul retired to the Egyptian Thebaid during the persecution of
-Decius in A.D. 251, and Antony during that of Maximin in A.D. 312. They
-are justly named the fathers or founders of the anchorites, because,
-though not actually the first, they were the most distinguished; and
-the fame of their sanctity, their austerities, their miracles, produced
-a tribe of followers. The further Antony retired into the depths of
-the wilderness the more numerous became his disciples. They grouped
-their cells around the habitation of the saintly father, and out of
-the clusters grew in process of time the monastery. A number of cells
-ranged in lines like an encampment, not incorporated in one building,
-was called a “Laura” or street.[113] This was the earliest and simplest
-kind of monastic establishment. It was a community, though without much
-system or cohesion.
-
-The real founder of the Cœnobia or monasteries in the East was the
-Egyptian Pachomius; he was the Benedict of the East. His rule was that
-most generally adopted, not only in Egypt but throughout the oriental
-portions of the Empire. He and Antony had now been dead about twenty
-years, and Hilarius, the pupil and imitator of Antony, had lately
-introduced monasticism on the Pachomian model into Syria. In about
-fifty years more, the nomadic Saracens will gaze with veneration and
-awe at the spectacle of Simeon on his pillar, forty miles from Antioch.
-Thousands will come to receive baptism at his hands; his image will
-have been placed over the entrance of the shops in Rome.[114] The
-spirit had been already caught in the West. The feelings of abhorrence
-with which the Italians first beheld the wild-looking Egyptian monks
-who accompanied Athanasius to Rome had soon been exchanged for
-veneration. The example of Marcellina, and the exhortations of her
-brother Ambrose of Milan, had induced multitudes of women to take vows
-of celibacy.[115] Most of the little islands on the coasts of the
-Adriatic could boast of their monasteries or cells.[116] St. Martin
-built his religious houses near Poitiers and Tours, and was followed to
-his grave by two thousand brethren.[117] But St. Jerome, perhaps, more
-than any one else, promoted the advance of monasticism in the West.
-Born on the borders of East and West,[118] he mingled with the Eastern
-Church at Antioch and Constantinople, and in the desert of Chalcis
-had inured himself to the most severe forms of oriental asceticism,
-and returned to Rome eager to impart to others a kindred spirit of
-enthusiasm for the ascetic life. A little later, early in the fifth
-century, John Cassianus, president of a religious establishment in
-Marseilles, propagated monastic institutions of an oriental type in the
-south of France, and made men conversant with the system by his work
-on the rules of the cloister. These were the scattered forces which in
-the West awaited the master mind and strong hand of Benedict to mould
-and discipline them into a mighty system. The nearest approach in the
-West to the Egyptian system of Pachomius was among the Benedictines of
-Camaldoli.
-
-There is every reason to suppose on general grounds, and the
-supposition is corroborated by notices in the writings of Chrysostom,
-that the monasteries near Antioch, like the rest of the Syrian
-monasteries, were based on the Pachomian model. Pachomius was a native
-of the Thebaid, born in A.D. 292. He began to practise asceticism as
-a hermit, but, according to the legend, was visited by an angel who
-commanded him to promote the salvation of other men’s souls besides his
-own, and presented him with a brazen tablet, on which were inscribed
-the rules of the Order which he was to found. He established his first
-community on Tabennæ, an island in the Nile, which became the parent of
-a numerous offspring. Pachomius had the satisfaction in his lifetime of
-seeing eight monasteries, containing in all 3000 monks, acknowledging
-his rule; and after his death, in the first half of the fifth century,
-their numbers had swelled to 50,000.[119] Chrysostom exulted with
-Christian joy and pride over the spectacle of “Egypt, that land which
-had been the mother of pagan literature and art, which had invented and
-propagated every species of witchcraft, now despising all her ancient
-customs, and holding up the Cross, in the desert no less if not more
-than in the cities: ... for the sky was not more beautiful, spangled
-with its hosts of stars, than the desert of Egypt studded in all
-directions with the habitations of monks.”[120]
-
-By the Pachomian rule no one was admitted as a full monk till after
-three years of probation, during which period he was tested by the most
-severe exercises. If willing, after that period, to continue the same
-exercises, he was admitted without further ceremony beyond making a
-solemn declaration that he would adhere to the rules of the monastery.
-That no irrevocable vow was taken by the members of the monastery near
-Antioch which Chrysostom joined seems proved by his return to the
-city after a residence in the monastery of several years’ duration.
-According to Sozomen, the several parts of the dress worn by Pachomian
-monks had a symbolical meaning. The tunic (a linen garment reaching as
-far as the knees) had short sleeves, to remind the wearers that they
-should be prompt to do such honest work only as needed no concealment.
-The hood was typical of the innocence and purity of infants, who wore
-the same kind of covering; the girdle and scarf, folded about the
-back, shoulders, and arms, were to admonish them that they should
-be perpetually ready to do active service for God. Each cell was
-inhabited by three monks. They took their chief meal in a refectory,
-and ate in silence,[121] with a veil so arranged over the face that
-they could see only what was on the table. No strangers were admitted,
-except travellers, to whom they were bound, by the rule of their
-Order, to show hospitality. The common meal or supper took place at
-three o’clock,[122] up to which time they usually fasted. When it was
-concluded, a hymn was sung, of which Chrysostom gives us a specimen,
-though not in metrical form:[123] “Blessed be God, who nourisheth me
-from my youth up, who giveth food to all flesh: fill our hearts with
-joy and gladness, that we, having all sufficiency at all times, may
-abound unto every good work, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with Whom
-be glory, and honour, and power to Thee, together with the Holy Ghost,
-for ever and ever, Amen. Glory to Thee, O Lord! Glory to Thee, Holy
-One! Glory to Thee, King, who hast given us food to make us glad! Fill
-us with the Holy Spirit, that we may be found well pleasing in thy
-sight, and not ashamed when Thou rewardest every man according to his
-works.”
-
-The whole community in a Pachomian monastery was divided into
-twenty-four classes, distinguished by the letters of the Greek
-alphabet; the most ignorant, for instance, under class Iota, the more
-learned under Xi or Zeta, such letters being in shape respectively
-the simplest and the most complicated in the alphabet. Those hours
-which were not devoted to services or study were occupied by manual
-labour, partly to supply themselves with the necessaries of life,
-partly to guard against the incursion of evil thoughts. There was a
-proverbial saying attributed to some of the old Egyptian fathers, that
-“a labouring monk was assaulted by one devil only, but an idle one
-by an innumerable legion.” They wove baskets and mats, agriculture
-was not neglected, nor even, among the Egyptian monks, ship-building.
-Palladius, who visited the Egyptian monasteries about the close of the
-fourth century, found, in the monastery of Panopolis, which contained
-300 members, 15 tailors, 7 smiths, 4 carpenters, 12 camel-drivers,
-15 tanners. Each monastery in Egypt had its steward, and a chief
-steward stationed at the principal settlement had the supervision of
-all the rest. All the products of monkish labour were shipped under
-his inspection on the Nile for Alexandria. With the proceeds of their
-sale, stores were purchased for the monasteries, and the surplus was
-distributed amongst the sick and poor.[124]
-
-A monastery founded on this model might be fairly described as a kind
-of village containing an industrial and religious population; and had
-the Eastern monks adhered to this simple and innocent way of life,
-such communities might have become more and more schools of learning,
-centres of civilisation, and homes of piety. But they were increasingly
-forgetful of the wholesome saying of Antony, that a monk in the city
-was like “a fish out of water.” Instead of attending exclusively to
-their pious and industrial exercises, they mixed themselves up with the
-theological and political contests which too often convulsed the cities
-of the Eastern Empire. Their influence or interference was frequently
-the reverse of peace-making, judicious, or Christian. They would rush
-with fanatical fury into the city, to rescue the orthodox, or to attack
-those whom they considered heretical. The evil had grown to such a
-height by the reign of Arcadius, that a law was passed by which monks
-were strictly forbidden to commit such outrages on civil order, and
-bishops were commanded to prosecute the authors of such attempts.[125]
-Eastern monasticism, in fact, partook of the character which
-distinguished the Eastern Church as a whole, and which we may regard as
-one principal cause of its corruption and decay. A certain stability,
-sobriety, self-control, a law-making and law-respecting spirit, as it
-is the peculiar merit of the Western, so the want of it is the peculiar
-defect of the Oriental temperament. Hence a curious co-existence of
-extremes; the passions, unnaturally repressed at one outlet by intense
-asceticism, burst forth with increased fury at another. He who had
-subdued his body in the wilderness or on the mountains by fastings and
-macerations entertained the most implacable animosity towards pagans
-and heretics, and fought them like a ruffian (the word is not too
-strong for truth), when some tumult in an adjacent city afforded him
-an opportunity for this robust mode of displaying and defending his
-orthodoxy. Western monasticism, on the other hand, is distinguished
-by more gravity, more of the old Roman quality, a love of stern
-discipline. It did not run to such lengths of fanatical asceticism,
-and consequently was exempt from such disastrous reactions. It never
-produced such a caricature of the anchorite as Simeon Stylites, or
-such savage zealots as the monkish bands who dealt their sturdy blows
-in the religious riots of Constantinople and Alexandria. From the
-notices scattered up and down Chrysostom’s writings of the monasteries
-in the neighbourhood of Antioch, it appears that they conformed in all
-essential respects to the Pachomian model. We might anticipate, indeed,
-that, where such a man as Diodorus was president or visitor, they would
-be conducted on a simple and rational system.
-
-South of Antioch were the mountainous heights of Silpius and Casius,
-whence rose the springs which in a variety of channels found their
-way into the city, provided it with a constant and abundant supply
-of the purest water, and irrigated the gardens for which it was
-celebrated.[126] In this mountain region dwelt the communities of
-monks, in separate huts or cells (κάλυβαι[127]), but subject to an
-abbot, and a common rule. Chrysostom has in more passages than one
-furnished us with a description of their ordinary costume, fare, and
-way of life. He is fond of depicting their simple, frugal, and pious
-habits, in contrast to the artificial and luxurious manners of the
-gay and worldly people of the city. They were clad in coarse garments
-of goat’s hair or camel’s hair, sometimes of skins, over their linen
-tunics, which were worn both by night and day.[128] Before the first
-rays of sunlight, the abbot went round, and struck those monks who were
-still sleeping with his foot, to wake them. When all had risen,—fresh,
-healthy, fasting, they sang together, under the precentorship of their
-abbot, a hymn of praise to God. The hymn being ended, a common prayer
-was offered up (again under the leadership of their abbot), and then
-each at sunrise went to his allotted task, some to read, others to
-write, others to manual labour, by which they made a good deal to
-supply the necessities of the poor. Four hours in the day, the third,
-the sixth, the ninth, and some time in the evening, were appointed for
-prayers and psalms. When the daily work was concluded, they sat down,
-or rather reclined, on strewn grass, to their common meal, which was
-sometimes eaten out of doors by moonlight, and consisted of bread and
-water only, with occasionally, for invalids, a little vegetable food
-and oil. This frugal repast was followed by hymns, after which they
-betook themselves to their straw couches, and slept, as Chrysostom
-observes, free from those anxieties and apprehensions which beset the
-worldly man. There was no need of bolts and bars, for there was no
-fear of robbers. The monk had no possession but his body and soul,
-and if his life was taken he would regard it as an advantage, for he
-could say that to live was Christ, and to die was gain.[129] Those
-words “mine and thine,” those fertile causes of innumerable strifes,
-were unknown.[130] No lamentations were to be heard when any of the
-brethren died. They did not say, “such a one is dead,” but, “he has
-been perfected” (τετελείωται), and he was carried forth to burial
-amidst hymns of praise, thanksgiving for his release, and the prayers
-of his companions that they too might soon see the end of their labours
-and struggles, and be permitted to behold Jesus Christ.[131] Such was
-the simple and industrial kind of monastic body to which Chrysostom
-for a time attached himself; and to the end of his life he regarded
-such communities with the greatest admiration and sympathy. But he
-never failed to maintain also the duty of work against those who
-represented the perfection of the Christian life as consisting in mere
-contemplation and prayer. Such a doctrine of otiose Christianity he
-proved to be based on a too exclusive attention to certain passages in
-the New Testament. If, for instance, our blessed Lord said to Martha,
-“Thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is
-needful;” or again, “Take no thought for the morrow;” or, “Labour not
-for the meat that perisheth”—all such passages were to be balanced and
-harmonised by others, as, for example, St. Paul’s exhortation to the
-Thessalonians to be “quiet and to do their own business,” and “let
-him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with
-his hands that which is good, that he may have to give to him that
-needeth.” He points out that the words of our Lord do not inculcate
-total abstinence from work, but only censure an undue anxiety about
-earthly things, to the exclusion or neglect of spiritual concerns.
-The contemplative form of monasticism, based on misconception of
-Holy Scripture, had, he observes, seriously injured the cause of
-Christianity, for it occasioned practical men of the world to deride it
-as a source of indolence.[132]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
- WORKS PRODUCED DURING HIS MONASTIC LIFE—THE LETTERS TO
- DEMETRIUS AND STELECHIUS—TREATISES ADDRESSED TO THE
- OPPONENTS OF MONASTICISM—LETTER TO STAGIRIUS.
-
-
-Several treatises were composed by Chrysostom during his monastic
-life. Among the first must be placed two books addressed to Demetrius
-and Stelechius. Of these the former was evidently written soon after
-the commencement of his retreat, for he speaks of having recently
-determined to take the step, and of the petty anxieties about food
-and other personal comforts which had at first unsettled his purpose
-a little. But he had soon conquered these hankerings after the more
-luxurious life which he had abandoned. It seemed to him a disgrace
-that one to whom heaven and celestial joys were offered, such as eye
-had not seen nor ear heard, should be so hesitating and timorous, when
-those who undertook the management of public affairs did not shrink
-from dangers and toil, and long journeys, and separation from wife and
-children, and perhaps unfavourable criticism, but only inquired whether
-the office were honourable and lucrative.[133]
-
-The aim of the books is to animate torpid characters to a warmer piety,
-first by drawing a lively picture of the depravity of the times,
-secondly by a glowing description of the fervent energy of apostles and
-apostolic saints, and insisting that those lofty heights of Christian
-holiness were not unattainable by the Christian of his own day, if
-he bent the whole energy of his will, aided by Divine grace, to the
-attempt.
-
-“So great,” he observes, “was the depravity of the times that if a
-stranger were to compare the precepts of the Gospel with the actual
-practice of society, he would infer that men were not the disciples,
-but the enemies of Christ. And the most fatal symptom was their total
-unconsciousness of this deep corruption. Society was like a body which
-was outwardly vigorous, but concealed a wasting fever within; or like
-an insane person who says and does all manner of shocking things,
-but, instead of being ashamed, glories in the fancied possession of
-superior wisdom.”[134] Chrysostom applies the test of the principal
-precepts of morality in the Sermon on the Mount to the existing state
-of Christian morals. Every one of them was shamelessly violated. A
-kind of regard, superstitious or hypocritical, was paid to the command
-in the letter, which was broken in the spirit. Persons, for instance,
-who scrupled to use the actual expressions “fool” or “Raca,” heaped
-all kinds of opprobrious epithets on their neighbours.[135] So the
-command to be reconciled with a brother before approaching the altar
-was really broken though formally kept. Men gave the kiss of peace
-at the celebration of Holy Communion when admonished by the deacon
-so to do, but continued to nourish resentful feelings in the heart
-all the same.[136] Vainglory and ostentation robbed prayer, fasting
-and almsgiving of their merit; and as for the precept “Judge not,” a
-most uncharitable spirit of censoriousness pervaded every class of
-society, including monks and ecclesiastics.[137] Contrast with this
-false and hollow religion of the world the condition of one in whom
-a deep compunction for sin, and a genuine love of Jesus Christ, was
-awakened. The whole multitude of vain frivolous passions was dispersed
-like dust before the wind. So it was with St. Paul. Having once turned
-the eye of his soul towards heaven, and being entranced by the beauty
-of that other world, he could not stoop to earth again. As a beggar,
-in some gloomy hovel, if he saw a monarch glittering with gold and
-radiant with jewels, might altogether for a time forget the squalor of
-his dwelling-place in his eagerness to get inside the palace of the
-king, so St. Paul forgot and despised the poverty and hardship of this
-present world because the whole energy of his being was directed to the
-attainment of that heavenly city.[138] But men objected to the citation
-of apostolic examples. Paul and Peter, they said, were superhuman
-characters; models beyond our limited powers. “Nay,” Chrysostom
-replies, “these are feeble excuses. The Apostles were in all essential
-points like ourselves. Did they not breathe the same kind of air? eat
-the same kind of food? were not some of them married men? did they not
-follow mechanical trades? nay more, had not some of them deeply sinned?
-Men at the present day did not indeed receive grace at baptism to
-work miracles, but they received enough to enable them to lead a good
-and holy Christian life.[139] And the highest blessing of Christ—his
-invitation to those who were called ‘blessed children’ to inherit the
-kingdom prepared for them—was addressed, not to those who had wrought
-miracles, but to those who had ministered to himself through feeding
-the hungry, entertaining the stranger, visiting the sick and the
-prisoners, who were his brethren. But grace, though undoubtedly given
-by God, required man’s own co-operation to become effectual. Otherwise,
-since God is no respecter of persons, it would have resided in equal
-measure in all men; whereas we see that with one man it remains, from
-another it departs; a third is never affected by it at all.”[140] The
-second book on the same subject, addressed to another friend, named
-Stelechius, is an expression of more rapturous and highly-wrought
-feeling, and is more rhetorical in style. His description in the
-beginning of the blessed freedom of the monk’s life from secular
-vanities and cares, his remarks on David and St. Paul,[141] two of his
-most favourite characters, and still more his masterly enumeration of
-the manifold ways in which God manifests his providential care for
-man,[142] well deserve to be read. They are too long to be translated
-here in full, and a paraphrase would very inadequately represent such
-passages, of which the peculiar beauty consists in the language more
-even than in the ideas. One special interest of these books, written
-immediately after his retirement from the world, is that they put
-clearly before us what it was which drove him and many another to the
-monastic life. It was a sense of the glaring and hideous contrast
-between the Christianity of the Gospel and the Christianity of ordinary
-society. A kind of implacable warfare,[143] as he expresses it, seemed
-to be waged in the world against the commands of Christ; and he had
-therefore determined, by seclusion from the world, to seek that kind of
-life which he saw exhibited in the Gospels, but nowhere else.[144]
-
-But the largest and most powerful work which Chrysostom produced during
-this period was occasioned by the decree of the Emperor Valens in A.D.
-373—a decree which struck at the roots of monasticism. It directed
-that monks should be dragged from their retreats, and compelled to
-discharge their obligations as citizens, either by serving in the
-army, or performing the functions of any civil office to which they
-might be appointed.[145] The edict is said to have been enforced with
-considerable rigour, and in Egypt this seems to have been the case.
-But it was evidently far from complete or universal in its operation.
-None of Chrysostom’s brethren appear to have been compelled to return
-to the city; certainly he himself was not. But they were liable, of
-course, to the persecution which, under the shelter of the decree, all
-the enemies of their order directed against them. These enemies of
-monasticism were of several kinds. There were the zealous adherents of
-the old paganism; men like Libanius, who were opposed to Christianity
-on principle, and especially to the monastic form of it, as encouraging
-idleness, and the dereliction of the duties of good citizens.
-There were also the more worldly-minded Christians who had adopted
-Christianity more from impulse or conformity than from conviction, and
-who disliked the standing protest of monastic life against their own
-frivolity. They were irritated also by the influence which the monks
-often acquired over their wives and children, sometimes alluring the
-latter from that lucrative line of worldly life which their fathers had
-marked out for them. And lastly, there were those who regretted that
-some men should have taken up a position of direct antagonism to the
-world, instead of mingling with it, and infusing good leaven into the
-mass of evil. The treatise of Chrysostom addressed “to the assailants
-of monastic life” was intended to meet most of these objections.
-
-A friend had brought the terrible tidings to his retreat of the
-authorised persecution which had just broken out. He heard it with
-indescribable horror. It was a sacrilege far worse than the destruction
-of the Jewish Temple. That an Emperor (an Arian, indeed, yet professing
-himself Christian) should organise the persecution, and that some
-actually baptized persons should take, as his friend informed him, a
-part in it, was an intolerable aggravation of the infliction. He would
-rather die than witness such a calamity, and was ready to exclaim with
-Elijah, “Now, O Lord, take away my life!” His friend roused him from
-this state of despondency by suggesting that, instead of giving way
-to useless lamentations, he should write an admonitory treatise to
-the originators and abettors of this horrible persecution. At first
-Chrysostom refused, partly from a feeling of incompetency, partly from
-a dread of exposing to the pagans by his writings some of the internal
-corruptions, dissensions, and weaknesses of the Church. His friend
-replies that these were already but too notorious; and as for the
-sufferings of the monks, they formed the topic of public conversation,
-too often of public jest. In the market-place and in the doctors’ shops
-the subject was freely canvassed, and many boasted of the part which
-they had taken against the victims. “I was the first to lay hands on
-such a monk,” one would cry, “and to give him a blow;” or, “I was
-the first to discover his cell;” or, “I stimulated the judge against
-him more than any one.” Such was the spirit of cruelty and profanity
-by which even Christians were animated; and, as for the pagans,
-they derided both parties. Roused by these dreadful communications,
-the indignation of Chrysostom no longer hesitated to set about the
-task.[146]
-
-His pity, he says, was excited chiefly for the persecutors; they were
-purchasing eternal misery for themselves, while the future reward of
-their victims would be in proportion to the magnitude of their present
-sufferings, since “Blessed were those whom men should hate, persecute,
-and revile for Christ’s sake, and great was to be their reward in
-heaven.”[147]
-
-To persecute monks was to hinder that purity of life to which Christ
-attached so deep an importance. It might be objected, Cannot men lead
-lives uncontaminated at home? to which Chrysostom replies that he
-heartily wishes they could, and that such good order and morality might
-be established in cities as to make monasteries unnecessary. But at
-present such gross iniquity prevailed in large towns, that men of pious
-aspirations were compelled to fly to the mountain or the desert. The
-blame should fall, not on those who escaped from the city, but on those
-who made life there intolerable to virtuous men. He trusted the time
-might come when these refugees would be able to return with safety to
-the world.[148]
-
-If it was objected that on this principle of reasoning the mass of
-mankind was condemned, he could only reply, in the words of Christ
-himself, “Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be
-that find it.” We must not honour a multitude before truth. If all
-flesh was once destroyed except eight persons, we cannot be surprised
-if the number of men eventually saved shall be few. “I see,” he says,
-“a constant perpetration of crimes which are all condemned by Christ
-as meriting the punishment of hell—adultery, fornication, envy, anger,
-evil speaking, and many more. The multitude which is engaged in this
-wickedness is unmolested, but the monks who fly from it themselves, and
-persuade others to take flight also, are persecuted without mercy.” So
-much for the Christianity of the world.[149]
-
-In Book II. he expresses his astonishment that fathers should so
-little understand what was best for their sons as to deter them from
-studying “the true philosophy.” But in combating this error he will
-put forward all that can be urged on their side. He imagines the case
-of a pagan father, possessed of great worldly distinction and wealth.
-He has an only son, in whom all his pride and hopes are centred; one
-whom he expects to surpass himself in riches and honour. Suddenly this
-son becomes converted to monasticism; this rich heir flies to the
-mountains, puts on a dress coarser than that of the meanest servant,
-toils at the menial occupations of gardening and drawing water,
-becomes lean and pale. All the schemes of his father for the future
-are frustrated, all past efforts for his education seem to have been
-squandered. The little vessel which was his pride and pleasure is
-wrecked at the very mouth of the harbour from which it was setting out
-on the voyage of life. The parent has no longer any pleasure in life;
-he mourns for his son as for one already dead.[150]
-
-Having thus stated the case on his adversary’s side as strongly as
-possible, Chrysostom begins his own defence by asking which would be
-best: that a man should be subject to thirst all his life, or wholly
-exempt from it? Surely to be exempt from it. Apply this to the moral
-appetites—love, avarice, and the rest. The monk is exempt from them;
-the man of the world is distracted by them, if not overwhelmed. Again,
-if the monk has no wealth of his own, he exercises a powerful influence
-in directing the wealth of others. Religious men will part with much
-of their riches according to his suggestions; if one refuses, another
-will give. The resources, in fact, of the monk are quite inexhaustible;
-many will subscribe to supply his wants or to execute his wishes, as
-Crito said that he and his friends would subscribe for Socrates. It is
-impossible to deprive the monk of his wealth or of his home; if you
-strip him of everything he has, he rejoices, and thanks you for helping
-him to live the life which he desires; and as for his home, the world
-is his home; one place is the same as another to him; he needs nothing
-but the pure air of heaven, wholesome streams, and herbs. As for high
-place and rank, history suffices to teach us that the desert does not
-destroy, and the palace does not give, true nobility. Plato—planting,
-watering, and eating olives—was a far nobler personage than Dionysius
-the Tyrant of Sicily, amidst all the wealth and splendour of a monarch.
-Socrates—clad in a single garment, with his bare feet and his meagre
-fare of bread, and dependent upon others for the mere necessaries of
-life—was a far more illustrious character than Archelaus, who often
-invited him, but in vain, to court. Real splendour and distinction
-consisted not in fine raiment, or in positions of dignity and power,
-but only in excellence of the soul and in philosophy.[151]
-
-He then proceeds to maintain that the influence of the monk was more
-powerful than that of the man of the world, however distinguished he
-might be. If he descended from his mountain solitude, and entered the
-city, the people flocked round him, and pointed him out with reverence
-and admiration, as if he were a messenger from heaven. His mean dress
-commanded more respect than the purple robe and diadem of the monarch.
-If he was required to interfere in matters of public interest, his
-influence was greater than that of the powerful or wealthy; for he
-could speak before an emperor with boldness and freedom, and without
-incurring the suspicion of self-interested or ambitious motives. He was
-a more effectual comforter of the mourners than any one in a prosperous
-worldly condition was likely to be. If a father had lost his only son,
-the sight of other men’s domestic happiness only revived his grief; but
-the society of the monk, who disdained the ties of home and family, and
-who talked to him of death as only a sleep, soothed his grief. Thus the
-man who wished his son to possess real honour and power would permit
-him to become a monk; for monks who were once mere peasants had been
-visited in their cells and consulted by kings and ministers of state.
-
-Chrysostom concludes this book by relating the history of one of his
-own brethren in the monastery, who, when first he desired to become
-a monk, had been disowned by his father, a wealthy and distinguished
-pagan, who threatened him with imprisonment, turned him out of doors,
-and allowed him almost to perish with hunger. But, finding him
-inflexible in his purpose, the father at last relented, and, at the
-time when Chrysostom wrote, honoured, he might say venerated, that son,
-considering the others, who occupied distinguished positions in the
-world, scarcely worthy to be his servant.[152]
-
-As the second book was intended to meet the objections of a pagan
-father, so the third contains admonitions to one who was professedly
-Christian, but worldly-minded, on the duty of parents in regard to the
-moral and religious education of their children.
-
-It appeared to him that the fathers of that day gave their sons none
-but worldly counsel, inculcated none but worldly industry and prudence,
-and encouraged to the emulation of none but worldly examples.[153]
-The force of habit was intensely strong, especially when pleasure
-co-operated with it, and parents, instead of counteracting habits of
-worldliness, promoted them by their own example. God led the Israelites
-through the wilderness as a kind of monastic training, to wean them
-from the luxurious and sensual habits of an Egyptian life; yet even
-then they hankered after the land of their bondage. How, then, could
-the children of parents who left them in the midst of the Egypt of
-vice, escape damnation? If they achieved anything good of themselves,
-it was speedily crushed by the flood of worldly conversation which
-issued from the parent. All those things which were condemned by
-Christ—as wealth, popularity, strife, an evil eye, divorce—were
-approved by parents of that day, and they threw a veil over the
-ugliness of these vices, by giving them specious names. Devotion to
-the hippodrome and theatre was called fashionable refinement; wealth
-was called freedom; love of glory, high spirit; folly, boldness;
-prodigality, benevolence; injustice, manliness. Virtues, on the
-contrary, were depreciated by opprobrious names: temperance was called
-rusticity; equity, cowardice; justice, unmanliness; modesty, meanness;
-endurance of injury, feebleness. He truly remarks, that nothing
-contributes so much to deter men from vice as calling vices plainly by
-their proper names.[154]
-
-“How can children escape moral ruin, when all the labour of their
-fathers is bestowed on the provision of superfluous things—fine houses,
-dress, horses, beautiful statues, gilded ceilings—while they take no
-pains about the soul, which is far more precious than any ornament
-of gold?”[155] And there were worse evils behind: vice too monstrous
-and unnatural to be named, but to which he was constrained to allude,
-because he felt that it was poisoning with deadly venom the very vitals
-of the social body. “Well,” but worldly men reply, “Would you have us
-all turn philosophers, and let our worldly affairs go to ruin? Nay,”
-says Chrysostom, “it is the want of the philosophic spirit and rule
-which ruins everything now; it is your rich men—with troops of slaves
-and swarms of parasites, eager for wealth and ambitious of distinction,
-building fine houses, adding field to field, lending money at a
-usurious rate of interest—who propagate the strife and litigation, and
-envy, and murder, and general confusion, by which life is distracted.
-These are they who bring down the vengeance of Heaven, in the shape of
-droughts, and famines, and inundations, and earthquakes, and submersion
-of cities, and pestilences. It is not the simple monk, or the
-philosophic Christian, who is contented with a humble dwelling, a mean
-dress, a little plot of ground. These last, shining like bright beacons
-in a dark place, hold up the lamp of philosophy on high, and endeavour
-to guide those who are tossing on the open sea in a dark night into the
-haven of safety and repose.”[156]
-
-“In spite of law, disorder prevailed to such an extent, that the very
-idea of God’s providence was lost. Men assigned the course of events
-to fate, or to the stars, or to chance, or to spontaneous force. God
-did, indeed, still rule; but He was like a pilot in a storm, whose
-skill in managing and conducting the vessel in safety was not perceived
-or appreciated by the passengers, owing to the confusion and fright
-caused by the raging of the elements. In the monastery, on the other
-hand, all was tranquillity and peace as in a community of angels.
-He strenuously combated the error of supposing that sin was more
-pardonable in a man of the world than in a monk. Anger, uncleanness,
-swearing, and the like, were equally sinful in all. Christ made no
-distinctions, but propounded one standard of morality for all alike.
-Nothing had inflicted more injury on the moral tone of society than
-the supposition that strictness of life was demanded of the monk
-only.”[157] He strongly urges the advantage of sending youths for
-education to monasteries, even for so long a period as ten or twenty
-years. Men consented, he says, to part with their children, for the
-purpose of learning some art or trade, or even so low an accomplishment
-as rope-dancing; but when the object was to train their souls for
-heaven, all kinds of impediments were raised. To object that few
-attained through residence in a monastery that perfection of spiritual
-life which some expected of them, was a mere excuse. In the case of
-worldly things, on which men’s hearts were set, they thought of getting
-as much as they could, not of reaching absolute perfection. A man did
-not prevent his son from entering military service because the chances
-of his becoming a prefect were small; why, then, hesitate to send your
-son to a monastery because all monks do not become angels?[158]
-
-These treatises are remarkable productions, and deserve to be read,
-not only because they exhibit Chrysostom’s best powers of argument
-and style, but also because they throw light upon the character of
-the man and the times in which he lived. He pleads his cause with the
-ingenuity, as well as eloquence, of a man who had been trained for the
-law courts. We find, indeed, that his opinions on the advantages of the
-monastic life were modified as he grew older; but his bold condemnation
-of worldliness, his denunciation of a cold secularised Christianity,
-as contrasted with the purity of the Gospel standard, the deep
-aspirations after personal holiness, the desire to be filled with a
-fervent and overflowing love of Christ, the firm hold on the idea of
-a superintending Providence, amidst social confusion and corruption;
-these we find, as here, so always, conspicuous characteristics of the
-man, and principal sources of his influence.
-
-From the frightful picture here drawn of social depravity, we perceive
-the value—we might say, the necessity—of monasteries, as havens of
-refuge for those who recoiled in horror from the surrounding pollution.
-It is clear also that the influence of the monks was considerable.
-Monasteries were recognised places of education, where pious parents
-could depend on their children being virtuously brought up. The
-Christian wife of a pagan or worldly husband could here find a safe
-home for her boy, where he could escape the contamination of his
-father’s influence or example. Chrysostom relates, in chapter 12, how
-a Christian lady in Antioch, being afraid of the wrath of a harsh
-and worldly-minded husband if she sent away her son to school at the
-monastery, induced one of the monks, a friend of Chrysostom’s, to
-reside for a time in the city, in the character of pedagogue. The boy,
-thus subjected to his training, afterwards joined the society of the
-monks; but Chrysostom, fearing the consequences both to the youth and
-to the monastic body, should his father detect his secession, persuaded
-him to return to the city, where he led an ascetic life, though not
-habited in monkish dress. Out of these monastic schools, after years
-of discipline and prayer, and study of the Word, there issued many a
-pastor and preacher, well-armed champions of the truth, strong in the
-Lord, and in the power of His might; like Chrysostom himself, instant
-in season and out of season; stern denouncers of evil, even in kings’
-courts; holding out the light of the Gospel in the midst of a dark and
-crooked generation.
-
-The foregoing extracts and paraphrases from these treatises prove
-also that as philosophy was considered the highest flight in the
-intellectual culture of the pagan, so was asceticism regarded as the
-highest standard of Christian life; it was to the education of the
-soul what philosophy was to the education of the mind, and hence it
-was called by the same name. Possessed by this idea, Chrysostom threw
-himself at this period of his life into the system with all the ardour
-of his nature. If asceticism was good, it was right to carry it as
-far as nature could bear it. He adopted the habits of an old member
-of the brotherhood named Syrus, notorious for the severity of his
-self-inflicted discipline. The day and greater part of the night were
-spent in study, fastings and vigils. Bread and water were his only
-habitual food. At the end of four years he proceeded a step further.
-He withdrew from the community to one of those solitary caves with
-which the mountains overhanging Antioch on its southern side abounded.
-In fact, he exchanged the life of a monk for that of an anchorite.
-His frame endured this additional strain for nearly two years, and
-then gave way. His health was so much shattered that he was obliged to
-abandon monastic life, and to return to the greater comfort of his home
-in Antioch.[159]
-
-Meanwhile a friend of his, Stagirius by name—a person of noble birth,
-who, in spite of his father’s opposition, had embraced monasticism—was
-reduced to a more deplorable condition. While Chrysostom was confined
-to his house by illness, a friend common to him and Stagirius brought
-him the sad intelligence that Stagirius was affected with all the
-symptoms of demoniacal possession—wringing of the hands, squinting of
-the eyes, foaming at the mouth, strange inarticulate cries, shiverings,
-and frightful visions at night.[160] We shall perhaps find little
-difficulty in accounting for these distressing affections, as the
-consequence of excessive austerities. The young man, who formerly lived
-a gay life in the world, and in the midst of affluence, had in the
-monastery fared on bread and water only, often kept vigil all night
-long, spent his days in prayer and tears of penitence, preserved an
-absolute silence, and read so many hours continuously, that his friends
-and brother monks feared that his brain would become disordered.[161]
-Very probably it was, and hence his visions and convulsions; but those
-were not days in which men readily attributed any strange phenomena,
-mental or bodily, to physical causes. We may believe in the action of
-a spirit-world on the inhabitants of this earth; but we require good
-evidence that any violent or strange affection of mind or body is due
-to a directly spiritual agency, rather than to the operation of God
-according to natural law. The cases of demoniacs in the Gospel stand
-apart. Our Lord uses language which amounts to a distinct affirmation
-that those men were actually possessed by evil spirits. To use such
-expressions as “come out of him,” “enter no more into him,” and the
-like, if there was no spirit concerned in the case at all, would have
-been, to say the least, a mere unmeaning piece of acting, of which it
-would be shocking to suppose our Lord capable. But to admit the direct
-agency of spirit, when confirmed by such authoritative testimony,
-is widely different from the hasty ascription to spiritual agency,
-by an uncritical and unscientific age, of everything which cannot
-be accounted for by the most superficial knowledge and observation.
-Chrysostom, of course, not being beyond his age in such matters, did
-not for a moment dispute the supposition that Stagirius was actually
-possessed by a demon, but he displays a great deal of good sense in
-dealing with the case. As the state of his own health did not permit
-him to pay Stagirius a visit in person, he wrote his advice instead. He
-perceived the fatal temptation to despair in a man who imagined that
-the devil had got a firm hold upon him, and that every evil inclination
-proceeded directly from this demoniacal invader. He will not allow
-that the suggestion to suicide, of which Stagirius complained, came
-direct from the demon, but rather from his own despondency,[162] with
-which the devil had endeavoured to oppress him, that he might, under
-cover of that, work his own purposes more effectually, just as robbers
-attack houses in the dark. But this was to be shaken off by trust in
-God; for the devil did not exercise a compulsory power over the hearts
-of men; there must be a co-operation of the man’s own will. Eve fell
-partly through her own inclination to sin: “When she saw that the
-tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes, she took of the
-fruit thereof and did eat;” and if Adam was so easily persuaded to
-participate in her sin, he would have fallen even had no devil existed.
-
-Chrysostom endeavours also to console his friend by going through
-the histories of saints in all times who have been afflicted. His
-sufferings were not to be compared to those of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
-Moses, David, and St. Paul. “These afflictions were sent for remedial,
-purgatorial purposes—that the soul might be saved in the day of the
-Lord. It was not easy to say why such a person was tried by this or
-that form of suffering, but if we knew exactly God’s motives, there
-would be no test of faith. The indispensable thing was to be firmly
-convinced that whatever God sent was right. Some men were disturbed
-because the good were often troubled, and the wicked prosperous; but
-such inequality in the distribution of reward and punishment in this
-life suggested a future state where they would be finally adjusted. The
-wicked who had here received his good things would there receive his
-evil.[163] Stagirius had not been attacked by any demon when he was
-living in carelessness and worldly pleasure, but when he had buckled
-on his armour and appeared as an antagonist, then the devil descended
-to the assault. Hence he had no need to be ashamed of his affliction;
-the only thing to be ashamed of was sin, and it was owing to his
-renunciation of sin that the devil assailed him. The real demoniacs
-were those who were carried away by the impulses of unregulated
-passions.” His summaries of the lives of the Old Testament saints,
-which fill the rest of the second book and most of the third, are very
-masterly, and display most intimate acquaintance with Holy Scripture in
-all its parts. A powerful mind and retentive memory had profited by six
-years of retirement largely devoted to study.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-ORDINATION AS DEACON—DESCRIPTION OF ANTIOCH—WORKS COMPOSED DURING HIS
-DIACONATE. A.D. 381-386.
-
-
-Probably one of the last acts of Bishop Meletius before he left
-Antioch to attend the Council of Constantinople in 381, was to ordain
-Chrysostom a deacon. The bishop never returned. He died during the
-session of the council of which he was president, leaving both that
-and the see of Antioch distracted by the most deplorable factions. It
-will be remembered[164] that the Catholics of Antioch had, ever since
-the ill-judged mission of Lucifer of Cagliari, been divided between
-allegiance to Paulinus, a priest of the old Eustathian party, who had
-been consecrated bishop by Lucifer, and Meletius, bishop of the more
-moderate party. With the laudable purpose of healing this schism, it
-is said that several of the clergy at Antioch, who were considered
-most likely to succeed to a vacancy, bound themselves under an oath,
-that in the event of either bishop dying, they would decline the offer
-of the see, if made, and acknowledge the survivor. But on the death
-of Meletius, their plan was frustrated. Either the Asiatics, who
-generally favoured Meletius, refused to submit to the authority of
-Paulinus, because he had been ordained by a Western prelate, or the
-Eustathians who acknowledged Paulinus were unwilling on their side to
-admit Meletians into their fold. In any case, the earnest endeavours
-of Gregory of Nazianzum, now President of the Council, to unite the
-two factions under one prelate were unsuccessful.[165] The Meletians
-elected Flavian to be their bishop, one of the very priests who had,
-under oath, renounced their pretensions to the see. This appointment
-of course exposed Flavian to the imputation of perjury, but we may
-hope that, like Gregory, he yielded to a pressing necessity only,
-and to a conviction that the dissension would have been aggravated
-and protracted if he had obdurately refused.[166] At any rate, as
-will hereafter appear, his conduct, wherever it comes before us, is
-worthy of all admiration, and Chrysostom must have filled the office
-of deacon with happiness under his administration. A greater contrast
-than the initiation of Chrysostom into clerical life, and that of a
-young deacon in modern times, can scarcely be imagined. He was in his
-thirty-seventh year, and had supplemented the good liberal education
-of his youth by several years of devotion to close study of Scripture,
-to rigorous mortification of the body, to prayer and meditation, and
-to every means of promoting the culture of the soul. After this long
-and careful training, he enters the subordinate ranks of the clergy,
-not to discharge, like a modern deacon, duties as laborious, and often
-as responsible, as those which pertained to the priest, but such light
-and irresponsible tasks as were suitable to men who might be young,
-and were necessarily inexperienced in pastoral work. The deacons were
-sometimes called the Levites of the Christian Church.[167] It was their
-office to take care of the holy table and its furniture, to administer
-the cup to the laity, but not to a priest or a bishop, and occasionally
-to read the Gospel.[168] They were in most churches permitted to
-baptize.[169] But their peculiar duty in the services of the Church
-was to call the attention of the people to every fresh movement, to
-use a musical expression, in the progress of the service. Thus at the
-close of the sermon, the deacon’s voice was heard crying: “Let the
-hearers [_i.e._ the second order of catechumens who were permitted to
-hear the sermon, but not the conclusion of the Eucharistic service] and
-the unbelievers depart!”[170] Then he bid the remaining orders of the
-catechumens, _i.e._ the energumens, the competentes, and the penitents
-to pray for one another, and the people also to pray for them; ἐκτενῶς
-δεηθῶμεν, “let us ardently pray for them”—such was the form. Again when
-they were dismissed by the command ἀπολύεσθε, “disperse,” the faithful
-were invited by the deacon to pray for the whole state of Christ’s
-Church.[171] Thus the deacons were the sacred criers or heralds of
-the Church; they “proclaimed or bid prayer,” they announced each part
-as it was unfolded in the sacred drama of the Liturgy. The frequent
-recurrence in our own Liturgy, without much apparent significance, of
-the form “Let us pray,” is a remnant of these old diaconal invitations.
-The deacons were not permitted to preach except by a special direction
-of the bishop. Their duty in part corresponded to that of our
-churchwardens; they were to reprove any improper behaviour during
-divine service,[172] to bring cases of poverty and sickness before the
-notice of the bishop, to distribute the alms under his direction, and
-also to report to him grave moral offences.[173] They were essentially,
-as the name implies, ministers to the bishops and priests, and were
-often styled, in symbolical language, “the bishop’s eyes,” or “ears,”
-or “right hand.” The attitude of respect, which they were bound to
-maintain in church towards bishops and priests was in keeping with the
-servitorial character of their office as a whole. While the priests had
-their chairs ranged on either side of the central chair of the bishop
-in the choir, the deacons stood humbly by, as if ready to receive and
-execute the directions of their superiors.[174] Even the Roman deacons,
-who rose rather above the natural lowliness of their office, did not
-presume to sit in the church.[175]
-
-The duties of the diaconate must have brought Chrysostom into constant
-intercourse with the Christian population of Antioch, and especially
-with the poorer portion of it. The whole population of the city
-amounted, according to Chrysostom’s statement, to 200,000,[176] and
-the Christians to 100,000,[177] of whom 3000 were indigent, and mainly
-supported by the bounty of the Church.[178] The deacon’s function of
-searching out and relieving the necessitous by distribution of alms
-must have been peculiarly congenial to him. There is no Christian
-duty on which he more constantly and earnestly insists than that of
-almsgiving, not only in order to alleviate the sufferings of poverty,
-but as a means of counteracting the inordinate avarice and selfish
-luxury which were the prevailing vices in the higher ranks of society,
-both in Antioch and Constantinople. His hold upon the affections of the
-common people, partly no doubt through his sympathy with their needs,
-partly by his bold denunciation of the vices of the wealthy, partly by
-his affectionate and earnest plain-speaking of Christian truth, was
-remarkably strong throughout his life. As during the secluded leisure
-of his monastic life he had acquired a profound intimacy with Holy
-Scripture, so in the more active labours of his diaconate he enlarged
-his knowledge of human nature, and stored up observations on the
-character and manners of the people among whom he moved; qualifications
-no less important for the formation of a great and effective preacher.
-
-It may not be uninteresting to take a brief glance at the character of
-the city and its inhabitants among whom he was destined to labour for
-the next seventeen years of his life.
-
-Both nature and art combined to make Antioch one of the most
-delectable and luxurious residences in the world. The advantages of
-its situation, in some most important respects, could scarcely be
-exceeded. The river Orontes, connecting it with the sea about three
-miles distant, was the throat through which the city was fed with
-merchandise from all parts of the world. The wooded shores of the large
-lake of Antioch some miles above the city, supplied the inhabitants
-with fuel, and its waters yielded fish in great abundance. The hills
-which impended over the town on the southern side sent down numerous
-and copious streams, whose water, unsurpassed in purity, bubbled
-up through the fountains which stood in the court of every house.
-Northwards extended a fertile plain between the Orontes and Mount
-Coryphæus. The northern winds were occasionally keen and searching,
-but the prevailing western breezes coming up from the sea were so
-delicately soft, yet refreshing, that the citizens delighted in summer
-to sleep upon the flat roofs of their dwellings. These advantages,
-however, were in some degree balanced by a liability to inundations
-and earthquakes. Those hill-streams, the blessing and delight of the
-inhabitants in summer, were sometimes swollen in winter by excessive
-rains into torrents of incontrollable fury, and caused much damage
-to the buildings which were situated near their course. But far more
-destructive were the earthquakes. More than once, indeed, especially in
-the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Trajan, the whole city was almost
-shattered to pieces; but on each occasion, through public and private
-exertions, it arose from its ruins in new and, if possible, increased
-magnificence. The peculiar glories of Antioch were its gardens, and
-baths, and colonnaded streets. As in its population, and religion, and
-customs, so also in its architecture, it presented, as time went on, a
-remarkable mixture of Asiatic, Greek, and Roman elements. The aim of
-each Greek king and Roman emperor was to leave it more beautiful than
-he had received it from the hands of his predecessor. Each marked his
-reign by the erection of a temple or basilica, or bath, or aqueduct, or
-theatre, or column. The church in which Chrysostom officiated, usually
-called “the great Church,” to distinguish it from the smaller and older
-church, called the Church of the Apostles, was begun by Constantine
-and finished by Constantius. In the main principles of structure, we
-may find some parallel to it in St. Vitale at Ravenna. It stood in
-the centre of a large court, and was octangular in shape; chambers,
-some of them subterranean, were clustered round it; the domed roof,
-of an amazing height, was gilded on the inside; the floor was paved
-with polished marbles; the walls and columns were adorned with images,
-and glistened with precious stones; every part, indeed, was richly
-embellished with bronze and golden ornament.[179] Among the principal
-wonders of Antioch was the great street constructed by Antiochus
-Epiphanes, nearly four miles in length, which traversed the city from
-east to west; the natural inequalities of the ground were filled up, so
-that the thoroughfare was a perfect level from end to end; the spacious
-colonnades on either side were paved with red granite. From the centre
-of this magnificent street, where stood a statue of Apollo, another
-street, similar in character, but much shorter, was drawn at right
-angles, leading northwards in the direction of the Orontes. Many of the
-other streets were also colonnaded, so that the inhabitants, as they
-pursued their errands of business or pleasure, were sheltered alike
-from the scorching sun of summer and the rains of winter. Innumerable
-lanterns at night illuminated the main thoroughfares with a brilliancy
-which almost rivalled the light of day, and much of the business, as
-well as the festivity, of the inhabitants was carried on by night.[180]
-
-The character of the inhabitants partook of the various
-elements—Asiatic, Syrian, Greek, Jewish, Roman—which composed the whole
-population. But the impulsive oriental temperament, subject at times
-to fits of gloomy despondency, and to outbursts of wild ferocity, was
-undoubtedly the most dominant. When not driven under the pressure of
-excitement to either of these extremes, they abandoned themselves
-very freely to those voluptuous recreations for which the character
-of their city and climate afforded every facility and inducement.
-The bath, the circus, the theatre, were the daily amusements of the
-citizen; the Olympic games (instituted in the time of Commodus), which
-were celebrated in the grove of Daphne, and the festivities held at
-particular seasons in honour of different deities, were the greater
-occasions to which he looked forward with all the eagerness of a
-pleasure-loving nature.
-
-These main characteristics of the people are abundantly illustrated in
-detail, as will be seen hereafter, in the homilies of Chrysostom. He is
-ever, in them, labouring with indefatigable industry and earnestness
-to lift the Christians above the frivolity and vices of the rest of
-the population. His opportunities for investigating the condition of
-the Christian community were great during his diaconate. He did not
-as yet preach; but by observations on life and manners, he laid up
-copious materials for preaching. And he was not idle in the use of his
-pen, for to this period may be assigned the treatise on Virginity; a
-letter addressed to a young widow; a book on the martyr Babylas; and,
-perhaps, though this cannot certainly be determined, the six books on
-the Priesthood.[181]
-
-The letter to a young widow must have been written soon after the
-destruction of the Emperor Valens and his army by the Goths in
-A.D. 378, since it contains a reference to that event as a recent
-occurrence,[182] yet it must have been antecedent to the crushing
-defeats inflicted on them by Theodosius in A.D. 382, because the writer
-implies that at the time of composition the Goths were overrunning
-large tracts of the empire with impunity, and mocking the helplessness
-and timidity of the imperial troops.[183] The whole book is penetrated
-with that profound sense of the misery and instability of things human,
-which the corruption of society and recent calamities of the empire
-impressed with peculiar force on the minds of reflecting persons; which
-produced among pagans either melancholy or careless indifference, but
-made Christians cling with a more earnest and tenacious trust to the
-hopes and consolations of the Gospel.
-
-Therasius, the husband of the young widow, had died after five
-years of married life. He is described by Chrysostom as having been
-distinguished in rank, in ability, and, above all, in virtue; as having
-held a high position in the army, with a reasonable expectation of
-soon becoming a prefect. But these very excellencies and brilliant
-prospects, which seemed to aggravate the sense of his loss, “ought,”
-Chrysostom observes, “to be regarded as sources of consolation. If
-death were a final and total destruction, then indeed it would have
-been reasonable to lament the extinction of one so benevolent, so
-gentle, so humble, prudent, and devout, as her late husband. But if
-death was only the landing of the soul in a tranquil haven, only a
-transition from the worse to better, from earth to heaven, from men
-to angels and archangels, and to Him who is the Lord of angels, then
-there was no place left for tears. It was better that he should depart
-and be with Christ, his true King, serving Whom in that other world,
-he would not be exposed to the dangers and animosities which attended
-the service of an earthly monarch. They were, indeed, separated in
-body, but neither length of time nor remoteness of place could sunder
-the friendship of the soul. Endure patiently for a little time, and
-you will behold again the face of your desire; perhaps even now, in
-visions, his form will be permitted to visit you.”[184] If it was the
-loss of the prefecture that she specially deplored, let her think
-from what dangerous ambitions her husband had been preserved; think
-of the fate of Theodorus, who was tempted by his high station to lay
-a plot against the Emperor, and suffered capital punishment for his
-treason.[185] The loftier a man’s ambitions in life, the more probable
-a disastrous fall. Look at the tragical fate of the Emperors in the
-course of the past fifty years. Two only, out of nine, had died natural
-deaths; of the other seven, one had been killed by a usurper,[186] one
-in battle,[187] one by a sedition of his domestic guards,[188] one by
-the man who had invested him with the purple.[189] Julian had fallen
-in battle in the Persian expedition. Valentinian I. died in a fit of
-rage, and Valens had been burnt, together with his retinue, in a house
-to which the Goths set fire. And of the widows of these Emperors, some
-had perished by poison, others had died of despair and broken hearts.
-Of those who yet survived, one was trembling for the safety of an
-orphan son,[190] another had with difficulty obtained permission to
-return from exile.[191] Of the wives of the present Emperors, one was
-racked by constant anxiety on account of the youth and inexperience
-of her husband,[192] the other was subject to no less anxiety for her
-husband’s safety, who ever since his elevation to the throne had been
-engaged in incessant warfare with the Goths.[193] Human ambition was
-a hard taskmistress, who employed arrogance and avarice as her agents;
-“do not then, mourn that your husband has been emancipated from her
-tyranny.” Most of the wisest and noblest characters even of the pagan
-world had resisted the allurements of ambition—Socrates, Epaminondas,
-Aristides, Diogenes, Crates. Shall the Christian then complain, if God
-takes one away from these temptations? He who cared least about glory,
-who was natural and modest, and unambitious, often acquired most glory,
-whereas he who was most eager and anxious to secure it, often obtained
-nothing but derision and reproach. She believed that her husband might
-have obtained the prefecture; it was a reasonable hope, but there was
-many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, and he who was king to-day was
-dead to-morrow. “Strive, then, to equal and even surpass your husband
-in piety and goodness, that you may be admitted into the same home, and
-reunited to him in a bond far more lovely and enduring than that of
-earthly wedlock.”
-
-In the long treatise “De Virginitate,” Chrysostom boldly declares his
-preference for celibacy, but at the same time he exposes and denounces
-the mischievous error of Marcionites and Manichæans, who condemned
-marriage altogether as positive sin. “They were mistaken in supposing
-that abstinence from marriage would procure them a high place in
-heaven, because, even if it were granted that marriage was a positive
-sin, it must be remembered that not those who abstained from sin, but
-those who did positive good, would receive the highest rewards; not one
-who abstained from calling his brother ‘Raca,’ but he who loved his
-enemies. The celibacy of heretics, such as the Manichæans, was based on
-the false conception that all created matter was evil, and that the
-Creator Himself was an inferior being to the Supreme Deity. Hence their
-celibacy was the work of the devil; they belonged to those mentioned
-only to be condemned in 1 Tim. iv. 1-3 ‘as forbidding to marry.’[194]
-Chastity of body was worthless, if the soul within was depraved; but
-celibacy rightly cultivated, to preserve the purity of the soul towards
-God, was better than marriage, better as heaven was better than earth,
-and angels better than men.” He confronts the common objection: if
-all men embraced celibacy, how would the race be propagated? “Myriads
-of angels inhabit heaven, yet we believe they are not propagated by
-matrimony, and it was only by the special provision and will of God,
-that matrimony itself produced offspring. Sarah was barren till God
-vouchsafed her Isaac. Marriage was the inferior state to conduct us
-to the higher; it was to celibacy as the Law to the Gospel, it was
-a crutch to support those who would otherwise fall into sin, but to
-be dispensed with when possible. Let those, then, who reproached and
-derided celibacy, put a restraint upon their lips, lest like Miriam, or
-the children who mocked Elisha, they should be severely punished for
-pouring contempt on so holy a state.”[195]
-
-We are enabled to understand from this work why the best Christianity
-in the East was so disparaging of the married state. The woman had
-not attained her proper place in society. She seems to have been
-ill-educated, to have been kept, especially before marriage, in a state
-of unnatural seclusion, which she broke when she could, and was too
-often treated by the husband like a slave, with severity and distrust.
-This degrading position was partly a remnant of a pagan state of
-society, partly the offspring of oriental character and habits of life.
-Christianity perceived the evil, but had not effected much towards
-a remedy. Instead of endeavouring to elevate, to soften, and refine
-the relation of one sex to the other, it encouraged rather a total
-separation. The treatise now under notice presents curious pictures
-of domestic life, if such it can be called, in that age. Matrimonial
-matches were arranged entirely by the parents, the attentions of the
-suitors were paid to the parents, not to the maiden herself. She
-suffered an agony of suspense, while the favourite of yesterday was
-supplanted by the superior charms of some rival of to-day, who in his
-turn was superseded by a third. Sometimes, on the very eve of marriage,
-the suitor whom she herself preferred was dismissed, and she was
-finally handed over to another whom she disliked. The suitors also, on
-their side, were racked by anxiety; for it was difficult to ascertain
-what the real character, personal appearance, and manners were of the
-maiden, who was always kept in the strictest seclusion. Then there was
-often great difficulty in getting the dowry paid by the father-in-law,
-which was an annoyance to each of the newly-married pair.[196]
-
-He draws a highly-wrought picture, with some caustic humour, of the
-miseries of jealous wives and husbands. When a man constantly suspects
-“his dearest love,”[197] for whom he would willingly sacrifice life
-itself, what can console him? By day and night he has no peace, and
-is irritable to all. Some men have even slain their wives, without
-succeeding in cooling their own jealous rage. The trials of the wife
-were more severe; her words, her very looks and sighs, were watched by
-slaves, and reported to her husband, who was too jealous to distinguish
-false tales from the true. The poor woman was reduced to the wretched
-alternative of keeping her own apartment, or, if she went out, of
-rendering an exact account of her proceedings. Untold wealth, sumptuous
-fare, troops of servants, distinguished birth, amounted to nothing
-when placed in the balance against such miseries as these. If it was
-the woman who was jealous, she suffered more than the man, for she
-could not keep him at home, or set the servants to watch him. If she
-remonstrated with him, she would be told that she had better hold her
-tongue, and keep her suspicions to herself. If the husband instituted
-a suit against the wife, the laws were favourable to him, and he
-could procure her condemnation, and even death; but if she were the
-petitioner, he would escape.[198]
-
-It was very natural that the woman, who, before marriage, was cooped
-up like a child in the parental home, should break out afterwards into
-extravagance, dissipation, and frivolity, if not worse. An inordinate
-amount of time and money was bestowed upon dress, though perhaps not
-more than by the fashionable ladies of modern times. Women loaded
-themselves with ornaments, under the delusion that these added to
-their charms, whereas, Chrysostom observes, if the woman was naturally
-beautiful, the ornaments only concealed and detracted from her charms.
-If she was ugly, they only set off her ugliness by the glaring
-contrast, and the effect on the spectator was ludicrous or painful.
-But the adornment of the virgin who had dedicated herself to God was
-altogether spiritual. She arrayed herself in gentleness, modesty,
-poverty, humility, fasting, vigils. Incorporeal graces and incorporeal
-beauty were the objects of her love and contemplation. She treated
-enemies with such perfect courtesy and forbearance, that even the
-depraved were put to shame in her presence. The goodness of the soul
-within overflowed into all her outer actions.[199] From this rapturous
-description of a highly spiritual kind of life, Chrysostom passes,
-with versatile quickness, to a somewhat ludicrous picture of the petty
-cares of life in the world. “The worldly lady thinks it a fine thing
-to drive round the Forum; how much better to be independent, and use
-her feet for the purpose for which God gave them! There was always some
-difficulty about the mules: she and her husband wanted them at the
-same time; one or both were lame or turned out to grass. A quiet and
-modestly-dressed woman needed no carriage and attendants to protect
-her in her passage through the streets, but might walk through the
-Forum, free from any annoyance. Some might say it was pleasant to be
-waited on by a troop of handmaids; but, on the contrary, such a charge
-was attended with much anxiety. Not only had the sick to be taken care
-of, but the indolent to be chastised, mischief, quarrels, and all
-kinds of evil doings to be corrected; and if there happened to be one
-distinguished by personal beauty, jealousy was added to all these other
-cares, lest the husband should be so captivated by her charms as to
-pay more attention to her than to her mistress.[200] If it was replied
-to all these objections against married life, that Abraham and other
-saints in the Old Testament were all married men, it must be remembered
-that a much higher standard was required under the New Dispensation.
-There were degrees of perfection. When Noah was said to be ‘perfect in
-his generation,’ it meant relatively to that age in which he lived, for
-what is perfect in relation to one era becomes imperfect for another.
-Murder was forbidden by the Old Law, but hatred and wrath under the
-New. A larger effusion of the Holy Spirit rendered Christian men fully
-grown as compared with the children of the Old Dispensation. Degrees of
-virtue, impossible then, were attainable now; and as the moral standard
-under the Old Dispensation was lower, so the rewards of obedience were
-less exalted. The Jews were encouraged to obedience by the promise of
-an earthly country, Christians by the prospect of heaven. The Jews
-were deterred from sin by menaces of temporal calamity; the Christian,
-of eternal punishment. Let us, therefore, not spend our care upon
-money-getting and wives and luxurious living, else how shall we ever
-become men rather than children, and live in the spirit? for when we
-have taken our journey to that other world, the time for contest will
-have passed; then those who have not oil in their lamps will be unable
-to borrow it from their neighbours, or he who has a soiled garment to
-exchange it for another robe. When the Judge’s throne has been placed,
-and He is seated upon it, and the fiery stream is ‘coming forth from
-before Him’ (Dan. vii. 10), and the scrutiny of past life has begun:
-though Noah, Daniel, and Job were to implore an alteration of the
-sentence passed upon their own sons and daughters, their intercession
-would not avail.”[201]
-
-The long treatise “De S. Babyla contra Julianum et Gentiles” presents
-several interesting subjects for consideration. In the history of
-the grove of Daphne we have a singular instance of the way in which
-Grecian legend was transplanted into foreign soil. Daphne, the daughter
-of the Grecian river-god Ladon, was, according to the Syrian version
-of the myth, overtaken by Apollo near Antioch. Here it was, on the
-banks, not of the Peneus, but of the Orontes, that the maiden prayed
-to her mother earth to open her arms and shelter her from the pursuit
-of the amorous god, and that the laurel plant sprang out of the spot
-where she disappeared from the eyes of her disappointed lover. The
-horse of Seleucus Nicator, founder of the Syrian monarchy, was said
-to have struck his hoof upon one of the arrows which Apollo had
-dropped in the hurry of his chase; in consequence of which the king
-dedicated the place to the god. A temple was erected in his honour,
-ample in proportions, and sumptuous in its adornments; the interior
-walls were resplendent with polished marbles, the lofty ceiling was of
-cypress wood. The colossal image of the god, enriched with gold and
-gems, nearly reached the top of the roof; the draped portions were of
-wood, the nude portions of marble. The fingers of the deity lightly
-touched the lyre which hung from his shoulders, and in the other
-hand he held a golden dish, as if about to pour a libation on the
-earth, “and supplicate the venerable mother to give to his arms the
-cold and beauteous Daphne.”[202] The whole grove became consecrated
-to pleasure, under the guise of festivity in honour of the god. A
-more beautiful combination of delights cannot well be conceived. The
-grove was situated five miles to the south-west of Antioch, among the
-outskirts of the hills, where many of the limpid streams, rushing down
-towards the valley of the Orontes, mingled their waters. The road
-which connected the city with this spot was lined on the left hand
-with large gardens and groves, baths, fountains, and resting-places;
-on the right were villas with vineyards and rose-gardens irrigated by
-rivulets. Daphne itself was, according to Strabo,[203] eighty stadia,
-or about ten miles, in circumference. It contained everything which
-could gratify and charm the senses; the deep impenetrable shade of
-cypress trees, the delicious sound and coolness of falling waters,
-the fragrance of aromatic shrubs. Such a combination of all that was
-voluptuous told with fatal and enervating effect upon the morals of
-a people who were at all times disposed to an immoderate indulgence
-in luxurious pleasures. Roman troops, and even Roman emperors, fell
-victims to the allurements of the spot.[204] The annual celebration
-of the Olympian games instituted here by Commodus was especially the
-occasion of shocking excesses of every kind. But by the order of Gallus
-Cæsar an attempt was made to introduce a pure association into the spot
-hitherto abandoned to the licentiousness of pagan rites. The remains
-of Babylas, the Bishop of Antioch, who had suffered martyrdom in the
-reign of Decius, were transferred from their resting-place in the city
-to the grove of Daphne. The chapel or martyry erected over the bones of
-the Christian saint stood hard by the temple of the pagan deity. Here
-it confronted the Christian visitor, as a warning to him not to take
-part in pagan and licentious rites, abhorrent to the faith for which
-the Bishop had died. But the remains of the martyr were not permitted
-to rest in peace. When Julian visited Antioch, he consulted the oracle
-of Apollo at Daphne respecting the issue of the expedition which he
-was about to make into Persia. But the oracle was dumb. At length the
-god yielded to the importunity of repeated prayers and sacrifices so
-far as to explain the cause of his silence. He was disturbed by the
-proximity of a dead body: “Break open the sepulchres, take up the
-bones, and remove them hence.” The demand was interpreted as referring
-to the remains of Babylas, and the wishes of the crestfallen oracle
-were complied with.[205] But the insult done to the Christian martyr
-was speedily avenged. Soon after the accomplishment of the impious
-act, a violent thunderstorm broke over the temple, and the lightning
-consumed both the roof of the building and the statue of the deity. At
-the time when Chrysostom wrote, some twenty years after the occurrence,
-the mournful wreck was yet standing; but the chapel again contained the
-relics of the saint and martyr, and conferred blessings on the pilgrims
-who resorted thither in crowds. The ruined and deserted temple, side
-by side with the carefully-preserved church of the martyr, thronged
-by devotees, presented a striking emblem of the fate of paganism,
-crumbling and vanishing away before the presence of the new faith,
-blasted by the lightning flash of a mightier force. A great portion of
-the treatise of Chrysostom is occupied by an analysis of his old master
-Libanius’s elegy over the fate of the stricken shrine of pagan worship.
-The affected and inflated tone of the sophist’s composition deserves
-the sarcasm and scorn which his pupil unsparingly pours upon it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
- ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD BY FLAVIAN—INAUGURAL
- DISCOURSE IN THE CATHEDRAL—HOMILIES AGAINST THE
- ARIANS—ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE CHARIOT RACES. A.D. 386.
-
-
-Chrysostom had used the office of a deacon well. The lofty tone of
-Christian piety, the boldness, the ability, the command of language
-manifested in his writings, marked him out as eminently qualified for
-a preacher. His treatises, indeed, are distinguished by a vehemence
-and energy which belong more to the fervour of the orator than to the
-calmness of the writer. No doubt also men had not forgotten the talent
-for speaking which he had displayed when he began to practise, nearly
-twenty years before, as a lawyer. The Bishop Flavian ordained him a
-priest in 386, and immediately appointed him to be one of the most
-frequent preachers in the church. The bishop of a see like Antioch
-at that time rather resembled the rector of a large town parish than
-the bishop of modern times. He resided in Antioch, and discharged the
-duties of a chief pastor, assisted by his staff of priests and deacons.
-Where the whole Christian population amounted to not more than 100,000
-souls, as in Antioch,[206] that division into distinct districts,
-such as were formed in Alexandria,[207] Rome, and Constantinople,
-with separate churches, served by members of the central staff in
-rotation, or by pastors especially appropriated to them, does not seem
-to have been made. Chrysostom officiated and preached in the great
-church, where the bishop also officiated. The less learned and less
-able priests were appointed to the less responsible duties of visiting
-the sick and the poor, and administering the sacraments. The vocation
-of Chrysostom, however, was especially that of a teacher. It will be
-readily acknowledged how difficult, how delicate an office preaching
-was, in an age when Christianity and Paganism were still existing side
-by side, and when the opinions of many men were floating in suspense
-between the old faith and the new, and were liable to be distracted
-from a firm hold upon the truth by Judaism and heresies of every shade.
-
-Either on the occasion of his ordination, or very soon after it,
-Chrysostom preached an inaugural discourse, in the presence of the
-bishop. It is distinguished by that flowery and exaggerated kind of
-rhetoric which he occasionally displays in all its native oriental
-luxuriance, and which is due to the school in which he was brought up,
-rather than to the man. On such a public and formal occasion he appears
-less as the Christian teacher than as the scholar of Libanius the
-Rhetorician. His self-disparagement at the opening of his discourse,
-and his flattering encomiums on Flavian and Meletius at the close,
-would to modern, certainly at least to English, ears sound intolerably
-affected. No doubt, however, they were acceptable to the taste of
-his audience at Antioch; and, indeed, the whole discourse contains
-nothing more overstrained or ornate than is to be found in some of
-the most celebrated performances of the great French preachers in the
-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
-
-A few paraphrases will suffice to illustrate the character of his
-discourse.
-
-“He could scarcely believe what had befallen him, that he, an
-insignificant and abject youth,[208] should find himself elevated to
-such a height of dignity. The spectacle of so vast a multitude hanging
-in expectation on his lips quite unnerved him, and would have dried up
-fountains of eloquence, had he possessed such. How, then, could he hope
-that his little trickling stream of words would not fail, and that the
-feeble thoughts which he had put together with so much labour would not
-vanish from his mind?
-
-“Wherefore he besought them to pray earnestly that he might be inspired
-with courage to open his mouth boldly in this hitherto unattempted
-work.[209] He wished to offer the first-fruits of his speech in praise
-to God. As the tiller of the ground gave of his wheat, grapes, or
-olives, so he would fain make an offering in kind; he would ‘praise the
-name of God with a song, and magnify it with thanksgiving.’ But the
-consciousness of sin made him shrink from the task, for as in a wreath
-not only must the flowers be clean, but also the hands which wove it,
-so in sacred hymns not only must the words be holy, but also the soul
-of him who composed them. The words of the wise man who said, ‘praise
-is not becoming in the mouth of a sinner,’[210] sealed up his lips, and
-when David invited all creation, animate and inanimate, visible and
-invisible, to ‘praise the Lord of Heaven, to praise him in the height,’
-he did not include the sinner in the invitation. He would rather
-therefore dilate on the merits of some of his fellow-men who were
-worthier than himself. The mention of their Christian virtues would be
-an indirect way, legitimate for a sinner, of paying glory and honour
-to God himself. And to whom should he address his praises first but
-to their bishop, whom he might call the teacher of their country, and
-through their country of the world at large? To enter fully, however,
-into his manifold virtues was to dive into so deep a sea that he
-feared he should lose himself in its profundities. To do justice to the
-task would require an inspired and apostolic tongue. He must confine
-himself to a few points. Although reared in the midst of affluence,
-Flavian had surmounted the difficulties which impeded the entrance of
-a rich man into the kingdom of heaven. He had been distinguished from
-youth by perfect temperance and control over the bodily appetites,
-by contempt of luxury and a costly table. Though untimely deprived
-of parental care, and exposed to the temptations incident to wealth,
-youth, and good birth, yet had he triumphed over them all. He had
-assiduously cultivated his mind, and had put the bridle of fasting on
-his body sufficient to curb excess, without impairing its strength and
-usefulness; and though he had now glided into the haven of a calm old
-age, yet he did not relax the severity of this personal discipline.
-The death of their beloved father Meletius had caused great distress
-and perplexity to the Church, but the appearance of his successor had
-dispersed it, as clouds vanished before the sun. When Flavian mounted
-the episcopal throne, Meletius himself seemed to have risen from his
-tomb.”
-
-All that can be collected from history respecting Flavian’s character
-confirms and justifies these eulogiums, though English taste would
-prefer them to have been uttered after his death rather than in his
-actual presence. Chrysostom concludes by saying that he had prolonged
-his address beyond the bounds which became his position, but the
-flowery field of praise had tempted him to linger. “He would conclude
-his task by asking their prayers: prayers that their common mother
-the Church might remain undisturbed and steadfast, and that the life
-of their father, teacher, spiritual shepherd, and pilot, might be
-prolonged; prayers finally that he, the preacher, might be strengthened
-to bear the yoke which was laid upon him, might in the great day
-restore safely the deposit which his Master had committed to his trust,
-and obtain mercy for his sins through the grace and goodness of the
-Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, and power, and worship for ever
-and ever.”
-
-We now enter on a period of ten years, during which Chrysostom
-constantly resided in Antioch, and was occupied in the almost incessant
-labour of preaching. The main bulk of those voluminous works which have
-been preserved to our times belongs to this period; yet there can be
-no doubt that, numerous as are the extant works, they represent but a
-fraction of the discourses which he actually delivered. For we know,
-on his own authority, that he frequently preached twice, occasionally
-oftener, in the course of a week.[211]
-
-It does not fall within the scope of this essay to determine how many
-of the homilies which we possess were delivered in each year, or to
-enter into a critical examination of every set. But an attempt will be
-made to extract from them whatever seems to throw light upon the life
-and times of their author, upon events in which he played a conspicuous
-part, or which were of great public importance; whatever also
-illustrates the special condition of the Church,—her general practice,
-her merits and defects, the dangers and difficulties with which, from
-dissension within or heresy without, she had at this era to contend.
-
-The field of subjects on which the preacher was called to exercise
-his powers was varied and extensive. Christianity was imperilled by
-corruption of morals and corruption of faith. Not the laity only,
-but the clergy also, at least in the great towns, had become deeply
-infected by the prevalent follies and vices of the age. Again,
-between the orthodox Christian and the Pagan every variety of heresy
-intervened. The Arian, the Manichæan, the Marcionite, the Sabellian,
-the Jew,—all were, so to say, touching and fraying the edge of pure
-Christianity; the danger was, lest they should gradually so wear it
-away as to injure the very vitals of the faith. Such were the evils
-which Chrysostom bent his energies to redress, such the enemies whom he
-manfully endeavoured to repel. He is alternately the champion of a pure
-morality and of a sound faith.
-
-Among the discourses which belong to the first year of his priesthood
-falls one delivered in commemoration of Bishop Meletius, the
-predecessor of Flavian.[212] He had died at Constantinople about
-the end of May A.D. 381, and Chrysostom in the commencement of his
-homily remarks, that five years had now elapsed since the bishop had
-taken his journey to the “Saviour of his longings.” The tone of the
-discourse illustrates a characteristic of the times; a passionate
-devotion to the memory of departed saints which was rapidly passing
-into actual adoration; a subject on which more will be said hereafter.
-The shrine which contained the reliques of Meletius was placed in the
-sight of the preacher and the congregation, who swarmed round it like
-bees.[213] When Chrysostom looked at the great multitude assembled
-he congratulated the holy Meletius on enjoying such honour after his
-death, and he congratulated the people also on the endurance of their
-affection to their late spiritual father. Meletius was like the sound
-root which though invisible proved its strength by the vigour of
-its fruit. When he had returned from his first banishment the whole
-Christian population had streamed forth to meet him. Happy those who
-succeeded in clasping his feet, kissing his hand, hearing his voice.
-Others who beheld him only at a distance felt that they too had
-obtained a blessing from the mere sight. A kind of spiritual glory
-emanated from his holy person, even as the shadows of St. Peter and St.
-John had healed the sick on whom they fell. “Let us all, rulers and
-ruled, men and women, old and young, free men and slaves, offer prayer,
-taking the blessed Meletius into partnership with this our prayer
-(since he has more confidence now in offering prayer, and entertains a
-warmer affection towards us), that our love may be increased and that
-as now we stand beside his shrine, so one day we may all be permitted
-to approach his resting-place in the other world.”
-
-The discourses of Chrysostom against Arians and Jews fall within the
-first year of his priesthood.[214] They are among the finest of his
-productions, and deserve perusal on account of their intrinsic merit
-no less than of the important points of doctrine with which they
-are concerned. Antioch, indeed, may in some sort be regarded as the
-cradle of Arianism. Paul of Samosata, who was deposed from the see of
-Antioch in A.D. 272, advocated doctrines of a Sabellian character, but
-that sophistical dialectical school of thought of which the Arians
-were the most conspicuous representatives may be traced to him. His
-original calling had been that of a sophist, and he was therefore by
-training more fitted to attack established doctrines than to build up
-a definite system of his own. Hence it is not surprising that, though
-his own tendency was to Sabellian opinions, Lucian, his intimate
-friend and fellow-countryman, held doctrines diametrically opposite,
-or what were afterwards called Arian.[215] Lucian, when presbyter at
-Antioch, was the teacher of Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, of Leontius,
-the Arian Bishop of Antioch, and perhaps also of Arius himself.[216]
-Aëtius, and his pupil Eunomius, originators of the most extreme and
-undisguised form of Arianism, resided in the beginning of their career
-at Antioch. Eunomius, in fact, was the founder of a sect which was
-called Eunomian after him; or sometimes Anomœan, because it denied not
-only equality but even similarity (ὁμοιότης) between the Father and
-the Son in the Holy Trinity. It was the most materialistic phase which
-Arianism developed. Mystery was to be eliminated from revelation as
-much as possible, sacramental grace was little recognised, asceticism
-disparaged. Adherents of this school seem to have existed still in
-some force at Antioch. A system marked by so much of cold intellectual
-pride was especially repugnant to the fervid and humble faith of
-Chrysostom. Yet in his assaults upon it he was neither precipitate nor
-harsh. In his first homily “On the incomprehensible Nature of God,” he
-says that, having observed several persons who were infected by this
-heresy listening to his discourses, he had abstained from attacking
-their errors, wishing to gain a firmer hold upon their interest before
-engaging with them in controversy. But having been invited by them to
-undertake the contest, he could not decline it, but would endeavour to
-conduct it in a spirit of gentleness and love, since “the servant of
-the Lord must not strive, but be gentle towards” all, as well as “apt
-to teach.” He urges all disputants to remember our Lord’s answer when
-He was buffeted, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but
-if well, why smitest thou me?”[217]
-
-He dilates on the arrogance of the Anomœans in pretending to understand
-and to define the exact nature of God. “Professing themselves wise
-they only discovered their folly. Imperfect knowledge on so profound a
-subject was an inevitable part of the imperfection of our human state.
-The condition of our present knowledge was this: we know many things
-_about_ God, but we do not know _how_ they are or take place. For
-example, we may know that He is everywhere and without beginning or
-end, but _how_ He is thus, we know not. We know that He begat the Son,
-and that the Holy Spirit proceeded from Him, but _how_ these things
-can be we are unable to tell. This is analogous to our knowledge of
-many things which are called natural. We eat various kinds of food, but
-_how_ they nourish us and are transmuted into the several humours of
-the body we do not understand.”[218]
-
-“Again, if the wisest and holiest men have confessed themselves
-incompetent to fathom the _purposes_ and _dispensations_ of God, how
-far more inscrutable must His _essence_ be! If David exclaims ‘Such
-knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me, I cannot attain unto
-it;’ and St. Paul, ‘Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom of God! how
-unsearchable are His judgments, how untraceable His ways!’ if the very
-angels do not presume to discuss the nature of God, but humbly adore
-Him with veiled faces, crying ‘Holy, Holy, Holy,’ how monstrous is the
-conceit and irreverence of those who curiously investigate and pretend
-to define the exact nature of the Godhead!”[219]
-
-He proceeds to dwell upon the littleness and feebleness of man, as
-contrasted with the amazing and boundless power of God. The Eunomians
-maintained that man could know the nature of God as much as God Himself
-knew it. “What mad presumption was this! The Prophets exhaust all
-available metaphors to express the insignificance of man as compared
-with God. Men are ‘dust and ashes,’ ‘grass,’ and the ‘flower of
-grass,’ ‘a vapour,’ ‘a shadow.’ Inanimate creation acknowledges the
-irresistible supremacy of His power; ‘if He do but touch the hills they
-shall smoke,’ ‘He shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars
-thereof tremble’ (Job ix. 6).” “Seest thou not yon sky, how beautiful
-it is, how vast, spangled with what a choir of stars? Five thousand
-years and more has it stood, yet length of time has left no mark of
-old age upon it: like a youthful vigorous body it retains the beauty
-with which it was endowed at the beginning. This beautiful, this vast,
-this starry, this ancient firmament, was made by that God into whose
-nature you curiously pry, was made with as much ease as a man might for
-pastime construct a hovel: ‘He established the sky like a roof, and
-stretched it out like a tent over the earth’ (Isa. xl. 22). The solid,
-durable earth He made, and all the nations of the world, even as far
-as the British Isles, are but as a drop in a bucket; and shall man, who
-is but an infinitesimal part of this drop, presume to inquire into the
-nature of Him who made all these forces and whom they obey?”[220] “God
-dwells in the light which no man can approach unto. If the light which
-surrounds Him be inaccessible, how much more God Himself who is within
-it? St. Paul rebukes those who presume to question the dispensation of
-God. ‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall
-the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me
-thus?’ How much more, then, would he have reproved dogmatic assumptions
-respecting the nature of the great Dispenser?[221] The declaration
-of St. John, that no man had seen God at any time, might appear at
-variance with the descriptions in the prophets of visions of the Deity.
-As: ‘I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, high and lifted up’ (Isa.
-vi. 1). ‘I saw the Lord standing above the altar’ (Amos ix. 1). ‘I
-beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did
-sit, whose garment was white as snow,’ etc. (Dan. vii. 9). But the very
-variety of forms under which God is said to have appeared proves that
-these manifestations were merely condescensions to the weakness of
-human nature, which requires something that the eye can see and the ear
-can hear. They were only manifestations of the Deity adapted to man’s
-capacity; not the Divine Nature itself, which is simple, incomposite,
-devoid of shape. So also, when it is said of God the Son that He is
-‘in the bosom of the Father,’ when He is described as standing, or
-sitting, on the right hand of God, these expressions must not be
-interpreted in too material a sense; they are expressions accommodated
-to our understandings, to convey an idea of such an intimate union and
-equality between the two Persons as is in itself incomprehensible.”[222]
-
-And this leads him on to consider the second error of the Arians—their
-denial of absolute equality between the three Persons in the Godhead.
-His arguments are based, as usual, entirely on an appeal to Holy
-Scripture. He makes a skilful selection and combination of texts to
-prove his point: that the titles “God” and “Lord” are common to the
-first two Persons in the Trinity—the names Father and Son being added
-merely to distinguish the Personality. Had the Father alone been God,
-then it would have been superfluous to add the name Father at all:
-“there is one God” would have been sufficient. But, as it was, the
-titles “God” and “Lord” were applied to both Persons to prove their
-equality in respect of Godhead. That the appellation of Lord no way
-indicated inferiority was plain, because it was frequently applied to
-the Father. “The Lord our God is one Lord,” Exod. xx. 2. “Great is our
-Lord, and great is his power,” Ps. cxlvii. 5. On the other hand, Christ
-is frequently entitled _God_, e.g. “Immanuel—_God_ with us.” “Christ
-according to the flesh, who is over all, _God_ blessed for ever.” In
-some instances the Father and the Son are both called Lord, or both
-God, in the _same_ passage; as, for example, “The Lord said unto my
-Lord, ... Thy throne, O God (the Son), is for ever and ever; ...
-wherefore God (the Father), even thy God, hath anointed thee with the
-oil of gladness,” etc.[223]
-
-The reason why Christ sometimes acted and spoke in a manner which
-implied human infirmity and inferiority to the Father was twofold:
-First, that men might be convinced that He did really, substantially,
-exist in the truth of our human nature; that He was not a mere
-phantom—the error of Marcion, Manes, and Valentinus—an error which
-would have been still more prevalent had He not so clearly manifested
-the reality of his humanity. On the other hand, He was reserved and
-cautious in declaring the highest mystery—his divine union and
-equality with the Father—out of condescension to the weakness of man’s
-intellect, which recoiled from the more recondite mysteries. When He
-told them that “Abraham rejoiced to see his day,” that “before Abraham
-was He was,” “that the bread from heaven was his flesh, which He would
-give for the life of the world,” that “hereafter they should see the
-Son of Man coming in the clouds,” they were invariably offended. But,
-on the contrary, He was chiefly accepted when He spoke words implying
-more humiliation—for example, “I can of my own self do nothing, but as
-my Father taught me, even so I speak.” “As He spake these words,” we
-are told, “many believed on Him.”[224]
-
-Two other reasons might be assigned for this language of
-self-abasement. One was, that He came to teach us humility,—“Learn of
-me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.” He “came not to be ministered
-unto but to minister.” He who bids others be lowly must first and
-pre-eminently be lowly himself. Therefore He performed such acts
-as washing his disciples’ feet; and the Incarnation itself was no
-sign, as the Arian maintained, of inferiority, but only the highest
-expression of that great principle of self-sacrificing love which He
-came to teach. Lastly, by such language He directs our minds to the
-apprehension of a clear distinction between the Persons in the Godhead.
-If his sayings about Himself had all been of the same type as “I and my
-Father are one,” the Sabellian error of confounding the Persons would
-have become yet more prevalent than it was. Thus, we find throughout
-our Lord’s life, in his acts and language, a careful mixture and
-variation of character in order to present the two elements—the human
-and divine—in equal proportions. He predicts his own sufferings and
-death, yet quickly afterwards He prays the Father that He might be, if
-possible, spared undergoing them. In the first act is pure divinity;
-in the second, humanity shrinking from that pain which is abhorrent to
-human nature.[225]
-
-This very fact, however, of our Lord’s praying, was laid hold of by
-the Arians to prove the inferiority of his nature. This argument
-Chrysostom meets in Homilies IX. and X. The raising of Lazarus had been
-read in the Gospel for the day. “I perceive,” he says, “that many of
-the Jews and heretics will find an excuse, in the prayer offered by
-Christ before performing this miracle, to impugn his power, and say
-He could not have done it without the Father’s assistance.” But this
-fell to the ground, because on most other occasions our Lord wrought
-his miracles without any prayer at all. To the dead maiden he simply
-said, “Talitha cumi,” and she arose; the woman with an issue of blood
-was healed without any word or touch from Him. In the case of Lazarus
-He prayed, as He Himself declared, for the sake of the people, that
-they might perceive that God heard his prayers—that there was a perfect
-unanimity between the Father and the Son. Martha, in fact, had asked
-for a prayer—“I know whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give it
-thee;” therefore He prayed; just as, when the centurion said, “Speak
-the word only,” He spake the word and the servant was healed. If He had
-needed help He would have invoked it before all his miracles. In fact
-there was no kind of sovereign power which He hesitated to exercise.
-“Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee” ... “the Son of man
-hath power on earth to forgive sins;”—to an evil spirit, “_I_ charge
-thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him;” ... “to them of
-old it was said, Thou shalt not kill; but _I_ say, whosoever is angry
-with his brother without a cause,” etc. He represents Himself as saying
-on the final day, “Come, ye blessed;” or “Depart, ye cursed.” Thus He
-claims authority to absolve, to judge, to legislate.
-
-Homilies XI. and XII., against the Anomœans, were delivered some
-ten years later at Constantinople, but as they contain no special
-references to the events of that time, the continuity of this subject
-may be maintained by extracting from them the argument there employed
-to prove the equality of the Son with the Father. It is based on the
-passage, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (St. John v. 17); by
-which our Saviour justified Himself from the accusation of breaking the
-Sabbath when He healed the paralytic. The words “My Father worketh,”
-Chrysostom observes, refer to the daily operations of God’s providence,
-by which he sustains in being those things which he commanded into
-existence.
-
-This upholding energy, our Lord declares, is active at all times and on
-all days alike; and if it were not, the fabric of the universe would
-fall to pieces. He claims a similar right to providential rule, which
-implies equality with the Father. “My Father worketh, _and I_ work.” If
-the Son had been inferior, such a method of justifying Himself would
-only have added force to the charges of his enemies. If a subject of
-the Emperor were to put on the imperial diadem and purple, it would be
-no excuse to say that he wore them _because_ the Emperor wore them—“the
-Emperor wears them, _and I_ wear them;”—on the contrary, it would
-augment the offensiveness of his presumption and arrogance. If Christ
-were not equal with the Father, it was the height of presumption to use
-those words, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
-
-In dealing with such lengthy homilies, it has been impossible to do
-more than give specimens in a very condensed form of the main lines
-of argument which Chrysostom adopts. They vary greatly in value; but
-two points cannot fail to arrest the notice of any one who reads these
-homilies through:—First, the profound acquaintance of their author
-with Holy Scripture; extending apparently with equal force to every
-part of the sacred volume. Old and New Testament and Apocrypha are
-almost equally employed for argument, illustration, adornment; he is at
-home everywhere. Secondly, upon Scripture all his arguments are based:
-in none of his controversial homilies does Chrysostom take his stand
-upon the platform of existing tradition, or rely on the authority of
-the Church alone; “to the law and to the testimony” is always the way
-with him. And this was a test at that time universally accepted. The
-dispute with the most rationalistic and critical Arians seems never to
-have turned on the _authority_, but only on the _interpretation_ of
-Scripture. Scripture is appealed to as the supreme court for trying all
-their differences; the only question was, as to the exact meaning of
-its decisions.
-
-Again, we cannot fail to be struck by the ease and rapidity with which
-he glances off from the most controversial and theological parts of his
-discourse to practical reproof and exhortation. Nothing provoked him
-more than to see the bulk of that large concourse of people, who had
-been listening with profound attention to his address, leave the church
-just as the celebration of the Eucharist was about to commence. “Deeply
-do I groan to perceive that when your fellow-servant is speaking,
-great is your earnestness, strained your attention, you crowd one upon
-another, and stay till the very end; but that, when Christ is about
-to appear in the holy mysteries, the church is empty and deserted....
-If my words had been laid up in your hearts they would have kept you
-here, and brought you to the celebration of these most solemn mysteries
-with greater piety; but as it is, my speech seems as fruitless as
-the performance of a lute-player, for as soon as I have finished you
-depart. Away with the frigid excuse of many: I can say prayers at
-home, but I cannot at home hear homilies and doctrine. Thou deceivest
-thyself, O man; you may indeed pray at home, but it is impossible to
-pray _in the same manner_ as at church, where there is so large an
-assembly of your spiritual fathers, and the cry of the worshippers
-is sent up with one accord; where there is unanimity and concert in
-prayer; and where the priests preside, that the weaker supplications
-of the multitude being supported by theirs, which are more powerful,
-may ascend together with these to heaven. First prayer, then discourse;
-so say the Apostles—“But we will give ourselves to _prayer and_ to the
-ministry of the word.”[226]
-
-Again, as frequently in other discourses, he reproves the congregation
-for testifying their admiration of his words by applause. “You praise
-what I have said, you receive my exhortation with tumults of applause;
-but show your approbation by obedience; that is the praise which I
-seek, the applause which comes through deeds.”[227]
-
-His hearers, in fact, were so closely packed, and so much absorbed in
-listening to his discourse, that pickpockets often practised on them
-with some success. Chrysostom advises them, therefore, to bring no
-money or ornaments about their persons to church. It was a device of
-the devil, who hoped by means of this annoyance to chill their zeal
-in attending the services, just as he stripped Job of everything, not
-merely to make him poor but to rob him if possible of his piety.[228]
-
-But the most inveterate enemy with which Chrysostom had to contend
-was the circus. Against this he declaims with all the vehemence of
-Evangelical invectives against horse-racing in modern times. The
-indomitable passion for the chariot-races, and the silly eagerness
-displayed about them by the inhabitants of Rome, Constantinople, and
-Antioch, are among the most remarkable symptoms of the depraved state
-of society under the later Empire. The whole populace was divided
-into factions distinguished by the different colours adopted by the
-charioteers, of which green and blue were the two chief favourites.
-The animosity, the sanguinary tumults, the superstitions,[229]
-folly, violence of every kind, which were mixed up with these popular
-amusements, well deserved the unsparing severity with which they were
-lashed by the great preacher.
-
-A few specimens shall be collected here from other homilies, as well as
-from those immediately under consideration.
-
-“Again we have the horse-races; again our assembly is thinned. There
-were many indeed whose absence he little regretted: they were to
-the faithful amongst the congregation only as leaves to fruit.[230]
-Sometimes, however, the church was deserted by those of whom he had
-expected more fidelity. He felt disheartened, like a sower who had
-scattered good seed plentifully, but with no adequate result. Gladly
-and eagerly would he continue his exertions could he see any fruit of
-his labours; but when, forgetful of all his exhortations and warnings,
-and solemn remindings of the terrible doom, the unquenchable fire,
-the undying worm, they again abandoned themselves to the diabolical
-exhibitions of the race-course, with what heart could he return
-to the unthankful task? They manifested, indeed, by applause, the
-pleasure with which they heard his words, and then they hurried off
-to the circus, and, sitting side by side with Jew or Pagan, they
-applauded with a kind of frenzied eagerness the efforts of the several
-charioteers; they rushed tumultuously along, jostling one another, and
-shouting, ‘that horse didn’t run fairly,’ ‘that was tripped up and
-fell,’ and the like.[231] Various excuses were pleaded for absence
-from church—the exigencies of business, poverty, ill health, lameness;
-but these impediments never prevented attendance at the Hippodrome.
-In the church the chief places even were not always all occupied, but
-_there_ old and young, rich and poor, crowded every available space
-for standing or sitting; pushing, and squeezing, and trampling on
-one another’s feet, while the sun poured down on their heads: yet
-they appeared thoroughly to enjoy themselves, in spite of all these
-discomforts; while in the church the length of the sermon, or the heat,
-or the crowd, were perpetual subjects of complaint.”[232]
-
-Such are a few illustrations of one, but perhaps the most notable,
-form among many in which the impulsiveness and frivolity of the people
-of Antioch were displayed. “The building which the preacher had so
-laboriously and industriously reared in the hearts of his disciples was
-thus cruelly dashed down and levelled to the very ground by a few hours
-of dissolving pleasure and iniquitous frivolity.”[233]
-
-Truly indeed might the lamentation of the prophet over the evanescent
-piety of Ephraim and Judah have been applied to these people: “Your
-goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away”
-(Hos. vi. 4).
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
- HOMILIES AGAINST PAGANS AND JEWS—CONDITION OF THE JEWS IN
- ANTIOCH—JUDAISING CHRISTIANS—HOMILIES ON CHRISTMAS DAY
- AND NEW YEAR’S DAY—CENSURE OF PAGAN SUPERSTITIONS. A.D.
- 386, 387.
-
-
-In dealing with the Arians, the contest mainly turned, as has been
-pointed out in the previous chapter, on the interpretation of
-Scripture; but in doing battle with Pagans and Jews, with the former
-especially, Chrysostom had of course to take up a different attitude.
-The method which he adopts towards the Jew is to demonstrate the
-fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy in the person and work of Jesus
-Christ, and to insist on the consequent abrogation of the Jewish
-dispensation. The ground on which he mainly relies against the Pagan is
-the miraculous establishment and progress of Christianity in the face
-of unprecedented opposition, as an evidence of its divine origin.
-
-The treatise addressed to Jews and Gentiles combined exhibits a
-powerful application of both these methods.[234] “He would first of
-all enter the lists against the Pagan. And here caution was requisite.
-He would not say, when the Pagan asked how the divinity of Christ was
-to be proved, that Christ created the world, raised the dead, healed
-the sick, expelled demons, promised a resurrection and a heavenly
-kingdom, because these were the very questions upon which they joined
-issue. But he would start from a ground which even the Pagan would
-accept: no one would venture to deny that the Christian religion was
-founded by Jesus Christ, and from this simple fact he would undertake
-to prove that Christ could be no less than God. No mere man could, in
-so short a time, with such feeble instruments, and in the face of such
-opposition arising from inveterate custom and forms of faith, have
-subdued so many and such various races of mankind.[235] How contrary
-to the common course of events, that He who was despised, weak, and
-put to an ignominious death, should now be honoured and adored in all
-regions of the earth! Emperors who have made laws, and altered the
-constitution of states, who have ruled nations by their nod, in whose
-hands was the power of life and death, pass away; their images are in
-time destroyed, their actions forgotten, their adherents despised,
-their very names buried in oblivion:—present grandeur is succeeded by
-nothingness. In the case of Jesus Christ all is reversed. During his
-lifetime, all seemed failure and degradation, but a career of glory
-and triumph succeeded his death.[236] Before his death Judas betrayed
-him, St. Peter denied him; after his death, St. Peter and the rest
-of the Apostles traversed the world to bear witness to his truth,
-and thousands of people have died rather than utter what the chief
-of the Apostles once uttered from fear of a maid-servant’s taunts.
-‘His rest shall be glorious:’—this was true, not only of the Master,
-but also of his disciples. In that most royal city of Rome, monarchs,
-prefects, generals, flocked to the sepulchres of the fisherman and the
-tent-maker; and in Constantinople they who wore the diadem were content
-to lay their bones in the porch of the Apostles’ Church, and to become
-as it were the door-keepers of humble fishermen.[237] Christ had made
-the most ignominious death, and the instrument of it, glorious. It
-was written, ‘Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree,’ yet the cross had
-become the object of desire and love; it was more honourable than the
-whole world, for the imperial crown itself was not such an ornament
-to the head: princes and subjects, men and women, bond and free, all
-delighted to wear it imprinted on the brow. It was conspicuous on the
-Holy Table, and in the ceremony of ordaining priests; in houses, in
-market-places, by the wayside, and on mountain sides, on couches and
-on garments, on ships, on drinking vessels, in mural decorations, the
-cross was depicted. Whence all this extraordinary honour to a piece of
-wood, unless the power of him who died upon it was divine?”[238]
-
-Christ had declared that the gates of hell should not prevail against
-his Rock-founded Church. How far had this prediction been verified? In
-a short space of time Christianity had abolished ancestral customs,
-plucked up deeply-rooted habits, overturned altars and temples, caused
-unclean rites and ceremonials to vanish away. Christian altars had been
-erected in Italy, in Persia, in Scythia, in Africa. “What say I? even
-the British Isles, which lie outside the boundaries of our world and
-our sea, in the midst of the ocean itself, have experienced the power
-of the Word, for even there churches and altars have been set up.”
-Thus the world had been, so to say, cleared of thorns, and purified to
-receive the seed of godliness. What a proof of superhuman power! The
-progress of the Church had been encountered by customs which were not
-only venerated but pleasant; yet these traditions, handed down through
-long lines of ancestors, were abandoned for a religion far more severe
-and laborious, a religion which substituted fasting for enjoyment,
-poverty for money-getting, temperance for lasciviousness, meekness for
-wrath, benevolence for ill-will. Men who had long been enervated
-by luxury, and accustomed to the broad way, had been converted into
-the narrow, rugged path, not by tens or twenties, but by multitudes
-under the whole heaven. By whose agency had these mighty results been
-wrought? By a few unlearned obscure men, without illustrious ancestors,
-without money, without eloquence.[239] And all this in the teeth
-of opposition of the most varied kind. For where the new doctrine
-penetrated, it excited divisions and strife; children were set at
-variance with parents, brother with brother, husband with wife, master
-with servant. Yet, in spite of persecution and disruption of social
-ties, the new faith grew and flourished. How could such unprecedented
-marvels have come to pass but through the divine power, and in
-obedience to that Word of God which is creative of actual results? Just
-as, when He said “Let the earth bring forth grass,” the wilderness
-became a garden, so when the expression of His purpose had gone forth,
-“I will build my Church,” straightway the process began, and though
-tyrants and people, sophists and orators, custom and religion, had been
-arrayed against it, yet the Word, going forth like fire, consumed the
-thorns, and scattered the good seed over the purified soil.[240]
-
-In attempting to convince the Jews of the divinity of Jesus Christ by
-proving the exact fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy in his person
-and work, Chrysostom displays that intimate familiarity with every part
-of Scripture which is his eminent characteristic.
-
-The passages are, on the whole, most judiciously selected; some
-corresponding passage from the New Testament being placed, if possible,
-against each, with a careful attention even to verbal parallelism. For
-instance, against the passage in Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord shall
-_rest_ upon him,” he places the verse from St. John i. 32, “I beheld
-the Spirit descending like a dove, and it _abode_ upon him.”[241] He
-refers each event in Christ’s life, his Incarnation, his rejection by
-the Jews, his betrayal, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, the descent
-of the Holy Ghost, and the beginning of the Apostolic labours to some
-corresponding prediction.[242] He sometimes, however, falls into the
-error, less common in him than in other patristic interpreters, of
-seeing direct references to the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom, to
-the almost total exclusion of any other meaning. For instance, such
-passages as “Their sound is gone out into all lands,” “That thou mayest
-make princes in all lands,” are cited as if exclusively predictive of
-the propagation of Christianity. In such words as “The virgins that be
-her fellows shall bear her company,” he sees a distinct foreshadowing
-of the honour to be paid to virginity under Christianity.[243] In other
-passages, again, he is misled by ignorance of the Hebrew, and a too
-literal adherence to the Septuagint translation. In the passage, “I
-will make thy officers peace,” thine “exactors” being rendered in the
-Septuagint bishops or overseers, he extracts from this word a direct
-reference to the Christian priesthood.[244] “He shall descend like rain
-into a fleece of wool” is interpreted as significant of the extreme
-secrecy of Christ’s birth, and the noiseless gentleness with which his
-kingdom was founded.[245] Whereas, the strict translation being “like
-rain upon new-mown grass,” it is rather illustrative of the fruitful
-results of Christ’s advent.[246]
-
-Such occasional defects, however, will not prevent us from according
-the praise due to the great skill with which, on the whole, he has
-worked out this method of argument, and the noble vindication of
-Christianity in this treatise has seldom if ever been surpassed by
-Chrysostom elsewhere. The several parts of his argument are unfolded in
-orderly procession, and expressed with an eloquence at once luminous
-and earnest, and which, though at times copious and ornate, does not
-degenerate into the mere redundancy, still less into the affectations
-and flowery artifices, of rhetoric; he is always real and earnest, he
-is sometimes sublime.
-
-Closely connected with this treatise in subject, and not far distant
-in time of composition, are the Homilies directed against Jews and
-Judaising Christians. The Jews, ever since the time of Antiochus the
-Great, were a considerable body in Antioch, and over the Christian
-population exerted a seriously pernicious influence. Their position,
-indeed, in the Empire at large had been increasingly favourable from
-the reign of Hadrian to Constantine. Though they were not permitted
-to approach Jerusalem, yet the worship in their synagogues was freely
-tolerated; they were permitted to circumcise their own children though
-not the children of proselytes; and their religious organisation
-in the Empire was held together under the sway of the Patriarch of
-Tiberias.[247] After the recognition of Christianity by the Empire,
-the Jews, as a natural consequence, were less favourably treated. The
-statutes of Constantine and Constantius were severe. Those Jews who
-attempted the life of a Christian were to be burned. No Christians were
-to become Jews, under pain of punishment. Jews were forbidden to marry
-Christian women or to possess Christian slaves. The national character
-of the Jew seems to have deteriorated, as the race became more widely
-dispersed, and as their wealth and importance increased. They were no
-longer indeed so morosely and sullenly proud as when they gloried in
-the possession of a holy city and distinct religious ordinances, and
-a geographical position which isolated them from the rest of mankind,
-but neither were their faith or morals so pure. Self-indulgence,
-sensualism, and low cunning corrupted their life; a superstitious and
-material cast of thought depraved their faith. Their habits harmonised
-too well with that propensity to luxury and licentiousness which was
-the besetting vice of the people of Antioch; their materialism worked
-hand in hand with the prevailing Arianism, if, indeed, Arianism may
-not be regarded as in some sort its product. Certainly, whenever
-popular insurrections caused by religious dissensions occurred either
-in Antioch or in Alexandria, the Jews ranged themselves on the Arian
-side, as if the spirit and character of the Arian sect were the most
-congenial to their own.[248]
-
-Allowing for some exaggerations in the preacher, carried away by the
-impulse of the moment, the invectives of Chrysostom must be permitted
-to prove that the Jewish residents in Antioch were of a low and vicious
-order. They seem to have been regarded by the common people with a
-mixture of dislike and awe; the age was superstitious, and the Jews
-availed themselves of superstitious terrors to make a livelihood,
-especially through a kind of quackery in medicine. Their quarters
-are denounced by Chrysostom as dens of robbers and habitations of
-demons.[249] A whole day would not suffice to tell the tale of their
-extortions, their thefts, their deceptions, their base methods of
-traffic, such as the sale of amulets and charms.[250] Their priests
-were no better than counterfeits, because they had not gone through all
-the elaborate rites of consecration. They had no sacred ephod, no Urim
-and Thummim, no altar, no sacrifice, no prophecy.
-
-The Festival of Trumpets was a scene of great debauchery, more
-iniquitous than the proceedings in the theatre. Any catechumen who was
-detected attending that festival was to be excluded from the porch of
-the church; any communicant so detected was to be denied access to the
-Holy Table. The booths erected at the Feast of Tabernacles were like
-taverns, crowded with flute-players and ill-conditioned women. The
-synagogues were frequented by the most abandoned characters of both
-sexes, and dancers, actors, and charioteers were largely drawn from
-the Jewish population. In spite of this, many Christians were seduced
-to attend the Jewish festivals and fasts, and even to swear Jewish
-oaths in the synagogues, under the superstitious impression that such
-were more solemn and binding than any Christian forms. He had himself,
-only three days ago, rescued a woman being dragged off, against her
-will, to take an oath of this kind, by a man who professed himself
-a Christian. On stopping to rebuke him in the sternest language,
-Chrysostom was shocked to learn that the practice was extremely common
-among Christians. He passionately exhorts the faithful to reclaim their
-deluded brethren from these pernicious ways:—If twelve Apostles had
-converted the larger part of the world, it would be a shame that the
-Christians, who were the majority in the population of Antioch, should
-fail to allay the plague of Judaism. What treason! what inconsistency,
-that they, who worshipped the Crucified One, should associate with
-the race which crucified Him.[251] The synagogue ought not to be an
-object of reverence because it contained the Books of the Law and the
-Prophets, but rather of abhorrence, because those who possessed the
-Prophets refused to recognise Him of whom their writings spoke. Was the
-temple of Serapis holy because it contained the Septuagint, deposited
-there by Ptolemy Philadelphus?[252]
-
-Christians seem to have attended Jewish services much in that spirit
-of curiosity with which Protestants sometimes go to Roman Catholic
-churches, to be entertained by music, incense, and a grand ritual. They
-maintained that the effect was solemnising; but, observes Chrysostom,
-the value of the offering to God depends not on the nature of the
-offering, but on the heart of the offerers. The worshippers sanctify
-the temple, not the temple the worshippers. You would not touch or
-address the murderer of your own son, and will you court the society
-of those who slew the Son of God?[253] Let them consider that cry
-uttered by the deacon from time to time in the celebration of the holy
-mysteries: “Discern one another.”[254] So let them do. “If you discern
-any one Judaising, hold him fast and expose him, that you may not
-yourself participate in the danger.”
-
-“In military camps, if any soldier be detected sympathising with the
-barbarian or the Persian, not only does he himself run a risk of his
-life, but also any of his comrades who were conscious of his defection,
-but did not represent it to the general. Since, then, you are the army
-of Christ, search diligently whether any stranger has intruded into
-your camp, and expose him, not that we may put him to death, but that
-we may punish him, deliver him from his error and impiety, and render
-him wholly our own; but if you willingly conceal him, be well assured
-that you will sustain the same punishment with him.” This homily is
-concluded by a solemn adjuration: “In the words of Moses, I call heaven
-and earth to record against you this day, that if any of you now
-present or absent attend the Feast of Trumpets, or enter a synagogue,
-or observe a fast, or a sabbath, or any Jewish rite whatever, I am
-guiltless of your blood. These discourses will rise up for both of
-us in the great day of our Lord: if you shall have obeyed them, they
-will give you confidence; but if otherwise, they will stand as severe
-accusers against you.” Therefore he implored them to institute the most
-rigorous search after the Judaising brethren. When their mother the
-Church had lost a child, it was criminal to conceal either the captor
-or the captured; let the men seek out the men, the women the women, the
-slave his fellow-servant, and present the culprit to him before the
-next assembly.
-
-Another Judaising practice, which he condemns in the severest
-language, was the custom of keeping Easter on the 14th day of the
-month, according to Jewish calculation, irrespective of the week-day
-on which it might fall; thus sometimes feasting when the rest of
-the Church was fasting, or fasting when the rest was feasting. The
-existence of such a practice at this time was a remarkable instance of
-the increasing influence of the Jews in Antioch and the neighbouring
-regions. For up to the year A.D. 276, the Antiochene patriarchate had
-observed Easter in conformity with the Catholic usage; the adoption
-of the Jewish calculation was made after that date, when most of the
-rest of Christendom had dropped it, and was therefore the subject of
-special condemnation at the Council of Nice.[255] Such a discrepancy
-in practice was regarded as a most serious rent in the unity of the
-Church. Chrysostom denounces it especially as a contumacious disregard
-of the Council of Nice, which had distinctly ordained by the mouths
-of three hundred bishops that Easter should be kept at one and the
-same time throughout Christendom. He implores the Judaisers to desist
-from the idle inquiry into the exact dates of seasons; to follow the
-Church, and to place harmony and charitable peace before all things.
-It was impossible, in fact, to fix the actual day on which Christ
-rose; therefore let them observe that day which the Church through her
-bishops had prescribed. It was a less offence to fast on the wrong
-day than to rend the unity of the Church. “How long halt ye between
-two opinions?” if Judaism be true, embrace it altogether, and “cease
-to annoy the Church; if Christianity be true, abide in it, and follow
-it.”[256]
-
-The Jews themselves could not, in Chrysostom’s opinion, legally perform
-sacrifices, or observe festivals of any kind. Jerusalem was the only
-place in which such observances were commanded; and Jerusalem being
-destroyed they became void.[257] They had been suspended during
-the Captivity, to be resumed when the people returned to the holy
-soil. If the Jews of the present day also expected restoration, let
-them likewise suspend their rites; but, in fact, this never would
-occur. The Temple never would be rebuilt, and restoration was a
-vain hope. Jerusalem was to be trodden down of Gentiles till the
-times of the Gentiles were fulfilled; and by the fulfilment of those
-times Chrysostom understood the end of the world.[258] All four
-Captivities of the Jews—their subjection to the Egyptians, Babylonians,
-Antiochus, and the Romans—had been distinctly foretold. To each of
-the _first three_ prophecy had assigned a limit; but to the last
-_none_—it reached into all time; there was no sign or intimation of
-any probable cessation.[259] The revolt of the Jews under Hadrian,
-and under Constantine,[260] had ignominiously failed; the attempt of
-Julian to rebuild the Temple had been frustrated by portents: fire
-issuing from the foundations had consumed some of the workmen, and
-scared the spectators; the naked substructions, left just as they
-were when the work was abandoned, presented a visible monument of the
-divinely-arrested work.[261]
-
-The eager exhortation reiterated in his last homily, that the faithful
-should seek out their brethren who had been caught in the Jewish
-snare, is a powerful rush of indignant eloquence, and a wholesome
-admonition on the responsibility of all for the spiritual welfare of
-their fellow-men. “Say not within thyself, I am a man of the world;
-I have a wife and children; these matters belong to the priests and
-the monks. The Samaritan in the parable did not say, Where are the
-priests? where are the Pharisees? where are the Jewish authorities?
-but seized the opportunity of doing a good deed, as if it was a great
-advantage. In like manner, when you see any one requiring bodily or
-spiritual care, say not within thyself, Why did not this or that man
-attend to him?—but deliver him from his infirmity. If you find a piece
-of gold in your path, you do not say, Why did not some other person
-pick it up? but you eagerly anticipate others by seizing it yourself.
-Even so, in the case of your fallen brethren, consider that you have
-found a treasure in them and give the attention necessary for their
-wants.” He besought them not to proclaim the calamity of the Church by
-idly gossiping about the numbers of those who had observed some Jewish
-custom, but to search them out; and, if necessary, to enter their
-houses, tax them with their guilt, and solemnly warn them against the
-iniquity of consorting with the enemies of Jesus Christ. “Listen not
-to any excuses which they may plead on the ground of cures effected by
-the Jews; expose their impostures, their incantations, their amulets,
-their charms, their drugs.” Even if they really effected cures, it
-would be better to die and save the soul, than resort to the enemies of
-Christ to heal the body. Let them rather appeal to the assistance of
-the martyrs and saints who were His friends, and had great confidence
-in addressing Him. “Why did the Son of Man Himself enter the world? Was
-it not to seek and to save wandering sheep? This do thou, according to
-thy ability. I will not cease to speak, whether you hear or whether you
-forbear. If you heed not, I shall do it, but with grief; if you listen
-and obey, I shall do it, but with joy.”[262]
-
-It is difficult for us, in our altered position towards Jews and
-heretics of all kinds, to sympathise with the vehemence of Chrysostom’s
-feelings and language. Yet there can be no doubt that such dabbling,
-if the word may be used, in the customs, the observances, the ritual of
-an obsolete dispensation, and a debased people, did seriously imperil
-purity of faith and morals, and unity of discipline, in the Christian
-Church.
-
-Towards dissentient Christians, not infected by Judaism, Chrysostom
-adopts a milder tone, and indeed restrains the immoderation of
-party feeling in others with wholesome censure. He laments[263] the
-distracted state of the Church in Antioch, which was now divided
-into the three sections of Meletians, Eustathians, and Arians; but
-he denounces the practice of anathematising. It was uncharitable and
-presumptuous. St. Paul anathematised once only; the casting off of a
-heretic ought to be as painful as plucking out an eye or cutting off
-a limb. A holy man before their times, one of the successors of the
-Apostles, and judged worthy of the honour of martyrdom, used to say,
-that to assume the right to anathematise was as great a usurpation of
-Christ’s authority as for a subject to put on the Imperial purple.
-In dealing with erring brethren, the Christian should “in meekness
-instruct those that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will
-give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” “If a man
-accepts your counsel and confesses his error, you have saved him, and
-delivered your own soul also; but if he will not, do you nevertheless
-continue to testify with long-suffering and kindness, that the Judge
-may not require his soul at thy hand. Hate him not; turn not from him;
-persecute him not, but catch him in the net of sincere and genuine
-charity. The person whom you anathematise is either living or dead;
-if living, you do wrong to cut off one who may still be converted;
-if dead, much more you do wrong; ‘to his own master he standeth or
-falleth;’ and ‘who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been
-his counsellor?’ You may anathematise heretical dogmas, but towards
-the persons who hold them show the greatest possible forbearance, and
-pray for their salvation.”
-
-In the winter of 386, Chrysostom preached a sermon on Christmas Day,
-which, though not distinguished by any unusual merit, possesses an
-interest of its own. We learn from it, that this festival was not
-originally celebrated in the Eastern Church; it had been adopted from
-the West, and, in Antioch at least, less than ten years before the year
-of Chrysostom’s discourse. It had gradually increased in popularity,
-and this year Chrysostom rejoiced to observe that the church was
-crowded to overflowing. Rome had fixed the observance of the 25th of
-December, and this was the day kept throughout Christendom from Thrace
-to Gades; but the propriety of the date was much debated in the Eastern
-Churches, and the observance of the festival at all was considered by
-some as a questionable innovation. Chrysostom energetically vindicates
-the dignity of the festival and the correctness of the date.[264] It
-was the metropolis, so to say, of all other festivals, and as such
-it was the most solemn and awful. For the incarnation of Christ was
-the necessary condition of all the succeeding events of His career
-on earth, and in the profundity of its mystery it exceeded them all.
-That Christ should die was a natural consequence of human nature once
-assumed; but that He, being God, should have stooped so low as to
-assume that nature, was a mystery unfathomable to the mind of man!
-“Wherefore I specially welcome and belove this day, and desire to make
-you partakers in my affection. I pray and implore you all to come with
-zeal and alacrity, every man first purging his own house, to behold
-our Lord wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger; for if we
-come with faith, we shall indeed behold Him lying in the manger; for
-this Table supplies the place of the manger, and here also the body
-of the Lord will lie, not wrapped in swaddling clothes, but invested
-on all sides by the Holy Spirit. The initiated (or the baptized)
-understand what I mean.”[265] But he warns his hearers against crowding
-in a tumultuous and disorderly manner to partake of the holy feast.
-“Approach with fear and trembling, with fasting and prayer, not making
-an uproar, hustling and jostling one another: consider, O man, what
-kind of sacrifice thou art about to handle; consider that thou, who
-art dust and ashes, dost receive the body and blood of Christ.”[266]
-This irreverent conduct at the reception of the Eucharist frequently
-provoked the indignation and censure of Chrysostom. It occurred
-especially at the greater festivals, because on those days multitudes
-received the Eucharist who did not enter the church at other times.
-“How,” he cries in the homily on the Epiphany, “shall we teach you what
-is necessary concerning your soul, immortality, the kingdom of heaven,
-the long-suffering and mercy of God, and a future judgment, when you
-come to us only once or twice in the year?” Many of those who pushed
-and kicked one another in the eagerness of each to get foremost to the
-holy Table, withdrew from the church before the final thanksgiving.
-“What,” Chrysostom cries, “when Christ is present, and the angels are
-standing by, and this awe-inspiring Table is spread before you, and
-your brethren are still partaking of the mysteries, will you hurry
-away?” Too often they who thronged the church on these great occasions
-led worldly and even vicious lives; they hurried away before the sacred
-feast was ended, like Judas, to do the devil’s work.[267] Such is one
-among many examples which may be elicited from Chrysostom’s works
-of that Pagan grossness and superstition which was mingled with the
-faith and the most solemn observances of Christianity. The vitality
-of superstitious customs, the subtlety with which they have grafted
-themselves upon Christianity, the tenacity with which they have clung
-to men in spite of it late into modern times, is indeed extraordinary;
-but for centuries their existence and influence were not appreciably if
-at all affected by Christianity. A half Oriental, half Greek, partly
-Jewish population, like that of Antioch, whose purer feelings and
-nobler reason were seriously impaired by habits of licentiousness and
-luxury, was naturally liable to superstitious terrors, and addicted
-to superstitious practices of all kinds. Chrysostom is frequently
-reproving his people for being anxious and afraid where there was no
-cause, while they abandoned themselves to vice, the only worthy cause
-for fear, without scruple or alarm. If Christmas Day was observed as a
-Christian festival, though without becoming reverence, New Year’s Day
-was given up to riotous festivity, thoroughly Pagan in character. The
-houses were festooned with flowers, the inns were scenes of the most
-disgraceful intemperance; men and women drinking undiluted wine there
-from an early hour in the morning; auguries and omens were consulted
-by which the horoscope of the year was cast. Good luck in the coming
-year was supposed to depend (how is not clearly stated) on the manner
-in which the first day was spent. This is the theme of the preacher’s
-righteous indignation. The real happiness of the year was determined,
-not by the observation of particular feasts, but by the amount of
-goodness which we put into it. Sin was the only real evil, virtue the
-only real good; therefore, if a man practised justice, almsgiving,
-and prayer, his year could not fail to be propitious; for he who had
-a clean conscience carried about with him a perpetual holy day, and
-without this, the most brilliant and joyous festival was obscured by
-darkness. “When thou seest the year completed, thank God that He has
-brought thee safely to the conclusion of the cycle: prick thine heart,
-reckon up the time of thy life, and say to thyself, The days are
-hurrying along, the years are being fulfilled, I have advanced far on
-the road, the judgment is at the doors, my life is pressing on towards
-old age: well! what good have I done? shall I depart hence destitute
-and empty of all righteousness?”[268]
-
-There is a fuller notice, in some of his homilies on the Epistle to
-the Ephesians, of the many gross and senseless forms of superstition
-which prevailed even among the communicants in the Christian Church.
-He laments the decay of discipline, by which a more rigorous scrutiny
-was once instituted into the characters of those who came to the holy
-feast. If any one were to examine the lives of all those who partake
-of the mysteries on Easter Day, he would find amongst them persons
-who consulted auguries, who used drugs, and omens, and incantations;
-even the adulterer, curser, and drunkard, dared to partake. Iniquitous
-men had crept into the Church, the highest places of command were
-bought and sold, till the pure livers had betaken themselves to the
-mountains to escape from the contamination.[269] Some of the vulgar
-superstitions of the day were ludicrously puerile. “This or that man
-was the first to meet me as I walked out; consequently innumerable
-ills will certainly befall me: that confounded servant of mine, in
-giving me my shoes, handed me the left shoe first; this indicates dire
-calamities and insults: as I stepped out, I started with the left foot
-foremost; this too is a sign of misfortune: my right eye twitched
-upwards as I went out; this portends tears.”[270] To strike the woof
-with the comb in a particular way, the braying of a donkey, the crowing
-of a cock, a sudden sneeze,—all these were indications of something
-or other. “They suspect everything, and are more in bondage than if
-they were slaves many times over. But let not us, brethren, fear such
-things, but laughing them to scorn as men who live in the light, and
-whose citizenship is in heaven, and who have nothing in common with
-this earth, let us regard one thing only as terrible,—and that is,
-sin.”[271]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
- SURVEY OF THE FIRST DECADE OF THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUS—HIS
- CHARACTER—HIS EFFORTS FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF PAGANISM
- AND HERESY—THE APOLOGIES OF SYMMACHUS AND LIBANIUS. A.D.
- 379-389.
-
-
-Before Chrysostom had laboured two full years in “confirming the souls
-of the disciples” at Antioch, that city became the scene of events
-memorable in history; and events in which the great preacher played an
-honourable and distinguished part.
-
-The foremost man of the age, not only by position but also to a
-great extent in character, was Theodosius the Emperor; Theodosius
-the Great, deservedly so called in spite of one prominent defect in
-character, and a few glaring misdeeds which tarnish his reputation. The
-military exploits of his father, Theodosius the elder, had provoked
-the jealousy of the court[272] and cost him his life, and the son,
-who had manifested ability almost equal, in serving under him both
-by land and sea against Scots and Saxons, Moors and Goths, was glad
-to escape a similar ungrateful return for his services, by retiring
-to the obscurity of his native village in Spain. He was disgraced
-when the Empire had been liberated from danger by the exertions of
-his father and himself; but in the hour of its utmost jeopardy, and
-direst distress, he was recalled to more than his former position. The
-total defeat and death of Valens, and the almost extermination of his
-army before Hadrianople in A.D. 378, placed the Empire at the mercy
-of victorious barbarians within the frontier, and on the edge of the
-horizon more storm-clouds of Gothic or Hunnish invasion were lowering.
-There was but one person to whom the mind of Gratian, the young Emperor
-of the West, and his advisers, overwhelmed by the prospect of impending
-calamity, instinctively turned as capable of saving the State in this
-crisis. For three years Theodosius had been quietly cultivating his
-farm between Valladolid and Segovia, when he was summoned to accept the
-title of Augustus, together with all the responsibilities and perils
-which attended the possessor, at such a time, of that venerable name.
-He was equal to the situation; handsome with a manly beauty, courageous
-and determined of purpose, just and politic in intention if not always
-in act, he was endowed with some of the noblest qualities of a soldier
-and a statesman, by which to rescue and reorganise a panic-stricken
-and crumbling State. This is not the place to narrate the military
-achievements of Theodosius. The original materials for information
-respecting them are scanty; but they have been collected and arranged
-by that historian whose indefatigable industry brings order out of
-confusion, and whose luminous style lights up with interest even
-the darkest and most meagre annals.[273] It is sufficient to remind
-the reader of Gibbon, that Theodosius subdued the Goths, not in any
-one or two great battles, but by frequent and skilfully contrived
-engagements on a smaller scale. He thus gradually revived the drooping
-courage and discipline of the imperial troops, and wore out the enemy.
-The several tribes, on their submission, were settled in the waste
-tracts of country, which they were to occupy free of taxation, on the
-wise condition that they kept the land in a state of cultivation.
-So a numerous colony of Visigoths was established in Thrace, and of
-Ostrogoths in Phrygia and Lydia. The ability of Theodosius is proved
-more by the results of his energy than by anything that we know of the
-manner in which he accomplished them. He not only vanquished the Goths,
-but arrested the progress of the usurper Maximus in the West, who was
-leading his victorious legions to Italy, flushed with success after
-the ignominious flight and assassination of Gratian. Theodosius was
-not in a position, surrounded as he was by half-vanquished barbarians,
-to dispute the passage of the conqueror; but by assuming a firm tone
-in negotiations, he secured for Valentinian, Gratian’s brother and
-successor, the sovereignty of Italy, Africa, and Western Illyricum,
-surrendering for the present to the usurper the regions north of the
-Alps.
-
-Theodosius was a Christian; as a Spaniard he was a Trinitarian, and as
-a soldier he was anxious to establish one uniform type of religious
-faith and ecclesiastical discipline throughout the Empire. But such a
-task proved more impracticable than the reduction of military foes.
-Neither Paganism nor Arianism could be extinguished in a few years
-by suppressive edicts. Theodosius himself had been baptized in the
-first year of his reign, A.D. 380, when his life was threatened by a
-severe illness, and he had then announced his will and pleasure that
-his own solemn declaration of faith should be accepted by his subjects
-also. That faith which was “professed by the Pontiff Damasus, and
-Peter, Bishop of Alexandria” was to be the faith of the Empire. “Let
-us believe the sole deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
-under an equal majesty and a pious Trinity. We authorise the followers
-of this doctrine to assume the title of Catholic Christians, and as we
-judge that all others are extravagant madmen, we brand them with the
-infamous name of heretics.”[274] Their places of assembly were not to
-enjoy the title of churches, and they themselves were to expect severe
-civil penalties as well as the Divine condemnation. Damophilus, the
-Arian Bishop of Constantinople, preferred exile to signing the creed
-of Nice; and Gregory of Nazianzus was conducted by the Emperor in
-person through the streets of Constantinople (though not without a
-strong guard) to occupy the episcopal throne. A project for another
-general council (after the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381) was
-entertained but abandoned, for the factious demeanour of the several
-prelates and their partisans on their arrival did not augur a very
-successful settlement of differences by that method. The Emperor fell
-back, for the accomplishment of his object, on his own authority. On
-July 25, A.D. 383, an edict was posted in Constantinople, prohibiting
-all the heretics therein named, Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, and
-Manichæans, from holding any kind of assembly, public or private,
-either in the cities or in the country. Any ground or building used
-for such illegal purpose was to be confiscated to the State; and
-the penalty of banishment was pronounced against those who allowed
-themselves to be ordained priests or bishops of the heretical sects.
-Historians concur in the opinion that few of these penalties were
-actually enforced. The heretical sects were not animated by a spirit
-of martyrdom; the intimidation was generally sufficient.[275] The
-hypocrite or the indifferent conformed, the more conscientious retired
-into obscurity. There seem to have been few if any Arian prelates of
-great and commanding ability. All the leading ecclesiastics of the
-day—Chrysostom, Jerome, Basil, the two Gregories, and Ambrose—were by
-conviction on the side of the Emperor, and added all the weight of
-their influence to his decrees.
-
-When measures had been taken for the suppression of heresy, it was the
-Pagan’s turn to suffer. The spectacle of temples standing open for
-worship side by side with Christian churches was a painful incongruity
-in the eyes of Theodosius, with his soldier-like ideas of uniformity
-and discipline. The first blow was directed against those disloyal sons
-of the Church who had seceded to Paganism. They were deprived of the
-power to make wills or to receive bequests.[276] The second step was
-absolutely to prohibit all sacrifices in those temples which were still
-open. Nearly twenty years before, the sacrifice of animals had been
-forbidden by Valentinian and Valens, owing to their connection with
-arts of divination, which were used for political purposes. As long
-as such sacrifices were permitted, the priests could not refrain from
-consulting the entrails of the victims, and pretending to read therein
-future events: the death of this Emperor, the elevation of that, the
-success or failure of expeditions, and the like, were intimated to
-the people, always eager to know what is beyond the limits of human
-knowledge. Such divinations encouraged a restless spirit in the
-subjects, and often disaffected them towards the ruling power. That
-these laws of Valentinian were renewed by Theodosius in 381, and again
-in A.D. 385, proves that they had been imperfectly obeyed.[277]
-
-They were followed up by a yet more decisive step in A.D. 392.
-Cynegius, the Prætorian Prefect of the East, the Counts Jovinus and
-Gaudentius in the West, were commissioned to shut up the temples, to
-destroy their contents, images, and vessels, and to confiscate their
-property. In many instances the executors of the edict, aided by the
-fanatical fury of monks, seem to have exceeded their instructions.
-The great temple of Jupiter, at Apamea, in Syria, of which the roof
-was supported on sixty massive columns, fell, but not unavenged; for
-the Bishop Marcellus, who headed the assailants, fell a victim to the
-rage of the exasperated rustics who defended it.[278] The safety of
-the universe was represented by Pagans to depend on the preservation
-of the colossal gold and silver image of Serapis at Alexandria. Even
-Christians beheld with some trepidation an audacious soldier deal a
-blow with a battle-axe on the cheek of this awful deity; but as the
-only result of the gash was the issue of a swarm of rats who had
-harboured in the sacred head, instead of the avenging thunders which
-had been expected, a revulsion of feeling was experienced. The huge
-idol was hewn to pieces, the limbs were dragged through the streets,
-and the remains of the carcase burned in the amphitheatre, amidst the
-derision of the populace.
-
-These were shattering blows to Paganism. But the religion of sentiment
-and custom long survives the extinction of more solid if not reasonable
-convictions. Chrysostom’s homily on New Year’s Day is only one among
-many illustrations of the way in which Pagan rites and superstitions
-lingered, especially in connection with public festivals. All the
-Pagan concomitants of these festivals in the country districts—hymns,
-libations, garlands, incense, lights—were strictly prohibited,
-under heavy penalties, by Theodosius in A.D. 392, but, in the West
-especially, the extirpation was very incomplete. The Bishops of Verona
-and of Brescia protested, but in vain, against the proprietors of land
-indulging their tenantry in these practices. Sicily, Corsica, and
-Sardinia, were strongholds of Paganism as late as A.D. 600. Sacrifices
-were offered to Apollo on Monte Casino till the establishment of St.
-Benedict’s monastery in A.D. 529.
-
-The riotous populace of towns, and the simple country folk attached
-to old customs, thus evinced some spirit in their resistance to
-repressive enactments. But the hold which Paganism retained upon
-intellectual people was feeble indeed. Two apologists only, with any
-pretensions to ability, stepped forward to plead for the sinking
-cause: Symmachus[279] in the West, and Libanius in the East; and their
-intercessions are addressed to sentiments of affection for antiquity,
-and compassion for oppressed weakness, rather than to the reason.
-Symmachus, as is well known, pleaded twice for the retention of the
-altar and statue of Victory in the senate-house at Rome. Eloquent and
-touching, his appeal is directed to patriotic feeling and a sense of
-political expediency, not to religious conviction. He does not profess
-to _believe_ in the Pagan deities, but regards with a philosophic eye
-the various kinds of faith in the world as so many forms of homage to
-the great unknown Being who presides over the universe. “It is right to
-recognise that what all adore can be at bottom but one Being only. We
-contemplate the same stars; the same sky covers us; the same universe
-encloses us. What matters it by what reasonings each seeks the truth?
-a single path cannot conduct us to the grand secret of nature. As an
-individual, a man may be a worshipper of Mithras, or of Christ, but as
-a citizen it is his duty to conform to that worship which is bound up
-with the history and glory of his country; to part from it is heartless
-and disloyal.”[280]
-
-The memorial of Symmachus got into the hands of Ambrose, and was rather
-rudely treated by him. He subjects it to a stern test of facts. Had
-the national gods indeed protected the Romans from disaster? It was
-maintained that by their aid the conquest of Italy by Hannibal had been
-averted. Why then did they permit the invader to inflict such ravages
-as he had done? Would not the Gauls also have captured the Capitol, but
-for the timely cry of the goose? Where was Jupiter _then?_ but perhaps
-he was speaking through the goose. The Carthaginians worshipped some
-of the same deities as the Romans. If then the gods conquered with
-the Romans they yielded with the Carthaginians. Paganism declined,
-notwithstanding support; the Church flourished, in spite of opposition.
-As to the abandonment of ancient customs, was not progress the law of
-improvement? The glimmering dawn gradually brightened into the full and
-perfect day; the riches of harvest and vintage came in the maturity
-of the year; even so the faith of Christ had gradually planted itself
-on the ruins of a worn-out creed, and was now reaping an abundant
-harvest among all nations of the earth.[281] The whole reply of Ambrose
-is pitched in the positive, confident, authoritative tone of one who
-speaks from a conviction that he stands on the platform of absolute
-truth, and that his cause is therefore inevitably destined to win.
-
-If the appeal of Symmachus was addressed to the sentiment of reverence
-for _national_ antiquity, that of Libanius was directed to a sentiment
-of attachment to _classical_ antiquity. The citizen mourns over the
-suppression of a worship which was bound up with the history and
-the glory of his country; the scholar sighs over the degradation of
-that which was connected with all that was most beautiful in the
-literature and life of the olden time—with the poetry of Homer and
-the tragedians—with the festive song and dance—with the hills, and
-fountains, and groves of Greece. He clings to the past with the love of
-the antiquarian. Though his actual belief in the myths of the classical
-era may not have been very deep or earnest, there is no doubt that
-he entertained a genuine animosity towards the new faith which was
-usurping their place. A flowery description of the origin and antiquity
-of the honour paid to the gods is followed by a vehement invective
-against the monks, “those black-robed creatures, more voracious
-than elephants, who rush upon the temples, armed with stones, wood,
-and fire; who break up the roofs, destroy the walls, throw down the
-statues, raze the altars.” They glaringly exceeded the edicts of the
-Emperor, which had forbidden the offering of sacrifice in the temples,
-but had not commanded the actual destruction of the buildings.[282]
-There is real feeling also in his description of the distress caused
-in country districts by the demolition of the temples. “They were the
-centres round which human habitations and civilisation grew; in them
-the labourer placed all his hopes; to them he commended his wife, his
-children, his plantation, his crops. Deprived of the gods, from whom
-he expected the rewards of toil, he felt as if henceforth his labours
-would be vain. Sometimes the very land was wrested from them on the
-pretext that it had been consecrated to gods; if the poor despoiled
-owners sought redress from the pastor (_i.e._ the bishop) of the
-neighbouring town (falsely called pastor, since there was no gentleness
-in his nature), he praised the robber and dismissed the complainers.”
-No doubt to a great extent this was a true picture, and such harshness
-and injustice must have retarded (as always happens when an attempt is
-made to coerce opinion) the cause of Christianity, which the law was
-intended to promote.
-
-Theodosius, however, was in principle far too upright to treat the
-Church with a blind partiality. Cynegius, the Prefect, was ordered to
-enforce the law at Alexandria with full rigour against those despicable
-beings who sought to make traffic by informing against Pagans.
-Constantine had exempted the clergy from serving in curial offices;
-Theodosius compelled them to pay for substitutes, and renounce their
-claims to patrimony. They were to enjoy immunity from torture when
-brought to trial, but if detected in falsehood were to be visited with
-penalties of peculiar severity, because they had abused the shelter of
-the law which favoured them.[283]
-
-Such was Theodosius—a prudent and skilful general, a firm and upright
-ruler; a sincere and simple-minded believer in Christianity, who did
-his best, as head at once of the army, the civil government, and
-the Church, to consolidate the fabric of the Empire. The barbarians
-were repelled, or held down; taxes were collected with honesty and
-firmness,—some of the most burdensome were taken off; Paganism and
-heresy languished, however far from being extinguished, and the Emperor
-fondly hoped that uniformity in faith and discipline would soon be
-established throughout Christendom.
-
-The good genius of his life was the Empress Flacilla; she was a
-Christian of a pure and noble type; imperial state had not corrupted
-the simplicity or hardened the tenderness of her disposition. She was
-accustomed to visit the hospitals in Constantinople, not attended by a
-single slave or waiting-woman; administered food and medicine to the
-patients, and dressed their wounds with her own hands. She was wont to
-remind her husband of the great change in their worldly position, as a
-motive to humility and gratitude to God. “It behoves thee to consider
-what thou wert and what thou hast become; by constantly reflecting on
-this thou wilt not be ungrateful to thy benefactor, but wilt guide the
-kingdom which thou hast received with a due regard to law, and by so
-doing wilt pay homage to Him who gave it thee.”
-
-She, we may well believe, restrained the impulses of that choleric
-temper which was the principal defect in the Emperor’s character, and
-which occasionally after her death burst forth into acts of deplorable
-violence. This wise and pious monitress was taken from him in A.D.
-385. She died at a watering-place in Thrace, whither she had gone to
-recover her health after the shock caused by the death of the infant
-Princess Pulcheria. Her body was brought back to Constantinople on a
-melancholy day in autumn, when the skies poured down a gentle rain, as
-if mingling their tears with those of the disconsolate people.[284]
-
-This condensed survey of the character and work of Theodosius, during
-the first ten years of his reign, will assist us in forming a proper
-estimate of his conduct in that memorable occurrence which brings his
-life into contact with the life of Chrysostom.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
- THE SEDITION AT ANTIOCH—THE HOMILIES ON THE STATUES—THE
- RESULTS OF THE SEDITION. A.D. 387.
-
-
-The wise counsel and softening influence of the Empress were removed
-from her husband at an inopportune season. Political storms were
-approaching, and the passionate temper of Theodosius was soon to be
-subjected to a most severe trial.
-
-The year 388 would have completed the first decade of his reign. The
-year 387 was the fifth of the reign of his son Arcadius, whom he had
-nominally associated with himself in the government. The celebration
-of these two events Theodosius, from motives of prudent economy and
-convenience, resolved to combine. The army on such occasions claimed
-a liberal donative, five gold pieces to each man. It was obviously
-desirable, therefore, to avoid, if possible, the repetition of such a
-donative within a short space of time. It was always a strain on the
-royal treasury, and at the present juncture the strain was increased,
-for the Goths were assuming a menacing attitude on the Danubian
-frontier. It was necessary to mass troops in that direction, and,
-with a view to provide for these expenses, it was proposed to raise
-a special subsidy from the opulent cities of the Eastern empire. But
-the inhabitants of Alexandria and Antioch were loath to part with
-any of the wealth which they had accumulated during nearly ten years
-of peace and exemption from onerous taxation. Large meetings were
-held by the citizens of Alexandria in the theatres and other public
-places; inflammatory and seditious speeches were made. “If we are to be
-treated thus,” they cried, “a simple remedy is open: we will appeal to
-Maximus in the West; he knows how to shake off a troublesome tyrant.”
-Fortunately the Prefect Cynegius was a man of firmness and promptitude;
-he made some arrests of the most conspicuous leaders of the mutinous
-faction, and enforced an immediate payment of the tribute, and by these
-decisive measures public order was restored. Either the people of
-Antioch were more deeply disaffected, or no such energetic officer was
-in that city to nip the spirit of rebellion in the bud. It is said that
-the inhabitants entertained a grudge against the Emperor, because he
-had never visited their city, which had been frequently graced by the
-royal presence of his predecessors.[285]
-
-The edict which enjoined the levying of the tribute was proclaimed by
-a herald on February 26. Large numbers of the people assembled on the
-spot, collected chiefly into groups, amongst which were some persons
-of distinction, senators and other civic functionaries, noble ladies,
-and retired soldiers. An ominous silence succeeded the announcement
-of the edict. The crowd then dispersed, but reassembled about the
-prætorium, where the governor resided.[286] There they stood in gloomy
-silence, save that the women, from time to time, raised a wailing
-lamentation, crying that the ruin of the city was determined, and that
-since the Emperor had abandoned them, God alone from henceforth could
-come to their succour. At last a little band detached itself from the
-mass, shouting that they must go and seek the Bishop Flavian, and
-constrain him to intercede with the Emperor on their behalf. Flavian,
-by accident or design, was absent from the episcopal residence, and
-the mob returned to the prætorium, crying that the governor must
-do them justice. The people appear to have been excited to violence
-chiefly by those turbulent foreign adventurers who abounded in Antioch,
-sordid venal creatures, often hired by actors to get up applause in
-the theatres, or by great men not over popular to raise cheers when
-they appeared in public places. But however stimulated, the passions
-of the mob were thoroughly roused, and their fury vented itself in a
-tumultuous rush into one of the great public baths, where they soon
-tore everything to pieces. Having completed this work of destruction,
-they hurried back once more to the hall of the unfortunate governor.
-Here they were kept at bay by a guard for a sufficient time to
-enable the governor to escape by a back-door, and when they at last
-succeeded in bursting in, the vacancy of the place aggravated their
-rage. The governor was not seated in the judicial chair, but they
-found themselves face to face with the statues of the imperial family,
-which as emblems of authority were ranged above it. They paused for a
-few moments; highly excited as they were, imperial majesty, even so
-represented, had some deterrent influence upon their fury.
-
-But, unfortunately, there were boys in the crowd; the love of
-stone-throwing without respect of persons was as ardent in boy nature
-fifteen hundred years ago as it is now. A stone was cast by one
-of these juvenile hands, which hit one of the sacred statues. The
-momentary feelings of reverence which had arrested the people were
-dissipated. The images were mutilated, almost battered to pieces, and
-the fragments dragged through the streets. Other images of the imperial
-family with which the city was adorned were treated in the same manner;
-the equestrian statue of Count Theodosius, father of the Emperor, was
-dislodged from its pedestal and hacked about, amidst derisive shouts of
-“Defend thyself, grand cavalier!”[287]
-
-The unrestrained fury of the people was inflamed by success; they began
-to bring up torches and actually set fire to one of the principal
-buildings of the city, when the governor, who had escaped their hands,
-returned at the head of a company of archers. As usual with disorderly
-mobs, however furious, they were unable to face the discipline of
-military force; the soldiers were no sooner drawn up and preparing to
-fix their weapons than rage turned to panic, and the mob, lately so
-formidable, melted away.
-
-The whole tumult had not lasted more than three hours; before noon,
-every one had returned to his home, the streets and squares were empty,
-and a death-like stillness pervaded the city. Remorse was mingled with
-great terror respecting the consequences of the outrage which had been
-perpetrated. The Emperor, indeed, was humane and forgiving of wrongs
-which concerned himself alone, but how would he brook the insults
-done to the memory of his father and his tenderly beloved Empress?
-One hope remained: Flavian, the bishop, was a favourite at court; his
-intercessions might avail; the people besought him with tears to stand
-their friend in this distress. From Antioch to Constantinople was a
-long and perilous journey of 800 miles, and the winter was not yet
-ended. Flavian was old, his only sister was seriously ill, and the
-approaching season of Lent required his presence at Antioch, but a
-sense of the emergency prevailed over all these obstacles. Animated by
-the spirit of the Good Shepherd the intrepid old man was ready to lay
-down his life for his flock, and set out upon his errand of mercy with
-all possible speed, in the hope of overtaking the messengers who had
-started before him, but had been detained at the foot of Mount Taurus
-by a fall of snow.[288]
-
-During the absence of Flavian all the powers of Chrysostom as an
-orator, a pastor, and a citizen, were called forth in attempting to
-calm the fears and revive the deeply-dejected spirits of the people.
-Perseveringly did he discharge this anxious and laborious task; almost
-every day, for twenty-two days, that small figure was to be seen either
-sitting in the Ambo, from which he sometimes preached on account of
-his diminutive stature, or standing on the steps of the altar, the
-preacher’s usual place;[289] and day after day, the crowds increased
-which came to listen to the stream of golden eloquence which he poured
-forth. With all the versatility of a consummate artist, he moved from
-point to point. Sometimes a picture of the city’s agony melted his
-hearers to tears, and then again he struck the note of encouragement
-and revived their spirits by bidding them take comfort from the
-well-known clemency of the Emperor, the probable success of the mission
-of Flavian, and, above all, from trust in God.
-
-“The gay and noisy city, where once the busy people hummed like
-bees around their hive, was petrified by fear into the most dismal
-silence and desolation; the wealthier inhabitants had fled into the
-country, those who remained shut themselves up in their houses, as if
-the town had been in a state of siege. If any one ventured into the
-market-place, where once the multitude poured along like the stream of
-a mighty river, the pitiable sight of two or three cowering dejected
-creatures in the midst of solitude soon drove him home again. The
-sun itself seemed to veil its rays as if in mourning. The words of
-the prophet were fulfilled, ‘Their sun shall go down at noon, and
-their earth shall be darkened in a clear day’ (Amos viii. 9). Now
-they might cry, ‘Send to the mourning women, and let them come, and
-send for cunning women that they may come’ (Jer. ix. 17). Ye hills
-and mountains, take up a wailing, let us invite all creation to
-commiserate our woes, for this great city, this capital of Eastern
-cities, is in danger of being destroyed out of the midst of the earth,
-and there is no man to help her, for the Emperor, who has no equal
-among men, has been insulted; therefore let us take refuge with the
-King who is above, and summon Him to our aid.”[290]
-
-The chief reason of the people’s extreme dejection was, that the
-governor and magistrates, probably to disarm any suspicion at court
-of their own complicity in the sedition, were daily seizing real or
-supposed culprits, and punishing them with the utmost rigour. Even
-those who might have been pardoned on account of their tender age were
-mercilessly handed over to the executioner. Chrysostom speaks of some
-even having been burnt, and others thrown to wild beasts. The weeping
-parents followed their unhappy offspring at a distance, powerless to
-help but fearing to plead, like men on shore beholding with grief
-shipwrecked sailors struggling in the water, but unable to rescue
-them.[291]
-
-But the object of Chrysostom was, not to utter ineffectual
-lamentations. He aimed at rousing the people from their profound
-dejection, and printing, if possible, on their hearts, humbled and
-softened by distress, deep and lasting impressions of good. He told
-them that there was everything to be hoped for from the embassy of
-Flavian. “The Emperor was pious, the bishop courageous, yet prudent and
-adroit; God would not suffer his errand to be fruitless. The very sight
-of that venerable man would dispose the royal mind to clemency. Flavian
-would not fail to urge how especially suitable an act of forgiveness
-was to that holy season, in which was commemorated the Death of Christ
-for the sins of the whole world. He would remind the Emperor of the
-parable of the two debtors, and warn him not to incur the risk of
-being one day addressed by the words, ‘Thou wicked servant, I forgave
-thee all that debt; shouldest not thou also have had compassion on
-thy fellow-servants?’ He would represent that the outrages had not
-been committed by the whole community, but chiefly by some lawless
-strangers. He would plead that the inhabitants, even had they all
-offended, had already undergone sufficient punishment in the anxiety
-and alarm which they endured. It would be unreasonable to visit the
-crime of a few by the extirpation of a whole city, a city which was the
-most populous capital of the East, and dear to Christians as the place
-where they had first received that sweet and lovely name.”[292]
-
-Meanwhile he earnestly calls upon the people to improve this season
-of humiliation by a thorough repentance and reformation in respect of
-the prevailing vices and follies. The words of St. Paul in writing
-to the Philippians, “To write the same things to you, to me indeed
-is not grievous, and for you it is safe,” might be aptly applied to
-Chrysostom. He is never tired of denouncing special sins and exhorting
-to the renunciation of them in every variety of language. Ostentatious
-luxury, sordid avarice, religious formalism, a profane custom of
-taking rash oaths, were the fashionable sins against which he waged an
-incessant and implacable warfare.
-
-His exhortations are generally based on some passage read in the lesson
-of the day. “What have we heard today? ‘Charge them that are rich in
-this world, that they be not high-minded.’ He who says ‘the rich in
-this world’ proves thereby that there are others rich in regard to a
-future world, like Lazarus in the parable.” Wealth of this world was
-a thankless runaway slave, which, if bound with thousands of fetters,
-made off, fetters and all. Not that he would quarrel with wealth; it
-was good in itself, but became evil when inordinately desired and
-paraded, just as the evil of intoxication lay not in wine itself, but
-in the abuse of it. The Apostle did not charge those who were rich to
-become poor, but only not to be high-minded. “Let us adorn our own
-souls before we embellish our houses. Is it not disgraceful to overlay
-our walls with marbles and to neglect Christ, who is going about
-unclothed? What profit is there, O man, in thy house? Wilt thou carry
-it away with thee? Nay, thou must leave thy _house_; but thy _soul_
-thou wilt certainly take with thee. Lo! how great the danger which has
-now overtaken us: let our houses, then, be our defenders; let them
-rescue us from the impending peril;—but they will not be able. Be those
-witnesses to my words who have now deserted their houses, and hurried
-away to the wilderness as if afraid of nets and snares. Do you wish
-to build large and splendid houses? I forbid you not, only build them
-not upon the earth; build yourselves tabernacles in heaven—tabernacles
-which never decay. Nothing is more slippery than wealth, which to-day
-is with thee and to-morrow is against thee; which sharpens the eyes of
-the envious on all sides; which is a foe in your own camp, an enemy in
-your own household. Wealth makes the present danger more intolerable;
-you see the poor man unencumbered and prepared for whatever may happen,
-but the rich in a state of great embarrassment, and going about seeking
-some place in which to bury his gold, or some person with whom to
-deposit it. Why seek thy fellow-servants, O man? Christ stands ready
-to receive and guard thy deposits—yea, not only to guard, but also to
-multiply and to return with rich interest. No man plucks out of His
-hand; men, when they receive a deposit from another, deem that they
-have conferred a favour upon him; but Christ, on the contrary, declares
-that He receives a favour, and, instead of demanding a reward, bestows
-one upon you.”[293]
-
-He entreated them to make the present Lent a season of spiritual
-renovation. Lent fell in the spring, when the stream of industry
-which the winter had frozen began to flow again. The sailor launched
-his vessel, the soldier furbished his sword, the farmer whetted his
-scythe, the traveller set out confidently on his long journey, the
-athlete stripped for the contest. “Even so let this fast be to us a
-spiritual spring-tide; let us polish our spiritual armour, let us
-breast the waves of evil passions, set out like travellers on our
-journey heavenwards, and prepare like athletes for the combat. For the
-Christian is both husbandman, and pilot, and soldier, and athlete, and
-traveller. Hast thou seen the athlete? hast thou seen the soldier? if
-thou art an athlete thou must strip to enter the lists; if thou art a
-soldier thou must put on armour before taking thy place in the ranks.
-How then to the same man can both these things be possible? How, dost
-thou ask? I will tell thee. Strip thyself of thy worldly business, and
-thou hast become an athlete; clothe thyself with spiritual armour,
-and thou hast become a soldier. Strip thyself, for it is a season of
-wrestling; clothe thyself, for we are engaged in a fierce warfare with
-devils. Till thy soul, and cut away the thorns; sow the seed of piety,
-plant the good plants of philosophy, and tend them with much care, and
-thou hast become a husbandman, and St. Paul will say to thee, ‘The
-husbandman which laboureth must first be a partaker of the fruits.’
-Whet thy sickle which thou hast blunted by surfeiting; sharpen it, I
-say, by fasting. Enter on the road which leads to heaven, the rugged
-and narrow road, and travel along it. And how shalt thou be able to set
-out and travel? By buffeting thy body and bringing it into subjection;
-for where the road is narrow, obesity, which comes from surfeiting,
-is a great impediment. Repress the waves of foolish passions, repulse
-the storm of wicked imaginations, preserve the vessel, display all
-thy skill, and thou hast become a pilot.”[294] The originator and
-instructor of all these arts was abstinence; not the vulgar kind of
-abstinence, not abstinence from food only, but also from sins. “If thou
-fastest, show me the results by thy deeds. What deeds, do you ask?
-If you see a poor man, have pity on him; if an enemy, be reconciled;
-if a friend in good reputation, regard him without envy. Fast not
-only by thy mouth, but with thine eyes, thine ears, thy hands, thy
-feet; avert thine eyes from unlawful sights, restrain thy hands from
-deeds of violence, keep thy feet from entering places of pernicious
-amusement, bridle thy mouth from uttering, and stop thine ears from
-listening to tales of slander.” This kind of fast would be acceptable
-to God, only it should be co-extensive with life. To spend a few days
-in penance and then to relapse into the former course of life was only
-an idle mockery.[295] He disparaged that rigorous kind of fasting which
-some had carried to the extent of taking no food but bread and water.
-Many boasted of the number of weeks they had fasted; this excessive
-abstinence was likely to be followed by a reaction. Let them seek
-rather to subdue evil passions and habits; let one week be devoted to
-the suppression of swearing, another of anger, a third of slander, and
-so gradually advancing they might at last attain the consummation of
-virtue, and propitiate the displeasure of God.[296] “Let us not do now
-what we have so often done, for frequently when earthquakes, or famine,
-or drought have overtaken us, we have become temperate for three or
-four days, and then have returned to our former ways of life. But, if
-never before, now at least let us remain steadfast in the same state
-of piety, that we may not again require to be chastised by another
-scourge.”[297]
-
-Almost all the homilies are concluded by an admonition against the
-sin of swearing, and the greater portion of some is devoted to this
-topic. The passionate impetuous people of Antioch seem to have been
-constantly betrayed into the folly of binding themselves by rash
-oaths. The master, for instance, would take an oath to deprive his
-slave of food, or the tutor his scholar, till a certain task was
-accomplished, a threat which it was of course often impossible to
-enforce. Hence perjury on the part of a superior, and loss of respect
-on the side of the subordinate. Chrysostom himself had often dined at
-a house where the mistress swore that she would beat a slave who had
-made some mistake, while the husband would with another oath forbid
-the punishment. Thus one of the two would be inevitably involved in
-perjury.[298] He frequently exhorted his hearers to form a kind of
-Christian club amongst themselves for the suppression of this vice. In
-one place he suggests a stern remedy: “When you detect your wife or any
-of your household yielding to this evil habit, order them supperless to
-bed, and if you are guilty impose the same penalty on yourself.”[299]
-Near the close of Lent he declares that he will repel from the holy
-Table at Easter those whom he detects still addicted to this vice.[300]
-
-On the whole, the eager and earnest pastor may be said to have
-rejoiced at the grand opportunity afforded by the humiliation of the
-city, to effect a reformation in the moral life of the people. He
-observed with great satisfaction, that if the forum was deserted the
-church was thronged, just as in stormy weather the harbour is crowded
-with vessels.[301] Many an intemperate man had been sobered, the
-headstrong softened, or the indolent quickened into zeal. Many who once
-assiduously frequented the theatre now spent their day in the church.
-Meanwhile they must abide God’s pleasure for the removal of their
-affliction. He had sent it for the purpose of purifying and chastening
-them; He was waiting till He saw a genuine, an unshakeable repentance,
-like a refiner watching a piece of precious metal in a crucible, and
-waiting the proper moment for taking it out.[302] As for those who
-said what they feared was not so much death, as _ignominious_ death by
-the hand of the executioner, he protested that the only death really
-miserable was a death in sin. Abel was murdered and was happy, Cain
-lived and was miserable. John the Baptist was beheaded, St. Stephen was
-stoned, yet their deaths were happy. To the Christian there was nothing
-formidable in death itself. To dread death but not to be afraid of sin
-was to act like children who are frightened by masks whilst they were
-not afraid of fire. “What, I pray you, is death? It is like the putting
-off of a garment, for the soul is invested with a body[303] as it were
-with a garment, and this we shall put off for a little while by death,
-only to receive it again in a more brilliant form. What, I pray you,
-is death? It is but to go a journey for a season, or to take a longer
-sleep than usual.” Death was but a release from toil, a tranquil haven.
-“Mourn not over him who dies, but over him who, living in sin, is dead
-while he liveth.”[304]
-
-Chrysostom’s own calmness, and his skill in diverting the thoughts of
-his flock from present alarm, are manifested by the power and ease
-with which he dilates on such grand topics as the creation, Divine
-Providence, the nature of man, and his place in the scale of created
-beings. His best thoughts, expressed in his best style on these
-subjects, are to be found in the homilies now under consideration.
-
-The size and beauty of the universe, but still more the perfect
-regularity with which the system worked, proclaimed a designing power.
-The succession of day and night, the series of the seasons, like a
-band of maidens dancing in a circle, the four elements of which the
-world was composed, mingling in such exquisite proportions that they
-exactly balanced one another, the sun tempering the action of water,
-the water that of the sun, the sea unable to break its bounds or reduce
-the earth to a mass of clay; who could contemplate all these forces at
-work and suppose that they moved spontaneously, instead of adoring Him
-who had arranged them all with a wisdom commensurate with the results?
-As the health of the body depended on the due balance of those humours
-of which it was composed, if the bile increased fever was produced, or
-if the phlegmatic element prevailed many diseases were engendered, so
-was it in the case of the universe: each element observed its proper
-limits, restrained, as it were, with a bridle by the will of the Maker;
-and the struggle between these elements was the source of peace for the
-whole system. As the body failed, languished, died, in proportion as
-the soul was withdrawn from it, so if the regulating and life-giving
-power of God’s providence were removed from the earth, all would go to
-rack and ruin, like a vessel deserted by her pilot.[305]
-
-In treating this subject, he manifests a keen appreciation of natural
-beauties. The infinite varieties of flowers and herbs, trees, animals,
-insects, and birds—the flowery fields below, the starry fields
-above—the never-failing fountains—the sea receiving countless streams
-into its bosom, yet never overflowing,—all proclaimed a Creator and
-an Upholder, and drew from man the exclamation, “How manifold are Thy
-works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all!” Yet, lest they should be
-worshipped instead of the Maker, conditions of change, as decay or
-death, were imposed upon all.[306] His observation of nature appears
-in some of his similes. The poor female relatives hovering about the
-courts of justice, when the culprits of the outrage on the statues were
-being tried, he compares to parent birds, which wildly flutter round
-the hunter who has stolen the young from their nest, in an agony of
-grief, but impotent from weakness and fear.[307] He perceives in some
-of the lower animals characteristics to be imitated or avoided, and
-describes them with a kind of humour. The bee especially was a pattern
-for imitation, not merely because it was industrious, but because it
-toiled with an unconscious kind of self-sacrifice for the benefit of
-others as well as itself. It was the most honourable of insects; the
-spider, on the contrary, was the most ignoble, because it spread its
-fine web for its own selfish gratification only. The innocence of the
-dove, the docility of the ox, the light-heartedness of birds, were all
-examples for imitation. The ferocity, or the cunning of other animals
-or insects, were examples for avoidance. The good which brutes had by
-nature man might acquire by force of moral purpose; and the sovereign
-of the lower animals ought to comprise in his nature all the best
-qualities of his subjects.[308] The plumage of the peacock, excelling
-in variety and beauty all possible art of the dyer, evinced the
-superhuman power of the Maker of all things.[309]
-
-His ethical doctrine bears singular resemblance to that of Butler.
-God has bestowed on man a faculty of discerning right from wrong; He
-has impressed upon him a natural law, the law of conscience. Hence
-some commands are delivered without explanation: for instance, the
-prohibition to kill, or to commit adultery, because these merely enjoin
-what is already evident by the light of the natural law. On the other
-hand, for the command to observe the Sabbath a reason is assigned,
-because this was a special and temporary enactment. The obligation of
-the law of conscience was universal and eternal. As soon as Adam had
-sinned, he hid himself, a clear evidence of his consciousness of guilt,
-although no written law existed at that time.
-
-The Greeks might attempt to deny the universality of this inherent law,
-but to what other origin could they ascribe the laws which had been
-made by their own ancestors concerning respect for life, the marriage
-bond, covenants, trusts, and the like? They had indeed been handed down
-from generation to generation; but whence did the first promulgators
-derive the idea of them, if not from this moral sense? To the law
-of conscience was added the energy of a moral purpose, προαίρεσις,
-which enabled man to practise what conscience prescribed: conscience
-informs man that temperance is right; moral purpose enables him to
-become temperate. God had also endowed man with some natural virtues:
-indignation at injustice, compassion for the injured, sympathy with the
-joys and sorrows of our fellow-men.[310] At the same time Chrysostom
-fully allows the value of training and teaching as supplementary to
-and co-operating with all these natural gifts.[311] If conscience
-grew languid, the admonition of parent and friend, and, in the case
-of public offences, the law, stepped in, to effect what conscience
-failed to do; and frequently God sent afflictions for the same remedial
-purpose.[312]
-
-Thus day after day the indefatigable preacher sounded the note of
-encouragement, or warning, or instruction. He not only held the
-Christian flock together, but largely increased its numbers. His
-eloquence frequently excited rapturous applause, which was invariably
-repressed with sternness. On one occasion the congregation yielded
-to a panic; a false rumour was circulated that a body of troops was
-entering the city, to take vengeance on the inhabitants. The Prefect
-entered the church to allay the fears of the affrighted people who
-had fled thither, but Chrysostom was overwhelmed with shame, and
-sharply upbraided them that a Christian congregation should owe the
-restoration of calmness to a Pagan, whom they ought to have impressed,
-like Paul before Agrippa, by a display of Christian firmness and
-fortitude.[313]
-
-About the middle of Lent, two commissioners, Hellebicus and Cæsarius,
-arrived at Antioch, invested with full powers to inquire into the late
-outrage. Their authority was backed by a considerable military force.
-They were men not only of intelligence and humanity, but Christians
-in faith; and they had many friends in Antioch. They entered the
-city, surrounded by a large multitude, who turned weeping faces and
-held out supplicating hands towards them. The commissioners were
-moved, and in deep silence entered the lodging provided for them; but
-it was necessary for them to perform their duty, which was in the
-first place to announce that Antioch was degraded from the rank of
-capital of Syria, and its metropolitan honours were transferred to
-the neighbouring city of Laodicea. Secondly, all the public baths,
-circuses, theatres, and other places of recreation, were to be closed
-for an indefinite time. Thirdly, the commissioners were to revise the
-trials already held by the local governor, and to inflict rigorous
-sentences upon all the guilty, especially any persons of distinction.
-These judicial proceedings were to begin on the following day.
-
-The scene at the entrance of the court was a melancholy spectacle; the
-wives and daughters of the accused hung around it in mean garments
-sprinkled with ashes, and in attitudes of supplication or despair.
-
-There were no lawyers to plead for the prisoners; they had run away
-or concealed themselves, to evade the perilous duty. Libanius alone,
-towards evening, crept timidly into the court. Cæsarius, to whom he was
-known, observed him, beckoned him to approach, and placed him by his
-side. In a low voice he bade him take courage; he and his colleague
-would endeavour as much as possible to spare life. Libanius earnestly
-thanked him, and promised if he kept his word to immortalise him by an
-oration in his honour.[314]
-
-An appeal, however, more effectual, was made to the mercy of the
-commissioners, by persons widely different from Libanius. As they were
-riding in state to the hall of justice on the second day, they saw
-amongst the people a group of strange half-wild-looking beings, in
-rough coarse garments, with long unkempt hair. These were hermits, who
-had descended from their solitudes in the neighbouring mountains—some
-who for years had not been seen in the streets of the city, but now
-appeared to plead on behalf of the offending people. An old man,
-diminutive in stature, whose clothing was in tatters, started forward
-from the group as the commissioners passed by, seized the bridle of
-one, and commanded them in a tone of authority to dismount. “Who is
-this mad fellow?” inquired the commissioners. They were informed that
-he was the revered hermit Macedonius, surnamed Crithophagus, or the
-barley-eater, because barley was his only sustenance. Hellebicus and
-Cæsarius immediately alighted, and, falling on their knees before him,
-craved his pardon for having received him so rudely. “My friends,”
-replied the solitary, “go to the Emperor and say, ‘You are an emperor,
-but also a man, and you rule over beings who are of like nature with
-yourself. Man was created after a Divine image and likeness; do not,
-then, mercilessly command the image of God to be destroyed, for you
-will provoke the Maker if you punish his image. For, consider that you
-are doing this from displeasure at the injury inflicted on a statue
-of bronze; and how far does a living rational creature exceed the
-value of such an inanimate object! Let him consider that it is easy
-to manufacture many statues in the place of those destroyed, but it
-is wholly impossible for him to make a single hair again of those men
-who have been put to death.’”[315] The other hermits declared that
-they were all prepared to shed their blood and lay down their lives
-for the culprits; that they would not withdraw from the city until
-they were sent as ambassadors to the Emperor, or until the city itself
-had been acquitted. The joy of Chrysostom at the courage displayed by
-these hermits was extreme; their noble conduct compensated for the sad
-pusillanimity lately exhibited by the congregation in the church. He
-triumphantly contrasts them with the so-called philosophers of Antioch,
-who appear to have displayed anything but philosophic calmness in the
-hour of danger. “Where now are those long-bearded, cloak-wearing,
-staff-bearing fellows—cynic refuse, more degraded than dogs licking
-up the crumbs under the table, doing everything for their belly? Why,
-they have all hurried out of the city and hidden themselves in caves
-and dens, whilst those who inhabited the caves have entered the city,
-and boldly walk about the forum as if no calamity had happened. Their
-conduct illustrates what I have never ceased to maintain, that even
-the furnace cannot injure one who lives in virtue. Such is the power
-of philosophy introduced to man by Christ.”[316] The result of this
-singular intercession was, that the commissioners consented to suspend
-the execution of their sentence on those pronounced guilty, until an
-appeal had been made to the Emperor. Meanwhile the prisoners were to
-remain in confinement, and their property to be held by the State.
-
-The hermits were anxious to repair to the court of Theodosius, but
-the commissioners wisely refused, making the length of the journey
-an objection, but perhaps really because they feared such excitable
-zealots might frustrate the object of their embassy by imprudent
-behaviour. It was finally decided that Hellebicus should remain to
-preserve order in Antioch, while his colleague went to Constantinople,
-carrying with him an intercessory letter signed by the hermits, and
-declaring that they were ready to give their own lives in ransom for
-the city.
-
-Cæsarius departed amidst the blessings and acclamations of the
-people.[317]
-
-What had the energetic preacher, who had sustained the spirits of
-the people so long, been doing, since the arrival of the Emperor’s
-legates? It had been, indeed, a relief to find that the city was not
-to be surrendered to the sword; but to a proud and luxurious people
-the loss of metropolitan rank, and the closing of the public baths,
-theatres, and public places of amusement, were severe blows. Loud and
-general was the lamentation over their fallen grandeur and their lost
-enjoyments. Chrysostom expostulated with them on their discontent.
-The real dignity of a city did not consist in pre-eminence of rank
-or vastness of population, but in the virtue of its citizens. What
-constituted the noblest distinction of Antioch?—the fact that the
-disciples there were the first to be called Christians—that they had
-sent relief to the distressed brethren in Judæa in the time of the
-famine (Acts xi. 28, 29)—that they had sent Paul and Barnabas to that
-Council at Jerusalem which had emancipated the Gentile Christians from
-Judaic bondage. These were honourable distinctions, which no other
-city, not even Rome itself, could rival. They enabled Antioch to look
-the whole Christian world in the face, for they proved how great had
-been her Christian courage and her Christian love. These were her true
-metropolitan honours; and, if these were in aught diminished, not by
-the size or beauty of her buildings, not by her airy colonnades or
-her spacious porticos and promenades,[318] not by the sacred Grove of
-Daphne, not by the number and loftiness of her cypresses, not by her
-fountains or her multitudinous population, or her genial climate,—not
-by these could she recover her tarnished reputation, but by equity,
-almsgiving, vigils, prayers, temperance. External size and beauty did
-not constitute real greatness. David was little of stature, yet he
-prostrated by a single blow a very tower of flesh. Away with these
-womanish complaints! “I have heard many in the forum saying, ‘Woe to
-thee, Antioch! what has become of thee? how art thou dishonoured!’ and
-when I heard I laughed at the childish understanding of those who say
-such things. It behoves you not to speak thus now; but, when you see
-dancing, and drunkenness, and singing, and blaspheming, and swearing,
-then utter the cry, ‘Woe to thee, O city! what has become of thee?’ but
-when you see only a few equitable, temperate, and moderate men in the
-forum, then call the city happy.”[319]
-
-He remonstrates indignantly with them for their querulous complaints
-of the prohibition to use the public baths. Bathing, indeed, was a
-luxury so indispensable to the bodily health and comfort of the people,
-that they now resorted to the river in large numbers, with very little
-regard to decency. He reminds those who murmured over this deprivation
-of their favourite indulgence, that a short time ago, when they were
-daily expecting an incursion of soldiers, and were flying to the desert
-and mountains, they would have been too thankful to escape with so
-cheap a penalty. He urges the duty of reconciliation with enemies as
-specially incumbent on them when such great efforts were being made
-to obtain mercy for themselves. They should have one enemy alone, the
-devil, with whom they should wage an implacable warfare.[320]
-
-Thus the prophet, ever vigilant for the true welfare and honour of his
-people, ceased not to lift up his voice.
-
-Cæsarius travelled day and night, and in the course of a week
-accomplished the eight hundred miles which separated Antioch from
-Constantinople. But his arrival and his errand had been anticipated.
-Flavian had reached the court a week before, and the pardon of Antioch
-was already secured. The aged bishop returned to Antioch just in
-time to celebrate Easter, and to augment the natural joyfulness of
-the festival by the tidings which he brought. He had, however, been
-preceded a few days by an express courier, who delivered the imperial
-rescript to Hellebicus. When the contents were publicly proclaimed,
-the pent-up feelings of the people burst forth into demonstrations of
-almost frantic joy. Hellebicus was received with ovation wherever he
-went. Libanius walked by his side, reciting passages from his orations,
-in honour of Theodosius and praise of the two commissioners.[321] On
-Holy Saturday, Flavian himself entered the city, partly attended,
-partly borne along, by vast crowds of grateful people. On that night
-the forum was decorated with garlands and illuminated by lanterns. On
-the next morning, Easter Day, a vast concourse thronged the church,
-and once more the well-known voice, which had exhorted and encouraged
-and warned, during the days of their gloom, now poured forth in the
-sunshine of their joy a pæan of thanksgiving and praise.
-
-“Blessed be God, who hath vouchsafed us to celebrate this holy feast
-with great joy and gladness, who has restored the Head to the body,
-the Shepherd to the sheep, the Master to his disciples, the Pontiff to
-the priests. Blessed be God, who hath done exceeding abundantly above
-all that we ask or think, for it seemed to us sufficient to be for a
-time released from the impending calamities; but the merciful God, ever
-exceeding in His gifts our petitions, has restored to us our father
-sooner than all our expectation. And not only has our beloved prelate
-escaped all the perils incident to so long a journey in the winter
-season, but has found his sister, whom he left on the point of death,
-still living to welcome his return.”[322]
-
-He then proceeds to describe the interview of Flavian with Theodosius,
-as it had been related to him by an eye-witness. The bishop, when
-introduced into the royal presence, stood at a distance, silently
-weeping, bending low, and covering his face, as if he himself had been
-the author of all the late offences. By this attitude he hoped to expel
-emotions of anger, and introduce the emotion of pity into the Emperor’s
-breast, before he undertook the actual defence of the city.
-
-Theodosius was moved; he advanced to the bishop, and used no harsh
-or indignant language, but only mildly reproached with ingratitude a
-city which he had always treated with lenity, and had long desired and
-intended to visit. Even had the people been able to accuse him of any
-injury done to them, they might at least have respected the dead, who
-could do them no harm (alluding to the destruction of his wife’s and
-father’s images).
-
-The aged prelate no longer remained silent. With a fresh flood of
-tears, he poured forth his pathetic appeal to the Christian clemency
-and forbearance of the Emperor. “He would not attempt to extenuate
-the offence, the sense of their ingratitude caused them the deepest
-distress, and they frankly confessed that it deserved the severest
-chastisement which could be inflicted. Yet the noblest kind of revenge
-which he could take was freely to forgive the insult; thereby he would
-defeat the malice of those demons who had tried to work the ruin of
-the people by seducing them from their allegiance. In like manner,
-the devil had tried to compass the death of the human race, but his
-malevolence had been frustrated by God, who offered even heaven to
-those who had been excluded from paradise. A free pardon would secure
-for him a station in the hearts of all his subjects, far more enduring
-than those statues which had been broken down. He reminded him, how
-once his great predecessor, Constantine, when urged to revenge some
-insult done to one of his statues, passed his hand over his face,
-and observed, with a quiet smile, that he did not feel the blow;—a
-saying which had endeared him to his people more than his military
-exploits. But why need he refer to Constantine? Theodosius himself, on
-a previous Easter, had commanded a general release of prisoners, and
-had nobly exclaimed, ‘Would that it were possible also for me to recall
-the dead to life!’[323] Now he might in some sort realise that wish,
-by restoring to life a whole city, which lay, as it were, dead under
-remorse and fear. Such an act of clemency would both strengthen his
-own throne and the cause of Christianity. Greeks, Jews, and barbarians
-were waiting to hear his decision. If it was on the side of mercy,
-all would applaud it, saying, ‘Heavens! how mighty is the power of
-Christianity, which has restrained the wrath of a monarch who has not
-his peer in the world.’ How noble a tale for posterity to hear, that
-what the governor and magistrates of a great city dared not ask, had
-been granted to the prayer of an old man, because he was the priest of
-God, and from reverence to the Divine laws. He would solemnly remind
-him of the words, ‘If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither
-will your Father which is in heaven forgive you your trespasses.’ He
-begged him to remember that there was a day coming in which all men
-would render an account of their actions, and to imitate the example
-of God, who, though daily sustaining insults from man, did not cease
-to bestow blessings upon him. He concluded by declaring that he would
-never return to Antioch unless he could take back the imperial pardon,
-but would enrol himself in another city.”[324]
-
-If Flavian’s intercession was thrown into the form of an oration at
-all, it is clear that Chrysostom’s version of it, which has been here
-greatly condensed from the original, must be his own, rather than the
-speech actually delivered. If it had been only half as long, it could
-not have been accurately related to him from memory, or faithfully
-rehearsed by him afterwards. The excitement of addressing so large an
-audience, on so great an occasion, would naturally stimulate him to
-amplify and embellish.
-
-There is, however, no reason to doubt that Chrysostom has furnished us
-with an accurate description of Flavian’s conduct in the interview,
-and given us the main substance of his arguments. The whole narrative
-of the occurrence illustrates the difference between the Eastern and
-Western character. Compare the demeanour of Ambrose and of Flavian.
-The first speaks in a tone of majestic authority, which brooks no
-disputing; the other, though far from deficient in courage, approaches
-the Emperor with that deferential and submissive manner which the
-Oriental is accustomed to adopt in the presence of a potentate. His
-tone is that of an appeal, though based upon the highest grounds; not
-of a command. There is something of the courtier in Flavian; in Ambrose
-there is more of the pope.
-
-To conclude Chrysostom’s account: the Emperor was deeply affected,
-though, like Joseph, he refrained himself in the presence of
-spectators. He declared his intention of granting a free pardon, in
-language eminently Christian. “If the Lord of the earth, who became
-a servant for our sakes, and was crucified by those whom He came to
-benefit, prayed for the pardon of his crucifiers, what wonder was it
-that a man should forgive his fellow-servants?” He begged Flavian to
-return with all expedition, that he might release the people from the
-agony of their suspense. The bishop entreated that the young prince
-Arcadius might accompany him as a pledge of imperial favour to the
-city. But Theodosius said that he designed to confer on Antioch a
-greater honour. He requested the bishop to offer up prayers for the
-termination of the present war, that he might ratify his pardon by a
-visit to the city in person. The express courier was then despatched,
-while Flavian followed at a pace more suitable to his dignity and
-advanced age.
-
-Chrysostom concludes his discourse by a moral exhortation suggested
-by those festive demonstrations of joy already described. “Let the
-lanterns and the chaplets be to them emblems of spiritual things. Let
-them not cease to be crowned with virtue or to light up a lamp in their
-soul by the diligent practice of good works; let them rejoice with holy
-joy, and thank God not only for rescuing them from destruction, but for
-sending them so wholesome a chastisement, the salutary effects of which
-would, he trusted, extend to many generations.”[325]
-
-Thus terminated the celebrated sedition of Antioch. It is a singular
-and instructive picture of the times: the impulsive character of the
-people in the great Eastern cities of the Empire, alternating between
-frantic rage and abject despondency; the expectation of violent
-imperial vengeance, nothing less than the extermination of the city;
-the remarkable veneration paid to monks,—these are points which stand
-out in vivid colours. But still more remarkably does this event supply
-an example of the softening, humanising influence of Christianity, in
-a fierce and heartless age. The issue reflects the greatest honour
-on those who brought it to pass; and they were _all Christians_: the
-intrepid old bishop, sacrificing comfort and risking life to intercede,
-the generous Emperor who yielded to the persuasion of his Christian
-arguments; the humane commissioners; and last, but not least, the
-pastor and preacher, who with unwearied patience, invincible courage,
-unfailing eloquence, sustained the fainting spirits of his flock, and
-endeavoured to convert their calamity into an occasion of lasting good.
-
-One great and happy result of the recent trouble was a large accession
-of Pagans to the ranks of the Church. When the city lay under ban,
-the baths, theatres, and circus were closed, and the panic-stricken
-people had no heart to pursue their ordinary business. But one place
-had been constantly open. All knew that in the church prayer was being
-offered up day by day; and to the first portion of the service, up
-to the end of the sermon, there was free admission for all without
-respect of creed. Curiosity alone, if not any deeper feeling, would
-lead many Pagans to turn into the church, to hear what consolations,
-what encouragements, the Christian preacher had to offer in this
-season of general distress and painful suspense. And what had they
-heard? They had heard an unsparing exposure and denunciation of the
-follies and vices which prevailed in that great and dissolute city, a
-trumpet-call to repentance and reformation; they had heard the fleeting
-nature of earthly honour and earthly riches, their impotence to satisfy
-the heart or to save the life in the time of danger and distress
-vividly contrasted with the Christian’s aim of laying up incorruptible
-treasure in an imperishable world; they had heard of the Christian’s
-faith that righteousness was the only permanent good, as sin was the
-only real evil, that to a good man death was only the transition to
-a more blessed life, and that affliction was useful in purifying and
-elevating the soul. They had heard the proofs of a Creator, and of His
-providential care for the things which he had made as evinced by the
-majesty, beauty, and organisation of the universe, by the conscience
-and moral faculties of man, as well as by the more direct testimony
-of the written word.[326] There is no evidence as to the number of
-converts reclaimed from Paganism. Chrysostom only informs us[327]
-that he was occupied for some time after the return of Flavian with
-confirming in the faith those who “in consequence of the calamity had
-come to better mind and deserted from the side of Gentile error.”
-
-The sermons themselves are lost.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
- ILLNESS OF CHRYSOSTOM—HOMILIES ON FESTIVALS
- OF SAINTS AND MARTYRS—CHARACTER OF THESE
- FESTIVALS—PILGRIMAGES—RELIQUES—CHARACTER OF PEASANT
- CLERGY IN NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ANTIOCH. A.D. 387.
-
-
-Very probably the physical labour and mental strain which Chrysostom
-had undergone during the events recorded in the previous chapter may
-have brought on the illness to which he alludes in the homily preached
-on the Sunday before Ascension Day.[328] He was prevented by this
-attack from taking part in the services which were held some time after
-Easter under the conduct of Bishop Flavian at the chapels built over
-the remains of martyrs and saints.[329] A variety of homilies delivered
-by Chrysostom at such “martyries” on other occasions are extant, and it
-may be as well to introduce here such indications as can be collected
-from them of the general feeling of the Church, as well as of himself,
-with regard to saints, and such kindred subjects as pilgrimages and
-reliques.
-
-Churches had in most instances been erected to commemorate the death of
-a martyr, or to mark the spot where he died. Tertullian’s saying that
-“the blood of martyrs was the seed of the Church” thus became verified
-in a literal, material sense. Socrates (iv. 23) even speaks of the
-churches of St. Paul and St. Peter at Rome as their “martyries,” as
-Eusebius[330] also calls the church which Constantine built on Golgotha
-the “martyry” of our Saviour. By the age of Chrysostom the festivals
-of martyrs and saints had grown so numerous that frequently more than
-one occurred in the same week.[331] Good Friday and Ascension Day, and
-the Sunday after Whitsun Day (not observed as Trinity Sunday till much
-later), were especially dedicated to the commemoration of saints.[332]
-The congregation kept a vigil the night before, or very early before
-dawn on the Saints’ day itself. The vigil consisted of psalms, hymns,
-and prayers, and was followed early in the day by a full service, when,
-in addition to the ordinary lessons of the day, the acts or passions
-of the saint or martyr were read. St. Augustine permitted his people
-to sit during the reading of them because they were often of great
-length. Pope Gelasius forbade them to be read because they were so
-seldom authentic.[333] The martyries were generally outside the city
-walls, not always built over the grave of the saint, but close to it;
-in which case the congregation assembled at the grave first, and walked
-in procession from it to the church, singing hymns as they went. There
-can be no doubt that Chrysostom believed in the intercessory power of
-departed saints, and encouraged the invocation of their intercession.
-They were nearer to the Divine ear, and by virtue of their glorious
-deaths had justly obtained more confidence in making their requests to
-God than had the inhabitants of earth. He implores Christians not to
-resort for medical assistance to Jews, who were the enemies of Christ,
-but to seek aid from His friends the saints and martyrs, who had much
-confidence in addressing God.[334] At the close of his homily on the
-festival of two soldiers who had been beheaded by Julian for obstinate
-adherence to Christianity, he says: “Let us constantly visit them,
-touch their shrine, and with faith embrace their reliques, that we may
-derive some blessing therefrom; for like soldiers who converse freely
-with their sovereign when they display their wounds, so these, bearing
-their heads in their hands, are easily able to effect what they desire
-at the court of the King of Heaven.”[335] So, again, in the homily on
-Bernice and Prosdoke: “Let us fall down before their reliques ... let
-us embrace their shrines: not only on their festival, but at other
-times, let us resort to them and invoke them to become our protectors;
-for they can use much boldness of speech when dead, more, indeed, than
-when they were alive, for now they bear in their bodies the marks of
-Jesus Christ ... let us therefore procure for ourselves, through them,
-favour from God.”[336] Thus the saint is to be appealed to as a kind
-of friend at court, who will present petitions, and use his influence
-to obtain a favourable answer from the Monarch; but the further step
-of invoking saints as the _direct_ dispensers of spiritual and other
-benefits had not yet been taken. The feeling of the Church of Smyrna
-towards their beloved martyr and bishop Polycarp, as expressed in
-A.D. 160 to the Church of Philomelium, still represented the general
-state of feeling in the Church.[337] The Jews and other malignants had
-suggested, when the remains of Polycarp had been earnestly asked for,
-that the Christians intended to worship him; and “this they said, being
-ignorant that we should never be able to desert Christ, or worship any
-other Being. For Him, being the Son of God, we adore, but the martyrs,
-as the disciples and imitators of the Lord, we love with a deserved
-affection; desiring to become partners and fellow-disciples with them.”
-The language of St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom thoroughly corresponds
-to that in the passage just cited. “Our religion,” says Augustine,
-“consists not in the worship of dead men; because if they lived piously
-they are not considered likely to desire that kind of honour; but would
-wish Him to be worshipped by us through whose illumination they rejoice
-to have us partners with them in their merit. They are therefore to be
-honoured for the sake of imitation, not to be worshipped as a religious
-act.”[338] And in another place: “Christian people celebrate the
-memory of martyrs with religious solemnity, to stimulate imitation, to
-become partners in their merits, and to be assisted by their prayers;
-but in doing this we never offer sacrifice to a martyr, but only to
-Him who is the God of martyrs.”[339] A multitude of passages might be
-cited from Chrysostom’s homilies on Saints’ Festivals, in which he
-passionately exhorts to the imitation and emulation of their noble
-lives and glorious deaths, and dwells on the great advantages to the
-Church arising from these solemn commemorations. The very memory of
-the martyrs wrought upon the minds of men in confirming them against
-the assaults of wicked spirits, and delivering them from impure and
-unseemly thoughts; ... the death of the martyrs was the exhortation
-of the faithful, the confidence of Churches, the confirmation of
-Christianity, ... the reproach of devils, the condemnation of Satan,
-a consolation in affliction, a motive to patience, encouragement to
-fortitude, the root, fountain, mother of all which is good.[340]
-
-But if no inculcations to direct worship of saints are to be found in
-Chrysostom, it is evident that no small virtue was ascribed by popular
-faith (and, in his opinion, justly) to their remains.[341] Miracles
-of healing were wrought, or supposed to be wrought, at their tombs;
-demons were expelled by the application of their ashes to the persons
-possessed. It is obvious that, where such a belief has taken possession
-of the popular mind, prayer will very soon be addressed to the saint
-for the direct bestowal of those advantages which are supposed to be
-derivable from his reliques. Pilgrimages were fashionable in all parts
-of Christendom. Prefects and generals, when they visited Rome, hastened
-to pay their devotion at the tombs of the tentmaker and fisherman;
-journeys were made into Arabia to visit the supposed site of Job’s
-dunghill.[342]
-
-Two different causes seem to have led on the mind of the Church to an
-increasing veneration of martyrs. First, the Church owed to them a real
-debt; the heroic steadfastness of their deaths contributed much to
-promote and establish Christianity. Chrysostom observes how the sight
-of the aged Ignatius going to die at Rome for his faith—going not only
-with calmness, but even with alacrity—mightily confirmed the souls of
-the disciples in the several cities through which he passed.[343] “As
-irrigation made gardens fruitful, so the blood of martyrs gave drink
-to the Churches.”[344] Honour, affection, veneration, easily pass into
-actual adoration.
-
-Secondly, there is a natural desire to bridge over the chasm which
-divides the human nature from the Divine, and earth from heaven, by
-enlisting the agency of some intermediate being. In its earliest
-conflicts with heresy, theology was chiefly engaged in zealously
-defending the pure divinity of Christ—his co-equal, co-eternal
-power and majesty with the Father. The more He was withdrawn into a
-less accessible region of exalted deity, the more this need of the
-half-deified human interpositor was felt, and worked itself out at last
-into a distinct article of faith.
-
-Some of those abuses of saints’ days, which we are apt to associate
-more especially with medieval times, were far from uncommon in the days
-of Chrysostom. The day which had begun in fasting, and was preceded
-by a vigil, too often terminated in a very carnal kind of revelry.
-“Ye have turned night into day by your holy vigils: do not turn day
-into night by drunkenness, surfeiting, and lascivious songs; let not
-any one see you misbehaving in an inn on your return home.”[345] A
-custom prevailed of holding a “love-feast,” at or near the tomb of
-the saint, which was furnished by the oblations of the wealthier
-devotees. Chrysostom on one occasion urges his congregation to attend
-such a sacred banquet when they dispersed after service, instead of
-hurrying off to the diabolical entertainments at Daphne. The sight
-of the martyrs, standing as it were near their table, would prevent
-their pleasure from running to excess.[346] But there is abundant
-evidence in other contemporary writers that these meetings too often
-did degenerate into scenes of mere conviviality and intemperance.
-St. Augustine speaks of those who “made themselves drunk at the
-commemoration of martyrs.”[347] St. Ambrose prohibited all such feasts
-in the churches of Milan; and St. Augustine cited his example to obtain
-a similar prohibition from Aurelius, the Primate of Carthage.[348]
-St. Basil reprobates a growing custom of trading near the martyries
-on festival days, under pretence of making a better provision for the
-feasts, to which we may fairly, perhaps, attribute the universal
-custom in Christendom of holding fairs on saints’ days.[349] As they
-were in medieval times, so in Roman Catholic countries at the present
-day, the booths of the fair are in close contiguity with the walls of
-the church, and they who attend mass in the morning, as well as those
-who do not attend it at all, may disgrace themselves by drunkenness
-and all kinds of folly in the evening. Such abuses are an inevitable
-consequence of keeping up the observance of days after the real
-enthusiasm for the person or cause which they commemorate has begun to
-grow, or has altogether grown, cold. Little may ever have been really
-known about the saint whose memory is celebrated, and that little
-ceases to speak with any meaning to the minds of later generations.
-The service, which was once a living reality, becomes a cold and empty
-form, or the place of religious enthusiasm is supplied by some form of
-sensual excitement. Crowds of peasants will not fail to be attracted to
-a church which blazes with thousands of candles arranged in fantastic
-patterns, and which rings with noisy sensational music: they probably
-place a superstitious faith in the tutelary power of their patron: but
-how different is all this from the hearty, genuine, reasonable devotion
-of more enlightened worshippers to the Lord Himself, and the less
-strong but more real respect and honour paid by such to His day! It is
-surely one among many proofs of the deep and lasting hold of Christ’s
-character upon the mind of men, of the applicability of its influence
-to all times and places, and of its Divine superiority to that of all
-His followers, however exalted, that abuses which have accompanied the
-commemorations of saints have never extended in the same degree to His
-day.[350]
-
-As already remarked, Chrysostom was prevented this year by illness
-from attending the festivals of saints and martyrs, which fell very
-thickly between Easter and Whitsun Day. He commences his homily
-preached on the Sunday before Ascension Day with an allusion to his
-recent sickness, and tells his congregation that, though absent in body
-from their sacred festivities, he had been present and rejoiced with
-them in spirit; and now, though he had not fully recovered his health,
-he could not refrain from meeting his beloved and much-longed-for
-flock again. He was the more anxious also to occupy his accustomed
-place on that day, because large numbers of the rustic population
-from the neighbouring country had flocked into the city and attended
-the services of the church. They spoke a different dialect, but they
-were one with the Christian inhabitants of the town in the soundness
-of their faith; and their habits of simple piety, pure morality, and
-honourable industry, put to shame the dissolute manners and indolence
-which prevailed in the city. Their peasant clergy were a noble race of
-men; they might be seen, one while yoking their oxen to the plough,
-and marking out furrows in the soil, another while mounting the pulpit
-and ploughing the hearts of their flock; now cutting away thorns from
-the ground with a sickle, now cleansing men’s minds from sin by their
-discourse: for they were not ashamed of hard work, like the people of
-the city, but of idleness, knowing that it was idleness which taught
-men vice, and had been from the beginning to those who loved it the
-schoolmaster of all iniquity. Though little skilled, by training,
-in reasoning or rhetoric, they proved more than a match for those
-counterfeit philosophers who paraded themselves about the streets with
-their professional cloak, staff, and beard, but who could not give
-any satisfactory information on the subjects upon which they expended
-such a heap of words,—as the immortality of the soul, the creation of
-the world, Divine Providence, a future world and judgment. The rustic
-pastor, being simply and firmly persuaded of the truth of these things,
-could instruct men with clearness and decision about them; he could
-give solid matter, the others only polished language, like a man who
-should have a sword with a silver ornamented hilt, but a weak blade.
-Their wives were not luxurious creatures, covering themselves with
-unguents, paints, and dyes, but simple, sober, quiet matrons; which
-increased the influence of the pastor over the people committed to his
-charge, and caused the precept of St. Paul, “having food and raiment,
-let us be therewith content,” to be strictly observed[351] among them.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
- SURVEY OF EVENTS BETWEEN A.D. 387 AND A.D. 397—AMBROSE
- AND THEODOSIUS—REVOLT OF ARBOGASTES—DEATH OF
- THEODOSIUS—THE MINISTERS OF ARCADIUS—RUFINUS AND
- EUTROPIUS.
-
-
-Some account has now been given of the most remarkable among the
-homilies delivered by Chrysostom during the first year of his
-priesthood; not only because to follow the course of the Christian
-seasons through the cycle of one year seemed the most convenient
-method of giving specimens of his ordinary style of preaching, but
-also because these first efforts were seldom if ever surpassed in
-power and beauty by his later productions. A more extensive survey of
-his theology, under its several heads, is reserved for the concluding
-chapter; and the remainder of the ten years during which he resided at
-Antioch being uneventful as regards his life, it will be profitable to
-fill up the gap by taking a glance at the world outside his present
-sphere. Some knowledge of contemporary events and men is indeed
-necessary to a just appreciation of his position and conduct, when he
-is summoned to occupy a more public and exalted station.
-
-It is a melancholy scene which meets the eye. The mighty fabric of
-the Empire crumbles, perhaps more rapidly in this decade than in any
-previous period of equal length—like an old man whose constitution is
-thoroughly broken.
-
-Effeminate luxury in the civilised population is matched by the rude
-ferocity of the barbarians who hem it in or mingle with it, and the new
-barbarian patch agrees ill with the old garment, which is not strong
-enough to bear it. The pages of historians are filled with tales of
-murder, massacre, treachery, venality, corruption, everywhere and of
-all kinds. There is no national greatness, but great men move across
-the stage: Theodosius himself, generous, just though passionate,
-vigorous when roused to a sense of emergency; the last Emperor who
-deserved the name of “great;” Ambrose, the intrepid advocate of
-religious duty to God and man, the champion of the rights of Church and
-hierarchy; Stilicho, the skilful commander of armies and able guardian
-of the Empire after the death of Theodosius; Alaric, the very type of
-Gothic force; Rufinus and Eutropius, the clever, scheming adventurers,
-destitute of all nobility, who in a degenerate court contrive to raise
-themselves to the pinnacle of power, and are suddenly toppled headlong
-from it.
-
-The most commanding public character in the West at this time was, and
-for some years had been, Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan. Disliked but
-feared by the Arian court, respected and beloved by the people, he
-fought in some respects a similar battle to that in which Chrysostom
-was afterwards engaged in the East, and amidst many differences there
-are also many parallels in the character and history of the two men:
-the same fearless courage to speak what they believed to be God’s
-truth, in the face of royalty itself, animated both; in both cases
-was it rewarded by virulent persecution; both had to contend with an
-imperious, passionate woman; both were protected from her fury by the
-populace keeping guard night and day before the walls of the church.
-In A.D. 384, Ambrose had been summoned before a royal council, and, in
-the presence of the young Emperor Valentinian II. and the Queen-mother
-Justina, had been commanded to surrender the Portian Basilica for the
-use of the Arians. But Ambrose had replied undauntedly, that not one
-inch of ground which had been consecrated to truth would he concede
-to error.[352] For more than two years Ambrose maintained his ground
-against all the stratagems of his adversaries. On one occasion they
-seized the Portian Basilica, but dared not hold it in the face of the
-infuriated people. Messengers from court endeavoured to maintain before
-the archbishop that the Emperor had a right to dispose of the churches
-as he pleased, but the argument was contemptuously dismissed as a base
-sophistry. “What!” he cried; “the Emperor has no right to violate the
-house of a private individual, and think you that he may do violence
-to the house of God? No! let him take all that is mine—my land, my
-money, though these belong to the poor; if he seeks my patrimony, let
-him seize it; if my person, I will present it to him: but the church it
-is not lawful for me to surrender, or for him to accept.”[353] Force
-was not more successful than argument. Soldiers were sent to dislodge
-him and his congregation from one of the basilicas, but instead of
-drawing their swords they fell on their knees, and declared that they
-came not to attack the archbishop, but to pray with him. The effect of
-an edict was tried in A.D. 386,[354] which permitted free worship to
-all who professed the creed of Rimini (an Arian creed), and rendered
-liable to capital punishment any who should impede the action of the
-edict, as offenders against the imperial majesty. Under shelter of this
-edict, the Portian Basilica was again demanded, but Ambrose refused to
-recognise such an edict, which militated against his sense of duty to
-a higher power. “God forbid that I should yield the heritage of Jesus
-Christ. Naboth would not part with the vineyard of his fathers to Ahab,
-and should I surrender the house of God? the heritage of Dionysius, who
-died in exile for the faith; of Eustorgius the confessor; of Miroclus,
-and all the faithful bishops which were before me?”[355] But though
-Ambrose disobeyed, the penalties of the edict were not enforced upon
-him. An order of banishment was served upon him, expressed in vague
-terms: “Depart from the city, and go where you please.” But Ambrose
-did not please to go anywhere, and remained where he was, moving up
-and down the city, and officiating as usual in the churches, using in
-his sermons the same Scripture parallels to indicate the Queen-mother,
-“Herodias” and “Jezebel,” which Chrysostom afterwards applied to the
-Empress Eudoxia. He preaches day after day, guarded by his faithful
-flock, who during passion-tide suffered him not to quit the cathedral
-for fear of violence to his person. Amongst that crowd, touched by the
-spell of the chants and hymns which Ambrose taught the people[356] to
-beguile the tediousness of their watch, and impressed by his pungent
-and decisive doctrine, are two remarkable persons, a mother and her
-son. They are Monica and Augustine. Monica is among the most faithful
-in watching, the most earnest in praying for the welfare of the bishop
-and the church. Augustine is about thirty-two years old; he has been in
-many places and passed through many phases of thought. He has subdued
-the vices and follies which stained his youth; he has shaken off the
-errors of Manicheism which for a time enthralled him; he has been a
-teacher of rhetoric at Tagaste, at Carthage, at Rome; and Symmachus
-has now obtained for him a professorial chair at Milan. But Pagan
-literature is losing its hold upon him. Plato no longer fascinates
-him equally with Holy Scripture. He is gravitating steadily towards
-Christianity, and in another year, April 387, just about the time that
-Chrysostom is delivering his homilies on the Statues, he will crown
-his mother’s hopes by making a public confession of his faith, and
-receiving baptism at the hands of Ambrose.[357]
-
-One more effort was made to win the contest, this time through
-diplomacy. The court proposed that the question under dispute should
-be settled by arbitration, the judges to be selected by Ambrose
-and Auxentius the Arian bishop. But Ambrose would not accept the
-arbitrators nominated by Auxentius, four of whom were Pagans and one a
-catechumen. In the name of himself and the clergy of his province he
-denied the validity of the tribunal. In an address to the people the
-same lofty tone of independence was maintained. “He would pay deference
-to the Emperor, but never yield in things unlawful: the Emperor was ‘in
-the Church, not above it.’”[358] So he remained master of the field.
-The unfinished basilica, which had been the prize contended for, was
-consecrated by Ambrose with great pomp, and the joy of the people
-was completed by the discovery of the martyrs’ skeletons beneath the
-pavement, pronounced to be those of Gervasius and Protasius, who had
-suffered in the persecution of Diocletian. When demoniacs shuddered on
-being placed in proximity to these reliques, and a blind man was cured
-by the application to his eyes of a handkerchief which had been placed
-in contact with these same reliques, the crown was put on the triumph
-of Ambrose; the people were more firmly convinced than ever that his
-cause was the cause of God.[359]
-
-He was so indisputably the ablest man of the time in the West, that,
-when danger impended over the state, the very court which persecuted
-him turned to him to rescue the country. Threatening messages came from
-the court of Maximus at Treves. Ambrose was the ambassador selected to
-go and pacify or intimidate the tyrant. Maximus was a Catholic, and
-a ruthless persecutor of those whom he deemed heretics, especially
-Priscillianists; yet Ambrose did not hesitate to denounce his cruelty
-to brethren who were Christians, however erring, as well as his
-disloyal attitude towards Valentinian. The embassy was unsuccessful,
-but the dignity of the ambassador and of the court which he represented
-was fully maintained. The artifices by which another ambassador, the
-Syrian Domninus, was blinded to the preparations of Maximus for the
-invasion of Italy; the passage of the Alps by the usurper; the flight
-of Justina and her son to Thessalonica; the prompt march of Theodosius
-to the succour of Italy, and his complete victory over Maximus, near
-Aquileia,—belong to the secular historian; but the connection between
-Theodosius and Ambrose will be related here more in detail.
-
-There is no account of the first meeting between the two great
-characters of the day—the Emperor and the archbishop. That Ambrose
-immediately exercised influence over the imperial mind may be inferred
-from the mildness of the measures by which the embers of the late
-revolution were extinguished. No bloody executions took place; no
-rigorous search for rebels was made; the mother and daughter of
-Maximus—who had been himself beheaded—were provided with a maintenance.
-Ambrose, in one of his letters, thanks the Emperor for granting
-liberty, at his request, to several exiles and prisoners, and for
-remitting the sentence of death to others.
-
-Theodosius could be generous to enemies, and was the zealous friend of
-Catholic Christianity, but he was a strict punisher of any violations
-of civil order, even when the offenders were Christian. The people of
-Callinicum in Osrhoene, instigated by the bishop and some fanatical
-monks, had set fire to a Jewish synagogue, and to a church of the sect
-of Valentinians. The Emperor directed the Count of the East to punish
-the offenders, and commanded the bishop to restore the buildings at the
-expense of the Church. But the extension of such favour to heretics was
-in the sight of Ambrose intolerable. It might, indeed, have been wrong
-to disturb civil order, but it was far more wrong to reinstate error:
-to order Christians to rebuild a place of worship for those who set
-Christ at naught was, in his eyes, simple profanity. He expressed his
-opinion to the Emperor in a letter. It is the first great instance of
-the Church distinctly claiming a pre-eminence of authority superseding
-that of civil law. “If I am not worthy to be listened to by you, how
-can I be worthy to transmit, as your priest, your vows and prayers
-to God?” Basing on this ground his right to speak out his mind, he
-declares that “if the Bishop of Callinicum obeyed the imperial command,
-he would be guilty of culpable weakness, and the Emperor would be
-responsible for it. If he refused to obey, the Emperor could execute
-his will by force of arms only; the labarum, perhaps the standard
-of Christ, would be employed to rebuild a temple where Christ would
-be denied. What a monstrous inconsistency!” The last words which it
-contained were: “I have endeavoured to make myself heard in the palace;
-do not place me under the necessity of making myself heard in the
-church;” but the letter was unanswered, and so Ambrose put his threat
-into execution. He preached in Milan in the presence of the Emperor;
-“he compared the Christian priest to the prophets of the Old Testament,
-whose duty it was to proclaim God’s message to the king himself, as
-Nathan did to David. As the Israelites were warned not to say, when
-they entered the land of Canaan, ‘My virtue has deserved these good
-things,’ but ‘the Lord God has given them,’ so the Emperor should
-remember that he was what he was by the mercy of God. Therefore, he
-ought to love the body of Christ, the Church—to wash, kiss, and anoint
-her feet, that all the dwelling where Christ reposes might be filled
-with the odour; that is, he ought to honour his least disciples, and
-pardon their faults; every one of the members of the Christian body was
-necessary to it, and ought to receive his protection.”
-
-Having uttered such words, he descended from the altar steps.
-Theodosius perceived that the archbishop had taken up his parable
-against him, and as Ambrose was going out of the church he stopped him,
-saying, “Is it I whom you have made the subject of your discourse?”
-“I have said that which I deemed useful for you,” Ambrose replied.
-“I perceive it is of the synagogue that you would speak,” rejoined
-Theodosius. “I own that my commands have been a little severe, but
-I have already softened them, and these monks are troublesome men.”
-“I am going to offer the sacrifice,” said Ambrose; “enable me to do
-so without fear for you; deliver me from the load which oppresses my
-spirit.” “It shall be so,” responded the Emperor; “my orders shall be
-mitigated; I give you my promise.” But Ambrose was not satisfied with
-so vague an assurance. “Suppress the whole matter,” he said; “swear it
-to me, and, on your sworn promise, I proceed to offer the sacrifice.”
-The Emperor swore; Ambrose celebrated mass; “and never,” said he, in
-a letter written the day after to his sister, “did I experience such
-sensible marks of the presence of God in prayer.”[360]
-
-In the spring of A.D. 389, Theodosius made his triumphal entry into
-Rome, accompanied by Valentinian and his own son Honorius, a boy
-of ten. His arrival was preceded by two popular enactments: one
-a decree, renouncing for himself and family all bequests made by
-codicils—striking a blow at a vicious custom, which had long prevailed,
-of bribing imperial favour for particular families, by bequeathing
-large legacies to the reigning sovereign. By heathen emperors these
-bequests had been sought with great cupidity; sick or old men were
-sometimes threatened with an acceleration of death, unless they
-satisfied the royal expectations in this way. The other, no less
-popular, decree was, to abolish the custom by which royal couriers,
-when conveying news of victory, exacted donations from the villages
-through which they passed. The victory of Theodosius over Maximus was
-the first which had been gratuitously proclaimed along the route to
-Rome; and the people greeted the Emperor as he made his progress to the
-capital with all the warmer welcome in consequence.[361]
-
-Rome had at this period scarcely recovered from the ferment into which
-society had been thrown by the three years’ residence of Jerome, A.D.
-382-385. His denunciations of clerical luxury; his cutting satires on
-the vices and follies of the laity; his allurement to monastic life of
-some of the wealthiest and noblest of the Roman ladies, had stirred up
-a tumult of feeling for the most part adverse to him. But Theodosius
-prudently abstained from interfering with the religious debates of
-Rome. In Constantinople he was the absolute sovereign; in Rome he
-desired to appear simply as the successful general and the foremost
-citizen. He assumed no imperial or Asiatic splendour; he exhibited
-no fastidious abhorrence of statues, temples, and other remnants of
-Paganism. Symmachus, the most eminent Pagan citizen, was cordially
-received, and gratified by the promise of consulship. The result of
-this amiable and moderate conduct was that some of the most powerful
-Roman families embraced the faith of the Emperor.
-
-A.D. 390. But the generosity which Theodosius had manifested towards
-the people of Antioch, his moderation after the defeat of Maximus, and
-during his triumphal residence in Rome, was presently stained by one
-of those paroxysms of anger to which he was occasionally subject. The
-intercession of Flavian had averted any such outburst in the case of
-the sedition of Antioch; the authority of Ambrose, too late to prevent
-the crime, enforced penance for the cruel vengeance executed on the
-people of Thessalonica.
-
-Botheric, the governor of Thessalonica, had imprisoned a favourite
-charioteer for attempting to commit a disgusting crime. The people,
-passionately attached to the races of the circus, demanded his release
-on a certain day to take part in the contest. The governor refused,
-and the people then broke out into rebellion; the tumult was with
-difficulty quelled by the troops, and not before Botheric had been
-mortally wounded, several other officers torn to pieces, and their
-mangled remains dragged through the streets. The irritation of the
-Emperor, on hearing of this barbarous violence, was extreme; and all
-the more so, because of Thessalonica he could have expected better
-things. It did not contain, like Antioch, Rome, or Alexandria, a large
-mixed population, but one almost exclusively Christian, and for the
-most part even Catholic. The city was the scene of his early triumphs,
-and frequently honoured by his visits. It is possible that Ambrose may
-have pushed his exhortations to clemency too far in the first glow of
-the Emperor’s resentment. At any rate, the counsel of those rivals or
-enemies of Ambrose, who represented that the affair belonged purely to
-civil government, and should be decided independently of all clerical
-interference, prevailed. Rufinus, the flattering, heartless courtier,
-persuaded Theodosius that a public offence of such magnitude deserved
-the most merciless punishment which could be inflicted. Orders were
-issued to the officials at Thessalonica to assemble the populace, as
-if for a fête, in the circus, and then to let in the troops upon them.
-This barbarous mandate was too faithfully executed. The unsuspecting
-victims crowded into their favourite place of amusement; at a given
-signal the soldiers rushed in, and in the course of two or three
-hours the ground was strewn with some 7000 corpses of men, women, and
-children.[362] The horror of the people of Milan was only equalled by
-their astonishment. Was it possible that he who had displayed such
-magnanimity and Christian moderation could be guilty of an act which
-savoured of the most heathen treachery and ferocity? When the Emperor
-returned from Rome, Ambrose withdrew from Milan into the country,
-and thence wrote to him a letter expressing his horror at the recent
-massacre; exhorting him to the deepest repentance and humiliation as
-the only hope of obtaining mercy from God, and declaring that he could
-not celebrate mass again in his presence. The mode by which the Emperor
-was to expiate his guilt is not indicated in this epistle, and he
-presented himself soon afterwards at the doors of the cathedral church
-with his usual royal retinue. But he was confronted by Ambrose in his
-pontifical robes, who with flashing eyes expressed his astonishment
-at such audacity, and barred the entrance with his person. “I see,
-Emperor, you are ignorant of the flagrancy of the murder which you have
-perpetrated. Perhaps your unlimited power blinds you to your guilt,
-and obscures your reason. Yet consider your frail and mortal nature;
-think of the dust from which you were formed, and to which you will
-return, and beneath the splendid veil of your purple recognise the
-infirmity of the flesh which it covers. You rule over men who are your
-brethren by nature, and by service to a common King, the Creator of all
-things. How then will you dare to plant your feet in His sanctuary,
-and elevate your hands towards Him, all dripping as they are with the
-blood of men unjustly slain? How will you take into your hands the
-sacred body of the Lord, or dare to put His precious blood to those
-lips, which by a word of anger have spilt the blood of so many innocent
-victims? Withdraw, then, and add not a fresh crime to those with which
-you are already burdened.” The Emperor returned, conscience-stricken
-and weeping, to his palace. For eight months no intercourse took place
-between him and Ambrose. Christmas approached; exclusion from the
-church at such a season seemed insupportable to the Emperor. Rufinus
-found him one day dissolved in tears. “The church of God,” he cried,
-“is open to the slave and the beggar, but to me it is closed, and
-with it the gates of heaven; for I remember the words of the Lord:
-‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.’” Rufinus
-sought to console him: “I will hasten to Ambrose, and force him to
-release you from this bond.” “No,” said the Emperor, “you will not
-persuade Ambrose to violate divine law from any fear of imperial
-power.” Rufinus, however, sought an interview with the archbishop;
-but Ambrose spurned him indignantly from him, as being the chief
-counsellor of the late massacre. Rufinus informed him that the Emperor
-was approaching. “If he comes,” said the prelate, “I will repel him
-from the vestibule of the church.” The minister returned to the Emperor
-discomfited, and advised him to abstain from visiting the church; but
-Theodosius had subdued all pride, and replied that he would now go and
-submit to any humiliation which Ambrose might see proper to impose. He
-advanced to the church. Perceiving the archbishop in the exterior court
-or atrium, he cried, “I have come; deliver me from my sins.” “What
-madness,” replied Ambrose, “has prompted you to violate the sanctuary,
-and to trample on divine law?” “I ask for my deliverance,” said the
-humbled monarch; “shut not the door which God has opened to all
-penitents.” “And where is your penitence?” said the archbishop; “show
-me your remedies for healing your wounds.” “It is for _you_ to show
-them to _me_,” Theodosius replied; “for me to accept them.” Once more
-Ambrose had gained the day. He could prescribe his own terms. First,
-he required that the recurrence of a similar crime should be guarded
-against by a decree which should interpose a delay of thirty days
-between a sentence of confiscation or death and the execution of it. At
-the expiration of this period the sentence was to be presented to the
-Emperor for final reconsideration. Theodosius consented, ordered the
-law to be drawn up, and subscribed it with his own hand. He was then
-admitted within the walls, but in deeply penitential guise; stripped
-of imperial ornaments, prostrate on the pavement, beating his breast,
-tearing his hair, and crying aloud, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust,
-quicken thou me according to thy word.” So he remained during the first
-portion of the Liturgy. When the offertory began, he rose, advanced
-within the choir to present his offering, and was about to resume the
-place which at Constantinople he usually occupied—a seat in the midst
-of the clergy, in the more elevated portion of the choir. But Ambrose
-determined, by taking advantage of the Emperor’s present humiliation,
-to put a stop to this custom. An archdeacon stepped up to Theodosius,
-and informed him that no layman might remain in the choir during the
-celebration. The submissive Emperor withdrew outside the rails. When
-he had returned to Constantinople, he was invited by Nectarius, the
-archbishop, to occupy his accustomed chair in the choir. “No!” replied
-Theodosius, with a sigh; “I have learned at Milan the insignificance
-of an Emperor in the Church, and the difference between him and a
-bishop. But no one here tells me the truth. I know not any bishop
-save Ambrose who deserves the name.”[363] He had hit the truth. The
-difference between the conduct of Ambrose and of Nectarius symbolised
-the difference between the character of the Western and Eastern Church
-generally: the one stern, commanding, jealous of any encroachment of
-the civil power; the other, subservient, submissive, courtier-like; the
-one aspiring and advancing, the other receding and decadent. Chrysostom
-would have told him the truth; but Chrysostom, in his uncompromising
-and fearless honesty of purpose and speech, is such a grand exception
-among the patriarchs of Constantinople, that he proves the general
-rule. Even Flavian had only _supplicated_ mercy from the Emperor;
-Ambrose _commanded_ it.
-
-On one subject the deference of Theodosius for the opinion of Ambrose
-caused him some embarrassment. Ambrose, in common with the other
-Western prelates, had recognised Paulinus as Bishop of Antioch—the
-priest of the Eustathian party who had been consecrated by Lucifer of
-Cagliari; and he now acknowledged Evagrius, his successor. Theodosius
-was distracted between his friendship for Flavian, the rival of
-Evagrius, and for Ambrose. Flavian was summoned to court. The Emperor
-implored him to go to Rome and justify his claims before the Pope; but
-Flavian refused. At the suggestion of Ambrose, the Western Bishops
-assembled in council at Capua, and there delegated the decision to
-Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria. Once more Flavian was summoned to
-court, and advised to submit to the arbitration of Theophilus; but he
-was still intractable. “Take my bishopric at once, and give it to whom
-you please; but I will submit neither my honour nor my faith to the
-judgment of my equals.” Nearly eighteen months were consumed in these
-negotiations. The West grew impatient. The letters of Ambrose took a
-severer tone: “Flavian has something to fear; that is why he avoids
-examination. Will he place himself outside the Church, the communion
-of Rome, and intercourse with his brethren?” The strife was mercifully
-broken off by the sudden death of Evagrius, before he had time to
-designate a successor; and the wound was salved, though not healed.
-That final good work was destined to be accomplished by Chrysostom.[364]
-
-A.D. 392. Only a few years more of life remained for Theodosius, and
-his reign was occupied at the end as at the beginning by quelling
-rebellion in the West. When he returned to the East, in A.D. 391, after
-the defeat of Maximus, he had generously left the youthful Valentinian
-in full possession of all his hereditary dominions, which he had
-rescued for him from the usurper. Arbogastes, a Gaul, was appointed
-general of the forces; Ambrose was a kind of general counsellor. But
-Arbogastes was bold, ambitious, unscrupulous. He possessed much
-power; he determined to acquire the whole. He obeyed the commands of
-his young sovereign or not, as suited his pleasure and purposes, and
-surrounded him with creatures of his own, who, under the semblance
-of courtiers, acted as spies and gaolers. Valentinian’s residence at
-Vienne, in Gaul, became his prison rather than his palace. The sequel
-belongs to secular history, and is well known. An open rupture took
-place. Arbogastes threw off the mask. Valentinian was found strangled,
-too late to receive baptism at the hands of Ambrose, whose coming he
-had awaited with great eagerness as soon as he knew that his life was
-in danger.[365] Once more Italy became the prey of a usurper; once more
-the veteran Emperor of the East roused himself from his well-earned
-repose, collected a huge force, consulted John, the hermit of the
-Thebaid, on the issue of the war, solicited the favour of Heaven by
-visiting the principal places of devotion in the city, and kneeling
-on flint before the tombs of martyrs and apostles, then set out on
-his march, and by the summer of A.D. 394 again looked down from the
-Alps on the plains of Venetia, near the scene of his former victory
-over one usurper, and now covered with the tents belonging to the
-army of another. He prosecuted the campaign in the same religious
-spirit in which he had undertaken it. The first assault made on the
-5th of September against the enemy was repulsed. Theodosius rallied
-and harangued the troops lifted up his eyes to heaven, and cried: “O
-Lord, Thou knowest that I have undertaken this war only for the honour
-of thy Son, and to prevent crime going unpunished; stretch forth, I
-pray Thee, thy hand over thy servants, that the heathen say not of us,
-‘Where is their God?’” The second assault was more successful; the
-night was spent by the Emperor in prayer, who was rewarded towards dawn
-by a vision of two horsemen, clothed in white, who bade him be of good
-cheer, for that they were the apostles St. Philip and St. John, and
-would not fail to come to his succour on the following day. The issue
-of that day was decisive; the overthrow of Arbogastes complete; his
-army routed; himself slain.[366]
-
-The conqueror was received by Ambrose, at Milan, with transports
-of joy. The victory was nobly signalised by a display of Christian
-clemency. Free pardon was proclaimed in the church (whither the
-offenders had fled for refuge) to all those Milanese who had joined the
-side of the usurper. Among them were the children of Arbogastes, and of
-the puppet king whom he had set up, Eugenius. They were made to expiate
-the crimes of their Pagan fathers by submitting to baptism.[367]
-
-But there was an increasing shade of gloom which overcast the general
-sunshine of joy. The health of Theodosius, long undermined by a
-disease, was now manifestly fast giving way. He was sensible of his
-danger, and despatched a message to Constantinople, desiring that his
-younger son, Honorius, should be sent to join him at Milan. The young
-prince, accompanied by his cousin Serena (the wife of Stilicho) and
-his little sister Placidia, set off without delay. They reached Milan
-early in the year A.D. 395. Some shocks of earthquake, and terrific
-storms, which coincided with their arrival, were regarded as portents
-of future evil. The malady of Theodosius, a dropsical disorder, was
-rapidly gaining ground. He revived a little at the sight of his son,
-and received the Eucharist from the hands of Ambrose, which he had
-hitherto refused, as having too recently been engaged in the sanguinary
-scenes of war. He gave audience to a deputation of Western bishops,
-who came to pay him homage, and besought them to heal the schism of
-Antioch by acknowledging Flavian. He besought the Pagan members of the
-senate of Rome to embrace the Christian faith, adding the somewhat
-potent argument, that Pagan worship must no longer expect any pecuniary
-aid from the State. He appeared for a few times at the circus, where
-races were held in honour of his victory and the arrival of the young
-prince; but one day, while dining, he was taken suddenly worse, and
-expired early the next morning, Jan. 17th, A.D. 395, in the fiftieth
-year of his age, and the sixteenth of his reign. Those who watched by
-his bedside thought they detected the name of Ambrose faintly murmured
-by his dying lips.[368]
-
-So passed away the last great Emperor of the Roman world.[369] He had
-persistently kept in view a single and noble aim—the consolidation
-of the Empire. He had repelled invasion, crushed rebellion, laboured
-to extirpate heathenism, to suppress heresy, to reconcile opposing
-factions in the Church; and the work seemed advancing when he was
-called away, and years ensued of misrule and disorder, Gothic
-devastation, and internal corruption and decadence.
-
-The history of the Empire under Arcadius and Honorius presents a
-pitiable picture of imbecility on the part of the sovereigns; of
-infidelity and unscrupulous ambition on the part of their ministers.
-Theodosius himself, as he lay on his death-bed, was perhaps conscious
-of impending troubles. The words supposed by Claudian to be spoken by
-the shade of Theodosius to his son Arcadius: “Res incompositas fateor
-tumidasque reliqui,”[370] express at any rate the true condition of
-affairs. To Stilicho he commended his younger son, Honorius, and the
-interests of the Western Empire, but added a request that he would not
-neglect Arcadius and the Eastern portion of the Empire also. The legal
-guardian, however, of Arcadius was not a man who would tamely submit
-to any supervision, or to any encroachment, fancied or real, upon the
-rights of his office. He was as jealous of Stilicho as Constantinople
-was of Rome. Discernment of character cannot be reckoned among the
-great qualities of Theodosius; otherwise he would not have intrusted
-his two sons to the guardianship of two men dissimilar in all respects
-but one—an insatiable love of power. He had placed the two weak princes
-in the hands of deadly rivals.
-
-Rufinus, the guardian of Arcadius and regent of the East, was an
-Aquitanian Gaul, born at Elusa, the modern Eauze, at the foot of the
-Pyrenees.[371] He was the very model of an accomplished adventurer.
-Sprung from poverty and obscurity, he was gifted by nature with a
-handsome figure, a noble demeanour, a ready tongue, an inventive,
-versatile wit.[372] He made his way, after residing in Milan and Rome,
-to the court of Constantinople; and found in Theodosius a patron who
-could appreciate his talents without detecting his vices. He rapidly
-rose till he had attained the high distinction of “Master of the
-Offices,” in A.D. 390; of consul, in connection with Arcadius, in A.D.
-392; and, in A.D. 394, prætorian prefect _in presenti_, a position
-second only to that of the Emperor himself.[373] He affected the
-warmest zeal for the Catholic faith, and threw himself heartily into
-the schemes of Theodosius for the suppression of heresy, no less than
-into those for the consolidation of the social and political fabric.
-
-But underneath this appearance of patriotic enthusiasm he indulged what
-Claudian terms an “accursed thirst” for gain.[374] By unjust law-suits
-he wrested patrimonies from the poor, and manœuvred to marry the
-daughters and widows of the wealthy to his own favourites, in order
-that he might reap their legacies and gifts. If any exposure of these
-iniquities was threatened, he stopped the mouths of accusers by large
-bribes, and compensated his extortions from towns by making presents to
-their churches or enlarging their public buildings.
-
-When Theodosius departed for the Italian war, Rufinus, being left
-as guardian of Arcadius, began to conceive the project of elevating
-himself to the imperial throne. He made a magnificent display of his
-piety. Hard by his villa, or rather palace, in the suburb of Chalcedon,
-called the Oak, a spot which afterwards acquired a melancholy notoriety
-in the history of Chrysostom, he had built a church and a monastery
-attached to it. This church he now determined to dedicate with great
-pomp, and at the same time to be baptized himself. For this purpose
-he assembled nineteen Eastern bishops, chiefly metropolitans, and a
-number of Egyptian hermits; strange-looking figures, who, with their
-raiment of skins, their flowing beards and long hair, excited much
-superstitious reverence. In the midst of this august assembly, the
-depredator of the East descended into the baptismal waters, arrayed in
-the white robes typical of innocence. The celebrated Egyptian solitary,
-Ammonius (who will come before us again), administered the sacrament,
-and Gregory of Nyssa delivered a discourse.[375] Rufinus now surrounded
-himself with a powerful party of followers; Arcadius was too stupid to
-see, or too timid to oppose, the dangerous ambition of his so-called
-protector.
-
-But the death of Theodosius and the elevation of Stilicho to the
-guardianship of the West brought the intriguer face to face with an
-able and determined soldier, who united some of the ferocity of the
-barbarian with the steadfast patriotism of an old Roman. This last,
-indeed, was the character which Stilicho, a Vandal by birth, but
-educated at Rome, more especially emulated. It was his ambition to be
-compared to Fabricius, Curtius, Camillus.[376] Great was his delight
-when Claudius, himself called a second Virgil, likened him in his
-verses to Scipio.[377] The poet declared that Theodosius had never
-fought without Stilicho, though Stilicho had fought without Theodosius.
-He was made not only the guardian but father-in-law of Honorius,
-who was betrothed to his eldest daughter beside the death-bed of
-Theodosius; the father dying in the happy assurance that, by creating
-this parental tie, he had secured the fidelity of his minister. The boy
-and girl were brought into the sick-room, exchanged rings, and repeated
-the words which were dictated to them.[378]
-
-The regent of the East naturally became profoundly jealous of the
-regent of the West, and in point of royal connection determined to
-be even with him. He humoured Arcadius into a consent to marry his
-own daughter; and his scheme seemed on the point of completion when
-an inopportune matter of business took him away to Antioch, and his
-enemy, the chamberlain Eutropius, took advantage of his absence to
-frustrate the plan. A Frankish general, called Bautho, who had been
-elevated to the consulship, but had prematurely died, left a daughter
-of rare beauty named Eudoxia. The orphan girl was brought up by a
-friend of Bautho, the son of Promotus, a magister militum, whom
-Rufinus, in revenge for an insult, had caused to be assassinated.
-Eutropius introduced a portrait of the young beauty to the notice
-of Arcadius. Curiosity, and soon a tenderer sentiment, were excited
-in the young Emperor’s breast; the cunning chamberlain fanned the
-flame, till he was able to persuade the royal youth that Eudoxia was
-a more eligible bride than the daughter of the low-born Gaul.[379]
-The intrigue was conducted with such secrecy that Rufinus, on his
-return from Antioch, remained unsuspicious, and his boastful remarks
-on the approaching nuptials excited the indignation of the public. The
-wedding-day was fixed for April 25, A.D. 395. Eutropius selected from
-the imperial wardrobe some of the costliest female robes and jewels
-which it contained. They were placed on litters, which, escorted by a
-large train of splendidly apparelled serving-men, paraded the streets,
-on the way, as was supposed, to the house of Rufinus. What was the
-astonishment of the populace when the procession suddenly turned in
-another direction, and presently stopped in front of the house of
-Promotus! A loud shout of joy burst from the lips of the multitude, and
-proclaimed to Rufinus the unpopularity of his project, and the general
-satisfaction at its defeat. The bride thus cunningly substituted was
-destined to play a conspicuous part in the later scenes of Chrysostom’s
-career. She inherited the fair beauty, the energetic spirit, the
-impulsive, sometimes fierce, temper of the race from which she sprang.
-Her father had remained firmly attached to the Pagan religion of his
-ancestors, but, in deference to Theodosius, his patron, he had allowed
-his daughter to be baptized and educated in the Christian faith.[380]
-Impatient of control, she resolved to possess herself of her husband’s
-confidence in order to govern through him, and gradually to disengage
-herself from the management alike of Rufinus and Eutropius.
-
-Rufinus had been thoroughly outwitted in his matrimonial scheme, but
-his resources were far from being exhausted. The sequel of his life
-belongs too exclusively to secular history to be more than glanced at
-here. He played a subtle and desperate game, seldom if ever surpassed
-in villainy. Some Hunnish tribes, encouraged by him, made incursions
-into Armenia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and even as far as the vicinity
-of Antioch.[381] The court was in the extremity of alarm, for the
-main forces of the army and treasury had been drained to the West
-when Theodosius marched against Arbogastes, and remained in the hands
-of Stilicho. Worse still, the formidable chieftain Alaric, of the
-royal race of the Visigoths, who had lately distinguished himself in
-the Italian wars under Theodosius, began to complain of unrequited
-services, and with a motley force of Huns, Alani, Sarmatians, and
-Goths, descended into Thrace, and ravaged the country up to the walls
-of Constantinople. The inhabitants were convulsed with panic; all
-except the artful intriguer, who had already struck his bargain with
-the invaders. He rode out of Constantinople accoutred as a Gothic
-warrior, went through the farce of an interview with Alaric, and
-returned with the joyful intelligence that his intercessions had
-saved the city, and that the Gothic prince had consented to withdraw
-his troops. And so he did; not, however, to retire to the Gothic
-settlements in the north, but to pour southwards in a devastating
-flood over Greece. This was the plot of Rufinus. The possession of the
-Illyrian provinces was disputed between the courts of East and West.
-Alaric occupied these. Stilicho, with extraordinary energy, collected a
-large army, advanced against the devastator, who was supposed to be the
-common enemy of the whole Empire; but when on the point of attacking
-him, he was arrested by a message from Constantinople, which commanded
-him to abstain from any hostilities against the ravager of Greece. “He
-was the good friend of Arcadius: he occupied the province of Illyria as
-his ally, which Stilicho was to evacuate immediately, and to restore
-the troops and treasure which belonged to the East.” The troops were
-sent back by Stilicho under the command of Gaïnas, but with the
-secret understanding that he should compass the death of Rufinus. The
-result is well known. Rufinus fell just as he was placing his foot on
-the topmost round of his ladder of ambition. He was standing on the
-tribune, where Arcadius was to proclaim him Cæsar, in the presence
-of a vast multitude; he was making a flowery harangue to the troops,
-complimenting them on their exploits, congratulating them on their
-restoration to their homes, when those very troops closed in upon him,
-plunged their swords into his body, and presently hacked it to pieces.
-A soldier who got hold of his right arm, and having crooked the fingers
-of the hand, went about the town, holding it in front of him, and
-crying, “An obol, an obol for him who never had enough,” collected a
-large sum by his grim and savage jest.[382]
-
-Arcadius was quite incapable of handling the reins of government
-himself, and the downfall of one all-powerful minister would in any
-case have been quickly followed by the rise of another; but, as it
-happened, there was one ready to step immediately into the vacant
-place. The fortunes of this person, the eunuch Eutropius, ran a strange
-career. Born a slave, somewhere in the region of the Euphrates, and
-condemned in infancy to the most degraded condition possible even to
-slavery, he passed in boyhood and youth through the hands of many
-owners. He performed the most menial offices as a household slave,
-cutting wood, drawing water, or whisking the flies from his mistress’s
-face with a large fan. Arinthus, an old magister militum, who had
-become possessed of him, presented him to his daughter on her marriage;
-and, in the words of Claudian, “the future consul of the East was
-made over as part of a marriage dowry.”[383] But the young lady grew
-tired of the slave, who was getting elderly and wrinkled, and without
-attempting to sell him, simply turned him out of doors.[384] He lived
-for a time, picking up a precarious livelihood, and often in great
-want, till an officer about court at Constantinople took pity on him,
-and with some difficulty obtained for him a situation in the lowest
-ranks of the imperial chamberlains.[385] This was the beginning of
-his rise. By the diligence and precision with which he discharged his
-ordinary duties, by occasional witty sayings, and the semblance of a
-fervent piety, he attracted the notice of the Emperor Theodosius, and
-gradually acquired his confidence so as to be employed on difficult
-and delicate missions. He it was whom the Emperor sent to consult the
-hermit John in Egypt before undertaking the Italian campaign in A.D.
-394.[386]
-
-On the death of Theodosius he became, in the capacity of grand
-chamberlain, the intimate adviser and constant attendant of Arcadius;
-and, when Rufinus was removed, the government was practically in his
-hands, though he was careful to avoid the error of his late rival,
-and was content with the reality without the display of power. He
-continued to execute all the household duties which fell to his lot
-as chamberlain with humble assiduity, and sought no other title than
-what he possessed.[387] But it was soon apparent, to the amusement of
-the East and the indignation of the West, that the eunuch slave was
-really master of the Emperor of half the Roman world. He gradually
-removed by his arts the friends of Theodosius from the principal posts
-of trust, and replaced them by creatures of his own. By surrounding
-his royal charge with a crowd of frivolous companions; by dissipating
-his thoughts amidst a perpetual round of amusement, public spectacles,
-chariot races, and the like; by taking him every spring to Ancyra in
-Phrygia, where he was subjected to the soft enchantments of a delicious
-climate and luxurious manner of life, he made the naturally feeble mind
-of Arcadius more feeble still, and withdrew it from the influence of
-every superior intellect but his own.[388]
-
-Whilst the effeminate monarch languished in inglorious ease in Phrygia,
-the fairest and most renowned portions of his Empire were overrun by
-the barbarian forces of Alaric. The sacred pass of Thermopylæ was
-violated by the Gothic prince, and the ravager spread his devastations
-over Peloponnesus. Once more Stilicho hastened to the rescue; once more
-his hand was stayed by the astonishing announcement that Alaric was
-rewarded for his career of spoliation by being made commander-in-chief
-of the forces of the East. Thus the invader was turned into the
-position of friend, and the defender into the position of rebel, who
-had to withdraw with feelings of shame, disappointment, and rage.
-To such base arts did the court of Arcadius, under the direction of
-Eutropius, stoop to protect itself in its pitiful jealousy of its rival
-in the West.[389]
-
-Eutropius mounted to the summit of power by the simple process of
-putting all dangerous competitors out of the way, under various
-pretexts, as treasonable or otherwise public offenders.[390] He
-deprived them of their last hope of escape, by abolishing the right
-of the Church to afford asylum to fugitives.[391] He sold the chief
-functions of the State, and the command of the provinces, to the
-highest bidders. He was ambitious even of military glory; and, to the
-amusement of the enemy, as well as of the imperial army, appeared in
-military costume at the head of the troops, to repel an incursion
-of Huns. He succeeded, however, more in his negotiations by which
-he bought off the enemy, than in his martial exploits, and returned
-mortified by the ridicule which had attended his attempts in war.[392]
-
-From the pettiest detail of domestic life to the most serious affairs
-of state, the minister was supreme. Arcadius was little more than a
-magnificently dressed puppet. The descriptions of his palace read like
-accounts in fairy tales: it swarmed with slaves of every conceivable
-variety of race, profession, and costume; the floors of the imperial
-apartments were sprinkled with gold dust, in the carriage of which
-from Asia a special service of vessels and wagons was constantly
-engaged.[393] The great annual public spectacle was the departure of
-the Emperor for his summer sojourn in Phrygia. From an early hour the
-streets were thronged with people eagerly waiting for the pageant.
-At length, from the portals of the palace there issued a gorgeous
-procession; soldiers in white uniform, with gold-brocaded ensigns; then
-the body guard, called domestics, with their tribunes and generals
-arrayed in robes flashing with gold, mounted on horses with golden
-caparisons; each rider bore a gilded lance in the right hand, and in
-the left a gilded shield studded with precious stones. In the rear,
-surrounded by a grand cortége of state officials, came the imperial
-car, drawn by milk-white mules, clothed in purple housings, which
-were tricked out with gold and jewels. The sides of the car also were
-gilded, and flashed out rays of golden light as it moved along towards
-the harbour, where rode a fleet of barges richly decorated, waiting
-to convey the royal traveller to the opposite shore of the Bosporus.
-In strange contrast to all this splendour appeared in the centre of
-the car the dull and somnolent countenance of the young Arcadius and
-the wrinkled visage of his old minister. The multitude, ever greedy of
-show, would eagerly strain forward their necks to catch a glimpse, if
-it were only of the imperial ear-rings, or the circlet of his diadem,
-or the strings of pearls upon his robe. With such empty exhibitions of
-their puppet king did the wily minister seek to amuse the frivolous
-inhabitants of the capital, while he himself enjoyed the exercise of
-real power.[394]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
- DEATH OF NECTARIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF
- CONSTANTINOPLE—EAGER COMPETITION FOR THE SEE—ELECTION
- OF CHRYSOSTOM—HIS COMPULSORY REMOVAL FROM
- ANTIOCH—CONSECRATION—REFORMS—HOMILIES ON VARIOUS
- SUBJECTS—MISSIONARY PROJECTS.
-
-
-Such was the political and social condition of the Empire in the year
-A.D. 397. In September of that year died Nectarius, Archbishop of
-Constantinople, a man of an easy, amiable disposition, who, not taking
-a very elevated or severe view of the duties of his position, had
-administered the see for sixteen years, without annoyance, but without
-distinction.[395] A conscientious discharge, indeed, of episcopal
-duties was at this epoch beset by no small difficulties in the great
-cities of the Empire. Bishops of important sees now occupied a high
-social rank.[396] This had to be assumed (in Constantinople at least)
-in the midst of an intriguing, factious court, a corrupt, frivolous
-people, and a demoralised, or at least secularised, clergy. “Nothing,”
-said St. Augustine, “can in this life, and especially at this time,
-be easier or more agreeable than the office of bishop, presbyter, or
-deacon, if discharged in a perfunctory and adulatory manner; nothing
-can in this life, and especially at this time, be more laborious and
-perilous than such an office, if discharged as our heavenly Commander
-bids us.”[397] And the testimony of Chrysostom’s friend, Isidore, Abbot
-of Pelusium, is to the same effect: “True freedom and independence are
-not to be found in these distinguished positions: it is so difficult to
-rule some, and to submit to others; to direct some, and to be directed
-by others; to be complaisant to some and severe to others.” Into this
-difficult and delicate position the pious, single-minded, unworldly,
-but courageous preacher of Antioch was to be suddenly transplanted,
-and that in a city where the difficulties incident to such a position
-existed in peculiar force.
-
-At the time of the decease of Nectarius, several bishops happened to
-be sojourning in Constantinople on business, and as tidings of the
-vacancy of the see got abroad, the number of episcopal visitors largely
-increased; some coming as candidates, others by the invitation of the
-Emperor, who wished to make the ceremony of consecration as dignified
-and august as possible.[398] Constantinople became convulsed by all
-those factious disputes and dissensions which usually attended the
-election of a bishop to an important see, and which Chrysostom has so
-vividly described in his treatise on the priesthood.[399] From dawn
-of day the places of public resort were occupied by the candidates
-and their partisans paying court, or paying bribes to the common
-people; canvassing the nobles and the wealthy not without the potent
-aid of rich and costly gifts, some statue from Greece or silk from
-India, or perfumes from Arabia.[400] One of the most conspicuous
-candidates was Isidore, a presbyter of Alexandria. His claims were
-eagerly pushed by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, who had a
-strong personal interest in securing his success. For Isidore was in
-possession of a rather awkward secret in the past history of Theophilus
-himself. When the war between Theodosius and the usurper Maximus was
-impending, Isidore had been despatched by the Archbishop to Italy
-with letters of congratulation to be presented to him who should
-prove the conqueror. Isidore waited till victory had declared itself
-in favour of Theodosius; presented the humble felicitations of the
-patriarch, and returned to Alexandria. But he was unable on his return
-to produce the other letter, designed for Maximus had he proved the
-victor. According to his own account, it had been abstracted by the
-reader who had accompanied him on the journey. Theophilus, however,
-suspected the fidelity of Isidore himself, and that some ugly stories
-which began to circulate respecting the affair had emanated from him.
-The see of Constantinople, if secured through his interest, would be
-an effectual means, he thought, of stopping the mouth of Isidore.[401]
-But he was doomed to disappointment. While the several candidates and
-their patrons were exhausting all their arts on the spot to obtain
-the favour of the electors, the clergy and people, distracted by
-conflicting bribes and arguments, unanimously decided to summon a man
-from a distance who had not come forward at all. They submitted the
-name of Chrysostom to the Emperor, who immediately approved their
-choice.[402] In fact, the election of Chrysostom was in all probability
-the suggestion of Eutropius. During a recent visit on public business
-to Antioch, he had heard and recognised the eloquence of the great
-preacher. Even if the heart of the man was not touched by the pungent
-warnings, or warmed by the kindling exhortations of Chrysostom, he had
-plenty of astuteness to perceive, if only such an eloquence could be
-employed in the service of the Government, what a powerful engine it
-would be.[403] The appointment, at any rate, was certain to be welcomed
-by the people, and of popularity Eutropius stood greatly in need. By
-the people of Antioch indeed Chrysostom was so deeply and ardently
-beloved, that the question was how to remove him without causing
-a disturbance of the public peace. The excitable feelings of the
-populace at Antioch were at all times a train of powder which needed
-but the application of a spark to cause a serious explosion of tumult.
-The difficulty was solved by a mixture of force and fraud highly
-characteristic of the chief designer and executor of the project.
-Eutropius addressed a letter to Asterius, the Count of the East, who
-resided in Antioch, and who promptly acted on his instructions. He
-proposed to the unsuspecting Chrysostom that they should pay a visit
-together to one of the martyries outside the city walls. Well pleased
-to make this pious pilgrimage, the saintly preacher accompanied his
-captor through the Roman gate, and turned his back on his beloved
-native city, which he was destined never to revisit. At the martyry he
-was seized by some Government officials, and carried on to Pagræ, the
-first station on the high road for Constantinople. Here a chariot and
-horses awaited them, together with one of the imperial chamberlains,
-a “magister militum,” and an escort of soldiers. The bewildered
-Chrysostom was hurried into the chariot, without any attention being
-paid to his remonstrances or inquiries; the horses were put into a
-smart gallop, and the pace well kept up to the next stage, where a
-similar equipage was in waiting. Such was the rapid, but, considering
-all the circumstances, undignified approach of the future archbishop to
-take possession of his see.[404]
-
-Great was the joy of the people on his arrival, great the mortification
-and consternation of the rival candidates. Theophilus loudly declared
-that he would take no part in the ordination. “You will ordain him,”
-said Eutropius, “or take your trial on the charges contained in these
-documents;” producing certain papers of accusations brought against
-him from various quarters, at the sight of which Theophilus turned
-pale. His opposition was effectually silenced, though he nourished his
-revenge for a future day.[405] And we may presume that he took the
-lead, by virtue of his rank, in the ceremony of consecration—that is,
-that he pronounced the consecration prayer and blessing, while two
-other bishops held the gospels over the head, and the other prelates
-who were present laid their hands on the head of the recipient of
-consecration.[406] The ceremony took place on February 26, A.D. 398,
-in the presence of a vast concourse of people, who came, no doubt,
-not only to witness the spectacle, but to hear from the lips of one
-so famed for eloquence the “Sermo enthronisticus,” or homily on the
-lesson for the day, which was delivered by the new Patriarch[407] after
-he had been conducted to his throne, and which was regarded as a test
-of his powers. This discourse has not been preserved, but Chrysostom
-alludes to it in the homily numbered xi. against the Anomœans, which
-was the second discourse he delivered as archbishop. He there reminds
-his hearers how in his first discourse he had promised, in his warfare
-with heretics, to trust, not in the carnal weapons of human dialectic,
-but in the spiritual armour of Holy Scripture, even as David had
-confronted and prevailed over the Philistine with weapons which the
-warrior despised, but which were crowned with success because blessed
-by God.[408] In the review already taken of his discourses against
-Arians and other heretics, it has been seen how faithfully he adhered
-to this principle.
-
-The disadvantages of a monastic, secluded training, in one who was
-called upon to occupy a large and important see, have been pointed
-out by no one better than by Chrysostom himself,[409] and he now
-experienced the truth of his own observations. His genius was not
-of that practical order which displays itself in great discernment
-of character and tact in the management of men; and his virtues were
-of that austere kind, the virtues of the monk rather than of the
-Christian citizen, joined to a certain irritability of temper and
-inflexibility of will, which were ill calculated to first conciliate
-and then delicately lead on to a purer way of life the undisciplined
-flock committed to his care.[410] If Nectarius had been too much the
-man of the world, his successor was, for the position in which he was
-placed, too much the saint of the cloister. The new wine burst the old
-bottles. He began immediately to reform with an unsparing hand—first
-of all within the limits of his own palace. The costly store of silken
-and gold-embroidered robes, the rich marbles, ornaments, and vessels of
-various kinds which his courtly predecessor had accumulated, were sold
-in exchange for homelier articles, and the surplus was applied to the
-aid of hospitals and the relief of the destitute.[411] The bishop, and
-many of the clergy of Constantinople, had been accustomed to entertain
-and be entertained by the wealthy and the great. Ammianus Marcellinus
-contrasts the luxurious style of living affected by the bishops of
-great cities, who “rode about in their carriages, elaborately dressed,
-and gave princely banquets,” with the frugal fare, the cheap clothing,
-the modest deportment of the provincial bishops.[412] The admonition
-of Jerome also to an episcopal friend demonstrates the tendency at
-this period to an immoderate and worldly hospitality on the part of
-the clergy. “Avoid,” he says, “giving great entertainments to the
-laity, and especially to those who occupy high stations; for it is
-not very reputable to see the lictors and guards of a consul waiting
-outside the doors of a priest of Jesus Christ, nor that the judge of
-a province should dine more sumptuously with you than in the palace.
-If it be pretended that you do this only to be able to intercede with
-him for poor criminals, there is no judge who will not pay greater
-respect to a frugal priest than to a rich one, and show more deference
-to your piety than to your wealth.”[413] Chrysostom, like Jerome, was
-an uncompromising ascetic in his views on clerical life. He ate in
-solitude the spare and simple diet of a monk, and declared that he
-would never set foot at Court except on pressing affairs concerning
-the welfare of the Church. When one considers what the character of
-that Court was, it must be confessed that the resolution highly became
-a Christian bishop.[414] His own seclusion might have been easily
-tolerated if he had not exacted the same severe simplicity of life
-in his clergy. He denounced their parasitical flatteries, and their
-propensity to seek entertainments at the tables of the wealthy, and
-insisted that their stipends must be quite sufficient to supply them
-with the necessaries of life. He suspended many from their cures on
-account of worldly or immoral conduct, and repelled others from the
-Eucharist. Several of these became the most active organisers of
-hostile cabals.
-
-But there was another cause of the archbishop’s unpopularity with
-his clergy, which arose from his vigorous assaults upon a deep and
-apparently most prevalent evil.
-
-Celibacy appears never to have been made obligatory on the clergy
-of the Eastern Church. The Synod of Elvira, which enjoins celibacy,
-was a purely Spanish synod;[415] and the decree of Pope Siricius to
-the same effect, in A.D. 385, could not affect any countries beyond
-Italy, Spain, and perhaps Southern Gaul. That decree is a remarkable
-instance of the law-giving spirit of the Western Church, which hardened
-tendencies into binding statutes. But sentiment and opinion were quite
-as strong in favour of clerical celibacy in the East as in the West.
-It was proposed at the Council of Nice that a canon should be passed
-enforcing it upon every order of the clergy; a proposal which was
-defeated only by the influence of the aged Egyptian monk Paphnutius,
-who, though he had never been married, and had always lived an ascetic
-life, earnestly deprecated the imposition of a burden upon all men
-which some men only were able to bear. The result was that the clergy
-were permitted to retain their wives whom they had married before
-ordination, but were forbidden to marry after ordination. And this is
-called “the ancient tradition of the Church.”[416] There can be no
-doubt, however, that a profound conviction possessed the minds of all
-the most earnest Christians in Eastern Christendom that the unmarried
-life was inherently better than the married; and, consequently,
-clerical celibacy was honoured and encouraged, though marriage was
-allowable. On the other hand, there grew up, side by side with the
-practice of celibacy, a custom which broke it in the spirit while it
-was preserved in the letter. The same Council of Nice which by one
-canon freely granted to the clergy the society of their lawful wives,
-by another prohibits unmarried clergy of every rank to have any woman
-dwelling under the same roof who was not their mother, sister, or
-aunt.[417] It was the transgression of this canon which was indignantly
-complained of by several writers[418] and at councils[419] in or near
-the time of Chrysostom, as well as by Chrysostom himself. Under the
-name of spiritual sisters, young women, often consecrated virgins of
-the Church, lived, as they maintained, in all innocent and sisterly
-affection with unmarried priests. But the risk to the morals of both
-was imminent, and the scandal which it brought upon the clergy in the
-eyes of the world was certain. Chrysostom denounces the custom on both
-these grounds. Whether two treatises, one addressed to the men, the
-other to the women, were composed at Constantinople, or, as Socrates
-says, during his diaconate, they embody his views on the whole subject,
-and afford a curious insight into clerical life in the great cities at
-this epoch.[420]
-
-He places the offenders on the horns of a dilemma. “If you are weak,
-the temptation to evil is so great, that for your own sake you ought
-to avoid it; if you are strong, you ought to abandon the practice for
-the sake of those who are weak.” They brought a great scandal on the
-Church and opened the mouths of adversaries. An isolated sin would be
-less severely visited than one which, though comparatively small in
-itself, caused others also to offend. They should imitate the wisdom
-of St. Paul, who would not do a thing in itself desirable or harmless,
-if the evil resulting to some exceeded any possible advantage to
-others.[421] A pretext for the reception of these unmarried women was
-made on the ground that they were orphans who had no protectors. But
-this became a great snare both to the women and the clergy: they were
-occupied with the management of property instead of devoting themselves
-to spiritual concerns. It would be far better that a maiden should
-marry, than, by abstaining from marriage, involve herself and others in
-worldly business who ought to be free from it. If poor, it was better
-she should remain poor and friendless, than be received into a home
-where the danger incurred by the soul would far exceed the advantages
-procured for the body. There were many aged women who were poor,
-friendless, maimed, or diseased; the city was full of them. These were
-the most deserving objects of clerical charity, and on them it could
-be exercised without fear of reproach.[422] These “spiritual sisters”
-appear from Chrysostom’s account to have often lived very much like
-fine ladies of fashion. “How incongruous and ludicrous,” he says,
-“when you enter the house of one who calls himself a single man, to see
-articles of female dress and instruments of female occupation lying
-about—girdles, head-gear, wool-baskets, spindles, distaffs!” In the
-elaboration of their dress these companions often surpassed actresses;
-they were gossips and match-makers. The man who ought to have renounced
-all worldly calls might be seen inquiring at the silversmith’s if his
-lady’s mirror was ready, her casket finished, her flask returned;
-from the silversmith’s he hurried to the perfumer’s to see about her
-scents; from the perfumer to the linen-draper, and so on upon a round
-of shopping. All this business and worldly worry made them harsh to
-the servants, who retaliated by secretly abusing their master and
-mistress.[423] This was bad enough, but the clergy were not ashamed to
-display their servile attachment to these women even in the churches.
-They received them at the doors, forced others to make way for them,
-and walked in front of them with a proud air, when they ought not to
-have been able to lift up their heads for shame.[424]
-
-Chrysostom implores the clergy as a suppliant, to free themselves from
-these disgraceful and degrading connections. “Christ would have them be
-strenuous soldiers and combatants. He did not arm them with spiritual
-weapons to help women sew and weave, but to engage with the invisible
-powers, to put to flight the forces of Satan, and to lead captive the
-rulers of spiritual darkness. If a soldier who was fully equipped were
-to run in-doors and sit down with the women just at the moment of the
-enemy’s attack, when the trumpet summoned every one to the combat,
-would you not run your sword through the craven on the spot? How much
-more would God be offended with the Christian soldier who evaded the
-combat with the spiritual enemy?”[425]
-
-The rigour with which Chrysostom pressed reformation upon the clergy
-in these and many other points, not being tempered by a conciliatory
-manner or genial way of life, excited a vehement spirit of opposition.
-He was encouraged in his severity by his Archdeacon Serapion, who on
-one occasion had said, in the hearing of a large body of clergy: “You
-will never subdue these mutinous priests, my Lord Bishop, till you
-drive them all before you as with a single rod.”[426] In fact, a large
-body of the more worldly clergy seem to have regarded the archbishop
-and his deacon with much the same mingled feelings of fear and aversion
-which unruly schoolboys entertain towards an austere master.
-
-The rigorous discipline exacted from the clergy was probably by no
-means distasteful to the people or the Court, and by the eloquence of
-their new bishop they were entranced so long as his declamations were
-poured forth against the vices and follies of society in general. The
-Empress and archbishop stood for a time high in each other’s favour.
-She conducted with him a vast torchlight procession in which the
-reliques of some martyrs were conveyed to the martyry of St. Thomas in
-Drypia, a considerable distance outside the city. A rapturous homily
-was delivered by Chrysostom when they reached the chapel at dawn of
-day. “What shall I say? I am verily mad with joy; yet such a madness
-is better than even wisdom itself. Of what shall I most discourse?—the
-virtue of the martyrs, the alacrity of the city, the zeal of the
-Empress, the concourse of the nobles, the worsting of the demons?”...
-“Women, more delicate than wax, leaving their comfortable homes,
-emulated the stoutest men in the eagerness with which they made this
-long pilgrimage on foot. Nobles, leaving their chariots, their lictors,
-their attendants, mingled in the common crowd. And why speak of them
-when she who wears the diadem, and is arrayed in purple, has not
-consented along the whole route to be separated from the rest even by
-a little space, but has followed the saints like their handmaid, with
-her finger on the shrine and upon the veil covering it—she, visible to
-the whole multitude, whom not even all the chamberlains of the palace
-are usually permitted to see?” The mixture of races in Constantinople
-is indicated in one passage, where, comparing the Empress to Miriam
-leading the chorus of triumphant Israelites, he says: “_She_, indeed,
-led forth a people of one language only, but _thou_ innumerable bands,
-chanting the Psalms of David, some in the Roman, some in the Syrian,
-some in a barbarian, some in the Greek tongue.” The procession moved
-along like a stream of fire, or continuous golden chain; the moon shone
-down upon the crowd of the faithful, and in the midst the Empress, more
-brilliant than the moon itself; for what was the moon compared to a
-soul adorned with such faith? He called her blessed, for the ends of
-the earth would hear of and extol this glorious act of piety. If the
-deed of the poor sinful woman in the Gospel, who anointed our Lord’s
-feet, was to be proclaimed throughout the world, how much more that
-of a modest, dignified, chaste woman, who displayed such piety in the
-midst of imperial state. And there is much more of the same Oriental,
-rhapsodical, rhetoric.[427]
-
-The Emperor made a pilgrimage on the following day to the shrine,
-accompanied by all the great officials of the Court; and another
-discourse, similar in tone though not quite so extravagantly rapturous,
-was delivered by the archbishop.
-
-As in Antioch, so also and with still greater vehemence in
-Constantinople, the voice of Chrysostom was incessantly lifted up
-against those vices which specially beset a large mixed population
-living under a corrupt despotism. Here, as there, the avarice and
-luxury of the wealthy are the themes of his indignant invective; the
-wrongs and pitiable poverty of the poor the occasions of his pathetic
-appeal. One day lamenting the paucity of worshippers, he exclaims: “O
-tyranny of money which drives the greater part of our brethren from the
-fold! for it is nothing but that grievous disease, that never-quenched
-furnace, which drives them hence; this mistress, more ferocious than
-any barbarian or wild beast, fiercer than the very demons, taking her
-slaves with her, is now conducting them round the Forum, inflicting
-upon them her oppressive commands, nor suffers them to take a little
-breath from their destructive labours.”... “May you derive great good
-from the zeal with which you listen to these words, for your groanings
-and the smitings of your foreheads prove that the seed which I have
-sown is already bearing fruit.”[428]
-
-A signal instance of the passionate attachment of the people to the
-Circensian and theatrical exhibitions occurred about the close of the
-first year of his episcopate.[429] A violent rain had half inundated
-the fields and almost destroyed the growing crops; solemn processional
-litanies were made to the churches of the Apostles on both sides of
-the Bosporus; yet two days later the majority of that multitude, which
-had just been invoking the intercession of saints and supplicating
-the mercy of God, poured into the circus, and might be seen wildly
-applauding and cheering on the chariots; and from that they hastened
-to witness with eager eyes the indecent performances of the theatre:
-“while I,” said the archbishop, “sitting at home and hearing your
-shouts, suffered worse agonies than those who are tossed by storms at
-sea.”[430]... “What defence will you be able to make when you have
-to render an account of that day’s work? For thee the sun rose, the
-moon lit up the night, choirs of stars spangled the sky; for thee the
-winds blew, and rivers ran, seeds germinated, plants grew, and the
-whole course of nature kept its proper order: but thou, when Creation
-is ministering to thy needs, thou fulfillest the pleasure of the
-devil.”[431]... “Say not that few have wandered from the fold; though
-it were but five or two or one, the loss would be great. The shepherd
-in the Gospel left the ninety-and-nine, and hastened after the one, nor
-did he return till he had made up the complete number of the flock by
-its restoration. Though it be only one, yet it is a soul for which this
-visible world was created, for which laws and statutes and the diverse
-operations of God have been put in motion, yea, for whose sake God
-spared not His only Son.”... “Therefore I loudly declare that if any
-one after this admonition shall desert the fold for the pestilent vice
-of the theatre, I will not admit him inside these rails.[432] I will
-not administer to him the holy mysteries or allow him to touch the holy
-table, but expel him as shepherds drive out the diseased sheep from the
-fold lest they should contaminate the rest.”
-
-The iniquity of the people’s defection had been aggravated on this
-occasion by the fact that the days on which they had rushed in such
-crowds to the circus and theatre were Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
-On the Sunday following Easter Day the church was fully thronged. An
-aged Galatian bishop, being present, was requested, according to a
-polite custom of that time, to preach. But the congregation expressed
-their disapproval by shouts of dissent, and by withdrawing in large
-numbers. They wanted to hear what more their eloquent castigator had to
-say on the subject on which he had so vehemently declaimed on Easter
-Day. Chrysostom was so much gratified and encouraged by the alacrity
-which the people had thus manifested to listen to his objurgations
-that his censures of the chariot races, the next time he preached,
-were milder than usual. He contents himself with observing that the
-shocking accident of the day before, when a young man about to be
-married had been run over in the course and cut to pieces by the
-chariot wheels, was a damning proof of the wild folly and wickedness
-of these spectacles. Nor does he rebuke them very sharply for their
-discourtesy to the Galatian prelate.[433] They always resented the
-preaching of a stranger; on several occasions Chrysostom had to appeal
-to their feelings of respect for the custom of the Church, or enlarge
-on the reverence due to the preacher, either on account of his age or
-his great virtues, before they would listen patiently.
-
-It is impossible to determine in the case of every homily or set of
-homilies whether they were delivered at Antioch or Constantinople,
-but the character of society seems to have been in its main features
-so similar in the two cities that it may be allowable to collect into
-one place notices on various social subjects scattered up and down
-Chrysostom’s works.
-
-The extremes of wealth and poverty, barbaric splendour, and abject
-beggary, existed side by side in hideous and glaring contrast. The
-passion for the use of the precious metals was amazing. Vessels for
-the meanest purposes were made of silver; superfluous display without
-regard to utility prevailed everywhere. “If it were in their power, I
-verily believe that some men would have the ground they walk on,[434]
-the walls of their houses, and perhaps even the sky and air, made of
-gold.” Clothes were in the opinion of Chrysostom a memorial of man’s
-fall from that state of innocence in which they had been unnecessary,
-and were therefore to be made of as little consequence as possible.
-“Say, ye who indulge in such grandeur as to discard all woollen
-garments and array yourselves in silk only, and have even advanced to
-such a height of madness as to weave gold into your robes (for most
-women do this), to what purpose do you deck out your persons in these
-things, not perceiving that the covering of dress was devised for us
-after the transgression in the place of a severe punishment?”[435]
-
-The particular make of shoes worn by the fashionable young ladies and
-gentlemen of the day seems to have excited his special indignation. “To
-put silk threads into your boots, how disgraceful, how ridiculous![436]
-Ships are built, sailors hired, pilots appointed, the sails are
-spread, the sea crossed, wife, children, and home left behind, the
-country of the barbarian entered, and the life of the merchant exposed
-to a thousand perils, in order that after it all you may trick out
-the leather of your boots with these silken threads: what form of
-madness can be worse?”... “He who ought to bend his thoughts and eyes
-heavenwards casts them down upon his shoes instead. His chief care, as
-he walks delicately through the Forum, is to avoid soiling his boots
-with mire or dust. Will you let your soul grovel in the mire while you
-are taking care of your boots? Boots were made to be soiled; if you
-cannot bear this, take them off and wear them on your head instead of
-on your feet. You laugh when I say these words, but I rather weep for
-your folly.”[437] Again, “You may see one sitting in his chariot with
-haughty brow, touching as it were the clouds in the senseless pride of
-his heart; but think him not really lofty, for it is not the sitting up
-in a chariot drawn by mules, but only virtue mounting to the vault of
-heaven which really elevates a man. Or if you see another on horseback,
-attended by a troop of lictors driving the multitude out of his way in
-the Forum, call him not happy on that account. How ridiculous! why,
-prithee, do you drive your fellow-creatures before you? Were you made
-a wolf or a lion? Your Lord Jesus Christ raised man to heaven; you do
-not condescend to share even the market-place with him. When you put
-a gold bit on your horse, a gold bracelet on your slave’s arm, when
-your clothes even to your shoes are gilded, you are feeding that most
-ferocious of monsters, avarice; you are robbing the orphan, denuding
-the widow, and acting as the common enemy of all. When your body is
-committed to the ground the memory of your ambition will not be buried
-with you, for each passer-by, as he contemplates the height and size
-of your grand mansions, will say to himself or his neighbour, ‘How
-many tears did it cost to build that house! how many orphans were left
-naked! how many widows wronged! how many persons deprived of wages!’
-Thus the exact contrary of what you expected comes to pass: you desired
-to obtain glory during your life, and lo! even after death you are not
-delivered from accusers.”[438]
-
-Such are the natural expressions of indignation on the part of one
-trained in a monkish school of piety and austere simplicity of life,
-when brought into practical contact with a corrupt civilisation. Every
-denunciation of inordinate luxury is coupled with an exhortation to the
-relief of distress. Almsgiving is represented as the one certain method
-of laying up treasure in heaven, and the true riches are increased
-in proportion as this world’s goods are given away. He lived in the
-days when social science and political economy did not exist; he only
-perceived the moral wrong of profuse luxury and extreme destitution
-side by side, and the only method which he could suggest for rectifying
-the evil was to impress on the wealthy the duty of almsgiving on a
-large scale. Beggars swarmed in the streets, and thronged the entrances
-of the churches and public baths;[439] and he is for ever exhorting
-his congregations to relieve these unfortunate people. All honour to
-his simple Christian charity! though of course he could not have given
-worse advice with a view to curing the evil which he deplored. The
-man who wore shoes inwoven with silk or gold threads may have been a
-ridiculous fop, and yet have done more good by buying his finery, the
-produce of honest labour, than did the pious member of Chrysostom’s
-congregation who flung his money to the beggars congregated at the
-church doors.
-
-The luxurious habits and extravagant dress of the ladies were especial
-objects of Chrysostom’s attack; but he draws a charming picture, on
-the other side, of the influence which good Christian wives might,
-and which many did, exercise upon their husbands. The close of the
-exhortation in our own “Marriage Service” seems almost as if suggested
-by a passage in which he quotes Sarah the wife of Abraham as a pattern
-of dutiful obedience to her husband, as adorned with virtue, instead
-of the outward adorning of “plaiting the hair and putting on of
-apparel.”[440] “The good wife, as she remains more at home than the
-man, and has more leisure for ‘pious contemplation’ (φιλοσοφία), can
-calm and soothe the husband when he returns harassed by business, cut
-off his superfluous cares, and so send him back free of the troubles
-contracted in the Forum, and carrying with him the good lessons which
-he has learned at home.”... “No influence is more potent than that
-of a careful and discreet wife to harmonise and mould the soul of a
-man.”... “I could mention many hard, intractable men who have been
-softened in this manner.” And this influence would be in proportion
-to the Christian purity and simplicity of her own life. “When thy
-husband shall see thee modest, not a lover of ornament, not demanding
-an unnecessary allowance, then he will listen to thy counsel. When you
-seek not gold or pearls, or costly array, but modesty, temperance,
-and benevolence, in proportion as you manifest these virtues yourself,
-you may demand them of him; these are the ornaments which never fail
-to attract; this is the adornment which old age does not dissolve or
-disease destroy.”... “When your husband sees you laying aside luxury,
-he will lay aside the love of gain, and will be more inclined to deeds
-of charity. With what face, O ye wives, can you exhort your husbands to
-almsgiving, when you consume the largest portion of his means on the
-decoration of your own persons?”[441]
-
-He urgently represents to the wealthy proprietors of land in the
-country the solemn duty incumbent on them of providing for the
-spiritual welfare of the people on their estate, by building a church
-and maintaining a pastor among them. “There are many who possess farms
-and fields, but all their anxiety is to make a bath-house to their
-mansion, to build entrance courts and servants’ offices; but how the
-souls of their dependants are cultivated they care not.”... “If you
-see thorns in a field, you cut them down and burn them; but when you
-see the souls of your labourers beset with thorns and cut them not
-down, tell me, do you not fear when you reflect on the account which
-will be exacted from you for these things? Ought not every Christian
-estate-holder to build a church and to make it his aim before all
-things else that his people should be Christian?”... “Therefore I
-exhort, I supplicate as a favour, or rather I affirm it as a principle,
-that no one should be seen in possession of an estate which is not
-provided with a church.” He concludes by drawing a pleasing picture
-of the benefit derived from the residence of a pastor in the quiet
-country village; the softening, humanising, civilising effect of his
-presence; the relief given to the needy, the comfort to the sick and
-dying; the pleasant repose which the proprietor may enjoy when he
-withdraws for a time from the turmoil of city life, and worships among
-his grateful people in the church which he has founded, and where his
-name will be blessed for many future generations. “And think of the
-reward in heaven; Christ said, ‘If thou lovest me feed my sheep.’ If
-you were to see any of the royal sheep or horses destitute of shelter
-and exposed to attack, and were to house them, provide stabling for
-them, and appoint some one to tend them, with how great a gift would
-the sovereign requite you. And think you that, if you fold Christ’s
-flock and set a shepherd over them, He will not do some great thing for
-you?”[442]
-
-The responsibility indeed of _every_ Christian man to promote the
-spiritual welfare of his brethren is one of the topics on which
-Chrysostom most constantly and earnestly dilates. “Nothing can be more
-chilling than the sight of a Christian who makes no efforts to save
-others. Neither poverty, nor humble station, nor bodily infirmity
-can exempt men and women from the obligation of this great duty. To
-hide our Christian light, under pretence of weakness, is as great an
-insult to God as if we were to say that He could not make His sun to
-shine.”[443]
-
-The practice of swearing deep oaths about trifles appears to have
-been as prevalent at Constantinople as at Antioch, and equally to
-have excited the indignation of the Archbishop. He would not cease
-to denounce this devilish habit, and that vehemently, lest he should
-incur the condemnation pronounced on Eli, who rebuked, but not with
-sufficient severity. He would unsparingly repel from the threshold of
-the Church any who persisted in this pernicious vice, were he emperor
-or prince. Men might deride his vehemence, but they forgot that he was
-only the servant of Jesus Christ; their mockery fell on the Master
-rather than the minister. Let them laugh and jest as much as they
-would; he was placed there to suffer it. “Obey my voice or depose me
-from this my office. I cannot consent to mount this throne unless I
-accomplish something great. If I cannot do this, it were better for me
-to stand below. As long as I sit here I cannot refrain, not so much out
-of fear of punishment to myself as on account of your salvation, which
-I earnestly desire.”[444]
-
-Immoderate addiction to the pleasures of the table is a frequently
-recurring subject of censure. He depicts in lively terms the freshness,
-activity, and good health of the temperate man; the lethargy, the
-headaches, the cramps, the gout, the sickness of the glutton. Here is
-his portrait of a fat gourmand:—“To whom is not the man disagreeable
-who makes obesity his study, and has to be dragged about like a
-seal? I speak not of those who are such by nature, but of those who,
-naturally graceful, have brought their bodies into this condition
-through luxurious living. The sun has risen, he has darted everywhere
-his brilliant rays, he has roused every one to his work: the tiller has
-taken his hoe, the smith his hammer, each workman his proper tool; the
-woman sets to work to spin or weave; while he like a hog goes forth
-to the occupation of filling his stomach, seeking how to provide for
-a costly table. When the sun has filled the market-place, and other
-men have already tired themselves with work, he rises from his bed,
-stretching himself like a fatting pig. Then he sits a long time on his
-couch to shake off the drunkenness of the previous evening, after which
-he adorns himself and walks out a spectacle of ugliness, not so much
-like a man as a man-shaped beast.”... “Who might not justly say, ‘this
-fellow is a burden to the earth; he has come into the world in vain;
-nay, not in vain, alas! but to the injury both of himself and other
-people?’”[445]
-
-Such passages as these prove that the power of Chrysostom to captivate
-his hearers consisted not always in eloquence or ornate rhetoric,
-but in a kind of bold and rough plain-speaking, which dragged out
-into broad daylight the most flagrant evils of the time, and painted
-them in strong coarse colours, to excite derision or disgust. But the
-fickleness and impulsiveness of the people were fatal obstacles to
-the retention of fixed and durable impressions. The population upon
-whom Chrysostom poured forth his torrents of exhortation or invective
-was more debased than that to which Savonarola preached; not so
-vigorous, not so homogeneous, not so much animated by a sentiment of
-citizenship, not under the refining influence of a taste for literature
-and art.[446] It was a vast, disorderly medley of incoherent elements,
-destitute of those political privileges, and of that industrial
-commercial spirit, which inspire the character with manly energy and
-independence. A passionate, invincible love of pleasure, an abandoned
-devotion to such public amusements as in no way appealed to the
-intellect, and were calculated to debase and relax the finer moral
-feelings,—these were insuperable bars to the substantial success of
-the Christian reformer. A large proportion of his hearers seem to have
-listened to his discourses as pleasant exhibitions of bold satire
-and eloquent declamation; they applauded, they laughed, they wept,
-they were smitten with something like compunction; and Chrysostom
-confesses that at the moment he could not repress a natural feeling
-of gratification at the effect produced; but that when he went home,
-and reflected that the benefit which his hearers should have derived
-generally evaporated in empty applause, instead of manifesting itself
-in some solid improvement, he wept and groaned from vexation. What men
-learned in the church was undone in the theatre: “his work was like
-that of a man who attempted to clean a piece of ground into which a
-muddy stream was constantly flowing.”[447]
-
-His letters to individuals, and the eulogia which he passes at the
-beginning of some of his homilies on the zeal, piety, and attention
-of his flock, prove indeed that there were bright exceptions, but the
-mass of the people remained irreclaimable. On grand festivals, such as
-Easter Day, vast crowds attended the church; the very precincts were
-thronged, and the multitude surged backwards and forwards like the
-waves of the sea. A large portion was composed of the fashionable and
-rich; but Chrysostom greatly preferred those smaller congregations,
-consisting chiefly of poor, who attended regularly, and on whose
-attachment to the Church he could depend. He enjoyed these quiet
-services, free from the bustle and disturbance of large crowds.[448]
-The wealthy and the gay spared little time for the services of the
-Church, though they never pleaded business as an excuse for absence
-from the theatre. If they came now and then, they did so as a kind
-of condescension and favour shown to God and his priest. They lazily
-slumbered, or idly gossiped during the service; yet they boasted of
-their attendance afterwards.[449]
-
-After the account in previous chapters of Chrysostom’s method of
-dealing with the prevalent heresies of the day at Antioch, there
-is no occasion to say much more. The same forms of error had to be
-encountered at Constantinople by much the same arguments. Only one,
-Novatianism, appears to have been more prominent in this city than at
-Antioch. The exclusive pretensions to purity of doctrine and moral life
-made by the Novatians excited his special indignation. “What arrogance!
-what boastfulness is this! Can you, being a man, call yourself clean?
-Nay, what madness is it? As well call the sea free from waves; for as
-waves never cease to move on the sea, so do sins never cease to work in
-us.”[450] The harshness of the Novatians, in refusing the readmission
-of apostates on repentance, was peculiarly offensive to his merciful
-and hopeful view of human nature. Sicinnius, the Novatian bishop in
-Constantinople, wrote a book against him, in which he makes a handle
-of particular expressions in Chrysostom’s homilies detached from their
-context; such as, “Repent a thousand times, and enter the Church;” ...
-“let the unclean person, the adulterer, the thief, enter;” but omitting
-the words which follow—“that he may learn to do these things no more.
-I draw all, I throw my net over all, desiring to catch not those only
-who are sound, but those who are sick.”[451] A hopefulness and love,
-which never despaired of the sinner, are eminently characteristic of
-Chrysostom; and the strong words of encouragement and comfort which he
-used were of course susceptible of a construction injurious to him, by
-those who prided themselves on enforcing a very rigid standard of moral
-and ecclesiastical discipline.
-
-Twenty years had elapsed since Gregory Nazianzenus, with much
-reluctance and trembling, had accepted the See of Constantinople. The
-city was at that time a very stronghold of Arianism. Arians had held
-the see for nearly forty years. The services of the orthodox were held
-in a private house, and were at first exposed to violent disturbance
-from the populace, which, hounded on by the Arian clergy, hooted and
-threw stones at the worshippers. But the eloquence, combined with
-the holiness, of Gregory had subdued this violent opposition. The
-ranks of the orthodox were swelled, and the little house was enlarged
-into a noble church, under the name of Anastasia, as significant of
-the revival of the true faith.[452] Imperial authority completed the
-work which Gregory had begun. The Arians and other sectaries were
-prohibited by various enactments from assembling for worship within
-the city walls;[453] but in the time of Chrysostom they began again to
-molest the faithful. On Saturdays and Sundays they made a practice of
-assembling in colonnades and public places, and there loudly singing
-Arian songs—songs, that is, embodying Arian doctrine, like the Thalia
-composed by Arius; abstract statements of theology, very unpoetical in
-form, very incapable, as we should have supposed, of exciting popular
-feeling.[454] This noisy singing went on during the greater part of the
-night; at dawn they marched through the streets singing antiphonally,
-and then held assemblies for worship outside the gates. Chrysostom,
-with more of zeal perhaps than wisdom, organised rival processions
-of antiphonal singers; the Empress supplied them with tapers mounted
-on silver crosses. Street frays were the inevitable consequence of
-these counter demonstrations; the Arians took to their old practice of
-stone-throwing; Briso, one of the Emperor’s chamberlains, was wounded
-by a stone in the forehead, and several persons killed on both sides,
-after which the Arian assemblies were suppressed by royal order.
-
-The practical energy of Chrysostom was not confined within the limits
-of his own diocese. He did not forget his native city, but laboured,
-and laboured successfully, to heal the schism by which the Church
-of Antioch had been so long distracted. Theophilus, Patriarch of
-Alexandria, consented at his earnest request to join with him in the
-despatch of an embassy to Rome, to supplicate the recognition of
-Flavian as sole bishop. Acacius, Bishop of Berœa, and Isidore, for
-whom Theophilus had striven to obtain the See of Constantinople, were
-selected to carry the petition, and they returned with a favourable
-answer from the Bishops of the West. It is a satisfaction to find
-Chrysostom united in this charitable work with those who afterwards
-became his most malignant enemies.[455]
-
-His missionary efforts extended northwards to the Danube, and
-southwards to Phœnicia, Syria, and Palestine. He sought out men of
-apostolic zeal to evangelise some Scythian tribes on the banks of the
-Danube, and appointed a Gothic bishop, Unilas, who accomplished great
-things, but died in A.D. 404, when Chrysostom was in exile, and unable
-to appoint a successor.[456] A novel spectacle was witnessed one day
-in the Church of St. Paul. A large number of Goths being present,
-Chrysostom ordered some portions of the Bible to be read in Gothic, and
-caused a Gothic presbyter to address his countrymen in their native
-tongue. The Archbishop, who preached afterwards, rejoiced in the
-occurrence as a visible illustration of the diffusion of the Gospel
-among all nations and languages, a triumph before their very eyes over
-Jews and Pagans, and a fulfilment of such prophecy as “Their sound is
-gone out into all lands;” “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
-and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” “Where is the philosophy
-of Plato and Pythagoras? Extinguished. Where is the teaching of the
-tent-maker and the fisherman? Not only in Judæa, but also among the
-barbarians, as ye have this day perceived, it shines more brilliantly
-than the sun itself. Scythians, and Thracians, Samaritans, Moors, and
-Indians, and those who inhabit the extremities of the world, possess
-this teaching translated into their own language; they possess such
-philosophy as was never dreamed of by those who wear a beard and thrust
-passengers aside with their staff in the Forum, and shake their wise
-locks, looking more like lions than men.”... “Nay! our world has not
-sufficed for these evangelists; they have betaken themselves even to
-the ocean, and enclosed barbarian regions and the British Isles in
-their net.”[457] Chrysostom assigned a church in Constantinople for
-the use of the Scythian inhabitants (probably Gothic, for the Greek
-historians used the word Scythian very vaguely), ordained native
-readers, deacons, and presbyters, and frequently preached there himself
-through the medium of an interpreter.[458] Some of his letters when
-in exile are addressed to Gothic monks, who occupied the house where
-Promotus had lived.[459] They were staunch friends to him during his
-exile, and the monastic body established in this house existed in the
-seventh century.
-
-Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, wrote a letter to Chrysostom in A.D. 398,
-urging him to obtain an order from the Emperor for the destruction
-of Pagan temples in that city. Chrysostom did not cease to solicit
-Eutropius till he had procured an edict, not indeed for the
-destruction, but for the closing of the temples, and the demolition of
-the idols which they contained. In the following year, however, A.D.
-399, an edict was issued addressed to Eutychianus, Prefect of the East,
-directing that the temples should be demolished throughout the country.
-This appears to have been obtained chiefly through the influence of
-Chrysostom; and large bodies of monks were sent by him into Phœnicia,
-where especially paganism prevailed, who were to use every effort to
-extirpate it, both by assisting in the destruction of temples, and
-by the propagation of Christian truth. The money required for this
-missionary expedition was supplied by the liberality of some ladies
-in Constantinople, rich not only in faith, but also in the wealth of
-this world. The welfare of these missionary projects continued, as will
-hereafter be seen, to engage his most anxious attention throughout his
-exile to the very close of his life.[460]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
- THE FALL OF EUTROPIUS—HIS RETREAT TO THE SANCTUARY OF THE
- CHURCH—RIGHT OF SANCTUARY MAINTAINED BY CHRYSOSTOM—DEATH
- OF EUTROPIUS—REVOLT OF GOTHIC COMMANDERS TRIBIGILD AND
- GAÏNAS—DEMAND OF GAÏNAS FOR AN ARIAN CHURCH REFUSED BY
- CHRYSOSTOM—DEFEAT AND DEATH OF GAÏNAS. A.D. 399-401.
-
-
-The Empress Eudoxia had rejoiced to discover that the new Archbishop,
-although he mainly owed his promotion to the supreme minister of
-the Court, was by no means disposed to be ruled by him. If, indeed,
-Eutropius had expected to be rewarded for the elevation of Chrysostom
-by finding in him a complaisant servant, he sustained a severe
-disappointment. Some little pretences which the minister made of
-assisting the Church, by patronising Chrysostom’s missionary projects,
-could not disguise the iniquitous venality of his administration, or
-protect him from the solemn warnings and severe censure of one who
-was no respecter of persons. In fact, when the Archbishop declaimed
-against the cupidity, injustice, and extortions of the rich, it was
-obvious to all that Eutropius was the most signal example of those
-vices. Eudoxia was anxiously aiming to compass the fall of the detested
-minister; detested by her more especially, not only because he thwarted
-her influence with Arcadius generally, but had also persuaded him to
-withhold from her the title of Augusta until she should present a male
-heir to the throne. She spared no pains therefore to conciliate the
-Archbishop, who might prove a valuable ally to her cause. It has been
-seen with what an appearance at least of humble piety she took part in
-the nocturnal procession which conducted some sacred reliques to their
-resting-place outside Constantinople.
-
-Her chamberlain, Amantius (himself distinguished for unaffected
-Christian piety), was the frequent bearer to the Archbishop of her
-liberal contributions to the support of churches, or the relief of the
-poor. With her own hands, it is said, she traced designs for basilicas
-to be erected at her expense in some of the country districts.[461]
-Chrysostom was always ready to welcome as genuine any manifestations
-of religious feeling. Such practical proofs of her attachment to
-the Church completely captivated him, and for the present his rich
-vocabulary could hardly furnish language adequate to express his
-admiration and gratitude.[462]
-
-Meanwhile, the poor doomed minister, not content to remain as he
-began, enjoying the reality of power without the name, prepared the
-way for his own destruction by inducing the Emperor to bestow on him
-the titles of Patrician and Consul. The acquisition of these venerated
-and venerable names by the eunuch slave caused a profound emotion of
-indignation and shame throughout the Empire, but especially in the
-Western capital, where they were bound up with all the most noble
-and glorious memories in the history of the nation. It is true the
-consulship was now an empty honour, destitute of all the great duties
-and responsibilities which formerly were attached to it. But the year
-was still named after the consul, and the character of the man was by
-a superstitious feeling projected on to the year which he inaugurated.
-The name of the odious Eutropius, eunuch and slave, if prefixed to the
-year, would seem to overshadow it with a kind of ominous and baleful
-blight, and to be in itself a portent of incalculable disaster.
-In short, after their indignation had vented itself in much bitter
-sarcasm, the Romans resolved that the consulship of Eutropius should
-never be inscribed at the Capitol. A solemn deputation from the people
-and senate waited on Honorius and Stilicho at Milan, to submit their
-decision, and to implore the imperial assent. Their spokesman recounted
-the glorious exploits of Theodosius and (by a flattering courtesy)
-of his son. The Saxon by the ocean, defeated; Britain delivered from
-the Picts; Gaul protected from the menaces of Germany! “Through thee
-Rome beholds the Frank humbled at her feet, the Suevian discomfited,
-and the Rhine, submissive to thy rule, salutes thee under the name of
-Germanicus. But the East, alas! envies us our prosperity; abominable
-conspiracies are fermenting there which tend to break up our unity” ...
-the revolt of Gildo, the destruction of African towns, the famine of
-Rome, all these calamities were the work of Eutropius, and for these he
-was rewarded with the consulship! The East, accustomed to stoop under
-the sceptre of women, might accept the rule of a eunuch slave; but that
-to which the Orontes and the Halys submitted as ordinary custom would
-be a foul stain on the waters of the Tiber. The image of Eutropius
-should never be placed in the same rank with those of Æmilius, of
-Decius, of Camillus, the saviours and supporters of their country, the
-champions of Roman freedom!... “Rise from your tombs, ancient Romans,
-pride of Latium; behold an unknown colleague on your curule chairs;
-rise and avenge the majesty of the Roman name!”[463]
-
-Honorius, prompted no doubt by Stilicho, accorded a favourable reply
-to the supplication of the Roman people. Mallius Theodorus, prætorian
-prefect of Italy, a man eminent in virtue and ability as lawyer,
-soldier, and writer, and not less popular than distinguished, was
-nominated Consul by Honorius amidst general approbation, and his name
-appears in the Fasti of the West without a colleague.[464]
-
-No doubt some of the virtuous indignation of the Romans is to be
-attributed to the jealousy which now ran high between East and
-West, but we may also not fancifully discern genuine sparks of the
-independent spirit of their forefathers. Amidst the general decadence
-and degeneracy of the whole Empire, the West did not descend, could
-not have descended, to such depths of servile adulation as did the
-Byzantines on the occasion of the inauguration of Eutropius as Consul.
-When, arrayed in an ample Roman robe, he assumed his seat in the
-palace of the Cæsars, the doors were thrown open to an eager crowd of
-flatterers. The senate, the generals, all the high functionaries of the
-state, poured in to offer their homage to the great personage; emulated
-each other in the honour of kissing his hand, and even his wrinkled
-visage. They saluted him as the bulwark of the laws, and the parent of
-the Emperor. Statues of bronze or marble were placed in various parts
-of the city, representing him in the costume of warrior or judge, and
-the inscriptions on their pedestals styled him third founder of the
-city after Byzas and Constantine.
-
-No wonder that Claudian declaimed with bitter sarcasm against “a
-Byzantine nobility and Greek Quirites,” and even invokes Neptune by a
-stroke of his trident to unseat and submerge the degenerate city which
-had inflicted such a deep disgrace upon the Empire.[465]
-
-And in truth a blow of no mean force, though directed not by the hand
-of a mythic deity, but of a stout barbarian was about to descend on
-the Eastern capital. The consequences of it were averted only by the
-sacrifice of the new consul who had chiefly provoked it; upon him
-it came with crushing effect: he fell never to rise again. In the
-final scene of this curious drama the Archbishop plays a conspicuous
-part, and therefore it must be unfolded from the beginning. But,
-independently of this, it throws light upon the condition of the
-Eastern Empire at that period.
-
-Tribigild, a Gothic soldier of distinction, had been, according to
-a usage now prevalent, promoted to the rank of Tribune, and placed
-in command of a military colony of Gruthongi (a large branch of
-the Ostrogoths), established in the region of Phrygia, near the
-town of Nacolea. The recent elevation of Alaric to the rank of
-Commander-in-chief of the Roman forces in the East had encouraged the
-pretensions and raised the expectations of all barbarian commanders.
-In the February or March next after the appointment of Eutropius to
-the consulship, Tribigild appeared at court to solicit promotion for
-himself and a higher rate of pay for his martial colonists, who, too
-ignorant or too proud to maintain themselves by cultivating the soil,
-were perishing of hunger in the midst of the most productive regions of
-Asia Minor. His suit was one among many of similar applications at that
-time constantly brought before the Court, and it was coldly dismissed
-by the Emperor’s minister. Tribigild was not one to return home and
-brood in sullen and ineffective silence over his repulse. Gaïnas, the
-Gothic leader, to whom it will be remembered Stilicho had confided the
-task of putting Rufinus to death, was still in Constantinople; and he
-was a relation of Tribigild, who found in him a sympathiser to inflame
-rather than soothe his sense of wrong. In this irritated frame of mind,
-like a train of powder only needing the application of a match to
-produce an explosion, he returned to Phrygia. According to Claudian,
-that match was applied by his wife. He dramatically describes her
-welcome of the returning husband: “She flies to meet him, embraces him
-with her snow-white arms, and eagerly inquires what honours or rewards
-he brings back from the generous prince.” When the chieftain relates
-his ineffectual errand, and the cold disdain with which he had been
-treated by Eutropius, the chieftainess tears her face with her nails,
-and with bitter irony bids her husband sheathe his sword and attend to
-his plough or his vine. She contrasts her own condition with the happy
-wives and sisters of other warriors; they enjoyed rich spoils in the
-shape of adornments or of beautiful Grecian handmaids. “Alaric, who
-broke treaties, was rewarded for it, but those who observe them remain
-poor. Alaric invaded and pillaged Epirus, and was made commander of the
-forces; _you_ go humbly to solicit your due and are repulsed. Enrich
-yourself with booty, and you will be a Roman citizen as soon as you
-please.”[466] No doubt this scene, whether wholly imaginary or not,
-faithfully represents the feelings which, since the fatal promotion of
-Alaric, must have encouraged treasonable designs on the part of many
-barbarian chiefs. At any rate, whether the resentment of Tribigild
-was inflamed or not by the irony of his wife, he resolved to cast
-off allegiance to the Empire. He mustered his forces, which gladly
-abandoned their feeble attempts at husbandry to return to the more
-congenial pursuit of war and plunder. The rich country of Phrygia was
-rapidly overrun, and some of the fortified towns, owing partly to the
-decay of their walls, were captured. All Asia Minor was convulsed with
-apprehension, and appealed to Constantinople for protection.
-
-Eutropius affected to treat the rebellion as a petty insurrection,
-the suppression of which belonged rather to the judge armed with
-instruments of torture than to a military force. He declined the
-proffered assistance of Gaïnas, but secretly negotiated with Tribigild,
-in the hope of subduing him by means of promotion or of a bribe in
-money. The Goth, proud to have turned the tables upon the minister who
-had recently treated him with scorn, steadfastly declined to accept
-any satisfaction but one—the head of Eutropius himself. Thus war was
-inevitable; but who was to conduct it? Eutropius dared not trust
-Gaïnas to act against his own countryman and kinsman. He retained
-him therefore at Constantinople in command of the city troops, and
-committed the management of the legions to one of his favourites,
-Leo, described by Claudian as a man “abounding in flesh, but scant
-of brains;”[467] once a wool-carder, but, under the administration
-of the eunuch, a military commander. His obesity made him an object
-of derision to the army, and, joined to his natural incapacity and
-ignorance, rendered him the most unfit man to conduct an expedition
-against the subtle and active barbarian. Leo crossed the Bosporus with
-a large, ill-disciplined army, whose approach was welcomed by the
-devastated provinces, which vainly rejoiced at the prospect of speedy
-deliverance from the ravager. The enemy, meanwhile, had retreated
-southwards through Pisidia, and after a narrow escape from destruction
-in the defiles of Mount Taurus, where the inhabitants made a fierce
-stand, he emerged into Pamphylia, and awaited Leo in the vast plain
-of the Eurymedon and Melas, which extends between the chain of Taurus
-and the sea. The doughty commander of the imperial forces eagerly
-pursued the Goths, and flattered himself, as the artful chieftain
-pretended to retreat in alarm, that he had cooped him up by the sea.
-In the confident anticipation of success, the discipline, such as it
-was, of Leo’s camp became still more relaxed. Little or no watch was
-kept; festivity, drunkenness, and disorder of all kinds prevailed;
-while the general had allowed himself to be drawn into a fatal position
-between a wary enemy in front and an impassable morass in his rear. In
-the depth of a dark night, the Goth swooped down upon his prey: all
-were asleep in the camp, the slumbers of many deepened by drunkenness.
-Those who were not killed on the spot fled in wild confusion, but only
-to flounder in the marsh, in the oozy bed of which large numbers were
-absorbed. A few scattered remnants reached the Bosporus by devious
-routes, to carry tidings of the disaster to Constantinople. Leo himself
-had plunged on horseback into the morass; the animal soon sank under
-the weight of his bulky rider, who, after vain struggles to extricate
-himself, was finally sucked beneath the quag. To such a bathos have
-the annals of Roman warfare descended! A Roman general suffocated in
-mud![468]
-
-The news of this disaster struck panic into the population and Court
-of Constantinople. There was but one who rejoiced; for he saw himself
-master of the situation. This was Gaïnas; he was the only man at hand
-capable of confronting Tribigild, and he was despatched across the
-Bosporus with his barbarian auxiliaries. But he did nothing to check
-the enemy, who had resumed his career of pillage. He represented that
-the forces opposed to him were insuperable, but expressed a firm
-conviction that Tribigild would become as loyal a servant as himself on
-one condition—the surrender of the minister Eutropius, the principal
-author of all the evils of the State.[469]
-
-Arcadius was placed in a state of cruel perplexity. We need not
-suppose that he was attached to Eutropius, but his weak and indolent
-nature shrank from the responsibility and labour to which, through
-the industry of his ambitious minister, he had been a stranger. Now,
-however, from all quarters the truth was forced upon him, that if he
-would save his throne, he must part with his newly-made consul. Ugly
-rumours were prevalent that Stilicho was meditating a march to the
-East, and at the same time a new king, hostile to the Empire, had
-ascended the throne in Persia.[470] But a nearer and more persuasive
-enemy of Eutropius was at hand to give the finishing impulse to his
-fall. The profound jealousy of his power entertained by Eudoxia has
-been already intimated. Not only had the title of Augusta been withheld
-from her through his influence, but he had even carried his arrogance
-so far at this time as to declare that his hand, which had elevated
-her, could also depose her from her present position altogether. The
-proud Frankish blood of the Empress could ill brook such words from the
-lips of an upstart menial, consul though he now was. With a passionate
-gesture she dismissed him from her presence, hastened to her two young
-children, Flaccilla and Pulcheria, and with them made her way into the
-apartment of Arcadius. To his inquiries as to the purpose of her sudden
-appearance she made at first no reply save by a flood of tears, in
-which the children, from natural sympathy, joined; but presently, in
-language broken by sobs, she related a tale of insults received at the
-hands of Eutropius, and the crowning insult of the whole series. This
-was the blow which was completely to fell the tottering minister. He
-was summoned to the imperial presence, and having been informed that he
-was deprived of his official dignity, and his property confiscated, he
-was commanded instantly to quit the palace under pain of death.[471]
-
-The poor wretch, who had mounted from the lowest dregs of society to
-the grandest position a subject could occupy, was thus by a single blow
-suddenly reduced to the position from which he had started; and even
-worse, for death stared him in the face. The bows and smiles with which
-courtiers had greeted him that morning, when he was still the royal
-favourite, concealed, he well knew, a hatred and a scorn which were not
-confined to them, but animated the whole population, and only needed
-opportunity to declare themselves. That opportunity had come. He had
-no friends; whither should he fly? There was but one place to which
-he could in his extremity naturally turn—the sanctuary of the Church;
-but here, by the cruel irony of his fate, a law emanating from himself
-barred his entrance.
-
-The right of asylum, which was once possessed by many of the Pagan
-temples, passed over, by a natural transition, about the time of
-Constantine, to Christian churches. However useful in ages of great
-rudeness and ferocity this right may be, either to shelter the innocent
-from lawless violence, or to give offenders protection from vindictive
-rage till the time of equitable trial, it inevitably becomes, sooner
-or later, an intolerable interference with the natural course of law
-and justice. Tiberius had found it expedient to restrict or abolish
-such rights attached to many of the Greek and Asiatic temples. Their
-suppression was resisted partly from feelings of pride, partly of
-mercenary interest, partly of respect for the sanctity of the places,
-as in the case in our own country of the sanctuary of Westminster.[472]
-In the reign of Theodosius I. a law was passed which excepted gross
-criminals and public debtors, and another in the reign of Arcadius,
-which excepted Jewish debtors who pretended to be Christians, from
-the privileges of asylum;[473] but by a law of September, A.D. 397,
-suggested by Eutropius, clergy and monks, in whose churches or convents
-fugitives might shelter, were obliged to surrender them to the officers
-of justice, though they might appeal to the Court in their favour.[474]
-The special object of Eutropius had been to cut off all retreat from
-the victims of his jealous ambition or avarice; and now he was one
-of the first to want the protection which he had himself abolished.
-But he knew, no one better, that the law had excited much resentment
-and resistance on the part of the Church; and it might well be that
-the Archbishop would gladly connive at the violation of the obnoxious
-measure by the very person who had framed it. He resolved to make the
-attempt. In the humblest guise of a suppliant, tears streaming down his
-puckered cheeks, his scant grey hairs smeared with dust, he crept into
-the cathedral, pushed aside the curtain which divided the chancel or
-sanctuary from the nave, and, clinging closely to the holy table,[475]
-awaited the approach of the Archbishop or any of the clergy.[476] The
-enemy was on his track. As he lay quaking with terror, he could hear
-on the other side of the thin partition the trampling of feet, mingled
-with the clattering of arms and voices raised in threatening tones by
-soldiers on the search. At this crisis he was found by the Archbishop,
-in a state of pitiable and abject terror; his cheek blanched with a
-death-like pallor, his teeth chattering, his whole frame quivering, as
-with faltering lips he craved the asylum of the Church.[477]
-
-He was not repulsed as the destroyer of that shelter which he now
-sought. Chrysostom rejoiced in the opportunity afforded to the Church
-of exhibiting at once her clemency and power, by taking a noble revenge
-upon her former adversary. The clamour of the soldiers on the other
-side of the veil increased. Chrysostom led the unhappy fugitive to the
-sacristy; and having concealed him there, he confronted his pursuers,
-asserted the inviolability of the Church’s sanctuary, and refused to
-surrender the refugee. “None shall penetrate the sanctuary save over my
-body; the Church is the Bride of Jesus Christ, who has intrusted her
-honour to me, and I will never betray it.” The soldiers threatened to
-lay violent hands on the Archbishop; but he freely presented himself to
-them, and only desired to be conducted to the Emperor, that the whole
-affair might be submitted to his judgment. He was accordingly placed
-between two rows of spearmen, and marched like a prisoner from the
-cathedral to the palace.[478]
-
-The populace meanwhile had heard of the wonderful event of the day. The
-news of the detested minister’s degradation had circulated through the
-Hippodrome, where a grand performance had attracted large multitudes.
-The spectators rose in a mass, uttered a shout of exultation, and
-vociferously demanded the head of the culprit.[479]
-
-Chrysostom meanwhile maintained before the Emperor his lofty tone
-of authority in vindication of the Church’s right of asylum. Human
-laws could not weigh in the balance against divine; the very man who
-had assailed the Church’s divine right was now forced, in his day
-of distress, to plead in favour of it. The Emperor was moved, as he
-always was by any one who possessed some of that force of character
-which he himself lacked. Some feelings of compassion also for his late
-minister’s humiliation may have mingled themselves with superstitious
-dread of incurring Divine wrath. He promised to respect the retreat of
-Eutropius. But, on learning his decision, the troops which were in the
-city became indignant and furious in their demands that the culprit
-should be surrendered to justice. The Emperor made an address to them,
-entreating them even with tears to remember that they had received
-benefits as well as wrongs from the object of their present rage, and,
-above all things, imploring them to respect the sanctity of the holy
-table, to which the suppliant was clinging. By such words he restrained
-them with difficulty from the commission of any immediate violence.[480]
-
-The following day was Sunday; but the places of public amusement and
-resort were deserted, and such a vast concourse of men and women
-thronged the cathedral as was rarely seen except on Easter Day.[481]
-All were in a flutter of expectation to hear what the “golden mouth”
-would utter, the mouth of him who had dared, in defence of the Church’s
-right, to defy the arm of the law, and to stem the tide of popular
-feeling. But few perhaps were prepared to witness such a dramatic
-scene as was actually presented, and which gave additional force and
-effect to the words of the preacher. It was a common practice with
-the Archbishop, on account partly of his diminutive stature and some
-feebleness of voice, to preach from the “ambo,” or high reading-desk,
-which stood a little westward of the chancel, and therefore brought him
-into closer proximity with the people.[482] On the present occasion,
-he had just taken his seat on the ambo, and a sea of upturned faces
-was directed towards his thin pale countenance in expectation of the
-stream of golden eloquence, when the curtain which separated the nave
-from the chancel was partially drawn aside, and disclosed to the view
-of the multitude the cowering form of the unhappy Eutropius, clinging
-to one of the columns which supported the holy table. Many a time had
-the Archbishop preached to light minds and unheeding ears on the vain
-and fleeting character of worldly honour, prosperity, luxury, wealth;
-now he would enforce attention, and drive his lesson home to the hearts
-of a vast audience, by pointing to a visible example of fallen grandeur
-in the poor unhappy creature who lay grovelling behind him. Presently
-he burst forth: “‘ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων!—O vanity of vanities!’” words
-how seasonable at all times, how pre-eminently seasonable now. “Where
-now are the pomp and circumstance of yonder man’s consulship? where his
-torch-light festivities? where the applause which once greeted him?
-where his banquets and garlands? Where is the stir that once attended
-his appearance in the streets, the flattering compliments addressed to
-him in the amphitheatre? They are gone, they are all gone; one rude
-blast has shattered all the leaves, and shows us the tree stripped
-quite bare, and shaken to its very roots.”... “These things were but
-as visions of the night, which fade at dawn; or vernal flowers, which
-wither when the spring is past; as shadows which flitted away, as
-bubbles which burst, as cobwebs which rent.”... “Therefore we chant
-continuously this heavenly strain: ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων καὶ πάντα
-ματαιότης. For these are words which should be inscribed on our walls
-and on our garments, in the market-place, by the wayside, on our doors,
-but above all should they be written in the conscience, and engraved
-upon the mind of every one.” Then, turning towards the pitiable figure
-by the holy table: “Did I not continually warn thee that wealth was a
-runaway slave, a thankless servant? but thou wouldst not heed, thou
-wouldst not be persuaded. Lo! now experience has proved to thee that it
-is not only fugitive and thankless, but murderous also; for this it is
-which has caused thee to tremble now with fear. Did not I declare, when
-you rebuked me for telling you the truth, ‘I love thee better than thy
-flatterers; I who reprove thee care for thee more than thy complaisant
-friends?’ Did I not add that the wounds inflicted by a friend were to
-be valued more than the kisses given by an enemy? If thou hadst endured
-my wounds, the kisses of thy enemies would not have wrought thee this
-destruction.”... “We act not like thy false friends, who have fled from
-thee, and are procuring their own safety through thy distress; the
-Church, which you treated as an enemy, has opened her bosom to receive
-thee; the theatre, which you favoured, has betrayed thee, and whetted
-the sword against thee.”[483] He thus depicted, he said, the abject
-condition of the minister, not from any desire to insult the prostrate,
-not to drown one who was tossed on the billows of misfortune; but to
-warn those who were still sailing with a fair wind, lest they should
-be hurried into the same abyss. Who had been more exalted than this
-man? Had he not surpassed all in wealth? had he not climbed to the
-very pinnacle of grandeur? yet now he had become more miserable than a
-prisoner, more pitiable than a slave.... It was the glory of the Church
-to have afforded shelter to an enemy; the suppliant was the ornament
-of the altar. “What!” you say, “is this iniquitous, rapacious creature
-an ornament to the altar?” Hush! the sinful woman was permitted to
-touch the feet of Jesus Christ Himself, a permission which excites not
-our reproach, but our admiration and praise.... The degradation of
-Eutropius was a wholesome example both to the rich and poor. “Let some
-rich man enter the church, and he will derive much advantage from what
-he sees. The spectacle of one, lately at the pinnacle of power, now
-crouching with fear like a hare or a frog, chained to yonder pillar not
-by fetters, but by fright, will repress arrogance, and subdue pride,
-and will teach him the truth of the Scripture precept: ‘All flesh is
-grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.’ On the other
-hand, let a poor man enter, and he will learn not to be discontented,
-or to deplore his lot; but will be grateful to his poverty, which is to
-him as a most secure asylum, a most tranquil haven, a most impenetrable
-fortress.”[484] The Archbishop concluded by exhorting the people to
-mercy and forgiveness, following the example of their Emperor. How else
-could they with a clear conscience join in the Holy Mysteries about to
-be celebrated, or join in the prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as
-we forgive them that trespass against us?” He did not deny that the
-offender had committed great crimes, but the present was a season not
-for judgment but for mercy. If they would enjoy the favour of God,
-who had declared, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice,” they would
-intercede with the Emperor for the life of their enemy. So would they
-obtain the mercy of God for themselves, and remission of their own
-sins; so would they shed glory on their Church, and win the praise of
-their humane sovereign, while their own clemency would be extolled to
-the ends of the earth.”
-
-The people probably thought that sufficient mercy had already been
-exercised by respecting the asylum of the Church as against the law,
-and no further effort, so far as is known, was made on behalf of the
-fallen minister. He remained for several days more in the sanctuary,
-and then secretly and suddenly quitted it. Whether he fled designedly,
-mistrusting the security of his retreat, perhaps even, with the
-suspiciousness natural to a deceitful person, mistrusting the fidelity
-of his protectors, and hoping to make his escape from Constantinople
-in disguise; or whether he surrendered himself on the condition that
-exile should be substituted for capital punishment, cannot with perfect
-certainty be determined. It is implied by one writer[485] that he was
-seized and forcibly removed from the sanctuary. Chrysostom, on the
-other hand, declares that he would never have been given up, had he
-not abandoned the Church.[486] However and wherever he may have been
-captured, some promise appears to have been made that his life at least
-should be spared. He was put on board a vessel which conveyed him to
-Cyprus, that island being designed, it was said, to be the place of
-his banishment for the remainder of his life.[487] But his enemies had
-determined that his life should be brief. A suit was instituted against
-him at Constantinople on a variety of charges under the presidency of
-Aurelian, Prætorian Prefect. Over and above all his other crimes, he
-was found guilty of mingling with the ordinary costume of the consul
-certain ornaments or badges which belonged exclusively to the Emperors,
-and even of harnessing to his chariot animals of the imperial colour
-and breed. These were found to be treasonable offences, on the strength
-of which, in spite of some misgivings and hesitation on the part of
-Arcadius, which were overruled by Eudoxia and Gaïnas, the miserable
-culprit was recalled from Cyprus to Chalcedon, and there beheaded.
-As he entered that city, he might have seen affixed to the walls the
-imperial sentence, by the terms of which his property was declared
-confiscated to the State, his acts as consul were cancelled, the
-title of the year was changed, the world invited to rejoice at the
-purification of the consulship, and to cease to groan over the sight of
-the monstrosity which had disgraced and disfigured the divine honour
-of that sacred office. Finally, it was commanded that all statues or
-representations whatever of Eutropius in public places should be thrown
-down and broken in pieces.[488]
-
-Thus the earnest desire of Eudoxia was accomplished: she remained
-mistress of the field, mistress, as she fondly hoped, of the Empire.
-The government for the present passed from the hands of a eunuch and
-slave into the hands of a woman. The possible rivals to her supremacy
-were the Gothic commander Gaïnas and the Archbishop. In what manner
-she was brought into hostile collision with these two very different
-personages remains now to be related. The Goth was determined in the
-ambitious pursuit of power, the Archbishop equally determined in the
-conscientious discharge of duty. The collision of the ruling powers
-with him was yet to come, but the contest with Gaïnas immediately
-succeeded the fall of Eutropius.
-
-The Empress procured the elevation of Aurelian, Prætorian Prefect,
-to the consulship, and of her favourite (some said her criminal
-lover[489]), Count John, to the office of Comptroller of the Royal
-Treasury, or sacred largesses. The public affairs of the Empire were
-discussed and settled in a sort of cabinet council by her and her
-friends, of whom three wealthy but avaricious ladies, Castricia,
-Eugraphia, and Marcia, were the most influential. The haughty and
-manly spirit of the Gothic warrior naturally disdained to be directed
-by a coterie of women. He united his army with that of Tribigild,
-and the two forces assumed a menacing attitude in the vicinity of
-Constantinople, on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus. Gaïnas opened
-negotiations with the Emperor, refusing to communicate with any lesser
-power, complained that his services had been inadequately requited, and
-demanded, as a preliminary to any further correspondence, the surrender
-of three principal favourites at Court—Aurelian the Consul, Saturninus
-the husband of Castricia, and the Count John. The embarrassment of the
-Court was extreme; but the three ministers, in a genuine spirit, to all
-appearance, of Roman courage and self-sacrifice for the good of the
-State, crossed the Bosporus, and sent word to the camp of Gaïnas that
-they had come to surrender themselves into his hands. The chieftain
-subjected them to a grim practical jest. He caused them to be loaded
-with chains, and received them in his tent in the presence of an
-executioner. After all manner of insults had been heaped upon them, the
-executioner approached and swung his sword over them with a furious
-countenance as if on the point of decapitating, but, checking the
-impending blow, only made a slight scratch on their necks so as just
-to draw blood. This savage farce having been performed, the three were
-simply detained in the camp without suffering further violence.[490]
-
-Chrysostom appears to have laboured diligently to mitigate the demands
-of Gaïnas. His language, in a homily delivered just after the surrender
-of the three captives, implies that some degree of success had attended
-his efforts, but it manifests also a feeling of great depression,
-caused by the unsettled, indeed anarchical, state of public affairs.
-
-“After a long interval of silence, I return to you, my beloved
-disciples—a silence occasioned, not by any indifference or indolence,
-but by my absence spent in earnest endeavours to allay a tempest,
-and to bring into a haven those who were beginning to drown.”... “For
-this purpose I have withdrawn from you for a time, going backwards and
-forwards” [across the Bosporus], “exhorting, beseeching, supplicating,
-so as to avert the calamity which was impending over the higher
-powers. But now that these dismal matters have been concluded I
-return to you....” He had gone to rescue those who were falling and
-tempest-tossed; he came back to confirm those who were still standing
-and at rest, lest they should become victims of some calamity. “For
-there is nothing secure, nothing stable in human affairs; they are
-like a raging sea, every day producing strange and fearful shipwrecks.
-The world is full of tumult and confusion; everywhere are cliffs and
-precipices, rocks and reefs, fearfulness and trembling, peril and
-suspicion. No one trusts any one; each man is afraid of his neighbour.
-The time is at hand which the prophet depicted in those words: ‘Trust
-not in a friend, put not confidence in a guide’ (Micah vii. 5); civil
-strife prevails everywhere, not honest open warfare, but veiled under
-ten thousand masks. Many are the fleeces beneath which are concealed
-innumerable wolves; so that one might live more safely among enemies
-than among those who appear to be friends.”[491]
-
-It is possible that the intercessions of Chrysostom may have saved
-the lives of the three captives, or averted any immediate assault of
-the Gothic army; but Gaïnas was in a position to dictate any terms
-he pleased, and his army was like a great swelling wave, threatening
-at any moment to break in overwhelming force upon the capital. An
-interview with the Emperor, protected from any insidious attack by the
-solemn oath of each party, took place in the church of St. Euphemia,
-situated on a lofty eminence above the city of Chalcedon. The Gothic
-leader no longer pretended to disguise his ambitious designs. He
-demanded to be made Consul and Commander-in-chief of the Imperial
-army, cavalry and infantry, Roman as well as barbarian troops; in
-short, he aspired to be in position the Stilicho of the East. The
-Emperor yielded to these ignominious terms, which in effect placed his
-capital at the mercy of a foreign invader. The troops were rapidly
-transported from the Asiatic side of the Bosporus and occupied
-Constantinople. They waited but the word of their commander to fly
-upon the booty with which the wealthy and luxurious city teemed, and
-which they beheld with hungry eyes; but for a time the signal was not
-given.[492]
-
-Gaïnas, either from sincere attachment to the Arian form of faith, or
-possibly from ambition to display his power to his countrymen, who
-were mainly of the Arian persuasion, demanded the abolition of that
-law of Theodosius by which Arians were prohibited from public worship
-inside the city walls. He represented that it was specially indecorous
-for the Commander-in-chief of the Imperial forces to go outside the
-city to pay his public devotions. Arcadius, intimidated, and as usual
-on the point of yielding, referred the matter to the Archbishop.
-Chrysostom earnestly and indignantly deprecated any concession; to
-give up one of the Catholic churches to the Arians would be to cast
-things holy to the dogs, and to reward the impious at the expense of
-the reverent worshippers of Jesus Christ. He begged the Emperor to
-allow the whole matter to be discussed between himself and Gaïnas
-in the royal presence, when he trusted that, by the help of God, he
-should succeed in silencing the Gothic heretic, and in repressing any
-repetition of his profane demand.[493] Gaïnas was not averse from the
-interview; he rather prided himself on his skill in theological debate,
-and boasted of having vanquished the monk Nilus on the question of the
-identity, or similarity, of substance in the first two Persons of
-the Holy Trinity.[494] The Emperor was well satisfied to act the part
-of a quiet, irresponsible auditor. Accordingly, on the following day,
-Chrysostom appeared at the palace, accompanied by all those bishops who
-were in Constantinople at the time. Gaïnas put forward his demand. The
-Archbishop replied that it was impossible for a prince who laid claim
-to piety to take any step adverse to the interests of the Catholic
-faith. If Gaïnas wished to worship inside the walls, all the churches
-in the city were open to him. When the Goth claimed a right to possess
-one for his own sect, in consideration of his great services to the
-State, Chrysostom repelled the demand with indignant scorn. “You have
-already rewards far exceeding your deserts; you are Commander-in-chief
-and Consul. Consider what once you were, and what now you are; consider
-your former destitution and your present abundance. Look at the
-magnificence of your consular robes, and remember the rags in which
-you crossed the Danube. Speak not then of ingratitude on the part of
-those who have laden you with honours. Remember the oaths by which you
-swore fidelity to the great Theodosius and to his children.” He then
-cited the prohibitory law issued by Theodosius in A.D. 381, called
-upon the Emperor to enforce it, and on the Gothic commander to observe
-it. The ecclesiastical historians concur in affirming that the Goth
-was completely vanquished by the authoritative demeanour and eloquence
-of the Archbishop, and for the time at least desisted from pressing
-his demand; but it appears that Arcadius was obliged to satisfy his
-rapacity by melting the plate of the Apostles’ Church.[495]
-
-Possibly, indeed, extortion of money had been the object of Gaïnas
-from the beginning in making his demand for an Arian church. The
-plunder-loving spirit of his army was aroused, and the gold and
-silver visible on the counters of money-changers, and in the shops
-of wealthy jewellers, was a temptation constantly dangling before
-their eyes, till a rumour of violent intentions, or perhaps common
-prudence, caused the owners to remove these alluring treasures into
-secret places of safety. If the enemy had entertained any design upon
-the shops, it was transferred from them to the palace, upon which they
-made a nocturnal assault. According to some accounts, it was repulsed
-by the vigorous courage of the citizens, who fell with arms upon the
-assailants; according to others, Gaïnas was scared in several attempts
-by a vision of an angelic host planted in bright array around the walls
-of the palace.[496] The materials for the history of these occurrences
-are so meagre that it is impossible to ascertain details, but, from
-whatever cause, Gaïnas resolved to escape from the city. Fearing that
-if he attempted to quit it openly with his troops, he might be forcibly
-stopped or impeded in his departure, he pretended to be under the
-influence of a demon and that he desired to offer up prayers for relief
-from his affliction at the martyry of St. John at Hebdomon, seven miles
-outside Constantinople.
-
-As he was going out, however, by one of the gates on this pretext,
-the guards stationed at the gate perceived that his followers were
-taking with them a quantity of arms which they endeavoured to conceal.
-The guards refused to let them pass; a fray ensued in which the
-guards were killed. The inhabitants were seized with mingled rage
-and terror. Gaïnas was declared by royal decree a public enemy. He
-himself was outside the walls, and the city gates were now all closed
-to cut him off and such forces as were with him from those who were
-left inside Constantinople. A large number of these assembled in
-and around the church of the Goths. Here they were attacked by the
-infuriated populace, which set fire to the building. The Goths perished
-wholesale in the flames or by the sword. Gaïnas, with the remainder
-of his followers, betook himself to a life of plunder in the Thracian
-Chersonese. But he found the inhabitants generally prepared to offer
-a stout resistance to his pillaging bands, which were soon reduced
-to great straits for subsistence. Meanwhile, a countryman of his in
-Constantinople was organising measures for his destruction. Fravitta
-was one of those Goths who had become assimilated to the people among
-whom they lived. He had married a Roman lady, and was eminent alike
-for refinement of manners, for valour in arms, and for honest fidelity
-to the government which he served.[497] He offered to lead out such
-forces as could be placed at his disposal, pledged himself to clear
-the Chersonese of the rebels, and drive them, if necessary, beyond the
-Danube. The offer was accepted with joy, and Fravitta defeated the
-enemy in several engagements. Gaïnas attempted to cross the Hellespont,
-and throw his troops again into the fertile regions of Asia Minor;
-but his flimsy fleet of hastily-constructed rafts, being attacked
-by a well-managed body of galleys in the middle of the passage, was
-dispersed or broken in pieces, and a large part of his army was
-drowned. Gaïnas then determined, with the remnant of his followers, to
-beat a hasty retreat in the direction of the Danube, where he hoped to
-be joined by some of his own countrymen, and renew the offensive. The
-accounts of his march are not quite harmonious, and somewhat obscure.
-According to Zosimus,[498] he was hotly pursued by Fravitta from place
-to place, across the range of Hæmus up to the shores of the Danube,
-into the waters of which he plunged on horseback, and with a scanty
-band of followers gained the opposite bank, intending thence to make
-his way to the settlements of his forefathers on the banks of the
-Pruth or Borysthenes. But his design was frustrated by an unexpected
-enemy. The Huns occupied at that time the region immediately north of
-the Danube, and their king, Uldes or Uldin, was disposed to enter into
-friendly relations with the Roman Empire. He took up the pursuit which
-Fravitta had abandoned at the river frontier, chased the unhappy Goth
-like a wild beast from one hiding-place to another, till at last the
-prey was caught and killed. His head was carried on the point of a
-lance to Constantinople, as a visible pledge of the good-will of the
-Hunnish chief. Sozomen and Socrates,[499] on the other hand, represent
-him to have been overtaken, routed, and slain by Roman troops in
-Thrace.[500]
-
-Theodoret has a vague story of his own, that when Gaïnas was ravaging
-Thrace, neither warrior nor ambassador could be found courageous enough
-to encounter him but Chrysostom, who, yielding to the public appeal,
-set forth to intercede, and was most respectfully received by the
-barbarian, who placed the right hand of the Archbishop on his own eyes,
-and brought his children to his knees—it may be presumed, to receive
-his blessing. Theodoret does not venture to affirm that the mission
-availed to induce the Goth to lay down his arms, and the whole story
-has an unreal and romantic character.[501]
-
-Three aspirants to the absolute control of the Eastern Empire, widely
-different in race, character, and original condition of life—Rufinus,
-Eutropius, Gaïnas—had alike perished by a violent death. Fravitta was
-made consul, but he was too loyal or too unambitious to go beyond the
-line of his legitimate power. Eudoxia now stood without a rival in
-the management of the Emperor and the kingdom. Her influence over her
-husband was enhanced by the birth of a prince, who afterwards mounted
-the throne as Theodosius II.; and thus the final obstacle was removed
-to her being solemnly proclaimed Empress under the venerable title of
-Augusta.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
- CHRYSOSTOM’S VISIT TO ASIA—DEPOSITION OF SIX SIMONIACAL
- BISHOPS—LEGITIMATE EXTENT OF HIS JURISDICTION—RETURN TO
- CONSTANTINOPLE—RUPTURE AND RECONCILIATION WITH SEVERIAN,
- BISHOP OF GABALA—CHRYSOSTOM’S INCREASING UNPOPULARITY
- WITH THE CLERGY AND WEALTHY LAITY—HIS FRIENDS—OLYMPIAS
- THE DEACONESS—FORMATION OF HOSTILE FACTIONS, WHICH INVITE
- THE AID OF THEOPHILUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA. A.D. 400,
- 401.
-
-
-Up to this point the episcopal career of Chrysostom may be pronounced
-eminently successful. He had distinguished himself not only as a
-vigorous reformer of ecclesiastical discipline, an eloquent master of
-pure Christian doctrine, and preacher of lofty Christian morality,
-but he had done good service to the State; and even while he upheld
-with inflexible firmness the full rights of the Church, he had not by
-overbearing or haughty independence forfeited the goodwill, respect,
-and admiration of the Emperor and Eudoxia. But now the horizon
-gradually darkens. We have to begin unravelling a tangled skein of
-troubles, to trace a series of subtle intrigues, against which the
-single-minded honesty of Chrysostom was ill matched, ultimately
-bringing about his degradation, exile, and death. We are fortunate
-in possessing, to guide us among these complicated proceedings, the
-narrative of one who was not only an eye-witness, but an actor in many
-of the scenes which he relates.[502]
-
-In the spring of the year A.D. 400, during the military usurpation of
-Gaïnas, twenty-two prelates had assembled in Constantinople to confer
-with the Archbishop on ecclesiastical business.[503] Palladius has
-mentioned the names of a few, Theotimus from Scythia, Ammon an Egyptian
-from Thrace, Arabianus from Galatia. One Sunday when the conclave was
-sitting, Eusebius, bishop of Valentinopolis in Asia, apparently not
-himself a member of the synod, entered the place of assembly, and
-presented a document addressed to the Archbishop as President, which
-contained seven grave charges against Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus: “He
-had melted down some of the sacred vessels to make plate for his son;
-he had transferred some of the marble at the entrance of the baptistry
-to his own bath; he had placed some fallen columns which belonged to
-the Church in his own dining-room; he had retained in his employment
-a servant who had committed murder; he had taken possession of some
-property in land which had been left to the Church by Basilina, the
-mother of Julian; he had resumed intercourse with his wife, and had
-children born to him, after his ordination; lastly, the worst offence
-of all, he had instituted a regular system of selling bishoprics on a
-scale proportioned to the revenue of the sees.” Chrysostom probably
-perceived, or suspected from the eagerness of the accuser, that he
-entertained some personal animosity towards the accused. He replied
-with calmness and caution: “Brother Eusebius, since accusations made
-under the influence of agitated feelings are often not easy to prove,
-let me beseech you to withdraw the written accusation, while we
-endeavour to correct the causes of your annoyance.” Eusebius waxed hot,
-and repeated his tale of charges with much vehemence and acrimony of
-tone. The hour of service was approaching; Chrysostom committed to
-Paul, bishop of Heraclea, who appeared friendly to Antoninus, the task
-of attempting to conciliate Eusebius, and passed with the remainder of
-the prelates into the cathedral.
-
-The opening salutation, “Peace be with you,” was pronounced by the
-Archbishop as he took his seat in the centre of the other bishops,
-ranged, according to custom, on either side of him round the wall
-of the choir or tribune. The service was proceeding, when, to the
-amazement alike of the clergy and the congregation, Eusebius abruptly
-entered the choir, hurried up to the Archbishop, and again presented
-the document of charges, adjuring him by the life of the Emperor and
-other tremendous oaths to attend to its contents. From the agitation of
-his manner, the people imagined that he must be a suppliant entreating
-the Archbishop to intercede with the Emperor for his life. To avoid a
-disturbance in the face of the congregation, Chrysostom received the
-paper of charges, but when the lessons for the day had been read, and
-the Liturgy of the Faithful (Missa Fidelium) was about to begin, he
-desired Pansophius, bishop of Pissida, to “offer the gifts,” and, with
-the rest of the prelates, quitted the church. His serenity of mind was
-ruffled by the impetuous behaviour of Eusebius, and he dreaded the
-possibility of infringing our Lord’s command to abstain from bringing
-a gift to the altar when “thy brother hath aught against thee.” After
-the conclusion of the service, he took his seat with the other bishops
-in the baptistry, and summoned Eusebius into the presence of the
-conclave. Once more the accuser was warned not to advance charges which
-he might not be able to substantiate, and was reminded that when once
-the indictment had been formally lodged, he could not, being a bishop,
-retract the prosecution. Eusebius, however, intimated his willingness
-to accept all the responsibility of persevering with the accusation.
-The list of charges was then formally read. The bishops concurred in
-pronouncing each of the alleged offences to be a gross violation of
-ecclesiastical law, but recommended that Antoninus should be tried upon
-the cardinal crime of simony, since this transcended, and in a manner
-comprehended, all the rest. “Love of money was the root of all evil;”
-and he who would basely sell for money the highest spiritual office,
-would not scruple to dispose of sacred vessels, marbles, or land
-belonging to the Church. The Archbishop then turned to the accused:
-“What say you, brother Antoninus, to these things?” The Bishop of
-Ephesus replied by a flat denial of the charges. A similar question
-being addressed to some of the bishops there present, described
-as purchasers of their sees, was answered by a similar denial. An
-examination of such witnesses as could be procured lasted till two
-o’clock in the day, when, owing to the lack of further evidence, the
-proceedings were adjourned. Considering the gravity of the affair, and
-the inconvenience of collecting the witnesses from Asia, the Archbishop
-announced his intention of paying a visit to Asia Minor in person.
-Antoninus, conscious of guilt, and aware of the rigorous scrutiny to
-which his conduct would be subjected, was now thoroughly alarmed.
-He made interest with a nobleman at court, whose estates he managed
-(contrary to ecclesiastical law) in Asia, and besought him to prevent
-the visit of the Archbishop, pledging himself to present the necessary
-witnesses at Constantinople. The Archbishop, accordingly, found his
-intended departure opposed by the Court. It was represented that the
-absence of the chief pastor from the capital, undesirable at all
-times, might be especially inconvenient at a crisis when tumults were
-apprehended from the movements of Gaïnas; and it was unnecessary, as
-the appearance of witnesses from Asia in due time was guaranteed.[504]
-Any delay was an immediate relief to the accused; and there was a
-further hope that, by bribery or intimidation, the ultimate production
-of the witnesses might be prevented. But he was disappointed; for
-though the Archbishop consented to defer his own visit to Asia, he
-appointed, with the sanction of the synod, three delegates to proceed
-thither immediately and institute an inquiry into the case of Antoninus.
-
-The delegates were instructed to hold their court at Hypœpœ, a town
-not far from Ephesus, in conjunction with the bishops of the province;
-and the Archbishop and his synod further determined, that if either
-the accuser or accused failed to appear there within two months, he
-should be excommunicated. One of the delegates, Hesychius, bishop of
-Parium on the Hellespont, was a friend of Antoninus, and withdrew from
-the mission under the pretence of illness; the other two, Syncletius,
-bishop of Trajanopolis in Thrace, and Palladius, bishop of Hellenopolis
-in Bithynia, proceeded to Smyrna, announced their arrival to the
-accuser and defendant by letter, and summoned them to appear at Hypœpœ
-within the appointed time. The summons was obeyed, but the appearance
-of the two was only for the purpose of playing off a farce before the
-commissioners. Strange to relate, a reconciliation had taken place
-between Antoninus and his apparently implacable accuser. Eusebius
-had yielded to the temptation to commit the very crime which he had
-so vehemently denounced. A bribe of money had quelled his righteous
-indignation; plaintiff and defendant were now accomplices, whose one
-interest was to conceal their joint iniquities. They professed great
-willingness to produce their witnesses, but pleaded the difficulty
-of collecting persons who lived in different and distant places, and
-were engaged in various occupations. The commissioners requested the
-accuser to name a period within which he could guarantee the appearance
-of his witnesses. Eusebius required forty days. As this space of
-time covered the hottest part of the summer, it was hoped that the
-patience or health of the commissioners would be too much exhausted
-at the expiration of it to prosecute the inquiry. Eusebius then
-departed, ostensibly to search for witnesses; but, in fact, he quietly
-sneaked away to Constantinople, and concealed himself in some obscure
-corner in that great city. The forty days expired, and, Eusebius not
-appearing, the two delegates wrote to the bishops of Asia, pronouncing
-him excommunicated for contumacy. They lingered a whole month longer
-in Asia, and then returned to Constantinople. Here they chanced to
-light upon Eusebius, and upbraided him with his faithless conduct.
-He affected to have been ill, and renewed his promises to produce
-witnesses. During these prolonged delays Antoninus died; and Chrysostom
-now received earnest solicitations from the clergy of Ephesus, and from
-the neighbouring bishops, to apply a healing hand to the wounds and
-diseases of the Asiatic Church. “We beseech your Dignity[505] to come
-down and stamp a divine impress on the Church of Ephesus, which has
-long been distressed, partly by the adherents of Arius, partly by those
-who, in the midst of their avarice and arrogance, pretend to be on our
-side; for very many are they who lie in wait like grievous wolves,
-eager to seize the episcopal throne by money.”[506]
-
-The death of Gaïnas in January, A.D. 401, set Chrysostom free to comply
-with this earnest appeal to his authority and aid. It was the depth of
-the winter season; his health was infirm and impaired by the strain
-of the past year’s anxiety and toil; but the zeal of the Archbishop
-disregarded these impediments. He embarked at Constantinople without
-delay, leaving Severian, Bishop of Gabala, to act as deputy bishop in
-his absence. Such a violent north wind sprang up soon after starting,
-that the crew of the vessel, afraid of being driven on Proconnesus,
-lay at anchor for two days under shelter of the promontory of Trito. On
-the third day they took advantage of a southerly breeze to land near
-Apamea in Bithynia, where Chrysostom was joined by three bishops, Paul
-of Heraclea, Cyrinus of Chalcedon, and Palladius of Hellenopolis. With
-these companions he proceeded by land to Ephesus. There he was received
-with hearty welcome by the clergy and by seventy bishops.
-
-The first business to which the Archbishop and this council of prelates
-addressed themselves was the election of a new bishop to the see of
-Ephesus. As usual there were many rival candidates, and factions
-supporting each with equal vehemence. Chrysostom fell back on the
-expedient of putting forward a candidate regarded with indifference
-by all parties. The plan succeeded, and Heracleides was elected. He
-was a deacon of three years’ standing, ordained by Chrysostom, and
-in immediate attendance on him; a native of Cyprus, who had received
-an ascetic training in the desert of Scetis, a man of ability and
-learning. He comes before us again as a fellow-sufferer with the
-Archbishop, to whom he had owed his elevation.
-
-Not long after the arrival of Chrysostom, Eusebius, the original
-persecutor of Antoninus and of the simoniacal bishops, appeared, and
-requested to be re-admitted to communion with his brethren. The request
-was not immediately granted; but it was determined to proceed with the
-trial of the accused bishops, to prove whose guilt Eusebius affirmed
-that he could produce abundant evidence. The witnesses were examined,
-and the crime being considered fully proven in the case of six bishops,
-the offenders were summoned into the presence of the council. At first
-they stoutly denied their guilt, but finally gave way before the minute
-and circumstantial depositions of lay, clerical, and even female
-witnesses as to the place, time, and quality of the purchases which
-they had transacted. They pleaded partly the prevalence of the custom
-in excuse for their crime, and partly their anxiety to be exempted
-from the burden of discharging curial duties; that is, from serving on
-the common and municipal council of their city. Every estate-holder
-to the amount of twenty-five acres of land was bound to serve in the
-curia of his city. Many of the functions incident to that office, such
-as the assessment and collection of imposts, were (especially under
-an ill-administered despotism) invidious and onerous. Constantine had
-exempted the clergy from curial office, and the consequence was that
-many men got themselves ordained simply to evade the disagreeable duty;
-and this becoming detrimental both to the Church and State, the law
-of Constantine underwent modifications by his successors. The Church
-passed canons forbidding those who were curiales to be ordained, the
-effect of which was to diminish the number of wealthy men who entered
-the ranks of the clergy.[507] The Asiatic bishops, therefore, if
-curiales when ordained, had acted against the laws of the Church,
-and could not legally have claimed exemption from curial duties on
-the ground of their orders. They sued for mercy to the council; they
-entreated that, if deprived of their sees, the money which they had
-paid to obtain them might be returned. In many cases it had been
-procured with much difficulty; some had even parted with the furniture
-of their wives to raise the requisite amount. The Archbishop undertook
-to intercede with the Emperor for their exemption from curial duty; the
-ecclesiastical question he submitted to the council. The decision of
-the prelates, under the influence of their president, was temperate and
-wise. The six bishops were to be deprived of their sees, but allowed
-to receive the Eucharist inside the altar rails with the clergy, and
-the heirs of Antoninus were required to restore their purchase-money to
-them. The deposed prelates were superseded by the appointment of six
-men, unmarried, eminent for learning and purity of life.[508]
-
-On his return through Bithynia the Archbishop was detained by a not
-less difficult and delicate piece of business. Gerontius, Archbishop
-of Nicomedia, the metropolitan of Bithynia, was a singular specimen of
-an ecclesiastical adventurer. He had been a deacon at Milan, but was
-expelled by Ambrose for misconduct. He made his way to Constantinople,
-where, by general cleverness, and by some real or pretended skill in
-medicine, he became a favourite with people of rank, and through the
-interest of some influential friends obtained the See of Nicomedia.
-He was consecrated by Helladius, bishop of Heraclea, for whose son
-Gerontius had managed to procure a high appointment in the army. The
-new bishop of Nicomedia gained the attachment of his people, again it
-is said, through his skill in curing diseases of the body rather than
-of the soul. Ambrose incessantly demanded of Nectarius, then Patriarch
-of Constantinople, that he should be deposed; but Nectarius did not
-venture to incur the displeasure of the Nicomedians. The bolder spirit
-and more scrupulous conscience of Chrysostom did not hesitate to strike
-the blow which his more worldly and courtly predecessor had shrunk
-from striking. Gerontius was deposed, whether by the sole authority
-of the Archbishop, or by the decree of a council acting under his
-influence, is not stated. Pansophius, formerly tutor to the Empress,
-a man of piety, wisdom, and gentleness, was promoted to the see. But
-the Nicomedians bewailed the loss of their favourite; they went about
-the streets in procession, singing litanies, as if in the time of some
-great national calamity.[509]
-
-Before quitting Asia, Chrysostom is also said to have taken active
-measures for the suppression of the worship of Midas at Ephesus, and
-of Cybele in Phrygia.[510] All these proceedings are worth recording,
-not only as of some ecclesiastical interest in themselves, but also
-because they were all remembered and turned against him by his enemies.
-It has been much debated whether Chrysostom, by his acts in Asia,
-overstrained his legal powers, or rather, whether he exceeded the
-legal boundaries of his jurisdiction as Patriarch of Constantinople.
-The fact seems to be that the importance of his see was in that
-growing state which enabled the possessor of it, if a man of energy
-and ability, to go great lengths without any exception being taken to
-his authority, unless and until a hostile feeling was provoked against
-him. By the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381, the Patriarch of that
-city was restricted in his jurisdiction to the diocese of Thrace.[511]
-His authority over the dioceses of Asia Minor and Pontus was not
-established till the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, when there was
-a long discussion on the subject, and the papal legates especially
-resisted any claim to such an extension; but it was affirmed that the
-Patriarchs had _long enjoyed_ the privilege of ordaining metropolitans
-to the provinces of those dioceses, and so it was finally conveyed to
-them by that Council; and the additional right was granted them of
-hearing appeals from these metropolitans.[512] Theodoret (c. 28) simply
-observes that the jurisdiction of Chrysostom extended not only over the
-six provinces of Thrace, but also over Asia and Pontus. The Council of
-Constantinople gave the bishop of that see the first rank after the
-Bishop of Rome, because Constantinople was “a new Rome.” The Council
-of Chalcedon declared him for the same reason to be invested with
-_equal_ privileges.
-
-Chrysostom was welcomed, on his return to Constantinople, with hearty
-demonstrations of joy. On the following day he was at his post in the
-cathedral, and once more addressing his beloved flock. In somewhat
-rapturous language he expresses his thankfulness at learning that their
-fidelity to the Church, and their attachment to their spiritual father,
-had not been impaired by his absence, which had lasted more than a
-hundred days. They were disappointed that he had not returned in time
-to celebrate Easter with them. But he consoles them by representing
-that every participation of the Eucharist was a kind of Easter. “_As
-often_ as ye eat this bread, ye do show forth the Lord’s death till He
-come.” “They were not tied to time and place like the Jew. Wherever
-and whenever the Christian celebrated that holy feast with joy and
-love, there was the true Paschal Festival.”[513] They regretted also
-that so many had been baptized by other hands than his. “What then?
-that does not impair the gift of God; _I_ was not present when they
-were baptized, but _Christ_ was present.” “In a document signed by the
-Emperor, the only question of importance is the autograph; the quality
-of the ink and paper matters not. Even so in baptism, the tongue and
-the hand of the priest are but as the paper and pen: the hand which
-writes is the Holy Spirit Himself.”[514]
-
-The thankfulness and joy of Chrysostom at the affectionate reception
-with which he was greeted by the people were probably felt and
-expressed the more warmly, owing to some unpleasant accounts which
-had been forwarded to him by his deacon Serapion, that Severian,
-Bishop of Gabala, had been endeavouring to undermine his influence
-in his absence. It will be remembered that to Severian Chrysostom
-had intrusted his episcopal duties during his visitation journey in
-Asia. The circumstance of a bishop of Syria residing for so long a
-time in Constantinople is worth considering, and affords a curious
-insight into the character of the times. Antiochus, Bishop of Ptolemais
-in Phœnicia, had a reputation as a learned and eloquent man; he
-paid a visit to Constantinople, and excited much admiration by his
-discourses. Severian, hearing of his success, was animated by a spirit
-of emulation, if not envy, which could not be satisfied till he had
-exhibited his powers on the same theatre. He carefully composed a
-large stock of sermons, and set out to try his fortune in the capital.
-The unsuspicious and generous Archbishop received him cordially, and
-frequently invited him to preach. Severian possessed some powers of
-speaking, though he had a harsh provincial accent, and he exerted all
-his eloquence in the church, and all his arts of flattery out of it,
-to win the confidence and admiration, not only of the Archbishop,
-but also of the chief personages at court, and even the Emperor and
-Empress. It was with their full approval that he remained as deputy
-of the Archbishop during his sojourn in Asia. But he found himself
-narrowly and suspiciously watched by the Archdeacon Serapion, who
-opposed some of his proceedings as arbitrary, and made no concealment
-of his dislike. One day after the return of Chrysostom, Severian
-passed through an apartment of the episcopal palace where Serapion was
-sitting. Serapion rose not to make the customary salutation of respect.
-Severian, irritated by his discourtesy, exclaimed in a loud voice:
-“If Serapion dies a Christian, then Jesus Christ was not incarnate.”
-The last clause only of the sentence was repeated by Serapion to
-Chrysostom. It was corroborated by witnesses; the indignation of the
-Archbishop was excited. Severian was peremptorily commanded to quit
-the city. The Empress resented the expulsion of a favourite preacher,
-and commanded the Archbishop to recall him. Chrysostom yielded so
-far, but was inflexible in his refusal to admit the offender to
-communion, till Eudoxia came in person to the Church of the Apostles,
-placed her infant son Theodosius on his knees, and conjured him by
-solemn oaths to listen to her request. The Archbishop then, but with
-some reluctance, consented.[515] He was, however, thoroughly honest
-in doing that to which he had once made up his mind. Fearing that his
-congregation, in their zealous attachment to him, might disapprove of
-the reconciliation, he delivered a short address on the subject. He was
-their spiritual father, and he trusted therefore they would extend to
-him the respect and obedience of affectionate and dutiful children. He
-came to them with the most appropriate message that could be delivered
-by the mouth of a bishop—a message of peace and love. There was also
-a further duty incumbent on all—respectful submission to the civil
-powers. If the apostle Paul said, “Be subject to principalities and
-powers” (Tit. iii. 1), how especially was this precept incumbent on
-the subjects of a religious sovereign who laboured for the good of
-the Church? He besought them to receive Severian with a full heart
-and with open arms. The request was received by the congregation with
-expressions of approbation. He thanked them for their obedience, and
-concluded with a prayer that God would grant a fixed and lasting peace
-to His Church.
-
-Severian addressed them the next day in a rhetorical and artificial
-discourse on the beauty and blessings of peace—a subject painfully
-incongruous with the subsequent conduct of the speaker; for this
-misunderstanding with the Bishop of Gabala was the first muttering
-of the storm which was soon to burst over the head of the doomed
-Archbishop.[516]
-
-The inevitable fate of one who attempts to reform a deeply corrupt
-society, and a secularised clergy, on an ascetic model befell
-Chrysostom. He lashed with almost equal severity the most unpardonable
-crimes and the more venial foibles and follies of the age. His
-denunciations of heartless rapacity, sensuality, luxury, addiction
-to debasing and immoral amusements, might have been borne; but he
-presumed—an intolerable offence!—to censure the fashionable ladies for
-setting off their complexions with paint, and surmounting their heads
-with piles of false hair. The clergy, too, might have tolerated his
-condemnation of the grosser offences, such as simony or concubinage,
-but they resented his restraint of their indulgence in the pleasures
-of society, and of their propensity to frequent the entertainments
-of the noble and wealthy. He was, as Palladius expresses it, “like a
-lamp burning before sore eyes,” for what he bade others be, that he
-was pre-eminently himself.[517] None could say that he was one man in
-the pulpit and another out of it. To set an example to his worldly
-clergy, and to avoid contamination, he gave up his episcopal income,
-save what sufficed to supply his simple daily wants. He resolutely
-abstained from mingling in general society, and ate his frugal meals
-in the seclusion of his own apartment. Thus, with the exception of a
-few deeply attached friends, who measured practical Christianity by the
-same standard as himself, he became deeply unpopular among the upper
-ranks of society. With the poor it was otherwise; they regarded him as
-a kind of champion, because he denounced the oppressions and extortions
-of the rich, and the tyranny of masters over slaves, and because he was
-ever inculcating the duty of almsgiving. In the eyes of his friends he
-was the saint, pure in life, severe in discipline, sublime in doctrine;
-in the eyes of his enemies he was the sacerdotal tyrant, odious to the
-clergy as an inexorable enforcer of a rule of life intolerably rigid,
-odious to clergy and laity as an inhospitable, if not haughty recluse;
-a vigilant and merciless censor who rode roughshod over established
-customs. Individuals at last, among clergy and laity, who conceived
-that they themselves, or at any rate the section of society to which
-they belonged, were the butts at which more especially the Archbishop
-aimed his shafts, began to discuss their grievances, till their
-conferences gradually assumed the shape of positive organised hostility
-against the disturber of their peace. But before entering on the
-troublous history of his enemies’ machinations, it may be well to take
-a glance at the most conspicuous of Chrysostom’s friends.
-
-The list of those who are known to us by more than their mere names
-is soon exhausted. Among the clergy may be reckoned Heracleides, made
-Bishop of Ephesus in the place of Antoninus; Proclus, afterwards (in
-A.D. 434) Patriarch of Constantinople, at present the receiver of those
-who demanded audiences with the Patriarch; Cassianus, founder of the
-Monastery of St. Victor at Marseilles, and his friend and companion
-Germanus; Helladius, the priest of the palace, probably equivalent
-to private chaplain; Serapion, the deacon[518] or archdeacon,[519]
-afterwards made Bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, from which see he was
-expelled in the persecution which befell Chrysostom’s followers. With
-most of these men he maintained a constant and affectionate intercourse
-or correspondence during his exile to the close of his life. With such
-intimate companions and friends the austerity and reserve of manner
-which he assumed towards those outside this circle vanished. All the
-natural amiability and playful humour of his disposition shone out when
-he was in their company; he called some of them by nicknames of his own
-invention, especially those who practised such ascetic exercises as he
-specially approved.[520]
-
-Three ladies are distinguished as among his most faithful friends.
-Salvina was the daughter of the African rebel Gildo, and had been
-married by Theodosius to Nebridius, nephew of his Empress, in the
-hope—a vain one as it proved—that this tie would attach Gildo to
-the Empire. Her husband died young; she vowed perpetual widowhood,
-and became the patroness and protectress at the court of Arcadius of
-oriental churches and ecclesiastics.
-
-Pentadia was wife of the consul Timasius; and when her husband was
-banished by Eutropius to the Oasis of Egypt, she had been persecuted by
-the merciless tyrant, and fled for refuge to the Church, where she was
-protected in sanctuary by the Archbishop in spite of the opposition of
-her persecutor.
-
-But by far the most eminent of Chrysostom’s female friends was the
-deaconess Olympias. She sprang from a noble but Pagan family. Her
-grandfather, Ablavius, was a prætorian prefect, highly esteemed and
-trusted by Constantine the Great, and her father, Seleucus, had
-attained the rank of count. She was early left an orphan, endowed
-with great personal beauty, and heiress to a vast fortune. Her uncle
-and guardian, Procopius, was a man of probity and piety, a friend
-and correspondent of Gregory Nazianzenus. Her instructress also,
-Theodosia, sister of St. Amphilocius, was a woman of piety; one whom
-Gregory recommended Olympias to imitate as a very model of excellence
-in speech and conduct. Under this happy training, the girl grew up to
-emulate and surpass her preceptress in goodness. Gregory delighted to
-call her “his own Olympias,” and to be called “father” by her.[521]
-There could be no difficulty in finding a suitor for a lady possessed
-of every attraction. The anxiety of Procopius was to secure a worthy
-one. Nebridius was selected; a young man, but high in official rank;
-Count or Intendant of the Domain in A.D. 382, Prefect of Constantinople
-in A.D. 386. They were wedded in A.D. 384. Many bishops assisted at
-the ceremony, but Gregory was prevented from attending by the state
-of his health. He wrote a letter to Procopius, saying that in spirit,
-nevertheless, he would join their hands to one another and to God.
-Part of the letter is written in a vein of sprightly humour. “It
-would have been very unbecoming for a gouty old fellow like himself
-to be seen hobbling about among the dancers and merry-makers at the
-nuptials.”[522] He also addressed a poem to Olympias, in which he
-gives her advice how she ought to conduct herself as a married woman.
-She did not long need his counsel. Nebridius died about two years
-after their marriage. Olympias regarded this early dissolution of the
-marriage-bond as an intimation of the Divine will that she should
-henceforth live free from the worldly entanglements and cares incident
-to married life. The Emperor Theodosius desired to unite her to a
-Spaniard named Elpidius, a kinsman of his own, but she steadfastly
-refused. The Emperor acted in that despotic manner which occasionally
-marred his usually generous character. He ordered the property of
-Olympias to be confiscated till she should be thirty years of age; she
-was even denied freedom of intercourse with her episcopal friends, and
-of access to the Church. But she only thanked the Emperor for those
-deprivations, which were intended to make her hanker after worldly
-life. “You have exercised towards your humble handmaiden a virtue
-becoming a monarch and suitable even to a bishop; you have directed
-what was to me a heavy burden, and the distribution of it an anxiety,
-to be kept in safe custody. You could not have conferred a greater
-blessing upon me, unless you had ordered it to be bestowed upon the
-churches and the poor.” The Emperor was softened; at any rate he
-perceived the uselessness, if not the injustice, of his treatment. He
-cancelled the order for the confiscation of her property, and left her
-in the undisturbed enjoyment of single life and of her possessions.
-Henceforward her time and wealth were devoted to the interests of the
-Church. She was the friend, entertainer, adviser of many of the most
-eminent ecclesiastics of the day; the liberal patroness of their works
-in Greece, Asia, Syria, not only by donations of money but even of
-landed property. We may not admire what was regarded in those days as
-among the most admirable traits of saintliness, a total disregard to
-personal neatness and cleanliness; but we can admire her frugal living,
-and entire devotion of her time to ministering to the wants of the
-sick, the needy, and the ignorant. Her too indiscriminate liberality
-was restrained by Chrysostom, who represented to her that, as her
-wealth was a trust committed to her by God, she ought to be prudent
-in the distribution of it. This salutary advice procured for him the
-ill-will of many avaricious bishops and clergy, who had profited, or
-hoped to profit, by her wealth.[523] She, on her side, repaid the
-Archbishop for his spiritual care by many little feminine attentions
-to his bodily wants, especially by seeing that he was supplied with
-wholesome food, and did not overstrain his feeble constitution by a too
-rigid abstinence.[524]
-
-The leaders of the faction hostile to Chrysostom among the clergy were
-the two bishops already mentioned—Severian of Gabala and Antiochus
-of Ptolemais. To these was added a third in the person of Acacius,
-Bishop of Berœa. He had, in A.D. 401 or A.D. 402, paid a visit to
-Constantinople, and, in a fit of rage at what he considered the mean
-lodging and inhospitable entertainment of the Archbishop, had coarsely
-exclaimed, in the hearing of some of the clergy, “I’ll season a dainty
-dish for him.”[525] The ladies who acquired a melancholy pre-eminence
-among the enemies of the Archbishop were the intimate friends of
-the Empress, already mentioned—Marsa, widow of Promotus, the consul
-whom Rufinus murdered; Castricia, wife of the consul Saturninus;
-and Eugraphia, a wealthy widow,—all rich women “who used _for_
-evil the wealth which their husbands had _through_ evil obtained.”
-Proud, intriguing, licentious, they were all exasperated against the
-Archbishop for the censure which he had unsparingly pronounced upon
-their moral conduct, as well as their vain and extravagant display
-in dress. The house of Eugraphia became the rendezvous of all clergy
-and monks, as well as laity, who were disaffected to him. Among the
-clergy was Atticus, who was obtruded on the see as Archbishop after the
-banishment of Chrysostom. This worthy cabal collected, and disseminated
-with praiseworthy industry, whatever tales could damage the character
-and influence of the Archbishop. His real failings were exaggerated,
-others were invented, and his language misrepresented. He was
-irascible, inhospitable, uncourteous, parsimonious; he had unmercifully
-assailed Eutropius with harsh language when he fled for refuge to
-the Church; he had behaved disrespectfully to Gaïnas when he was
-“magister militum;” but, worse than all, he had audaciously attacked
-the Augusta herself, and had insulted her sacred majesty by indicating
-her under the name of Jezebel. This is scarcely credible in itself,
-and is distinctly contradicted by the most trustworthy authorities;
-but it is stated that he had reproved the Empress for appropriating
-with harshness, if not violence, a piece of land; and of course the
-blows which he directed against inordinate luxury, unseemly parade
-of dress and the like, fell heavily upon the most prominent leader
-in these follies. She was probably mortified also to find that her
-display of religious zeal, her pious attendance on the services of the
-Church, her pilgrimages, her really liberal donations to good works,
-did not protect her from censure in other things. Chrysostom was not
-one of those who would connive at evil for the benefit, as some might
-have represented it, of the Church. He would not sacrifice what he
-believed to be the interests of morality, for the supposed advantage
-either of himself or of the Church over which he ruled. Wrong was
-wrong and must be rebuked, though the actor was the Empress herself,
-though that Empress was inclined to be the benefactress and patroness
-of the Church, and though she might become, as she _did_ become, his
-implacable foe.
-
-The clergy only needed an equally potent leader on their side, and
-then the organisation of the hostile forces would be complete. Such
-a chief was to be found in the Patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilus,
-who had already displayed a malignant spirit at the ordination of
-the Archbishop, though intimidated by Eutropius into submission. He
-was only waiting his opportunity for revenge, which a concurrence of
-circumstances now put into his hands.
-
-After making the most of such charges as gossip, aided by malice, could
-manufacture at Constantinople, the enemy employed one of the party, a
-despicable Syrian monk named Isaac, to make a scrutinising inquiry at
-Antioch into the previous life of Chrysostom. A youth passed in such a
-licentious and voluptuous city could not fail, they thought, to betray
-some stains if submitted to a rigorous inspection. But their malevolent
-expectations were disappointed, for their miserable spy could bring
-back nothing but unmixed praise of an immaculate youth and a pious
-manhood.[526]
-
-At this juncture the intriguers applied to Theophilus, and they could
-not have secured a more willing and able director of their plans. The
-character of this prelate, and his prominent position in the final
-events of Chrysostom’s career, demand some notice. Of his family and
-early life little is known. He had a sister who sympathised with
-him in his ambitious schemes; and Cyril, who succeeded him in the
-patriarchate, and too largely inherited his spirit, was his nephew.
-He spent a portion of his younger manhood as a recluse in the Nitrian
-desert, where he became familiar with the most eminent anchorites of
-that period, Elurion, Ammon, Isidore, and Macarius. He was secretary to
-Athanasius, and a presbyter of Alexandria under Peter, his successor;
-and, on the death of Timothy in A.D. 385, who succeeded Peter, he
-was elevated to the see. All historians concur in admitting that he
-possessed great ability; that he was capable of conceiving great
-projects, and executing them with courage and address. Jerome has
-described him as deeply skilled in science, especially mathematics and
-astrology, and highly praises his eloquence.[527] He had a passion
-for building, and his episcopate was distinguished equally by the
-destruction of Pagan temples and the erection of Christian churches.
-The most splendid of these were the church of St. John the Baptist at
-Alexandria, and another at Canopus. But to gratify this expensive taste
-he was grasping of money, too often to the neglect of those indigent
-people who were dependent on the alms of the Church. He combined his
-efforts with Chrysostom’s, as has been already related, in healing
-the schism of Antioch in A.D. 399, after which little is known of his
-history, till he becomes Chrysostom’s implacable and too successful
-foe.[528]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
- CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED TO THE INTERFERENCE OF THEOPHILUS
- WITH THE AFFAIRS OF CHRYSOSTOM—CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE
- WRITINGS OF ORIGEN—PERSECUTION BY THEOPHILUS OF THE MONKS
- CALLED “THE TALL BRETHREN”—THEIR FLIGHT TO PALESTINE—TO
- CONSTANTINOPLE—THEIR RECEPTION BY CHRYSOSTOM—THEOPHILUS
- SUMMONED TO CONSTANTINOPLE. A.D. 395-403.
-
-
-In tracing to its starting-point the interference of Theophilus with
-the affairs of Chrysostom, we have to unravel a curious and tangled
-skein of controversy. The doctrines of Origen were as much an occasion
-of strife a hundred and fifty years after his death, as he himself
-had been during his life. With one hand holding on to the philosophy
-of the past, and with the other firmly grasping the Christianity
-of the present, he was persecuted by Pagans, yet never universally
-accepted and cordially trusted by the Church.[529] So with his system
-of doctrine; it became a sort of debatable ground for the possession
-of which contending parties strove. The prize was worth the struggle;
-for the genius of Origen could not be questioned, but the quantity
-of his writings being enormous,[530] and the range of his doctrine
-wide and many-sided, narrow-minded partisans, grasping only a part
-of it, condemned or extolled him unfairly on a single issue. The
-mystical element in his teaching was carried by some of his admirers
-to extremes of fanciful, allegorical, interpretation of Scripture,
-such as he himself would never have devised or approved. To others of
-a more prosaic, material cast of thought this same mystical vein was
-repugnant, and was denounced by them with characteristic coarseness.
-Men of larger minds, who had patience to peruse his voluminous works,
-and ability to criticise them, admired his genius, recognised his great
-services to Christianity, heartily embraced much of his teaching,
-questioned some portions, and rejected others. Such were Gregory
-Nazianzenus, Basil, Chrysostom, and Jerome, who would never have been
-so great as writers, or commentators, had they not been students of
-Origen. As a general statement, it may be true to say that he was less
-acceptable to the colder, more practical, more realistic mind of the
-Western Church, than to the lively imagination and speculative spirit
-of Oriental churchmen. The most controverted points, indeed, in his
-system were of a kind with which the Western mind did not naturally
-concern itself. The pre-existence of souls; their entrance into human
-bodies after the fall as the punishment of sin; their emancipation from
-the flesh in the resurrection; the ultimate salvation of all spirits,
-including Satan himself,—these are questions singularly congenial to
-Oriental, singularly alien from Western, thought. The Origenistic
-controversy fell into abeyance before the engrossing interest and
-importance of the Arian contest; but when that wave had spent itself,
-it revived, and just at this period all the greatest names of the day
-became engaged on one side or the other. As usual, the real questions
-at issue were too often forgotten amidst the personal jealousies,
-intrigues, angry recriminations to which the discussion of them gave
-birth.
-
-In spite of his doubtful orthodoxy, the Egyptian Church could not fail
-to be proud of so distinguished a son as Origen, and Theophilus was at
-first his earnest defender. Some of the more illiterate Egyptian monks
-had recoiled from Origen’s highly spiritual conception of the Deity
-into an opposite extreme. Interpreting literally those passages of
-Scripture where God is spoken of as if possessing human emotions and
-corporeal parts, they altogether humanised His nature; they conceived
-of Him as a Being _not_ “without body, parts, or passions;” they
-obtained, in consequence, the designation of “Anthropomorphites.”
-Against this humanising, material conception Theophilus, in a paschal
-letter, directed argument and proof.[531] It was received by many of
-the monks with dismay, sorrow, and resistance. Serapion, one of the
-most aged, burst into tears when informed that the mind of the Eastern
-Church concurred, on the whole, with the doctrine of Theophilus, and
-exclaimed, “My God is taken away, and I know not what to worship.”[532]
-
-Rufinus, a monk of Aquileia, and for a time the ardent friend of
-Jerome, was, during a visit to Egypt, initiated by Theophilus into the
-doctrines of Origen, conceived a warm admiration for them, extolled
-him as the light of the Gospel next to the Apostles, and imparted
-some of his own enthusiasm to John, bishop of Jerusalem, whom he soon
-afterwards visited. Jerome fully appreciated the merits of Origen,
-though his larger mind and more extensive knowledge were not blind to
-his defects.
-
-Such were the amicable relations between the leading churchmen of the
-East in A.D. 395, when a visitor from the West threw among them the
-apple of discord. This was Aterbius, a pilgrim, who had a reputation
-as a subtle theologian, and appears, immediately on his arrival in
-Jerusalem, to have applied himself to the business of detecting heresy.
-He entered into friendly intercourse for a short time with the bishop
-and Rufinus, and then suddenly included Jerome with them both in a
-public denunciation as Origenists, and declared the whole diocese
-of Jerusalem to be infected with that heresy. Jerome immediately
-and indignantly repudiated the charge; he declared that he was not
-an Origenist, for that he merely read the works of Origen with
-reservations, as he might those of a heretic.[533] Rufinus would not
-condescend to make any defence, oral or written, but shut himself up
-in his cloister in sullen silence till Aterbius had quitted Jerusalem,
-fearing, so Jerome affirms, to condemn what he really approved, or
-to incur the reproach of heresy by an open resistance.[534] John of
-Jerusalem was equally indignant at the accusation, but displeased with
-Jerome for publicly exculpating himself independently of his bishop.
-In fact, the episcopal pride of the Bishop of Jerusalem was severely
-wounded at this time, both by the pre-eminence of the metropolitan
-see of Cæsarea,[535] and by the reputation of Jerome’s monastic
-establishment at Bethlehem, which attracted visitors from all parts of
-Christendom.
-
-When the minds of all were thus ruffled, a second and far more
-mischievous visitor arrived in the person of Epiphanius, the
-octogenarian Bishop of Constantia, Metropolitan of Cyprus. He was
-one of those men who, joining some erudition and a high reputation
-for rigid orthodoxy to a narrow mind and impulsive temper, figure
-prominently in theological warfare as the very personifications of
-discord. Shocked at the intelligence of the heretical tendency in
-Palestine, and vexed that it should have been detected by a stranger
-rather than by himself, who was a native of Palestine, and the visitor
-of a monastery between Jerusalem and Hebron, he lost not a moment in
-setting out for the Holy City. He accepted the hospitality of the
-Bishop John, and spent the evening in all amity with him, nor was the
-obnoxious subject of dispute mentioned between them.[536]
-
-A strange scene took place on the following day.
-
-In the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the presence of a large
-congregation, Epiphanius fulminated a discourse against Origen, his
-doctrines, and all who favoured them. Bishop John and his clergy
-expressed their contempt by grimaces, sneers, and impatient scratchings
-of their heads. At last an archdeacon stepped forward, and required
-Epiphanius, in the name of the bishop, to desist from his discourse.
-The assembly was dissolved, but met again in the afternoon, largely
-augmented, in the church of the Holy Cross. This time Bishop John
-discoursed, and denounced the Anthropomorphites, or Humanisers, under
-which opprobrious name the partisans of Origen endeavoured to include
-all their opponents. Pale and trembling, and in a voice quivering
-with passion, the bishop directed his discourse, and turned his body,
-towards Epiphanius, who sat motionless in his chair. The invective
-being concluded, the aged Bishop of Constantia rose and pronounced
-these words with solemn deliberation: “All that John, my brother in
-the priesthood, my son in age, has just said against the heresy of
-the Anthropomorphites I thoroughly approve; and as we both condemn
-that absurd belief, it is only just that we should both denounce the
-errors of Origen.”[537] A general laugh and acclamation on the part
-of the assembly proclaimed their sense of this speech as a successful
-hit. John made one more effort to right himself. He preached again in
-the church of the Holy Cross, this time on the chief verities of the
-faith, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the condition of
-souls before and after this life. It was intended to be a grand and
-convincing display of his orthodoxy, and at the moment Epiphanius
-expressed even approbation. On subsequent reflection, however, the aged
-critic thought he discovered that it teemed with error. He abruptly
-quitted Jerusalem, repaired to Bethlehem, resisted the solicitation
-of Jerome and his friends to be reconciled, and addressed a circular
-letter to all the monasteries of Palestine, requiring them to break off
-communion with the Bishop of Jerusalem.
-
-Rufinus ranged himself immediately on the side of Bishop John; but
-Jerome, though with somewhat balanced feelings, sided on the whole with
-Epiphanius. Then the pent-up jealousy of John towards the monasteries
-of Bethlehem burst forth; they were placed under interdict, and the
-church of the Holy Manger closed against them. They were in despair
-for want of a priest to celebrate the Eucharist; but Epiphanius
-provided one through a forcible ordination. The young Paulinian had
-always steadfastly declined holy orders, though considered eminently
-qualified by his learning and virtue. He was now on a visit to the
-monastery of Epiphanius, near Eleutheropolis. When Epiphanius was
-celebrating the Eucharist, the young man was seized by the deacons,
-dragged to the steps of the altar, and there made to kneel. Epiphanius
-approached, cut off some of his hair, ordained him deacon, and
-obliged him to assist in the celebration on the spot. At a fresh sign
-from the bishop he was a second time seized, gagged to prevent his
-adjuring the bishop in the name of Jesus Christ, and when he rose
-from his knees he was declared to be a priest.[538] The joy which
-filled the monasteries of Bethlehem was only to be equalled by the
-indignation of their opponents at Jerusalem. John actually applied
-(not without money, it is said) to Rufinus at Constantinople, then
-Prætorian Prefect, and even procured a decree of banishment against
-Jerome;[539] but, the murder of Rufinus taking place soon afterwards,
-the governor of Cæsarea evaded the execution of the decree. Jerome
-retaliated by one of those fierce, nervous philippics which exhibit
-more command of language than of temper. The governor of Palestine made
-a praiseworthy but ineffectual effort to bring about a reconciliation.
-John had determined to invite an arbitrator, from whom he expected
-a strong partiality for his own cause. He appealed to Theophilus,
-from whom Rufinus, the monk, had derived his first acquaintance with
-Origen. Jerome indignantly complained of this invocation of a foreign
-jurisdiction. Was not Cæsarea the metropolitan see of Palestine? why
-this contempt of ecclesiastical law?[540] Theophilus, however, had no
-scruples in accepting the appeal. It was just one of those recognitions
-of pre-eminence which the Patriarch of Alexandria, like the Bishops of
-Rome, joyfully welcomed. The gratification of ambition was pleasantly
-disguised from others, and perhaps from themselves, under the semblance
-of peacemaking. Theophilus despatched Isidore as his legate to
-Palestine. His arrival was preceded by two letters, one intended for
-the Bishop of Jerusalem, the other for Vincentius, the presbyter and
-friend of Jerome at Bethlehem.
-
-Unfortunately the letter intended for the bishop was delivered to
-Vincentius, and he and Jerome read with indignation assurances of
-sympathy and friendship towards John, and expressions of contempt
-for Jerome and his party, the language, in short, of an accomplice
-rather than of an arbitrator. It set forth in flowery oriental terms
-the confidence of the legate in the success of his mission; “as smoke
-disperses in the air, as wax melts before the fire, so will these
-enemies, who always resist the faith, and seek to disturb it now,
-by means of simple ignorant men be dispersed on my arrival.”[541]
-The legate took up his abode at Jerusalem, and spent his time in
-familiar intercourse with the bishop and Rufinus. To Bethlehem he
-paid occasional visits, where he conducted himself with dictatorial
-haughtiness. Jerome and the monks plainly perceived that the so-called
-arbitrator was committed to one side—which was not theirs.
-
-But on a sudden, in A.D. 398, the Patriarch wheeled round; he
-discovered that he had been in error. “The writings of Origen were
-fraught with danger to the unlearned, however profitable to philosophic
-minds.” Such was the reason alleged for this sudden revulsion of
-opinion. The real reasons appear to have been of a less calm and
-philosophic character. One of the most distinguished presbyters in
-Alexandria at this time was Isidore, an octogenarian. His youth
-had been spent in pious seclusion, among the monks of Scetis and
-Nitria, and his piety had attracted the notice of Athanasius, whom he
-accompanied to Rome in A.D. 341, and by whom he was afterwards ordained
-priest. He became the Hospitaller of the Church in Alexandria, whose
-duty it was to attend to the reception of Christian visitors. In spite
-of great personal austerity, he was, as became his position, gentle
-and amiable to all men, even Pagans, when brought into contact with
-them. In A.D. 398, at the age of eighty, he had been employed to carry
-to Rome the recognition by Theophilus of Flavian as bishop of Antioch;
-and now, in the extremity of age, he was destined to become the first
-victim of a persecution by Theophilus, which, beginning with him,
-culminated in the deposition and exile of Chrysostom.[542]
-
-An opulent widow committed to Isidore a large sum of money to be
-expended on clothing for the poor of Alexandria, and adjured him by a
-solemn oath to conceal the trust from Theophilus, lest the Patriarch’s
-well-known cupidity should be tempted to appropriate the money to
-aid his grand operations in building. The precaution, however, was
-vain: nothing said or done in his diocese could escape the vigilance
-of informers in the employ of Theophilus. Isidore was questioned
-by the Patriarch concerning the charitable gift, and required to
-place the money at his disposal; but the hospitaller refused, and
-boldly maintained that it would be better bestowed on the bodies
-of the sick and poor, which were the temples of God, than on the
-erection of buildings. The Patriarch was astounded at the temerity
-of his disobedience, but dissembled for the moment the depth of his
-resentment. Two months later, in a convocation of the clergy, he
-produced a paper containing the charge of a horrible and unmentionable
-crime against Isidore, which the Patriarch said he had received
-eighteen years ago, but had been unable to prove from the absence of
-the principal witness. The whole charge turned out to be a baseless
-fabrication; but Isidore was ejected from the priesthood by the
-contrivance of Theophilus.[543]
-
-The aged hospitaller fled to the peaceful retreat of his earlier
-days, the desert of Nitria. The most distinguished of the monks in
-this seclusion were four brothers—Ammon, Dioscorus, Eusebius, and
-Euthymius—eminent alike for their piety and the height of their
-stature, whence they were known by the name of the “tall brethren.”
-They were venerated as the fathers of the Nitrian monks. Theophilus
-had in former times professed the highest admiration and respect for
-their virtues. He had made the eldest, Dioscorus, bishop of Hermopolis,
-and had persuaded, if not compelled, Eusebius and Euthymius, much
-against their will, to be presbyters in Alexandria.[544] Their simple
-piety was so much shocked by the avarice and other failings of the
-Patriarch, that they implored him to release them from clerical
-duties and restore them to the freedom of the desert. When Theophilus
-discovered their real reason for requesting this permission he was
-furious, and tried to intimidate them into submission by fierce
-menaces, but in vain. They withdrew, and for a time the Patriarch was
-at a loss how to execute vengeance on men who had few possessions of
-any kind to be deprived of. But now the opportunity arrived. Isidore,
-the excommunicated hospitaller, had been sheltered in their friendly
-retreat. Theophilus devised a malignant plan for disturbing their
-peace. The “tall brethren” belonged to that more mystical order of
-monks which embraced Origen’s doctrine of a purely spiritual Deity, and
-were determined adversaries of the more sensuous and anthropomorphite
-school. Theophilus now scrupled not to declare himself in favour of
-the Anthropomorphites, whom he had formerly denounced. He encouraged
-the more coarse and ignorant to make violent and tumultuous assaults
-on the monastic retreat of Nitria, and, directed the bishops of the
-neighbourhood to eject several of the most distinguished monks,
-including Ammon. They repaired to Alexandria, sought an interview
-with Theophilus, requested to hear the cause of their ejection, and
-remonstrated on the treatment of Isidore. Theophilus burst into a
-violent rage, changed colour at every moment, glared on them with
-bloodshot eyes, dealt blows to Ammon on his face, and, while the blood
-trickled down, shouted, “Heretic, anathematise Origen.” One of the
-number was put in prison to intimidate the rest; but they all entered
-it voluntarily together, and refused to come out unless their companion
-also was released. This was at length permitted, but the design of
-persecution was followed up. The Patriarch’s paschal letter of A.D. 401
-is chiefly occupied with a condemnation of Origen and his disciples.
-He confesses, indeed, that he had himself at one time been cast into
-that fiery furnace of error, but, like the three children, he had come
-out unscathed; “not even his hair or garments had been singed.” He
-describes himself as having now returned from the land of captivity to
-the true Jerusalem; Origen and his doctrines are condemned with much
-heat; and a prominent place is assigned to him and all his disciples in
-the infernal regions.[545]
-
-But Theophilus was far from being contented to stop at this point. He
-convoked a synod of neighbouring bishops. The monks were not informed
-of it, nor invited to appear and make their defence. Three of the most
-eminent were excommunicated as heretics and magicians. It was in vain
-that the monks protested against the injustice of condemning Origen
-or his readers on the strength of a few passages only, and those, as
-they maintained, in many instances garbled or interpolated. A synodical
-letter was published, addressed to the Catholic world, reprobating the
-writings of Origen. It produced a profound sensation in Rome, where the
-Pope Anastasius anathematised Origen.[546] But the humiliation of the
-Nitrian brethren was not yet complete. Five most insignificant monks,
-scarce worthy, according to Palladius, to discharge menial offices as
-lay brethren, were ordained by Theophilus, one to a bishopric, one to
-be priest, and the three others to be deacons. A small town was created
-a see, there being none vacant to receive the new bishop. With these
-tools the Patriarch could rapidly execute his designs. His creatures
-prepared, under his direction, a list of complaints and charges against
-the Nitrian monks, which they publicly presented to him in church.
-Armed with this, he had an interview with the governor of Egypt, and
-obtained from him an order for the forcible expulsion of insubordinate
-monks from the settlement at Nitria. With a troop of soldiers and
-a rabble of rascals, such as in all large towns are ready for the
-perpetration of any mischief, whom he had previously primed with drink,
-the Patriarch fell by night upon the monastic dwellings. Dioscorus was
-the first victim of his rage. He was one of the “tall brethren,” who
-had been compelled by Theophilus to become bishop of Hermopolis. He was
-now dragged before the Patriarch by some rude Ethiopian slaves, and
-told that he was deprived of his see. Diligent search was made for the
-three other brethren, but they were undiscoverably hidden in a well.
-The fury of the Patriarch expended itself principally upon inanimate
-objects; the dwellings of the monks were pillaged and burned, together
-with their valuable libraries, and, to the horror of the pious, even
-some of the Eucharistic elements[547] were consumed in the general
-destruction.
-
-The havoc being completed, Theophilus returned to Alexandria. The
-terrified monks came out of their hiding-places, and, wrapping
-themselves in their sheepskins, their only remaining property, set
-out from their beloved solitudes to seek shelter and a new home
-elsewhere. Three hundred, following the “tall brethren,” took their
-journey towards Palestine; the rest dispersed in different directions.
-Not more than eighty arrived with the four brethren at Jerusalem,
-whence they shortly afterwards withdrew northwards to Scythopolis,
-a place eminently adapted to their wants by its situation in a
-well-watered valley rich in palm-trees, of which the leaves furnished
-materials for mats, baskets, and the other articles usually wrought
-by monkish labour.[548] But distance did not diminish the malice
-of their persecutor. They were pursued by letters from Theophilus
-addressed to all the bishops of Palestine, who were admonished
-not to grant ecclesiastical communion or shelter to the heretical
-fugitives. Jerome mentions two commissioners who scoured Palestine,
-and left no hole or cave unexplored in the diligence of their search
-for the offenders.[549] Thus hunted and harassed, the poor monks at
-length resolved to embark for Constantinople, throw themselves on
-the generosity of the Emperor and Archbishop, and submit their cause
-to their decision. They reached the capital, fifty in number; their
-foreign aspect, bare arms and knees, and primitive garb of white
-sheepskins, excited much curiosity and interest among the people of
-Constantinople. They repaired first of all to Chrysostom, in the hope
-that his authority would be sufficient to procure them justice,
-without an application to the civil powers. The Archbishop received
-them with great kindness and respect, and shed tears of compassion when
-he heard the tale of their sufferings and wanderings. But he acted with
-caution; he consulted some Alexandrian clergy who were at this time
-in Constantinople engaged in distributing presents to conciliate, or,
-more properly speaking, to bribe, the favour of persons just appointed
-to civil offices in Egypt. They admitted the virtues and hard usage
-of the monks, but recommended him not to incur the displeasure of
-Theophilus by admitting them to communion. The monks were lodged in the
-precincts of the church of Anastasia; Olympias and other pious women
-attended to their wants, which were to some extent supplied by the
-produce of their own manual labour. They were admitted to prayer in the
-church, but excluded from the Eucharist until the merits of their cause
-should have been carefully sifted, and their excommunication revoked.
-Chrysostom, unsuspicious of others, in his own innocence, was sanguine
-of his power to obtain their restitution. He despatched a letter to
-Theophilus, in which he besought him in courteous and friendly terms
-to be reconciled with the fugitives, and thereby to confer a favour on
-himself, his spiritual son and brother. But no notice was taken of the
-request; and meanwhile the agents of Theophilus were busily employed at
-Constantinople in disseminating injurious tales about the monks—they
-were heretics, magicians, rebels.
-
-Throughout the rest of Christendom Theophilus pursued a different
-method. He toiled with diligence worthy of a better cause to obtain a
-wide condemnation of Origen and his works. Could he once secure such
-a general condemnation, and then prove Chrysostom and the monks to be
-at variance with it, he would possess a powerful engine in working the
-ruin of both. It is difficult to believe that even Theophilus would
-have pursued the monks with such insatiable animosity had they not
-fled to the patriarch of that see which was regarded with peculiar
-jealousy by the bishops of Alexandria, and had not the present occupant
-of that see been elected in preference to the candidate put forward by
-himself. Thus he clutched at the opportunity of depressing his rival,
-and punishing his victims, the monks, at the same time.
-
-He found a faction hostile to the Archbishop already existing in
-Constantinople, and quite ready to submit the management of their
-interests to his skilful direction. The persecution of the monks was
-quickly dropped. Their supposed offence was only the handle by which to
-compass the destruction of a more formidable foe. Jerome contributed
-powerful aid to the designs of Theophilus by favourable notices of
-him in his letters, depreciating the conduct of the monks.[550] But
-a more active auxiliary appeared in the Bishop of Constantia, whose
-advanced age seems never to have diminished the alacrity with which he
-entered the lists of controversy. Theophilus, in his Origenistic days,
-had attacked Epiphanius with some vehemence as an anthropomorphite;
-but he now wrote a letter to the bishop expressing regret for his
-former language, and his increasing conviction of the mischievous
-tendency of Origen’s doctrines.[551] He implored his holy brother
-to convene a council of the bishops of Cyprus without delay, for
-the purpose of condemning the heretic, and of drawing up letters,
-announcing their decision, to be sent round to the principal sees,
-especially Constantinople, where the heretical and contumacious monks
-were harboured. Epiphanius flattered himself that he had converted the
-Patriarch, and was delighted to receive such a powerful accession to
-his side. The council was summoned, the condemnation carried, and the
-letters despatched.[552] Theophilus himself, at the commencement of
-A.D. 402, issued a paschal letter, which contained a subtle exposition
-and refutation of the Origenistic errors. The letter was translated,
-and highly commended, both for matter and expression, by Jerome.[553]
-
-To Chrysostom himself Theophilus wrote a sharp complaint of his
-protecting heretics, and violating the canon of Nice, which prohibited
-any bishop from exercising jurisdiction in matters relating to another
-see. The cause of the Nitrian monks, he asserted, could not be decided
-legally anywhere but in a council of Egyptian bishops. It will be
-borne in mind, however, that Chrysostom had carefully abstained from
-pronouncing any decision, through a council or otherwise, on the affair
-of the monks. They, indeed, became provoked with him that he did not
-espouse their cause more heartily. The agents of Theophilus were busily
-engaged in damaging their character; a little money easily persuaded
-the sailors and others employed in the Alexandrian corn trade to point
-at the monks in the streets as magicians and heretics. The monks
-declared to Chrysostom their resolution to appeal to the civil powers
-to obtain a formal prosecution of their accusers as base calumniators.
-Chrysostom remonstrated, and declined, if that step were taken, to
-mediate any more in their affair. Some of his enemies in Constantinople
-did not fail to represent this as a cruel desertion of those whom he
-had at first befriended.[554]
-
-Thus hostile forces were on all sides closing round the Archbishop,
-but he continued apparently unconscious of the snares which were being
-woven for him. The Origenistic controversy, into the vortex of which
-his enemies sought to drag him, possessed little interest for him. The
-more mystical, abstract speculations of Origen’s theology were alien
-from his practical sphere of work and practical habit of mind; and, in
-common with the other chief representatives of the Antiochene school,
-Diodorus and Theodore, he neither wholly embraced nor wholly rejected
-his system of doctrine. At any rate, he paid no attention to the letter
-from Cyprus, which requested him to join in the condemnation of Origen
-and his writings. This was precisely what his enemies wanted.
-
-The Nitrian monks, cast off by the Archbishop when they had announced
-their intention of appealing to secular authority, drew up documents
-filled with charges of the most flagrant crimes against their accusers
-and against Theophilus. They demanded that their calumniators in
-Constantinople should be immediately tried by the prefect, and that
-Theophilus should be summoned to defend his conduct before a council
-under the presidency of Chrysostom. One day, as the Empress was riding
-in her litter to worship in the church of St. John the Baptist at
-Hebdomon, she was accosted by some of those strange skin-clad beings
-of whom, and of whose wanderings and wrongs, she had heard much. She
-caused her litter to stop, bowed graciously to the monks, and implored
-the favour of their prayers for the Empire, the Emperor, herself, and
-her children. The monks presented their petition; Eudoxia courteously
-accepted it, and promised them that the council which they desired
-should be convened; that Theophilus should be summoned to attend it,
-and that the accusers now in Constantinople should either substantiate
-their charges, or suffer the penalties of calumnious defamation. This
-inquiry was immediately instituted; the poor culprits confessed that
-they had been paid agents of Theophilus, and that their accusations
-had been dictated by him. They therefore entreated that their trial
-might be deferred till his arrival. Meanwhile, however, they were put
-in prison, where one of them died; and as the arrival of Theophilus
-continued to be delayed, they were banished to Proconnesus for libel.
-An officer was despatched to Alexandria to serve Theophilus with a
-peremptory summons to appear at Constantinople, and empowered to
-enforce his obedience, if he was reluctant.[555]
-
-Thus the preparations for a judicial investigation of the affair of the
-monks emanated not from Chrysostom, but from the throne, although he
-was represented by his enemies as the originator, and by Jerome he is
-styled a parricide for labouring to condemn Theophilus.[556] Chrysostom
-seems, in fact, to have dismissed alike the business of the monks and
-the theological question of Origenism from his mind. Intent on edifying
-the Church, instead of agitating it by personal or polemical strife, he
-quietly pursued his daily routine of duties as chief pastor, feeding
-his flock with the wholesome food of the Word and of the bread of life.
-
-Theophilus was unable to evade obedience to the summons which commanded
-him to repair to Constantinople. His only hope now was to change
-his position from that of the accused into that of the accuser. The
-council which was called together for the purpose of investigating
-his conduct should, by his contrivance, be transferred into a council
-for arraigning Chrysostom of heresy and misdemeanour. The letters of
-Epiphanius and Theophilus having failed to obtain from Chrysostom that
-condemnation which they demanded of the writings of Origen, the Bishop
-of Constantia, at the urgent request of Theophilus, set forth at the
-beginning of A.D. 403 for Constantinople, bringing the decree of the
-Council of Cyprus for the signature of the Archbishop. Theophilus
-slowly proceeded overland from Egypt through Syria, Cilicia, and Asia
-Minor, in order to bring up as many bishops as possible to the council,
-who would be prepared to act under his direction. Epiphanius, having
-landed, halted at the church of St. John, outside Constantinople, held
-an assembly of clergy, and even, it is said, committed the irregularity
-of ordaining a deacon.[557] Chrysostom, however, acted with all due
-courtesy and discretion. He sent out a large body of clergy to welcome
-the visitor by inviting and conducting him to the hospitable lodging
-prepared for him in the archiepiscopal palace. Epiphanius, acting on
-preconceived judgment of the two chief subjects in dispute, declined
-the offer unless the Archbishop would consent to expel the monks, and
-to sign the decree against Origen. Chrysostom justly replied that
-he could not anticipate the decision of a council which was being
-summoned for the very purpose of considering both these questions.
-Epiphanius, therefore, found a lodging elsewhere, and diligently strove
-to induce such bishops as he could collect to sign the decree.[558]
-His reputation for learning, orthodoxy, and piety secured the consent
-of many, but on the part of many more there was determined opposition.
-Eminent among these was Theotimus, a Goth by birth, but educated in
-Greece, who had been made Bishop of Tomis and Metropolitan of Scythia.
-He was a man of genuine sanctity, ascetic habits, and courageous
-spirit. Tomis was a great central market of Gothic and Hunnish tribes,
-and the bishop used boldly to enter the motley concourse and try to win
-converts. He would invite savage Huns to partake of some hospitable
-entertainment in his house, and by gifts and little attentions, and
-courteous treatment, he sought to soften their ferocity, and effect an
-opening in their hearts for the reception of Christian teaching. He
-came to be regarded by them with a kind of superstitious reverence,
-and was commonly called by them “the god of the Christians.” Over his
-half-episcopal, half-barbarian costume flowed the long hair which
-betokened his Gothic origin. He lifted up his voice with boldness
-to denounce the present ill-considered condemnation of the works of
-Origen. It was unseemly and unjust, he maintained, to pass a coarse
-and sweeping sentence on the entire works of one whose genius had been
-acknowledged by the whole Church. He produced a volume of Origen, and
-from it read some beautiful, powerful passages of irreproachable
-orthodoxy. Then, turning to Epiphanius, he asked him how he could
-attack a man to whom the Church owed a thousand similar, and even more
-beautiful, passages. “How call him a son of Satan? Place what is good
-in him on one side, and what is bad on the other, and then choose.”[559]
-
-This courageous protest, however, did not divert Epiphanius and his
-partisans from their course of action. In fact, they proceeded a step
-further. It was arranged that when a large congregation was collected
-in the Church of the Apostles, Epiphanius should enter and harangue
-the assembly, denouncing both the writings of Origen and his admirers,
-especially the “tall brethren,” and even Chrysostom himself as their
-protector. Chrysostom, however, received intimation of their design,
-and by his direction Serapion confronted Epiphanius at the entrance of
-the church, and told him that “he had already violated ecclesiastical
-law by ordaining a deacon in the diocese and church of another bishop,
-but to minister and preach without permission was a still grosser
-outrage; a popular tumult would probably ensue, and Epiphanius would
-be held responsible for any violence which might be committed.”
-Epiphanius, though not without angry remonstrances, desisted.[560]
-
-Eudoxia seems to have placed special faith in the intercessions of
-ecclesiastical visitors of distinction. As she had formerly asked
-the prayers of the “tall brethren,” so now, the young prince her son
-(afterwards Theodosius II.), being attacked by an alarming illness, she
-implored the prayers of Epiphanius on his behalf. The bishop replied
-that her child’s recovery depended on her repudiation of the heretical
-refugees. The Empress, however, declared that she should prefer simply
-to resign her son’s life to the will of God who gave it without
-complying with the requisition of Epiphanius.[561]
-
-It may be that these incidents were beginning to tell upon the
-reason of the aged zealot, and open his eyes to the irregularity
-of his proceedings; at any rate, shortly after this, he granted an
-interview to Ammon and his brothers. The record of the conversation is
-instructive. “Allow me to ask, holy father,” said Ammon, “whether you
-have ever read any of our works or those of our disciples?” Epiphanius
-was obliged to confess that he had not even seen them, and that he had
-formed his judgment simply from general report. “How then,” replied
-Ammon, “can you venture to condemn us when you have no proof of our
-opinions? We have pursued a widely different course. We conversed with
-your disciples, we read your works, among others one entitled the
-‘Anchor of Faith;’ and when we met with persons who ridiculed your
-opinions, and asserted that your writings were replete with heresy, we
-have defended you as our father. Is it just, on such slender ground as
-common report, to condemn those who have so zealously befriended you?”
-These bold and pungent remarks are said to have wrought compunction in
-the heart of the aged bishop. He began to perceive that he had been
-made the agent of a plot, and he lost no time in extricating himself
-from it by departing from Constantinople. His farewell words to some of
-the bishops who accompanied him to the ship were: “I leave to you the
-city, the palace, and this piece of acting.”[562]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
- THEOPHILUS ARRIVES IN CONSTANTINOPLE—ORGANISES A CABAL
- AGAINST CHRYSOSTOM—THE SYNOD OF THE OAK—CHRYSOSTOM
- PRONOUNCED CONTUMACIOUS FOR NON-APPEARANCE AND EXPELLED
- FROM THE CITY—EARTHQUAKE—RECALL OF CHRYSOSTOM—OVATIONS ON
- HIS RETURN—FLIGHT OF THEOPHILUS. A.D. 403.
-
-
-Regardless of the forces which had been set in motion against him,
-Chrysostom pursued his usual course of work without any variation. The
-reins of discipline were held tightly as ever; the Word was preached,
-in season and out of season, with unabated diligence; the people were
-exhorted, admonished, rebuked with the same irrepressible earnestness.
-His enemies took advantage of a sermon, specially directed against
-the follies and vices of fashionable ladies, to represent it as an
-attack upon the Empress herself.[563] Eudoxia, credulous and impulsive
-by nature, and probably irritated because the Archbishop did not pay
-her servile homage, complained to the Emperor of the insult which had
-been cast upon her, and was induced by the hostile party to expect the
-arrival of Theophilus as an opportunity for redressing her wrongs. That
-prelate was now rapidly approaching, with a large number of bishops
-collected from Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. Twenty-eight, on whose
-partisanship he could reckon, travelled by sea to Chalcedon. Many
-bishops had become disaffected to Chrysostom in Asia Minor, owing to
-the rigorous investigation recently made by him into the state of the
-Church in that region, and they readily joined the camp of Theophilus.
-Prominent among them was Gerontius of Nicomedia, whom, as will be
-remembered, he had deposed. The whole force was at length (June 403)
-assembled at Chalcedon, and a council of war was held, to determine
-the plan of operations. None was more virulent in his denunciation of
-Chrysostom, as tyrannical, proud, and heretical, than Cyrinus, bishop
-of Chalcedon. He was an Egyptian by birth, and Theophilus reckoned on
-him as a valuable ally, but was deprived of his services by a curious
-incident. Maruthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, accidentally trod on the
-foot of Cyrinus: a wound ensued, the wound gangrened, the foot had to
-be amputated, but the mortification spread, and, after two years of
-lingering pain, put an end to his life.[564]
-
-Theophilus made his entrance into Constantinople about the middle of
-June. He had been summoned as a defendant, but, according to his design
-already indicated, he appeared surrounded by all the pomp and dignity
-of a judge. None of the bishops, indeed, or clergy of Constantinople
-came to greet him on landing, but the crews of the Alexandrian
-corn-fleet gave him a hearty welcome, and he was accompanied by a large
-retinue, not only of bishops and clergy, but of Alexandrian sailors,
-laden with some of the costliest produce of Egypt and the East, a
-very potent auxiliary in obtaining partisans. As on the arrival of
-Epiphanius, so now, Chrysostom did not fail to offer the customary
-hospitality due to a brother bishop; but Theophilus disdainfully
-declined it, passed by the palace and the metropolitan church, which
-episcopal visitors usually entered on their arrival, and proceeded to
-the suburb of Pera, where a lodging had been prepared for him in a
-house of the Emperor’s, called the Palace of Placidia.
-
-During the three weeks that he resided here, he refused to hold any
-communication with Chrysostom, or to enter his church; nor did he
-vouchsafe any reply to the frequent entreaties of the Archbishop that
-he would state his reasons for such conduct. His house became the
-resort of all the disaffected clergy or affronted ladies and gentlemen
-in the city, who were drawn thither, not only by a common hatred to
-Chrysostom, but also by the handsome gifts, the elegant and dainty
-repasts, and the winning flattery with which they were treated by
-Theophilus.[565] These arts were the more necessary because Theophilus
-had a double part to play: to arrest the course of the accusation
-instituted against himself, as well as to organise a powerful cabal
-against Chrysostom. In the former he was helped by the scruples or
-peacefulness of Chrysostom himself. The Archbishop was directed by the
-Court to repair to Pera, and preside over an inquiry into the crimes
-of which Theophilus was accused. But he declined, on the plea that the
-ecclesiastical affairs of one province could not, according to the
-Canons of Nice, be judged in another; partly also, as he affirmed, out
-of respect for his brother Patriarch. The truth probably was, that he
-foresaw the vindictive and turbulent spirit of Theophilus would never
-submit to the decisions of a council under the presidency of his rival
-in that see of which Alexandria was especially jealous. Otherwise there
-is no doubt that a General Council at Constantinople would have been
-competent to judge the Patriarch of Alexandria; whereas a Provincial
-Council in Egypt could not have judged him, he being supreme there by
-virtue of his position as Patriarch.[566] Chrysostom himself also might
-legally have been arraigned before a General Council; but, as will be
-seen, the synod composed by Theophilus was far from being entitled to
-that appellation.
-
-The obstacle of his own trial being thus disposed of, it only remained
-for Theophilus to prosecute his design against his rival with mingled
-subtlety and boldness. The first step was to secure a sufficient number
-of witnesses, and a list of accusations, which, being presented to the
-Emperor, would furnish a plausible reason for summoning a council.
-The next step would be to pack that council with bishops hostile to
-Chrysostom. Two despicable deacons, who had been expelled from their
-office by the Archbishop for homicide and adultery, were well content
-to draw up a list of charges on a promise from Theophilus that they
-should be restored to their former position. The accusations seem to
-have been of a puerile character; and if the source of them was known,
-it would seem inconceivable that the Court should have entertained
-them, did we not remember that the influence of the Empress, as well
-as of many of the most powerful courtiers, was now turned or rapidly
-turning against the Archbishop, and that the bribes of Theophilus were
-permeating the whole city.
-
-The attachment of the people, however, to Chrysostom was known to be
-so strong, that it was deemed prudent by the enemy to hold the synod
-at a safe distance from the city. A suburb of Chalcedon, called “The
-Oak,” where Rufinus, the late prefect, had built a palace, church, and
-monastery, was selected as a convenient place for the assembly.[567]
-The bishops, after all the exertions of Theophilus, did not amount to
-more than thirty-six, of whom twenty-nine were Egyptians.[568] Among
-the latter was Cyril, the successor of Theophilus. Chrysostom was
-summoned to appear before the synod. The scene in the archiepiscopal
-palace immediately preceding the summons has been described by
-Palladius, with the vivid and minute exactness of an eye-witness.
-
-“We were sitting, to the number of forty bishops, in the dining-hall
-of the palace, marvelling at the audacity with which one, who had
-been commanded to appear as a culprit at Constantinople, had arrived
-with a train of bishops, had altered the sentiments of nobles and
-magistrates, and perverted the majority even of the clergy. Whilst we
-were wondering, John, inspired by the Spirit of God, addressed to us
-all the following words: ‘Pray for me, my brethren, and, if ye love
-Christ, let no one for my sake desert his see, for I am now ready to be
-offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. Like him who spoke
-these words, I perceive that I am about to relinquish life, for I know
-the intrigues of Satan, that he will not endure any longer the burden
-of my words which are delivered against him. May ye obtain mercy, and
-in your prayers remember me.’ Seized with inexpressible sorrow, some of
-us began to weep, and others to leave the assembly, after kissing, amid
-tears and sobs, the sacred head and eyes, and eloquent mouth, of the
-Archbishop. He, however, exhorted them to return, and, as they hovered
-near, like bees humming round their hive, ‘Sit down, my brethren,’ he
-said, ‘and do not weep, unnerving me by your tears, for to me to live
-is Christ, to die is gain. Recall the words which I have so frequently
-spoken to you. Present life is a journey; both its good and painful
-things pass away. Present time is like a fair: we buy, we sell, and the
-assembly is dissolved. Are we better than the Patriarchs, the Prophets,
-the Apostles, that this life should remain to us for ever?’ Here one
-of the company uttering a cry exclaimed: ‘Nay, but what we lament is
-our own bereavement and the widowhood of the Church, the derangement
-of sacred laws, the ambition of those who fear not the Lord, and
-violently seize the highest positions; the destitution of the poor, and
-the loss of sound teaching.’ But John replied, striking, as was his
-custom when cogitating, the palm of his left hand with the forefinger
-of his right: ‘Enough, my brother—no more; only, as I was saying, do
-not abandon your churches, for neither did the office of teaching begin
-with me, nor in me has it ended. Did not Moses die, and was not Joshua
-found to succeed him? Did not Samuel die, but was not David anointed?
-Jeremy departed this life, but Baruch was left; Elijah was taken up,
-but Elisha prophesied in his place; Paul was beheaded, but did he not
-leave Timothy, Titus, Apollos, and a host of others to work after him?’
-To these words Eulysius, bishop of Apamea, in Bithynia, observed:
-‘If we retain our sees, it will become necessary for us to hold
-communion with the authors of your deposition, and to subscribe to your
-condemnation.’[569] To which the holy John replied: ‘Communicate by all
-means, so as to avoid rending the unity of the Church; but abstain from
-subscribing, for I am not conscious of having done anything to deserve
-deposition.’”
-
-At this point in the conference it was announced that certain
-emissaries from the “Synod of the Oak” had arrived. Chrysostom gave
-orders that they should be admitted, inquired, when they entered, to
-what rank in the hierarchy they belonged, and, on being informed that
-they were bishops, requested them to be seated, and to declare the
-purpose of their coming. The two bishops, young men recently raised
-to the episcopate in Libya, replied, “We are merely the bearers of a
-document which we request that you will command to be read.” Chrysostom
-gave the order, and a servant of Theophilus read the missive. “The holy
-Synod assembled at the Oak to John” (thus did his enemies deprive him
-of all his titles). “We have received a list containing an infinite
-number of charges against you. Present yourself, therefore, before us,
-bringing with you the priests Serapion and Tigrius, for their presence
-is necessary.” The bishops who were with Chrysostom were very indignant
-at the insolent tenor of the message. A reply to the following effect
-was drawn up, addressed to Theophilus, and despatched by the hand of
-three bishops and two priests: “Subvert not nor rend the Church for
-which God became incarnate; but if, in contempt of the canons framed by
-318 bishops at Nice, you choose to judge a cause beyond the boundaries
-of your jurisdiction, cross the straits into our city, which is at
-least strictly governed by law, and do not, after the example of Cain,
-call Abel out into the open field. For we have charges of palpable
-crimes against you, drawn up under more than sixty heads; our synod,
-also, is more numerous than yours, and is assembled, by the grace of
-God, after a peaceful manner, not for the disruption of the Church.
-For you are but thirty-six in number, collected out of a single
-province;[570] but we are forty, from several provinces, and seven are
-metropolitans. It is only reasonable that the less should be judged,
-according to the canons, by the greater.”
-
-Chrysostom approved of this answer of the bishops, but sent a separate
-letter on his own behalf: “Hitherto I am wholly ignorant whether any
-one has anything to say against me; but if any one has assailed me, and
-you wish me to appear before you, eject from your assembly my declared
-enemies. I raise no question respecting the place where I ought to be
-tried, although the most proper place is the city.” He proceeds to say
-that he objected to his declared and implacable enemies, Theophilus,
-Acacius, Severian, and Antiochus, being allowed to sit on the council
-at all. “He could convict Theophilus of having said in Alexandria
-and Lycia, ‘I am setting out for the capital to depose John;’ which,
-indeed, is true, for, since he set foot in Constantinople, he has
-refused to meet or communicate with me. What, then, will one do, after
-the trial, who has acted as my enemy before it?” When these men should
-have been eliminated from the synod, or legally constituted as his
-accusers, he would appear before a council, even if composed of members
-from all Christendom; but till this condition was complied with, he
-would refuse to present himself though summoned ten thousand times
-over.[571]
-
-He demanded, in short, to be tried by an œcumenical synod, as the only
-tribunal which could legally exact obedience from him. The Synod of the
-Oak, composed as it was mainly of Egyptians and of declared enemies,
-could not possibly pretend to that character. If the Imperial Court had
-been upright and courageous, not susceptible of flattery and bribes,
-not induced by personal animosity against the Archbishop to favour or
-connive at the proceedings of his enemies, such a synod could not have
-been held. That it was held, and succeeded in the purpose for which it
-met, will ever be a stain upon the Church and the Empire of the East.
-
-But although viciously constituted and, indeed, all the more on that
-very account, the synod made much display of complying in formalities
-with the established order of an ecclesiastical court of judicature.
-The prosecution was to be carried on in the name of a plaintiff who was
-to be present, and to submit his charge in writing. The defendant was
-to be cited to appear and defend himself; and if he failed to appear
-after three or four citations, he would be pronounced contumacious, and
-as such be punishable by the synod with excommunication and deposition.
-The further penalties of imprisonment, exile, or death could not be
-inflicted by any but the secular power.
-
-Theophilus was president of the synod, and the prosecution was
-conducted in the name of John, Archdeacon of Constantinople, who
-cherished malice against Chrysostom because he had once been suspended
-by him for ill-treating a slave, though afterwards restored. The
-charges were drawn up under twenty-nine heads. The evidence of most
-worthless witnesses was accepted, or, more properly speaking, invited.
-A strange medley of monstrous and incredible offences was included in
-the list of charges prepared by the Archdeacon John—acts of personal
-violence, as well as violations of ecclesiastical discipline. “He had
-struck people on the face, had calumniated many of his clergy, had
-called one Epiphanius fool and demoniac, had imprisoned others, had
-accused his archdeacons of robbing his pallium for an unlawful purpose;
-he had despotically and illegally deposed bishops in Asia, and had
-ordained others without sufficient inquiry into their qualifications,
-mental or moral; he had alienated the property and sold the ornaments
-of the Church; he held private interviews with women, he dined on
-Cyclopian fare, he ate a small cake after holy communion, he had
-administered both sacraments, after he himself or the recipients had
-eaten.”[572] The crowning charge was that of treasonable language
-against the Empress—“he had called her Jezebel.” This was the trump
-card of the cabal. If the Emperor’s Court could be persuaded to believe
-him guilty on this point, exile at least, and probably death, would be
-the inevitable consequence.
-
-Such were the principal charges in the list presented by the Archdeacon
-John. A second list, presented by Isaac the monk, accused him of
-extending sympathy and hospitality to Origenists, of instigating the
-people to sedition, of using unseemly expressions in his sermons, such
-as “I exult, I am beside myself with joy,” or language which gave a
-dangerous encouragement to sinners; for example, “as often as you sin
-come to me and I will heal you.”
-
-By artfully making slight alterations in expressions actually used,
-and tearing them from their context, it was easy to represent them as
-mischievous or blasphemous. It is not surprising then that Chrysostom
-steadfastly refused to answer in person such a list of partly
-monstrous, partly puerile, accusations before such a synod. He pursued
-the only dignified course possible under the circumstances. When a
-notary from the Emperor came to him with a rescript, and showed him
-the petition inserted in it from the synod, that the Emperor would
-compel the attendance of the Archbishop; and when, presently, a second
-deputation from the synod, consisting of a renegade priest of his own
-clergy, and Isaac the monk, brought a peremptory summons from the
-synod, he inflexibly maintained the same attitude. “I will not attend
-a synod which is composed of my enemies, and to which I am summoned by
-my own clergy. I appeal to a lawfully constituted General Council.” The
-citations were rapidly repeated three or four times, and always met
-by the same response. The cabal expended their fury on the messengers
-of the Archbishop; they beat one bishop, tore the clothes of another,
-and placed on the neck of a third the chains which they had designed
-for the person of Chrysostom himself, their intention having been to
-put him secretly on board ship, and send him off to some remote part
-of the Empire. Some of the clergy were so much intimidated by these
-violent proceedings that they dared not return to Constantinople.
-Demetrius, however, Bishop of Pessina, denounced the conduct of the
-synod, quitted it, and returned to the Archbishop. After several more
-ineffectual citations, the synod, at its twelfth session, declared
-that it would proceed to judgment against Chrysostom as contumacious.
-Either by a happy coincidence, or by the contrivance of Theophilus,
-a message arrived from the Court on the same day, urging the bishops
-to decide the cause as speedily as possible. With much alacrity the
-request was obeyed. They drew up a despatch to the Emperor—a formal
-statement: “Whereas John, being accused of crimes, has declined to
-appear before us, and that in such cases ecclesiastical law pronounces
-deposition, we have hereby deposed him; but as the indictment against
-him contains charges of treason as well as ecclesiastical offences, we
-leave these to be dealt with by you, since it belongs not to us to take
-cognisance of them.” The synod waited for the Imperial ratification
-of their verdict, and meanwhile issued a circular to the clergy of
-Constantinople, informing them of the deposition of their spiritual
-father.[573]
-
-Having attained, as he believed, the object of his intrigue, Theophilus
-went through the form of reconciliation with the “tall brethren” in
-the presence of the synod. The facility with which they were restored
-to favour on a simple request for pardon is in strange contrast to the
-relentless animosity with which they had been hitherto pursued, and
-indicates that their persecution had been maintained simply as the
-means to securing a more important victim.
-
-Both Dioscorus and Ammon had recently died, the latter predicting
-with his dying lips that the Church was about to be distressed by a
-furious persecution, and torn by a deplorable schism. He was buried
-in that church of the Apostles, in the suburb of The Oak, where, nine
-years before, he had baptized the founder, the Prefect Rufinus. The
-monks of the foundation celebrated his obsequies with great pomp; and
-Theophilus, his bitter persecutor, condescended to weep over his death,
-and publicly declare that he had never known a monk of more exalted
-saintliness.[574]
-
-The triumph of the synod seemed to be completed by the receipt of
-an Imperial rescript, ratifying the sentence of deposition, and
-announcing that the Archbishop would be banished. Many members of the
-synod were probably disappointed at the mildness of the penalty; but
-the people of Constantinople were enraged, and impeded the execution
-of the sentence. It was evening when the impending degradation of
-their Archbishop became known. During the whole of the night, crowds
-of people watched outside the Archbishop’s palace and the cathedral
-to guard against his forcible abduction. Early in the morning they
-thronged the church, loudly protested against the injustice of the
-sentence, and demanded with shouts the submission of his cause to
-a General Council. For three days and nights the flock incessantly
-guarded their beloved pastor. Under their protection he passed to
-and from the palace and the church. On the second day he delivered a
-discourse to them in the cathedral. The first portion of it is in all
-respects worthy of Chrysostom; the conclusion, involved and rugged,
-seems to have been added by another hand, and extracts will not be made
-from it here.[575]
-
-“Many are the billows, and terrible the storms, which threaten us;
-but we fear not to be overwhelmed, for we stand upon the rock. Let
-the sea rage, it cannot dissolve the rock; let the billows rise, they
-cannot sink the vessel of Jesus Christ. Tell me, what is it we fear?
-death?—‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Or exile?—‘The
-earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.’ Or confiscation of
-goods?—‘We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
-carry nothing out.’”... “I fear not poverty, I desire not wealth; I
-dread not death, I do not pray for life, save for the sake of your
-advancement. I beseech you be of good courage; no man will be able to
-separate us, for ‘that which God hath joined together no man can put
-asunder.’ If man cannot dissolve marriage, how much less the Church of
-God! Thou, oh my enemy! only renderest me more illustrious, and wastest
-thine own strength, ‘for it is hard to kick against the pricks.’ Waves
-do not break the rock, but are themselves dispersed into foam against
-it. Nothing, oh man! is stronger than the Church, ... it is stronger
-even than Heaven, ‘for Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words
-shall not pass away.’ What words? ‘Thou art Peter, and on this rock I
-will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
-it.’ If thou disbelievest the words, yet believe the facts. How many
-tyrants have attempted to overcome the Church; how often have wild
-beasts, and the sword, and the furnace, and the boiling caldron, been
-employed against it, yet have they not prevailed. Where are those who
-made war upon it? They have been silenced and consigned to oblivion.
-Where is the Church? It shines above the brightness of the sun. Let
-none of the things that have been done disturb you. Grant me one favour
-only,—unwavering faith. Was not St. Peter on the point of sinking, not
-because of the uncontrollable onset of the waves, but because of the
-weakness of his faith? Did man’s votes bring me here, that man should
-put me down? I say not this in a spirit of boastfulness—God forbid—but
-in the desire to settle your agitated minds.”... “Let no one trouble
-you; give heed to your prayers. This disturbance is the devil’s work,
-that he might destroy your zeal in the sacred Litanies; but he does not
-succeed. We find you even more earnest than before. To-morrow I shall
-go out with you in the Litany, for where you are, there I am. Though
-locally separated, we are in spirit united; we are one body, the body
-is not separated from its head; even death cannot separate us.”... “For
-your sakes I am ready to be slaughtered ten thousand times over, since
-death is to me the warrant of immortality. These intrigues are to me
-but the occasion of security. I say these things to listening ears;
-so many days have you watched, and nothing has moved you from your
-purpose. Neither length of time nor threats have enervated you; you
-have done what I have always been desiring, despised the things of this
-world, bidden farewell to earth, released yourselves from the fetters
-of the body: this is my crown, my consolation, my anointing; this the
-suggestion to me of immortality.”
-
-Another discourse[576] contains much to the same effect, and a
-declaration of his belief that the real cause of his deposition was his
-sturdy opposition to the corrupt manners and morals of the age. “You
-know,” he says, “why they are going to depose me—because I spread no
-fine carpets, and wear no silken robes; because I have not pampered
-their gluttony, or made presents in gold and silver.” He would comfort
-and encourage himself with the prospect of being reckoned among those
-who had suffered for righteousness’ sake. The cruel and capricious
-woman, who one day called him “a thirteenth apostle,” and the next “a
-Judas,” would receive a just retribution for her conduct.
-
-The attachment of the people to the Archbishop, and their sense of
-the injustice with which he was treated, were so strong that, with
-his powers of swaying their feelings, he might easily have raised a
-formidable sedition, and defied, for an indefinite time, the sentence
-of the synod and the edict of the Emperor. But his sentiments were
-too loyal, too Christian, too peaceful, for any such desperate and
-violent measures. He might have continued to demand the reference of
-his cause to a General Council; but, had this been granted, there was
-the extreme probability that his enemies would refuse, and persuade
-many more to refuse, a recognition of its decision. Then would follow
-one of those melancholy schisms, of which the Church already knew too
-well the misery. He determined to bow to the storm. On the third day
-after his deposition by the council, and about noon, when the people
-were not guarding the approaches to the church quite so vigilantly, he
-passed out, unperceived, by one of the side entrances, and surrendered
-himself to some of the Court officials, who conducted him at nightfall
-to the harbour. In spite of the darkness, he was recognised by some of
-the people, who followed him with loud cries of distress. He besought
-them to abstain from the commission of violence, commended them to the
-care of Jesus Christ, cited the example of Job blessing and thanking
-God in the midst of trouble, and declared that he patiently waited for
-the decision of an Œcumenical Council. The vessel in which he embarked
-conveyed him the same night to Hieron,[577] on the Bithynian coast, at
-the mouth of the Euxine. Perhaps owing to the dangerous proximity of
-this place to Chalcedon, the headquarters of his enemies, he removed
-(being apparently uncontrolled in his movements) to a country-house
-belonging to a friend, near Prænetum, on the Astacene gulf opposite
-Nicomedia.
-
-When the departure of the Archbishop became generally known on the
-succeeding day, the indignation of the people burst into a blaze. The
-places of public resort were thronged with clamorous crowds denouncing
-the synod and demanding a General Council. They flocked into the
-churches to pour forth their lamentations, and to invoke the Divine
-intervention on behalf of their injured Patriarch. A revulsion of
-feeling in his favour took place among many of the clergy who had
-hitherto been opposed to him. The arrival of Theophilus with a large
-retinue was not calculated to allay the agitation. Force was employed
-to dislodge the people from the churches; the struggle occasioned
-bloodshed, and even some loss of life, chiefly among monks. The
-worthless clergy who had been deposed by Chrysostom, some of them
-for flagrant crimes, were restored by Theophilus. Severian of Gabala
-mounted a pulpit in one of the churches, and extolled the act of
-deposition. “Even were the Patriarch,” he said, “guiltless of other
-offences, the penalty was due to his arrogance, for ‘God resisteth the
-proud,’ even if He forgave other sins.” The people were furious at this
-barefaced attempt to justify injustice. They thronged the approaches
-to the Imperial palace itself, and with loud shouts demanded the
-restoration of the Patriarch.[578]
-
-A natural phenomenon, not rare in Constantinople, but regarded under
-the circumstances as a Divine visitation, opportunely concurred with
-this demand. The city, the palace, but more especially the bedchamber
-of the Empress, were agitated by a severe shock of earthquake. The
-friends of Chrysostom rejoiced at this manifestation of the wrath
-of Heaven; his enemies were alarmed. The terrified Empress eagerly
-promoted the demand of the people for the restoration of the exile.
-Messengers were sent across the Bosporus to seek him, for the exact
-place of his retreat appears to have been unknown. Briso, the Empress’s
-chamberlain, a man of Christian piety and a personal friend of
-Chrysostom, discovered him at Prænetum. He was the bearer of a humble,
-we might say abject, letter of self-exculpation from the Empress. “Let
-not your holiness (ἡ ἁγιωσύνη) imagine that I was cognisant of what
-has been done. I am guiltless of thy blood. Wicked and corrupt men
-have contrived this plot. I remember the baptism of my children by thy
-hands. God whom I serve is witness of my tears.” She informs him how
-she had fallen at the feet of the Emperor, and had represented to him
-that there was no hope for the Empire except through the restoration
-of the Archbishop.[579]
-
-Chrysostom yielded to the solicitation so far as to embark and cross
-the Bosporus, but he declined at first to advance nearer Constantinople
-than the suburb of Mariamna, two leagues from the capital by sea. He
-declared that he would not enter the city until he had been acquitted
-by a General Council. But the impetuosity of the people would brook
-no delay. Tidings of his approach had preceded him. The Bosporus was
-studded with boats crowded with his friends, bearing torches and
-chanting psalms of welcome. The halt at Mariamna was suspected to
-be a contrivance of the enemy, who wished to deprive the Patriarch
-of the honours awaiting him. Their denunciations of the Emperor and
-Empress grew loud and menacing. An Imperial secretary arrived at
-Mariamna, urging Chrysostom to enter the city without loss of time.
-The Archbishop consented, and, attended by about thirty bishops,
-amidst the acclamations of the populace, was conducted to the Church
-of the Apostles. Again he remonstrated, and expressed scruples at
-entering till the sentence of deposition should have been revoked by a
-legitimate council. But the eagerness of the people was irrepressible.
-He was borne into the church, and compelled to take his seat on the
-episcopal throne and pronounce a benediction upon the assembly. When
-he had complied with their request, they would not be satisfied till
-he had addressed them in an extempore discourse. The address exists
-only in a Latin translation. Its brevity, and the abrupt style of the
-opening sentences, indicate the extemporaneous character of it.[580]
-
-“What shall I say, or how shall I speak? ‘Blessed be God.’ So spoke
-I when I departed, and I utter the same again: yea, even in my exile
-I did not cease to say these words. Ye remember how I quoted Job,
-and said, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.’ Such was the
-pledge I left with you when I set forth; such is the thanksgiving I
-repeat on my return. ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.’ Our
-lot varies, but our manner of giving glory is one. I gave thanks when
-I was expelled, I give thanks when I return. The conditions of summer
-and winter are different, but the end is one—the prosperity of the
-field. Blessed be God who permitted the storm, blessed be God who has
-dispersed it and wrought a calm. These things I say, that I may prepare
-you to bless God at all times. Have good things happened to you? Bless
-God, and the good remains; have evil things occurred? bless God still,
-and the evil is removed.”... “Behold what great results have been
-wrought by the stratagems of my enemies. They have augmented your zeal,
-inflamed your affectionate longing for me, and procured me lovers in
-hundreds. Formerly I was beloved by my own people only; now even the
-Jews pay me respect. My enemies hoped to sever me from my own friends;
-and, instead, they have brought even aliens into our ranks.”... “To-day
-the Circensian games take place, but no one is present there; all
-have poured like a torrent into the church, and your voices are as
-streams which flow to Heaven and declare your affection towards your
-father.” He congratulates them on putting the enemy to flight. “Many
-are the sheep, yet nowhere is the wolf seen; the devouring beasts
-are overwhelmed, the wolves have fled. Who has pursued them? Not I
-the shepherd, but ye the sheep. O noble flock! in the absence of the
-shepherd ye have routed the wolves. O beauty and chastity of the
-wife! how hast thou repulsed the adulterer, because thou lovedst thy
-husband!”... “Where are our enemies? in ignominy;—where are we? in
-triumph.”[581]
-
-On the following day the Archbishop delivered another address, pitched
-in the same strain, but amplified and more ornate. It opens with a
-singular comparison between the meditated seduction of Abraham’s
-wife by Pharaoh, and the plot of Theophilus to corrupt the chastity
-of the Church of Constantinople. The courage and faith of the flock
-in resisting the wolf during the absence of their shepherd, their
-enthusiastic welcome of his return, when the sea, as he expresses it,
-became a city (alluding to the crowds who had gone out to meet him
-on the Bosporus), and the market-place was converted into one vast
-church—these are again the topics on which he dilates with thankful
-joy. He applies to himself the verse: “They that sow in tears shall
-reap in joy; he that now goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth
-good seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his sheaves
-with him.” The Empress is extolled in language which to any but
-oriental ears must sound painfully fulsome and adulatory. She had
-sent a message to him on the previous evening, saying, “My prayer is
-fulfilled, my object accomplished. I have obtained a crown better than
-the diadem itself. I have received back the priest, I have restored the
-head to the body, the pilot to the ship, the shepherd to the flock,
-the husband to the home.” In return for this complimentary greeting
-(complimentary, it must be confessed, to herself as much as to the
-Archbishop) she is styled by him “most devout Queen, mother of the
-churches, nurse of monks, protectress of saints, staff of the poor.”
-The people were so much delighted with these laudations of the Empress,
-that the address was constantly interrupted by their acclamations.[582]
-
-When the object of the Synod at the Oak had eventually failed through
-the recall of Chrysostom, many of the members lost no time in returning
-to their several sees. Theophilus and a few of his most resolute
-partisans appear to have lurked in the city, waiting a possible
-opportunity for resuming their intrigues. This they attempted,
-according to two historians,[583] by instigating accusations against
-Heracleides, who had been consecrated Bishop of Ephesus by Chrysostom.
-The friends of Heracleides and of the Archbishop protested against the
-illegality of such proceedings in the absence of the defendant. The
-question was taken up by the populace. Fierce and sanguinary frays
-were fought in the streets between the citizens and the Alexandrian
-followers of Theophilus. At length he and his followers consulted their
-safety by a precipitate flight. This account is not incompatible with
-the assertion of Chrysostom himself in his letter to Innocent, that
-after his recall he incessantly demanded the convocation of a General
-Council to absolve him from the verdict of the false synod, and to
-reinstate him in possession of his see; that the Emperor consented, and
-that, as soon as the imperial summonses were issued in all directions,
-Theophilus, dreading the scrutiny of his conduct, embarked in the dead
-of night, and sailed in haste for Alexandria.[584] The citation of the
-council, and the hostility of the people, may well have concurred to
-hasten his departure. The General Council seems never to have regularly
-assembled. Theophilus was cited to attend it after he had returned to
-Alexandria, but excused himself on the plea that the Alexandrians were
-so deeply attached to him, he feared a sedition would take place if
-he were again to absent himself. No less than sixty bishops, however,
-who had congregated in Constantinople, though not apparently convened
-in synodal form, solemnly declared their sense of the illegality
-and injustice of the late proceedings at the Synod of the Oak, and
-confirmed Chrysostom in the resumption of his see.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
- AN IMAGE OF EUDOXIA PLACED IN FRONT OF THE
- CATHEDRAL—CHRYSOSTOM DENOUNCES IT—ANGER OF THE
- EMPRESS—THE ENEMY RETURNS TO THE CHARGE—ANOTHER COUNCIL
- FORMED—CHRYSOSTOM CONFINED TO HIS PALACE—VIOLENT SCENE IN
- THE CATHEDRAL AND OTHER PLACES—CHRYSOSTOM AGAIN EXPELLED.
- A.D. 403, 404.
-
-
-The storm had passed over for the moment, and the atmosphere seemed
-serene: but in reality it was charged with all the old elements
-of disturbance. The Archbishop owed his restoration to a mere
-superstitious impulse on the part of the Empress, seconded by the
-enthusiastic devotion of the common people to his person and his cause.
-But as the revulsion of feeling which had led to his recall died away,
-and he himself resumed with unabated zeal his former work of moral and
-ecclesiastical reformation, the irritation and animosity of the more
-corrupt portion of the clergy and laity revived. In two months after
-his return an occasion arose which brought him into serious collision
-with the Court. This was the signal for the reappearance of his
-enemies; they flocked from far and near—Egypt, Syria, Asia, as well as
-his own more immediate diocese—and swooped down upon their prey with
-the avidity of vultures.
-
-The pride and ambition of Eudoxia were not satisfied by the enjoyment
-of a power really greater than her husband’s, and of respect outwardly
-equal; she was determined to receive that half-idolatrous kind of
-homage which custom, handed down from Pagan times, still paid to
-the Emperor, but to him alone. The smaller forum of Constantinople
-was a great square,[585] on one side of which stood the grand curia
-or senate-house, which Constantine had enriched with the sumptuous
-spoils of many Pagan temples, and especially with the statues of
-the Muses brought from the grove of Helicon; opposite to it was the
-entrance of St. Sophia, and the remaining sides of the forum were
-bounded by handsome public and a few private buildings all faced with
-colonnades. In the centre was a stone platform paved with various
-marbles, from which speeches were delivered on great public occasions.
-On this platform the Empress determined to gratify her vanity by the
-erection of a lofty column of porphyry surmounted by a silvern image of
-herself. This design was accomplished in September a.d. 403, and the
-erection of the statue was celebrated by all the Pagan ceremonies and
-festivities, including music and dancing, with which the adoration of
-the Emperor’s image was usually attended. These rites had been retained
-by the Christian Emperors because they were supposed to be useful in
-maintaining a loyal spirit among the people, but the Pagan elements
-were afterwards suppressed by Theodosius II.[586]
-
-The position of Eudoxia’s column in front of the vestibule of St.
-Sophia, and the disturbance caused to the sacred services within
-by the noisy, tumultuous proceedings outside, were regarded by the
-Patriarch as a disgrace to an Empress calling herself Christian, an
-outrage and insult flung in the very face of the Church. He denounced
-the heathenish ceremony with his usual vehemence before the people,
-and complained of it to the prefect of the city. The prefect was a
-Manichæan, and no friend to Chrysostom. Instead of endeavouring to
-conciliate both parties, he reported to the Empress, probably with
-some exaggeration, the condemnation pronounced by the Patriarch on
-the indulgence of her pride. The resentment of Eudoxia was fierce.
-She rallied the enemies of Chrysostom around her to devise means for
-crushing the audacious prelate. Acacius, Severian, and others of the
-old troop were soon upon the scene, and conferring with their old
-confederates, the Marsas and Castriccias, the rich worldly dames, and
-the dandy young clergy of Constantinople. There was no diminution
-meanwhile in the tide of invective poured forth from the golden mouth,
-and the pungency of his sarcasms did not lose force in the reports of
-them which were carried to the royal ears.[587]
-
-Once more the faction applied to the Patriarch of Alexandria,
-inviting him to come and conduct their operations. But he was too
-wary to involve himself personally in another campaign, to terminate
-perhaps in a second ignominious flight. His influence, however, even
-at a distance, was potent. The stratagem adopted this time was to
-counterfeit that General Council which had been constantly demanded
-by Chrysostom; packing it with hostile bishops who were ostensibly
-convened to revise, but in reality to confirm, the decision issued
-by the Synod of the Oak. Theophilus, then, having excused attendance
-at Constantinople in person, sent three “pitiful bishops” (ἐλεείνους
-ἐπισκόπους), creatures of his own on whom he could rely, to execute
-his designs.[588] They were armed with the 12th Canon of the Council
-of Antioch held in A.D. 341, which declared that any bishop who, after
-deposition, appealed to the secular power for restoration, should,
-for that very act, be regarded by the Church as permanently and
-irrevocably deposed. The Council of Antioch had been swayed by Arian
-influence, and this same canon had been aimed against Athanasius, who
-had returned from exile to Alexandria under the Imperial sanction. It
-had been repudiated by the Western bishops, and some of the Eastern,
-at the Council of Sardica, and indeed by all who maintained communion
-with Athanasius. Theophilus, however, proposed to base the present
-proceedings against Chrysostom on this foundation; to turn, in fact,
-against the greatest luminary of Constantinople the engine which had
-been originally constructed against the greatest ornament of the
-Alexandrian see. The instrument would work well if proper hands could
-be procured to work it. Syria, Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, were once
-more ransacked to supply the council with disaffected prelates. To
-the old names of Acacius of Berœa, Severian of Gabala, Antiochus and
-Cyrinus, may be added, as leaders of the malignants, Leontius, bishop
-of Ancyra in Galatia, Brison of Philippopolis in Thrace, Ammon of
-Laodicea in Pisidia; among those honourably distinguished as friendly
-to the Patriarch were Theodore of Tyana, Elpidius of Laodicea,
-Tranquillus (see unknown), and Alexander of Basilinopolis in Bithynia.
-Theodore, however, perceiving the malevolent intention with which the
-council was convoked, quitted Constantinople soon after his arrival.
-
-The council met about the close of the year A.D. 403. It was customary
-for the Emperor to attend Divine service in state on Christmas Day, but
-he was induced by the enemies of Chrysostom to refuse on this occasion,
-alleging that it was impossible to be present where the Patriarch
-officiated till he had been cleared of the serious charges brought
-against him. It was proposed at first to affect to meet the demand of
-Chrysostom for an equitable trial, and to hear all the charges which
-had been preferred at the Synod of the Oak. But, the witnesses were so
-backward to appear, and the attitude of the defendant betokened such
-confidence in his cause, that it was deemed more prudent by his enemies
-to stake the whole issue on the canon of the Council of Antioch. If
-that was once admitted, there would be an end of the whole matter.
-The Archbishop, having been deposed already once for all, was not
-competent to appear and plead his cause before a council. Chrysostom
-and his friends opposed the adoption of such a course with two powerful
-arguments. They represented that the Council of Antioch had been
-managed by an Arian bishop and influenced by an Arian emperor, and
-the object of it had been to harass the great Athanasius. In the next
-place, the Synod of the Oak had been illegally constituted; sixty-five
-bishops had repudiated its decision; Chrysostom, therefore, was not
-legally deposed, and the canon of Antioch was in consequence not
-applicable to his case. This last objection was not permitted by his
-enemies. Leontius boldly declared, what appears to have been a palpable
-lie, that a larger number of bishops than sixty-five had voted against
-Chrysostom in the Synod.[589]
-
-Thus the question as to the validity of the Council of Antioch became
-the knot of the whole affair. It was debated with such vehemence on
-both sides, that at length the adversaries of the Patriarch proposed
-that a deputation from the two contending parties should plead the
-case before the Emperor, and submit the decision to him. It may be
-presumed from their making the proposal that they felt secure of a
-verdict favourable to their side, and, at the same time, by this step
-a semblance of impartiality would be imparted to the proceedings. The
-deputies met in the royal presence. When the heat which marked the
-beginning of the discussion had cooled down a little, Elpidius of
-Laodicea with much gentleness of manner made an astute proposal. He
-was an old man, eminent for stainlessness of character, as well as for
-learning in ecclesiastical lore. “Let us not,” he said, “weary the
-clemency of your Majesty any longer; only let our brethren, Acacius
-and Antiochus, subscribe a declaration that they are of the same faith
-with those who promulgated these canons, which they maintain to be the
-production of orthodox men, and the controversy will be at an end.” The
-Emperor perceived the adroitness of the proposal, and observed with
-a smile to Antiochus, that the plan struck him as the most expedient
-which could be devised. Antiochus and his colleagues turned livid with
-perplexity and rage, but, being fairly caught in the dilemma, were
-forced to dissemble their feelings, and simulated a willing consent
-to sign the proposed declaration. The promise was made, but never
-executed. The deputies retired, and the adversaries of the Patriarch
-laboured with redoubled energy to procure his final condemnation; but
-we have no record of any formal session or formally declared sentence.
-Chrysostom continued to preach and discharge his other functions with,
-if possible, increased diligence, and still acted as president over the
-floating synod of more than forty bishops who constantly adhered to
-his cause. His enemies, on the other hand, acted as if the sentence of
-condemnation had been passed, and continually requested the Emperor to
-put it into execution.[590]
-
-A.D. 404. As Easter approached, they became more importunate in
-their demand. They dreaded the demonstrations which might be made
-in favour of their victim by the large congregations which on Holy
-Saturday and Easter Day were wont to assemble in the churches. They
-succeeded in prevailing on the Emperor to prohibit the Patriarch, as
-having been deposed and excommunicated by two councils, from entering
-or officiating in the church at Easter-tide. Chrysostom had always
-expressed an earnest desire to be tried before a lawful council, and
-to abide by its decision. This request had been systematically evaded
-even when ostensibly complied with. His whole soul rebelled with
-honest indignation against these insidious and persistent attempts
-to misrepresent his conduct, and he determined now to resist them by
-taking his stand on the lofty ground of his Divine mission. “I received
-this church from God my Saviour, and am charged with the care of the
-salvation of this flock, nor am I at liberty to abandon it. Expel me by
-force if you will, since the city belongs to you, that I may have your
-authority as an excuse for deserting my post.”[591]
-
-The Emperor, though with some shame, sent officials who removed the
-Archbishop from the church to his palace, with a strict injunction that
-he should not attempt to leave it. This was a cautious preliminary to
-final expulsion, suggested by superstitious dread of any earthquake
-or other manifestation of Divine displeasure. Should any such occur
-again, the Archbishop could be released in a moment; if not, they might
-proceed to further measures.
-
-Easter Eve arrived, the greatest day in the year for the baptism of
-converts. Three thousand were to be “initiated” this year. Chrysostom
-was again commanded to abstain from entering the church, but answered
-according to the tenor of his former reply, that he would not desist
-from officiating unless compelled by actual force. The feeble Arcadius
-was alarmed, and hesitated how to act. He scrupled to use force on so
-sacred a day, and dreaded an insurrection of the populace. As usual,
-he tried to shift responsibility from his own shoulders. He sent for
-Acacius and Antiochus, and requested their advice in the present
-emergency. They were too far committed now to draw back, and promptly
-replied that they would take on their heads the deposition of the
-Archbishop.
-
-One more effort was made to avert the impending calamity. The forty
-bishops who maintained a close friendship with Chrysostom accosted the
-Emperor and Empress as they were visiting, according to their custom
-at this season, some of the martyr chapels outside the city. They
-entreated their majesties with tears to spare the Church her chief
-pastor, especially on account of the season, and for the sake of those
-who were about to be baptized. But Arcadius and Eudoxia turned a deaf
-ear to their piteous appeal. The bishops retired, grief-stricken, to
-mourn over the wrongs of their Church and Patriarch; but not before
-one of them, Paul, bishop of Crateia, had lifted up his voice in bold
-and solemn warning:—“Take heed, Eudoxia; fear God; have pity on your
-children. Do not outrage by bloodshed the sacred and solemn festival of
-Jesus Christ.”[592]
-
-The church of St. Sophia became the scene, on the night of that
-Easter Eve, of shocking tumult. A vast congregation from the city and
-surrounding towns, including many of the catechumens, was keeping vigil
-to greet the dawn of the Resurrection morning. Suddenly a body of
-soldiers burst in with noise and violence, and took possession of the
-choir. The confusion may be imagined. Women and children fled shrieking
-in wild disorder. Many of the female catechumens, only half-dressed, in
-preparation for the reception of baptism, were hurriedly driven out of
-the baptistry with the deaconesses who attended them. Some were even
-wounded, and the sacred fonts stained with blood. Some of the soldiers,
-unbaptized men, penetrated even to the chamber where the Eucharistic
-elements were kept, and profaned them with their gaze and touch. The
-clergy were forcibly ejected in their vestments, and several were
-wounded. The pitiable spectacle of the mingled troop of men, women,
-children, and clergy, violently chased along the streets by the brutal
-soldiery, moved even Jews and Gentiles to compassion. The clergy,
-however, rallied the scattered flock in the Baths of Constantine, the
-largest public baths in the city. Here they proceeded with the Easter
-services in due order; some reading the Scriptures, others baptizing.
-The churches of Constantinople were deserted, which the adversary
-wished to force the people to attend in the absence of the Archbishop,
-in the hope that the Court might thus suppose him to be unpopular.
-
-Such is the description of these violent scenes as drawn by the
-pen of Chrysostom himself, in a letter[593] written soon after the
-occurrences, and addressed to Innocent I., bishop of Rome, Venerius,
-bishop of Milan, and Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia. “You may imagine
-the rest,” he concludes; “great as these calamities are, there is no
-prospect of their immediate termination; on the contrary, the evil
-extends every day. The spirit of insubordination is rapidly spreading
-from the capital to the provinces, from the head to the members. Clergy
-rebel against their bishop, and one bishop assails another. People
-are, or soon will be, split into factions. All places are racked by
-the throes of coming trouble, and the confusion is universal. Having
-been informed of all these things, then, my most reverend and prudent
-lords, display, I pray you, the courage and zeal which becomes you
-in restraining this lawlessness which has crept into the churches.
-For if it were to become a prevailing and allowable custom, for any
-at their pleasure to pass into foreign and distant dioceses, and to
-expel whomsoever any one may choose, and act as they like on their own
-private authority, be sure that all discipline will go to pieces, and
-a kind of implacable warfare will pervade the world, all expelling
-or being themselves expelled. Wherefore, to prevent the subjection
-of the world to such confusion, I beseech you to enjoin that these
-acts so illegally performed in my absence, when I had not declined
-fair judgment, may be reckoned invalid, as indeed in the nature of
-things they are, and that those who have been detected taking part
-in these iniquitous proceedings may be subjected to the penalty of
-ecclesiastical law; while we who have not been proved guilty may
-continue to enjoy your correspondence and friendship as aforetime.” He
-closes his letter by affirming that he was still prepared to prove his
-innocence and the guilt of his accusers before a legally constituted
-council.
-
-This letter is interesting not only in itself, but because it
-illustrates remarkably the growing tendency of Christendom to appeal
-to the arbitration of the Western Church, and especially of the Bishop
-of Rome, in matters of ecclesiastical discipline. The law-making,
-law-protecting spirit of the West is invoked to restrain the turbulence
-and licentiousness of the East. The Patriarch of the Eastern Rome
-appeals to the great bishops of the West, as the champions of an
-ecclesiastical discipline which he confesses himself unable to enforce,
-or to see any prospect of establishing. No jealousy is entertained
-of the Patriarch of the old Rome by the Patriarch of the new. The
-interference of Innocent is courted, a certain primacy is accorded
-him, but at the same time he is not addressed as a supreme arbitrator;
-assistance and sympathy are solicited from him as from an elder
-brother, and two other prelates of Italy are joint recipients with him
-of the appeal. The effect of this letter will shortly be related; for
-the present, the course of events at Constantinople must be followed.
-
-It did not suit the purpose of Acacius and his party to allow the
-congregation which had been hunted out of St. Sophia to proceed with
-their service in the baths unmolested. If the Emperor entered the
-church in the morning and found it deserted, the vacancy on so great
-a day would reveal too plainly the intense devotion of the people to
-their bishop. The aim of the conspirators was to force the people
-to attend the services, which were to be marked by the absence of
-Chrysostom alone. They accordingly applied to Anthemius, Master of
-the Offices, to disperse the congregation, if necessary by force.
-Anthemius, however, was a moderate, prudent man, and kindly disposed
-towards the Patriarch. He refused to interfere, pleading the advanced
-hour of the night, the vastness of the assembly, and the risk of
-serious tumult. He yielded, however, to their persevering and urgent
-demands so far as to direct Lucius, a subordinate officer, commander
-of a Thracian corps called the Scutarii, to present himself with his
-troops at the entrance of the baths, and exhort the people to return
-to the church, as the more proper place for conducting the services.
-He was strictly charged to abstain from violence. He acted on his
-instructions, and harangued the congregation, but without effect. The
-chanting of the Psalms and the administration of baptism to crowds
-of catechumens were proceeded with. Lucius returned and reported his
-errand ineffectual. Acacius and his colleagues urged him with all their
-eloquence, and with promises of rich reward, probably more effective
-than their golden words, to make another effort, and to use force if
-persuasion were not regarded. They gave him some ecclesiastics to
-accompany him and, as it were, sanction their proceedings. Whether they
-began by exhortation is not recorded; at any rate, if it was given,
-no attention was paid to it, and it was quickly seconded by barbarian
-violence. Lucius himself pushed his way to the place of baptism, and
-laid about him with a truncheon upon candidates, deacons, and priests,
-some of them aged men, and dispersed them in all directions. The
-soldiers seized and plundered the women of their ornaments, the clergy
-of their vestments, and the sacred vessels belonging to the Church;
-they beat the fugitives and dragged them off to the prisons. The
-natural solitude and silence of the streets, in the hour immediately
-preceding dawn, were disturbed by the cries of the captives and the
-shouts of their brutal captors.
-
-In the morning the street walls were covered with proclamations,
-menacing with severe punishment any who persisted in maintaining
-intercourse with the Patriarch.[594]
-
-The baths were effectually emptied of the congregation; but to fill
-the churches could not so easily be accomplished; in fact, they
-were entirely deserted. Large numbers of the dispersed congregation
-who had escaped the hands of the soldiers fled outside the walls of
-Constantinople, and, with indefatigable zeal, sought to complete the
-celebration of the Paschal rites as best they could in the secure
-recesses of woods or valleys. A large number assembled in a field
-called Pempton, because five miles from the Forum of Constantine, an
-open space surrounded by wood and intended to be used as a Hippodrome.
-In the course of the day—Easter Day—the Emperor and his retinue
-happened to ride, or perhaps were maliciously conducted, near the
-spot. The eye of Arcadius was attracted by the sight of a large body
-of people, many of them clothed in white, crowded together outside the
-Hippodrome. Unhappily, the Emperor was attended by courtiers inimical
-to the Archbishop. They replied to his inquiries respecting the nature
-of the concourse, that it was a body of heretics who had met to worship
-there in order to escape interference. Arcadius was weak enough to
-allow, without further inquiry, a number of soldiers who formed part of
-his escort to ride in upon the assembly and seize the most conspicuous
-leaders. A number of priests were captured, and several rich and noble
-ladies, whom the soldiers despoiled of their head-dresses and earrings
-with great barbarity, in one instance even tearing away with the
-appendage a portion of the ear itself.
-
-One more attempt was made to assemble in a wooden hippodrome, built
-by Constantine, called the Xulodrome; but once more they were driven
-out, and hunted from place to place with relentless diligence. These
-repeated assaults broke up the flock of Chrysostom; the prisons were
-filled with the Johnites, as they were called after the name of their
-bishop, and the churches were empty. The prison walls echoed to the
-sound of the chants and hymns of the martyrs, but the churches to the
-noise of scourge and fierce threats administered to those who ventured
-to enter. This was done in the hope that they might be coerced by
-torture to anathematise the Archbishop.[595]
-
-He himself, however, meanwhile continued to reside two months in his
-palace, though not without risk. Twice, as it was believed, attempts
-were made to assassinate him, but frustrated. Suspicion fell first
-on a man who affected demoniacal possession, and hovered much about
-the precincts of the palace. A dagger was found upon his person; the
-people seized him and dragged him before the prefect; but Chrysostom
-procured his release through the intercession of some bishops, just as
-he was about to be examined by torture. A second attempt was supposed
-to be intended by a slave, who ran at full speed towards the entrance
-of the palace, and plunged a dagger, in some instances with fatal
-effect, into several passers-by who endeavoured to stop him. He was
-at last surrounded and captured by the people, when he confessed that
-he had been bribed by his master, a priest named Elpidius, to try and
-assassinate the Archbishop. The fury of the people was appeased by the
-imprisonment of the man; but they now resolved to take the protection
-of their Archbishop into their own hands. They divided themselves into
-companies, which kept watch by turns, night and day, over the episcopal
-palace. The hostile party, dreading any further impediments to the
-execution of their iniquitous sentence, now hurried matters to their
-conclusion. Five days after Pentecost, four bishops—Acacius, Antiochus,
-Severian, and Cyrinus—obtained an interview with the Emperor. They
-represented that the city never would be tranquil till the removal
-of the Archbishop had been effected, and that his remaining in the
-palace after his condemnation was a gross violation of ecclesiastical
-law. They avowed themselves willing to take the responsibility of his
-deposition on their own heads, and besought the Emperor not to be more
-lenient and concessive than were bishops and priests.[596]
-
-June, A.D. 404. The long-hoped-for mandate was at length issued. It was
-conveyed to the Archbishop by the notary Patricius, and informed him
-that Acacius and three other bishops having charged themselves with
-the responsibility of his deposition, he must commend himself to God,
-and quit the church and the palace without delay. The martyr received
-the cruel order with meek submission, and prepared to act upon it with
-prompt obedience. He passed from his palace to his church, saying to
-the bishops who accompanied him, “Come, let us pray and say farewell to
-the Angel of the Church. At my own fate I can rejoice, I only grieve
-for the sorrow of the people.” One of his friends, a nobleman, conveyed
-a warning to him to avoid by a secret departure the risk of exciting
-popular tumult. He informed him that Lucius was waiting with troops in
-one of the public baths to compel his removal in the event of any delay
-or resistance, and that the consequences of any attempt at a rescue by
-the populace might be serious.
-
-Chrysostom acted on his advice. He entered the choir with his friendly
-bishops, bestowed on them a farewell kiss and farewell words; then
-bidding them wait for him there while he went to repose, he entered the
-baptistry, and sent for the deaconesses, Olympias, Pentadia, Procla,
-and Salvina. “Come hither, my daughters,” he said, “and hearken to me:
-my career, I perceive, is coming to an end; I have finished my course,
-and perchance ye will see my face no more. Now I exhort you to this:
-let not any of you break off her accustomed benevolence towards the
-Church. If any man is appointed my successor without having canvassed
-the office, and against his own will, but by the common consent of all,
-submit to his authority as if he were Chrysostom himself; so may ye
-obtain mercy. Remember me in your prayers.” The women threw themselves
-at his feet dissolved in tears. The Archbishop made a sign to one of
-the priests to remove the women, lest, as he said, their wailing should
-attract the attention of the people outside. He directed that the mule
-on which he was accustomed to ride should be saddled and taken to the
-western gate of the cathedral; and while the people’s attention was
-diverted by this feint, he passed out, unobserved, by a small door near
-the east end, and surrendered himself to some soldiers who were at hand
-to convey him to the port. So he departed from the church, the scene of
-his indefatigable labours, whose walls were never again to resound to
-his eloquence. He went out, and, in the emphatic words of the historian
-to whose narrative we are indebted for the minute picture of these
-occurrences, “the Angel of the Church went out with him.” Two bishops,
-Cyriacus of Synnada in Phrygia, and Eulysius of Apamea in Bithynia,
-accompanied him on board the vessel which conveyed him across the
-straits to the Bithynian coast.[597]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
- FURY OF THE PEOPLE AT THE REMOVAL OF
- CHRYSOSTOM—DESTRUCTION OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH AND
- SENATE-HOUSE BY FIRE—PERSECUTION OF CHRYSOSTOM’S
- FOLLOWERS—FUGITIVES TO ROME—LETTERS OF INNOCENT
- TO THEOPHILUS—TO THE CLERGY OF CONSTANTINOPLE—TO
- CHRYSOSTOM—DEPUTATION OF WESTERN BISHOPS TO
- CONSTANTINOPLE REPULSED—SUFFERINGS OF THE EASTERN
- CHURCH—TRIUMPH OF THE CABAL. A.D. 404, 405.
-
-
-The people, meanwhile, both within the church and outside, were not
-long in discovering that the Archbishop had disappeared from the
-building and its precincts. They became furiously agitated: some
-rushed to the harbour, but too late to obstruct the embarkation. The
-doors of the cathedral, which had been locked by some of the cabal,
-who anticipated a rush of the people as soon as the departure of
-Chrysostom should have been discovered, were fiercely battered by the
-crowd on both sides. Jews and Pagans looked on, and jeered derisively
-at the tumult. The horror of this scene of wild confusion was suddenly
-increased by the apparition of fire bursting forth from the building.
-How kindled, by accident or design, it is impossible to determine. Each
-party fiercely charged the other with the guilt of the catastrophe, and
-some attributed it to miraculous interference of heavenly powers. The
-conflagration broke out in or near the throne of the Archbishop, which
-it consumed, and then spread to the roof. In three hours the edifice,
-whose erection and embellishment had been the work of many years, was
-reduced to a heap of cinders. The only portion not destroyed was the
-treasury which contained the sacred vessels of silver and gold, as if
-expressly to confute one of the charges made against the Archbishop,
-that he had sold all the most valuable ornaments belonging to the
-church. Germanus and Cassian, the custodians of the treasury, when they
-fled to Rome, carried with them a copy of the inventory of all these
-articles, which, when they surrendered their office, had been handed
-over to the prefect and some of the other chief functionaries of the
-city.
-
-The conflagration, however, did not confine itself to the cathedral.
-A violent north wind carried the flames across the Forum, and ignited
-the great curia or senate-house; not, however, that side of it which
-faced the cathedral, but the further side, which looked into the little
-forum where the royal palace was situated. The whole senate-house was
-destroyed. The statues of the Muses which Constantine had brought from
-Helicon were consumed, and all the other principal adornments. The
-images of Zeus and Athene alone were found intact, beneath a heap of
-ruins and of masses of molten lead which had dropped upon them from the
-burning roof.[598]
-
-The real or affected suspicion that the Archbishop and his flock were
-the incendiaries was quite a sufficient pretext for treating them
-with rigour. He himself, with Cyriacus and Eulysius, was detained in
-chains under a strict guard in Bithynia. These two companions were
-taken from him and conveyed bound to Chalcedon, but after examination
-were dismissed as innocent. But at Constantinople the persecution
-was enforced with merciless severity under the auspices of Optatus,
-a Pagan, now prefect in the place of Studius. All the followers of
-the Archbishop, clerical and lay, high and low, were subjected, if
-caught, to rigorous inquisition, and most of them to severe punishment.
-Chrysostom wrote a letter from Bithynia to the Emperor, imploring
-that he might at least be allowed to appear and defend himself and
-his clergy from the atrocious charge of incendiarism, but the letter
-received no attention; and as the poor exile continued his journey to
-Nice, his sufferings were enhanced by pitiable intelligence of the
-persecution inflicted on bishops, priests, and deacons who refused to
-anathematise him or recognise the validity of his deposition. But the
-spirit of the exile was not only brave to support his own troubles, but
-could spare some of its energy to encourage those, who were suffering
-in his cause, to patience, fortitude, resignation, and even joy.[599]
-
-In times of religious persecution, the language of the New Testament,
-about the blessedness of tribulation as a pledge of future happiness
-and a means of preparation for it, comes home to men’s hearts with
-a reality and force which seem to exceed our present application
-of it to the troubles and sorrows of ordinary life. Those who were
-firmly persuaded that their cause was the cause of truth and of
-Jesus Christ read the words, “Blessed are ye when ye are persecuted
-for righteousness’ sake,” or, “Happy are ye when men revile you and
-persecute you,” as if spoken directly to themselves; and they really
-did “rejoice in that day, and leap for joy.” Such are the texts which
-Chrysostom cites for the consolation of his suffering friends. He
-speaks of their exposure to intimidation by threats, imprisonment,
-frequent appearance in judges’ courts, torture at the hands of the
-executioner, shameless false evidence, coarse ribaldry, and scurrilous
-jests; but “blessed were they, yea, thrice blessed, and more than that,
-to endure imprisonment and chains, for not only was their fortitude the
-subject of admiration everywhere, but their present sufferings were the
-measure of their future happiness, and their names had been inscribed
-in the Book of Life.”[600]
-
-The destruction of the church and senate-house was the first pretext
-for instituting persecution against the adherents of Chrysostom;
-the second was, their refusal to recognise his successor. One week
-after his deposition, Arsacius, brother of Nectarius the predecessor
-of Chrysostom, was, apparently by the simple exercise of Imperial
-authority, elevated to the see. He was eighty years old, and is
-quaintly described by Palladius as “muter than a fish, and more
-incapable than a frog.”[601] The probable aim of the Empress was
-to secure a man whose servility might be depended on. His brother,
-Nectarius, had once desired to make him Bishop of Tarsus; and, on his
-declining to accept the promotion, had taunted him with ambitiously
-reserving himself for the see of Constantinople; whereupon Arsacius had
-taken an oath that he never would accept any bishopric. But ambition
-and Imperial authority overcame his scruples. He is described by the
-historians as a man of pious disposition and mild conduct; with one
-exception: that he persecuted with relentless vigour the contumacious
-adherents of his predecessor. By Chrysostom he is denounced as a wolf,
-and in a figurative sense as an adulterer, on account of his usurpation
-of the see during the lifetime of its legitimate occupant.[602]
-Arsacius applied to the civil powers for assistance to compel the
-Johnites to attend the churches where he and his clergy officiated. A
-tribune was directed to attack a body of them who had assembled for
-worship in some remote part of the city. The soldiers dispersed the
-assembly, took several of the most eminent persons prisoners, and,
-as usual, stripped the women of their golden girdles, jewels, and
-earrings. The only consequence of this was, that the Johnites became
-more attached to the cause and memory of their late Archbishop. Some of
-them fled the city, and many more refrained as much as possible from
-appearing in public places, such as the Forum and the baths. Meetings
-of some kind for worship were not discontinued, or were soon resumed,
-for we find Chrysostom, in one of his letters written during his
-exile, reproving two priests, Theophilus and Salustius, for slackness
-in attending such assemblies.[603] But worshippers ran great risks. The
-prefect Optatus, who succeeded Studius, probably because the latter was
-considered too lenient, appears to have entertained all the animosity
-of a thorough Pagan against Christians, and to have rejoiced in the
-present opportunity of inflicting sufferings upon them. He combined
-the two charges of incendiarism and contumacy in his prosecution of
-the Johnites, and endeavoured to extort confessions of guilt from his
-victims with merciless barbarity.
-
-A few instances are recorded, and they are quite enough to sicken us of
-the tale of such horrors. Eutropius, a reader, was commanded to name
-the persons who had set fire to the church. He refused. He was young
-and delicate, and it was thought a confession might be wrung from him
-under the agony of torture. He was lashed with a scourge, his cheeks
-were scraped, and his sides lacerated with iron teeth, after which
-lighted torches were applied to the wounded parts. No information could
-be extorted from him: he was therefore conveyed to prison, and thrown
-into a dungeon, where he expired. Some priests, adherents of Arsacius,
-buried him by night, that his mangled body might not be seen by any
-eyes but those of his enemies. Celestial music was said to have been
-heard at the time of his interment.
-
-Tigrius, the priest, whose presence with Serapion had been demanded at
-the Synod of the Oak, was another victim. He was stripped, scourged
-on his back, and then stretched on the rack till his bones were
-dislocated. He survived the torture, and was banished to Mesopotamia.
-Serapion himself, now bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, was seized, tried
-on several calumnious charges, barbarously scourged, and sent into
-exile.
-
-Those ladies also who were most distinguished for their friendship with
-the deposed Archbishop, and for the dedication of their time and money
-to the Church, were marked objects of persecution. They were brought
-before the prefect, and admonished by him to acknowledge Arsacius,
-and so save themselves from future annoyance. A few from timidity
-complied; but Olympias, who was subjected to a severer examination,
-confronted it with a dauntless spirit. She was bluntly asked why she
-had set fire to the “Great Church.” “My manner of life,” replied the
-accused, “is a sufficient refutation of such a charge; a person who
-has expended large sums of money to restore and embellish the churches
-of God is not likely to burn and demolish them.” “I know your past
-course of life well,” cried the prefect. “If you know aught against
-it, then descend from your place there as judge, and come forward as
-my accuser,” replied the undaunted Olympias. Perceiving that she was
-not to be browbeaten, Optatus proposed the same course to her which had
-been adopted by some other women as a means of exemption from further
-persecution, namely, communion with Arsacius; but she scornfully
-rejected the base compromise. “I have been publicly calumniated by a
-charge which cannot be proven, and I will not accede to any terms till
-I have been cleared from this accusation. Even if you resort to force,
-I will not hold communion with those from whom I ought to secede, nor
-do anything contrary to the principles of my holy religion.” She made
-a request, which was granted, that she might be allowed a few days
-to consult with lawyers on the proper means of legally refuting the
-libellous accusation. The prefect, however (on what pretence is not
-stated), sent for her again, and exacted a heavy fine, in the hope
-that she would be induced to yield. The fine was paid without any
-reluctance, but her refusal to acknowledge the usurper was inflexible;
-and to avoid, if possible, further pressure and persecution, she
-retired to Cyzicus, on the other side of the straits.[604]
-
-The tidings of her fortitude and loyalty were conveyed to the exiled
-Chrysostom, and so cheered his spirit in the midst of depression and
-sickness that his sufferings seemed to him as nothing. “When many men
-and women, old and young, highly reputed for their virtue, had turned
-their backs on the enemy almost before the conflict had begun, she, on
-the other hand, after many encounters, so far from being enervated, was
-even invigorated; she spread forth the sails of patience, and floated
-securely as on a calm sea; so far from being overwhelmed by the storm,
-she was scarcely sprinkled by the spray. In the seclusion of her little
-house she was able to inspire courage into the hearts of others, and
-had been to them a haven of comfort and a tower of strength.”[605]
-
-The deaconess Pentadia, widow of the consul Timasius, was another
-victim. She led the life of a recluse, never going beyond the walls
-of her house except to church. She was now dragged from her retreat
-through the Forum to the prefect’s tribunal, and thence to prison,
-charged with being an accomplice in the late fire. Several persons were
-put to the torture before her eyes, in order to intimidate her into
-a confession; but in vain. Her firm demeanour, courageous answers,
-and powerful demonstrations of her innocence, confounded and silenced
-her adversaries, and elicited the admiration of the public. Beyond
-imprisonment, no indignities seem to have been inflicted on her; and
-when desirous to quit the capital, she was persuaded by Chrysostom to
-remain, who represented the great value of her presence and example
-in animating others to undergo their present afflictions. She had
-apparently intended to try and join him in his place of exile, when he
-had been removed to Cucusus, on the confines of Lesser Armenia, for
-he dwells on the great risk to her delicate health from a journey in
-winter, and the danger of being plundered by the Isaurian robbers, who
-were just then, he says, in a powerful condition. He, therefore, on
-all grounds, begs her to remain where she is, but to relieve his mind
-from anxiety about her affairs and health by constantly writing to
-him.[606]
-
-Meanwhile, the injured Church of Constantinople did not cease through
-letters and emissaries to solicit the interference of the Western
-Church. The first intimation of the calamities we have been describing
-which reached the ears of Rome was through a messenger despatched
-by Theophilus. The letter which he brought was inscribed “From Pope
-Theophilus to Pope Innocent,” and stated in the barest manner, without
-assigning his reasons or mentioning any assessors in his judgment,
-that he had deposed Chrysostom, and that it behoved Innocent to break
-off communion with him. The Pope was displeased by the cool and curt
-character of the letter, and somewhat perplexed how to notice or reply
-to so inexplicit a despatch. Eusebius, a deacon from Constantinople,
-who was in Rome at the time on some ecclesiastical business, obtained
-an interview with Innocent, and entreated him not to act till
-information should be received from Constantinople, which, he added
-(on what grounds does not appear), he had good reason to expect would
-arrive in a short time. Three days afterwards four bishops did arrive,
-bearing the letter from Chrysostom to Innocent which contained that
-pathetic and perspicuous narrative of the recent occurrences, from
-which extracts have been made in the preceding chapter. They brought
-two other letters, one from the forty friendly bishops, another from
-the clergy of Constantinople.
-
-Innocent no longer hesitated to pronounce an opinion. His letter
-to Theophilus is brief, decisive, almost peremptory in tone. “The
-See of Rome,” he said, “would maintain communion with Alexandria
-and Constantinople to avoid rending the unity of the Church; but
-he annulled (ἀθέτησας) the deposition of John apparently made by
-Theophilus. It was impossible to recognise the validity of a sentence
-pronounced by such an irregular synod as that lately convened at
-Chalcedon. If Theophilus had confidence in the justice of that
-sentence, he must appear in person to prove it before a General Council
-called together and regulated according to the Canons of Nice.” A few
-days after the despatch of this letter, Peter, an Alexandrian priest,
-arrived with a deacon from Constantinople, bearing another letter
-from Theophilus, and certain minutes, so called, of the acts of the
-Synod of the Oak. Innocent, having perused the minutes, was indignant
-at the mingled monstrosity and levity of the charges brought against
-Chrysostom, and at the condemnation having been pronounced in the
-absence of the defendant. He ordered special prayers and fasts to be
-observed by the Church for the restoration of concord, and addressed to
-Theophilus a sharp letter of reproof.[607]
-
-It is not easy to make out precisely how many communications passed
-each way between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople, or the exact
-date of each; but several letters are distinctly mentioned. Theotecnus,
-a priest from Constantinople, brought a letter from twenty-five of the
-forty bishops who had constantly adhered to Chrysostom, in which they
-described the expulsion of the Patriarch and the conflagration of the
-church. Innocent replied by a letter of condolence, and exhortation
-to bear their trial with Christian fortitude and patience, for at
-present he confessed, with deep regret, that he saw small prospect
-of rendering much effectual aid, “owing to the opposition of certain
-persons powerful for evil,” alluding probably to the jealousies between
-the Courts of the two brothers, Honorius and Arcadius. The cabal
-also sent a letter to Innocent, containing their version of the late
-transactions. Their emissary was Paternus, who called himself a priest
-of Constantinople; “an ugly little fellow,” says Palladius, “and very
-unintelligible.” The letter was written in the names of Arsacius,
-Paulus, Antiochus, Cyrinus, Severian, and some others; and, among
-other opprobrious charges, distinctly accused Chrysostom of setting
-fire to the church. Innocent treated the letter with much disdain, and
-would not condescend to answer it. Some days afterwards, Cyriacus,
-bishop of Synnada, arrived in Rome as a fugitive, in consequence of an
-Imperial edict, which directed the deposition of any bishop who refused
-to communicate with Arsacius and Theophilus, and the confiscation of
-his property, if he had any. After Cyriacus arrived Eulysius, bishop
-of Apamea in Bithynia, bringing a letter from fifteen of the forty
-friendly bishops, which described all the past and present distress
-of the Church caused by Chrysostom’s enemies, and in all respects
-confirmed the oral account of Cyriacus. In the course of another month,
-Palladius, bishop of Hellenopolis, fled to Rome from the intolerable
-harshness of magisterial decrees, which now subjected to confiscation
-the house of any one who should be found to have harboured bishop,
-priest, or even layman, who communicated with Chrysostom. From a
-letter of Chrysostom[608] it appears that Palladius and many others
-lived for some time in concealment at Constantinople, in the hope of
-escaping persecution. They were courteously lodged in Rome by one
-Pinianus and his wife, by Juliana, Proba, and other Roman ladies, whom
-Chrysostom warmly thanks for their kindness in letters written by
-him from Cucusus.[609] Germanus the priest, and Cassian the deacon,
-custodians of the Church treasury at Constantinople, also came to
-Rome, bringing a letter from the whole body of the clergy who adhered
-to Chrysostom, describing the violent deposition and expulsion of the
-Archbishop, and the tyranny of their adversaries under which they were
-now suffering.[610]
-
-The reply of Innocent to this letter from the clergy of Constantinople
-is dignified as well as sympathetic. He exhorts, as usual, to patience,
-and to the derivation of comfort from the remembrance of the sufferings
-of all God’s saints in past times. But he deeply deplores their wrongs,
-and again expresses his reprobation in the strongest terms of the
-illegality of the late proceedings. “The canon which prohibited the
-ordination of a successor during the lifetime of the reigning bishop
-had been grossly violated. The Canons of Antioch, on which the synod
-had relied, were invalid, having been composed by heretics, and they
-had been rejected by the Council of Sardica. The Canons of Nice alone
-were entitled to the obedience of the Church; but adversaries and
-heretics were always attempting to subvert them.”... “What steps, then,
-should be taken in the existing crisis? Plainly a General Council must
-be convoked: that was the only means of appeasing the fury of the
-tempest. He was watching an opportunity to accomplish this: meanwhile,
-they must wait in patience, and trust the goodness of God for the
-restoration of tranquillity and good order.”
-
-To Chrysostom Innocent wrote, as friend to friend, as a bishop to a
-brother bishop, a letter of Christian consolation and encouragement,
-not entering into the legal questions of the case, and not pledging
-himself to decisive action of any kind. It was not necessary to remind
-one, who was himself the teacher and pastor of a great people, that God
-often tried the best of men, and put their patience to the severest
-tests, and that they are firmly supported under the greatest calamities
-by the approving voice of conscience.... A good man may be severely
-tried, but cannot be overcome, since he is preserved and guarded by
-the truth of Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture supplied abundant examples
-of suffering saints who did not receive their crowns until they had
-undergone the heaviest trials with patience. “Take courage, then,
-honoured brother, from the testimony of conscience. When you have been
-purified by affliction, you will enter into the haven of peace in the
-presence of Christ our Lord.”[611]
-
-Innocent, however, not only wrote commonplace letters of condolence,
-but exerted himself to obtain the council which he had recommended
-to the Church of Constantinople as the only means of redressing her
-wrongs. He wrote a letter to Honorius, then at Ravenna, representing
-the lamentable condition of the Church of Constantinople, which
-elicited from the Emperor an order for the convention of an Italian
-synod. This synod, after a due consideration of all the circumstances,
-was to submit its decision and suggestions to himself. The result of
-the deliberations of the Italian bishops, swayed no doubt by Innocent,
-was to request the Emperor to write to his brother Arcadius, urging
-the convocation of a General Council to be held in Thessalonica, which
-would be a convenient meeting-point for the prelates of East and West.
-Honorius complied, and the letter was despatched under the care of a
-deputation from the Italian Church, consisting of five bishops, two
-priests, and a deacon. The Emperor calls it the third letter[612] which
-he had written relative to the affairs of Constantinople. He professes
-great solicitude for the peace of the Church, “on which,” he observes,
-“the peace of our Empire depends;” and with a view to this object,
-he urges the convocation of a council at Thessalonica, and specially
-entreats that the attendance of Theophilus, who was, he is informed,
-author of all these disturbances, should be insisted upon. He commends
-the deputation to the honourable care of Arcadius; and that he may know
-the sentiments of the Italian Church on the present state of affairs,
-he sends him two letters as samples of many, one from the Bishop of
-Rome, the other from the Bishop of Aquileia.
-
-The only bishop on the deputation whose see is mentioned was Æmilius,
-bishop of Beneventum. The Oriental refugees, Cyriacus, Demetrius,
-Palladius, and Eulysius, accompanied the Italians. They were the
-bearers not only of letters from Honorius, Innocent, and the bishops
-Chromatius of Aquileia and Venerius of Milan, but also of a memorial
-from the Italian synod, which recommended that Chrysostom should be
-reinstated in his see before he was required to take his trial before
-a council. He would then, it was observed, have no reasonable excuse
-for declining to attend it. The deputation was absent four months. On
-their return the members had a pitiful tale to tell of failure in their
-errand, and of personal suffering from maltreatment. They touched at
-Athens on their voyage out, whence they had intended to proceed to
-Thessalonica, and lay the letters first of all before Anysius, bishop
-of that place; but at Athens they were arrested by a military officer,
-who placed them on board two vessels under charge of a centurion, to
-be conveyed to Constantinople. A furious southerly gale sprang up
-soon after their departure, and, after a voyage of some danger, they
-arrived, late on the third day, at the suburb of Constantinople called
-Victor. But, instead of being allowed to proceed to the city, they were
-shut up in a fortress named Athyra, on the coast—the Romans in a single
-chamber, the Orientals in separate apartments. No servant even was
-permitted to attend them. They were commanded to deliver up the letters
-which they had brought, but refused, as being ambassadors, to surrender
-them to any but to the Emperor himself. Secretaries and messengers were
-sent in succession, but the ambassadors steadfastly adhered to their
-refusal. The letters were at length wrested from their possession by
-sheer violence: one bishop’s thumb was broken in the struggle. On the
-following day a large bribe was offered them if they would recognise
-Atticus (the aged Arsacius was now dead) as Patriarch, and say no more
-about the trial of Chrysostom. This base proposal was firmly resisted;
-and, seeing the utter hopelessness of their mission, they requested
-to be released as soon as possible, and suffered to return to their
-dioceses in safety. The Italians saw no more of their companions from
-the East. They themselves were thrust into a miserable vessel, with
-twenty soldiers of various grades, and conveyed to Lampsacus, on the
-Asiatic coast, where they embarked in another vessel, and, after a
-tedious voyage of twenty days, arrived at Hydruntum, in Calabria.[613]
-
-Neither the Papacy nor the Empire of the West was sufficiently
-powerful at this time to insist further upon justice being done to the
-Patriarch, in the face of the determined animosity of the ruling powers
-at Constantinople; but the friends of the martyr deemed that they
-read unequivocal signs of the Divine displeasure in the misfortunes
-which befell some of Chrysostom’s greatest personal enemies. Thrace
-and Illyria were ravaged by an incursion of Huns, and the Isaurians,
-a predatory barbarian race, which inhabited the fastnesses of Mount
-Taurus, committed fearful havoc in Syria and Asia Minor. Cyrinus,
-bishop of Chalcedon, one of the four who had taken on them the
-responsibility of Chrysostom’s condemnation, died in great agony
-from the wound in his foot, originally caused when his foot had been
-trodden upon by Bishop Maruthas, more than a year ago, just before the
-Synod of the Oak. At the end of September, Constantinople was visited
-by a destructive fall of hailstones of extraordinary size; and on
-October 6, A.D. 404, died the Empress Eudoxia. Nilus, one of the most
-eminent anchorites of the day, once prefect of Constantinople, who
-had abandoned wealth, family, and position for the solitudes of Mount
-Sinai, addressed two letters of reproof and warning to Arcadius on the
-iniquitous banishment of Chrysostom and inhuman persecution of his
-followers. “How can you expect to see Constantinople delivered from
-visitations of earthquake and fire from Heaven, after the enormities
-which have there been perpetrated; after crime has been established
-there by the authority of laws; after the thrice-blessed John, the
-pillar of the Church, the lamp of truth, the trumpet of Jesus Christ,
-has been driven from the city? How can I grant my prayers (Arcadius had
-apparently begged the intercession of the saint to remove the national
-troubles) to a city stricken by the wrath of God, whose thunder is
-every moment ready to fall upon her?”[614]
-
-But human and divine warnings were alike wasted; the enemies of the
-Patriarch had complete sway over the Court, and suffered it not
-to swerve from the path of persecution. The Western bishops and
-presbyters, after the disastrous termination of their embassy to
-Constantinople, returned home, without honour indeed, but unmolested.
-Their Eastern colleagues did not escape so easily. They were conveyed
-to places of exile in the most distant and opposite quarters of the
-Empire. Cyriacus was confined in a Persian fortress beyond Emessa;
-Eulysius in Arabia; Palladius on the confines of Ethiopia; Demetrius
-was to have been confined in one of the Egyptian oases, but died
-of the harsh treatment to which he was subjected on the journey.
-The exiles suffered such brutal insults and indignities from the
-soldiers who conducted them to these places, that the desire of life
-was extinguished. The little money which they had collected for the
-expenses of their journey was taken from them by their guards, who
-divided it among themselves. They were forced to perform in one day
-the distance of two days’ journey. They were not permitted to enter
-any churches on their route, but forced into Jewish or Samaritan
-synagogues, and lodged at night in low inns, where their ears were
-shocked by the filthy conversation of abandoned characters of both
-sexes. Yet even some of these degraded people were won to a more
-respectful behaviour, if not actually converted, by the Christian
-exhortations and instruction of the captives. The “Word of God was not
-bound.” Some of the bishops friendly to Theophilus bribed the soldiers
-to hurry the exiles out of their dioceses as quickly as possible.
-Distinguished among these malignants were the bishops of Tarsus,
-Antioch, Ancyra, and of Cæsarea in Palestine. Most of the bishops of
-Cappadocia, on the other hand, especially Theodorus of Tyana, and
-Bosporius of Colonia, accorded them a compassionate and courteous
-reception.[615]
-
-Arsacius died in November A.D. 404. Out of many ambitious candidates
-for the vacant throne, Atticus, a presbyter, who had taken an active
-part in the persecution of Chrysostom, a native of Sebaste in Armenia,
-was appointed. He was a man of moderate abilities and generally mild
-disposition, but relentless in his determination to crush out the
-party of the exiled Patriarch. By his influence an Imperial rescript
-was obtained, which decreed that “any bishop who did not communicate
-with Theophilus, Porphyry of Antioch, and Atticus, should be ejected
-from the Church, and his property confiscated.” The wealthy, for the
-most part, bowed to the storm; the poor sought peace of body and of
-conscience in flight either to Rome or monasteries. This rescript,
-aimed at the bishops, was followed up by another directed against the
-laity. Any layman who refused to recognise the above-mentioned prelates
-was, if a civilian, to be deprived of any office which he might hold;
-if a soldier, of his military girdle; if an artisan, to be heavily
-fined or banished. Bishops and presbyters were dispersed as fugitives
-into all parts of the Empire. Some sought retirement in some secluded
-little country property of their own, and obtained a precarious
-livelihood by manual labour, farming, or fishing.[616]
-
-But, in spite of all the various means of coercion at Constantinople,
-in spite of trials, torture, imprisonment, banishment, the bulk
-of the people could not be brought to attend the ministration of
-Atticus and his clergy. Their churches were comparatively empty,
-while the persecuted adherents of the exile persistently held their
-services in some sequestered valley, or on some lonely hillside. In
-fact, persecution, as has always been the case, only intensified the
-attachment of many to the person and the cause which it was intended
-to crush, and so far defeated its own object. Chrysostom himself
-observes,[617] that many of those who had enjoyed a high reputation
-for piety were the first to fall away when brought to the test of
-persecution; whereas others, who had formerly been abandoned to
-frivolity and vice, now renounced the theatre and circus, hastened
-into the desert to attend the assembly of the Catholics at worship,
-and displayed the greatest fortitude before the judge when brought to
-trial, in the face of torture, and with the prospect of imprisonment or
-exile.
-
-The party now in power could not convert the hearts of clergy or people
-to their side, but they could, and did, change the outward aspect of
-the Church. The men of probity and piety with whom Chrysostom had
-replaced the six simoniacal bishops deposed in Asia were expelled,
-and the delinquents restored. The Church in that region was reduced
-to a disgraceful state. Ordinations were conducted, not amidst prayer
-and fasting, but feasting, drunkenness, and gross bribery. The see of
-Heracleides, the good bishop of Ephesus, appointed by Chrysostom, was
-occupied by a eunuch, a monster of iniquity. The people in disgust
-deserted the churches.
-
-The death of Flavian, bishop of Antioch, nearly coincided with the
-banishment of Chrysostom. The people of Antioch were much attached to a
-priest named Constantius, a man described by Palladius as a faithful
-and incorruptible servant of the Church from his earliest youth, first
-as a messenger who carried ecclesiastical despatches, then as reader,
-deacon, priest. He had won the love and admiration of the people by his
-gentle, amiable disposition, his intelligence, strict integrity, and
-exemplary piety. There was a general desire to make him bishop, but
-an ambitious priest named Porphyry frustrated the design. By bribery,
-and calumnious stories conveyed to the Court at Constantinople, he
-procured an Imperial rescript condemning Constantius to be banished
-to one of the oases as a disturber of the people. With the assistance
-of his friends Constantius escaped to Cyprus. Porphyry meanwhile
-imprisoned several of the clergy of Antioch, and seized the opportunity
-of the Olympian festival (when most of the inhabitants had poured out
-to the celebrated suburb of Daphne) to enter the church with a few
-bishops and clergy; and then, with doors fast closed, he was hurriedly
-ordained, so hurriedly that some portions of the service were omitted.
-Acacius, Severian, and Antiochus, who had officiated, immediately fled.
-The people were enraged when they discovered the trick, surrounded
-Porphyry’s house, and threatened to burn it to the ground. He applied
-for protection to the prefect, who lent him a body of troops, with
-which he forcibly took possession of the church. He contrived to get
-an unscrupulous and cruel man sent from Constantinople to be captain
-of the city guards, terror of whom drove the people to attend the
-churches, though they did so with disgust, and earnestly prayed for
-retribution from Heaven on the authors of this wickedness.[618]
-
-Innocent remained inflexibly attached to the cause of Chrysostom. The
-Church of Rome and the Italian bishops broke off all communion with
-Theophilus and Atticus, and ceased not to demand the convocation of a
-General Council, as the only tribunal by which the Patriarch could be
-lawfully acquitted or condemned.[619] But the Court of Ravenna was
-not in a position to support these demands by intimidation or actual
-force. All the skill of Stilicho and all the resources at his command
-were barely sufficient to repel the persevering efforts of Alaric and
-Rhadagaisus to take the great prize which they so eagerly coveted, the
-capital of the Roman Empire. The inevitable fall of Rome was averted
-only for a little while.
-
-Thus the spirit of lawlessness and selfishness took advantage of the
-impotence of the secular power both in Rome and Constantinople to work
-its will upon the Church. It dealt a blow to Christian morality and
-ecclesiastical discipline from which the Church at Constantinople never
-recovered, and which caused a throb of pain from one end of Christendom
-to the other; for, in spite of all differences and divisions,
-Christendom was one then, so that, if one member suffered, all the
-members suffered with it; and what was done and said, and thought and
-felt, in the Church of Alexandria, or Antioch, or Constantinople, was
-not unknown or unregarded by the Churches of Rome or Milan, and through
-them made its impress on the Churches even of Gaul and Spain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
- CHRYSOSTOM ORDERED TO BE REMOVED TO CUCUSUS—PERILS
- ENCOUNTERED AT CÆSAREA—HARDSHIPS OF THE JOURNEY—REACHES
- CUCUSUS—LETTERS WRITTEN THERE TO OLYMPIAS AND OTHER
- FRIENDS. A.D. 404.
-
-
-It now only remains to follow the illustrious exile along his painful
-journey to its melancholy or, if we regard him as the Christian martyr,
-its glorious termination.
-
-He was removed, as has been already seen, from Constantinople on
-June 20, and conveyed, in the course of a few days, to Nicæa. Here
-he remained till July 4, and several of his letters to Olympias were
-written from this place. The soft yet fresh sea air revived his health,
-which had suffered from the feverish and harassing scenes that he had
-gone through at Constantinople, and from the journey begun in the very
-middle of the summer heat. Nothing could exceed the kindness of the
-soldiers under whose custody he travelled, who discharged towards him
-all the duties of servants as well as of guards.[620] His ultimate
-destination was not known for some time by himself or his friends.
-Common report sent him to Scythia,[621] but the intention of his
-enemies appears to have changed from time to time. Sebaste in Armenia
-had been first proposed, but finally Cucusus, a village in the Tauric
-range on the edge of Cilicia and the Lesser Armenia, was fixed upon. It
-was a remote and desolate spot, subject to frequent attacks from the
-marauding Isaurians; and at first Chrysostom earnestly entreated his
-friends in Constantinople to try and procure a more agreeable place
-of exile, a favour frequently granted to criminals. Olympias, Bishop
-Cyriacus, Briso the chamberlain, and a lady named Theodora, repeatedly
-interceded on his behalf; but their efforts were ineffectual.[622] The
-Empress herself, it would appear, selected Cucusus, and was inexorable
-in her decision.[623]
-
-From beginning to end of his exile Chrysostom’s mind was occupied with
-organising such work as yet remained possible to him. It has been seen
-with what zeal he had planted a missionary settlement in Phœnicia. This
-project continued to the close of his life to be an object of his most
-solicitous interest. On July 3, the eve of his departure from Nicæa, he
-addressed a letter to a priest named Constantius,[624] apparently the
-superintendent of the missionary work in Phœnicia and the surrounding
-countries. He implores him to prosecute his labours for the extirpation
-of Paganism with zeal undiminished, and undismayed by the present
-afflicted state of the bishop and the see, to whom the mission owed
-its origin. “The pilot and the physician, far from relaxing their
-efforts when the ship and the patient are in peril, redouble their
-efforts to save them.” He begs Constantius to inform him year by year
-how many temples are destroyed, how many churches built, how many good
-Christians immigrate into Phœnicia. He had himself persuaded a recluse,
-whom he found at Nicæa, to go and place himself under the direction of
-Constantius in the missionary work. He had, he says, happily concluded,
-just about the time of his deposition, arrangements for the suppression
-of Marcionism, which was very prevalent at Salamis, in Cyprus. He
-begs Constantius to write to his friend Bishop Cyriacus, if still in
-Constantinople, and request him to carry these plans into effect.
-Finally, he implores the prayers of Constantius and all faithful
-people for the cessation of the present calamities of the Church,
-especially of the intolerable evils which had befallen it in Asia;
-alluding no doubt to the restoration of the simoniacal bishops.
-
-On July 4 or 5 the exile started from Nicæa on his toilsome and
-perilous journey in the midsummer heat, across the scorching plains
-of Galatia and Cappadocia. He describes himself[625] as an object of
-great compassion to travellers whom he met coming from Armenia and the
-East, who stopped to weep and wail over his distress. His route lay
-in a diagonal line across the centre of Asia Minor, ascending first
-of all near the stream of the river Sangarius, which in its upper
-course winds through vast plains of black bituminous soil, scantily
-cultivated, but supplying pasture to great herds of cattle. Chrysostom
-had always been an ascetic liver, but he had not a robust frame, and
-he had been accustomed to wholesome food and the frequent use of the
-bath. Continuous travelling by night as well as day, the scorching
-sun, hot dust, hard bread, brackish water, and deprivation of the
-bath, threw him into a fever; but either from fear of the Isaurians,
-or of Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, in Galatia, one of his most virulent
-enemies, the journey was pursued without intermission till he arrived,
-more dead than alive, at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia.
-
-He has left us a detailed account of the perils which befell him here,
-and a melancholy picture indeed it is of the ferocity and cunning of
-which bishops and monks were capable under the influence of fanatical
-partisanship.[626] Having escaped, he says, from the Galatian
-(probably meaning Leontius), he was met, as he approached Cæsarea,
-by several persons, who informed him that Pharetrius the bishop was
-eagerly expecting him, and preparing to welcome him with affectionate
-hospitality. He confesses that he himself mistrusted these specious
-offers, but he kept his suspicions to himself. On his arrival at
-Cæsarea, in a state of extreme exhaustion, Pharetrius did not appear,
-but he was enthusiastically received by the people as well as some
-monks and nuns. The extreme kindness and skill of physicians (one of
-whom declared his intention of accompanying him to the end of his
-journey), wholesome food, and the use of the bath, so much renovated
-his strength and diminished his fever, that he became anxious in a day
-or two to resume his journey. But just at this juncture the city was
-thrown into consternation by tidings that a large body of Isaurians
-was ravaging the neighbourhood, and had already burned a town with
-much slaughter. All the available troops in Cæsarea were marched out,
-and the whole male population, including old men, turned out to man
-the walls. During this time of suspense, the house in which Chrysostom
-lodged was besieged by a large body of monks, who with furious cries
-and gestures demanded his surrender. The prætorians who guarded him
-were terrified by the fierce behaviour of these fanatics, and declared
-that they would rather face the Isaurians than fall into the hands of
-these “wild beasts.” The governor of the city succeeded in protecting
-the person of Chrysostom, but not in quelling the fury of the monks,
-who renewed their assault still more hotly on the following day. The
-Bishop Pharetrius was very generally suspected to be the instigator
-of these attacks, and an appeal was made to him to interpose his
-authority, that the Archbishop might at least enjoy a few days’
-repose, which the state of his health greatly needed. But the envy of
-Pharetrius was embittered by the popularity of Chrysostom, and the
-great kindness and compassion which his hardships had elicited from
-clergy and people. He refused to interfere; but Chrysostom’s friends
-took advantage of a brief lull in the hostile visits of the monks to
-convey him in a litter outside the town, amidst the lamentations of the
-attendant people, and imprecations on the author of the malevolent
-assaults. When he was once outside the town several of the clergy
-joined him, and besought him not to think of trusting himself to
-Pharetrius; it would be worse, they declared, than falling into the
-hands of the Isaurians: “only escape from our hands, and wherever you
-fall you will fall safely.”
-
-At this crisis a lady named Seleucia, the wife of Rufinus, a man of
-rank and a friend of Chrysostom, entreated him to accept a lodging
-at her country house, about five miles out of the city. He accepted
-the offer; but, unknown to him, Pharetrius, whose rage was inflamed
-by the rescue of his prey, visited the house, and threatened to take
-vengeance on the mistress if her guest was not surrendered. This demand
-was refused, and the lady gave orders to her steward, in the event of
-any attack by monks, to collect all the labourers on the estate and
-repel the assault by force. But her courage at last gave way under the
-pressure of incessant menaces from Pharetrius, and it was resolved to
-remove the Archbishop, not less for his own safety than for that of
-the person whose roof had afforded him shelter. In the dead of night,
-when Chrysostom was sleeping, unconscious of impending danger, he was
-roused by a companion, the priest Evethius, who told him that he must
-instantly prepare for flight. It was midnight, and the sky murky and
-moonless; but they dared not light torches for fear of attracting the
-observation of their enemies. The road was rugged and rocky; the mule
-which carried the Archbishop’s litter fell, and he was thrown out.
-Evethius took him by the hand and led, or rather dragged, him along.
-In such a pitiable plight, faint with fatigue and fever-stricken,
-did the bishop of the second see in Christendom stumble and totter
-in the darkness along the Cappadocian mountain path. “Were not these
-calamities,” he writes to Olympias, “sufficient to blot out many sins,
-and suggest to me a hope of future glory?”
-
-Of the remainder of his journey to Cucusus we possess no detailed
-narrative. He only speaks in general terms of his sufferings for thirty
-days from fever, aggravated by the want of a bath, and by deficient
-accommodation of every kind in a journey made along a rough road,
-through a desolate mountainous country, liable to an attack at any
-moment from Isaurian bandits.[627] Desolate though the region was,
-however, he speaks of monks and nuns occasionally meeting him in large
-numbers, and loudly bewailing his calamities, exclaiming that it “had
-been better the sun should have hidden his rays, than that the mouth of
-Chrysostom should have been closed.”[628] About seventy days[629] after
-his departure from Constantinople, that is, about the end of August
-or beginning of September, Cucusus was reached. After the fatigues
-and dangers of his journey, it was a haven of rest to the exhausted
-exile, though he describes it as in itself the most desolate place
-in the world; a mere village high up in the eastern range of Taurus,
-on the confines of Lesser Armenia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia.[630] But
-it was protected from the Isaurians by a strong garrison, and it
-contained many warm-hearted friends of the Archbishop, who emulated
-one another in showing him attention. Several had sent invitations to
-him, before he left Cæsarea, to accept a lodging at their houses, but
-more especially one whom he calls “my Lord Diodorus,” who had known him
-in Constantinople. This generous personage not only placed his whole
-house at the disposal of Chrysostom, betaking himself to a country
-villa to make room for his guest, but furnished it with every possible
-defence against the cold of the approaching winter, in that altitude
-very severe. The Bishop of Cucusus not only received him with great
-civility, but was even desirous that his own throne should be occupied
-by the illustrious exile, that his flock might profit by the eloquence
-of the greatest teacher and preacher of the day; but Chrysostom thought
-it prudent to decline the honour.[631]
-
-Many of his friends in Constantinople and other places, who owned
-property near Cucusus, directed their stewards to provide in
-various ways for the comfort of the exile, and some of his friends
-actually came to share his fortunes in person. The aged deaconess,
-Sabiniana, arrived from Constantinople with the fixed determination
-of accompanying him to his final place of exile, whatever that might
-be. Constantius, the presbyter of Antioch, whom the people had wished
-to make bishop, also took up his abode at Cucusus, as well to escape
-from the persecution of Porphyry as from his zealous attachment to
-Chrysostom.[632] Thus the natural disadvantages of the place, the want
-of good physicians and of a plentiful market, the severity of the
-heat in summer and cold in winter, were largely compensated by the
-enjoyment of freedom, rest, and the kind attention of friends. He warns
-his supporters in Constantinople, who were endeavouring to procure a
-change of destination for him, to be careful that he was not removed
-to a place worse than Cucusus, where he possessed all substantial
-necessaries and comforts of life. If, however, they thought there was a
-chance of obtaining Cyzicus or Nicomedia, they were not to desist from
-their efforts; but he was convinced that another long and fatiguing
-journey to a spot as remote and desolate as Cucusus would kill him.[633]
-
-The leisure of the exile was profitably employed in writing letters
-to every variety of friends—men of rank, ladies, deaconesses in
-Constantinople, bishops, clergy, missionary monks, and his kind
-acquaintances in Cæsarea, especially the physician Hymnetius, who had
-attended him there with affectionate care. As might be expected,
-none of his letters describe his condition so minutely or pour forth
-so unrestrainedly his fears and hopes, his causes of distress or
-joy, as those written to Olympias. The style in which she is usually
-addressed is at once respectful, affectionate, and paternal: “To my
-lady, the most reverend and religious deaconess Olympias, Bishop John
-sends you greeting in the Lord.” They are seventeen in number, written
-at different stages of his exile; nor is it possible to determine
-precisely the date of each. The first three seem to have been written
-from Cucusus, and are mainly devoted to the aim of consoling her under
-the present calamities of the Church; to dissipating, as he expresses
-it, that cloud of sorrow which surrounded her.[634] “Come now, let me
-soften the wound of your sadness, and disperse the sad cogitations
-which compose this gloomy cloud of care. What is it which upsets your
-mind, and occasions your grief and despondency? Is it the fierce and
-lowering storm which has overtaken the Churches and enveloped all
-with the darkness of a moonless night, which is growing to a head
-every day, and has already wrought many lamentable shipwrecks? All
-this I know; it shall not be gainsaid: and, if you like, I can form
-an image of the things now being done so as to represent the tragedy
-more distinctly to thee. We behold a sea heaved up from its lowest
-depths, some sailors floating dead, others struggling in the waves, the
-planks of the vessel breaking up, the masts sprung, the canvas torn,
-the oars dashed out of the sailors’ hands, the pilots, seated on the
-deck, clasping their knees with their hands, and crying aloud at the
-hopelessness of their situation; neither sky nor sea clearly visible,
-but all one impenetrable gloom, and monsters of the deep attacking the
-shipwrecked crew on every side. But why attempt further to describe
-the indescribable? Yet, when I see all this, I do not despair, when I
-consider who is the Disposer of this whole universe—One who masters
-the storm, not by the contrivance of art, but can calm it by His nod
-alone. He does not always destroy what is terrible in its beginning,
-but waits till it has come to its consummation; and then, when most
-men are in despair, He works marvels and does things beyond all
-expectation, displaying a power which belongs to Him alone. Wherefore,
-faint not, for there is only one thing, Olympias, which is really
-terrible, there is only one real trial—and that is sin. All things
-else, whether they be insidious assaults of foes, or hatred, or
-calumny, or abuse, or confiscation of goods, or exile, or the sharpened
-sword, and war raging throughout the world, are but as a tale; they
-endure but for a season, they are perishable, and have their sphere
-in a mortal body, and do no injury to the vigilant soul.”... “Why,
-then, do you fear temporal things, which flow away like the stream of
-a river?”... “Let none of these things which happen vex you; cease to
-entreat the help of this person or that, but continually beseech Jesus
-Christ, whom you serve, merely to bow the head, and all these troubles
-will be dissolved; if not in an instant of time, that is because He
-is waiting till wickedness has grown to a height, and then he will
-suddenly change the storm into a calm....”
-
-He enters into an eloquent review of the sufferings and persecution to
-which our blessed Lord was subjected from His birth to His death, in
-order to prove that apparent failure is a fallacious test of the truth
-and real value of man’s character and work.
-
-“Why are you troubled because one man has been expelled and another
-introduced into his place? Christ was crucified, and the life of
-Barabbas, the robber, was asked. How many must have been shocked and
-repelled by this ignominious termination to a life of miracles! But
-in every stage of His life there was much to surprise and offend and
-try the faith. His birth was the cause of death to many innocent
-children in Bethlehem; poverty, danger, exile, marked His infancy. He
-was misunderstood and suspected throughout His ministry. ‘Thou art a
-Samaritan, and hast a devil;’ ‘He deceiveth the people;’ ‘He casteth
-out devils through the chief of the devils;’ ‘He was a gluttonous man
-and winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.’ His discernment of
-purity and goodness was questioned, because He permitted the sinful
-woman to approach Him; ‘neither did His brethren believe on Him.’ You
-speak of many having been frightened out of the straight path by the
-present calamities. How many of Christ’s disciples stumbled at the
-time of His crucifixion! One betrayed Him, another denied Him, the
-others fled, and He was led to trial bound and alone. How many, think
-you, were offended when they beheld Him, who a little while ago was
-raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, expelling devils, multiplying
-loaves, now bound, forlorn, surrounded by coarse soldiers, followed by
-a crowd of tumultuous priests? How many when He was being scourged,
-and they saw Him torn by the lash, and standing with bleeding body
-before the governor’s tribunal? How many, again, when He was mocked,
-now with a crown of thorns, now with a purple robe, now with a reed in
-His hand? How many when He was smitten on the cheek, and they cried,
-‘Prophesy, who is he that smote Thee?’ and dragged Him hither and
-thither, consuming a whole day in jesting and revilement in the midst
-of the throng of Jewish spectators? How many when He was led to the
-cross with the marks of the scourge upon His back? How many when the
-soldiers divided His raiment among themselves? How many when fastened
-to the cross and crucified?” And, after our Lord’s Ascension, what had
-been the lot of the early Church? Calamity, persecution, discomfiture,
-weakness, the offence of many and the defection of many. Yet the truth
-of Jesus Christ’s Gospel had not been obscured; it had shone more and
-more brightly: God had wrought out the triumph of His Church.
-
-The above is a much-condensed rendering of passages which can hardly
-be too much admired for the spirit as well as style in which they are
-written. The union of a Christian philosophy and a Christian faith,
-a philosophy which traces a principle in God’s modes of operation,
-and a faith which contentedly accepts whatever happens, in the firm
-belief that, be it pleasant or painful, it is part of some purpose of
-God; a philosophy which traces in every suffering of Christ’s servants
-for the cause of truth a reflection of the Master’s sufferings, and a
-faith which enables the sufferer not only to be cheerful himself, but
-to cheer others, form, indeed, a noble object of contemplation. In a
-letter written to Olympias, just after his hardships and perils at
-Cæsarea, he begs her to rejoice, as he declares he can himself rejoice,
-in suffering as a pledge of future glory. He never had desisted, and
-never would desist, from declaring that the only real calamity to a
-man’s self was sin; all other evils were as dust and smoke. Spoliation
-of goods was freedom; banishment was but a change of abode; death was
-but the discharge of nature’s debt, which all must eventually pay. So
-much has been at all times, and is still, uttered by Christian writers
-and preachers about patience and joy in affliction, that we may be
-disposed to pass over language of this kind sometimes as a hackneyed
-commonplace; but it must be remembered that, in Chrysostom’s case, the
-speaker was an actual sufferer. His words were not the sentimental
-utterances of a rhetorical preacher addressing an admiring audience,
-but convictions deliberately expressed by a persecuted sufferer, who
-was really living by the principles which he was accustomed to preach.
-
-The rapturous and lavish praise which in some of his letters he bestows
-upon the virtues of Olympias would by a lady of piety in modern
-times be distrusted as flattery, and distasteful as a dangerous
-encouragement to self-righteousness and conceit; but the language of
-ornate compliment, which would be offensive to Western taste, seems
-natural to Orientals: and it may therefore be supposed that its effect
-in elating the mind of the recipient is faint in proportion. Chrysostom
-begins his second letter by recommending Olympias to divert her mind
-from those calamities and sins, for which she was no way responsible,
-by directing it to the final judgment. The awe with which she must
-contemplate that scene, in which she, together with all others, is
-individually concerned and interested, will expel the useless grief
-which mourns over iniquity wrought by others. But he breaks off
-suddenly from such a line of argument, as inapplicable to the case
-of so angelic a being as Olympias. “To me, indeed, and those who,
-like me, have been plunged beneath a sea of sins, such discourse is
-necessary, for it excites and alarms; but you, who abound in goodness,
-and who have already touched the very vault of Heaven, cannot even be
-pricked by such language; wherefore, in addressing you, I will chant
-another strain and strike another string.” He does indeed; he invites
-her to count over her own perfections, and to dwell with complacent
-satisfaction on the heavenly rewards which are surely in store for
-her.... “It would fill a volume to relate the history of her patience,
-tried in such a variety of ways from her youth. She had laid such
-vigorous siege to her body, though naturally delicate and nurtured
-in the lap of luxury, that it might truly be called dead; and these
-austerities had raised for her such a swarm of maladies as defied
-the skill of physicians, and involved her in continual suffering. To
-speak, indeed, of patience and self-control, in reference to her fasts
-and vigils, would be inaccurate, because those expressions implied a
-conquest over oppugnant passions. But she had no desires to conquer:
-they were not merely subdued but extinguished. It was as easy and
-natural to her to fast as it was to others to eat, as natural to her
-to pass the night in vigil as to others to sleep.” With an admiring
-comment on her squalid and neglected attire he closes this singular
-enumeration of her perfections, lest, as he expresses it, he should
-lose himself in an illimitable sea if he attempted to wade further; his
-object being, not to make an exhaustive catalogue of her virtues, but
-only such as might be sufficient to lift her out of her present state
-of depression.
-
-It is worth making such extracts as these, because they enable us to
-see how widely remote Chrysostom was from the mind and taste of our own
-times in some points, although in others he seems so nearly congenial.
-There is another vein of thought in this letter which is still more
-alien. “If,” he says, “in addition to the rewards of her chastity,
-her fasts, her vigils, her prayers, her boundless hospitality, she
-wishes to enjoy the sight of her adversaries, those iniquitous and
-blood-stained men undergoing punishment for their crimes, that pleasure
-also shall be hers. Lazarus saw Dives tormented in flames. This you
-will experience. For if he, who neglected but one man, suffered such
-punishment, if it was expedient for the man who should offend one
-little one to be hanged or cast into the sea, what penalty will be
-exacted of men who have offended so large a part of the world, upset so
-many churches, and surpassed the ferocity of barbarians and robbers?
-You will see them fast bound, tormented in flames, gnashing their
-teeth, overwhelmed with useless sorrow and vain remorse; and they, in
-their turn, will behold you wearing a crown in the blessed mansions,
-exulting with angels, reigning with Christ; and they will cry aloud
-and groan, repenting of the contumely which they fastened upon thee,
-supplicating, but in vain, thy pity and compassion.”[635]
-
-To our ears of course such language is extraordinarily shocking; but it
-is valuable as a warning, in estimating the character of Chrysostom,
-not to judge him or any individual by words or deeds, which are not
-so much the offspring of the man as of the age and circumstances in
-which he lived. Chrysostom had exercised as well as taught meekness,
-forbearance, and charity towards all men, enemies as well as friends;
-but he lived when the minds of Christians had for generations been
-inured to scenes of persecution, and to such a rigorous system and
-barbarous execution of criminal law as are hardly conceivable by us.
-Fierce opposition of party against party, violence and bloodshed put
-down, if at all, by the stern hand of force, hardened public feeling,
-and the individual, however amiable and gentle by nature, inevitably
-becomes infected by the prevailing mode of thought; he must look
-at things and judge of things more or less from the same point of
-view as the generality of men amongst whom he lives. What would seem
-revoltingly cruel to a humane man now, appeared to a man who lived some
-hundreds of years ago, though perhaps equally humane by nature, and in
-private life amiable, a merely natural and just retribution.
-
-The letters of Chrysostom to those bishops[636] who remained loyal to
-his cause are full of asseverations that his affection for them cannot
-be diminished by separation or distance. He exhorts them to continue
-their labours with unabated zeal, and carefully to abstain from all
-communion with the adverse party. Small though their numbers were,
-yet their fortitude under persecution would so much encourage others
-that their conduct might be the salvation of the Church. Several of
-his letters to laymen in Constantinople are models of wise Christian
-counsel. He is never less than the pastor, while he is always the
-friend. He writes to one Gemellus,[637] on his promotion to some high
-magisterial office, that, “while others congratulated him merely on his
-new honours, _he_ would rather dwell with thankfulness on the abundant
-opportunities Gemellus would now possess of exercising wisdom and
-gentleness on a large scale. He doubted not Gemellus would prove to
-those who were attached to the vain glories of this earth, that the
-true dignity of the magistrate consisted not in the robe or the girdle
-of office, or in the voice of the herald, but in reforming what was
-evil, and repairing what was falling to pieces, in punishing injustice,
-and preventing the right from being oppressed by might. He knew the
-boldness of Gemellus, his freedom of speech, his magnanimity, his
-contempt for the things of this world, his mildness, his benevolence;
-and he was persuaded that he would be as a haven to the shipwrecked, as
-a staff to the fallen, a tower of defence to those who were oppressed
-by tyranny.” Gemellus appears to have been on the point of receiving
-baptism, and perhaps on that account to have been exposed to a rather
-trying degree of persecution. Chrysostom begs him not to delay baptism
-in the hope of receiving it from his hands, because the grace of the
-sacrament would be equally effectual by whatever hands administered,
-and his own joy would be none the less.[638]
-
-So again, in his letter to Anthemius, who had recently been made
-prefect and consul:—“Nothing has been really added to you; it is not
-the prefect or the consul whom I love, but my most dear and gentle Lord
-Anthemius, full of philosophy and understanding. I do not felicitate
-thee because thou hast climbed to this throne, but because thou hast
-gained a grander sphere wherein to exercise thy benevolence and
-wisdom.”[639]
-
-He was less distant from Antioch than Constantinople, and was cheered
-by visits from not a few of his old friends in his native city, and
-maintained a correspondence by letter with many more; but intercourse
-of either kind was much impeded by the dangers and difficulties of the
-roads, and at times by the severity of the climate.[640] The illegal
-seizure of the see of Antioch by Porphyry, and the harsh treatment to
-which the orthodox were subjected under his administration, caused them
-to turn to Chrysostom, not only with sympathy as a fellow-sufferer, but
-also for guidance, comfort, and some kind of episcopal superintendence.
-Their presents to him were so numerous that he felt compelled
-sometimes to decline them, or to request permission that they might be
-transferred to the aid of the missionary work in Phœnicia.[641]
-
-Much of his thought and correspondence was concerned in providing for
-the welfare of the Church in Persia, Phœnicia, and among the Goths.
-In his fourteenth letter to Olympias he begs her to use her best
-endeavours to detach Maruthas, bishop of Martyropolis in Persia, from
-the influence of the hostile party; “to lift him out of the slough”
-is his expression, for he greatly needed his assistance on account of
-affairs in Persia; and he was very anxious to know what Maruthas had
-accomplished there, and whether he had received two letters recently
-sent by himself. From this it would seem as if Maruthas, who had been
-present at the Synod of the Oak (when he caused the fatal injury
-to the foot of Cyrinus), had returned to Persia and again visited
-Constantinople, and that Chrysostom had hopes of working in connexion
-with him for the good of the Church in Persia.[642] In the same epistle
-he expresses his sorrow at having heard, through some Gothic monks
-with whom Serapion had sought shelter, that the Gothic bishop Unilas,
-whom he had recently consecrated, was dead, after a short but active
-career, and that the Gothic king had written to request that a new
-bishop should be sent out. Chrysostom was fearful lest Atticus and
-his party should appoint one; and he urges that everything should be
-done to delay the appointment if possible till winter came, when the
-season would prevent any one being sent till the following spring.
-Meanwhile, Moduarius, the deacon who had brought the letter from the
-Gothic prince, was to repair secretly and quietly to Cucusus, and there
-confer with Chrysostom on this important matter, to avert if possible
-the appointment of an improper person to so difficult a charge.
-
-But of course the exile’s interest was pre-eminently centred on that
-city of which he could not but consider himself still the chief pastor,
-although deprived of his external authority over it. Banishment,
-imprisonment, and intimidation had thinned the ranks of the orthodox;
-and among the remaining pastors there were some whose neglect of duty,
-the result of indolence or faint-heartedness, called forth severe
-rebukes from their former chief. “He had heard with concern, and
-was vexed that the information had not come direct from the clergy
-themselves, that a priest, Salustius, had preached only five times
-between the end of June and October, and that he and Theophilus,
-another priest, rarely attended Divine service at all.”[643] To
-Theophilus he writes a letter of mingled sorrow and reproof, expressing
-a hope that the report may be incorrect, and begging him to refute it,
-or to amend his conduct. He reminds him of the dreadful punishment
-which was inflicted on the servant who buried the talent which he ought
-to have used, and of the fearful responsibility of neglecting that most
-beautiful flock, which, by the grace of God, was being strengthened in
-goodness, though now agitated by so terrible a tempest.[644] Several of
-his clergy and friends are upbraided with more or less of affectionate
-expostulation for slackness in writing to him; others are praised
-for their unshakable fortitude, patience, and zeal under affliction.
-He had learned with much concern from Domitianus, to whom the care
-of the widows and virgins of the Church was confided, that they were
-reduced to extreme indigence, and he entreats his friend Valentinus
-to sustain his well-known character for benevolence by relieving their
-necessities.[645]
-
-Peanius, a man of rank and position in Constantinople, is thanked and
-praised for the unremitting zeal, yet tempered with moderation, with
-which he had resisted the usurping party, had stood inflexible in
-loyalty when others had fled, and had exerted himself for the welfare
-of the Church, not only in Constantinople, but also in Phœnicia,
-Palestine, and Cilicia. Chrysostom observes in the same letter that the
-members of the Church in those regions had, with very few exceptions,
-refused to recognise Arsacius.[646]
-
-Those clergy and other persons who had been imprisoned on the charge
-of incendiarism were released in the beginning of September;[647] and
-Chrysostom, having heard of their liberation, was eagerly expecting a
-visit from them when he wrote (about the end of October probably) to
-Elpidius, bishop of Laodicea,[648] in Syria, a prelate venerable in
-years and eminent in piety, who had as a priest accompanied Meletius
-to the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381, and was his counterpart
-in the moderation and gentleness of his disposition. Chrysostom wrote
-to thank him for his zeal in endeavouring to retain the bishops,
-not only in his own region, but in all parts of the world, in loyal
-fidelity to the exiled Patriarch. Elpidius proved the sincerity of his
-own attachment to his friend by suffering deposition from his see, and
-imprisonment for three years in his own house. Alexander, the successor
-of the usurper Porphyry in the see of Antioch, restored Elpidius to his
-see about A.D. 414—a recognition of his merits which received the high
-approbation of Pope Innocent.[649]
-
-Thus by letters did the exile maintain his influence over all varieties
-of people in distant and opposite quarters of the Empire. Exhortation
-and reproof, consolation and encouragement, or the mere expression of
-affectionate goodwill, are the main chords struck, as circumstances
-require. But there is one tone which pervades all alike—the unshakable
-Christian faith of the writer. His deep belief that all suffering was
-sent for a remedial chastening purpose, and that, if resignedly borne,
-it enhanced the glory of the reward reserved for those who should
-suffer for righteousness’ sake; that sin is the only real evil, that
-expatriation and persecution, and even death, since they touch only the
-external and temporal, are to be regarded as mere shadows, cobwebs, and
-dreams; that distance and material obstacles cannot impede the wings of
-affection and prayer, and that the cause of right and truth, although
-long depressed, will eventually triumph—these are convictions firmly
-rooted, which he never tires of repeating, and on the strength of which
-he lived cheerful and contented.
-
-The wide range of his influence, and the nobility of his Christian
-resignation and fortitude, maintained during his exile, have elicited
-the admiration of a historian not lavish of his compliments to
-Christian saints. “Every tongue,” says Gibbon, “repeated the praises of
-his genius and virtue; and the respectful attention of the Christian
-world was fixed on a desert spot among the mountains of Taurus.”[650]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
- CHRYSOSTOM’S SUFFERINGS FROM THE WINTER COLD—DEPREDATIONS
- OF THE ISAURIANS—THE MISSION IN PHŒNICIA—LETTERS TO
- INNOCENT AND THE ITALIAN BISHOPS—CHRYSOSTOM’S ENEMIES
- OBTAIN AN ORDER FOR HIS REMOVAL TO PITYUS—HE DIES
- AT COMANA, A.D. 407—RECEPTION OF HIS RELIQUES AT
- CONSTANTINOPLE, A.D. 438.
-
-
-Thus the autumn of A.D. 404 wore away. The time of the exile was
-occupied, not unpleasantly, by sending and receiving letters, and his
-spirits were cheered by occasional visits from friends. The destitute
-in the neighbourhood of Cucusus were relieved by his alms; the mourners
-comforted by his affectionate sympathy; some persons taken captive by
-the Isaurians obtained a release through his intercession or ransom.
-But the winter, always severe in that elevated region, set in this year
-with unusual rigour: all communication with the outer world was cut off
-by the impassable condition of the roads, and the cold told cruelly on
-the delicate constitution of the poor exile. In a letter to Olympias,
-written just on the return of spring A.D. 405, he draws a pitiable
-picture of his winter sufferings. For days together he lay in bed; but,
-in spite of being wrapped under a very pile of blankets, with a fire
-constantly burning in his room, he could not keep out the cold. He
-suffered from constant sleeplessness, headache, sickness and aversion
-from all food; but, with the return of milder weather in spring, “he
-was brought up again from the gates of death;” and he compares the
-softness of the climate at that season to the amenity of the air of
-Antioch. His spirits also were raised by the arrival of messengers from
-Constantinople, bringing letters from Olympias and other friends.[651]
-
-But the blessings of restoration to health and warm weather were
-counterbalanced by the misery of constant disturbance from the Isaurian
-bandits, who commenced their marauding campaigns as soon as the
-break-up of winter made the country practicable for their operations.
-They swarmed over the whole neighbourhood, and the roads which had been
-impassable from snow were now impassable from robbers, who mingled much
-merciless bloodshed with their plunder. When the full blaze also of
-summer heat came, Chrysostom found it almost as injurious to his health
-as the excessive cold; but he kept up his correspondence with his
-friends with unabated assiduity.[652]
-
-The mission in Phœnicia occupied a great deal of his attention
-during this year. He had written, as already related, from Nice to
-Constantius, the superintendent of the mission, exhorting him not to
-allow the work to flag, owing to his own deposition and banishment,
-but rather to carry it on with additional energy. The efforts of the
-missionaries had begun to provoke a rather fierce opposition on the
-part of the Pagans, and attempts were made to deprive them of the bare
-necessaries of life. But Chrysostom’s confidence and zeal never failed
-for a moment. The missionaries were to keep him informed of their
-wants, for, through the liberality of his friends, he could supply
-them with all that they required. He was ably seconded by Nicolaus,
-a priest, who, though living at a distance, supplied the mission not
-only with money but with men. Gerontius, a presbyter whom Chrysostom
-had persuaded to abandon a solitary ascetic way of life for missionary
-work, was anxious to visit Cucusus on his way to Phœnicia; but
-Chrysostom begs him not to delay, as the work was urgent and winter was
-approaching. He represents the greater advantages of the active life
-Gerontius was now embracing. There would be nothing to prevent him
-observing his fasts, vigils, and other ascetic practices, as before,
-for the good of his own soul, and at the same time, by his missionary
-labours, he would reap the reward of those who save the souls of
-others.[653]
-
-The Pagan resistance assumed more alarming proportions as time went
-on. A letter written to the missionaries seems to imply, by its tone
-of mingled warning and exhortation, that their courage was beginning
-to fail. Chrysostom had recourse to his favourite comparisons of the
-pilot and the physician, who exert twofold energy as the violence of
-the storm and the disease increase. Rufinus, a presbyter, seems to
-have been sent into Phœnicia as a kind of special agent to restore
-peace, and is stimulated to his work by an animated letter. “I hear
-that the rage of the Greeks in Phœnicia has burst forth again, that
-several monks have been wounded, and some even killed. Wherefore I
-urge you the more earnestly to set out upon your journey with great
-speed, and take up your position.”... “If you saw a house in a blaze
-you would not retreat, but advance upon it as quickly as possible, so
-as to anticipate the flames. When all is tranquillity it is within the
-compass of almost any one to make converts, but when Satan is raging
-and the devils are in arms, then, to make a gallant stand and rescue
-those who are falling into the hands of the enemy, is the work of a
-noble, vigilant spirit, a work which befits an alert and lofty mind
-like yours, an apostolic achievement worthy of crowns innumerable and
-rewards which defy description.” He entreats Rufinus to write to him
-from every halting-place on his journey, and to keep him constantly
-informed of all which might take place after his arrival. He would
-send, if necessary, ten thousand times to Constantinople, in order to
-provide Rufinus with all things necessary to facilitate his journey
-and procure his ultimate success. The letter closes with a passage
-which remarkably illustrates the importance attached to reliques.
-“With regard to the reliques of the holy martyrs, feel no anxiety,
-for I immediately despatched the most religious presbyter, my Lord
-Terentius, to my Lord Oneius, the most religious Bishop of Arabissus,
-who possesses many reliques indisputably genuine, which in a few days
-we will forward to you into Phœnicia.”... “Use diligence to get the
-churches which are yet unroofed completed before the winter.”[654]
-
-There is no further record of the future progress or ultimate issue of
-this mission, in which the heart of the exile was so deeply wrapped up.
-Theodoret (v. 29) merely says that through the energy of Chrysostom
-the extirpation of idolatry in Phœnicia, and the destruction of
-Pagan temples, were successfully carried on. But there are instances
-of the existence of Paganism mentioned in the middle of the fifth
-century;[655] and it is only too certain that, under the feeble and
-degenerate successors of Chrysostom, the work would not receive any
-powerful impulse. Partly from the absence of a great central organising
-force like the Papacy, partly from the irregular and unpractical
-temperament of the Eastern nature, missionary enterprises have not
-proceeded in great number from the Eastern Church. The preaching of
-Ulphilas to the Goths, the missions organised by Chrysostom among the
-Goths and in Phœnicia, and the missionary labours of the Nestorians in
-Asia, are but the rare exceptions which prove the rule.
-
-The misery and desolation caused in the neighbourhood of Cucusus by
-the Isaurians seem to have culminated in the winter of A.D. 405-406
-and the ensuing spring. The inhabitants of the villages fled from
-their homes at the approach of these formidable robbers, and sought a
-precarious refuge in woods and caves. Many perished from cold in these
-wild retreats, and many more at the hands of the ruffian robbers, who
-showed no mercy even to the aged, the women and children. Chrysostom
-himself was, like others, frequently moving from place to place, now
-in this village, now in that, sometimes in the woods or secluded
-places. The only spot in which the poor harassed people seem to have
-found tolerable security was in the strong fortress of Arabissus, a
-neighbouring town. Yet even here they ran considerable risks. A body of
-300 Isaurians attacked and very nearly captured it in the middle of the
-night; and the discomfort was extreme at all times, for the castle was
-crowded like a prison; the difficulty of obtaining food was often very
-great, and the difficulty of corresponding with friends still greater.
-Privation, anxiety, and frequent hurried movements in cold weather
-brought severe illness on Chrysostom again. Physicians attended him
-with great kindness, but the impossibility of procuring comforts and
-wholesome food rendered their services almost nugatory. His greatest
-grief, however, seems to have been the difficulty of maintaining
-regular correspondence with friends. The bearer of a letter from
-Olympias actually fell into the hands of the robbers, but was released;
-in consequence of which Chrysostom entreats her not to send any more
-special messengers, but only to avail herself of such persons as were
-obliged by business to pass through his place of exile. He would not
-add to his present sufferings the distress of knowing that any life had
-been lost on his account.[656]
-
-To the year A.D. 406 belong those letters of affectionate gratitude,
-written to the bishops of the West, for their zeal in supporting his
-cause, especially those who had undertaken a long and perilous voyage
-to Constantinople to intercede in his behalf. These letters were sent
-by the hands of Evethius, the presbyter, who had for some time been his
-companion in exile. One letter may be quoted as an example: “I had
-already been amazed at your zeal, on behalf of the reformation of the
-Church, displayed for a long time; but most of all am I now astonished
-at your great earnestness, in having undertaken so long a journey by
-sea, full of labour and toil, on behalf of the interests of the Church.
-I have longed continually to write to you, and offer you the salutation
-due to your piety; but since that is not possible, living as I now am
-in a region almost inaccessible, I take advantage of a most honourable
-and reverend presbyter to send you greeting, and to beseech you to
-persevere to the end in harmony with such a noble beginning. For ye
-know how great will be the reward of your patience, how vast the return
-from a benevolent God to those who labour for the common peace, and
-undergo so great a conflict.”[657]
-
-To Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, he writes thus: “The loud-voiced
-trumpet of your warm and genuine affection has sounded forth even as
-far as to me, a clear and far-reaching blast indeed, extending to the
-very extremities of the world. Distant as we are, we know, not less
-than those present with thee, thy exceeding and burning love; wherefore
-we long extremely to enjoy a meeting with thee face to face. But, since
-the wilderness in which we are imprisoned precludes this, we fulfil
-our desire, as well as we can, by writing to you through our most
-honourable and reverend presbyter, expressing our great gratitude for
-the zeal which you have for so long a time displayed in our behalf;
-and we beg you, when he returns, or by the hands of chance messengers
-who may visit this desolate spot, to send tidings of your health, for
-you know how much pleasure it will afford us to hear frequently of the
-welfare of those who are so warmly disposed towards us.”[658]
-
-The letter written by Chrysostom in A.D. 406 to Innocent is full of
-grateful acknowledgments for all the efforts which he had made, and
-was still making, on his behalf. “Though separated by so vast a length
-of journey, yet are we near your Holiness, beholding with the eye of
-the soul your courage, your genuine, inflexible firmness, and we derive
-constant and abiding consolation from you. For the higher the waves
-are lifted up, the more numerous the rocks and reefs, the more does
-your untiring vigilance increase.... This is now the third year of my
-exile, spent in the midst of famine, pestilence, continual sieges, an
-indescribable wilderness, and the pillage of the Isaurians. In the
-midst of these distresses and dangers, your constant and firm affection
-is no ordinary solace to me.”[659]
-
-There is a letter also addressed to Aurelius,[660] bishop of Carthage,
-thanking him for bold and persevering intercession in his behalf.
-The Church of Africa appears to have adhered to what was at first
-the resolution of the Roman Church, to maintain communion with
-both Chrysostom and Theophilus. St. Augustine has bestowed a high
-eulogium on Chrysostom,[661] and an African council, in A.D. 407,
-passed a resolution to address a letter to Innocent, praying that
-the intercourse between the Churches of Rome and Alexandria might be
-resumed.
-
-The health of the exile appears to have suffered less than usual, in
-the winter of A.D. 406-7, from the effects of the cold. By carefully
-remaining in the house, and for the most part in bed, wrapped up in
-blankets in an apartment where a fire was kept constantly burning, and
-by use of a medicine sent him by a lady, his attacks of headache and
-of sickness were averted or alleviated. He had become inured to the
-want of exercise, the deprivation of the bath, and the smokiness of
-the room; and even the natives were astonished at the firmness with
-which so feeble and “spidery” (ἀραχνώδης) a frame endured the severity
-of the climate. He began to feel a persuasion that God would not have
-preserved him so miraculously through such various perils, if it were
-not His purpose to restore him to his former position, that he might
-accomplish some work for the Church.[662]
-
-But the chief work which he was destined to accomplish was to exhibit
-to the close of his life, now rapidly approaching, a noble spectacle
-of Christian fortitude and patience, of one continuing to the last to
-hope in God, to put his trust in God, and still to give Him thanks.
-The malicious envy of his enemies was augmented by the admiration and
-affection which pursued their victim from all parts of Christendom,
-and the correspondence which was maintained with him even in the
-mountain fortress which they had selected for his prison. The only
-remedy was to remove him yet further, to a more remote and still more
-inaccessible region. They worked upon the Emperor and the Court, whose
-jealousy had been already excited by the interference of the West;
-and, in the middle of June, A.D. 407, an order was obtained by them
-for the removal of the exile to Pityus, on the eastern coast of the
-Euxine, near the very frontier of the Empire, in the most desolate
-country, inhabited by savage, barbarous people. The two prætorian
-soldiers charged with conveying him thither were instructed to push on
-the journey with the most inexorable haste, and encouraged to hope for
-promotion should their prisoner die on the road. One of the two had
-some sparks of humanity, and furtively showed some little kindness to
-the sufferer; but the other followed out the cruel directions given him
-with merciless fidelity. Chrysostom had, some time ago, expressed his
-conviction that he could not survive the fatigue of another long and
-laborious journey, yet for three months his fragile frame endured the
-strain till he reached Comana in Pontus. A former bishop of that place,
-Basiliscus, had suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Maximinus,
-together with Lucian of Antioch. Chrysostom was lodged in the precincts
-of the church erected in honour of Basiliscus, above five miles outside
-the town. Here, so runs the story, the martyred bishop appeared to
-him in the night, stood beside him, and said, “Be of good cheer, for
-by to-morrow we shall be together.” A similar vision was vouchsafed
-to one of the presbyters of the church. He was bidden “to prepare a
-place for our brother John.” In the morning, Chrysostom entreated his
-guards to allow him to stay where he was till eleven o’clock; but they
-were inflexible, and the weary march was resumed. When, however, they
-had proceeded about thirty stadia, he became so ill that they were
-compelled to return to the martyry. Here he asked for white garments,
-and having been clothed in them, he distributed his own raiment among
-the clergy who were present. The Eucharist was administered to him, he
-spoke a few farewell words to the ecclesiastics who stood around him,
-and with the words “Glory be to God for all things, Amen,” on his lips,
-the weary exile breathed his last.
-
- “Rest comes at length; though life be long and dreary,
- The day must dawn, and darksome night be past;
- All journeys end in welcomes to the weary,
- And heaven, the heart’s true home, will come at last.”
-
-The promise of Basiliscus was literally fulfilled—he was buried in the
-same grave with the martyr, in the presence of a large concourse of
-monks and nuns.[663]
-
-The enemies of Chrysostom thus succeeded in wreaking their vengeance
-to the full upon the person of their victim—“Non missura cutem, nisi
-plena cruoris hirudo;” but they were powerless to obliterate his
-memory. A sense of the cruelty and injustice with which he had been
-treated grew throughout Christendom, and he was more honoured and
-admired after his death than he had been during his life. His followers
-in Constantinople, under the appellation of Johnites, persisted in
-refusing to hold any communion with Atticus; and in the course of
-ten years, Atticus himself was constrained, by the solicitations of
-the Court and people, by the example of other prelates, especially
-Alexander of Antioch, and by a natural desire to maintain communion
-with the Western Church, to admit the name of Chrysostom into the
-diptychs of the Church of Constantinople. Cyril, the nephew and
-successor of Theophilus, who inherited in too many points his uncle’s
-spirit as well as his see, yielded a more tardy and reluctant consent
-to the recognition of his uncle’s foe.[664]
-
-But a still higher honour was yet to be paid to his memory by the
-Church from which he had been so violently expelled. In A.D. 434,
-Proclus, formerly a disciple of Chrysostom, was elevated to the see of
-Constantinople. He conceived that the only effectual means of doing
-justice to the injured saint, and reconciling the Johnites to the
-Church, would be to transport his remains to the city. The consent
-of the Emperor Theodosius II. was obtained. On January 27,[665] A.D.
-438, the reliques of the banished Archbishop were brought to the
-shores of the Bosporus. As once before in his lifetime, to greet him
-on his return from exile, so now, and in still greater numbers, the
-people, bearing torches, crowded the waters of the strait with their
-boats to welcome the return of all which remained of their beloved and
-much-wronged spiritual father. The young Emperor, stooping down, laid
-his face on the reliquary, and implored forgiveness of the injuries
-which his parents had inflicted on the saint whose ashes it contained.
-That reliquary was then deposited near the altar of the Church of the
-Apostles.[666] It is the sad story, so often repeated in history, of
-goodness and greatness, unrecognised, slighted, injured, cut short in
-a career of usefulness by one generation, abundantly, but too late,
-acknowledged in the next; when posterity, paying to the memory and the
-tomb the honours which should have been bestowed on the living man, can
-only utter the remorseful prayer—
-
- “His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani
- Munere....”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
- SURVEY OF CHRYSOSTOM’S THEOLOGICAL TEACHING—PRACTICAL
- TONE OF HIS WORKS—REASON OF THIS—DOCTRINE OF
- MAN’S NATURE—ORIGINAL SIN—GRACE—FREE-WILL—HOW
- FAR CHRYSOSTOM PELAGIAN—LANGUAGE ON THE
- TRINITY—ATONEMENT—JUSTIFICATION—THE TWO SACRAMENTS—NO
- TRACE OF CONFESSION, PURGATORY, OR MARIOLATRY—RELATIONS
- TOWARDS THE POPE—LITURGY OF CHRYSOSTOM—HIS CHARACTER AS A
- COMMENTATOR—VIEWS ON INSPIRATION—HIS PREACHING—PERSONAL
- APPEARANCE—REFERENCES TO GREEK CLASSICAL
- AUTHORS—COMPARISON WITH ST. AUGUSTINE.
-
-
-The main characteristics of Chrysostom as a theologian and interpreter
-of Scripture, as well as a pastor and preacher, have, it is hoped, been
-already indicated in the course of the preceding narrative; but it may
-be desirable to supplement, by a fuller and more methodical survey,
-notices which were necessarily sometimes brief and incidental in the
-biographical chapters.[667]
-
-Some evidence, therefore, of his theological teaching and method of
-interpretation will first of all be collected from his writings,
-and arranged under different heads. Two difficulties in the way of
-executing this task faithfully should be borne in mind: first, the
-voluminous bulk of Chrysostom’s works (as Suidas observed, that it
-belonged to God rather than man to know them all), which renders a
-successful search for the selection of what are really the most
-telling passages in illustration of each point far from easy;
-secondly, that Chrysostom, being a preacher rather than a writer, was
-of course liable to slip into inexact or exaggerated language, under
-the influence of excitement, or a desire to make an impression on the
-feelings of his hearers. An attentive perusal, however, of his writings
-leads the reader to the conclusion that he was very seldom carried
-away by the impulse of the moment into merely vague or rhetorical
-expressions, and that he was especially preserved from this failing by
-his habit of combining the expository with the practical and hortatory
-line of preaching. His discourses are careful commentaries as well as
-practical addresses. Week after week it was his custom to go through
-some book of Holy Scripture, verse by verse, clause by clause, almost
-word by word; endeavouring with all diligence and patience to ascertain
-the exact meaning of the passage before him, to place it clearly before
-his audience, and to base his practical exhortation upon it.
-
-The remark has been so often repeated, as to have become almost a
-truism, that the theology of the East is distinguished from the
-theology of the West by its more speculative, metaphysical character.
-It deals more especially with the most profound and abstract
-mysteries—the being and nature of the Godhead, of angels, of the whole
-spiritual realm. It might, therefore, occasion some surprise to find
-the homilies of Chrysostom marked by such an eminently practical tone.
-But the apparent contradiction is easily explained. It is precisely
-because Greek philosophy and theology were chiefly concerned with the
-most abstract questions, that the Greek preacher, speaking on matters
-not abstract, but practical, relating to moral conduct, is especially
-free in his language from philosophical or technical terms. On the
-other hand, in the Western Church exactly the reverse occurs. The
-best intellectual powers of the Roman having been mainly exercised on
-jurisprudence, the mind of Roman theologians naturally turned most
-powerfully towards practical questions which had most affinity to that
-science with which they were chiefly conversant—such as the relation
-of man to God, the nature of sin, the means of discharging the debt
-owed by man, the problem of the free-will of man, and providence of
-God. Western theology is coloured by the language of Roman law, as
-Eastern theology is coloured by the language of Greek philosophy.
-“Merit,” “satisfaction,” “decrees,” “forensic justification,” “imputed
-righteousness,” are terms which do not occur in the writings of the
-Greek theologian, because they are the expressions of ideas in which
-he felt no interest. They are the offspring of the Roman mind, in
-which legal ideas were dominant. Hence the Western theologian is most
-technical and scientific in the region of practical questions; the
-Greek, on the other hand, is more entirely free from the influence of
-philosophy in that region than in any other.
-
-In accordance with this distinction, we find that Chrysostom, in
-treating of those practical questions with which, as a preacher and
-pastor, he was mainly concerned—the nature and the work of Jesus
-Christ, providence, grace, the nature of man, sin, faith, repentance,
-good works, and the like—casts his thoughts into the most free,
-natural, untechnical, and therefore forcible language possible.
-
-To consider first of all his exposition of man’s nature. The majority
-of the Oriental fathers made a triple division, into body, soul, and
-spirit—the soul (ψυχή) being equivalent to the animal life, the spirit
-(πνεῦμα or ψυχὴ λογική) to the reason. Chrysostom makes a twofold
-division only, into body and soul, and reserves the word “spirit” to
-designate the Holy Spirit.[668] Man, when first created, came like
-a pure golden statue fresh out of the artist’s hands, destined, if
-he had not fallen, to enjoy a yet higher and nobler dignity than he
-then possessed.[669] His being made “in the image of God” Chrysostom
-interprets to signify that dominance over the lower animals which God
-Himself exercises over the whole creation, and the peculiar superiority
-of man’s nature to theirs consists in his reasoning power, as well as
-in his endowment with the gift of immortality.[670] Man fell through
-his own weakness and indolent negligence (ῥᾳθυμία), and then became
-deprived of that immortality and divine wisdom with which he had been
-previously gifted; but his nature was not essentially _changed_, it
-was only weakened.[671] Evil is not an integral part of man; it is not
-an inherent substantial force (δύναμις ἐνυπόστατος):[672] it is the
-moral purpose (προαίρεσις) which is perverted when men sin. If evil was
-a part of our nature, it would be no more reprehensible than natural
-appetites and affections. If man’s will was not unfettered, there would
-be no merit in goodness and no blame in evil. There is no constraint
-either to holiness or to sin; neither does God compel to the one, nor
-do the fleshly appetites compel to the other.[673] The body was not,
-as the Manichæans erroneously maintained, the seat of sin; it was the
-creation of God equally with the soul; the whole burden, therefore, of
-responsibility in sin must be thrown on the “moral purpose.” Here was
-the root of all evil; the conception of necessity and immutability is
-bound up with the idea of nature. We do not try to alter that which is
-by nature (φύσει): sin therefore is not by nature, because by means of
-education, laws, and punishments we do seek to alter that.[674] Sin
-is through the moral purpose which is susceptible of change, and till
-the moral purpose has come into activity sin cannot properly be said
-to exist: infants, therefore, and very young children, are free from
-sin.[675] Our first parents fell through moral negligence (ῥᾳθυμία);
-and this is the principal cause of sin now. They marked out a path
-which has been trodden ever since; they yielded to appetite, and the
-force of the will has been weakened thereby in all their posterity, who
-have become subject to the punishment of death; so that though sin is
-not a part of man’s nature, yet his nature is readily inclined to evil
-(ὀξυῤῥεπὴς πρὸς κακίαν): but this tendency will be controlled by the
-moral purpose if that is in a healthy condition.[676]
-
-Chrysostom would thus readily allow the expressions “hereditary
-tendency to sin,” “hereditary liability to the punishment of death,”
-but he shrinks from the expression “hereditary sin.” His anxiety to
-insist on the complete freedom of the human will was very natural
-in the earnest Christian preacher of holiness, who lived in an age
-when men were frequently encountered who, in the midst of wickedness,
-complained that they were abandoned to the dominion of devils or to the
-irresistible course of fate. They transferred all guilt from themselves
-to the powers of evil, all responsibility to the Creator Himself,
-who had withdrawn from them, as they maintained, the protection of
-His good providence. To counteract the disastrous effects of such
-philosophy, which surrendered the will to the current of the passions,
-like an unballasted ship cast adrift before the storm, it was indeed
-necessary to maintain very resolutely and boldly the essential freedom
-of the will, to insist on man’s moral responsibility, and the duty
-of vigilant, strenuous exertion. Chrysostom frequently exposes the
-absurdity as well as the moral evil of a doctrine of necessity. If
-human actions are necessary and preordained results of circumstances,
-then teaching and government become mere pieces of acting, destitute
-of any practical influence; they are also unjust, since you have no
-right to punish a person who has acted under compulsion. Such a theory
-ought, also, logically to paralyse human industry. If a plentiful
-harvest is predetermined by the decrees of fate, you may spare yourself
-the trouble of ploughing, sowing, and other laborious operations; or,
-if Clotho has turned her distaff in the other direction, all your
-exertions will fail to produce an abundant crop. Such a doctrine is
-repugnant to our natural sense, and contradicts our own consciousness
-and inward experience. We feel that we are free, and all human action
-proceeds on the principle of supposing man to be free. We teach and we
-punish. The plea of necessity would be rejected in a court of law as
-an impudent and futile excuse for crime. Such a theory is utterly at
-variance also with God’s mode of addressing man, which always implies
-freedom of volition; as, for instance, “If _ye will_ hearken unto me,
-ye shall eat the fat of the land; but if _ye will not_ hearken, the
-sword shall devour you.”[677]
-
-Profoundly convinced, therefore, of a universal tendency to sin
-on the one hand, but of an essential freedom of the will on the
-other, Chrysostom sounds alternately the note of warning and of
-encouragement—warning against that weakness, indolence, languor of
-the moral purpose which occasions a fall; encouragement to the full
-use of those powers with which all men are gifted, and to avoid that
-despondency which will prevent a man from rising again when he has
-fallen. St. Paul repented, and, not despairing, became equal to angels;
-Judas repenting, but despairing, was hurried into self-inflicted death.
-Despair was the devil’s most powerful instrument for working the
-destruction of man.[678] Chrysostom therefore earnestly combated any
-view of Christian life which daunted and discouraged man’s efforts, by
-winding them too high, or placing before them an unattainable standard.
-Men sometimes said we cannot be like St. Peter and St. Paul, because
-we are not gifted with their miraculous power. But, he replies, you
-may emulate their Christian graces: these are within the reach of all,
-and these are, by our Lord’s own declaration, the most important. “_By
-this_ shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
-to another;” the moral works of the Apostles, works of love, mercy, and
-faith, were far more instrumental in the conversion of the world than
-their merely miraculous powers.[679]
-
-Urgently, however, as Chrysostom, in his desire to stimulate exertion
-and strengthen the moral life, insists on the absolute freedom of
-the will, he maintains no less clearly the insufficiency of man’s
-nature to accomplish good without the Divine assistance. No one has
-described in more forcible language the powerful hold of sin upon human
-nature. Sin is like a terrible pit, containing fierce monsters, and
-full of darkness.[680] It is more terrible than a demon,[681] it is a
-great demon;[682] it is like fire; when once it has got a hold on the
-thoughts of the heart, if it is not quenched it spreads further and
-further, and becomes increasingly difficult to subdue;[683] it is a
-heavy burden, more oppressive than lead.[684] Christ saw us lying cast
-away upon the ground, perishing under the tyranny of sin, and He took
-compassion on us.[685] In the infant weakness and liability to sin are
-inherent, though not sin itself. The moral nature of the infant is like
-a plant, which will grow healthily by a process of natural development,
-unless exposed to injurious influences; but it requires the protection
-of grace, “therefore we baptize infants to impart holiness and
-goodness, as well as to establish a relationship with God.” This
-passage is quoted by St. Augustine in his earnest vindication of
-Chrysostom from Pelagianism.[686] But the passages on which Augustine
-mainly depends to prove Chrysostom’s adherence to the tenet of original
-sin are in his exposition of Romans v. 12-14:—“Death reigned from Adam
-to Moses. How reigned? In likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is
-a figure of One to come. How a figure? Because, as he became a cause
-of death to those who were born from him, although they had not eaten
-of the tree, even so Christ has become to His posterity the procurer
-of righteousness, though they have not done righteousness, which He
-has bestowed upon us all through His cross.” Augustine quotes also his
-observation on Christ’s tears over the grave of Lazarus:—“He wept to
-think that men, who were capable of immortality, had been made mortal
-by the devil;” and his remarks on Genesis i. 28, about the subjection
-of the lower animals to man: “that man’s present dread of wild beasts
-was entirely owing to the Fall, and had not existed previous to that:
-it was inherited by all Adam’s posterity, because they inherited his
-degradation through the Fall.” All these passages, however, do not
-amount to more than the doctrine of a universally inherited tendency
-to sin, and therefore liability to its punishment, death. In his
-interpretation of the passage, “the free gift is of many offences unto
-justification,” this last word is plainly taken by him in the sense of
-making man righteous, not accounting him as such.[687]
-
-His conception of the relation between the will and power of God on
-the one hand, and man’s freedom on the other, appears to be this:—All
-men, without exception, are through Christ called to salvation;
-predestination means no more than God’s original design, conceived
-prior to the Fall, of bringing all men to salvation. So, after the
-Fall, His redemptive plan or purpose embraces all men; but, on the
-other hand, it constrains no one. According to His absolute will all
-men are to be saved; but the accomplishment of His purpose is limited
-by the freedom of choice which He has Himself bestowed on man, whereby
-man may either accept the proffered favour and be eternally blessed, or
-reject it and be eternally condemned. God’s election of those who are
-called is not compulsory, but persuasive;[688] hence, many of those who
-have been called perish through their rejection of grace: they, and not
-God, are the authors of their own condemnation. God knows beforehand
-what each man will be, good or bad; but He does not constrain him to be
-one or the other.[689] The illustration of the potter in Romans ix. 20
-must not be pressed too closely; St. Paul’s object simply is to enforce
-the duty of unconditional obedience. A vessel of wrath is one who
-obdurately resists God’s grace; he was never _intended_ by God to be a
-vessel of wrath. “The vessels of mercy are said to have been prepared
-afore by God unto glory,” but the vessels of wrath to be fitted (not by
-God—He is not mentioned—but by sin) unto destruction.[690] So again,
-he acutely observes that, in the account of the final judgment (St.
-Matt. xxv.), the destiny of the _good_ only is referred to God. “Come,
-ye blessed _of my Father_, inherit the kingdom prepared _for you_;”
-but, “Depart, ye cursed” (not “of my Father”), “into everlasting fire,
-prepared” (not for you, but) “for the devil and his angels.”
-
-On St. John vi. 44, he remarks, it is perfectly true that only they
-who are drawn and taught by the Father can come to Christ; but away
-with the paltry pretence that those who are not thus drawn and taught
-are emancipated from blame; for this very thing, the being led and
-instructed, depends on their own moral choice. Two factors, therefore,
-Divine grace which presents, and human will which appropriates, are
-co-efficients in the work of man’s salvation; God’s love and man’s
-faith must work hand in hand. God provides opportunities, encourages
-by promises, arouses by calls; and the moment these are responded to,
-the moment man begins to will and to do what is right, he is abundantly
-assisted by grace. But Chrysostom recognises nothing approaching
-the doctrine of final perseverance. St. Paul might have relapsed,
-Judas might have been saved (De Laud. Ap. Pauli, Hom. ii. 4). In his
-commentary on Phil. ii. 12-13, “It is God which worketh in us both to
-will and to do of his good pleasure,” the spontaneity of man’s will
-is carefully maintained. It may be said, if God works the will in us,
-why does the apostle exhort us to work? for if God wrought the wish,
-it is vain to speak of obedience; the whole work is God’s from the
-beginning. No! Chrysostom says, what St. Paul means is, that if your
-will works, God will augment your will, and quicken it into activity
-and zeal. Hast thou given alms? you are the more prompted to give;
-hast thou abstained from giving? negligence will increase upon you.
-The histories of Abraham, Job, Elijah, St. Paul, and other saints,
-are frequently cited to prove his central principle, that God in the
-moral and spiritual sense helps those only who help themselves. “When
-He, who knows the secrets of our hearts, sees us eagerly prepare for
-the contest of virtue, He instantly supplies us with His assistance,
-lightening our labours, and strengthening the weakness of our nature.
-In the Olympian contests the trainer stands by as a spectator merely,
-awaiting the issue, and unable to contribute anything to the efforts of
-the contender; whereas our Master accompanies us, extends His hand to
-us, all but subdues our antagonist, arranges everything to enable us to
-prevail, that He may place the amaranthine wreath upon our brows.”[691]
-God does not anticipate (φθάνει) man’s own volitions (βουλήσεις),
-but when these are once bent in the right direction, God’s grace
-powerfully promotes them; and without this divine co-operation holiness
-is unattainable.[692] But as, according to Chrysostom’s conceptions,
-the first movement towards good moral practice comes from the man
-himself, he often speaks of a man’s salvation depending on his own
-moral choice. He is not, therefore, in harmony with the mind of our
-Church as expressed in the Article, that “we have no power to do
-good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God
-_preventing_ us, that we may have a good will;” but his language
-thoroughly concurs with the subsequent clause, “and working with us
-when we have that good will.” In the technical language of theology, he
-recognises assisting, but not prevenient, grace.
-
-It has been well remarked by Mr. Alexander Knox (“Remains,” vol. iii.
-79), that “the advocates for efficient grace have been too generally
-antiperfectionists, and the perfectionists, on the other hand, too
-little aware that we are not sufficient so much as to think anything
-as of ourselves, but that it is God which worketh in us both to will
-and to do of His good pleasure.” The perfect conception of the true
-Christian standard of character could only be found, he thought, in a
-union of the systems of St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine. It must not
-be imagined, however, that Chrysostom regarded Divine grace as merely
-accessory or subsidiary to man’s own will and purpose. He fails not to
-represent it as indispensable to every human soul, however powerfully
-inclined of itself to good. The human will, weakened and depraved by
-evil, is not for a moment to rank as co-ordinate in its action with
-the work of the Holy Spirit: the real efficient force in the work of
-sanctification is the Holy Spirit. The beginnings, indeed (ἀρχαί), are
-our own, and we must contribute what we can, small and cheap though it
-be, because, unless we do our part, we shall not obtain the Divine
-assistance; but though the initiatory step is ours, the accomplishment
-of the work is altogether God’s, and, since the major part is His, we
-commonly say that the whole is His.[693]
-
-He invariably speaks of the Old Dispensation as a period when Divine
-grace was given in less measure than under the Gospel, because then sin
-had not been blotted out, nor death vanquished. The achievements of
-holy men like Abraham and Job in this period were therefore deserving
-of peculiar praise, and their faults, on the other hand, were entitled
-to more indulgent judgment, because they laboured under disadvantages.
-When the Lamb which taketh away the sins of the world had been slain,
-and the reconciliation between man and God had been effected, then
-spiritual gifts of a higher order were imparted as a sign and a pledge
-that the old hostility had ceased.[694]
-
-Turning now to theology, strictly so called, to the being and nature
-of the Godhead, we find comparatively little said by Chrysostom,
-except incidentally, on a subject more congenial to the theologian
-and student than to the earnest, practical preacher. In opposition to
-the rationalistic doctrine of the Arians, who affected to comprehend
-the Divine Nature, he strenuously maintained, as we have seen,[695]
-its inscrutability, and denounced any curious investigation of it as
-at once foolish and profane. God has condescended to appear to us in
-a form which is intelligible, and it is presumption to attempt to
-penetrate beyond the limits which He has placed to a knowledge of
-Himself. Chrysostom takes the dogma of the one substance (ὁμοουσία),
-established at Nice, as the basis of his position against the Arians,
-and seeks to prove it, not by speculative argument, after the manner of
-the Alexandrian school, but by reference to Holy Scripture. He uses the
-word “substance” (οὐσία) to designate the essential nature and “person”
-(ὑπόστασις), the personality of the Godhead, and points out that words
-which relate to the οὐσία, as Lord and God, are applied to all the
-Persons; whereas the other terms—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—indicating
-distinction of personality, are each applied to one Person only in the
-Godhead. Yet the Persons are not related to the substance as parts
-to the whole: God the Son is to God the Father as a beam of the sun,
-inseparable from Him, identical with Him in substance, yet retaining
-His own personality.[696] He is equally careful to guard the divinity
-of Christ against the rationalising school of Paul of Samosata, and the
-distinctness of His personality as against the Sabellians. St. Paul,
-he observes, does not dwell too much upon the abasement of Christ,
-lest Paul of Samosata should take advantage; neither does he dwell
-exclusively upon the exaltation, lest Sabellius should spring upon
-him.[697]
-
-The equal divinity and distinct personality of the Holy Ghost are no
-less clearly and forcibly demonstrated by a collection and comparison
-of passages. St. Paul, for instance, in 1 Cor. xii. 6, speaks of God as
-“working all in all;” in verse 11 of the same chapter, he uses the same
-language of the Holy Spirit. Into any metaphysical, abstract discussion
-of the nature of the Godhead Chrysostom does not enter. He simply
-endeavours to guard the faith of the Church by a careful exposition of
-Holy Scripture, on which that faith was based, and by an exposure of
-the one-sided, or perverted, interpretations on which the current forms
-of heresy depended.
-
-The union of the two natures in the person of our blessed Lord was, as
-is well known, a subject of constant speculation and of prolific error
-in the first five centuries. Here, again, the good sense of Chrysostom,
-united to his careful study of Holy Scripture, enabled him to hold
-the balance between two divergent methods—one which attended too
-exclusively to the humanitarian point of view, the other which brought
-out the divinity, but at the expense of the manhood. He earnestly
-maintains the veritable assumption of humanity by the Word. Our nature
-could not have been elevated to the divine if the Saviour had not
-_really_ partaken of it; neither could He have brought help to our race
-if He had appeared in the unveiled glory of His Godhead, for sun and
-moon, earth and sea, and even man himself, would have perished at the
-brightness of His presence. Therefore He veiled his Godhead in flesh,
-and came not as the Lord in outward semblance, but in lowliness and
-abasement.[698] And this very condescension enhanced His dignity and
-extended His dominion: before the Incarnation He was adored by angels
-only, but afterwards by the whole race of redeemed man.[699] He assumed
-our nature, even in its liability to death, but not as contaminated
-by sin.[700] There were in Him three elements—body and soul making up
-the human nature, and the Logos or Word making up the divine. These
-two natures were _united_ but not _fused_. “We, indeed, are body and
-soul, but He is God and soul and body; remaining what He was, He took
-that which He was not, and having become flesh, He remained God, being
-the Word. The one He became He assumed; the other He was. Let us not
-then confound, neither let us divide; one God, one Christ the Son of
-God; and when I say one, I speak of union, not fusion” (ἕνωσιν λέγω
-οὐ σύγχυσιν).[701] Jesus Christ was subject to death, susceptible of
-pain and all those emotions and sensations which belong to the human
-body, otherwise His would not have been a real body, but the weakness
-pertaining to human nature was entirely overruled by the constant
-operation of the Logos. If He is said to have been lowered or exalted,
-this was only as man, since the Godhead was incapable of either, being
-absolutely perfect. When the Holy Ghost is said to have descended
-upon Him at His baptism, this must be considered to refer to His human
-nature only; the manhood, not the Godhead, is anointed. Or when we read
-that He walked not in Judæa, because the Jews sought to kill Him, and
-then, just afterwards, that He passed through the midst of His enemies
-unscathed, we have a direct manifestation, in close correspondence, of
-the Godhead and the manhood.[702]
-
-In speaking of the redemptive work of our blessed Lord, Chrysostom’s
-language is too rapturously eloquent to be very precise. There are
-in him several traces of the idea which began with Irenæus, and was
-developed by Origen, that the devil through the Fall acquired an actual
-right over man, and that a kind of pious fraud was practised upon him
-to deprive him of this right through the Incarnation and death of
-Jesus. By the noiseless, unostentatious manner in which our Saviour
-assumed humanity, veiling His Godhead under it, He, as it were, stole
-unawares upon the devil, who was not fully conscious of the majesty
-and might of his adversary. The devil assaulted Christ as if Christ
-had been merely man, and he was disappointed in his expectation. He
-was vanquished by his own weapons, his tyranny was destroyed by means
-of those very things which were his strength; the curse of sin and of
-death were his most trusted pieces: Christ submitted Himself to be
-bruised by them, and yet crushed them by His submission.[703]
-
-On the other hand, we find also in Chrysostom the customary conception
-of a debt discharged, a ransom paid, a sacrifice offered once for all.
-“Adam sinned and died; Christ sinned not and yet died. Wherefore? that
-he who sinned and died might be able, through Him who died but sinned
-not, to throw off the grasp of death. This is what takes place also in
-money transactions. Often some one who is a debtor, not being able to
-pay, is detained in bonds; another, who owes nothing but is able to lay
-down the sum, pays it and releases the responsible person. Thus has it
-been in the case of man. Man was the debtor, was detained by the devil,
-and could not pay; Christ owed nothing, nor was He holden by the devil,
-but He was able to pay the debt. He came and He paid down death on
-behalf of him who was detained in bondage.[704]
-
-From this point of view the person to whom the debt is due and is
-discharged is the devil; from another, the satisfaction is regarded
-as due to God, owing to the violation of man’s obedience, and is paid
-to Him through the sacrifice of a sinless life. “It was right that
-all men should fulfil the righteousness of God; but, since no one did
-this, Christ came and completely fulfilled it.”[705] He was Himself
-both the sacrificer and the victim; the cross being the altar. He
-suffered outside the city that the prophecy, “He was numbered with the
-transgressors,” might be fulfilled, and also that the _universality_ of
-the sacrifice might be proclaimed.[706] Chrysostom is not careful to
-distinguish between the alienation of man from God, and of God from man
-through the Fall. He represents the hostility as in some sort existing
-on both sides. Christ did the work of a mediator by interposing Himself
-between the two parties, and reconciling each to the other. The
-references to such a fundamental verity are of course numerous, often
-full of beauty of expression and tenderness of feeling, and glowing
-earnestness. What he specially delights to dwell upon, as might be
-expected from his warm, affectionate disposition, is the exceeding
-love of Christ to man, and the hearty return which gratitude for such
-a benefit ought to draw forth from us. Like St. Paul, he often will
-break forth, in the midst of some argument or practical address, into a
-burst of rapturous and adoring praise. “What reward shall I give unto
-the Lord for all the benefits which He hath done unto me? Who shall
-express the noble acts of the Lord, or show forth all His praise? He
-abased Himself that He might exalt thee; He died to make thee immortal;
-He became a curse that thou mightest obtain a blessing.... When the
-world lay in darkness, the light of the Cross was held up like a torch
-shining in a dark place, and the light at the top of it was the Sun of
-Righteousness Himself.”[707]
-
-Chrysostom’s doctrine of justification is naturally coloured by his
-ethics. Maintaining, as he did, that the corruption of man’s nature
-consisted in a weakness of the moral purpose, a crooked tendency
-of the will, rather than in any inherent indelible stain in that
-nature itself, his exhortations are directed rather to inculcate
-energetic action, a gradual process of improvement of the will with
-the Divine help, than that entire dependence through faith on the
-mercy of God which springs out of a deep conviction of the sinner’s
-own insufficiency. The logical tendency of the Augustinian view of the
-intense and radical depravity of man’s nature is to induce a total
-repudiation of the efficacy of personal effort, a total disavowal
-of all personal merit. Hence justification comes to be regarded as
-purely an act of acquittal on God’s part, a boon which the despairing
-sinner by an act of faith thankfully accepts. Such is not the position
-of Chrysostom, or of those who, like the Cambridge Divines of the
-seventeenth century, have trodden in his footsteps. With him the
-condition of a pardoned sinner consists rather in that renovation of
-the spiritual and moral life which is the result of long and laborious
-effort, aided of course by Divine grace, a succession of moral acts
-eventually producing “a new creature.” Faith is not so much regarded
-merely as the instrument or hand held out, by which God’s gift is
-appropriated, as the first in a row of good works, a fruitful source of
-all good action. “Abraham,” he says, “believed God, and it was counted
-to him for righteousness. Why? To prove that belief itself, in the
-first instance, and obedience to the call of God, come from our own
-good judgment (εὐγνωμοσύνη); but as soon as the foundation of faith is
-laid, we require the alliance of the Holy Spirit, that it may remain
-constantly unshakable and inflexible.”[708] “Faith is the mother of all
-good, the sure staff of man’s tottering footsteps, the anchor of his
-tempest-tossed soul, without which he would be like a ship cast adrift
-on the sea to the mercy of winds and waves.”[709] “It is more stable
-and secure than reason, for it carries its own proof with it; the
-conclusions of reason may be diverted by counter-arguments, but faith
-stands above argument, and is not distracted by it.”[710]
-
-He does not, indeed, shrink from a bold declaration of the value of
-good works, but he is far from teaching men to depend on them as
-efficient causes of salvation. They are to be stored up as a kind of
-viaticum for our journey to the other world. “As those who are in a
-foreign country, when they wish to return to their own land, take
-pains, a long time beforehand, to collect means sufficient for their
-journey, so surely ought we, who are but strangers and settlers on this
-earth, to lay up a store of provisions through spiritual virtue, that
-when our Master shall command our return into our native country, we
-may be prepared and may carry part of our store with us, having sent
-the other in advance.”[711] On the other hand, he constantly insists
-that it is the favour and mercy of God alone which, in the end, bestows
-salvation on us. Faith and good works are necessary conditions, but not
-efficient causes of salvation. God has graciously willed that they who
-have faith and good works shall be saved: let no man therefore boast.
-We could not do good works without God’s assisting grace, nor could
-they in the end and at the best save us if it were not His merciful
-and gracious will.[712] Therefore, let no one pride himself on his
-good works; above all things, let him cultivate a spirit of humility
-and modesty: St. Paul, after all his labours, confessed that he was
-not meet to be called an apostle, but was what he was by the grace of
-God.[713] “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” “Tell me
-not I have sinned much, and how can I be saved? _Thou_ art not able,
-but thy Master is able so to blot out thy sins that no trace even of
-them shall remain. In the natural body, indeed, though the wound may
-be healed, yet the scar remains; but God does not suffer the scar
-even to remain, but, together with release from punishment, grants
-righteousness also, and makes the sinner to be equal to him who has
-not sinned. He makes the sin neither to be nor to have been.... Sin is
-drowned in the ocean of God’s mercy, just as a spark is extinguished in
-a flood of water.”[714]
-
-It was, no doubt, the trustful dependence of Chrysostom on Divine
-grace, coupled with his firm conviction of the free capacity of man to
-turn to what is good, which enabled him to pitch all his exhortations
-to Christian holiness in such a singularly cheerful, hopeful tone.
-To his sanguine temperament it seemed as if man’s natural capacities
-for good, aided by grace obtained through prayer, could accomplish
-anything. “The effect of prayer on the heart is like that of the rising
-sun upon the natural world; as the wild beasts come forth by night to
-prowl and prey, but the sun ariseth, and they get them away together
-and lay them down in their dens, so, when the soul is illuminated by
-prayer, the irrational and brutal passions are put to flight, anger is
-calmed, lust is extinguished, envy is expelled; prayer is the treasure
-of the poor, the security of the rich; the poorest of all men is
-rich if he can pray, and the rich man who cannot pray is miserably
-poor. Ahab without prayer was impotent amidst his splendour; Elijah
-with prayer was mighty in his coarse garment of sheepskin.”[715] “It
-is impossible, impossible that a man who calls constantly on God with
-proper zeal should ever sin; his spirit is proof against temptation so
-long as the effect of his praying lasts, and when it begins to fail,
-then he must pray again. And this may be done anywhere, in the market
-or in the shop, since prayer demands the outstretched soul rather than
-the extended hands.”[716] Long prayers were to be avoided; they gave
-great opportunities to Satan to distract the attention, which could not
-easily bear a lengthened strain. Prayers should be frequent and short;
-thus we should best comply with the direction of St. Paul to pray
-without ceasing.[717]
-
-It remains to collect some notices of Chrysostom’s teaching with
-reference to the two Sacraments.
-
-The number of those who, as Christian children of decidedly Christian
-parents, were baptized in infancy appears to have been small at this
-period, compared with those who, like Chrysostom himself, joined the
-ranks of the Church at a later epoch of life. There were many whose
-parents, or who themselves, hovered not so much between Christianity
-and any definite form of paganism, as between Christianity and
-worldliness. The sermons addressed by Chrysostom and his contemporaries
-to catechumens, and the frequent allusions to them, the minute
-directions respecting their instruction, their division into classes,
-the custom of calling the first part of the service to which they were
-admitted the Missa Catechumenorum, prove that numerous they must have
-been. I have failed to find any passages in which Chrysostom urgently
-inculcates infant baptism, and, considering his views respecting
-original sin, this is not surprising; but he earnestly denounces a
-custom of deferring baptism, prevalent among those who were already
-believers, or professing to be such. Often it was delayed till men
-believed themselves to be at the point of death—a practice which he
-especially deprecates, because at such a time “the recipient was
-often in a restless, suffering state of mind and body, most unfit to
-receive that holy sacrament; the entrance of the priest was regarded
-by the sorrowful attendants as a certain evidence of the approaching
-end; and when the sick man could not recognise those who were present,
-or hear a voice, or answer in those words by which he was to enter
-into a blessed covenant with our Lord, but lay like a log or a stone,
-what possible advantage could there be in the reception of the
-sacrament?”[718] Again, it was often delayed till a man conceived that
-he had received a distinct call and intimation that it was the will
-of God. This Chrysostom regarded as being too often a mere cloak for
-moral indolence, a reluctance of men to bind themselves under the high
-responsibilities of the Christian vocation.[719]
-
-He certainly considered baptism as being not merely a solemn initiation
-into the Christian covenant, and instrument of remission of sin, but
-also of moral renovation. This, however, is represented as a blessing
-naturally derivable from the entrance into the new and holy federal
-relation with God. In his comment on the passage, “and such were some
-of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
-in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he observes that such words
-signify that they were not only purified from past uncleanness, but had
-become holy and righteous. “For such is the benevolence of the Divine
-gift; if an imperial letter consisting of a few lines discharges men
-from liability to punishment for any number of offences, and advances
-others to great honour, much more will the Holy Spirit of God, which
-can do all things, release us from all wickedness, bestow on us
-abundant righteousness, and fill us with much confidence.” The nature
-of the baptized was, therefore, like a vessel which had not only been
-cleansed from past defilements, but recast in the furnace so as to
-come out in a new shape.[720] He is far, however, from regarding such
-a change as final. The virtue of baptism is effectual at the time, but
-the grace then given is as a trust to be carefully guarded; a talent to
-be traded with, a seed of righteousness to be diligently cultivated,
-the dawning of a light to shine more and more unto the perfect day. As
-Christ becomes at that time the clothing, the food, the habitation of
-the Christian, the recipient of these favours has to take care that he
-does not wrong this intimate relationship. Therefore he is ordered to
-say at baptism, “I renounce thee, Satan;” that is the declaration of a
-covenant with his Master. A firm determination to abandon past sin and
-eradicate evil habits—in a word, repentance—should take place previous
-to baptism. “Just as the painter freely alters the lineaments of his
-picture, when it is sketched in outline, by rubbing out or putting
-in, but when once he has added the colour, he is no longer at liberty
-to make alterations; in like manner erase evil habits before baptism,
-before the true colouring of the Holy Spirit has been thrown over the
-soul: take care when this has been received, and the royal image shines
-forth clearly, that you do not blot it out any more, and inflict wounds
-and scars on the beauty given thee by God.”[721]
-
-In another place he contrasts the baptism of the Jews, of John the
-Baptist, and of Jesus Christ. “The first was only a cleansing of the
-body from ceremonial defilements, the second was a means of enforcing
-an exhortation to repentance, the third was accompanied by remission
-of sins: it releases and purges the soul from sin, and gives a supply
-of the Holy Spirit.”[722] “When the merciful God saw the extremity of
-our weakness, and the incurable nature of our sickness, requiring a
-great work of healing, He conferred upon us that renovation which comes
-through the laver of regeneration, in order that, being divested of the
-old man, that is, of evil works, and having put on the new, we might go
-forward in the path of virtue.”[723]
-
-In considering those passages which relate to the Holy Eucharist, it
-must be carefully borne in mind that Chrysostom lived in an age when
-that Sacrament had not become a battle-field of controversy. He was
-under no constraint in his language, because he did not feel that every
-word he used was liable to be criticised, or misunderstood, or torn
-to pieces in the strife of contending parties. He enjoyed because he
-disputed not. Filled with thankfulness and joy to overflowing for the
-unspeakable benefits derived from that Sacrament, he is not cautious
-or scrupulously precise in his expressions, but gives the freest rein
-to the enthusiasm of his feelings; his object being not to support
-any rigidly defined theory or system, but to infuse a certain spirit,
-to encourage a proper moral tone and temper in reference to the whole
-subject.
-
-Three ideas, however, are apparent as dominant in his mind—a sacrifice,
-a presence of Christ, a reception of Christ. In several of the
-passages about to be presented, all the three points will appear in
-similar and simultaneous force. In one homily,[724] where he severely
-censures the too prevalent custom of attending the Eucharist on
-great festivals only, and then behaving in a disorderly manner, the
-worshippers hustling and trampling on one another in their tumultuous
-haste to approach the holy table, and then hurrying out of church
-immediately after the reception, without waiting for the conclusion of
-the service—“What,” he exclaims, “O man, art thou doing? When Christ
-is present, and the angels are standing by, and the awe-inspiring
-table is spread before thee, dost thou withdraw?... If you are invited
-to a feast and are filled before the other guests, you do not dare to
-withdraw while the rest of your friends are still reclining at the
-table; and here, when the mysteries of Christ are being celebrated, and
-the holy feast is still going on, dost thou retreat in the middle?”
-Again: “Since, then, we are about to see this evening, as a lamb slain
-and sacrificed, Him who was crucified, let us approach, I pray you,
-with trembling awe. The angels, who surpass our nature, stood beside
-His empty tomb with great reverence; and shall we, who are about to
-stand beside, not an empty sepulchre, but the very table which bears
-the Lamb, shall we approach with noise and confusion?”[725] Again: “It
-is now time to draw near the awe-inspiring table.... Christ is present,
-and He who arranged that first table, even He arranges this present
-one. For it is not man who makes the things which are set before us
-become the body and blood of Christ, but it is Christ Himself, who
-was crucified for us. The priest stands fulfilling his part (σχῆμα)
-by uttering the appointed words, but the power and the grace are of
-God. ‘This is my body,’ He says. This expression changes the character
-(μεταῤῥυθμίζει) of the elements, and as that sentence, ‘increase
-and multiply,’ once spoken, extends through all time, enabling the
-procreative power of our nature, even so that expression, ‘this is my
-body,’ once uttered, does at every table in the churches from that time
-to the present day, and even till Christ’s coming, make the sacrifice
-perfect.”[726] Speaking of the sacrifice of Isaac, he observes that it
-was perfect so far as Abraham was concerned, because his _intention_
-did not fail, though the knife was not actually drawn across his son’s
-throat; “for a sacrifice is possible even without blood—the initiated
-(_i.e._ the baptized) know what I mean: on this account, also, that
-sacrifice was made without blood, since it was destined to be a figure
-of this sacrifice of ours.”[727]
-
-Perhaps the most significant passage with reference to the sacrificial
-idea is one where, after contrasting the many and ineffective
-sacrifices of the Jews with the one perfect, efficacious sacrifice of
-Christ, he proceeds: “What then? do we not offer every day? We do offer
-certainly, but making a memorial of His death; and this memorial is
-one, not many. How one, not many? Because the sacrifice was offered
-once for all, as that great sacrifice was in the Holy of Holies. This
-is a figure of that great sacrifice as that was of this; for we do not
-offer one victim to-day and another to-morrow, but always the same:
-wherefore the sacrifice is one. Well, on this ground, because He is
-offered in many places, are there many Christs? Nay, by no means, but
-one Christ everywhere, complete both in this world and in the other;
-one body. As then, though offered in many places, He is but one body,
-so is there but one sacrifice. Our High Priest is He who offers the
-sacrifice which cleanses us. We offer that now which was offered then;
-which is indeed inconsumable. This takes place now for a memorial
-of what took place then: ‘Do this,’ said He, ‘for my memorial.’ We
-do not then offer a different sacrifice as the high priest formerly
-did, but always the same; _or, rather, we celebrate a memorial of a
-Sacrifice_.”[728]
-
-There are other passages in which the idea, no less prominently set
-forth, is that of a holy feast. Elijah bequeathed his mantle and a
-double portion of his spirit to Elisha, “but the Son of God, when He
-ascended, left us His own flesh.... He who did not decline to shed
-His blood for all, and imparts to us again His flesh and blood, what
-will He refuse to do for our salvation?”[729] Again: “Consider, O man,
-what kind of sacrifice thou art about to touch, what kind of table to
-approach; reflect that thou who art but dust and ashes receivest the
-body and blood of Christ.”[730] The sedulous care with which he urges
-the duty of moral cleansing before venturing to approach the holy table
-proceeds chiefly from regarding it as a holy feast. “How shall we
-behold the sacred passover? How shall we receive the sacred feast? How
-partake of the adorable mysteries with that tongue whereby we trampled
-on the Law of God and defiled our soul? for if one would not touch a
-royal robe with defiled hands, how shall we receive the Lord’s body
-with an unclean tongue?”[731]
-
-These passages, which are but a few specimens extracted from a large
-number on the same subject, are yet sufficient to show how easy it
-would be for the partisans of contending schools to press the language
-of Chrysostom into support of their own system. The truth is, that
-in the case of this, as of other subjects, we find in Chrysostom and
-his contemporaries the raw material, which has been wrought out by
-the toil and strife of later times into definite sharply chiselled
-dogmas. Nothing, therefore, can really be more unfair than to regard,
-as a direct friend or opponent, one who lived and wrote long before
-controversy had arisen on the subjects of which he treated. He might
-innocently employ expressions which we should deem it incautious to
-use, because we know the interpretation of which they are susceptible,
-or because we see in them incipient symptoms of an idea which in
-process of time grew into a mischievous error. It is instructive also
-to notice how harmless doctrines which afterwards became mischievous
-were when they were not pushed to an extremity, not made integral
-parts of a system of belief. It does not occur to us, for instance,
-for a moment to suppose that such invocation of saints as was
-manifestly approved by Chrysostom was the least detrimental to that
-free intercourse which ought to exist between the soul of man and God
-Himself. As Dr. Pusey has observed: “Through volumes of St. Augustine
-and St. Chrysostom there is no mention of any reliance except on
-Christ alone.”[732] There is not the least approach to that system of
-stepping-stones or halting-places between God and man, which the Roman
-Church established by means of confession, saint-worship, and, above
-all, Mariolatry.
-
-There is no trace in Chrysostom of priestly confession as an ordinance
-of the Church. When he speaks of the misery which ensues on the
-commission of sin, he urges the sinner to relieve his conscience by a
-free confession with repentance and tears. “And why are you ashamed to
-do so?” he proceeds, “for to whom do you confess? Is it to a man or
-a fellow-servant who might reproach or expose you? Nay, it is to the
-Lord, tender and merciful: it is to the physician that you show your
-wound.”[733] Again, in speaking of prayer, he contrasts the freedom of
-access to God with the difficulties and impediments which encounter the
-delivery of a petition to some great man. “This last could be reached
-only through porters, flatterers, parasites; whereas God is invoked
-without the intervention of any one, without money, without expense of
-any kind.”[734] This reads like a prophetical sarcasm on a Church which
-ultimately made a traffic of dispensing what cannot really be dispensed
-by man, because it is the free gift of God.
-
-Nor is there any symptom in Chrysostom of a tendency to the theory of
-Purgatory. The condition of man after death is always represented by
-him as final and irrevocable. His tone, when exhorting to repentance,
-is always in harmony with the following passage: “For the day will come
-when the theatre of this world will be dissolved, and then it is not
-possible to contend any longer: this is the season of repentance, that
-of judgment; this of contest, that of crowning; this of labour, that of
-repose.”[735]
-
-But of all medieval additions to the purer faith of primitive times,
-Mariolatry has grown to the most extraordinary dimensions.[736] Of any
-tendency to this error there is in Chrysostom a remarkable absence.
-In fact, his notices of the Blessed Virgin, not very frequent, are
-on the whole, we might almost say, unnecessarily disparaging. In his
-commentary on the Marriage Feast at Cana, he suggests that the Virgin,
-in mentioning the failure of wine to our Lord, may have been anxious
-to draw out His miraculous powers, partly to place the guests under
-an obligation to Him, partly to enhance her own dignity through the
-display of her Son’s divine powers. He considers that the appeal sprang
-from the same feeling which prompted His brethren to say, “Show Thyself
-to the world;” and he proceeds to observe that our Lord, while never
-failing to manifest dutiful reverence and affectionate care towards His
-mother, has taught us, by His conduct and language to her, that the
-tie of mere earthly kindred entitled her not to higher privileges, and
-placed her in no more intimate spiritual relationship with Himself than
-any one might through love and obedience enjoy. “Who is my mother, and
-who are my brethren? and looking round about on His disciples, He said,
-Behold my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my
-Father, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” “Heavens!”
-Chrysostom exclaims, “what honour! what reward! to what a pinnacle does
-He exalt those who follow Him! How many women have blessed the Holy
-Virgin and her womb, and have longed to be such mothers! What then
-prevents it? Behold, he opens a broad way for us: not women only, but
-men also are permitted to be placed in the same rank.” “The demand
-to see Him was made by His mother in an ambitious spirit: she wished
-to show to the people how much authority she possessed over Him; at
-any rate, the request was unreasonable and unseasonable. If she and
-His brethren desired to speak with Him on matters of doctrine, they
-might have done so in the presence of the others; but if on private
-matters, it was an ill-timed interruption to His discourse on weightier
-subjects.”[737] Again: “When a woman in the company cried out, ‘Blessed
-is the womb that bare Thee!’ He instantly corrected her: ‘Yea, _rather_
-blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.’” It is
-possible that the general sentiment of the age may have regarded the
-Virgin with more veneration, but Chrysostom could not have ventured
-to use such language had the cultus been in any but its very earliest
-stage, if then. She is called holy by him; she intercedes[738] for Eve,
-who is a type of herself, but of worship paid to her there is not the
-slightest evidence.[739]
-
-It is almost superfluous to observe that Chrysostom knew and
-acknowledged nothing of papal supremacy, in the sense which those
-words conveyed to the minds of later generations. In common with
-the rest of Christendom, he paid great deference and respect to the
-metropolitan at Rome, and he was quite free from those feelings of
-jealousy which were entertained by the patriarchs of Constantinople,
-as time went on, owing to the increasing pretensions and exactions of
-the Roman See. If he respects Innocent, as occupying the chair of St.
-Peter, he equally respects Flavian, bishop of Antioch (who was not in
-communion with Rome), for the same reason; he calls him “our common
-father and teacher, who has inherited St. Peter’s virtue and his
-chair.” The letter written to Innocent during exile was addressed also
-to the Bishops of Milan and Aquileia. In his commentary on Galatians
-ii. he proves the equality of St. Paul with St. Peter. No doubt he
-assigns an eminent rank to St. Peter, speaking of him as “leader of the
-band” (κορυφαῖος) of apostles, and as intrusted with the “presidency”
-(προστασίαν) of the brethren: but these words do not imply absolute
-authority, and the same appellations are applied to St. Paul also.
-
-Scattered up and down the discourses of Chrysostom there are abundant
-references to the liturgical forms, and manner of using them, which
-were in vogue in his time. If we had no other authority, we could learn
-from him alone that the service consisted of two parts—the first,
-called Missa Catechumenorum, because the catechumens were permitted
-to be present at it, which included an opening salutation of “Peace
-be with you,” with the response, “And with thy spirit;” psalms sung
-antiphonally; appointed lessons according to the season or the day (as
-Genesis was read during Lent, the Acts of the Apostles in Pentecost,
-that is, during the fifty days between Easter and Whitsun Day); the
-sermon, frequently in Chrysostom’s case on the lesson for the day,
-the preacher usually sitting, and the people standing; then prayers,
-announced by the deacon, for the catechumens, the “possessed,” and the
-penitents; the benediction by the bishop, and dismissal by the deacon,
-who bade them “depart in peace.” The second part of the service then
-began, called Missa Fidelium, because the baptized only were permitted
-to be present. Chrysostom strongly denounces an increasing tendency
-on the part of many to remain during this second and more sacred
-portion without participating. He plainly declares that all those
-who were baptized should communicate, and tells them, if they were
-not worthy to receive the Eucharist, neither could they be worthy to
-join in the prayers which preceded the reception, and therefore they
-ought to quit the church, with the catechumens and penitents, when
-the deacon commanded all unbaptized, ungodly, and unbelieving persons
-to depart.[740] The usual order of the Missa Fidelium was “the silent
-prayer” (εὐχὴ διὰ σιωπῆς), on part of the priest and people (which the
-latter too often abused, Chrysostom feared, to imprecate vengeance on
-their enemies[741]); then a prayer somewhat equivalent to our bidding
-prayer in form, and to our prayer for the Church Militant in substance,
-the deacon bidding or proclaiming the forms, and the people responding;
-then a prayer of invocation made by the bishop, which was also called
-“collecta,” because in it the prayers of the people were considered
-to be gathered or summed up; the oblations of the people presented
-by the deacons; the kiss of peace, the reading of the diptychs, the
-ablution of the priest’s hands, the bringing of the elements to the
-bishop at the altar, while the priests stood on each side, and deacons
-held large fans to drive away the flies; a secret prayer offered by the
-bishop; the benediction, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” etc.,
-to which the people responded “And with thy spirit;” followed by “Lift
-up your hearts”—“We lift them up unto the Lord;” “Let us give thanks
-to our Lord God”—“It is meet and right so to do;” a long thanksgiving,
-terminating with the Ter Sanctus, in which the people joined; the
-consecration prayer, including the words of our Lord at the time of
-institution, and an invocation of the Holy Spirit to make the elements
-become the body and blood of Christ; a prayer for all members of the
-Church, living and dead; the doxology, the Creed; a prayer of the
-bishop for sanctification; the words pronounced by him, “Holy things
-for holy people” (τὰ ἅγια τοῖς ἁγίοις); the reception by the clergy and
-laity in both kinds, taking the elements into their hands; concluding
-prayers, and dismissal by the deacon proclaiming, “Go in peace.”
-Nearly all of the forms indicated in this sketch are more or less
-clearly referred to or quoted in Chrysostom’s works, and from these,
-with the aid of other contemporary writers and documents, we might
-construct a liturgy which would more nearly resemble that actually used
-by him than the liturgy called by his name resembles it.[742] For in
-this, as in the so-called liturgy of Basil, it is impossible now to
-determine how much was actually composed by the Father who gave his
-name to it. It cannot be proved that Chrysostom actually corrected or
-improved at all the liturgy which he found in use at Constantinople.
-It may only have come to be called after him as being the greatest
-luminary who ever occupied the see. The statement, however, made
-in a tract ascribed to Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople in the
-fifth century, is not in itself improbable, that Chrysostom found the
-existing liturgy so long that many of the congregation, being men of
-business, and pressed for time, left before the service was concluded,
-or came in after it had begun, and therefore he abridged and otherwise
-altered it. In any case, many alterations were made by different
-churches and bishops in the course of time, as in other liturgies, so
-also in those which bear the name of Basil and Chrysostom; and hence,
-as Montfaucon, Savile, Cave, and others have remarked, you cannot find
-any two copies which are exactly alike.
-
-A critical estimate of Chrysostom’s value as a commentator hardly
-falls within the scope of an essay on his life, but a few general
-observations on this head may not be deemed out of place here. The
-same fact was the cause in him of much excellence and some defect
-in this department. He was a preacher whose primary object was to
-convert souls. This earnest, practical aim, of which he never lost
-sight, helped to protect him from lapsing into idle, fanciful, mystical
-interpretations of Scripture; but, on the other hand, it hindered
-his entering so fully into all the historical, grammatical, or even
-doctrinal questions which might be raised about a passage as he would
-have done had he been exclusively a commentator. His dominant aim
-being to affect the heart and the moral practice of his hearers, he
-is content when he has elicited from the passage all that will be
-most useful for that purpose, and the continuity of the commentary is
-frequently marred by sudden digressions. His ignorance of Hebrew was of
-course fatal to his being an accurate interpreter of the Old Testament,
-since he was entirely dependent on the Septuagint translation. And
-even in Greek, though few would deny him the merit of fine scholarship
-on the whole, though his command of the language as an orator is
-masterly, his style luminous, his diction copious and rich without
-being offensively ornate or redundant, yet his hold upon the language
-for critical purposes is neither that of a man who spoke it when it was
-in its purest stage, nor that of a scholar who, living in a later age
-and speaking a different tongue, has made a careful, laborious study of
-it as a dead language.
-
-But two invaluable qualifications for an interpreter Chrysostom did
-possess—a thorough love for the Sacred Book, and a thorough familiarity
-with every part of it. There is no topic on which he dwells more
-frequently and earnestly than on the duty of every Christian man and
-woman to study the Bible; and what he bade others do, that he did
-pre-eminently himself. He rebukes the silly vanity of rich people who
-prided themselves on possessing finely written and handsomely bound
-copies of the Bible, but who knew little about the contents. Study of
-the Bible was more necessary for the layman than the monk, because he
-was exposed to more constant and formidable temptations. The Christian
-without a knowledge of his Bible was like a workman without his tools.
-Like the tree planted by the water-side, the soul of the diligent
-reader would be continually nourished and refreshed. There were no
-difficulties which would not yield to a patient study of it. Neither
-earthly grandeur, nor friends, nor indeed any human thing, could afford
-in suffering such comfort as the reading of Holy Scripture, for this
-was the companionship of God.[743]
-
-The honest, straightforward common sense which marks his practical
-exhortations was a useful quality to him also as an interpreter. One
-of his principles is, that sound doctrine could not be extracted
-from Holy Scripture but by a careful comparison of many passages not
-isolated from their context.[744] Allegorical interpretations were by
-no means to be rejected, but to be used with caution; men too often
-made the mistake of dictating what Scripture should mean instead of
-submitting to be taught by it: they _introduced_ a meaning instead of
-_eliciting_ it.[745] Thus, though he often accepts popular types—as
-Boaz and Ruth are figures of Christ and His bride the Church; and
-Noah, Joseph, Joshua, are all in different ways representative of our
-Lord; though sometimes particular expressions in Messianic prophecies
-are forced, for instance, in Isaiah’s description of Immanuel, the
-“butter and honey” there spoken of he supposes to be intended to
-indicate the reality of our Lord’s humanity[746]—yet his customary aim
-is to discover the literal sense and direct historical bearing of the
-passage. At the same time he fully recognises a general foreshadowing
-of Jesus Christ, and the complete fulfilment in Him ultimately of
-prophecies which immediately refer to persons and events nearly, if
-not quite, contemporaneous with the utterance. He fails not also to
-point out the moral aspect of prophecy as a system of teaching rather
-than prediction, as preparatory to the advent of Jesus Christ in the
-flesh, not only by informing men’s minds, but disciplining their hearts
-to receive Him.[747] Hence the holy men who lived, under the Old
-Dispensation, in faith on God’s promises, knew Christ as it were by
-anticipation, and were to be reckoned as members of the one body.[748]
-
-He had a clear conception of the essential coherence between the Old
-and New Testament. He observes that the very words “old” and “new”
-are relative terms: _new_ implies an antecedent _old_, preparatory
-to it. The condition of the recipients, the circumstances and age in
-which they lived, being different, necessitated a difference in the
-treatment. A physician treated the same patient at different times by
-directly contrary methods; sometimes administering sweet, sometimes
-bitter medicines, sometimes using the lancet, sometimes cautery, but
-always with the same ultimate end in view—the health of his patient. So
-the Old and New Testaments were different, but not, as the Manichæans
-maintained, antagonistic. The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,”
-attacked the fruit and consequence of vice; the precept, “Whosoever is
-angry with his brother without a cause,” etc., struck at the root. This
-was an illustration in a small instance of the general truth that the
-New Dispensation was only a completion and expansion of the Old. Those,
-therefore, who rejected the Old Testament dishonoured the New, which
-was based upon it, and presupposes it.[749]
-
-He is equally rational in his manner of accounting for the variations
-in the Gospel narratives. That they differ in details, but agree in
-essential matters, he regards as a powerful evidence of veracity. Exact
-and verbal coincidence in every particular would have excited in the
-minds of opponents a suspicion of concerted agreement.[750] Authors
-might write variously without being at variance; if there had been
-ten thousand evangelists, yet the Gospel itself would have been but
-one.[751] Each evangelist tells substantially the same tale, but varied
-according to the readers for whom he wrote, and the special object
-which he had in view. So St. Matthew wrote in Hebrew for the Jews,
-St. Mark for the disciples in Egypt, St. John to set forth the divine
-aspect of our Lord’s life. Thus we have variety in unity, and unity in
-variety.[752]
-
-In his commentaries on the Epistles he is careful to consider each
-as a connected whole; and, in order to impress this on his hearers,
-he frequently recapitulates at the beginning of a homily all the
-steps by which the part under consideration has been reached. In his
-introductions to each letter he generally makes useful observations
-on the author, the time, place, and style of composition, the readers
-for whom it was intended, the general character and arrangement of
-its contents. He regarded the Bible as in such a sense written under
-the inspiration of God, that no passage, no word even, was to be
-despised;[753] that men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,
-but not to the total deprivation of their own human understanding and
-personal character. The prophet was not like the seer who spoke under
-constraint, not knowing what he said; he retained his own faculties and
-style; only all his powers were quickened, energised by the Spirit to
-the utterance of words which unassisted he could not have uttered.[754]
-
-Chrysostom’s influence as a preacher was not aided by any external
-advantages of person. Like so many men who have possessed great powers
-of command over the minds of others—like St. Paul, Athanasius, John
-Wesley—he was little of stature; his frame was attenuated by the
-austerities of his youth and his habitually ascetic mode of life;
-his cheeks were pale and hollow; his eyes deeply set, but bright
-and piercing; his broad and lofty forehead was furrowed by wrinkles;
-his head was bald. He frequently delivered his discourses sitting in
-the ambo, or high reading-desk, just inside the nave, in order to
-be near his hearers and well raised above them. But these physical
-disadvantages were more than compensated by other more important
-qualities. A power of exposition which unfolded in lucid order, passage
-by passage, the meaning of the book in hand; a rapid transition from
-clear exposition, or keen logical argument, to fervid exhortation,
-or pathetic appeal, or indignant denunciation; the versatile ease
-with which he could lay hold of any little incident of the moment,
-such as the lighting of the lamps in the church, and use it to
-illustrate his discourse; the mixture of plain common-sense, simple
-boldness, and tender affection, with which he would strike home to the
-hearts and consciences of his hearers—all these are not only general
-characteristics of the man, but are usually to be found manifested
-more or less in the compass of each discourse. It is this rare union
-of powers which constitutes his superiority to almost all the other
-Christian preachers with whom he might be, or has been, compared.
-Savonarola had all, and more than all, his fire and vehemence, but
-untempered by his sober, calm good sense, and wanting his rational
-method of interpretation. Chrysostom was eager and impetuous at times
-in speech as well as in action, but never fanatical. Jeremy Taylor
-combines, like Chrysostom, real earnestness of purpose with rhetorical
-forms of expression and florid imagery; but, on the whole, his style
-is far more artificial, and is overlaid with a multifarious learning
-from which Chrysostom’s was entirely free. Wesley is almost his match
-in simple, straightforward, practical exhortation, but does not rise
-into flights of eloquence like his. The great French preachers, again,
-resemble him in his more ornate and declamatory vein, but they lack
-that simpler common-sense style of address which equally distinguished
-him. Whether the sobriquet of Chrysostomos, “the golden mouth,” was
-given to him in his lifetime is extremely doubtful; at any rate, it
-seems not to have been commonly used till afterwards. John is the only
-name by which he is mentioned in the writings of historians who were
-most nearly contemporaneous, but the other was a well-known appellation
-before the end of the fifth century.[755]
-
-The preservation of Chrysostom’s discourses we owe mainly to the
-custom, prevalent in the Eastern Church at that time, of having the
-sermons of famous preachers taken down by shorthand writers as they
-were spoken; but some of them Chrysostom published himself.[756]
-To what extent they may have been written before preaching it is
-impossible to say. The expository parts were evidently the result of
-previous study and preparation; the actual diction of the practical
-portions he may have left to the suggestion of the moment, though the
-main subjects of his address had been always decided upon beforehand.
-Extempore remarks were frequently called forth by the behaviour of the
-congregation, or some passing incident. The discourse delivered after
-his return from exile we also know to have been purely impromptu; and
-Suidas observes that he “had a tongue which exceeded the cataracts of
-the Nile in fluency, so that he delivered many of his panegyrics on
-the martyrs extempore without the least hesitation.”[757] His hearers
-were sometimes rapt in such profound attention that pickpockets took
-advantage of it:[758] sometimes they were melted to tears, or beat
-their breasts and faces, and uttered groans and cries to Heaven for
-mercy; at other times they clapped their hands or shouted—marks of
-approbation frequently paid at that time to eloquent preachers, but
-always sternly reproved by Chrysostom.
-
-Although his style is generally exuberantly rich, yet it is seldom
-offensively redundant, for every word is usually telling; and at times
-he is epigrammatically terse. A few instances will suffice:—“The fire
-of sin is large, but it is quenched by a few tears;” “Pain was given
-on account of sin, yet through pain sin is dissolved;” “Riches are
-called possessions (κτήματα) that we may possess them, not be possessed
-by them;” “You are master of much wealth, do not be a slave to that
-whereof God has made you master;” “Scripture relates the sins of
-saints, that we may fear; the conversion of sinners, that we may hope.”
-He refers to a visitation of Antioch by an earthquake, as God “shaking
-the city, but establishing your minds; making the city crumble, but
-consolidating your judgment.”
-
-His familiarity with classical Greek authors is apparent sometimes
-in direct references. He speaks of “the smoothness of Isocrates, the
-weight of Demosthenes, the dignity of Thucydides, the sublimity of
-Plato.”[759] He quotes the beginning of the “Apology,” to show that
-if Socrates did not put a high value on mere fine talking, how much
-less should the Christian.[760] He illustrates the readiness of men
-to supply the wants of the monk by a passage from Plato, where Crito
-says that his money, and that of Cebes and many others, is at the
-disposal of Socrates; and, go where he will, he may rely on finding
-friends.[761] Sometimes we detect a thought derived, it may have been
-unconsciously, from classical sources. When he compares the crowd of
-the congregation before him to the sea, and the play upon the surface
-of that sea of heads to the effect of a strong west wind stirring and
-bending the ears of corn,[762] it is impossible not to think that the
-idea was suggested by the well-known simile in Homer (Il. ii. 147).
-Again, when, in speaking of David’s sin, he compares the body to a
-chariot and the soul to the charioteer, and says that, when the soul
-is intoxicated by passion, the chariot is dragged along at random, it
-can hardly be fanciful to see a reflection of Plato’s celebrated image
-of the charioteer and horses in the “Phædrus.”[763]
-
-But whatever admiration Chrysostom may have retained of those authors
-whom he had studied in his youth, it was confined to their language,
-for with their ideas and modes of thought he had, so far as we can
-judge, abandoned all sympathy. Nor was this unnatural. Christianity
-existed in such close contact with Pagan corruption, and it had
-suffered so much from Pagan persecution, that the revulsion of earnest
-Christians from all things Pagan was total and indiscriminating.
-“The old order changeth, yielding place to new;” and the new, having
-fought a hard struggle with the old, is for a long time incapable
-of recognising merit in anything belonging to it. There are several
-allusions in Chrysostom to the “Republic” of Plato, but they are always
-depreciative. He fastens on a few points, such as the regulations
-about marriage and female work, and condemns it on these as absurd
-and childish, quite failing to consider the idea in its grandeur as a
-whole.[764] Yet it is instructive to notice that he never hesitates
-to assign to Plato the first place among the heathen philosophers,
-dignifying him with the title of Coryphæus.[765] He often compares
-the failure of Plato’s teaching to regenerate men in every rank with
-the successful labours of St. Paul and the other apostles; but while
-he rejoices that the writings and doctrine of the philosopher were
-eclipsed by the tentmaker and fisherman, and well-nigh forgotten, he
-evidently regarded it as the most signal triumph which Christianity had
-achieved.[766]
-
-Unquestionable as the intellectual genius of Chrysostom was, yet it
-is rather in the purity of his moral character, his single-minded
-boldness of purpose, and the glowing piety which burns through all
-his writings, that we find the secret of his influence. If it was
-rather the mission of Augustine to mould the minds of men so as to
-take a firm grasp of certain great doctrines, it was the mission of
-Chrysostom to inflame the whole heart with a fervent love of God.
-Rightly has he been called the great teacher of consummate holiness,
-as Augustine was the great teacher of efficient grace;[767] rightly
-has it been remarked that, like Fénélon, he is to be ranked among
-those who may be termed disciples of St. John, men who seem to have
-been pious without intermission from their childhood upwards, and of
-whose piety the leading characteristics are ease, cheerfulness, and
-elevation; while Augustine belongs to the disciples of St. Paul, those
-who have been converted from error to truth, or from sin to holiness,
-and whose characteristics are gravity, earnestness, depth.[768] If
-Augustine has done more valuable service in building up the Church at
-large, Chrysostom is the more loveable to the individual, and speaks
-out of a heart overflowing with love to God and man, unconstrained by
-the fetters of a severe and rigid system. Yet it is precisely on this
-account that he has not been so generally appreciated as he deserves.
-His tone is too catholic for the Romanist, or for the sectarian
-partisan of any denomination. “It would be easy to produce abundant
-instances of his oratorical abilities; I wish it were in my power to
-record as many of his evangelical excellencies.” Such is the verdict
-of a narrow-minded historian,[769] and the comparative estimation in
-which he held St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom may be inferred from the
-number of pages in his History given to each: St. Augustine is favoured
-with 187, Chrysostom with 20. But he whose judgment is not cramped by
-the shackles of some harsh and stiff theory of Gospel truth will surely
-allow that Chrysostom not only preached the Gospel but lived it. To the
-last moment of his life he exhibited that calm, cheerful faith, that
-patient resignation under affliction, and untiring perseverance for
-the good of others, which are pre-eminently the marks of a Christian
-saint. The cause for which he fought and died in a corrupt age was the
-cause of Christian holiness; and, therefore, by the great medieval
-poet of Christendom he is rightly placed in Paradise between two men
-who, widely different indeed in character and circumstances from him
-and from one another, yet resembled him in this, that they freely and
-courageously spoke of God’s “testimonies even before kings, and were
-not ashamed”—Nathan the Seer, and Anselm the Primate of all England:—
-
- “Natan profeta, e’l metropolitano
- Crisostomo, ed Anselmo....”[770]
-
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-[_Vide ante_, p. 415 note.]
-
-
-ON THE LETTER TO CÆSARIUS (CHRYS. OP. vol. iii. p. 755).
-
-The history of this letter, and the controversy connected with it, are
-curious and interesting. Peter Martyr transcribed a Latin translation
-of it, which he found in a manuscript at Florence, carried it with him
-to England, and deposited it in the library of Archbishop Cranmer.
-After Cranmer’s death, and the dispersion of his library, the letter
-disappeared. Peter Martyr had not stated the source from which he
-had derived it, and, therefore, when the assailants of the doctrine
-of Transubstantiation wished to make use of it, their opponents
-always maintained that it did not exist. In 1680, however, Emericus
-Bigotius discovered a copy in the library of St. Mark’s Convent, at
-Florence, probably the same which Peter Martyr, himself a Florentine,
-had transcribed. Emericus appended it to his edition of Palladius’s
-“Life of Chrysostom,” and in his preface endeavoured to vindicate its
-authenticity; but the Doctors of the Sorbonne suppressed the letter,
-and such portions of the preface as related to it. Emericus, however,
-had retained in his own possession some of the entire copies after
-they were printed, before they came into the licenser’s hands. The
-translation was published by Stephanus Le Moyne in 1685, by Jacob
-Basnage in 1687, and in 1689 by Harduin, a Jesuit, who strenuously
-maintained the Roman Catholic interpretation of the passage on the
-Eucharist. Montfaucon adopted Harduin’s version of it, annexing a few
-fragments in the Greek, picked out of Anastasius and John Damascene.
-
-John Damascene, Anastasius, and Nicephorus refer to the letter as
-authentic, nor does Harduin venture to dispute it; but there are
-several points of evidence which seem to mark it as belonging to a
-later age than that of Chrysostom. It is not quoted before Leontius, in
-the latter part of the sixth century, although it might usefully have
-been employed against the Eutychians. There are expressions in it which
-were not in common use till after Cyril of Alexandria had employed
-them against Nestorius. The language generally is that of one who had
-lived in the midst of the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies, and
-the style of the Greek fragments, as well as the tone of the Latin
-translation, are extremely unlike Chrysostom’s manner: the sentences
-are abrupt and rugged, and a kind of scholastic, dogmatic tone pervades
-the whole composition. The general scope of the letter is clear: it is
-to maintain the doctrine of the two natures under one person in Jesus
-Christ, against the heresy of the Apollinarians; or, if we accept the
-theory of Montfaucon, the intention of the author, living in the time
-of the Eutychian heresy, was to strike a blow at that by forging a
-letter supposed to be addressed by Chrysostom to a friend, warning
-him against Apollinarian errors, which had much in common with the
-Eutychian. The passage in which the writer illustrates his position by
-a reference to the Holy Eucharist has been construed by Roman Catholics
-and Protestants in a sense agreeable to their own views on the subject.
-The writer has been labouring to prove that there were two distinct
-natures in the one person of God the Son Incarnate, and he proceeds as
-follows:—“Just as the bread before consecration is called bread, but
-when the Divine grace sanctifies it through the agency of the priest it
-is liberated from the appellation of bread, and is regarded as worthy
-of the appellation of the Lord’s body, although the nature of bread
-remains in it, and we speak not of two bodies, but one body of the Son;
-so here, the Divine nature being seated in the human body, the two
-together make up but one Son, one Person.”
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] In the case of Savonarola such a want has now been fairly well
-supplied by Villari and other writers. For a good portrait of Erasmus,
-see “Erasmus, his Life and Character,” by Robert Blackley Drummond,
-B.A. 2 vols., 1873.
-
-[2] “That godly clerk and great preacher” is the description of him in
-the English Homilies, Hom. i.
-
-[3] “Remains,” vol. iii. Letters to Dr. Woodward and Mrs. Hannah More.
-
-[4] Wall, on _Infant Baptism_, endeavours to prove that she was a
-Pagan, in order to account for the delay in Chrysostom’s baptism, but
-his reasons are far from convincing.
-
-[5] De Sacerdot. lib. i. c. 5.
-
-[6] Julian: Misopogon, p. 363.
-
-[7] Epist. 1057.
-
-[8] Epist. ad viduam jun., vol. i.
-
-[9] Ibid. p. 601.
-
-[10] Adv. Oppug. Vit. Monast. lib. iii. c. 11.
-
-[11] Liban. de fortuna sua, pp. 13-137.
-
-[12] See concluding Chapter.
-
-[13] See concluding Chapter.
-
-[14] Quoted by Isidore of Pelusium, lib. ii. ep. 42.
-
-[15] Sozomen, viii. c. 2.
-
-[16] Isidore Pel., lib. ii. ep. 42; De Sacerdot. i. c. 4.
-
-[17] Gibbon, iii. 52, note; Milman’s edition.
-
-[18] Gibbon, iii. 53; for an account of the character of lawyers at
-this period see Amm. Marcellinus, lxxx. c. 4.
-
-[19] As Socrates, book vi. chap. 3, has done.
-
-[20] De Sacerdot. lib. i. c. 1.
-
-[21] De Sacerdot. c. iii.
-
-[22] See references in Bingham, vol. iii. b. xi. Wall, vol. ii.
-
-[23] Basil: Exhort. ad Baptismum; Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 40 de Bapt.;
-Nyssen, de Bapt.; Chrysost. in Acta Apost. vol. ix. hom. i. _in fine_,
-and in Illumin. Catechesis, vol. ii. p. 223.
-
-[24] Philostorgius, ii. 7; Socrates, i. 23; Theod. i. 21.
-
-[25] Socr. i. 24; Theod. i. 22.
-
-[26] Athanas. Hist. Arian. 20, 21; Theod. ii. 9, 10.
-
-[27] Socr. ii. 26; he had been deposed from the rank of presbyter
-because he was a eunuch, in accordance with the provision of the
-Council of Nice, c. i. Labbe, i. p. 28.
-
-[28] Sozom. iii. 20; Theod. ii. 24.
-
-[29] Sozom. iv. 12-16; Theod. ii. 26. In consequence of an earthquake
-at Nice, it was removed to Seleucia in Isauria.
-
-[30] Rufin. i. 21; Socr. ii. 36, 37; Sozom. iv. 19; Jerome c. Lucif.
-18, 19.
-
-[31] Socr. ii. 42, 43.
-
-[32] Sozom. iv. 28.
-
-[33] Theod. ii. 31; Sozom. iv. 28.
-
-[34] Socr. ii. 45.
-
-[35] The Arian Bishop George having been murdered by the Pagan
-population, Socr. iii. 5.
-
-[36] Rufin. i. 27; Socr. iii. 6; Sozom. v. 12.
-
-[37] Chrysost. Hom. in Matt. 85, vol. vii. p. 762.
-
-[38] Chrysost. Hom. in Melet.
-
-[39] Tillemont, viii. 374.
-
-[40] Greg. Nazian., Orat. de Bapt. 40; Chrysost. Ep. 132, ad Gemellum.
-
-[41] Tertullian is the first who mentions it; de Prescript. c. 41.
-
-[42] Just. Nov. cxxiii. c. 13.
-
-[43] Quoted in Bingham, vol. i. p. 378.
-
-[44] Conc. Carth. iv. c. 8; Labbe, vol. ii.
-
-[45] _Vide_ quotations in Suicer, Thesaur. _sub verbo_ φιλοσοφία.
-
-[46] De Sacerdot. i. c. 4.
-
-[47] Ibid. c. 3.
-
-[48] Ibid. c. 5.
-
-[49] For the oppressive manner in which taxes were collected see
-Gibbon, iii. 78 _et seq._, Milman’s edit.
-
-[50] De Sacerdot. i. c. 6.
-
-[51] Ibid. vi. c. 12.
-
-[52] Socr. vi. c. 3.
-
-[53] Ibid. vi. 3.
-
-[54] In Facund. Hermiana, Pro Def. trium capit., lib. iv. c. 2, in
-Gall. and bibl. patr. xi. p. 706.
-
-[55] Chrysost. Hom. in Diodor., vol. iii. p. 761.
-
-[56] Socr. vi. 3.
-
-[57] Niceph. σειρά, vol. i. pp. 524 and 436.
-
-[58] Ibid. vol. i. p. 80.
-
-[59] Leont. Byzant. contra Nestor., et Eutych. lib. iii., in Basnage,
-Thesaur. monum. i. 592.
-
-[60] C. 2-5.
-
-[61] I. c. 8, 9.
-
-[62] C. 9.
-
-[63] C. 10.
-
-[64] Theod. i. c. 11, _in initio_.
-
-[65] C. 11.
-
-[66] C. 13.
-
-[67] C. 14.
-
-[68] C. 17.
-
-[69] C. 16 and 19.
-
-[70] C. 19.
-
-[71] C. 3.
-
-[72] C. 5.
-
-[73] Tillemont maintains that the Theodore to whom the first letter is
-addressed must have been a different person from the fellow-student of
-Chrysostom and eventual Bishop of Mopsuestia, but he stands alone in
-this opinion, and his reasons for it seem inadequate.—Till. xi. note
-vi. p. 550.
-
-[74] Possid. Vit. August. c. iv.
-
-[75] Sulp. Sever. Vit. St. Martin. lib. i. p. 224. The affectation of
-reluctance to be consecrated became a fashion in the Coptic Church.
-The patriarch-designate of Alexandria is at this day brought to Cairo,
-loaded with chains, as if to prevent his escape.—Stanley, Eastern
-Church, lect. vii. p. 226.
-
-[76] C. 5. This word may refer to the bishops or the people. Ambrose
-calls the people his “parentes,” because they had elected him
-bishop.—Comment. in Luc. l. viii. c. 17.
-
-[77] μειράκια; _vide_ note at end of Chapter.
-
-[78] I. c. 5.
-
-[79] C. 7.
-
-[80] C. 6.
-
-[81] C. 8.
-
-[82] C. 9.
-
-[83] The words _priest_ and _bishop_ are employed, in the following
-translations and paraphrases, to correspond with ἱερεὺς and ἐπίσκοπος,
-which are used in the original without much apparent distinction.
-Chrysostom is speaking of the _priesthood generally_, and it is not
-easy to say which Order he has in his mind at any given moment.
-
-[84] II. c. 2.
-
-[85] III. c. 1, 2, 5.
-
-[86] III. c. 4.
-
-[87] III. 5.
-
-[88] III. 9, 10.
-
-[89] Lamprid. Vita Alex. Sev. c. 45. Paris edit.
-
-[90] Cyprian, Epis. 52.
-
-[91] Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxvii. c. 3. Socrat. lib. iv. c. 29. See a
-multitude of evidence carefully collected on this subject in Bingham,
-vol. i. b. iv. ch. 2.
-
-[92] III. 15.
-
-[93] Comp. in Act. Apost. Hom. iii. 5. “Men now aim at a bishopric like
-any secular office. To win glory and honour among men we peril our
-salvation.... Consuls and prefects do not enjoy such honour as he who
-presides over the Church. Go to court, or to the houses of lords and
-ladies, and whom do you find foremost there? no one is put before the
-bishop.”
-
-[94] III. c. 14.
-
-[95] III. 16.
-
-[96] III. 17.
-
-[97] IV. c. 3-5 and c. 9.
-
-[98] V. c. 1-4.
-
-[99] V. c. 5.
-
-[100] V. c. 6, 7.
-
-[101] V. c. 8.
-
-[102] VI. c. 1.
-
-[103] VI. c. 4.
-
-[104] VI. c. 6-8.
-
-[105] VI. c. 12.
-
-[106] VI. c. 13.
-
-[107] Which is the date assigned by Socrates, vi. 3.
-
-[108] As stated by Palladius, at least in the Latin translation by
-Ambrose Camaldulensis.
-
-[109] Zosimus, lib. iv. 13-15. Ammian. Marcell. xxix. c. i.
-
-[110] In Act. Apost. Hom. 38, _in fine_.
-
-[111] Cyril. Catech. x. n. 19. Athanas. Synopsis.
-
-[112] Euseb. lib. vi. c. 11. Clemens Alex., Hom., Quis Dives salvetur?
-
-[113] Vide Epiphan. 69. Hæres. n. i., whence it appears that Laura, or
-Labra, was the name of an ecclesiastical district in Alexandria.
-
-[114] Theod. Lector. II. l. c. col. 102-104.
-
-[115] Jerome, Ep. 77, 5; Ambrose, de Virgin. i. 10, 11.
-
-[116] Baron. 398, 49-52; Giesel. I. 251.
-
-[117] Sozom. iii. 14; Sulp. Severus.
-
-[118] At Stridon, on the frontiers of Pannonia and Dalmatia.
-
-[119] Sozom. iii. 14. Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca, 38.
-
-[120] In Matt. Hom. 8, p. 87.
-
-[121] The custom of one monk reading the Scriptures aloud during
-dinner was first adopted, according to Cassian, in the Cappadocian
-monasteries.—Cass. lib. iv. c. 17; Sozom. iii. 14; Jerome’s translation
-of the rule.
-
-[122] But sometimes later.
-
-[123] Hom. in Matt. 55, vol. vii. p. 545.
-
-[124] Sozom. iii. 14, 15; Cassian., de Cœnob. Instit. iv. x. 22.
-
-[125] Cod. Theod. ix. 40. 16.
-
-[126] _Vide_ Müller de Antiq. Antioch. c. 3.
-
-[127] Chrysost. in Matt. Hom. 69, vol. vii. p. 652.
-
-[128] In Matt. Hom. 68, c. 3. When they received the Eucharist, which
-they did twice a week, on Sundays and Saturdays, they threw off their
-coats of skin, and loosened their girdles.—Sozom. iii. 14.
-
-[129] In Matt. Hom. 68, c. 3; 69, c. 3; in 1 Tim. Hom. 14, c. 4, 5.
-
-[130] In Matt. Hom. 72, vol. vii. p. 671.
-
-[131] In 1 Tim. Hom. 14, c. 5.
-
-[132] In Joh. Hom. 44, c. 1.
-
-[133] De Compunct. i. c. 6.
-
-[134] De Compunct. i. c. 1.
-
-[135] C. 2.
-
-[136] C. 3.
-
-[137] C. 4, 5.
-
-[138] C. 7.
-
-[139] C. 8.
-
-[140] C. 9.
-
-[141] De Compunct. ii. 1-3.
-
-[142] C. 5.
-
-[143] ἔχθρα ἀκήρυκτος, lib. i. c. 5.
-
-[144] Lib. i. c. 4.
-
-[145] The word in the decree is “militare,” but this term appears to be
-applied to civil duties as well as military. _Vide_ Suicer, _sub v._
-στρατεύειν. The Egyptian monks, however, do seem to have been specially
-forced into the army. De Broglie, v. 303; Gibbon, iv.; Milman, History
-of Christianity, iii. 47.
-
-[146] Adv. Oppug. Vitæ Mon., lib. i. c. 1-3.
-
-[147] C. 4.
-
-[148] C. 5-7.
-
-[149] C. 8.
-
-[150] Lib. ii. c. 1, 2.
-
-[151] C. 2-5.
-
-[152] C. 6-10.
-
-[153] Lib. iii. c. 6.
-
-[154] Compare similar remarks by Thucydides, book iii., in his account
-of the Corcyræan sedition, on the misapplication of names to vices.
-
-[155] Lib. iii. c. 6, 7.
-
-[156] C. 8, 9.
-
-[157] Lib. iii. c. 14, 15.
-
-[158] C. 18, 19.
-
-[159] Pallad. Dial. c. v.
-
-[160] Ad Stag. a Dæm. vex., vol. i. lib. i. c. 1.
-
-[161] Ibid. lib. ii. c. 1.
-
-[162] Ad Stag., vol. i. lib. ii. c. 1.
-
-[163] Ibid. c. 5-9.
-
-[164] See _ante_, Chapter II.
-
-[165] See preface to his Orat. xliii.
-
-[166] The bishops of Egypt and the West generally adhered to Paulinus,
-Sozom. vii. 11, till by the united efforts of Chrysostom and Theophilus
-the universal acknowledgment of Flavian was obtained in A.D. 398.
-
-[167] So Jerome, Ep. xxvii.
-
-[168] Conc. Nic., can. 18. (Hefele, p. 426.)
-
-[169] Tertull. de Bapt. cxvii. Jerome Dial. contr. Lucif.
-
-[170] Chrysost. Hom. ii. in 2 Cor.
-
-[171] Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 10.
-
-[172] Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57. Chrysost. Hom. xxiv. in Act.
-
-[173] Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 31, 32. Cyprian, Ep. xlix.
-
-[174] Conc. Nic., can. 18. (Hefele, p. 426.)
-
-[175] Jerome, Epist. lxxxv. ad Evang.
-
-[176] Chrysost. vol. ii. p. 591.
-
-[177] Ibid. vol. vii. p. 762.
-
-[178] Ibid. p. 629.
-
-[179] Euseb. Vita Const. iii. 50. Chrysost. vol. iii. p. 160 and vol.
-xi. p. 78. _Vide_ also Müller de Antiq. Antioch., p. 103.
-
-[180] This description of Antioch is mainly collected from Müller’s
-admirable and exhaustive work on the Antiquities of Antioch, or from
-the authorities referred to therein.
-
-[181] See Socrates vi. 1, and Montfaucon’s preface to “De Sacerdotio.”
-
-[182] Ad vid. jun. c. 5.
-
-[183] C. 4.
-
-[184] Ad vid. jun., c. 3.
-
-[185] C. 4. Executed in 371 in the reign of Valentinian, Valens, and
-Gratian; Ammian. Marcell. xxix. 1, who calls him a Gaul, not, as
-Chrysostom, a Sicilian.
-
-[186] Constans by Magnentius.
-
-[187] Constantine the younger.
-
-[188] Jovian.
-
-[189] Gallus Cæsar by Constantius. The two who died natural deaths were
-Constantine the Great and his son Constantius.
-
-[190] The widow of Jovian, whose son Varronian was deprived of an eye.
-See Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 222.
-
-[191] Doubtful; possibly first wife of Valentinian I., divorced from
-him and sent into exile.
-
-[192] Constantia, wife of Gratian.
-
-[193] Flacilla, wife of Theodosius. Compare this mournful list of
-tragic deaths of sovereigns with the splendid passage in Shakespeare’s
-Richard II.:—
-
-“For Heaven’s sake let’s sit upon the ground, And tell sad stories of
-the death of kings,” etc.
-
-
-[194] De Virginitate, c. 15.
-
-[195] C. 14-22.
-
-[196] De Virginitate, c. 57.
-
-[197] τὴν μάλιστα πάντων ἀγαπωμένην, c. 52.
-
-[198] De Virginitate, c. 52.
-
-[199] C. 62, 63.
-
-[200] C. 66, 67.
-
-[201] De Virginitate, c. 83.
-
-[202] Gibbon, iv. p. 111.
-
-[203] Strabo, p. 750.
-
-[204] As Verus, Pescennius Niger, Macrinus, and Severus
-Alexander.—Herodian, ii. 7, 8, v. 2, vi. 7.
-
-[205] De S. Babyla, c. 14-16.
-
-[206] Hom. in Matt. vol. vii. p. 762.
-
-[207] To the establishment of parochial divisions with separate pastors
-in Alexandria we have the direct testimony of Epiphanius, Hæres. 69;
-Arian. c. 1. In Rome, however, and Constantinople, though the churches
-were numerous, the clergy seem to have been more or less connected with
-the mother Church.—_Vide_ Bingham, chap. viii. 5, book ix.
-
-[208] μειρακίσκος εὐτελὴς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος—applied by rather a strong
-rhetorical licence to a man forty years old.
-
-[209] μηδέπω πρότερον. This seems to prove that he had not preached
-during his diaconate.
-
-[210] Ecclus. xv. 9.
-
-[211] Hom. xi. in Act. Apost. _in fine_.
-
-[212] Vol. ii. p. 515.
-
-[213] C. 3.
-
-[214] See the Monitum to these Homilies, vol. i. p. 699.
-
-[215] See Newman’s Arians, chap. i. sect. i.
-
-[216] Arius, in a letter to Eusebius, addresses him as συλλουκιανιστά,
-“fellow Lucianist,” Theod. i. 5.
-
-[217] I. c. 6, 7.
-
-[218] C. 3.
-
-[219] I. c. 4.
-
-[220] II. c. 3, 4.
-
-[221] II. c. 4, 5; III. 3, 4, 5, 6.
-
-[222] IV. 4.
-
-[223] V. 2, 3.
-
-[224] VII. c. 3, 4.
-
-[225] VII. c. 6, 7.
-
-[226] III. c. 6.
-
-[227] III. c. 6, _in fine_.
-
-[228] IV. _in fine_.
-
-[229] The colours represented the seasons, and according as one or
-other was victorious a plentiful harvest or prosperous navigation was
-indicated.
-
-[230] Contra Anom. vii. c. i.
-
-[231] De Laz. vii. c. 1.
-
-[232] De Anna, iv. 1.
-
-[233] De Laz. vii. c. 1.
-
-[234] It is a treatise, because too long for a homily, though mutilated
-of its proper conclusion. It must belong to the first two years of his
-priesthood, because it promises a more ample discussion of several
-points, which promise we find redeemed in the homilies against the
-Jews, and these homilies, again, can be proved, by internal evidence,
-to have been delivered not later than A.D. 387. See Montfaucon’s
-Monitum, vol. i. pp. 811 and 839.
-
-[235] C. 1.
-
-[236] See a singular parallel to this thought in the Emperor Napoleon
-I.’s remarks on Christianity: “Table Talk and Opinions of Napoleon I.”
-
-[237] C. 9.
-
-[238] C. 9.
-
-[239] C. 12.
-
-[240] C. 13.
-
-[241] C. 2.
-
-[242] C. 2-5.
-
-[243] C. 6.
-
-[244] C. 7.
-
-[245] C. 3.
-
-[246] See Perowne, vol. i. _in loco_; Ps. lxxii. 6; and Delitzsch in
-Isa. lx. 17.
-
-[247] Milman’s History of the Jews, vol. ii. book xix.
-
-[248] Basnage’s Hist. des Juifs, vi. 41. Newman’s Arians, ch. i. sect.
-i.
-
-[249] V. _in fine_; robbers may possibly be used in a figurative sense.
-
-[250] I. c. 7. They seem early to have claimed medical skill. When
-Simon Ben Jochai went to Rome as ambassador, in the reign of Antoninus
-Pius, to obtain the abrogation of persecuting edicts, he won the favour
-of the Emperor by curing his sick daughter—Milman, ii. 443.
-
-[251] II. 3; vii. _in initio_; i. c. 3, 4.
-
-[252] I. c. 6.
-
-[253] i. c. 7. So the idle youth of Rome turned for amusement into the
-Synagogue. Horace, Sat. ix. 69.
-
-[254] ἐπιγινώσκετε ἀλλήλους. i. 4. This admonition “Discern one
-another” was uttered just at the close of the Missa Catechumenorum,
-when all but the baptized had to depart.
-
-[255] Newman’s Arians, ch. i. p. 16. Hefele, pp. 305, 306.
-
-[256] In Jud. iii. c. 6, iv. c. 4.
-
-[257] According to Theod. iii. 20, the Jews had ceased to offer
-sacrifices by the reign of Julian, and when he inquired the reason,
-said, because it was unlawful except on the site of the Temple; and
-this was one chief reason why Julian commanded the Temple to be
-restored.
-
-[258] In Jud. v. c. 1.
-
-[259] Ibid. c. 4-7.
-
-[260] He punished the captives by cutting off their ears. It is
-singular that there is no record of this rebellion in history.
-
-[261] For a full relation of this singular event, see Milman’s Jews,
-book xx.
-
-[262] Hom. viii. 4, and _in fine_.
-
-[263] Hom. de Anathemate, delivered soon after the discourses against
-the Anomœans. See Monitum, vol. i. 944.
-
-[264] The former chiefly in the Hom. de Philog. vol. i. 752; the latter
-in the Hom. in Nat. Diem Christi, vol. ii. p. 552.
-
-[265] De Beato Philog. vol. i. p. 753.
-
-[266] In Nat. Christi, vol. ii. p. 560.
-
-[267] De Bapt. Christi, c. 4.
-
-[268] In Kalend. c. 2.
-
-[269] In Ephes. Hom. vi. c. 4.
-
-[270] Perhaps that convulsive twitching which we call “quick blood.”
-
-[271] In Ephes. Hom. xii. c. 3. In Hom. viii. and xii. on 1 Cor. he
-rebukes the heathenish ceremonies performed at the birth of a child.
-One was, to give it that name which was attached to the candle that
-burned longest out of a row of candles.
-
-[272] He was executed at Carthage in A.D. 376.
-
-[273] See Gibbon, c. xxvi. xxvii.
-
-[274] Cod. Theod. xvi. 1, 2.
-
-[275] Sozom. vii. c. 12; Gibbon, c. xxvii.; De Broglie, “L’Église et
-l’Empire,” vi. p. 93.
-
-[276] Cod. Theod. xvi. v. 7, lib. 1, 2.
-
-[277] Cod. Theod. xvi. v. 10, lib. 7, 9. Sozomen informs us (vii. 22)
-that Eugenius, the usurper, after the death of Valentinian II., was
-persuaded by divinations to take up arms.
-
-[278] Sozomen, vii. 15. Theod. v. 21.
-
-[279] The most distinguished scholar, and orator, and one of the most
-upright statesmen of his time—quæstor, prætor, and proconsul of Africa.
-
-[280] Fragments of his speeches preserved in Mai’s collection, vol. i.
-
-[281] Ambrose, Op. vol. ii. Ep. 18.
-
-[282] Libanius: Pro templis non exscind. The oration was certainly not
-spoken before the Emperor, and probably not even sent to him.
-
-[283] Cod. Theod. xii. 104-115.
-
-[284] Theodor. v. 19. A funeral oration on her and the infant was
-pronounced by Gregory Nyssen, Op. vol. iii. pp. 515, 527, 533.
-
-[285] Libanius, Or. 12, pp. 391-395.
-
-[286] Probably the prætorium built in the reign of Constantine for
-the Count of the East, who from that time resided in Antioch; _vide_
-Müller, Antiq. Antioch., ii. 16.
-
-[287] Liban. Or. 12, p. 395, and 21, p. 527. Theod. vii. 20. Sozom.
-vii. 23. Zos. iv. 41.
-
-[288] Chrys. Hom. de Stat. iii. 1; xxi. 1. Zosimus (iv. 41) sends
-Libanius also to Constantinople, but this is a palpable error. There is
-no trace of his having gone, either in his own Orations or in any other
-historian.
-
-[289] Socrat. vi. 5. The most common practice was for the preacher to
-sit, the people to stand.
-
-[290] Hom. ii. 2.
-
-[291] iii. 6.
-
-[292] iii. 1, 2.
-
-[293] ii. 5.
-
-[294] iii. 3.
-
-[295] iii. 4, 5.
-
-[296] xvi. 6.
-
-[297] iii. 7.
-
-[298] xiv. 1.
-
-[299] v. 7.
-
-[300] xx. 9. A passage in another homily on this subject is curious,
-as proving that just the same jugglers’ feats were performed in
-Antioch in the fourth century as at the fairs and races of the present
-day:—“Persons pretended it was next to impossible to conquer an
-inveterate habit: this was a paltry excuse, perseverance could conquer
-any difficulty. To unlearn a habit of swearing could not be more
-impossible than to acquire the art of throwing up swords, and catching
-them by the handle, or balancing a pole on the forehead with two boys
-at the top of it, or dancing on a tightrope.”—Hom. in Dom. Serv.
-
-[301] iv. 1.
-
-[302] iv. 2.
-
-[303] v. 3. τὸ σῶμα τῇ ψυχῇ περίκειται καθάπερ ἱμάτιον. Comp.
-Shakespeare: “When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.”
-
-[304] v. 3.
-
-[305] ix. 3, 4.
-
-[306] x. 2, 4.
-
-[307] xiii. 2.
-
-[308] xii. 2.
-
-[309] x. 3.
-
-[310] xii. 2-4; xiii. 3. Comp. Aristotle’s distinction between
-natural and conventional law or justice, Eth. v. 7.1: φυσικόν and
-νομικόν δίκαιον. Compare also his description of προαίρεσις as the
-ἀρχὴ κινήσεως in b. iii., and of φρόνησις (nearly = Butler’s
-“Conscience”) in b. vi.
-
-[311] Comp. again what Aristotle says of the necessity of _training_ to
-improve the _natural_ gifts, b. x. 9, and of the formation of _habits_
-by repeated _acts_. Comp. Chrys. Hom. xiii. 3, with Arist. Eth. ii. 4,
-5.
-
-[312] xiii. 4.
-
-[313] xvi. 1.
-
-[314] Liban. Or. 21, in Helleb. and 20, 517.
-
-[315] Theodor. v. 20.
-
-[316] xvii. 1, 2.
-
-[317] Liban. Orat. 20. De Broglie, vi. 150, 151. Chrys. Hom. xvii. 2.
-
-[318] xvii. 2. The colonnades, especially of the great street which ran
-through the city from east to west; the περιπάτους or promenades were
-lined by colonnades with seats.—_Vide_ Müller, Antiq. Ant. ii. 12.
-
-[319] xvii. 2.
-
-[320] xx. 5, and xviii. _in fine_.
-
-[321] Liban. Or. 21, p. 536.
-
-[322] xxi. 1.
-
-[323] It was the custom to signalise the great festivals by acts of
-mercy. “The oil of mercy glistens on the Festivals of the Church,” says
-Ambrose, Serm. 14, on Ps. cxviii. 7. Leo the Great also, Serm. 39,
-alludes to the custom. But, to prevent any abuse of the practice, it
-was enacted by Theodosius in A.D. 384-385, that it should apply only
-to those accused of petty offences: the grosser crimes of robbery,
-adultery, magic, murder, sacrilege, were to be excepted from claims to
-this indulgence.
-
-[324] xxi. 1-4.
-
-[325] xxi. 4.
-
-[326] Hom. i. de Anna, vol. iv. c. 1, where he recapitulates the
-arguments which he had used in the Homilies on the Statues.
-
-[327] Hom. de Anna, i. 1.
-
-[328] Called κυριακὴ τῆς ἐπισωζομένης, this last word being the name
-of Ascension Day among the Cappadocians, possibly because Christ’s
-work on earth for man’s redemption was completed by his return into
-heaven. (_Vide_ Leo Allatius, quoted in Suicer, Thesaur., _sub verbo_
-“Episozomene,” and Bingham, Antiq. b. xx. sect. 5.)
-
-[329] Hom. de Stat. xix. 1, vol. ii.
-
-[330] Euseb. de Vita Constant. lib. iv.
-
-[331] Chrys. Hom. xl. in Juvent.
-
-[332] Hom. de Cæmet. et Cruce, vol. ii. c. i. in Ascens. Christi, vol.
-ii., and de Sanct. Martyr. vol. ii. p. 705. The Sunday corresponding to
-the present Trinity Sunday was kept as a kind of All Saints’ Day. See
-Bingham, b. xx. c. 7, sect. 14.
-
-[333] Aug. Hom. xxvi. Gelas. Decret. in Grabe, vol. i. The word
-“legend” is perhaps derived from these Acts of the Saints, which were
-to be read—“legenda.”
-
-[334] Adv. Judæos viii. c. 7.
-
-[335] Hom. in Juvent. et Maxim. vol. ii. p. 576.
-
-[336] De Bern. et Prosd. vol. ii. p. 640.
-
-[337] See the letter in Euseb. lib. iv. c. 15.
-
-[338] Aug. de Vera Relig. c. 55.
-
-[339] Aug. contra Faustum, lib. xx. c. 21.
-
-[340] De Droside, vol. ii. p. 685.
-
-[341] Flavian caused the remains of some much-revered saints who were
-buried beneath the pavement of the church to be taken up, and placed
-in another separate grave, because the people were distressed that the
-reliques of such venerated personages should repose in the same vaults
-with the remains of less saintly, if not heretical, characters.—Hom. in
-Ascen.
-
-[342] De S. Babyla, c. 12. De Stat. i. 2, and viii. 2. Quod Christus
-sit Deus, c. 7. De Stat. v. 1.
-
-[343] In S. Ignat. Mart. c. 4.
-
-[344] In Juvent. et Maxim. c. 1.
-
-[345] Hom. in Martyres, vol. ii. p. 663.
-
-[346] In Sanct. Jul. vol. ii. p. 673.
-
-[347] Aug. cont. Faustum, lib. xx. c. 21.
-
-[348] Aug. Confess. lib. vi. 2. Epist. 64, ad Aurel. Conc. Carth. iii.
-c. 30.
-
-[349] Basil. Regul. Major., quæst. 40.
-
-[350] See Dr. Hessey’s Bampton Lectures, “on Sunday.”
-
-[351] Whether it was a regular custom for the rustic population to
-visit Antioch on this day, or whether it was the first great influx for
-trade and legal business after the recent suspension of all business,
-does not appear.
-
-[352] Ambr. Ep. xx.
-
-[353] Ambr. Ep. xx. p. 854.
-
-[354] Sozomen, vii. 13. Ruf. ii. 16.
-
-[355] Ambr. Ep. xxi. Sermo contra Aux. p. 868.
-
-[356] Ignatius is said to have first introduced antiphonal singing at
-Antioch, Flavian and Diodorus to have established it there; Socr. v. 8;
-Theod. ii. 19. Basil refers to it as a common practice, but Ambrose is
-generally allowed to have introduced it to the Western Church, and on
-this occasion. _Vide_ Suicer.
-
-[357] Aug. Conf. ix. 7, and preceding books.
-
-[358] Ambr. Ep. xxi.
-
-[359] Ambr. Ep. xxii. Aug. Conf. ix. 7.
-
-[360] Ambr. Ep. xl. and xli.
-
-[361] Cod. Theod. iv. v. 4, lib. 2. De Broglie, vi. 257.
-
-[362] Sozom. vii. 25. Theod. v. 17. Ambr. Ep. li. De Broglie, vi. 302,
-etc.
-
-[363] Theod. v. 18. De Broglie, vi. 302 _et seq._
-
-[364] Sozom. vii. 15. Socr. v. 15. Ambr. Ep. lvi. Theod. v. 23.
-
-[365] Ambr. de ob. Val.
-
-[366] Theod. v. 24. Socr. v. 25. Sozom. vii. 24. De Broglie, vi. 8.
-
-[367] Ambr. Ep. lxi. lxii.
-
-[368] Socr. v. 26. Sozom. vii. 29. Ambrosii Vita a Paul. scripta, de
-obit. Theod.
-
-[369] Of course I do not forget that the idea and name of Roman Emperor
-and Roman Empire lived on for centuries more, but the elevation of
-Charles the Great was a revolt against the old order of things. He can
-hardly be regarded as a successor of Theodosius so truly as Theodosius
-was a successor of Augustus.
-
-[370] Claud. de Bello Gild. 293.
-
-[371] Claud. in Ruf. i. v. 137.
-
-[372] Philostorg. xi. 3. For much assistance in his notices of
-Rufinus and Eutropius, the writer must pay his acknowledgments to the
-admirable work by Amédée Thierry: “Les trois ministres des fils de
-Théodose”—Rufin, Eutrope, Stilicon.
-
-[373] Gibbon, iii. 67. Zosim. iv. 51.
-
-[374] Claud. in Ruf. i. v. 220.
-
-[375] See references in Thierry, p. 19.
-
-[376] De Laud. Stil. ii. v. 379.
-
-[377] “Noster Scipiades Stilicho.” De Consulat. Stilic. præf. v. 21.
-
-[378] Claud. de Nupt. Honor. et Mariæ.
-
-[379] Zosim. v. 3.
-
-[380] Symmach. Ep. iv. 15 and 16.
-
-[381] Possibly alluded to by Chrysostom in Hom. iv. de Penitentia,
-c. 2, where he mentions “incursions of enemies” among other recent
-calamities. These homilies were probably delivered in A.D. 395.
-
-[382] Thierry, pp. 35-78. Claud. in Ruf. lib. ii.
-
-[383] In Eutrop. i. v. 104, 105.
-
-[384] “Contemptu jam liber erat.”—Claud. in Eutrop. i. v. 132.
-
-[385] Claud. in Eutrop. i. v. 148, 149.
-
-[386] Sozom. vii. 22.
-
-[387] Philostorg. xi. 5.
-
-[388] Claud. in Eutrop. i. 427, etc.; ii. 97, etc.
-
-[389] Thierry, pp. 97-126. Zosim. v. 5. Claud. in Eutrop. ii.
-
-[390] Zosim. v. 8, 9, 12.
-
-[391] Sozom. viii. 7.
-
-[392] Claud. in Eutrop. i. 235, etc.
-
-[393] Synes. de Regno, p. 16.
-
-[394] Claud. in Eutrop. ii. 95. Thierry, p. 162, etc.
-
-[395] Socr. vi. 2.
-
-[396] See Chrysostom’s own remarks in De Sacerdotio, lib. iii., cited
-above in Ch. iv., and in Act. Apost. Hom. iii. 5.
-
-[397] Epist. xxi. ad Valerium.
-
-[398] Socrat. vi. 2. Sozom. viii. 2.
-
-[399] Lib. iii. c. 15, 17.
-
-[400] Pallad. Dial. c. 5.
-
-[401] Socr. vi. 2. Sozom. viii. 2. Pallad. Dial.
-
-[402] Socr. vi. 2. Sozom. viii. 2.
-
-[403] Pallad. Dial. c. 5.
-
-[404] Sozom. viii. 2. Pallad. Dial. 5.
-
-[405] Socr. vi. 2.
-
-[406] Bingham, b. ii. c. 11, sec. 8.
-
-[407] The title Patriarch is occasionally used in the following pages,
-although it does not appear to have been a formally recognised title
-till fifty years later. Socrates (A.D. 440 about) uses it (_vide_
-c. 8), but the first occurrence of it in any public document is in
-the acts of the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, where it is applied
-especially to Leo i. of Rome.—Can. 28. Labbé, vol. iv.
-
-[408] Hom. xi. in Anom. vol. i. p. 795.
-
-[409] De Sacerd. lib. vi. c. 6-8, quoted above, p. 53.
-
-[410] Soc. vi. 3. Sozom. viii. 9.
-
-[411] Pallad. Dial. c. v. p. 20.
-
-[412] Lib. xxvii. c. 3.
-
-[413] Epist. ii. ad Nepotianum.
-
-[414] Pallad. Dial. c. v. and xii.
-
-[415] See Hefele, p. 131, and on the date of this synod.
-
-[416] Stanley, Eastern Church, lecture v. Socr. i. 11. Sozom. i.
-23. The truth of the story has been disputed, but apparently on
-insufficient grounds. _Vide_ Hefele, p. 436.
-
-[417] Can. 3. Hefele, p. 379.
-
-[418] Jerome, Ep. xxii. ad Eustoch. Epiphan. Hær. 63.
-
-[419] See references in Bingham, b. vi. c. ii. 13.
-
-[420] Contra eos, etc., vol. i. p. 495.
-
-[421] Ibid. c. 3, 4.
-
-[422] Ibid. c. 7.
-
-[423] Contra eos, etc., c. 9.
-
-[424] Ibid. c. 10.
-
-[425] Ibid. c. 10.
-
-[426] Socr. vi. 4.
-
-[427] Vol. xii. p. 468.
-
-[428] Vol. xii. p. 485.
-
-[429] Contra Lud. et Theat. vol. vi. p. 269, _in fine_.
-
-[430] Ibid. c. 1.
-
-[431] Contra Lud. et Theat. c. 2.
-
-[432] From this and what follows it would appear that communicants went
-within the rails to receive, and close to the altar. This was the most
-primitive custom. Sometimes the recipients stood; _vide_ passages cited
-in Bingham, b. viii. ch. 6, sec. 7.
-
-[433] Vol. xii. Hom. ix.
-
-[434] In Coloss. Hom. vii., vol. xi. p. 350.
-
-[435] Hom. xviii. in Genes., vol. iv. p. 150.
-
-[436] The use of silk seems from its first introduction into the
-Empire to have been regarded as the _ne plus ultra_ of luxury. It
-was condemned by Pliny, vi. 20, xi. 21. Elagabalus was the first
-_man_ as well as the first Emperor who ventured to wear a material
-hitherto confined to female dress. See Gibbon, vol. vii. c. 40, and his
-interesting account of the introduction of silk-worms from China to
-Constantinople by some Persian monks in the reign of Justinian.
-
-[437] In Matt. Hom. xlix., vol. vii. p. 501
-
-[438] In Psalm. xlviii., vol. v. p. 514.
-
-[439] Hom. i. de Lazaro, c. 8.
-
-[440] In Gen. Hom. xli., p. 382.
-
-[441] In Joan. Hom. lxii., p. 340, and Hom. lxix., p. 380.
-
-[442] In Act. Apost. p. 147 _et seq._
-
-[443] Hom. xx. in Act. Apost. p. 162. This set of fifty-five Homilies
-on the Acts of the Apostles, of which much use is made in this chapter,
-was delivered in A.D. 400, between Easter and Whitsuntide, in which
-interval it was customary to read through the Acts in the Lessons for
-the day: _vide_ Bingham, vol. iv. These homilies are among the least
-polished of Chrysostom’s productions. Erasmus, who translated them into
-Latin, was thoroughly disappointed and out of humour with them, and
-even doubts their authenticity. In a letter to Tonstal, Bp. of Durham,
-he declares that he could have written better matter himself even when
-“ebrius ac stertens.” But most persons familiar with Chrysostom’s
-productions will agree with Montfaucon and Savile that these homilies
-could have flowed only from that golden vein, though the ore is not
-so much refined as usual, and that some passages are in his very best
-style. None of his homilies, except those on the Statues and St.
-Matthew, contain more curious revelations of the manners and customs of
-the age.
-
-[444] In Act. Apost. pp. 74 and 98.
-
-[445] In Act. Apost. p. 256.
-
-[446] See Villari’s Life of Savonarola, b. i. c. 3.
-
-[447] In Act. Apost. p. 191.
-
-[448] Hom. in Inscrip. Altaris, i. _in initio_.
-
-[449] In Act. Apost. pp. 189, 190.
-
-[450] Vol. xii. Hom. vi. adv. Cath. pp. 143 and 491.
-
-[451] Vol. xii. Hom. i., “Quod frequenter,” etc. Socrates, vi. 22. If
-we may estimate the man from the account by Socrates, his admirer, who
-relates a number of his so-called witticisms, the book is no great loss.
-
-[452] Greg. de Vita sua, pp. 585-1097. Orat. xxii., xxvii., xxxii.
-
-[453] _Vide_ Gibbon, v. p. 30.
-
-[454] Socrates, vi. 8. _Vide_ Dean Stanley, Eastern Church, pp. 131,
-132, for specimens of these Thalia; _e.g._ one commences, “Where are
-those who say that the Three are but one power?”
-
-[455] Sozom. viii. 3. Socrat. v. 15.
-
-[456] Epist. xiv. vol. iii.
-
-[457] Vol. xii. Hom. viii.
-
-[458] Theod. v. 30.
-
-[459] Epist. xiv. and ccvii.
-
-[460] Theod. v. 29. Tillemont, xi. p. 155.
-
-[461] Marc. Diac. ap. Baron, an. 401, 49.
-
-[462] Vol. xii. 471. The titles “mother of churches,” “nurse of monks,”
-“staff of the poor,” etc., were not bestowed till after his return
-from his first exile, vol. iii. p. 446. M. Thierry has erroneously
-introduced them into this earlier stage of his life.
-
-[463] Claud. in Eutrop. lib. i. The pathetic appeal is by Claudian
-put into the mouth of an allegorical impersonation of the city.
-Claudian was the intimate friend and companion of Stilicho, and may not
-improbably have assisted at this audience. He is a valuable guide to
-the history of this period, and especially as an indicator of public
-opinion on the great events of his day.
-
-[464] Gibbon, vol. v. p. 361. Claudian, De Consul. Mall. Theod.
-
-[465] In Eutrop. ii. 39, 136.
-
-[466] Claud. in Eutrop. ii. 187 _et seq._
-
-[467] In Eutrop. ii. 377.
-
-[468] The above account is taken from Zosimus, lib. v.; Claudian in
-Eutrop. ii. Thierry, “Trois Ministres; Eutrope.”
-
-[469] Zosim. v. 17.
-
-[470] Claud. in Eutr. ii. 474 and 534, etc.
-
-[471] Philostorg. xi. 6. Zosim. v. 18.
-
-[472] Stanley, (Appendix,) “Memorials of Westminster.”
-
-[473] Cod. Theod. lib. ix. tit. 45.
-
-[474] Ibid.
-
-[475] The altar was sometimes called ἄσυλος τράπεζα (Synesius, Ep.
-lviii.)
-
-[476] Claud. Prolog. in Eutrop. ii. 25. Chrysost. in Eutrop., c. 3.
-vol. iii.
-
-[477] Chrysost. in Eutrop. c. 2.
-
-[478] De Capto Eutrop. vol. iii.
-
-[479] In Eutrop. i.
-
-[480] De Capto Eutrop. c. 4.
-
-[481] In Eutrop. c. 3.
-
-[482] Socrat. vi. 5.
-
-[483] In Eutrop. c. 1.
-
-[484] In Eutrop. c. 2-4.
-
-[485] Zosimus, v. 18, ἐξαρπάσαντες.
-
-[486] De Capto Eutrop. c. 1.
-
-[487] Zosim. v. 18.
-
-[488] Zosim. v. 18. Cod. Theod. ix. 40, 17. Philostorg. xi. 6.
-
-[489] Zosim. v. 18.
-
-[490] Zosim. v. 18. Socrat. vi. 6. Sozom. viii. 4.
-
-[491] Hom. cum Saturn. et Aurel. vol. iii.
-
-[492] Socr. vi. 6. Sozom. viii. 4. Theod. v. 31.
-
-[493] Sozom. viii. 4. Theod. v. 32.
-
-[494] Nili Mon. Epist. i. 70, 79, 114, 116, 205, 206, 286.
-
-[495] Sozom. viii. 4. Socr. vi. 6. Theod. v. 32.
-
-[496] Sozom. viii. 4. Socr. vi. 6. Zosim. v. 19.
-
-[497] Eunap. Sard. Fragm. 60. Sozom. viii. 4.
-
-[498] _Vide_ c. 21.
-
-[499] Sozom. viii. 4. Socr. vi. 6.
-
-[500] The Alexandrian Chronicle is precise in fixing Dec. 23, A.D. 400,
-as the date of his defeat on the Hellespont, and Jan. 3, A.D. 401,
-as the day on which his head was brought into Constantinople. This
-certainly leaves a very insufficient interval for the events recorded
-in Zosimus.
-
-[501] _Vide_ c. 33.
-
-[502] Palladius, author of the Dialogue prefixed to Migne’s edition
-of Chrysostom’s works. On the debated question whether this Palladius
-was the same Bishop of Hellenopolis who wrote the Lausiaca, _vide_
-Tillemont, xi. “Vie de Pallade.”
-
-[503] There was in fact what might be called a floating synod of this
-kind always in existence in Constantinople; the Patriarch being _ex
-officio_ President.—Tillemont, xv. 703, 704.
-
-[504] We are in the summer of A.D. 400, and the capture and death of
-Gaïnas occurred in Jan. A.D. 401.
-
-[505] σοῦ τὴν τιμιότητα; sometimes we have ὁσιότητα, “your Holiness.”
-
-[506] Pallad. Dial. c. 14 and 15.
-
-[507] See, on this whole subject, Bingham, viii. 13. 6; and Robertson,
-i. pp. 187 and 318, and the authorities there cited.
-
-[508] Pallad. Dial. c. 14, 15. Sozomen (viii. 6) says that Chrysostom
-deposed thirteen bishops of Asia, Lycia, and Phrygia. This is possible,
-as the synod may have inquired into other simoniacal cases beyond the
-original six.
-
-[509] Sozom. viii. 6.
-
-[510] Tillemont, xi. p. 170.
-
-[511] Labbé, ii. p. 947. It must always be borne in mind that Diocese
-was the name of the largest _civil_ division of the Roman Empire. Each
-diocese contained several provinces, _e.g._ Thrace, six; Asia, ten;
-Pontus, eleven. The whole Empire was divided into thirteen dioceses,
-and about one hundred and twenty provinces. The Ecclesiastical
-divisions followed more or less the plan of the civil. An archbishop
-was bishop of the metropolis of a Province, a Patriarch of one or more
-_Dioceses_.
-
-[512] Can. xxviii.; and Can. ix. Chalced. in Labbé, iv. pp. 769 and 798.
-
-[513] Comp. Keble, Christian Year, for Easter Day:—
-
-“Sundays by thee more glorious break, An Easter Day in every week.”
-
-
-[514] Vol. iii. p. 421.
-
-[515] Socrat. vi. 11. Sozom. viii. 10.
-
-[516] Vol. iii. p. 424 _et seq._
-
-[517] Pallad. Dial. c. 18, pp. 62 and 67.
-
-[518] Socrat. vi. 4.
-
-[519] Sozom. viii. c. 9.
-
-[520] Pallad. Dial. c. 19.
-
-[521] Greg. Naz. Epp. lvii. lviii.
-
-[522] Greg. Naz. Ep. lvii.
-
-[523] Theophilus is said to have fallen down before her and kissed
-her knees, an obeisance prompted by avaricious hopes on his part, and
-repelled by genuine humility on hers.
-
-[524] Pallad. Dial. c. 16, 17. Sozom. viii. 9.
-
-[525] Pallad. Dial. c. 6. Tillemont xiv. p. 219 _seq._: ἐγὼ αὐτῷ ἀρτύω
-χύτραν.
-
-[526] Pallad. Dial. c. 5, 6, 18, 19.
-
-[527] Jerome in Ruf. lib. ii. c. 5. Ep. xxxi. p. 203.
-
-[528] Tillemont, xi.: Vie de Theophile.
-
-[529] Euseb. Hist. vi. 3, 19.
-
-[530] Jerome declared that Origen had composed more books than most men
-would find time to copy.—Epist. xxix.
-
-[531] The Paschal Letter was a circular addressed to clergy and monks
-throughout the diocese soon after the Epiphany; the primary object
-was to announce the date of the first day of Lent and of Easter Day,
-whence the name; but other matters were, as in the present instance,
-frequently introduced. See Tillemont, xi. 462.
-
-[532] Socrat. vi. 7. Sozom. viii. 11, 12.
-
-[533] Jerome in Ruf. iii.; and Ep. lxi.
-
-[534] In Ruf. iii. 33.
-
-[535] The contest for precedence was eventually decided in favour of
-Jerusalem. The see was made a Patriarchate in the reign of Theodosius
-II., and its jurisdiction fixed to the three Palestines by the Council
-of Chalcedon, A.D. 451.
-
-[536] Jerome, Ep. xxxviii.
-
-[537] Jerome, Ep. xxxviii.
-
-[538] Jerome, Ep. cx.
-
-[539] Ibid. Ep. xxxviii. and xxxix.
-
-[540] Jerome, Ep. xxxviii.
-
-[541] Ibid.
-
-[542] Pallad. Lausiaca, p. 901. Tillemont, vol. xi.
-
-[543] Pallad. Dial. c. 6. Other causes of the enmity of Theophilus
-are mentioned by Socrates, vi. 9, and Sozomen, viii. 12, but not
-incompatible with the account of Palladius.
-
-[544] Socrat. vi. 7.
-
-[545] Pasch. Epist. of Theoph. quoted in Tillemont, xi. p. 470. Pallad.
-Dial. 6. Sozom. viii. 12.
-
-[546] Sulpic. Sever. lib. i. c. 3.
-
-[547] Pallad. Dial. c. 7.
-
-[548] Sozom. viii. 13.
-
-[549] Jer. Ep. lxx.
-
-[550] Jer. Ep. lxxviii. in Ruf. Epp. lxvii. lxxiii.
-
-[551] Socrat. vi. 9. Sozom. viii. 14.
-
-[552] Socrat. (vi. c. 13) says that the writings only of Origen, not
-the man himself, were condemned.
-
-[553] Ep. lxxviii.
-
-[554] Pallad. Dial. c. 8.
-
-[555] Sozom. viii. 13. Pallad. Dial. c. 8.
-
-[556] Ep. xvi.
-
-[557] Socrat. vi. c. 12.
-
-[558] Socrat. vi 12. Sozom. viii. 14.
-
-[559] Sozom. viii. 14 and 26.
-
-[560] Socrat. vi. 14.
-
-[561] Sozom. viii. 14.
-
-[562] Sozom. c. 15.
-
-[563] Socrat. vi. 15. Sozom. viii. 15.
-
-[564] Socrat. vi. 15. Sozom. viii. 16.
-
-[565] Pallad. Dial. c. 2 (Epist. of Chrys. to Innocent), and c. 8.
-
-[566] See Tillemont, vol. xi. ch. 71.
-
-[567] _Vide_ ante, Ch. XIII.
-
-[568] So Palladius, c. 8, on the whole the most trustworthy authority.
-Photius, Biblioth. (c. 59), says there were forty-five.
-
-[569] The language is not very clear in this passage, but such is, I
-conceive, the drift of it.—c. 8.
-
-[570] This must have been a slight exaggeration, but the members do
-seem to have been mainly Egyptian.
-
-[571] Pallad. Dial. c. 8.
-
-[572] Phot. c. 59. Chrys. Ep. 125 ad Cyr., where he indignantly repels
-the charge:—“had he done so, might his name be blotted out from the
-roll of bishops;” but at the same time he deprecates the treatment of
-such an offence (had it been committed) with extreme severity: for had
-not our Lord Himself instituted that holy feast, and had not St. Paul
-baptized without previously fasting? Chrysostom shrinks in horror from
-the supposition of such a gross violation of ecclesiastical rule as
-the act in his case would have been, but refuses to place it on the
-same footing with the commission of a flagrant moral crime, or direct
-disobedience to any command of Christ. There are, however, some doubts
-whether this letter is genuine. See _infra_, p. 317, and note.
-
-[573] Pallad. Dial. 8. Socr. vi. 15. Soz. viii. 17.
-
-[574] Tillemont, vol. xi.
-
-[575] It contains the celebrated passage: “Herodias again dances and
-demands the head of John;” which recurs as the exordium of another and
-spurious homily (vol. viii. p. 485), and also an indignant repudiation
-of the offence of administering baptism after eating.—vol. iii. 427.
-Socrates, vi. 16. Sozom. viii. 17, 18.
-
-[576] The authenticity of which has been questioned. The style is
-perhaps not quite worthy of Chrysostom; but in one of his sermons after
-his return from exile he apparently alludes to some quotations from Job
-made in this discourse.
-
-[577] More strictly speaking, “the Hieron,” “the sacred spot” where
-the Argonauts were supposed to have offered sacrifice to Zeus on their
-return from Colchis.
-
-[578] Sozom. viii. 18, 19. Socrat. vi. 16, 17. Zosim. v. 23.
-
-[579] Theod. v. 34. Chrys. vol. iii. p. 446.
-
-[580] Socr. vi. 16. Soz. viii. 18. Chrys. Ep. ad Innoc. in Dial. Pall.
-p. 10.
-
-[581] It appears from subsequent events that Theophilus had not yet
-actually quitted Constantinople, but he and his partisans had retired
-for the time discomfited from the field of active opposition; and
-this would justify the language of Chrysostom, who is speaking under
-excitement.
-
-[582] Sermones 1 and 2, post red. ab exsil. vol. iii.
-
-[583] Socrat. vi. 17. Sozom. viii. 19.
-
-[584] Ep. ad Innoc. in Pallad. Dial. p. 10.
-
-[585] As distinguished from the Forum of Constantine, which was
-elliptical in shape.
-
-[586] Cod. Theod. vi. 102.
-
-[587] The celebrated exordium of a homily supposed to be directed
-against Eudoxia—“Again Herodias rages, again she demands the head of
-John”—if actually spoken with reference to John the Baptist, may easily
-have been represented by the malevolent as aimed at the Empress. But
-the whole homily has been pronounced spurious by Savile and Montfaucon,
-and on perusal of it their verdict seems reasonable. The discourse
-is the production of a thorough misogynist, describing with much
-coarseness and acrimony the misery and trouble caused by the wickedness
-of women. Most will agree with Savile, that it is “scarcely worth
-reading, and quite unworthy emendation.”—Vol. viii. p. 485.
-
-[588] Pallad. Dial. c. 9.
-
-[589] Sozom. viii. 20. Socrat. vi. 18. Pallad. Dial. c. 9.
-
-[590] Pallad. Dial. c. 9.
-
-[591] Pallad. Dial. c. 9.
-
-[592] Pallad. Dial. c. 9. Chrysostom (Ep. ad Innoc. vol. iii.) speaks
-of more than forty friendly bishops.
-
-[593] Vol. iii. p. 533.
-
-[594] Pallad. Dial. c. 9.
-
-[595] Pallad. Dial. c. 9. Sozom. viii. 21.
-
-[596] Pallad. Dial. 10. Sozom. viii. 21, 22. Socrat. vi. 18.
-
-[597] Pallad. Dial. c. 10.
-
-[598] Pallad. Dial. c. 10. Zosim. v. 24. Sozom. viii. 2.
-
-[599] Pallad. Dial. c. 11.
-
-[600] Ep. ad Episcop. vol. iii. pp. 541 and 673.
-
-[601] C. 11.
-
-[602] Epist. cxxv.
-
-[603] Epist. ccxii.
-
-[604] Sozom. viii. 24. Pallad. Dial. c. 20.
-
-[605] Epist. ad Olymp. vi.
-
-[606] Epp. xciv. and civ.
-
-[607] Pallad. Dial. cc. 1, 2, 3.
-
-[608] Ep. cxiii.
-
-[609] Epp. clxviii. clxix. _et aliæ_.
-
-[610] Pallad. Dial. c. 3.
-
-[611] Sozom. viii. 26.
-
-[612] One previous letter we possess in Chrys. vol. iii. p. 539, in
-which he expresses his horror at the late outrages in the Church of St.
-Sophia, and at the gross violation of justice and law in the recent
-so-called trial of Chrysostom.
-
-[613] Pallad. Dial. c. 4.
-
-[614] Nilus, 2 Epp. cclxv. and cclxxix. Sozom. viii. 25.
-
-[615] Pallad. Dial. 20.
-
-[616] Sozom. viii. 27. Pallad. Dial. 20.
-
-[617] Ep. ad eos qui scandalizati sunt, c. 19.
-
-[618] Pallad. Dial. cc. 15 and 16.
-
-[619] Theod. v. 34.
-
-[620] Epp. x. xi.
-
-[621] Ep. xiii.
-
-[622] Epp. cxx. cxxi.
-
-[623] Ep. cxxv. _in fine_.
-
-[624] Ep. ccxxi.
-
-[625] Ep. viii.
-
-[626] Ep. xiv.
-
-[627] Epp. xiii. lxxxiv.
-
-[628] Ep. cxxv.
-
-[629] Ep. ccxxxiv.
-
-[630] Epp. ccxxxiv. ccxxxvi. It is not mentioned in Pliny or Ptolemy,
-but appears in the Itinerary of Antonine as Cocusus (pp. 10, 13).
-It stood at the confluence of several roads, but apparently not
-high-roads, one of which connected Antioch with Asia Minor.
-
-[631] Ep. cxxv. _in fine_.
-
-[632] Ep. xiii.
-
-[633] Epp. xiii. xiv. ccxxxiv.
-
-[634] Vol. iii. p. 549 _et seq._
-
-[635] Ep. ii. c. 10.
-
-[636] _e.g._ Epp. lxxxviii. lxxxix. _et aliæ_.
-
-[637] Ep. cxxiv.
-
-[638] Ep. cxxxii.
-
-[639] Ep. cxlvii.
-
-[640] Epp. cxxx. ccxxii.
-
-[641] Epp. l. li. lxi. _et aliæ_.
-
-[642] There seems no doubt that Maruthas was an able and active
-missionary bishop. Socrates (vii. 8) tells strange stories of his
-skill in exposing some tricks of the magi, by which they attempted to
-prejudice the Persian king Isdigerdes against Christianity.
-
-[643] Ep. ccx.
-
-[644] Ep. ccxii.
-
-[645] Ep. ccxvii.
-
-[646] Ep. cciv.
-
-[647] As appears from an edict dated August 29, addressed to Studius,
-Prefect of Constantinople.—Cod. Theod. vol. ii. p. 16.
-
-[648] Ep. cxiv.
-
-[649] Tillemont, xi. 274.
-
-[650] Vol. v. ch. xxxii.
-
-[651] Ep. vi.
-
-[652] Epp. cxl. cxlvi.
-
-[653] Epp. liii. liv.
-
-[654] Epp. cxxiii. cxxvi.
-
-[655] Photius, p. 1048.
-
-[656] Epp. lxi. lxix. cxxvii. cxxxi.
-
-[657] Ep. clvii.
-
-[658] Ep. clv.
-
-[659] Vol. iii. p. 535.
-
-[660] Ep. cxlix.
-
-[661] Aug. cont. Jul. p. 370.
-
-[662] Ep. v.
-
-[663] Pallad. Dial. pp. 38, 39, who says that they came out of Syria,
-Cilicia, and Armenia: but how could this be if it took three months to
-convey Chrysostom from Cucusus to Comana?
-
-[664] Tillemont, xi. 349.
-
-[665] This is his day in the Calendar of the Eastern and Western Church.
-
-[666] The Roman martyrology states that the remains of the saint were
-afterwards translated to St. Peter’s, Rome, but the statement is not
-supported by any trustworthy historical evidence.—Tillemont, xi. 352.
-
-[667] I must acknowledge my obligations in the composition of
-this chapter to the very useful and instructive work of Dr. Th.
-Foerster, Berlin, entitled “Chrysostomus in seinem Verhältniss zur
-Antiochenischen Schule.”—Gotha, 1869.
-
-[668] In Rom. Hom. xiii. 2. 1 Cor. Hom. xiii. 3. In Phil. vii. 5.
-
-[669] Hom. de Stat. xi. 2.
-
-[670] In Genes. Hom. xxi. 2.
-
-[671] Ibid. xvi. and xvii.
-
-[672] In Rom. Hom. xii. 6.
-
-[673] In Genes. Hom. xx. 3. In 1 Cor. Hom. ii. 2. In Matt. Hom. lix. 1,
-2.
-
-[674] Comp. Jeremy Taylor, “On Original Sin,” ch. vi.: “A man is not
-naturally sinful as he is naturally heavy, or upright, naturally apt
-to weep and laugh; for these he is always and unavoidably.” Comp. also
-Aristot. Eth. ii. c. 1.
-
-[675] In Matt. Hom. xxviii. 3, and lviii. 3.
-
-[676] In Heb. Hom. xii. 2 and 3.
-
-[677] De Fato, Hom. iii.-vi. Comp. Jer. Taylor, Unum Necessar. ch. 6.
-sec. 5.
-
-[678] De Pœnit. Hom. i. 2; et ad Theod. lapsum.
-
-[679] In Inscrip. Act. ii. 6.
-
-[680] In Psalm. cxlii. 5.
-
-[681] In Act. Hom. xli. 4.
-
-[682] In Matt. xxxii.
-
-[683] De Sanct. Babyla, vol. ii.
-
-[684] In Johan. vol. viii. p. 482.
-
-[685] In Hebr. Hom. v. i.
-
-[686] Contra Julianum, bk. i. ed. Bened. p. 630; but I have failed to
-find the passage in Chrysostom’s works.
-
-[687] In Rom. Hom. x. 2.
-
-[688] προτρεπτικὴ οὐ βιαστική in Johan. Hom. xlvii. 4; _et_ in Matt. H.
-lxxx. 3.
-
-[689] In 1 Cor. Hom. vii. 2. In Ephes. Hom. i. 2. In 1 Cor. Hom. ii. 2.
-
-[690] In Rom. Hom. xvi. cc. 8, 9.
-
-[691] In Genes. Hom. xlii. c. 1.
-
-[692] In Johan. Hom. xviii. 3.
-
-[693] In Heb. Hom. xii. c. 3.
-
-[694] De Mac. i. 3.
-
-[695] Ch. VIII.
-
-[696] In Johan. Hom. iii. 2.
-
-[697] In Heb. Hom. ii. c. 2.
-
-[698] In Psal. li. Expos.
-
-[699] In Heb. Hom. iv. 2, 3.
-
-[700] In Rom. Hom. xiii. 5.
-
-[701] In Phil. Hom. vii. c. 3.
-
-[702] In Heb. Hom. iii., Hom. iv. c. iii. In Philog. Beat. In Johan.
-Hom. xlviii. c. i.
-
-[703] In Matt. Hom. iii.; Expos. in Ps. li.; in 1 Cor. Hom. xxiv. 4.
-
-[704] De Resur. J. Chr. c. 3.
-
-[705] De Bapt. Christi, c. 3.
-
-[706] De Cœmet. et Cruce, i.
-
-[707] De Cœmet. et Cruce, 3. See also in Ephes. Hom. xx.; and esp. In
-Ascens. J. Chr. c. 2.
-
-[708] De Verb. Apost. vol. iii. p. 276.
-
-[709] In Johan. Hom. xxxiii. c. 1.
-
-[710] In Rom. Hom. viii. c. 5.
-
-[711] In Gen. Hom. v. c. 1.
-
-[712] In Ephes. Hom. iv. c. 2.
-
-[713] In Gen. Hom. xxxi. 2.
-
-[714] De Pœnit. Hom. viii. 2.
-
-[715] Cont. Anom. vii. 7.
-
-[716] De Anna, iv. 5.
-
-[717] Ibid. ii. 2.
-
-[718] Ad illum. Catech. i. c. 3.
-
-[719] De Mut. Nom. iv. _in fine_.
-
-[720] Ad ilium. Catech. i. 3.
-
-[721] Ibid. ii. 3.
-
-[722] De Bapt. Chr. c. 3.
-
-[723] In Gen. Hom. xl. c. 4.
-
-[724] De Bapt. J. Chr. c. 7.
-
-[725] De Cœmet. et Cruce, _in fine_, vol. ii.
-
-[726] De Prod. Jud. vol. ii. Hom. i. c. 6.
-
-[727] In Eustath. Ant. vol. ii. p. 601.
-
-[728] In Ep. ad. Hebr. Hom. xvii. c. 3.
-
-[729] Hom. ii. De Stat. c. 9.
-
-[730] De Nat. Christi, c. 7.
-
-[731] De Stat. xi. c. 5. The authenticity of the letter to Cæsarius is
-so doubtful that I have not ventured to introduce here the celebrated
-passage which it contains on this subject. It will be found in the
-Appendix, where the curious history of this letter is related.
-
-[732] Eirenikon, part i. p. 112.
-
-[733] De Laz. Hom. iv. 4.
-
-[734] De Pœnit. Hom. iv. 4.
-
-[735] De Pœnit. Hom. ix.
-
-[736] See Dr. Pusey’s history of the cultus and its mischievous
-effects, in Parts i. and ii. of the “Eirenikon.”
-
-[737] In Johan. Hom. xxi. 2; and in Matt. Hom. xliv. 1.
-
-[738] De Mundi Creat. vi. 10.
-
-[739] _Vide_ Dr. Pusey, Eiren. i. p. 113: “We could preach whole
-volumes of the sermons of St. Augustine or St. Chrysostom to our
-people, to their edification and without offence: were a Roman Catholic
-preacher to confine himself to their preaching, he would (as it has
-been said among themselves) be regarded as ‘indevout towards Mary.’”
-
-[740] In Ephes. Hom. iii. _in fine_.
-
-[741] Vol. iii. p. 362.
-
-[742] I have not thought it expedient to crowd the margin with
-references to Chrysostom’s works for every one of the liturgical forms
-above mentioned. They may nearly all be consulted in Bingham, book xv.,
-who has collected them with great care. The fullest passages occur
-in vol. ii. p. 345; iii. p. 104; x. pp. 200 and 527; xi. p. 323. The
-so-called prayer of St. Chrysostom in our Prayer-Book is found in the
-Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, but cannot certainly be
-traced to either of those fathers. It was inserted at the end of the
-Litany in 1544, and of the Daily Service in 1661.
-
-[743] Vol. ii. pp. 17, 92, 522, _et passim_.
-
-[744] Vol vi. 157.
-
-[745] In Isai. v. 3, and vi.
-
-[746] Ibid. vii. 6.
-
-[747] In Is. vii. c. i.
-
-[748] In Ephes. Hom. x. 1.
-
-[749] De Verb. Apost. vol. iii. p. 282.
-
-[750] In Matt. Hom. i. 2.
-
-[751] In Galat. i. 6.
-
-[752] In Matt. i. _et_ in Johan. i.
-
-[753] In Rom. Hom. xxxi. 1.
-
-[754] In Psalm xliv.; in 1 Cor. Hom. xxix. 1.
-
-[755] _Vide_ Tillemont, xi. p. 37.
-
-[756] Socrat. vi. 4.
-
-[757] Suidas; _vide_ verb. Johannes.
-
-[758] Cont. Anom. Hom. iv.
-
-[759] De Sacerdot. iv. 6.
-
-[760] Adv. Oppugn. Vit. Mon. iii. 2.
-
-[761] Adv. Oppugn. Vit. Mon. ii. 4.
-
-[762] De Pœnit. vi. 1.
-
-[763] De Pœnit. ii. 1.
-
-[764] In Johan. Hom. ii. 2, and vol. vii. 30.
-
-[765] Vol. xi. p. 694.
-
-[766] Vol. ix. p. 407. Comp. Jerome: “Quotusquisque nunc Aristotelem
-legit? quanti Platonis vel libros novere, vel nomen? Vix in angulis
-otiosi eos senes recolunt; rusticanos vero et piscatores nostros totus
-orbis loquitur, universus mundus sonat.”—In Galat. iii.
-
-[767] Alex. Knox, “Remains,” vol. iii. pp. 75-77.
-
-[768] Jebb, “Pastoral Discourses,” ii.
-
-[769] Milner, Hist. ii. p. 302.
-
-[770] Dante, Parad. xii. 136.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX.
-
-
- Ablavius, the prefect, grandfather of Olympias, 280.
-
- Acacius, bishop of Berœa, carries a petition to Rome, 237;
- a leader of the faction hostile to Chrysostom, 282;
- plots against Chrysostom after his recall, 329;
- undertakes the responsibility, with Antiochus, of the archbishop’s
- deposition, 332, 339;
- bribes Lucius to disperse the people at the Baths, 336;
- assists in ordaining Porphyry, 358.
-
- Acacius of Cæsarea preaches at Antioch, 19.
-
- Æmilius, a champion of Roman freedom, 242.
-
- Æmilius, bishop of Beneventum, one of the Italian deputation, 353.
-
- Aëtius, an extreme Arian, 109.
-
- Africa, Church of, maintains communion with Theophilus and Chrysostom,
- 385.
-
- African Council, resolution of, wishing for intercourse between Rome
- and Alexandria, 385.
-
- Alaric, a royal Visigoth, 187;
- descends into Thrace and ravages the country round Constantinople,
- 207;
- mock interview with Rufinus, 207;
- overruns Greece, 207;
- spreads devastation over Peloponnesus, 210;
- made commander-in-chief of the forces of the East, 210;
- efforts to gain Rome, 359.
-
- Alexander, governor at Antioch, 11.
-
- Alexander of Basilinopolis, a friend of Chrysostom, 329.
-
- Alexander Severus, Emperor, 46.
-
- Alexander succeeds Porphyry in the see of Antioch, 377;
- pays honour to Chrysostom, 388.
-
- Alexandria, vices of the Christian population of, 11;
- tumults at, 30;
- products of monks shipped to, 64;
- religious riots at, 65;
- parochial divisions, 103 _note_;
- sedition at, 151;
- order restored by Cynegius, 151;
- its mixed population, 195;
- flight of Theophilus to, 325.
-
- Alexandrian school, allegorical interpretations of, 28.
-
- Almsgiving, Chrysostom on the duty of, 228.
-
- Amantius, chamberlain of Eudoxia, 241.
-
- Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, 41 _note_;
- a layman when consecrated, 56;
- converts multitudes of women to celibacy, 61;
- sides with Theodosius, 142;
- reply to the appeal of Symmachus, 145, 146;
- prohibits feasts in the churches, 182;
- his character, 187;
- before the royal council, 187;
- refuses to surrender the Portian Basilica, 187;
- will not recognise the edict, 188;
- served with an order of banishment, but refuses to depart, 189;
- declines the proposal of arbitration, and remains master of the
- field, 190;
- his triumph, 190;
- mission to Maximus, 190;
- letter to Theodosius on his commanding the bishop of Callinicum
- to restore the Jewish synagogue, 192;
- sermon at Milan on the same subject, 192, 193;
- the Emperor succumbs, 193;
- mission to obtain clemency for the Thessalonians, 195;
- withdraws from Milan into the country, 196;
- exhorts the Emperor to deep repentance, 196;
- refuses Theodosius admittance to the cathedral, 196;
- repulses Rufinus the minister, 197;
- prescribes penance to the Emperor, 197;
- testimony of Theodosius to his nobility of character, 198;
- strife with Flavian, 199;
- receives the Emperor after his defeat of Arbogastes, 201;
- administers the Eucharist to Theodosius, 201;
- urges Nectarius to depose Gerontius, 273.
-
- Ammianus Marcellinus on the luxury of bishops of great cities, 217.
-
- Ammon, bishop of Laodicea, 266;
- a leader of Chrysostom’s enemies, 329.
-
- Ammonius, a Nitrian monk, baptizes Rufinus, 204;
- one of the “tall brethren,” 294;
- struck by Theophilus, 295;
- interview with Epiphanius, 305;
- his death, 316;
- prediction of persecution to the Church, 316;
- buried at “the Oak,” where he had baptized the minister Rufinus, 316;
- Theophilus weeps over his death and eulogises him, 316.
-
- Anastasius, Pope, anathematises Origen, 296.
-
- Anathematising denounced by Chrysostom, 133.
-
- Anchorites, the, 60.
-
- Ancyra in Phrygia, the summer retreat of Arcadius, 209;
- spectacle of the Emperor’s departure to, 211.
-
- Anomœan doctrine, 110, 111;
- Chrysostom’s homilies against, 115-117.
-
- Anthemius, master of the offices, appealed to, to disperse
- the congregation at the Baths, 336;
- refuses to interfere, but directs Lucius to exhort the people
- to return to the churches, 336;
- Chrysostom’s letter to, on his being made prefect and consul, 374.
-
- Anthropomorphites, or Humanisers, 288;
- denounced by John, bishop of Jerusalem, 290;
- Theophilus declares himself in their favour, 295.
-
- Anthusa, mother of Chrysostom, 9;
- a widow at twenty, 10;
- great love for her son, 10;
- abstains from marrying again, 11;
- appeals to Chrysostom not to enter into retirement, 25-27.
-
- Antioch, the birthplace of Chrysostom, 9;
- vices of its Christian inhabitants, 11;
- Chrysostom resident at, 57;
- persecutions at, 57, 58;
- St. Jerome at Church of, 61;
- monasteries near, 62, 63;
- monks in the mountainous heights near, 66;
- population of, 89;
- description of, 90, 91;
- “the great church” at, 91;
- character of the inhabitants, 92;
- bishop’s relations to the city, 103;
- Chrysostom appointed preacher at, 104;
- resides here ten years, 107;
- the cradle of Arianism, 109;
- passion of the people for chariot-races, 118;
- influence of the Jews, 126, 127;
- character of its population, 137;
- its paganism, 137;
- sedition at, 150;
- proclamation of edict levying the tribute, 151;
- sedition at, 150-153;
- dejection of the people, 153;
- arrival of the commissioners from the Emperor, 165;
- the city degraded, 165;
- Chrysostom remonstrates against the prevalent discontent, 168, 169;
- the city is pardoned, 170;
- joy of the people, 170;
- excitable feelings of the populace, 215;
- Chrysostom’s forcible removal from the city, 215.
-
- Antioch, Church of, vicissitudes in the, 17-22;
- the see in the hands of the Arians for some time, 17;
- its Arian bishops, 17-20;
- split into three parties, 20;
- its three rival bishops, Paulinus, Meletius, and Euzoius, 20;
- a fourth added by the Apollinarians, 20;
- the people favour Meletius, 21;
- the schism finally healed by Chrysostom, 21;
- its three sections of Meletians, Eustathians, and Arians, 133.
-
- Antioch, Council of (A.D. 341), Twelfth Canon of the, 328;
- swayed by Arian influence, 329;
- its object the harassment of Athanasius, 330;
- Chrysostom’s enemies stake their whole issue on its Twelfth Canon,
- 330;
- question as to its validity, 330;
- its Canons pronounced by Innocent invalid, 351.
-
- Antiochus, bishop of Ptolemais, discourses at Constantinople, 276;
- a leader of the faction hostile to Chrysostom, 282;
- plots against the archbishop after his recall, 329;
- rage at the proposal of Elpidius, 331;
- undertakes the responsibility, with Acacius, of Chrysostom’s
- deposition, 332, 339;
- urges the Emperor to remove him from the city, 339;
- assists in ordaining Porphyry, 358.
-
- Antiochus Epiphanes, 91.
-
- Antiochus the Great, 126.
-
- Antiphonal singing, 189 _note_.
-
- Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus, grave charges against, 266;
- flatly denies the charges, 268;
- is alarmed when the archbishop proposes to visit Asia Minor, 268;
- his interest at court produces opposition to Chrysostom’s
- departure, 268;
- is reconciled to his accuser, 269;
- the farce of the inquiry, 269;
- his death, 270.
-
- Antonius, a reader, made bishop, 56.
-
- Antony, the Anchorite, 60;
- wholesome saying of, 64.
-
- Apollo, oracle of, at Daphne, 100.
-
- Apostolical constitutions, 56.
-
- Applause of the congregation, 118;
- sternly repressed, 164.
-
- Arabianus, bishop, at the assembly at Constantinople, 266.
-
- Arabissus, a fortified town near Cucusus, 383;
- attacked and nearly captured by Isaurians, 383.
-
- Arbogastes, Valentinian’s general of the forces, 199;
- his ambition and treachery, 200;
- repulses the first attack of Theodosius, 200;
- is overthrown, his army routed, and himself slain, 201;
- his children pardoned and baptized, 201.
-
- Arcadius, son of Theodosius, 150;
- Rufinus appointed his guardian, 203;
- does not oppose the ambition of Rufinus, 204;
- Eutropius gains complete mastery of his feeble mind after the death
- of Rufinus, 209;
- neglect of his empire, 210;
- becomes a mere puppet, 211;
- his palaces and pageants, 211;
- dismisses Eutropius, 248;
- promises Chrysostom to respect his minister’s retreat in the church,
- 251;
- entreats the troops to refrain from violence towards Eutropius, 251;
- misgivings as to beheading his late minister, 255;
- yields to the demands of Gaïnas, 259;
- ratifies the deposition of Chrysostom by the “Synod of the Oak,” 316;
- refuses to attend church on Christmas Day until the archbishop has
- cleared himself, 329;
- the patriarch’s case pleaded before him, 330, 331;
- orders Chrysostom to be removed from the church to his palace, 332;
- his alarm, 332;
- sends for Acacius and Antiochus, 332;
- turns a deaf ear to the entreaty of the forty bishops, 333;
- permits a concourse of Christians at Pempton to be dispersed, 337.
-
- Archelaus invited Socrates to court, 76.
-
- Arian controversy, the, 17-22.
-
- Arianism, at Antioch, 109, 110;
- Chrysostom’s homilies against, 110-117.
-
- Arians, the, 50;
- their danger to Christianity, 109;
- forbidden by Theodosius to hold assemblies, 142;
- stronghold of, at Constantinople, in the time of Gregory of Nazianzus,
- 235;
- molest the peace in Chrysostom’s time, 236.
-
- Aristides, resistance of, to ambition, 95.
-
- Arius, probably instructed by Lucian, 109;
- his Thalia, 236.
-
- Arsacius elevated to the see of Constantinople, 344;
- his character, 344;
- persecution of the Johnites, 344;
- his death, 371.
-
- Ascension Day, Sunday before, 177 _note_.
-
- Ascetic life, commencement of, 24;
- relapse from, 31, 32.
-
- Asceticism considered the highest form of life, 82.
-
- Ascetics, youthful association of, 27;
- primitive, 59;
- called by Eusebius “earnest persons,” and by Clemens Alexandrinus
- “more elect than the elect,” 60.
-
- Asia, Church of, disgraceful state of the, 373.
-
- Asia Minor, Chrysostom desires to visit, 268;
- three delegates appointed to visit, 269;
- the Church of, needs a healing hand, 270;
- Chrysostom visits, 271;
- Theophilus travels through, seeking for disaffected bishops, 306.
-
- Asterius, count of the East, assists in removing Chrysostom from
- Antioch, 215.
-
- Aterbius, a pilgrim, applies himself to the detection of heresy at
- Jerusalem, 288;
- denounces John the bishop, Jerome, and Rufinus as Origenists, 289.
-
- Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, obscurity of the early years of,
- 9;
- return to Alexandria from exile, 20;
- consecrated at an early age, 56;
- accompanied to Rome by monks, 61;
- the Twelfth Canon of the Council of Antioch aimed against, 329.
-
- Atticus, a presbyter, an opponent of Chrysostom, elected to the see of
- Constantinople during the archbishop’s banishment, 283, 356;
- obtains imperial rescripts against the clergy and laymen, 356;
- the Johnites refuse to hold communion with him, 388;
- admits the name of Chrysostom into the diptychs of the Church at
- Constantinople, 388.
-
- Augustine, St., 40;
- permits sitting during the reading of the Acts of the Saints, 178;
- on the honour due to saints and martyrs, 180;
- prohibits feasts in the churches, 182;
- traits of earlier life and baptism, 189;
- on the discharge of episcopal duties, 212;
- eulogium on Chrysostom, 385;
- comparison with Chrysostom, 430.
-
- Aurelian, prætorian prefect, presides over the suit instituted against
- Eutropius, 255;
- the Empress procures his elevation to the consulship, 256;
- his surrender demanded by Gaïnas, 257;
- insulted by Gaïnas, and afterwards delivered up, 257.
-
- Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, 182;
- receives a letter from Chrysostom, 385.
-
- Auxentius, the Arian bishop, 190.
-
- Avarice, denunciations of, 223, 224.
-
-
- Babylas, the martyr, Chrysostom’s book on, 92;
- his remains taken to the grove of Daphne, 101;
- removed hence by Julian, but afterwards brought back, 102.
-
- Basil, bishop of Raphanea, 14;
- his friendship with Chrysostom, 14;
- his line of life the “true philosophy,” _i.e._ monasticism, 15;
- project for a life of seclusion, 27;
- reluctance to be made a bishop, 40-42;
- remonstrates with Chrysostom, 42;
- parting from Chrysostom on his appointment to a bishopric, 54.
-
- Basil, bishop of Seleucia, 14.
-
- Basil (the Great), bishop of Cæsarea, 14;
- contends against the misconceptions of baptism, 16;
- sides with Theodosius, 142;
- reprobates trading near the “martyries,” 182;
- qualified admiration of Origen’s teachings, 287.
-
- Basiliscus, bishop of Comana, suffered martyrdom, 386;
- story of his appearing to Chrysostom, 387.
-
- Baths of Constantine, interrupted services carried on at, 334;
- people refuse to leave, 336;
- scenes of violence at, 336.
-
- Bautho, father of Eudoxia, 205.
-
- Benedict, St., 60;
- establishment of his monastery, 144.
-
- Benedictines of Camaldoli, 62.
-
- Bequests made by codicils renounced by Theodosius, 193.
-
- Bethlehem, Jerome’s monastic establishment at, 289.
-
- Bishops, mode of electing, 40, 46, 47;
- violence at elections of, 47, 48;
- age at which eligible for, 56, 57;
- laymen consecrated, 56;
- their high social position, 212;
- canvassing and bribery at their elections, 213;
- luxurious style of living, 217.
-
- Bithynia, Chrysostom conveyed to, 340.
-
- Bosporus, the, Chrysostom crosses, to intercede with Gaïnas, 257;
- a messenger sent across to seek for Chrysostom, 321;
- studded with boats on the patriarch’s return, 322;
- “the sea became a city,” 324;
- its waters crowded to welcome the reliques of Chrysostom, 388.
-
- Botheric, governor of Thessalonica, imprisons a favourite charioteer,
- 194;
- refuses to release him, 195;
- is mortally wounded, 195.
-
- Briso, Eudoxia’s chamberlain, wounded in a street fray, 236;
- the bearer to Chrysostom of a letter from the Empress, 321;
- intercedes for Chrysostom, 361.
-
- Brison, bishop of Philippopolis, a leader of Chrysostom’s enemies, 329.
-
- British Isles, 112;
- reached by Christianity, 123;
- evangelised, 238.
-
-
- Cæsarea, pre-eminence of the see of, over that of Jerusalem, 292;
- Chrysostom arrives at, on his exile, 362;
- violent scenes at, 363.
-
- Cæsarius, Chrysostom’s letter to, 433, 434.
-
- Cæsarius, commissioner to Antioch, 165;
- goes to the Emperor to intercede for the people, 166;
- his arrival at Constantinople, 170;
- his errand anticipated, 171.
-
- Cæsarius of Arles made reader at the age of seven, 23.
-
- Caligula, destruction of Antioch in the reign of, 90.
-
- Callinicum, 191;
- its people destroy a Jewish synagogue, 191;
- the bishop commanded to restore the building, 192;
- Ambrose objects to this, and Theodosius gives way, 192, 193.
-
- Camillus, a champion of Roman freedom, 242.
-
- Capua, council of Western bishops at, 199.
-
- Carterius superintends the studies of youthful ascetics, 27.
-
- Carthage, Fourth Council of, 23.
-
- Cassianus, John, founder of a monastery at Marseilles, 61;
- his rules of the cloister, 61;
- remains a friend of Chrysostom, 279;
- custodian of the church treasury at Constantinople, 342;
- flies to Rome, 350.
-
- Castricia, 257;
- an enemy of Chrysostom, 282, 328.
-
- Catechumens, period of probation for, 15.
-
- Celibacy of the clergy, Chrysostom on, 95, 96;
- canons of the Council of Nice upon, 219;
- “the ancient tradition of the Church” concerning, 219.
-
- Chalcedon, Council of (A.D. 451), 14;
- the title of “Patriarch” first appears in its Acts, 216 _note_;
- extends the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, 274;
- grants him equal privileges with the Patriarch of Rome, 275;
- decides on the precedence of the see of Jerusalem over that of
- Cæsarea, 289 _note_.
-
- Chalcedon, “The Oak” a suburb of, where the synod hostile to
- Chrysostom was held, 204;
- a church, monastery, and palace built here by Rufinus, 309.
-
- Character, Eastern and Western, compared, 173.
-
- Chariot-races censured, 119, 224-226.
-
- Christian morals, Chrysostom on the state of, 70.
-
- Christian responsibilities, 231.
-
- Christian wife, portrait of a, 229.
-
- Christianity, recognised position of, 10;
- partially paganised, 11;
- “the philosophy” of, 15, 24;
- imperilled by corruption of morals and faith, 107;
- its progress, 123;
- recognition by the empire, 126;
- its humanising influence in a heartless age, 174.
-
- Christmas, observance of, 134, 136.
-
- Christmas Day, the Emperors attend divine service in state on, 329.
-
- Christ’s equality with the Father, 113-116;
- zealous defence of His pure divinity, 181, 182.
-
- Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, sends a letter by the Italian
- deputation, 368;
- Chrysostom’s letters to, 334, 335, 384.
-
- Chrysostom, St. John: Probable date of his birth, 9.
- His birthplace Antioch in Syria, 9.
- His parents, 9.
- Father’s death, 10.
- Early training, 12.
- Destined for the legal profession, 12.
- Attendance at the lectures of Libanius, 12.
- Nascent powers of eloquence, 13.
- Appellation of Chrysostomos, or the “Golden Mouth,” 13, 427.
- Libanius praises his speech in honour of the Emperors, 13.
- Commences practice as a lawyer, 13.
- Disgust with a secular life, 14.
- Study of Holy Scripture, 14.
- Early friendship with Basil, bishop of Raphanea, 14.
- Forms acquaintance with Meletius, bishop of Antioch, 15.
- Delay in his baptism, 15;
- alleged cause for the delay, 21, 22.
- Baptized by Meletius, 22.
- Becomes for a time an enthusiastic ascetic, 22.
- His intense piety and love to God, 22.
- Ordained reader by Meletius, 23.
- Project for retiring into seclusion, 25.
- Frustrated by his mother’s entreaties, 25-27.
- Letters of exhortation to Theodore, 32-39.
- Reluctance to be consecrated a bishop, 40, 41.
- His “pious fraud,” 42.
- Dissension with Basil, 42, 43.
- Books on the priesthood, 40-55.
- Reasons for declining a bishopric, 53.
- Narrow escape from persecution, 58.
- Retirement into a monastery, 58.
- Exults at the growth of monasticism in Egypt, 62.
- Description of the daily life of the monks, 66, 67.
- Admiration for monastic communities, 67.
- Treatises composed during monastic life, 69.
- Epistle to Demetrius, 70, 71.
- Epistle to Stelechius, 71, 72.
- Treatise addressed “to the assailants of monastic life,” 73-80.
- Becomes an ardent ascetic, 82.
- Enters a cave near Antioch, 82.
- Breakdown of health, and abandonment of monastic life, 82.
- Returns to his home at Antioch, 82.
- Epistle to Stagirius, 82-85.
- Ordained a deacon by Meletius, 86.
- Congenial duties of the diaconate, 89.
- Treatise “On Virginity,” 92.
- Letter to a young widow, 92-95.
- Views on marriage and celibacy, 95-100.
- Treatise, “De S. Babyla contra Julianum et Gentiles,” 100-102.
- Ordained to the priesthood by Flavian, 103.
-
- Chrysostom, St. John, as preacher at Antioch: Inaugural discourse
- at Antioch, 104-106.
- Preaches at Antioch for ten years, 107.
- Sermon on bishop Meletius, 108.
- Homilies against Arians, 109-115.
- Profound acquaintance with Scripture, 116.
- All argument based upon Scripture, 117.
- Rebukes his hearers for their neglect of the celebration of the
- Eucharist, 117;
- for applauding his words, 118;
- and for their love of the circus, 118-120.
- Homilies against Pagans, 121-124.
- Occasional defects of interpretation of the Scriptures, 125.
- Homilies against Jews and Judaising Christians, 126-133.
- Homily against anathematising, 133.
- Sermon on Christmas Day, 134, 135.
- Indignation at riotous festivity, 136.
- Homily on New Year’s Day, 136, 137, 151.
- Rebukes gross and senseless superstitions, 137.
- Agrees with the Emperor Theodosius, 142.
- Immense efforts after the tumult at Antioch, 154.
- Encourages the people to hope for clemency, 154.
-
- Chrysostom, St. John, as preacher at Antioch: Homilies on the statues,
- 154-164.
- Exhortations to repentance, 156;
- on this world’s wealth, 156, 157;
- on the method of keeping Lent, 157, 158;
- on fasting, 159;
- against rash oaths, 159;
- on death, 161;
- on the signs of a Creator, 162, 163.
- Similes from Nature, 163.
- Ethical doctrine, 163.
- Praise of the hermits for their courage, 166, 167.
- Expostulates with the people on their discontent, 169.
- Thanksgiving for the pardon of Antioch, 170.
- Describes the interview between Flavian and the Emperor, 171-174.
- His illness, 177, 184.
- Homilies on festivals of saints and martyrs, 177-183.
- Belief in the intercessory power of saints, 179.
- Exhorts the people to imitate the lives of the martyrs, 180.
- Homily on the Sunday before Ascension Day, 184.
- Praise of the peasant clergy, 184.
- Elected to the see of Constantinople, 214.
- Force and fraud employed to remove him from Antioch, 215.
-
- Chrysostom, St. John, as archbishop of Constantinople: Arrival at
- Constantinople, 215.
- His consecration as archbishop, 216.
- The “sermo enthronisticus,” 216.
- Too much the saint of the cloister for his new position, 217.
- His unpopular reforms, 218.
- Denounces “spiritual sisters,” and implores the clergy to liberate
- themselves from these disgraceful connections, 219-221.
- Exacts rigorous discipline from the clergy, 222.
- Conducts, with the Empress, a torch-light procession on the removal
- of some martyrs’ reliques, 222, 223.
- Eulogium on the Empress, 223.
- Denunciations of avarice, 224.
- Censures the people for their attachment to chariot-races, 224, 225.
- Denounces fashionable follies, 226-228.
- Portrays the character of a Christian wife, 229.
- Represents to property holders their duties, 230.
- Dilates on Christian responsibilities, 231.
- Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, 231 _note_.
- Indignation at the practice of oath-taking, 231, 232.
- Censures addiction to the pleasures of the table, 232.
- Character of his flock, 233, 234.
- Combats the errors of the Novatians and Arians, 235, 236.
- Labours to heal the schism at Antioch, 237.
- Missionary efforts in Scythia, Syria, and Palestine, 237.
- Assigns a church at Constantinople for the Scythians (or Goths), 238.
- Endeavours to extirpate paganism, 238, 239.
- Affords protection to Eutropius, 250.
- Maintains, when taken before the Emperor, the Church’s right of
- asylum, 251.
- Sermon on the degradation of Eutropius, 252-254.
- Intercedes with Gaïnas, 257.
- Homily after returning from his intercession, 257, 258.
- Contest with Gaïnas, who desired the law prohibiting Arian worship
- within the city to be abolished, 280.
- Proposes to visit Asia Minor to investigate the charges against
- Antoninus, 268.
- His visit opposed by the court, 268.
- Appoints delegates to proceed to Asia, 269.
- Solicited by the clergy of Ephesus to come to them, 270.
- Proceeds to Ephesus, and is welcomed by the clergy and seventy
- bishops, 271.
- Proposes Heracleides as bishop of Ephesus, who is elected, 271.
- Holds a synod at Ephesus, and deprives six simoniacal bishops of
- their sees, 272.
- Returning through Bithynia, he deposes Gerontius, 273.
- Extent of his jurisdiction as Patriarch of Constantinople, 274.
- Received with demonstrations of joy on his return, 275.
- Dismisses Severian from the city, but recalls him by command of the
- Empress, 276, 277.
- Denounces crimes and follies, and becomes unpopular, 278.
- His friends, 279, 280.
- Leaders of the hostile faction, 282.
- Qualified admiration of Origen’s teaching, 287.
- Reception of the Nitrian monks, 298.
- Letter to Theophilus, beseeching him to be reconciled with the
- fugitives, 298.
- Refuses to join in the condemnation of Origen and his writings, 301.
- The plots of his enemies, 302.
- Farewell to Epiphanius, 319.
- Irritates the Empress by a sermon against the follies of fashionable
- ladies, 306.
- Theophilus refuses his hospitality, and declines all communication,
- 307, 308.
- Directed by the court to preside at the inquiry at Pera into the
- conduct of Theophilus, 308.
- Declines to judge him out of his province, 308.
- Scene at the palace with his bishops, 310, 311.
- Summoned to appear before the “Synod of the Oak,” 311.
- Indignation of his bishops, and their reply to Theophilus, 312.
- Letter refusing to attend the synod until his declared enemies are
- ejected, 312, 313.
- Charges laid against him by archdeacon John and Isaac the monk, 313,
- 314.
- Steadfastly refuses to attend the synod, and appeals to a general
- council, 315.
- Deposed by the synod, 316.
- Deposition ratified by the Emperor, and sentenced to banishment, 317.
- Sermon before departing, 317, 319.
- Bows to the storm, and surrenders himself, 320.
- Embarks, and is conveyed to Hieron, 320.
- Removes to Prænetum, opposite Nicomedia, 320.
- Receives an abject letter from the Empress, entreating him to return,
- 321.
- Crosses the Bosporus, and refuses at first to enter Constantinople
- until acquitted by a general council, 322.
- Urged to enter the city, and consents, 322.
- Halts before the Church of the Apostles, but is borne in by the
- people, 322.
- Compelled to sit on the throne, and pronounce a benediction, 322.
- An extempore address, 322, 323.
- Sermon after recall, in which he extols the Empress, 324.
- Denounces the ceremony at the erection of the image of Eudoxia, 327.
- Incurs the resentment of the Empress, 328.
- Further plots of his enemies, 328.
- Continues to discharge his duties, 331.
- Will not cease to officiate unless compelled by force, 332.
- Removed from the church to his palace, 332.
- Letter to Innocent I. on the disturbances at Constantinople, 334, 335.
- His flock, after many trials, broken up, 338.
- Attempts made to assassinate him, 338.
- Receives the mandate of deposition, 339.
- Farewell to his bishops and deaconesses, 339.
- Departure from the Church—“the Angel of the Church went out with
- him,” 340.
-
- Chrysostom, St. John, in exile: Conveyed to the Bithynian coasts, 340.
- Suspected of incendiarism, and loaded with chains, 342.
- Implores the Emperor to be allowed to defend himself and clergy
- against the atrocious charges, 342, 343.
- Journeys to Nice, 343.
- Encourages his suffering friends, 343.
- Cheered by the fortitude and loyalty of Olympias, 346, 347.
- Persuades Pentadia to remain at Constantinople, to support the
- afflicted, 347.
- Letter to Constantius, missionary priest, 361.
- Travels from Nice to Cæsarea, where fanatical monks besiege the
- house in which he is lodged, 362, 363.
- Falls ill with fever, 362.
- Is removed from Cæsarea to the house of Seleucia, who is menaced by
- Pharetrius, 364.
- Taken thence, and totters in darkness along the Cappadocian
- mountains, 364.
- Monks and nuns meet him on the road, and bewail his calamities, 365.
- Cucusus, the place of his exile, is reached, 365.
- Received with much consideration and kindness, 366.
- Letters to Olympias from Cucusus, 367, 372.
- Letters to friendly bishops and laymen, to Gemellus, and to
- Anthemius, 373, 374.
- Receives old friends from Antioch, who come to him for guidance, 374.
- Letters to clergy and others, 376.
- Influence over the empire in his exile, 377, 378.
- Sufferings from the winter cold, 379.
- Interest in the mission in Phœnicia, 380.
- Letters to Gerontius and Rufinus the Presbyter, 380-382.
- Privation, anxiety, and rapid removals, bring on illness, 383.
- Letters to the Italian bishops, to Chromatius, to Innocent, and to
- Aurelius, 383-385.
- Suffers less, and thinks God will restore him to his position in the
- Church, 385, 386.
- His enemies get him removed to Pityus, in a desolate country, 386.
- Arrives at Comana, in Pontus, 386.
- Story of the vision of the martyred Basiliscus, 387.
- Wishes to remain at the church, but is hurried on by his guards, 387.
- Is taken ill, and brought back to the martyry, where he dies after
- partaking of the Eucharist, 387.
- Honoured after his death, 388.
- His reliques brought to Constantinople, and deposited in the Church
- of the Apostles, 388, 389.
-
- Chrysostom, St. John, theological teaching of: Survey of his
- theological teaching, 390.
- Practical character of his works, 391.
- His natural and forcible language, 391.
- On the nature of man, 392, 393.
- Sin and necessity, 393, 394.
- Free-will and grace, 394-396.
- God’s will and man’s freedom, 397, 398.
- Co-operation of God’s will with man’s, 398.
- Divine grace, 399, 400.
- Nature of the Godhead, 401, 402.
- Manhood and Godhead in Christ, 402-404.
- The Redemption, 404-406.
- Justification, 406, 407.
- Faith and good works, 407, 408.
- The efficacy of prayer, 408, 409.
- Baptism, 409-412.
- The Holy Eucharist, 412-415.
- No trace of confession, purgatory, or Mariolatry, 416-418.
- No acknowledgment of papal supremacy, 418, 419.
- Liturgical forms, 419-421.
- Character as a commentator, 421-424.
- The New Testament a completion of the Old, 424.
- Variations in the Gospel narratives, 424, 425.
- Inspiration of the Bible, 425.
- Characteristics as a preacher, 425, 426.
- Personal appearance, 425, 426.
- Preservation of his discourses, 427.
- Style of language, 428.
- Allusions to Greek classical authors, 428, 429.
- Depreciation of Pagan modes and ideas, 429.
- Compared with St. Augustine, 430.
- His fight in the cause of Christian holiness, 431.
-
- Church, the, Chrysostom does not rely on the tradition of, 117;
- its power and progress, 123, 124;
- claims pre-eminence over civil law, 192;
- tradition with regard to clerical celibacy, 219;
- custom concerning the preaching of strangers, 226;
- its stability, 318;
- its degradation, 359.
-
- Claudian, his verses on Stilicho, 205, 208;
- his appeal against the consulship of Eutropius, 242;
- companion of Stilicho, 242 _note_;
- sarcasm aimed at the adulation of the Byzantines, 243;
- dramatic account of Tribigild’s meeting with his wife, 244, 245;
- his description of Leo, 246.
-
- Claudius, Antioch shattered in the reign of, 90.
-
- Clemens Alexandrinus terms ascetics “more elect than the elect,” 60.
-
- Clergy, the, treatment of, by Constantine and Theodosius, 147;
- Jerome on their worldly hospitality, 217;
- exempted from curial office by Constantine, 272;
- those who were curiales forbidden to be ordained, 272.
-
- Cœnobia, the, founded by Pachomius, 60.
-
- Comana, in Pontus, Chrysostom arrives at, 386;
- dies at the martyry outside the town, 387.
-
- Commodus, the Olympic games instituted in the time of, 92, 101.
-
- Communicants received within the rails and close to the altar, 225
- and _note_.
-
- Congregation rebuked by Chrysostom, 117;
- its applause of Chrysostom’s words, 118;
- customary to stand while the preacher sat, 154 _note_.
-
- Conscience, the law of, 163.
-
- Constantia, sister of the Emperor, 17.
-
- Constantine favours the Arians, 17;
- deposes the Catholic bishops, 17;
- commences building “the great church” of Antioch, 91;
- statutes concerning the Jews, 126;
- exemptions of the clergy, 147;
- his forgiveness of an injury, 171, 172;
- right of asylum transferred in his time from Pagan temples to
- Christian churches, 249;
- exempted the clergy from curial office, 272.
-
- Constantinople, vices of the Christian population of, 11;
- Arian synod at, 18;
- tumults at, 30;
- St. Jerome at church of, 61;
- religious riots at, 65, 66;
- division into districts, 103;
- passion of the people for chariot-races, 118;
- edict of Theodosius, 142;
- surrounding country ravaged by Alaric, 207;
- competition for its see, 213;
- Chrysostom appointed archbishop, 214;
- mixture of population, 223;
- its forms of error, 234, 235;
- stronghold of Arianism in the time of Gregory of Nazianzus, 235;
- occupied by Gaïnas and the Goths, 259;
- circular to its clergy announcing Chrysostom’s deposition, 316;
- the people, enraged at the sentence, guard him against abduction, 317;
- the populace demand the restoration of the patriarch, 321;
- visited by an earthquake, 321;
- sanguinary frays in the streets, 325;
- flight of Theophilus from, 325;
- shocking tumult at St. Sophia on Easter Eve, 333;
- its churches deserted during Chrysostom’s absence, 334;
- the interrupted services continued at the Baths, 334;
- fresh scenes of violence, 336-338;
- fury of the people on discovering the removal of Chrysostom, 341;
- the cathedral-church and senate-house burnt down, 341, 342;
- visited by destructive hailstorms, 354;
- coercion ineffectual in bringing the people to submit to Atticus
- and his clergy, 357.
-
- Constantinople, Council of (A.D. 381), 14;
- presided over by Meletius, 21, 86;
- project for a general council after, 142;
- restricts the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Constantinople, 274;
- gave him first rank after the bishop of Rome, 274.
-
- Constantius, a missionary in Phœnicia, receives a letter from
- Chrysostom, 361.
-
- Constantius, a priest, described by Palladius, 357, 358;
- the people of Antioch desire to make him their bishop, 358;
- Porphyry procures his banishment, 358;
- escapes to Cyprus, 358;
- follows Chrysostom into exile, 366.
-
- Constantius, Emperor, 17;
- deposes Stephen, bishop of Antioch, 17;
- summons a general council, 18;
- orders the creed of Rimini to be signed, 18;
- visits Antioch, 19;
- finishes “the great church” at Antioch, 91;
- statutes concerning the Jews, 126.
-
- Cornelius, bishop of Rome, 47.
-
- Crates resists ambition, 95.
-
- Creator, signs of a, in the universe, 161, 162.
-
- Crito, 76.
-
- Cross, honour paid to the, 123.
-
- Cucusus, a village in the Tauric range, subject to attacks from
- Isaurians, 360;
- selected by Eudoxia as the place of Chrysostom’s exile, 361;
- arrival of the archbishop at, 365;
- ravaged by the Isaurians, 382.
-
- Cynegius, prefect of the East, 143;
- enforces the law against informers, 151;
- quells the sedition at Alexandria, 151.
-
- Cyprian on a legitimate ordination, 47;
- consecrated bishop when a layman, 56.
-
- Cyprus, Council of, decree of the, 299.
-
- Cyriacus, bishop of Synnada, accompanies Chrysostom on board the
- vessel, 340;
- detained in chains at Bithynia, 342;
- taken to Chalcedon, 342;
- dismissed, 342;
- a fugitive to Rome, 350;
- accompanies the Italian deputation, 353;
- confined in a Persian fortress, 355;
- intercedes for Chrysostom, 361.
-
- Cyril, successor of Theophilus, reluctant to recognise Chrysostom, 388.
-
- Cyrinus, bishop of Chalcedon, joins Chrysostom at Bithynia, 271;
- denounces the archbishop, 307;
- plots against him after his recall, 329;
- urges the Emperor to remove Chrysostom from Constantinople, 338, 339;
- his death, 307, 354.
-
-
- Damasus contests the see of Rome, 47.
-
- Damophilus exiled by Theodosius, 142.
-
- Dante, the position assigned in Paradise to Chrysostom by, 431.
-
- Daphne, grove of, 92;
- description of, 101;
- destruction of its temple, 102.
-
- Deacons, called “Levites of the Christian Church,” 87;
- duties of, 88;
- their peculiar office in the early Church, 88, 89.
-
- Death, Chrysostom on, 93, 161.
-
- Decious, persecution of, 60.
-
- Demetrius, bishop of Pessina, Chrysostom’s epistle to, 69-71;
- denounces the “Synod of the Oak,” and returns to Chrysostom, 315;
- accompanies the Italian deputation, 353;
- dies of harsh treatment when being conveyed to one of the Egyptian
- oases, 355.
-
- “De Sacerdotio,” Chrysostom’s, 40-46.
-
- Diocese, meaning of, 274 _note_.
-
- Diodorus, influence of, upon Chrysostom and Theodore, 27;
- founder of a method of Biblical interpretation, 28;
- made bishop of Tarsus by Meletius, 28;
- attacked by Julian, 28;
- commentary on the Old and New Testaments, 28, 29;
- his theology, 29-31;
- its rationalistic tendency, 30;
- writings condemned by the Fifth Œcumenical Council, 31;
- rational system of conducting monasteries, 66.
-
- Diogenes, 95.
-
- Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, 76.
-
- Dioscorus, a Nitrian monk, one of the “tall brethren,” 294;
- made bishop of Hermopolis by Theophilus, 294;
- a victim of the rage of Theophilus, 296;
- his death, 316.
-
- Dispensations, teaching of the Old and New, 99.
-
- Divination, arts of, 143.
-
- Domitianus, widows and virgins in the care of, 376.
-
- Domninus blinded to the preparations of Maximus, 191.
-
- Doxology, Arian form of the, 18.
-
-
- Easter Day, vast crowds attend the church on, 234, 331.
-
- Easter Eve, a great day for the baptism of converts, 332;
- the vigil on, interrupted at St. Sophia, 333.
-
- Easter kept according to Jewish calculation, 130;
- this practice condemned by the Council of Nice, 130;
- and denounced by Chrysostom, 130.
-
- Eastern Church, the, acknowledges Meletius as bishop of Antioch, 20;
- the parent of asceticism, 59;
- the festival of Christmas in, 134;
- favourable to clerical celibacy, 218;
- finds the teaching of Origen congenial, 287;
- the “Synod of the Oak” a stain upon, 313;
- appeals to the Western Church, 335, 348;
- not famed for missionary enterprise, 382;
- desire to maintain communion with the West, 388.
-
- Education in monasteries, Chrysostom urges the advantage of, 81.
-
- Elpidius, a priest, bribes a slave to assassinate Chrysostom, 338.
-
- Elpidius, bishop of Laodicea, friendly to Chrysostom, 329;
- his adroit proposal, 331;
- deposed and imprisoned for his attachment to Chrysostom, 377;
- the archbishop writes thanking him for his zeal, 377;
- restored to his see by Alexander, bishop of Antioch, 377.
-
- Elvira, synod of, enjoins celibacy of the clergy, 218.
-
- Emperors, fate of, 94;
- half idolatrous homage paid to, 326, 327;
- custom of attending church in state on Christmas Day, 329.
-
- Epaminondas not allured by ambition, 95.
-
- Ephesus, Chrysostom arrives at, 271;
- election of a bishop to the see of, 271;
- synod at, 271, 272;
- worship of Midas suppressed at, 274;
- its see occupied by a monster of iniquity, 357.
-
- Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia and Cyprus, 289;
- visits Jerusalem, and accepts the hospitality of Bishop John, 289;
- preaches against the doctrines of Origen, 290;
- leaves Jerusalem, and breaks off communion with its bishop, 290, 291;
- forcibly ordains Paulinian deacon and priest, 291;
- receives an apologetic letter from Theophilus, 299;
- goes to Constantinople, irregularly ordains a deacon, and refuses
- the hospitality of Chrysostom, 302, 303;
- his attempt to enter the church and denounce the writings of Origen
- prevented by Serapion, 304;
- his prayers implored by the Empress on her son’s behalf, 304;
- interview with Ammon and his brethren, 305;
- his compunction and departure from Constantinople, 305.
-
- Essenes, the, 59.
-
- Eucharist, congregation neglect the celebration of the, 117;
- Chrysostom censures irreverent conduct at, 135;
- character of some of its partakers, 233.
-
- Eucharistic elements burned at the pillage of the Nitrian monks, 297;
- profaned by soldiers at St. Sophia, 333.
-
- Eudoxia, 189;
- weds Arcadius, 206;
- baptized and educated in the Christian faith, 206;
- Chrysostom’s eulogium of, at the removal of the remains of some
- martyrs, 222, 223;
- aims at the fall of Eutropius, and makes an ally of Chrysostom,
- 240;
- contributes to the support of the churches and the relief of the
- poor, 241;
- profound jealousy of the power of Eutropius, 248;
- relates the minister’s insults to her to Arcadius, 248;
- remains mistress of the field after the death of Eutropius, 256;
- stands unrivalled in the management of the empire, 263, 264;
- gives birth to a male heir to the throne, 264;
- proclaimed Empress under the title of Augusta, 264;
- commands Chrysostom to recall Severian and admit him to communion,
- 276, 277;
- becomes the enemy of Chrysostom, 283, 284;
- accosted by the Nitrian monks, and promises that the council they
- desire shall be convened, 301;
- implores the prayers of the monks, 301;
- asks the prayers of Epiphanius on her son’s behalf, 304;
- terrified by an earthquake, 321;
- sends a humble letter to Chrysostom, entreating him to return, 321;
- her image placed in front of the cathedral, 327;
- ceremony at its erection denounced by Chrysostom, 327;
- her fierce resentment, 328;
- will not listen to the entreaty of the forty bishops, 333;
- receives a solemn warning from Paul, bishop of Crateia, 333;
- her death, 354.
-
- Eudoxius, bishop of Germanicia, seizes the see of Antioch, 18;
- made archbishop of Constantinople, 18.
-
- Eugenius’s children pardoned and baptized, 201.
-
- Eugraphia, 256;
- an enemy of Chrysostom, 283;
- her house the rendezvous of the disaffected, 283.
-
- Eulysius, bishop of Apamea, accompanies Chrysostom on board the vessel,
- 340;
- detained in chains at Bithynia, 342;
- taken to Chalcedon, 342;
- dismissed, 342;
- a fugitive to Rome, 350;
- accompanies the Italian deputation, 353;
- imprisoned in Arabia, 355.
-
- Eunomians forbidden by Theodosius to hold meetings, 142.
-
- Eunomius, an extreme Arian, 109;
- founder of the Eunomian or Anomœan sect, 109.
-
- Euphronius, Arian bishop of Antioch, 17.
-
- Eusebius, a deacon, seeks an interview with Innocent I., 348.
-
- Eusebius, a Nitrian monk, one of the “tall brethren,” 294;
- made presbyter by Theophilus, 294.
-
- Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, instructed by Lucian, 109.
-
- Eusebius, bishop of Valentinopolis, presents grave charges against
- Antoninus, 266;
- commits the crime he has denounced, and is reconciled to Antoninus,
- 269;
- postpones the production of witnesses, 269;
- departs for Constantinople, and affects illness, 270;
- is excommunicated, 270;
- requests to be readmitted to communion with his brethren, 271.
-
- Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, goes to Antioch to heal the division, 20.
-
- Eusebius, of Cæsarea, calls ascetics “earnest persons,” 60;
- use of the word “martyry,” 178.
-
- Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, deposed by Constantine, 17.
-
- Euthymius, a Nitrian monk, one of the “tall brethren,” 294.
-
- Eutropius, a reader and Johnite, tortured to the death, 345.
-
- Eutropius, the chamberlain, 187;
- frustrates Rufinus’s scheme for marrying his daughter to Arcadius,
- 205;
- strange career and rise, 208;
- became the adviser of Arcadius, and virtually his master, 209;
- tyrannous conduct, 209, 210;
- abolishes the right of asylum in the Church, 210;
- probably suggested Chrysostom’s election, 214;
- scheme for removing Chrysostom from Antioch, 215;
- threatens Theophilus for refusing to assist at Chrysostom’s
- ordination, 215;
- does not find Chrysostom a complaisant servant, 240;
- induces the Emperor to make him consul, 241;
- adulation of the Byzantines at his inauguration, 243;
- indignation in the West, 243;
- treats the rebellion of Tribigild as a petty insurrection, and
- offers him a bribe, 245;
- appoints Leo a commander of the legions, 246;
- his arrogance towards the Empress Eudoxia, 248;
- degraded by the Emperor, 248;
- seeks asylum in the Church, 250;
- protected by Chrysostom, 250;
- the populace demand his death, 251;
- his degradation made the subject of a sermon by Chrysostom, 252-254;
- secretly quits the sanctuary, 255;
- banished to Cyprus, 255;
- accused of treason, recalled from Cyprus to Chalcedon, and there
- beheaded, 256.
-
- Euzoius, an associate of Arius, made bishop of Antioch, 19.
-
- Evagrius, 28;
- recognised by Ambrose as bishop of Antioch, 199;
- sudden death, 199.
-
- Evethius, a priest, companion of Chrysostom in his exile, 364;
- takes letters to the Italian bishops from Chrysostom, 383.
-
-
- Fashionable follies censured, 227-229.
-
- Fasting, Chrysostom on, 157-159.
-
- Flaccilla, daughter of Eudoxia, 248.
-
- Flacilla, the Empress, 148;
- her humility and gratitude, 148;
- influence upon Theodosius, 148;
- her death, 148.
-
- Flavian, bishop of Antioch, 59;
- elected by the Meletians, 87;
- accused of perjury, 87;
- ordains Chrysostom to the priesthood, 103;
- Chrysostom’s encomium on, 105, 106;
- besought by the people of Antioch to intercede for them after their
- rioting, 153;
- undertakes the mission of mercy, 153;
- Chrysostom is hopeful of his mission, 155;
- arrives at Constantinople, and obtains pardon for Antioch, 170;
- returns to Antioch in time for the Easter celebration, 170;
- reception by the people, 170;
- interview with the Emperor, 171-174;
- removes the remains of some saints, 181 _note_;
- rivalry with Evagrius produces strife with Ambrose, 199;
- his death, 357.
-
- Fravitta, a loyal Goth, defeats Gaïnas in several engagements, 262;
- pursuit of the enemy, 262;
- made consul, 263.
-
-
- Gaïnas returns with Stilicho’s troops, 207, 208;
- is commanded to compass the death of Rufinus, 208;
- sympathises with his relative Tribigild, 244;
- is retained at Constantinople in command of the city troops, 246;
- despatched, after Leo’s defeat, to confront Tribigild, 247;
- believes the surrender of Eutropius would cause Tribigild to become
- loyal, 247;
- disdains to be directed by the Empress and her lady advisers, and
- joins his forces with those of Tribigild, 256, 257;
- menaces Constantinople, 257;
- opens negotiations with the Emperor, and demands the surrender of
- three court favourites, 257;
- subjects them to insults and a grim practical jest, 257;
- interview with the Emperor, 258;
- demands to be made consul and commander-in-chief, to which the
- Emperor yields, 259;
- demands the abolition of the law forbidding Arian worship, 259;
- is opposed in this by Chrysostom, who debates the question with
- him, 259, 260;
- his rapacity, 260;
- flight from the city, 272;
- declared by royal decree a public enemy, 261;
- takes to a life of plunder, 262;
- defeated in several engagements by Fravitta, and a large portion
- of his army afterwards drowned in crossing the Hellespont, 262;
- retreat towards the Danube, 262;
- final defeat and death, 263.
-
- Gallus Cæsar endeavours to reform the licentiousness of Daphne, 101.
-
- Gaudentius, Count, appointed to suppress paganism, 143.
-
- Gelasius, Pope, forbade reading the Acts of the Saints, 178.
-
- Gemellus, Chrysostom’s letter to, 373.
-
- General Council, Chrysostom is willing to be judged by, 315;
- demanded by the people of Constantinople, 317, 320;
- summonses issued, 325;
- counterfeited, and packed with bishops hostile to Chrysostom, 328;
- desired by Innocent, 352;
- suggested by Honorius to be held at Thessalonica, 352.
-
- George of Laodicea discourses at Antioch, 19.
-
- Germanus, a priest, friend of Chrysostom, 279;
- custodian of the church treasury at Constantinople, 342;
- goes to Rome, 350.
-
- Gerontius, archbishop of Nicomedia, 273;
- skill in curing diseases, 273;
- deposed by Chrysostom, 273;
- accompanies Theophilus to Constantinople to oppose Chrysostom, 307.
-
- Gerontius, a presbyter, anxious to visit Cucusus, 380;
- persuaded by Chrysostom to go direct to Phœnicia, 380.
-
- Gervasius, the martyr, discovery of the remains of, 190.
-
- Gibbon, his character as an historian, 140;
- his admiration of Chrysostom in exile, 378.
-
- Gluttony censured by Chrysostom, 232.
-
- God, nature of: Chrysostom on the, 110-112.
-
- Godhead, Three Persons of the: Chrysostom on the, 110-112.
-
- Goths, the, 93;
- menace the Danubian frontier, 150;
- hear the Bible read in their own tongue at Constantinople, 238;
- revolt under Tribigild, 244;
- defeat the army of Leo, 247;
- occupy Constantinople, 259;
- numbers perish after the flight of Gaïnas, 262.
-
- Gratian, the Emperor of the West, 140;
- his flight and assassination, 141;
- succeeded by his brother Valentinian, 141.
-
- Grecian legend, 100.
-
- Greek theology, 391, 392.
-
- Gregories, the two, 16, 142.
-
- Gregory of Nazianzus, 86;
- made archbishop by Theodosius, 142;
- elected to the see of Constantinople when it was
- a stronghold of Arianism, 235;
- subdued the Arian opposition, 236;
- letter on the marriage of Olympias, 280;
- sends a poem to Olympias on her duties, 281;
- qualified admiration of Origen’s teachings, 287.
-
- Gregory of Nyssa, funeral oration of, on Meletius, 21;
- preaches the sermon at the baptism of Rufinus, 204.
-
-
- Hadrian, 126.
-
- Heaven and hell, Chrysostom on, 34-36.
-
- Helladius, bishop of Heraclea, consecrates Gerontius, 273;
- a friend of Chrysostom, 279.
-
- Hellebicus, commissioner to Antioch, 165;
- remains at Antioch to keep order, 167;
- receives the rescript of pardon for the city, 170;
- received everywhere with ovation, 170.
-
- Heracleides, a deacon, elected to the see of Ephesus, 271;
- friend of Chrysostom, 279;
- accusations made against him by Theophilus and his partisans, 325;
- his friends and Chrysostom protest against the illegality of such
- proceedings, 325.
-
- Heretics, edict of Theodosius against, 142.
-
- Hermione, Theodore wishes to marry, 31;
- Chrysostom’s reference to, 36, 38;
- abandoned by Theodore, 39.
-
- Hermits, intercession of, for the people of Antioch, 166;
- Chrysostom’s joy at their courage, 166, 167;
- their letter to Theodosius, 167.
-
- Hesychius, bishop of Parium, withdraws from his appointment as delegate
- to Asia, 269.
-
- Hieron, Chrysostom is conveyed to, 320 and _note_.
-
- Hilarius introduces Pachomian monasticism into Syria, 60, 61.
-
- Hilary of Arles charged with ordaining bishops without the people’s
- consent, 47.
-
- Hippodrome, the, 118-120.
-
- Holy Saturday, vast crowds assemble in the churches on, 331.
-
- Holy Scripture, Chrysostom’s intimate acquaintance with, 85, 116, 117;
- Arians do not deny its authority, 117;
- disputes as to its interpretation, 117;
- Chrysostom’s occasional defects of interpretation, 125.
-
- Honorius accompanies his father Theodosius to Rome, 193;
- is sent for to Milan by his father, 201;
- Stilicho appointed his guardian, 202;
- receives a deputation of Romans on the consulship of Eutropius, 242;
- gives a favourable reply, and nominates Mallius Theodorus consul,
- 243;
- convenes an Italian synod to consider the state of the Church at
- Constantinople, 352;
- suggests to his brother Arcadius a general council to be held at
- Thessalonica, 352.
-
- Hymn of Pachomian monks, 63.
-
-
- Ignatius, effect of the death of, in confirming souls, 181.
-
- Illyria ravaged by Huns, 354.
-
- Illyrian provinces occupied by Alaric, 207.
-
- Infant baptism the ordinary practice of the early Church, 15;
- popular reasons for delaying, 15, 16;
- the two Gregories, the great Basil, and Chrysostom contend against
- its misconceptions, 16.
-
- Innocent I., bishop of Rome, appealed to by Chrysostom, 334, 335;
- is advised by Theophilus to cease communion with Chrysostom, 348;
- four bishops bring him Chrysostom’s letter, 348;
- decisive letter to Theophilus, 348;
- receives another letter from him, on the minutes of the “Synod of
- the Oak,” 349;
- sends a second letter of reproof to Theophilus, 349;
- orders prayers and fasts for the restoration of concord, 349;
- letter of condolence to the clergy of Constantinople, 349;
- treats the letter of the cabal with disdain, 350;
- reply to the letter brought by Germanus, 350, 351;
- writes to Chrysostom a letter of encouragement and consolation,
- 351, 352;
- intercedes with Honorius for the Church of Constantinople, 352;
- remains attached to Chrysostom’s cause, 358;
- approves of the restoration of Elpidius to his see, 377;
- letter from Chrysostom in exile, 384, 385.
-
- Isaac, a Syrian monk, sent to Antioch to inquire into Chrysostom’s
- early life, 284;
- brings a list of charges against the archbishop at the “Synod of
- the Oak,” 314;
- comes to the archbishop with a peremptory message, 315.
-
- Isaurians ravage Syria and Asia Minor, 354;
- Cucusus, the destination of Chrysostom, subject to attacks from,
- 360, 361;
- ravage the neighbourhood of Cæsarea, 363;
- molest the roads round Cucusus, 380;
- cause extreme misery to the inhabitants of Cucusus and the
- neighbourhood, 382, 383.
-
- Isidore, abbot of Pelusium, on the discharge of episcopal duties, 212.
-
- Isidore, presbyter of Alexandria, a candidate for the see of
- Constantinople, 213;
- the depositary of an awkward secret of Theophilus’s, 213;
- carries a petition to Rome, 237;
- despatched to Palestine, 292;
- some account of his life, 293;
- accepts a charitable trust, 293;
- refuses to surrender the money to Theophilus, who charges him with
- a horrible crime, 294;
- is expelled from the priesthood, and flies to the desert of Nitria,
- 294.
-
- Italian deputation to Arcadius, 352;
- maltreated, 353;
- failure of its mission, 354;
- returns home, 354.
-
- Italian synod convened by Honorius, 352;
- result of its deliberations, 352;
- memorialise Arcadius on the restoration of Chrysostom, 353.
-
-
- Jealousy of wives and husbands, 97.
- Jeremy Taylor quoted, 393 _note_;
- as a preacher, 426.
-
- Jerome quoted, 18;
- promotes the advance of monasticism, 61;
- sides with Theodosius, 142;
- three years’ residence at Rome, 194;
- admonition on the worldly hospitality of the clergy, 218;
- description of Theophilus of Alexandria, 285;
- opinion of Origen’s merits, 288;
- repudiates Aterbius’s charge of being an Origenist, 289;
- sides with Epiphanius, 291;
- strife with John of Jerusalem, 291, 292;
- commendation of Theophilus’s letter on Origenistic errors, 300;
- styles Chrysostom a parricide, 302.
-
- Jerusalem the only lawful place for Jewish sacrifices, 130, 131;
- see of, 289;
- made a patriarchate, its precedence over Cæsarea, 289 _note_.
-
- Jews, Chrysostom’s opposition to, 50;
- danger to Christianity, 107;
- Chrysostom’s method of argument against, 121, 124, 125;
- homilies against, 126-128;
- their character and influence at Antioch, 126, 127;
- statutes concerning, 126;
- ranged on the Arian side in dissensions, 127;
- scenes at their festivals, 127, 128;
- increasing influence in Antioch, 128, 129;
- Chrysostom’s vehemence against, 129-131;
- their sacrifices, 130, 131;
- the four Captivities foretold, 131;
- revolts under Hadrian and Constantine, 131;
- jeer at the tumult at Constantinople, 340.
-
- John, archdeacon of Constantinople, cherishes malice against
- Chrysostom, 313;
- brings a list of charges against him at the “Synod of the Oak,” 314.
-
- John, bishop of Jerusalem, an admirer of Origen, 288;
- indignation at the accusation of Aterbius, 289;
- his pride wounded, 289;
- preaches against the Anthropomorphites, and on the Christian
- verities, 290;
- places the monasteries of Bethlehem under an interdict, 291;
- strife with Jerome, 291, 292.
-
- John, Count, appointed Comptroller of the Royal Treasury, 256;
- his surrender demanded by Gaïnas, 257;
- insulted by Gaïnas, and afterwards delivered up, 257.
-
- John, hermit of the Thebaid, consulted by Theodosius, 200.
-
- Johnites, followers of Chrysostom, prisons filled with, 338;
- persecuted by Arsacius and Optatus, 344, 345.
-
- Jovinus, Count, commissioned to suppress paganism, 143.
-
- Judaising Christians, 128-130.
-
- Julian, Emperor: his efforts to resuscitate paganism, 11;
- friend of Libanius, 12;
- recalls all the exiled prelates, 20;
- his death, 94;
- consulted the oracle of Apollo at Daphne, 102;
- attempt to rebuild the Temple frustrated, 131;
- beheaded two soldiers for being Christians, 179.
-
- Jupiter, destruction of the temple of, at Apamea, 143.
-
- Justina, the queen-mother, 187;
- her flight to Thessalonica, 191.
-
- Justinian, 47.
-
-
- Keble, Rev. John, quoted, 275 _note_.
-
-
- Laodicea made the capital of Syria, 165.
-
- “Laura,” a, or street, 60.
-
- Law, the profession of, the avenue to distinction, 13.
-
- Lent, how to keep, 157-159.
-
- Leo appointed to the command of the troops sent against Tribigild,
- 246;
- crosses the Bosporus and pursues the enemy to Pamphylia, 246;
- want of discipline in his army, 246;
- his camp attacked by night, the troops fleeing in disorder, 247;
- is drowned in mud, 247.
-
- Leontius, the eunuch, Arian bishop of Antioch, 17;
- tries to conciliate the Catholics, 17;
- instructed by Lucian, 109.
-
- Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, a leader of Chrysostom’s enemies, 329;
- utters a palpable lie, 330;
- Chrysostom escapes him when journeying into exile, 362.
-
- “Let us pray,” in our Liturgy, 88.
-
- Letters to Olympius, remarks on the, 370, 371.
-
- Libanius the sophist, 12;
- an eloquent defender of paganism, 12;
- his lectures attended by Chrysostom, 12;
- an opponent of Christianity on principle, 73;
- elegy over the shrine of Apollo, 102;
- apology for paganism, 145;
- attachment to antiquity, 145;
- invective against the monks, 146;
- regrets the destruction of the Pagan temples, 147;
- before the commissioners at Antioch, 165;
- orations in honour of Theodosius and the commissioners, 166.
-
- “Love-feast,” 182.
-
- Lucian, bishop of Antioch, held doctrines afterwards called Arian, 109;
- presbyter of Antioch, 109;
- teacher of Eusebius, Leontius, and probably Arius, 109;
- suffered martyrdom, 387.
-
- Lucifer of Cagliari at Antioch, 21;
- consecrates Paulinus bishop, and increases the confusion, 20, 86,
- 199.
-
- Lucius directed by Anthemius to implore the people to return to the
- churches, 336;
- harangues the congregation, but with no effect, 336;
- is bribed by Acacius, and commits scenes of violence at the Baths,
- 336;
- waiting with troops to compel Chrysostom’s departure, if need be,
- 339.
-
-
- Macedonians forbidden by Theodosius to hold assemblies, 142.
-
- Macedonius, archbishop of Constantinople, deposed, 18.
-
- Macedonius the hermit, 166;
- his appeal for the people of Antioch, 166.
-
- Magical arts, decree of Valens against the practisers of, 57, 58.
-
- Mallius Theodorus nominated consul by Honorius, 243.
-
- Manes, error of, 113.
-
- Manichæans, the, 50;
- celibacy of, 95;
- their danger to Christianity, 107;
- forbidden to hold assemblies, 142.
-
- Marcellina, the example of, converted many women to celibacy, 61.
-
- Marcellus, bishop, killed, 143.
-
- Marcia, 256;
- an enemy of Chrysostom, 282, 328.
-
- Marcion, error of, 113.
-
- Marcionites, 95;
- their danger to Christianity, 107.
-
- Mariamna, Chrysostom arrives at, 322.
-
- Marriage, Chrysostom on, 95;
- how arranged, 96, 97;
- its trials and troubles, 97-100.
-
- Martin, St., bishop of Tours, 40;
- founder of religious houses, 61;
- followed to his grave by two thousand brethren, 61.
-
- Martyries, 177, 178;
- trading near, 182, 183;
- visited by Arcadius and Eudoxia at Easter-tide, 333.
-
- Martyrs, appeal for assistance to, 132;
- churches built to commemorate their death, 177;
- their numerous festivals, 178;
- Chrysostom’s homilies on, 177-183;
- St. Augustine on the honour to be paid to them, 180;
- increasing veneration to them in the Church, 181;
- discovery of skeletons, and cures effected, 181;
- procession conducted by Chrysostom and the Empress, on the removal
- of some reliques, 222, 223.
-
- Maruthas, bishop of Martyropolis, in Persia, an active missionary,
- 375 and _note_.
-
- Maruthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, accidentally causes the death of
- Cyrinus, 307.
-
- Maximian, persecution of, 56.
-
- Maximin, persecution of, 60.
-
- Maximus, bishop of Seleucia, adopts a secluded life, 27.
-
- Maximus the usurper’s progress arrested by Theodosius, 141;
- his disloyalty, 190;
- passage of the Alps, 191;
- defeated by Theodosius, 191;
- beheaded, 191.
-
- Meletius, bishop of Antioch, 15;
- translated from Sebaste in Armenia to Antioch, 18;
- preaches by command of Constantius on the text, “The Lord possessed
- me,” 19;
- dissents from the Arians, and is banished to Melitene, 19;
- recalled by Julian, 20;
- banished again in A.D. 367, and afterwards by the Emperor Valens,
- 21, 40;
- returns after the death of Valens (A.D. 378), 21;
- presided over the Council of Constantinople (A.D. 381), 21;
- died during its session, 21;
- his funeral oration, 21;
- one of his last acts, 86;
- Chrysostom’s encomium, 108;
- invocation to, 108.
-
- Milan, astonishment of the people of, at Theodosius’s act of treachery,
- 195, 196.
-
- Milman, Dean, quoted, 127.
-
- Moduarius, a deacon, a messenger to Chrysostom in exile, 376.
-
- Monasteries of Bethlehem placed under an interdict by John of
- Jerusalem, 291.
-
- Monasteries, tranquillity of, 80;
- education at, 80.
-
- Monasticism, 53;
- rise of, 59;
- rule of Pachomius, 60;
- introduced into Syria by Hilarion, 60;
- promoted in the West by St. Jerome, 61;
- Eastern and Western, 64-66;
- St. Chrysostom’s admiration for, 67;
- contemplative form of, 67, 68;
- enemies of, 73;
- its necessity, 74, 75;
- called “the true philosophy,” 75.
-
- Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, 189.
-
- Monk, calm life of the, 53;
- powerful influence of the, 77.
-
- Monks, custom of reading aloud during dinner, 63 _note_;
- interfere in political contests, 65;
- Eastern and Western monks, 65;
- daily life, 66, 67;
- reception of the Eucharist, 66 _note_;
- persecution of, by Valens, 72, 73;
- exempt from love, avarice, etc., 76;
- fanatical fury, 143;
- Libanius’s invective against, 146.
-
- Monks of Nitria, 294;
- the “tall brethren,” persecuted by Theophilus, 295-297;
- they fly to Palestine, and find a new home at Scythopolis, 297;
- the malice of their persecutor follows them here, 297;
- they embark for Constantinople, and reach that city fifty in number,
- 297;
- they appeal to Chrysostom, who receives them with kindness, but acts
- cautiously, 297, 298;
- resolve to appeal to the civil powers, 300;
- draw up documents of charges against Theophilus and their accusers,
- 301;
- accost the Empress, who promises the council they desire shall be
- called, 301;
- interview with Epiphanius, 304;
- Theophilus reconciled with “the tall brethren,” 316.
-
- Monks, Pachomian, number of, 62;
- period of probation, 62;
- dress and habits, 63;
- division into classes, 64.
-
-
- Nebridius, prefect of Constantinople, husband of Olympias, 280;
- his death two years after marriage, 281.
-
- Nebridius, husband of Salvina, 279.
-
- Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople, 47;
- his subservience to the Emperor, 198;
- his death, 212;
- had desired to make Arsacius bishop of Tarsus, 344.
-
- Neocæsarea, Council of (about A.D. 320), 56.
-
- Nestorius consecrated a bishop when a layman, 56.
-
- New Year’s Day a riotous festival, 136.
-
- Nice, Council of (A.D. 325), 17, 56;
- the custom of keeping Easter according to Jewish calculation
- condemned, 130;
- proposal of clerical celibacy defeated by Paphnutius, 219;
- prohibition as to unmarried clergy living with women other than
- mother, sister, or aunt, 219;
- canons of, on ecclesiastical affairs being judged in their own
- province, 308, 312, 351.
-
- Nicolaus, a priest, supplies money and men to the Phœnician mission,
- 380.
-
- Nilus, an anchorite, addresses letters of warning to Arcadius, 354.
-
- Novatians, pretension of the, to purity of doctrine and life, 235;
- refuse readmission of penitents, 235;
- incur Chrysostom’s indignation, 235.
-
-
- Oaths, the taking of, excites Chrysostom’s indignation, 231, 232.
-
- Œcumenical Council, the Fifth (A.D. 553), 31.
-
- Olympias, the deaconess, friend of Chrysostom, 280;
- early life, 280;
- married to Nebridius, 280;
- death of her husband, 281;
- devotes herself to the interests of the Church, 281;
- attends to the wants of the Nitrian monks, 298;
- Chrysostom’s farewell to, 339, 340;
- accused of incendiarism, 346;
- conduct before Optatus, 346;
- refuses communion with Arsacius, 346;
- is fined, and retires to Cyzicus, 346;
- intercedes for Chrysostom, 361;
- the archbishop’s letters to her from Cucusus, 367-373.
-
- Olympic games instituted by Commodus at Antioch, 92, 101.
-
- Optatus, a Pagan, succeeds Studius as prefect at Constantinople, 342;
- persecutes Chrysostom’s followers, 342, 345;
- fines Olympias, 346.
-
- Origen, allegorical interpretations of, 28;
- his voluminous writings, and the controversy upon his teachings,
- 286-288;
- the Egyptian Church proud of him, 287.
-
- Orontes, the, 17, 28, 58, 90, 91, 100, 101.
-
- Ostrogoths, a colony of, established in Phrygia and Lydia, 140.
-
-
- Pachomius, the Benedict of the East, 60;
- his practice of asceticism, 62;
- his rule acknowledged by three thousand monks during his lifetime,
- and fifty thousand after his death, 62.
-
- Pagan temples, edict for the destruction of, 238.
-
- Paganism, Chrysostom’s method of argument and homily against, 121-124;
- Theodosius’s laws against, 142, 143;
- its hold upon the people, 144;
- its apologists, 144, 145;
- prevalent in Phœnicia, 238;
- not extirpated in the fifth century, 382.
-
- Pagans, conversion of, 175, 176.
-
- Palladius, bishop of Hellenopolis, visits the Egyptian monasteries, 64;
- his narrative of events, 265 and _note_;
- a delegate on the affair of Antoninus, 269;
- joins Chrysostom at Bithynia, 271;
- on Chrysostom’s consistency, 278;
- account of Chrysostom and his bishops before being summoned to “the
- Synod of the Oak,” 309-311;
- description of Arsacius, 344;
- a fugitive to Rome, 350;
- accompanies the Italian deputation, 353;
- imprisoned near Ethiopia, 355;
- description of Constantius the priest, 357, 358.
-
- Pamphylia, Tribigild awaits Leo at, 246.
-
- Pansophius, bishop of Pissida, desired to “offer the gifts,” 267.
-
- Pansophius elected to the see of Nicomedia, 273.
-
- Paphnutius, an Egyptian monk, defeats the proposal of clerical
- celibacy at the Council of Nice, 219.
-
- Parents, worldliness of, reproved by Chrysostom, 78, 79.
-
- Paschal letter, the, 288 _note_.
-
- Paternus, an emissary from the cabal to Innocent, 349.
-
- Patriarch, the title, 216 and _note_.
-
- Patricius, the notary, conveys to Chrysostom the mandate of his
- deposition, 339.
-
- Paul, bishop of Crateia, solemnly warns Eudoxia, 333.
-
- Paul, bishop of Heraclea, deputed to conciliate Eusebius, 267;
- joins Chrysostom at Bithynia, 271.
-
- Paul, bishop of Tibur, interrupted while consecrating Ursicinus, 47.
-
- Paul of Samosata deposed from the see of Antioch, 109;
- his Sabellian doctrines, 109;
- originally a sophist, and unfitted to build up a system, 109.
-
- Paul the Anchorite retires to the Egyptian Thebaid during the
- persecution of Decius, 60.
-
- Paulinian forcibly ordained deacon and priest by Epiphanius, 291.
-
- Paulinus consecrated bishop by Lucifer of Cagliari, 20;
- recognised by Ambrose as bishop of Antioch, 199.
-
- Peanius praised for his loyal zeal, 377.
-
- Peasant clergy, Chrysostom’s praise of, 184, 185;
- simplicity of their wives, 185.
-
- Pempton, congregation at, dispersed, 337.
-
- Pentadia, wife of Timasius, friend of Chrysostom, 280;
- the archbishop’s farewell to, 339;
- imprisoned, and charged with incendiarism, 347;
- protests her innocence and silences her enemies, 347;
- is persuaded by Chrysostom to remain at Constantinople, 347.
-
- Persecution intensifies attachment to the Church, 357.
-
- Peter, a priest, the bearer of a letter from Theophilus to Innocent,
- 349.
-
- Pharetrius, bishop of Cæsarea, does not greet Chrysostom on his
- journey, 362, 363;
- his envy of the exile, 363;
- menaces Seleucia, at whose house Chrysostom is lodged, 364.
-
- Philippopolis, Arian Council of, 17.
-
- “Philosophers” of Antioch, cowardice of, 167;
- peasant clergy more than a match for, 184.
-
- Phœnicia, mission in, 380-382;
- Pagan resistance to the mission, 381.
-
- Phrygia overrun by Tribigild, 245.
-
- Pityus, on the Euxine, Chrysostom to be removed to, 386.
-
- Placidia, sister of Honorius, 201.
-
- Plato, dialogues of, 55;
- compared with Dionysius the Tyrant, 76;
- Chrysostom on the teaching of, 428, 429.
-
- Polycarp, bishop, removal of his remains, 179.
-
- Porphyry, a priest, procures the banishment of Constantius, 358;
- imprisons some of the clergy of Antioch, 358;
- enters the church, and with closed doors is hurriedly ordained
- bishop of Antioch by Acacius, Severian, and Antiochus, 358;
- is threatened by the populace, and protected by troops, 358.
-
- Porphyry, bishop of Gaza, urges the destruction of Pagan temples, 238.
-
- Preaching, Chrysostom’s remarks on, 51, 52.
-
- Priesthood, the, Chrysostom’s books on, 40-55;
- probable date of writing, 55;
- age at which eligible for, 55, 56.
-
- Priestly office, dignity, difficulty, and danger of, 43-45;
- qualifications for, 50.
-
- Priscillianists, the, ruthlessly persecuted, by Maximus, 190.
-
- Prisoners, custom of releasing, 172 and _note_.
-
- Procla, Chrysostom’s farewell to, 339.
-
- Proclus, friend of Chrysostom, 279;
- elevated to the see of Constantinople, 388;
- gains the consent of the Emperor to transport Chrysostom’s remains
- to the city, 388.
-
- Procopius, uncle and guardian of Olympias, 280.
-
- Promotus assassinated by order of Rufinus, 205.
-
- Property holders, duties of, 230.
-
- Protasius, discovery of the reliques of, 190.
-
- Ptolemy Philadelphus deposits the Septuagint in the temple of Serapis,
- 128.
-
- Pulcheria, daughter of Eudoxia, 248.
-
- Pusey, Dr., quoted, 417, 418.
-
-
- Ravenna, Honorius at, 352;
- court of, not powerful enough to enforce the convocation of a
- general council, 359.
-
- Reader in the Church, office of, 23;
- ceremony of ordination to, 23.
-
- Reliques, importance attached to, 382.
-
- Remigius of Rheims made bishop at the age of twenty-two, 56.
-
- Repentance, Chrysostom on, 34.
-
- Rhadagaisus covets Rome, 359.
-
- Right of asylum in the Church abolished by Eutropius, 210;
- transferred from Pagan temples, 249;
- sought by Eutropius, 250;
- maintained by Chrysostom, 251.
-
- Rimini, the creed of, 18, 188.
-
- Roman Catholic countries, abuse of saints’ days in, 183.
-
- Rome, bishop of, growing tendency of Christendom to appeal to, 335;
- no jealousy entertained by Chrysostom of him, 335.
-
- Rome, contest for the see of, 47;
- persecutions at, 58;
- St. Jerome at, 61;
- division into districts, 103;
- love of the people for chariot-races, 118;
- triumphal entry of Theodosius, 193;
- its mixed population, 195;
- deputation of the inhabitants to Stilicho and Honorius against the
- consulship of Eutropius, 242;
- arrival of fugitives from Constantinople, 350;
- efforts of Alaric to conquer, 359.
-
- Rufinus, a presbyter, sent to Phœnicia to restore peace, 381;
- Chrysostom’s letter to, 381, 382.
-
- Rufinus, minister of Theodosius, 187;
- his view of the sedition at Thessalonica, 195;
- endeavours to console Theodosius, 197;
- seeks an interview with Ambrose, but is repulsed, 197;
- appointed guardian to Arcadius, and regent of the East, 203;
- some account of his life, 203;
- his “accursed thirst” for gain, and his extortions, 204;
- display of piety, 204;
- builds a monastery and church at “the Oak,” and is baptized therein,
- 204;
- surrounds himself with a powerful party, 204;
- jealousy of Stilicho, 205;
- scheme to marry his daughter to Arcadius frustrated, 205;
- villanous plot of overrunning the country with Huns, Goths, etc.,
- 206, 207;
- his death just when he had attained the height of his ambition, 208.
-
- Rufinus, monk of Aquileia, a warm admirer of Origen, 288;
- is accused of being an Origenist by Aterbius, and refuses to defend
- himself, 288;
- sides with Bishop John of Jerusalem, 291.
-
-
- Sabellians, the, 50;
- their danger to Christianity, 107.
-
- Sabiniana, the deaconess, follows Chrysostom into exile, 366.
-
- Saints’ days, abuse of, 182, 183.
-
- Saints, the Old Testament, 84, 99;
- growth of devotion to, 108;
- appeal for assistance to, 132;
- their festivals grow numerous, 178;
- special days of commemoration, 178;
- character of the festivals, 178;
- their Acts or Passions, 178 and _note_;
- Chrysostom’s belief in their intercessory power, 178;
- feeling in the Church in regard to their invocation, 179;
- popular faith in the miraculous power of their remains, 180, 181;
- pilgrimages to their tombs, 181;
- relics removed by Flavian, 181 _note_.
-
- Salustius, a priest, rebuked by Chrysostom, 345, 376.
-
- Salvina, daughter of Gildo, friend of Chrysostom, 279;
- the archbishop’s farewell to, 339.
-
- Saracens, the nomadic, 61.
-
- Sardica, Council of (A.D. 342), 17;
- (A.D. 343, 344), 56;
- repudiates the Twelfth Canon of the Council of Antioch, 329, 351.
-
- Saturninus, husband of Castricia: his surrender demanded by Gaïnas,
- 257;
- insulted by Gaïnas, and afterwards delivered up, 257.
-
- Savile, Sir Henry: his edition of Chrysostom’s works, 9.
-
- Savonarola, 3;
- character of the people preached to by, 233;
- compared with Chrysostom, 426.
-
- Schism of Antioch, 20, 21.
-
- Secundus, father of Chrysostom, 9;
- his death, 10.
-
- Seleucia lodges Chrysostom at her house, 364;
- is threatened by Pharetrius, 364.
-
- Seleucus, Count, father of Olympias, 280.
-
- Septuagint, the, 128.
-
- Serapion, archdeacon, encourages Chrysostom in his severity towards
- the clergy, 222;
- his dislike of and discourtesy to Severian, 276;
- remains Chrysostom’s friend, 279;
- exclamation on the teaching of Theophilus, 288;
- summoned before the “Synod of the Oak,” 311;
- now bishop of Heraclea, scourged and exiled, 345;
- seeks shelter with Gothic monks, 375.
-
- Serapis, the temple of, Septuagint deposited at, 128;
- silver image of, at Alexandria, destroyed, 144.
-
- Serena, wife of Stilicho, 201.
-
- Severian, bishop of Gabala, deputed to act for Chrysostom during his
- absence, 270;
- endeavours to undermine the archbishop’s influence, 275;
- his efforts to win admiration, 276;
- irritation with Serapion’s discourtesy, 276;
- expelled from Constantinople by Chrysostom, but recalled by command
- of Eudoxia, 276, 277;
- becomes a leader of the faction hostile to Chrysostom, 282;
- extols the deposition of the patriarch, 321;
- again plotting against him after his recall, 329;
- urges the Emperor to remove Chrysostom from the city, 338, 339;
- assists in secretly ordaining Porphyry, 358.
-
- Severus, Emperor Alexander: his admiration of the mode of electing
- bishops, 46.
-
- Shakespeare quoted, 95 _note_, 161 _note_.
-
- Sicinnius, the Novatian bishop, writes against Chrysostom, 235;
- admired by Socrates, 235 _note_.
-
- Silk, the use of, 227 and _note_.
-
- Simeon Stylites on his pillar, 61;
- a caricature of the anchorite, 65.
-
- Siricius, Pope, decree of, on celibacy of the clergy, 218.
-
- Socrates, 76;
- invited by Archelaus to court, 76;
- resists the allurements of ambition, 95.
-
- Socrates, historian, terms dedicatory churches “martyries,” 178;
- says the treatises of Chrysostom on “spiritual sisters” were
- composed during his diaconate, 220;
- account of the pursuit of Gaïnas, 263;
- stories of Maruthas, 375 _note_.
-
- Sozomen on the dress of Pachomian monks, 63;
- on their industries, 64;
- his account of the pursuit of Gaïnas, 263.
-
- Spiritual agency, 82-84.
-
- “Spiritual sisters” of priests, 219.
-
- Stagirius, excessive austerities of, 82;
- their effect, 83;
- consoled by Chrysostom, 84.
-
- Stanley, Dean, quoted, 40.
-
- Stelechius, Chrysostom’s book addressed to, 69, 71.
-
- Stephen, bishop of Antioch, president of the Arian Council of
- Philippopolis, 17;
- deposed by the Emperor Constantius, 17.
-
- Stilicho, 187;
- Theodosius commends to him Honorius and the West, 202;
- likened by Claudian to Scipio, 205;
- Honorius betrothed to his daughter, 205;
- advances against Alaric, but is prevented from attacking him by a
- message from Constantinople, 207;
- sends back his troops under Gaïnas, 207, 208;
- again hastens to attack Alaric, but hears that he is
- commander-in-chief of the forces of the East, 210;
- receives a deputation of Romans on the consulship of Eutropius, 242;
- rumours of his march to the East, 247;
- efforts to restrain Alaric and Rhadagaisus, 359.
-
- Strabo’s description of Daphne, 101.
-
- Superstitions, description of, 137;
- rebuked by Chrysostom, 137, 138.
-
- Swearing, admonition against, 159, 160.
-
- Symmachus, his apology for paganism, 145;
- eloquent appeal for the retention of the statue of Victory, 145;
- his character, 145 _note_;
- Ambrose’s reply to his appeal, 145, 146;
- obtains a professorial chair for St. Augustine, 189;
- cordially received by Theodosius, 194.
-
- Syncletius, bishop of Trajanopolis, a delegate on the affair of
- Antoninus, 269.
-
- “Synod of the Oak,” 309;
- Chrysostom summoned to the, 309;
- not an Œcumenical Council, 313;
- its display of formalities, 313;
- the archbishop refuses to attend, and is deposed, 315, 316;
- its sentence ratified by the Emperor, 316, 317;
- its proceedings declared illegal, 325.
-
- Syria: Antioch degraded, and Laodicea made its capital, 165;
- Theophilus travels through, bringing disaffected bishops to
- Constantinople, 306;
- overrun by Isaurians, 354.
-
- Syrus, an old ascetic, 82.
-
- “Tall brethren” persecuted by Theophilus, 294, 295;
- their dwellings pillaged, 295;
- fly to Palestine, 297;
- thence to Constantinople, 297;
- Theophilus is reconciled to them, 316.
-
- Temple, the only lawful place to offer sacrifices, 131 _note_;
- Julian commands its restoration, 131 _note_;
- failure to rebuild, 131.
-
- Tertullian, saying of, 177.
-
- Thalia, the, of Arius, 236.
-
- Thebaid, the Egyptian, 60;
- Pachomius, a native of the, 62.
-
- Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, 9;
- joins an ascetic brotherhood, 27;
- returns to a worldly life, 31, 32;
- letters of lamentation from Chrysostom, 32-39;
- returns again to the brotherhood, 39;
- made bishop of Mopsuestia (A.D. 394), 39;
- his character, 39.
-
- Theodore of Tyana, friendly to Chrysostom, 329;
- quits Constantinople on seeing the unfair construction of the
- council, 329.
-
- Theodoret’s story of the meeting of Gaïnas and Chrysostom, 263;
- on the jurisdiction of Chrysostom, 274;
- on idolatry in Phœnicia, 382.
-
- Theodoras executed, 57, 94.
-
- Theodosia, sister of Amphilocius, and instructress of Olympias, 280.
-
- Theodosius I., on amicable terms with Libanius, 12;
- his defeats of the Goths, 93;
- deservedly called “The Great,” 139;
- his services against Scots and Saxons, Moors and Goths, 139;
- disgraced, and retires to Spain, 139;
- recalled, and made Emperor, 140;
- his character, 140;
- military achievements, 140, 141;
- a Christian, 141;
- efforts to establish a uniform type of religion, 141;
- his baptism, 141;
- solemn declaration of faith, 141;
- makes Gregory of Nazianzus bishop, 142;
- project for a general council, 142;
- edict against heretics, 142;
- forbids the practice of divination, 143;
- laws against Pagans, 142, 143;
- his impartiality, 147, 148;
- his wife Flacilla, 148;
- choleric temper, 148;
- pardons Antioch after the tumult, 170;
- interview with Flavian, 171-174;
- victory over Maximus, 191;
- generosity to his enemies, 191;
- commands the bishop of Callinicum to rebuild the Jewish synagogue,
- 191;
- remonstrance of Ambrose, 191, 192;
- the order annulled, 193;
- triumphal entry into Rome, 193;
- two popular enactments, 193, 194;
- abstains from interfering in religious debates, 194;
- resentment at the sedition of Thessalonica, 195;
- barbarous act of ferocity, 195;
- confronted by Ambrose, and refused admittance to the cathedral, 196;
- exhorted to deep repentance, 197;
- his penance, 197, 198;
- forbidden to sit with the clergy during the celebration, 198;
- collects a huge force, and solicits the favour of heaven, 200;
- arrives near the scene of his former victory, 200;
- assaults Arbogastes, but is repulsed, 200;
- his vision, 200;
- rallies his army, and completely defeats the enemy, 201;
- received at Milan with transports of joy, 201;
- free pardon granted to the Milanese who had revolted, 201;
- his health gives way, 201;
- receives the Eucharist at the hands of Ambrose, 201;
- beseeches the Western bishops to acknowledge Flavian, 201;
- implores the Pagan Roman senators to become Christians, 201, 202;
- last appearances in public, 202;
- his death, 202;
- his law on the right of asylum, 249;
- conduct towards Olympias, 281.
-
- Theodosius II., attacked by an alarming illness, 304;
- suppresses the Pagan homage paid to Emperors, 327;
- consents to Chrysostom’s reliques being brought to Constantinople,
- 388;
- implores forgiveness for his parents’ wrongs to the saint, 388.
-
- Theodosius the elder, 139;
- executed at Carthage, 139 _note_;
- his statue destroyed by the mob at Antioch, 152.
-
- Theophilus, a priest, rebuked by Chrysostom, 345, 376.
-
- Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, appointed arbitrator between
- Flavian and Evagrius, 199;
- pushes the claims of Isidore for the see of Constantinople, 213;
- refuses to take part in Chrysostom’s ordination until threatened by
- Eutropius, 215;
- his opposition is silenced, and he assists in the consecration,
- 215, 216;
- joins Chrysostom in urging the recognition of Flavian, 237;
- behaviour to Olympias, 282 _note_;
- becomes the chief of Chrysostom’s foes, 285;
- his character, 284, 285;
- earnest defender of the teaching of Origen, 287;
- made arbitrator between Jerome and John of Jerusalem, 292;
- his letter intended for John is delivered to Vinctius, 292;
- changes sides, 292, 293;
- brings a horrible charge against Isidore, who is ejected from the
- ministry, 294;
- persecutes the “tall brethren,” 294-297;
- his malice follows the Nitrian monks to Palestine, 297;
- schemes for the overthrow of Chrysostom, 298, 299;
- apologetic letter to Epiphanius, 299;
- writes a sharp complaint to Chrysostom, 300;
- summoned to Constantinople to defend his conduct towards the Nitrian
- monks, 301;
- arrival at the city with twenty-eight bishops, 306;
- declines the hospitality of Chrysostom, 307;
- resides at Pera, in a house of the Emperor’s, 307;
- refuses all communication with the archbishop, 308;
- his house the resort of the disaffected, 308;
- bribes to the city, 308;
- draws up a list of accusations against Chrysostom, 309;
- holds a synod at “the Oak,” and summons the archbishop to appear,
- 309;
- after his object is attained, is reconciled to the “tall brethren,”
- 316;
- arrives at Constantinople with a large retinue, and restores the
- worthless clergy, 320, 321;
- remains in the city after the recall of Chrysostom, 324, 325;
- his flight when summonses were issued for a general council, 325;
- excuses himself from attending the council, 325;
- invited by Chrysostom’s enemies again to visit Constantinople, 328;
- declines, and sends three “pitiful bishops,” 328;
- his letter to Pope Innocent received with displeasure, 348;
- reproved by Innocent, 348, 349.
-
- Theotecnus brings to Innocent a letter from twenty-five bishops, 349.
-
- Theotimus, a Goth, bishop of Tomis, at Constantinople, 266;
- a determined opponent of Epiphanius, 303;
- called by the Huns “the god of the Christians,” 303;
- denounces the unseemly condemnation of the works of Origen, 303.
-
- Therapeutæ, the, 59.
-
- Therasius: Chrysostom addresses a letter to the widow of, 93.
-
- Thermopylæ, pass of, violated by Alaric, 210.
-
- Thessalonica, sedition at, 195;
- its Christian population, 195;
- failure of the mission of Ambrose to obtain clemency, 195;
- barbarous massacre of 7000 inhabitants, 195.
-
- Thrace, Flacilla dies at, 148;
- overrun by Alaric, 207;
- ravaged by Gaïnas, 263;
- ravaged by Huns, 354.
-
- Tiberias, Patriarch of, 126.
-
- Tiberius restricted the right of asylum, 249.
-
- Tigrius summoned before the “Synod of the Oak,” 311;
- scourged, and put on the rack, 345;
- survives, and is banished to Mesopotamia, 345.
-
- Tillemont’s opinion of Theodore, 39 _note_;
- floating synod at Constantinople, 266 _note_.
-
- Tomis, a market of Goths and Huns, 303.
-
- Tradition, Chrysostom’s arguments not based on, 117.
-
- Trajan, Antioch nearly destroyed in the reign of, 90.
-
- Tranquillus, a friend of Chrysostom, 329.
-
- Tribigild, the Ostrogoth, solicits promotion for himself and more pay
- for his soldiers, 244;
- his suit coldly dismissed by the Emperor’s minister, 244;
- returns home, and resolves to cast off allegiance to the empire, 245;
- overruns Phrygia, and captures some fortified towns, 245;
- refuses to treat with Eutropius, 246;
- his army retreats to Pamphylia, where he awaits Leo, 246;
- swoops down upon his prey at night, scattering Leo’s army, 247;
- his forces joined with those of Gaïnas, 257.
-
- Trinity Sunday, 178 _note_.
-
-
- Uldes, or Uldin, pursues Gaïnas and kills him, 263.
-
- Ulphilas, preaching of, to the Goths, 382.
-
- Unilas, a Gothic bishop, appointed by Chrysostom, 237;
- dies after a short but active career, 375.
-
- Ursicinus, consecration of, by Paul, bishop of Tibur, violently
- stopped by Damasus, 47.
-
-
- Valens, the Emperor, on amicable terms with Libanius, 12;
- favoured the Arians, 21;
- expelled bishop Meletius, 40;
- his decree against the practisers of magic, 57;
- persecution of the monks, 72-75;
- destruction by the Goths, 92, 94;
- forbids the sacrifice of animals, 143.
-
- Valentinian, his decree against magicians, 57;
- his fate, 94;
- territory secured to him by Theodosius, 141;
- forbids the sacrifice of animals, 143.
-
- Valentinian II., 187;
- flight to Thessalonica, 191;
- accompanies Theodosius to Rome, 193;
- in possession of his dominions, 199;
- treachery of his general of the forces, Arbogastes, 200;
- found strangled, 200.
-
- Valentinians, a church of, set fire to by fanatics, 191.
-
- Valentinus, error of, 113.
-
- Valentinus, entreated to benevolence by Chrysostom, 377.
-
- Venerius, bishop of Milan, Chrysostom’s letter to, 334, 335;
- sends a letter by the Italian deputation, 353.
-
- Vincentius, presbyter and friend of Jerome, 292.
-
- Victor Uticensis, 23.
-
- Victory, news of, proclaimed gratuitously by Theodosius, 194.
-
- Visigoths, a colony of, established in Thrace, 140.
-
-
- Wealth, Chrysostom on, 156, 157.
-
- Wesley, John, at Oxford, 27;
- as a preacher, 425.
-
- Western Church, the, acknowledges Paulinus as bishop of Antioch, 20;
- favourable to clerical celibacy, 218;
- does not fully accept Origen’s teachings, 287;
- appealed to by the Eastern Church, 335;
- not able to insist on justice to Chrysostom, 349;
- breaks off communion with Theophilus and Atticus, 358;
- demands the convocation of a general council, 358.
-
- Western theology, 391, 392.
-
- Westminster, sanctuary of, 249.
-
- Women, influence of, on early Christianity, 10, 11;
- they baffle Julian and Governor Alexander at Antioch, 11;
- Libanius’s letter on, 11;
- interference in the election of bishops, 48;
- multitudes take vows of celibacy, 61;
- degraded position in the East, 96.
-
-
- Zosimus, 153 _note_;
- account of the pursuit of Gaïnas, 262, 263.
-
-
-Edinburgh University Press:
-
-THOMAS AND ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY.
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saint John Chrysostom, his Life and Times, by
-W. R. W. Stephens
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Saint John Chrysostom, his Life and Times
- A sketch of the church and the empire in the fourth century
-
-Author: W. R. W. Stephens
-
-Release Date: December 27, 2016 [EBook #53809]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, LIFE, TIMES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
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-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
-<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="500" height="648" alt="" />
-<p><small>“COPIED FROM A FRONTISPIECE TO THE EDITION BY FRONTO DUCÆUS, A.D.
-1636, OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM’S WORKS (IN THE CATHEDRAL LIBRARY, CHICHESTER).
-THE ORIGINAL IS STATED TO HAVE BEEN ENGRAVED FROM AN EIKON OF GREAT
-ANTIQUITY, AT CONSTANTINOPLE, AND AGREES WITH THE NOTICES OF CHRYSOSTOM’S
-APPEARANCE BY GREEK WRITERS, WHO DESCRIBE HIM AS SHORT, WITH A
-LARGE HEAD, AMPLE, WRINKLED FOREHEAD, EYES DEEP-SET BUT PLEASING,
-HOLLOW CHEEKS, AND A SCANTY GREY BEARD.”</small></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-<h1>SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM<br />
-<br />
-<small>HIS LIFE AND TIMES</small><br /><br /></h1>
-
-<p class="center"><i>A SKETCH OF THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE IN<br />
-THE FOURTH CENTURY.</i><br /><br /></p>
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> W. R W. STEPHENS, M.A.<br />
-
-<small><small>PREBENDARY OF CHICHESTER AND RECTOR OF WOOLBEDING; AUTHOR OF “LIFE AND LETTERS OF<br />
-WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D.,” “CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM,” ETC.</small></small><br /><br /></p>
-
-<p class="center">With Portrait.<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>SECOND EDITION.</i><br /><br /></p>
-
-<p class="center">LONDON<br />
-JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET<br />
-1880.<br />
-<br />
-<i>The right of translation is reserved.</i>
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2>PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.</h2>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> present edition of this Essay is substantially
-a reproduction of the first. It is possible, indeed,
-and I hope probable, that the fruits of nine years’
-more experience and study would have manifested
-themselves in some marked improvements upon the
-former work had I rewritten or recast the whole
-of it. But after mature consideration it did not
-seem to me that the defects of my original attempt
-were sufficient to warrant such an expenditure of
-time and toil.</p>
-
-<p>I have therefore contented myself with carefully
-revising the text and references, and making here
-and there a few slight alterations in the way either
-of addition or omission.</p>
-
-<p>
-<span class="smcap"><small>Woolbeding Rectory</small></span>,<br />
-<span class="h">xxxxxx</span><small><i>Feby. 20, 1880</i>.</small><br />
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h2>PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.</h2>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> considerations which induced me to undertake this
-monograph are mentioned in the introductory chapter.
-How far the design there indicated has been satisfactorily
-fulfilled, it is for others to decide. I am of course conscious
-of defects, for every workman’s ideal aim should be higher
-than what he can actually accomplish. The work has
-incurred a certain risk from having been once or twice
-suspended for a considerable period; but I have always
-returned to it with increased interest and pleasure, nor can
-I charge myself with having wittingly bestowed less pains
-on one part than another. I have endeavoured to make it
-a trustworthy narrative by drawing from the most original
-sources to which I could gain access; and where, as in
-those portions which touch on secular history, the lead of
-general historians, such as Gibbon or De Broglie has been
-followed, I have, as far as possible, consulted the authorities
-to which they refer. To modern authors from whom I have
-derived valuable assistance for special parts of the work,
-such as M. Amédée Thierry and Dr. Foerster, my obligations
-are acknowledged in their proper place.</p>
-
-<p>Neander’s Life of St. Chrysostom has, of course, throughout
-been frequently consulted. It is marked by the customary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span>
-merits and defects of that historian. It is full of research,
-information, thought, and refined religious sentiment; but
-he fails to bring out strongly the personality of his subject.
-We have abundance of Chrysostom’s sayings and opinions,
-but somehow too little of Chrysostom himself. The fact is
-that Neander seems always to be thinking more of those
-views and theories about the growth of Christian doctrine
-and the Church, which he wishes to impress upon men’s
-minds, than of the person about whom he is writing. Thus,
-the subject of his biography becomes too much a mere
-vehicle for conveying Neander’s own opinions, and the
-personality of the character fades away in proportion.
-Some passages in the life of his subject are related at
-inordinate length; others, because less illustrative of
-Neander’s views, are imperfectly sketched, if not omitted.</p>
-
-<p>In extracts from the works of Chrysostom, the somewhat
-difficult question of the comparative advantages of translation
-and paraphrase has been decided, on the whole, in
-favour of the latter. The condensation of matter gained by
-a paraphrase is an important, indeed necessary, object, if
-many specimens are to be given from such a very voluminous
-author as Chrysostom. A careful endeavour, at the
-same time, has been made to render faithfully the general
-sense of the original; and wherever the peculiar beauty of
-the language or the importance of the subject seemed to
-demand it, a translation has been given.</p>
-
-<p>From an early date in the sixteenth century down to the
-present time the works of Chrysostom have occupied the
-attention of learned editors. The first attempts, after the
-invention of printing, were mainly confined to Latin translations
-of different portions. Afterwards appeared—</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix</a></span></p>
-
-<p>(1.) In 1529 the Greek text of the Homilies on St. Paul,
-published at Vienna, “typis Stephani et fratrum,” with a
-preface by Maximus Donatus. This was followed by the
-Commentaries on the New Testament, published by Commelin,
-a printer at Heidelberg, four vols. folio, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 1591-1602.</p>
-
-<p>(2.) In 1612 appeared a magnificent edition of the whole
-works, in eight thick folio volumes, printed at Eton, and
-prepared by Sir Henry Savile. Savile, born in 1549, was
-equally distinguished for his knowledge of mathematics and
-Greek, in which he acted for a time as tutor to Queen
-Elizabeth. He became Warden of Merton in 1585, and
-Provost of Eton in 1596. Promotion in Church and State
-was offered to him by James <span class="smcap">I.</span>, but declined, though he
-accepted a knighthood in 1604. His only son died about
-that time, and he devoted his fortune henceforth entirely to
-the promotion of learning. The Savilian Professorships of
-Geometry and Astronomy in Oxford were founded by him,
-and a library furnished with mathematical books for the use
-of his Professors. He spared no labour or expense to make
-his edition of St. Chrysostom handsome and complete. He
-personally examined most of the great libraries in Europe
-for mss., and, through the kindness of English ambassadors
-and eminent men of learning abroad, his copyists were
-admitted to the libraries of Paris, Basle, Augsburg, Munich,
-Vienna, and other cities. He used the Commelinian edition
-as his printer’s copy, carefully compared with five mss., the
-various readings of which are marked (by a not very distinct
-plan) in the margin. The chief value of the work consists
-in the prefaces and notes, contributed some of them by
-Casaubon and other learned men, though by far the best are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">x</a></span>
-Savile’s own. The whole cost of bringing out this grand
-edition is said to have been £8000. Savile’s wife was so
-jealous of her husband’s attachment to the work that she
-threatened to burn it.</p>
-
-<p>(3.) Meanwhile, Fronton le Duc, a French Jesuit, had
-been labouring independently, but in most amicable intercourse
-with Savile, not only to edit the works of Chrysostom
-complete, but accompanied by a Latin translation, which he
-supplied himself for those pieces of which he failed to find
-any good one already existing. His death arrested the
-work, which was taken up, after a time, by the two brothers,
-Frederick and Claude Morel, and completed by the latter in
-1633. It was published in Paris in 1636, in twelve large
-folio volumes. The Commelinian was again used as the
-printer’s copy, with fewer alterations than in the edition of
-Savile.</p>
-
-<p>(4.) We now come to the great Benedictine edition,
-prepared under the care of Bernard de Montfaucon, who
-deserted the profession of arms at the age of twenty to
-become, as a member of the brotherhood of St Maur, one
-of the most marvellously industrious workers in literature
-that the world has ever seen. In 1698, when the Benedictines
-had completed their editions of SS. Augustine and
-Athanasius, they began to prepare for an edition of
-Chrysostom, which they had intended to do for more than
-thirty years. Montfaucon was sent to Italy, where he
-spent three years in examining libraries; and, on his return,
-obtained leave from the presidents of the congregation to
-employ four or five of the brethren in collating mss. in the
-Royal Library at Paris, and in those of Colbert and Coislin.
-Their labours extended over thirteen years; more than 300<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">xi</a></span>
-<span class="smcap">MSS.</span>, containing different portions of Chrysostom’s works,
-having been discovered in those libraries. Montfaucon,
-meanwhile, corresponded with learned men in all parts of
-Europe, in order to procure materials and further collations.
-His correspondents in England were Potter, Bishop of
-Oxford, Bentley, and Needham; and in Ireland, Godwin,
-Bishop of Kilmore. The result was that, after more than
-twenty years of incessant toil, Montfaucon produced an
-edition, in which several pieces saw the light for the first
-time, and others, imperfect in previous editions, were presented
-entire. The text after all is the least satisfactory
-part of the work. Mr. Field has discovered that the eight
-principal <span class="smcap">MSS.</span> employed were not very carefully collated,
-and that, though Savile’s text is extremely praised, that of
-Morel, by a curious inconsistency, is most closely followed,
-which is little more than a reproduction of the original
-Commelinian. The main value of the edition consists in
-the prefaces, written by Montfaucon to every set of homilies
-and every treatise, in which the chronology, contents, and
-character of the composition are most fully and ably discussed.
-The chronological arrangement also of the pieces
-is a great improvement on the editions of Savile and
-Fronton le Duc, who had made no attempt of that kind.
-The last volume, the thirteenth, contains a life of St
-Chrysostom, a most copious index, and dissertations on
-the doctrine, discipline, and heresies prevalent in his age,
-illustrated by notices collected from his works. On the
-whole, the edition must be pronounced a marvellous monument
-of ability and industry, especially when it is considered
-that at the date of its completion, 1738, Montfaucon was
-eighty-three years of age, and had been engaged for upwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">xii</a></span>
-of fifty years in literary work of a most laborious description.
-He died in 1741.</p>
-
-<p>(5.) The last edition, which leaves little or nothing to be
-desired, is that which I have used in preparing this volume—the
-Abbé Migne’s, in 13 vols., Paris, 1863. It is substantially
-a reproduction of the Benedictine, in a rather less
-cumbrous size, and embodies some of the best corrections,
-notes, and prefaces of modern commentators, especially those
-of Mr. Field to the Homilies of St. Matthew, and some by
-the learned editor himself.</p>
-
-<p>A brief sketch of the principal forms in which Chrysostom’s
-works have appeared seemed an appropriate introduction to
-the history of the man himself. If the perusal of that
-history shall afford to readers half as much interest, pleasure,
-and instruction as I have myself derived from the composition
-of it, I shall feel amply rewarded for my labour; and I
-gladly take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to
-my father-in-law for originally suggesting a work of this
-kind, and to many friends, and especially my wife, for
-constant encouragement, without which a mixture of indolence
-and diffidence might have prevented the completion of
-my design.</p>
-
-<p><small><span class="smcap">Densworth Cottage, Chichester</span>,<br />
-<span class="h">xxxxxxxxx</span><i>All Saints Day 1871</i>.</small></p>
-
-<hr />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
-
-<table summary="contents" border="0"><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdr f06" colspan="2">PAGE</td></tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl">Introductory,</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">From his Birth to his Appointment to the Office of Reader, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 345
-or <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 347 to <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Commencement of ascetic life-Study under Diodorus—Formation
-of an ascetic Brotherhood—The Letters to Theodore, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Chrysostom evades forcible Ordination to a Bishopric—The Treatise
-“On the Priesthood.” <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370, 371,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER V.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Narrow Escape from Persecution—His Entrance into a Monastery—The
-Monasticism of the East. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 372,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Works produced during his monastic life—The letters to Demetrius
-and Stelechius—Treatises addressed to the Opponents of
-Monasticism—Letter to Stagirius,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Ordination as Deacon—Description of Antioch—Works composed
-during his Diaconate. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381-386,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_86">86</a>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Ordination to the Priesthood by Flavian—Inaugural Discourse in
-the Cathedral—Homilies against the Arians—Animadversions
-on the Chariot Races, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 386,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Homilies against Pagans and Jews—Condition of the Jews in
-Antioch—Judaising Christians—Homilies on Christmas Day
-and New Year’s Day—Censure of Pagan Superstitions. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-386, 387,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER X.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Survey of the first Decade of the Reign of Theodosius—His
-Character—His Efforts for the Extirpation of Paganism and
-Heresy—The Apologies of Symmachus and Libanius. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-379-389,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">The Sedition at Antioch—The Homilies on the Statues—The
-Results of the Sedition, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 387,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Illness of Chrysostom—Homilies on Festivals of Saints and Martyrs—Character
-of these Festivals—Pilgrimages—Reliques—Character
-of Peasant Clergy in neighbourhood of Antioch. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 387,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Survey of Events between <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 387 and <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 397—Ambrose and
-Theodosius—Revolt of Arbogastes—Death of Theodosius—The
-Ministers of Arcadius—Rufinus and Eutropius,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Death of Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople—Eager Competition
-for the See—Election of Chrysostom—His compulsory
-Removal from Antioch—Consecration—Reforms—Homilies on
-various subjects—Missionary Projects,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">The Fall of Eutropius—His Retreat to the Sanctuary of the Church—Right
-of Sanctuary maintained by Chrysostom—Death of
-Eutropius—Revolt of Gothic Commanders Tribigild and
-Gaïnas—Demand of Gaïnas for an Arian Church refused by
-Chrysostom—Defeat and Death of Gaïnas. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 399-401,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Chrysostom’s Visit to Asia—Deposition of six simoniacal Bishops—Legitimate
-Extent of his Jurisdiction—Return to Constantinople—Rupture
-and reconciliation with Severian, bishop of Gabala—Chrysostom’s
-increasing unpopularity with the Clergy and
-wealthy Laity—His Friends—Olympias the Deaconess—Formation
-of hostile Factions, which invite the aid of Theophilus,
-Patriarch of Alexandria. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 400, 401,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Circumstances which led to the interference of Theophilus with the
-affairs of Chrysostom—Controversy about the Writings of
-Origen—Persecution by Theophilus of the Monks called “The
-Tall Brethren”—Their Flight to Palestine—To Constantinople—Their
-Reception by Chrysostom—Theophilus summoned to
-Constantinople. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 395-403,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Theophilus arrives in Constantinople—Organises a Cabal against
-Chrysostom—The Synod of the Oak—Chrysostom pronounced
-contumacious for Non-appearance and expelled from the city—Earthquake—Recall
-of Chrysostom—Ovations on his Return—Flight
-of Theophilus. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 403,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIX.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">An Image of Eudoxia placed in front of the Cathedral—Chrysostom
-denounces it—Anger of the Empress—The enemy returns
-to the charge—Another Council formed—Chrysostom
-confined to his Palace—Violent scene in the Cathedral and
-other places—Chrysostom again expelled, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 403, 404,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XX.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Fury of the people at the removal of Chrysostom—Destruction of
-the Cathedral Church and Senate-house by Fire—Persecution
-of Chrysostom’s followers—Fugitives to Rome—Letters of
-Innocent to Theophilus—To the Clergy of Constantinople—To
-Chrysostom—Deputation of Western Bishops to Constantinople
-repulsed—Sufferings of the Eastern Church—Triumph
-of the Cabal. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404, 405,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXI.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Chrysostom ordered to be removed to Cucusus—Perils encountered
-at Cæsarea—Hardships of the Journey—Reaches Cucusus—Letters
-written there to Olympias and other Friends. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_360">361</a>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">xvi</a></span></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Chrysostom’s Sufferings from the winter cold—Depredations of the
-Isaurians—The Mission in Phœnicia—Letters to Innocent and
-the Italian Bishops—Chrysostom’s enemies obtain an order
-for his Removal to Pityus—He dies at Comana, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 407—Reception
-of his Reliques at Constantinople, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 438,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="2">CHAPTER XXIII.</td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl"><p class="indent">Survey of Chrysostom’s Theological Teaching—Practical tone of
-his Works—Reason of this—Doctrine of Man’s Nature—Original
-Sin—Grace—Free-will—How far Chrysostom Pelagian—Language
-on the Trinity—Atonement—Justification—The
-two Sacraments—No trace of Confession, Purgatory, or
-Mariolatry—Relations towards the Pope—Liturgy of Chrysostom—His
-character as a Commentator—Views on Inspiration—His
-Preaching—Personal Appearance—References to Greek
-Classical Authors—Comparison with St. Augustine,</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_390">390</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl padt1">APPENDIX,</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_433">433</a></td>
-</tr><tr>
-<td class="tdl padt1">INDEX,</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#INDEX">435</a></td>
-</tr></table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="center">
-LIFE AND TIMES<br />
-<br />
-<small><small>OF</small></small><br />
-<br />
-<big><big>ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.</big></big><br /><br />
-</p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f08">INTRODUCTORY.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">I. There</span> are many great names in history which have
-been familiar to us from almost our earliest years, but of
-the personal character, the actual life of those who bore
-them, we are comparatively ignorant. We know that they
-were men of genius; industrious, energetic workers, who, as
-statesmen, reformers, warriors, writers, speakers, exercised
-a vital influence for good or ill upon their fellow-men.
-They have achieved a reputation which will never die;
-but from various causes their personality does not stand
-out before us in clear and bold relief. We know something
-about some of the most important passages in their
-life, a few of their sayings, a little of their writings; but
-the men themselves we do not know.</p>
-
-<p>Frequently the reason of this is, that though they occupy
-a place, perhaps an important place, in the great drama
-of history, yet they have not played one of the <em>foremost</em>
-parts; and general history cannot spare much time or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span>
-space beyond what is necessary to describe the main progress
-of events, and the actions and characters of those
-who were most prominently concerned in them. Other
-men may have been greater in themselves; they may have
-been first-rate in their own sphere, but that sphere was
-too much secluded or circumscribed to admit of the extensive
-and conspicuous public influence of which alone history
-takes much cognisance. They are to history what
-those side or background figures in the pictures of great
-medieval painters are to the grand central subject of the
-piece: they do but help to fill up the canvas, yet the
-picture would not be complete without them. They are
-notable personages, well worthy of being separately depicted,
-though in the large historical representation they play a
-subordinate part.</p>
-
-<p>To take out one of these side figures of history, and to
-make it the centre of a separate picture, grouping round
-it all the great events and characters among which it
-moved, is the work of a biographer. And by many it will
-be felt that nothing invests the general history of any
-period with such a living interest as viewing it through
-the light of some one human life. How was this individual
-soul affected by the movement of the great forces with
-which it was surrounded? How did it affect them, in its
-turn, wherever in its progress it came into contact with
-them? This one consideration will confer on many details
-of history an importance and freshness of which they
-seemed too trivial or too dull to be susceptible.</p>
-
-<p>II. Among these side characters in history, characters
-of men in themselves belonging to the first rank, men
-whose names will be renowned and honoured to the end of
-time, but precluded, by disposition or circumstances, from
-taking the foremost place in the larger canvas of general
-history, must be reckoned many of the great ecclesiastics
-of the first four or five centuries of Christianity. Every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span>
-one recognises as great such names as Origen, Tertullian,
-Cyprian, Basil, the two Gregories, and many more. Every
-one would admit that the Church owes them a debt, but it
-may be safely affirmed that here the acquaintance of many
-with these eminent men begins and ends. A few scraps
-from their writings quoted in commentaries, one or two
-remarkable acts or sayings which have been thought worthy
-to be handed down, a few passages in which their lives flit
-across the stage of general history, complete the knowledge
-of many more. Such men, indeed, as Athanasius and
-Ambrose are to some extent exceptions. The magnitude
-of the principles for which they contended, the energy and
-ability which they displayed in the contest, were too conspicuous
-to be passed over by the general historian, civil
-or ecclesiastical. The proverbial expression “Athanasius
-contra mundum” attests of itself the pre-eminent greatness
-of the man. But with other luminaries of the Church,
-whose powers were perhaps equally great, but not exercised
-on so public a field or on behalf of such apparently vital
-questions, history has not dealt, perhaps cannot consistently
-with its scope deal, in any degree commensurate with
-their merits. Nor does this remark apply entirely to civil
-history. Ecclesiastical history also is so much occupied
-with the consideration of subjects on a large scale and
-covering a large space of time,—the course of controversies,
-the growth of doctrines, the relations between Church and
-State, changes in discipline, in liturgies, in ritual,—that the
-history of those who lived among these events, and who by
-their ability made or moulded them, is comparatively lost
-sight of. The outward operations are seen, but the springs
-which set them going are concealed. How can general
-history, for instance, adequately set forth the character and
-the work of such men as Savonarola or Erasmus, both in
-their widely different ways men of such incomparable genius
-and incessant activity? It does not; it only supplies a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span>
-glimpse, a sketch, which make us long for a fuller vision, a
-more finished picture.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p>
-
-<p>III. It is designed to attempt, in the following pages,
-such a supplementary chapter in ecclesiastical history. An
-endeavour will be made not merely to chronicle the life and
-estimate the character of the great preacher of Antioch
-and Constantinople, but to place him in the centre of all
-the great movements, civil as well as religious, of his time,
-and see what light he and they throw upon one another.</p>
-
-<p>The age in which he lived was a troublous one. The
-spectacle of a tempestuous sea may in itself excite our
-interest and inspire us with awe, but place in the midst of
-it a vessel containing human life, and how deeply is our
-interest intensified!</p>
-
-<p>What was the general character and position of the
-clergy in the fourth century? What was the attitude of
-the Church towards the sensuality, selfishness, luxury, of
-an effete and debased civilisation on the one hand, and the
-rude ferocity of young and strong barbarian races on the
-other? To what extent had Christianity leavened, or had
-it appreciably leavened at all, popular forms of thought and
-popular habits of life? What was the existing phase of
-monasticism? what the ordinary form of worship in the
-Catholic Church? what the established belief respecting the
-sacraments and the great verities of the Christian faith?
-In answer to such inquiries, and to many more, much useful
-information may be extracted from the works of so prolific a
-writer and preacher as Chrysostom. Being concerned also,
-as a preacher, with moral practice more than with abstract
-theology, his homilies reflect, like the writings of satirists, the
-manners of the age. The habits of private life, the fashionable
-amusements, the absurdities of dress, all the petty foibles,
-as well as the more serious vices of the society by which
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span>he was surrounded, are dragged out without remorse, and
-made the subjects of solemn admonition, or fierce invective,
-or withering sarcasm, or ironical jest.</p>
-
-<p>IV. Nor does secular history, from which not a single
-chapter in ecclesiastical history can without injury be dissociated,
-want for copious illustration. Not only from the
-memorable story of the sedition at Antioch, and from the
-public events at Constantinople, in which Chrysostom
-played a conspicuous part, but from many an allusion or
-incidental expression scattered up and down his works, we
-may collect rays of light on the social and political condition
-of the Empire. We get glimpses in his pages of a
-large mass of the population hovering midway between
-Paganism and Christianity; we detect an oppressive system
-of taxation, a widely-spread venality in the administration
-of public business, a general insecurity of life arising from
-the almost total absence of what we understand by police
-regulations, a depressed agriculture, a great slave population,
-a vast turbulent army as dangerous to the peace of society
-as the enemies from whom it was supposed to defend it, the
-presence of barbarians in the country as servants, soldiers, or
-colonists, the constantly-impending danger from other hordes
-ever hovering on the frontier, and, like famished wolves,
-gazing with hungry eyes on the plentiful prey which lay
-beyond it. But in the midst of the national corruption we
-see great characters stand out; and it is remarkable that
-they belong, without exception, to the two elements which
-alone were strong and progressive in the midst of the general
-debility and decadence. All the men of commanding genius
-in this era were either Christian or barbarian. A young
-and growing faith, a vigorous and manly race: these were
-the two forces destined to work hand in hand for the
-destruction of an old and the establishment of a new order
-of things. The chief doctors of Christianity in the fourth
-century—Augustine, Chrysostom, Ambrose—are incompar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span>ably
-greater than their contemporary advocates of the old
-religion and philosophy, Symmachus or Libanius; even as
-the Gothic Alaric and Fravitta, and the Vandal Stilicho, were
-the only generals who did not disgrace the Roman arms.</p>
-
-<p>V. Some remarks on the theology of Chrysostom will
-be found in the concluding chapter. The appellation of
-preacher,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> by which he is most generally known, is a true
-indicator of the sphere in which his powers were greatest.
-It was in upholding a pure and lofty standard of Christian
-morality, and in denouncing unchristian wickedness, that
-his life was mainly spent, rather than, like Augustine’s, in
-constructing and teaching a logical system of doctrine.
-The rage of his enemies, to which he ultimately fell a
-victim, was not bred of the bitterness of theological controversy,
-but of the natural antagonism between the evil
-and the good. And it is partly on this account that neither
-the remoteness of time, nor difference of circumstances,
-which separate us from him, can dim the interest with
-which we read his story. He fought not so much for any
-abstract question of theology or point of ecclesiastical discipline,
-which may have lost its meaning and importance
-for us, but for those grand principles of truth and justice,
-Christian charity, and Christian holiness, which ought to be
-dear to men equally in all ages.</p>
-
-<p>VI. But there is also in the struggle of Chrysostom with
-the secular power an ecclesiastical and historical interest, as
-well as a moral one. We see prefigured in his deposition
-the fate of the Eastern Church in the Eastern capital of the
-Empire. As the papacy grew securely by the retreat from
-the old Rome of any secular rival, so the patriarchate of
-the new Rome was constantly, increasingly depressed by the
-presence of such a rival. Of all the great churchmen who
-flourished in the fourth century, Athanasius, Basil, the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span>Gregories, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Chrysostom,
-the last three alone survived into the fifth century. But the
-glory of the Western Church was then only in its infancy;
-the glory of the Eastern culminated in Chrysostom. From
-his time the patriarchs of Constantinople fell more and more
-into the servile position of court functionaries. The working
-out of that grand idea, a visible organised Catholic
-Church, uniform in doctrine and discipline, an idea which
-grew more and more as the political disintegration of the
-Empire increased, was to be accomplished by the more commanding,
-law-giving spirit of the West. Intrepid in spirit,
-inflexible of purpose, though Chrysostom was, he could not
-subdue, he could only provoke to more violent opposition,
-the powers with which he was brought into collision.
-Ineffectual was his contest with ecclesiastical corruption
-and secular tyranny, as compared with a similar contest
-waged by his Western contemporary, Ambrose; ineffectual
-also were the efforts, after his time, of the Church which he
-represented to assert the full dignity of its position.</p>
-
-<p>VII. Chrysostom, and the contemporary fathers of the
-Eastern Church, naturally seem very remote from us; but,
-in fact, they are nearer to us in their modes of thought than
-many who in point of time are less distant. They were
-brought up in the study of that Greek literature with which
-we are familiar. Philosophy had not stiffened into scholasticism.
-The ethics of Chrysostom are substantially the same
-with the ethics of Butler. So, again, Eastern fathers of the
-fourth century are far more nearly allied to us in theology
-than writers of a few centuries later. If we are to look to
-“the rock” whence our Anglican liturgy “was hewn,” and
-“to the hole of the pit” whence Anglican reformed theology
-“was digged,” we must turn our eyes, above all other directions,
-to the Eastern Church and the Eastern fathers. It
-was observed by Mr. Alexander Knox,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> that the earlier days
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span>of the Greek Church seem resplendent with a glow of simple,
-fervent piety, such as in a Church, as a whole, has never
-since been seen; and that this character is strikingly in
-harmony with our own liturgy, so overflowing with sublime
-aspirations, so Catholic, not bearing the impress of any one
-system of theology, but containing what is best in all. We
-may detect in Chrysostom the germ of medieval corruptions,
-such as the invocation of saints, the adoration of relics, and
-a sensuous conception of the change effected in the holy
-elements in the Eucharist; but these are the raw material
-of error, not yet wrought into definite shape. The Bishop
-of Rome is recognised, as will be seen from Chrysostom’s
-correspondence with Innocent, as a great potentate, whose
-intercessions are to be solicited in time of trouble and difficulty,
-and to whose judgment much deference is to be paid,
-but by no means as a supreme ruler in Christendom.</p>
-
-<p>Thus, the tone of Chrysostom’s language is far more akin
-to that of our own Church than of the medieval or present
-Church of Rome. In his habit of referring to Holy Scripture
-as the ultimate source and basis of all true doctrine,
-“so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved
-thereby, is not to be required of any man as an article of
-faith;” in his careful endeavour to ascertain the real meaning
-of Scripture, not seeking for fanciful or mystical interpretations,
-or supporting preconceived theories, but patiently
-labouring, with a mixture of candour, reverence, and common
-sense, to ascertain the exact literal sense of each passage;—in
-these points, no less than in his theology, he bears an
-affinity to the best minds of our own reformed Church, and
-fairly represents that faith of the Catholic Church before the
-disruption of East and West in which Bishop Ken desired to
-die; while his fervent piety, and his apostolic zeal as a
-preacher of righteousness, must command the admiration of
-all earnest Christians, to whatever country, age, or Church,
-they may belong.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f08">FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE OFFICE OF READER,
-A.D. 345 OR A.D. 347 TO A.D. 370.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">It</span> has been well remarked by Sir Henry Savile, in the
-preface to his noble edition of Chrysostom’s works, published
-in 1612, that, as with great rivers, so often with great
-men, the middle and the close of their career are dignified
-and distinguished, but the primary source and early progress
-of the stream are difficult to ascertain and trace. No one,
-he says, has been able to fix the exact date, the year, and
-the consulship of Chrysostom’s birth. This is true; but at
-the same time his birth, parentage, and education are not
-involved in such obscurity as surrounds the earliest years of
-some other great luminaries of the Eastern Church; his own
-friend, for instance, Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and
-yet more notably, the great Athanasius.</p>
-
-<p>There is little doubt that his birth occurred not later than
-the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 347, and not earlier than the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 345;
-and there is no doubt that Antioch in Syria was the place of
-his birth, that his mother’s name was Anthusa, his father’s
-Secundus, and that both were well born. His mother
-was, if not actually baptized, very favourably inclined to
-Christianity,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> and, indeed, a woman of no ordinary piety.
-The father had attained the rank of “magister militum” in
-the Imperial army of Syria, and therefore enjoyed the title
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span>of “illustris.” He died when his son John was an infant,
-leaving a young widow, about twenty years of age, in
-comfortable circumstances, but harassed by the difficulties
-and anxieties of her unprotected condition as mistress of
-a household in days when servants were slaves, and life in
-large cities altogether unguarded by such securities as are
-familiar to us. Greatly did she dread the responsibility of
-bringing up a son in one of the most turbulent and dissolute
-capitals of the Empire. Nothing, she afterwards<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> declared
-to him, could have enabled her to pass through such a
-furnace of trial but a consoling sense of divine support,
-and the delight of contemplating the image of her husband
-as reproduced in his son. How long a sister older than
-himself may have lived we do not know; but the conversation
-between him and his mother, when he was meditating
-a retreat into a monastery, seems to imply that he was the
-only surviving child. All her love, all her care, all her
-means and energies, were concentrated on the boy destined
-to become so great a man, and exhibiting even in childhood
-no common ability and aptitude for learning. But her chief
-anxiety was to train him in pious habits, and to preserve
-him uncontaminated from the pollutions of the vicious city
-in which they resided. She was to him what Monica was
-to Augustine, and Nonna to Gregory Nazianzen.</p>
-
-<p>The great influence, indeed, of women upon the Christianity
-of domestic life in that age is not a little remarkable.
-The Christians were not such a pure and single-minded
-community as they had been. The refining fires of persecution
-which burnt up the chaff of hypocrisy or indifference
-were now extinguished; Christianity had a recognised position;
-her bishops were in kings’ courts. The natural consequences
-inevitably followed this attainment of security; there
-were more Christians, but not more who were zealous; there
-were many who hung very loosely to the Church—many
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span>who fluctuated between the Church and Paganism. In the
-great Eastern cities of the Empire, especially Alexandria,
-Antioch, Constantinople, the mass of the so-called Christian
-population was largely infected by the dominant vices—inordinate
-luxury, sensuality, selfish avarice, and display.
-Christianity was in part paganised long before it had made
-any appreciable progress towards the destruction of Paganism.
-But the sincere and ardent piety of many amongst the
-women kept alive in many a home the flame of Christian
-faith which would otherwise have been smothered. The
-Emperor Julian imagined that his efforts to resuscitate
-Paganism would have been successful in Antioch but for
-the strenuous opposition of the Christian women. He complains
-“that they were permitted by their husbands to take
-anything out of the house to bestow it upon the Galilæans,
-or to give away to the poor, while they would not expend
-the smallest trifle upon the worship of the gods.”<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> The
-efforts also of the Governor Alexander, who was left in
-Antioch by the Emperor to carry forward his designs of
-Pagan reformation, were principally baffled through this
-female influence. He found that the men would often
-consent to attend the temples and sacrifices, but afterwards
-generally repented and retracted their adherence. This
-relapse Libanius the sophist, in a letter<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> to the Governor,
-ascribes to the home influence of the women. “When the
-men are out of doors,” he says, “they obey you who give
-them the best advice, and they approach the altars; but
-when they get home, their minds undergo a change; they
-are wrought upon by the tears and entreaties of their
-wives, and they again withdraw from the altars of the
-gods.”</p>
-
-<p>Anthusa did not marry again; very possibly she was
-deterred from contracting a second marriage by religious
-scruples which Chrysostom himself would certainly have
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span>approved.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> The Pagans themselves admired those women
-who dedicated themselves to a single life, or abstained from
-marrying again. Chrysostom himself informs us that when
-he began to attend the lectures of Libanius, his master
-inquired who and what his parents were; and on being told
-that he was the son of a widow who at the age of forty had
-lost her husband twenty years, he exclaimed in a tone of
-mingled jealousy and admiration: “Heavens! what women
-these Christians have!”<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></p>
-
-<p>What instruction he received in early boyhood, beside
-his mother’s careful moral and religious training; whether
-he was sent, a common custom among Christian parents
-in that age,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> to be taught by the monks in one of the
-neighbouring monasteries, where he may have imbibed an
-early taste for monastic retirement, we know not. He was
-designed, however, not for the clerical but for the legal
-profession, and at the age of twenty he began to attend
-the lectures of one of the first sophists of the day, capable
-of giving him that secular training and learning which
-would best enable him to cope with men of the world.
-Libanius had achieved a reputation as a teacher of general
-literature, rhetoric, and philosophy, and as an able and
-eloquent defender of Paganism, not only in his native city
-Antioch, but in the Empire at large. He was the friend and
-correspondent of Julian, and on amicable terms with the
-Emperors Valens and Theodosius. He had now returned to
-Antioch after lengthened residence in Athens (where the
-chair of rhetoric had been offered to him, but declined), in
-Nicomedia, and in Constantinople.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> In attending daily
-lectures at his school, the young Chrysostom became conversant
-with the best classical Greek authors, both poets
-and philosophers. Of their teaching he in later life retained
-little admiration,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> and to the perusal of their writings he
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>probably seldom or never recurred for profit or recreation,
-but his retentive memory enabled him to the last to point
-and adorn his arguments with quotations from Homer,
-Plato, and the Tragedians. In the school of Libanius also
-he began to practise those nascent powers of eloquence
-which were destined to win for him so mighty a fame, as
-well as the appellation of Chrysostomos, or the Golden
-Mouth, by which, rather than by his proper name of John,
-he will be known to the end of time.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Libanius, in a letter
-to Chrysostom, praises highly a speech composed by him in
-honour of the Emperors, and says they were happy in having
-so excellent a panegyrist.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> The Pagan sophist helped to
-forge the weapons which were afterwards to be skilfully
-employed against the cause to which he was devoted. When
-he was on his deathbed, he was asked by his friends who
-was in his opinion capable of succeeding him. “It would
-have been John,” he replied, “had not the Christians stolen
-him from us.”<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> But it did not immediately appear that the
-learned advocate of Paganism was nourishing a traitor; for
-Chrysostom had not yet been baptized, and began to seek an
-opening for his powers in secular fields of activity.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> He
-commenced practice as a lawyer; some of his speeches
-gained great admiration, and were highly commended by his
-old master Libanius. A brilliant career of worldly ambition
-was open to him. The profession of the law was at that
-time the great avenue to civil distinction. The amount of
-litigation was enormous. One hundred and fifty advocates
-were required for the court of the Prætorian Prefect of the
-East alone. The display of talent in the law-courts frequently
-obtained for a man the government of a province,
-whence the road was open to those higher dignities of vice-prefect,
-prefect, patrician, consul, which were honoured by
-the title of “illustrious.”<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">17</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But the pure and upright disposition of the youthful
-advocate recoiled from the licentiousness which corrupted
-society; from the avarice, fraud, and artifice which marked
-the transactions of men of business; from the chicanery and
-rapacity that sullied the profession which he had entered.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">18</a>
-He was accustomed to say later in life that “the Bible was
-the fountain for watering the soul.” If he had drunk of the
-classical fountains in the school of Libanius, he had imbibed
-draughts yet deeper of the spiritual well-spring in quiet
-study of Holy Scripture at home. And like many another
-in that degraded age, his whole soul revolted from the
-glaring contrast presented by the ordinary life of the world
-around him to that standard of holiness which was held up
-in the Gospels.</p>
-
-<p>He had formed also an intimate friendship with a young
-man, his equal in station and age, by whose influence he was
-diverted more and more from secular life, and eventually
-induced altogether to abandon it. This was Basil, who will
-come before us in the celebrated work on the priesthood.
-He must not be confounded with the great Basil,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> Bishop of
-Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, who was some fifteen years older
-than Chrysostom, having been born in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 329, nor with
-Basil, Bishop of Seleucia, who was present at the Council of
-Chalcedon in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 451, and must therefore have been considerably
-younger. Perhaps he may be identified with a
-Basil, Bishop of Raphanea in Syria, not far from Antioch,
-who attended the Council of Constantinople in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom has described his friendship with Basil in
-affecting language:<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> “I had many genuine and true friends,
-men who understood and strictly observed the laws of
-friendship; but one there was out of the many who exceeded
-them all in attachment to me, and strove to leave
-them all behind in the race, even as much as they themselves
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>surpassed ordinary acquaintances. He was one of those
-who accompanied me at all times; we engaged in the same
-studies, and were instructed by the same teachers; in our
-zeal and interest for the subjects on which we worked, we
-were one. As we went to our lectures or returned from
-them, we were accustomed to take counsel together on the
-line of life it would be best to adopt; and here, too, we
-appeared to be unanimous.”</p>
-
-<p>Basil early determined this question for himself in favour
-of monasticism; he decided, as Chrysostom expresses it, to
-follow the “true philosophy.” This occasioned the first
-interruption to their intercourse. Chrysostom, soon after
-the age of twenty, had embarked on a secular career, and
-could not immediately make up his mind to tread in the
-footsteps of his friend. “The balance,” he says, “was no
-longer even;” the scale of Basil mounted, while that of
-Chrysostom was depressed by the weight of earthly interests
-and desires.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> But the decisive act of Basil made a deep
-impression on his mind; separation from his friend only
-increased his attachment to him, and his aversion from life
-in the world. He began to withdraw more from ordinary
-occupations and pleasures, and to spend more of his time
-in the study of Holy Scripture. He formed acquaintance
-with Meletius, the deeply respected Catholic Bishop of
-Antioch, and after three years, the usual period of probation
-for catechumens, was baptized by him.</p>
-
-<p>A natural question arises: Why was he not baptized
-before, since his mother was a Christian, and there is
-abundant evidence that infant baptism was and had been
-the ordinary practice of the Church?<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> In attempting a
-solution of the difficulty, it will be proper to mention first
-certain reasons for delaying baptism which were prevalent in
-that age, and which may partially have influenced the mind
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span>of Chrysostom’s mother or himself. It may sound paradoxical
-to say that an exaggerated estimation of the import
-and effect of baptism contributed in two ways to its delay.
-But such appears to have been the case. It was regarded
-by many as the most complete and final purgation of past
-sin, and the most solemn pledge of a new and purified life
-for the future. To sin, therefore, before baptism was comparatively
-harmless, if in the waters of baptism the guilty
-stains could be washed away; but sin after the reception of
-that holy sacrament was almost, if not altogether, unpardonable—at
-least fraught with the most tremendous peril.
-Hence some would delay baptism, as many now delay repentance,
-from a secret or conscious reluctance to take a
-decisive step, and renounce the pleasures of sin; and under
-the comfortable persuasion that some day, by submitting to
-baptism, they would free themselves from the responsibilities
-of their past life. Others, again, were deterred from
-binding themselves under so solemn a covenant by a distrust
-of their ability to fulfil their vows, and a timorous dread
-of the eternal consequences if they failed. Against these
-misconceptions of the true nature and proper use of the
-sacrament, the great Basil, the two Gregories, and Chrysostom
-himself contend<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> with a vehemence and indignation
-which proves them to have been common. Many parents
-thought they would allow the fitful and unstable season of
-youth to pass before they irrevocably bound their children
-under the most solemn engagements of their Christian calling.
-The children, when they grew up, inherited their
-scruples, and so the sacrament was indefinitely deferred.</p>
-
-<p>It is not impossible that such feelings may have influenced
-Chrysostom’s mother and himself; but considering the
-natural and healthy character of his piety, which seems to
-have grown by a gentle and unintermitting progress from
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span>his childhood, they do not seem very probable in his case.
-A more cogent cause for the delay may perhaps be found in
-the distracted state of the Church in Antioch, which lasted,
-with increasing complications, from <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 330, or fifteen years
-prior to Chrysostom’s birth, up to the time of his baptism
-by Meletius, when a brighter day was beginning to dawn.</p>
-
-<p>The vicissitudes of the Church in Antioch during that
-period form a curious, though far from pleasing, picture of
-the inextricable difficulties, the deplorable schisms, into
-which the Church at large was plunged by the Arian controversy.
-Two years after the Council of Nice, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 327,
-the Arians, through the assistance of Constantia, the
-Emperor’s sister, won the favour of Constantine. He lost
-no time during this season of prosperity in procuring the
-deposition of Catholic bishops. Eminent among these
-was Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch. He was ejected by
-a synod held in his own city on false charges of Sabellianism
-and adultery.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> An Arian Bishop, Euphronius, was appointed,
-but the Catholic congregation indignantly withdrew
-to hold their services in another quarter of the town,
-on the opposite side of the Orontes.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> The see remained for
-some time entirely in the hands of the Arians. When the
-Council of Sardica met in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 342, and the Arian faction
-seceded from it to hold a Council of their own in Philippopolis,
-Stephen, Bishop of Antioch, was their president.
-He was deposed in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 349 by the Emperor Constantius,
-having been detected as an accomplice in an infamous plot
-against some envoys from the Western Church.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> But “uno
-avulso non deficit alter;” he was succeeded by another
-Arian, the eunuch Leontius.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> He tried to conciliate the
-Catholics by an artful and equivocating policy, of which his
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span>manner of chanting the doxology was an instance. The
-Arian form of it was “Glory be to the Father <span class="smcap">BY</span> the Son <em>in</em>
-the Holy Ghost;” this the bishop was accustomed to slur in
-such an indistinct voice that the prepositions could not be
-clearly if at all heard, while he joined loudly in the second
-part of the hymn where all were agreed.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> He died towards
-the close of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 357, when the see was fraudulently seized
-by Eudoxius, Bishop of Germanicia. He favoured the
-extreme Arians so openly that the Semi-Arians appealed
-to the Emperor Constantius to summon a General Council.
-Their request was granted; but the Arians, fearing that the
-Catholics and Semi-Arians would coalesce to overwhelm
-them, artfully suggested that Rimini, the place proposed for
-the Council, was too distant for the Eastern prelates, and
-that the Assembly should be divided, part meeting at Rimini,
-and part at Nice.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> Their suggestion was accepted, and the
-result is well known. Partly by arguments, partly by
-artifices and delays which wore out the strength and patience
-of the members, the Arians completely carried the day; the
-creed of Rimini was ordered by the Emperor to be everywhere
-signed, and in the words of Jerome, “the world
-groaned and found itself Arian.”<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> An Arian synod sat at
-Constantinople. Macedonius, the archbishop, being considered
-too moderate, was deposed, and Eudoxius, the
-usurper of Antioch, was elevated to the see in his stead;<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">31</a>
-and Meletius, Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, was translated
-to the vacant see of Antioch, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 361. But in him the
-Arians had mistaken their man. He was one of those who
-attended more to the practical moral teaching than to the
-abstract theology of Christianity; and, being not perhaps
-very precise in his language on doctrinal points, he had been
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>reckoned an Arian.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> After his elevation to the see of
-Antioch, he confined himself in his discourses to those
-practical topics on which all could agree. But this was not
-allowed to last long. The Emperor Constantius paid a visit
-to Antioch soon after the appointment of Meletius, and he
-was instigated by the Arians to put the bishop to a crucial
-test. He was commanded to preach on Proverbs viii. 22:
-“The Lord <em>possessed</em> me” (Septuagint <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἔκτισε</span>, that was the
-fatal word) “in the beginning,” etc. The interpretation put
-on the word “formed” ἔκτισε would reveal the man. Two
-other bishops discoursed first upon the same text: George
-of Laodicea, Acacius of Cæsarea. The first construed the
-passage in a purely Arian sense: the Word was a <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">κτίσμα</span>,
-“a created being,” though the first in time and rank; the
-second preacher took a more moderate line. Then came the
-turn of Meletius; short-hand writers took down every word
-as it fell. Meletius was a mild and temperate man, but he
-had his convictions, and he was no coward. To the horror
-of the Arians (the secret joy, perhaps, of those who disliked
-him) he entirely dissented from the Arian interpretation.
-The people loudly applauded his sermon, and called aloud
-for some brief and compendious statement of his doctrine.
-Meletius replied by a symbolical action: he held up three
-fingers, and then closing two of them, he said: “Our minds
-conceive of three, but we speak as to one.”<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> This was conclusive;
-the objectionable prelate was banished to Melitene,
-his native place in Armenia, thirty days after he had
-entered Antioch. Euzoius, who had been an intimate friend
-and constant associate of Arius himself, was put into the
-see. The Church of Antioch now split into three parties:
-the old and rigid orthodox set, who, ever since the deposition
-of Eustathius in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 327, had adhered to his doctrine, and
-were called after his name; the moderate Catholics, who
-regarded Meletius as their bishop; and the Arians under
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span>Euzoius. The synod which had deposed him published
-a thoroughly Arian creed, which declared the Son to have
-been created out of nothing, and to be unlike the Father
-both in substance and will.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">34</a></p>
-
-<p>This first banishment of Meletius, which occurred in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-361, did not last long. Julian, who became Emperor
-the same year, recalled all the prelates who had been
-exiled in the two preceding reigns; partly, perhaps, from a
-really liberal feeling, partly from a willingness to foment
-the internal dissensions of the Church by placing the
-rival bishops in close antagonism. Athanasius returned to
-Alexandria amidst great ovations.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> One of the questions
-which occupied the attention of a synod convened by him
-was the schism of Antioch. Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli,
-a staunch Italian friend of Athanasius, was despatched to
-Antioch in order to heal the division; but he had been
-unhappily anticipated by another Western prelate, Lucifer
-of Cagliari, in Sardinia, a brave defender of orthodoxy,
-for which with Eusebius he had suffered exile, but a most
-unskilful peacemaker. He only complicated the existing
-confusion by consecrating as bishop a priest of the old
-Eustathian party, named Paulinus, instead of strengthening
-the hands of Meletius.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> The unhappy Church at Antioch,
-where the whole Christian community amounted to not
-more than 100,000 souls,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> was thus torn to tatters. There
-were now three bishops: the Arian Euzoius, Meletius, generally
-acknowledged by the Eastern Church, and Paulinus
-by the Western. And, as if three rival heads were not
-sufficient, the Apollinarians soon afterwards added a fourth.
-But the mild, prudent, and charitable disposition of Meletius
-procured for him the affection and esteem of the largest and
-most respectable part of the population, as well as of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span>common people. Even when he was banished for the first
-time after he had been only a month in Antioch, the populace
-endeavoured to stone the prefect as he was conducting
-the bishop out of the city. He was saved by Meletius
-himself, who threw a part of his own mantle round him, to
-protect him from their fury. And after he returned from
-exile the popularity of Meletius increased. In paintings on
-the walls of houses and engravings on signet rings, his face
-was often represented, and parents gave his name to their
-children both to perpetuate his memory and to remind them
-of an example which was worthy of their imitation.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> Once
-more in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 367, and yet again in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370 or <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 371, when
-the Arians recovered the favour of the Court under the
-Emperor Valens, he was sent into exile, but he returned
-after the death of Valens in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 378; and it was as Bishop
-of Antioch that he presided over the Council of Constantinople
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381, and died during its session.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> His funeral
-oration, pronounced by Gregory Nyssen, is extant. The
-final reparation of that schism which he nobly and constantly
-endeavoured to heal was not effected for nearly twenty
-years, when Chrysostom, then Archbishop of Constantinople,
-accomplished that good service for his native city.</p>
-
-<p>It is interesting to dwell at some length upon the history
-of the Church in Antioch at this period, because it represents
-the painful feuds in which the Church at large became
-entangled through the baneful influence of the Arian controversy,
-that first great blow to the unity of Christendom;
-when bishop was set up against bishop, and rival councils
-manufactured rival creeds, when violence, and intrigue, and
-diplomatic arts were employed too often by both sides to
-gain their ends. But the distracted state of the Church at
-Antioch also supplies a possible answer to the question why
-the baptism of Chrysostom was delayed so long. One of
-the reasons frequently alleged for deferring the reception of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>that sacrament was the desire of the candidate to receive it
-at the hands of some particular bishop.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> Now who were
-the bishops of Antioch during the infancy and boyhood of
-Chrysostom? The Arians were in possession of the see at
-the time of his birth, and retained it till <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 361, when
-Meletius was appointed, but banished almost immediately.
-The pious sensible mother and the well-disposed youth
-would not unnaturally hold aloof from a Church over which
-presided such prelates as Stephen, Leontius, Eudoxius,
-Euzoius. Their minds may well have been so sorely perplexed
-and suspended between the claims of opposing factions
-as to delay the reception of baptism from the hands of any.</p>
-
-<p>But the prudent, conciliatory policy, the mild and amiable
-disposition of Meletius, would engage the sympathy and
-respect of an affectionate, pious, and sensible youth, such as
-Chrysostom was. He was about twenty when Meletius was
-banished in 367 by the Emperor Valens; but the bishop
-returned in a short time, when Chrysostom’s friend Basil
-had withdrawn into religious seclusion, and he himself was
-feeling an increasing repugnance to the world. He presented
-himself as a candidate for baptism to the bishop, and after
-the usual three years of preparation as a catechumen, was
-admitted into the Christian Church.</p>
-
-<p>There can be no doubt that baptism, from whatever cause
-delayed, must on that very account have come home to the
-recipient with a peculiar solemnity of meaning. It was an
-important epoch, often a decisive turning-point in the life,
-a deliberate renunciation of the world, and dedication of the
-whole man to God. So Chrysostom evidently felt it; from
-this point we enter on a new phase in his life. He becomes
-for a time an enthusiastic ascetic, and then settles down into
-that more tranquil and steady, but intense glow of piety and
-love to God which burned with undiminished force till the
-close of his career.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span></p>
-<p>The wise Bishop Meletius, however, desired to employ his
-powers in some sphere of active labour in the Church. As
-a preliminary step to this end, he ordained him soon after
-his baptism to the office of reader. This order appears not
-to have been instituted in the Church before the third
-century; at least there is no allusion to it in writers of the
-first two centuries, and frequent references in writers of the
-third and fourth.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> The duty of readers was to read those
-portions of Scripture which were introduced into the first
-service or “Missa Catechumenorum,” which preceded the
-Communion, or “Missa Fidelium,” so called because only
-the baptized were admitted to it. They read from the
-Pulpitum or Tribunal Ecclesiæ, or Ambo, the reading-desk
-of the Church, which must not be confounded with the
-Bema, or Tribunal of the Sanctuary. This last was identical
-with the altar, or rather the steps of the altar, and no rank
-lower than that of deacon was permitted to read from this
-position. By the Novells of Justinian,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> eighteen was fixed
-as the youngest age at which any one could be ordained to
-this office. But previous to this limitation, it was not uncommon
-to appoint mere children. Cæsarius of Arles is said
-to have been made a reader at the tender age of seven, and
-Victor Uticensis, describing the cruelties of the Vandalic
-persecution in Africa, affirms that among 500 clergy or more
-who perished by sword or famine, were many “infant readers.”<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">43</a></p>
-
-<p>The ceremony of ordination appears to have been very
-simple. The Fourth Council of Carthage ordains that the
-bishop should testify before the congregation to the purity,
-the faith, and conversation of the candidate. Then in their
-presence he is to place a Bible in his hands with these words:
-“Take thou this book, and be thou a reader of the word of
-God, which office if thou discharge faithfully and profitably
-thou shalt have part with those who have ministered the
-word of God.”<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">44</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">COMMENCEMENT OF ASCETIC LIFE—STUDY UNDER DIODORUS—FORMATION
-OF AN ASCETIC BROTHERHOOD—THE LETTERS TO THEODORE.
-A.D. 370.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> enthusiasm of minds newly awakened to a full perception
-of Christian holiness, and a deep sense of Christian
-obligations, was in early times seldom contented with anything
-short of complete separation from the world. The
-Oriental temperament especially has been at all times
-inclined to passionate extremes. It oscillates between the
-most abandoned licentiousness and intense asceticism. The
-second is the corrective of the first; where the disease is
-desperate, the remedies must be violent. Chrysostom, as
-will be perceived throughout his life, was never carried to
-fanatical extremes; a certain sober-mindedness and calm
-practical good sense eminently distinguished him, though
-mingled with burning zeal. But in his youth especially he
-was not exempt from the spirit of the age and country in
-which he lived. He irresistibly gravitated towards that kind
-of life which his friend Basil had already adopted—a life of
-retirement, contemplation, and pious study—“the philosophy”
-of Christianity, as it was called at that time.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">45</a></p>
-
-<p>It does not appear that Basil had actually joined any
-monastic community, but merely that he was leading a life
-of seclusion, and practising some of the usual monastic
-austerities. Chrysostom, indeed, distinctly asserts that,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>previous to his own baptism, their intercourse had not
-been entirely broken off; only that it was impossible for
-him, who had his business in the law-courts and found his
-recreation in the theatre, to be so acceptable as formerly to
-one who now never entered public places, and who was
-wholly devoted to meditation, study, and prayer.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> Their
-intercourse was necessarily more rare, though their friendship
-was substantially unshaken. “When, however, I had
-myself also lifted my head a little above this worldly flood, he
-received me with open arms” (probably referring here to his
-baptism or preparation for it); “but even then I was not
-able to maintain my former equality, for he had the advantage
-of me in point of time, and having manifested the
-greatest diligence, he had attained a very lofty standard, and
-was ever soaring beyond me.”<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">47</a></p>
-
-<p>This disparity, however, could not diminish their natural
-affection for one another; and Basil at length obtained
-Chrysostom’s consent to a plan which he had frequently
-urged—that they should abandon their present homes and
-live together in some quiet abode, there to strengthen each
-other in undisturbed study, meditation, and prayer. But
-this project of the young enthusiasts was for a time frustrated
-by the irresistible entreaties of Chrysostom’s mother,
-that he would not deprive her of his protection, companionship,
-and help. The scene is described by Chrysostom
-himself,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> with a dramatic power worthy of Greek tragedy.
-It reminds the reader of some of those long and stately, yet
-elegant and affecting, narratives of the messenger who, at the
-close of the play, <em>describes</em> the final scene which is not represented.
-Certainly it bespeaks the scholar of a man who had
-made his pupils familiar with the best classical writers in
-Greek. “When she knew that we were meditating this
-course, my mother took me by the right hand and led me
-into her own chamber, and there, seating herself near the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>bed on which she had given birth to me, wept fountains of
-tears; to which she added words of lamentation more
-pitiable even than the tears themselves. ‘I was not long
-permitted to enjoy the virtue of thy father, my child: so it
-seemed good to God. My travail-pangs at your birth were
-quickly succeeded by his death; bringing orphanhood upon
-thee, and upon me an untimely widowhood, with all those
-miseries of widowhood which those only who have experienced
-them can fairly understand. For no description
-can approach the reality of that storm and tempest which is
-undergone by her who having but lately issued from her
-father’s home, and being unskilled in the ways of the world,
-is suddenly plunged into grief insupportable, and compelled
-to endure anxieties too great for her sex and age. For she
-has to correct the negligence, to watch against the ill-doings,
-of her slaves, to baffle the insidious schemes of kinsfolk, to
-meet with a brave front the impudent threats and harshness
-of tax-collectors.’”<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">49</a></p>
-
-<p>She then describes minutely the expense, and labour, and
-constant anxiety which attended the education of a son;
-how she had refrained from all thoughts of second marriage,
-that she might bestow her undivided energies, time, and
-means upon him; how amply it had all been rewarded by
-the delight of his presence, recalling the image of her husband;—and
-now that he had grown up, would he leave her
-absolutely forlorn? “In return for all these my services to
-you,” she cried, “I implore you this one favour only—not to
-make me a second time a widow, or to revive the grief
-which time has lulled. Wait for my death—perhaps I shall
-soon be gone; when you have committed my body to the
-ground, and mingled my bones with your father’s bones,
-then you will be free to embark on any sea you please.”
-Such an appeal to his sense of filial gratitude and duty could
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>not be disregarded. Chrysostom yielded to his mother’s
-entreaties, although Basil did not desist from urging his
-favourite scheme.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">50</a></p>
-
-<p>At the same time he assimilated his life at home as much
-as possible to the condition of a monk. He entirely withdrew
-from all worldly occupations and amusements. He
-seldom went out of the house; he strengthened his mind by
-study, his spirit by prayer, and subdued his body by vigils
-and fasting, and sleeping upon the bare ground. He maintained
-an almost constant silence, that his thoughts might
-be kept abstracted from mundane things, and that no irritable
-or slanderous speech might escape his lips. Some of
-his companions naturally lamented what they regarded as a
-morose and melancholy change.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">51</a></p>
-
-<p>But the intercourse between him and Basil was more
-frequent than before; and two other young men, who had
-been their fellow-students at the school of Libanius, were
-persuaded to adopt the same kind of secluded life. These
-two were Maximus, afterwards Bishop of Seleucia, in
-Isauria; and Theodore, who became Bishop of Mopsuestia,
-in Cilicia.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> This little fraternity formed, with some others
-not named, a voluntary association of youthful ascetics.
-They did not dwell in a separate building, nor were they in
-any way established as a monastic community, but (like
-Wesley and his young friends at Oxford) they lived by rule,
-and practised monastic austerities. The superintendence of
-their studies and general conduct they submitted to Diodorus
-and Carterius, who were presidents of monasteries in the
-vicinity of Antioch.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> In addition to his own intrinsic merits
-and eminence, Diodorus claims our attention, because there
-can be no doubt that he exercised a great influence upon the
-minds of his two most distinguished scholars, Chrysostom
-and Theodore. Indeed, judging from the fragments of his
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span>works, and the notices of him by historians, it is not too
-much to say that he was the founder of a method of Biblical
-interpretation of which Chrysostom and Theodore became
-the most able representatives.</p>
-
-<p>He was of noble family, and the friend of Meletius, who
-confided to him and the priest Evagrius the chief care of his
-diocese during his second exile under Valens about <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370.
-And one of the first acts of Meletius, on his return in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-378, was to make Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus. His writings
-in defence of Christianity were sufficiently powerful and
-notorious to provoke the notice of Julian, who, in a letter to
-Photinus, attacks him with no small asperity.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> The Emperor
-finds occasion for ridicule in the pale and wrinkled face
-and the attenuated frame of Diodorus, wasted by his severe
-labours and ascetic practices; and represents these disfigurements
-as punishments from the offended gods against
-whom he had directed his pen. Being well known as a
-warm friend of Meletius, Diodorus was exposed to some risk
-from the Arian party during the exile of the bishop from
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370-378. But he was not deterred from frequenting
-the old town on the south side of the Orontes, where the
-congregation of Meletius held their assemblies, and diligently
-ministering to their spiritual needs. He accepted
-no fixed stipend, but his necessities were supplied by the
-hospitality of those among whom he laboured.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> Of his
-voluminous writings, a commentary on the Old and New
-Testament is that most frequently quoted by ecclesiastical
-writers. They expressly and repeatedly affirm that he
-adhered very closely to the literal and historical meaning
-of the text, and that he was opposed to those mystical and
-allegorical interpretations of Origen and the Alexandrian
-school, which often disguised rather than elucidated the true
-significance of the passage.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> One evil of the allegorical
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span>method was, that it destroyed a clear and critical perception
-of the differences between the Older Revelation and the New.
-The Old Testament was regarded as a kind of vast enigma,
-containing <em>implicitly</em> the facts and doctrines of the New.
-To detect subtle allusions to the coming of our Saviour, to
-the events of his life, to his death and resurrection, in the
-acts, speeches, and gestures of persons mentioned in the Old
-Testament, was regarded as a kind of interpretation no less
-satisfactory than it was ingenious. To believe indeed that
-the grand intention running through Scripture from the
-beginning to the end is to bring men to Jesus Christ; that
-the history of the fall of man is given to enable us to
-appreciate the need of a Restorer, and to estimate his work
-at its proper value; that the history of a dispensation based
-on law enables us to accept with more thankfulness a dispensation
-of spirit; that the history of the Jewish system of
-sacrifices is intended to conduct us to the one great Sacrifice
-as the substance of previous shadows, the fulfilment of
-previous types; that, alike in the law and the prophets,
-intimations and hints and significant parallels of the subsequent
-history to which they lead on are to be discerned;—this
-may be reasonable, profitable, and true: but it can
-be neither profitable nor true to see allusions, prophecies,
-and parallels in every minute and trivial detail of that
-earlier history.</p>
-
-<p>From this vital error Diodorus appears to have emancipated
-himself and his disciples. He perceived, as we
-shall see Chrysostom perceived, a gradual development in
-Revelation: that the knowledge, and morality, and faith of
-men under the Old Dispensation were less advanced than
-those of men who lived under the New. One instance must
-suffice. He remarks that the Mosaic precept, directing the
-brother of a man who had died childless to raise up posterity
-to his brother by marrying his wife, was given for the consolation
-of men who had as yet received no clear promise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span>
-respecting a resurrection from the dead.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> There is an
-approach to what some might deem rationalistic criticism,
-when he affirms that the speech of God to men in the Old
-Testament was not an external voice, but an inward spiritual
-intimation. When, for instance, it is said that God gave a
-command to Adam, it is evident, he says, that it was not
-made by a sound audible to the bodily ear, but that God
-impressed the knowledge of the command upon him according
-to his own proper energy, and that when Adam had
-received it his <em>condition</em> was the same <em>as</em> if it had come to
-him through the actual hearing of the ear. And this, he
-observes, is what God effected also in the case of the
-prophets.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> A similar rationalistic tendency is observable in
-his explanation of the relation between the Divine and
-human elements in the person of our blessed Lord. His
-language, in fact, on this subject is Nestorian: a distinction
-was to be made between Him who, according to his essence,
-<em>was</em> Son of God—the Logos—and Him who through Divine
-decree and adoption <em>became</em> Son of God. He who was born
-as Man from Mary was Son according to grace, but God the
-Logos was Son according to nature. The Son of Mary
-became Son of God because He was selected to be the
-receptacle or temple of God the Word. It was only in an
-improper sense that God the Word was called Son of David;
-the appellation was given to Him merely because the human
-temple in which He dwelt belonged to the lineage of David.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">59</a>
-It is clear that Diodorus would have objected equally with
-Nestorius to apply the title of “God-bearer” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">Θεοτόκος</span>) to
-the blessed Virgin. Sixty years later, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 429, the streets
-of Constantinople and Alexandria resounded with tumults
-excited by controversy about the subject of which this was
-the watchword. But Diodorus happily lived too early for
-these dreadful conflicts, and his scholar Theodore was not
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span>personally disturbed; though long after his death, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-553, his writings were condemned by the Fifth Œcumenical
-Council, because the Nestorians appealed to them in confirmation
-of their tenets, and revered his memory. The
-practical element in Diodorus, his method of literal and
-common-sense interpretation of Holy Scripture, was inherited
-chiefly by Chrysostom; the intellectual vein, his
-conceptions of the relation between the Godhead and Manhood
-in Christ, his opinions respecting the final restoration
-of mankind, which were almost equivalent to a denial of
-eternal punishment, were reproduced mainly by Theodore.</p>
-
-<p>It was inevitable that those who, in an access of religious
-fervour, had renounced the world and subjected themselves
-to the sternest asceticism, should sometimes find that they
-had miscalculated their powers. The passionate enthusiasm
-which for a time carried them along the thorny path would
-begin to subside; a hankering after a more natural, if not
-more worldly, life ensued; and occasionally the reaction
-was so violent, the passions kept down in unnatural constraint
-reasserted themselves with such force, that the
-ascetic flew back to the pleasures and sometimes to the
-sins of the world, with an appetite which was in painful
-contrast to his previous abstinence. The youthful Theodore
-was for a time an instance, though far from an extreme
-instance, of such reaction: the strain was too great for
-him; he relapsed for a season into his former habits of life;
-he retired from the little ascetic brotherhood to which Chrysostom
-and Basil belonged. There is no evidence that he
-fell into any kind of sin; he simply returned to the occupations
-and amusements of ordinary life. He was in love
-with and desirous of marrying a young lady named Hermione.
-But Chrysostom was at this period such an ardent
-ascetic; he was so deeply impressed with the evil of the
-world; and regarded an austere and absolute separation from
-it as so indispensable to the highest standard of Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>
-life, that to him any divergence from that path, when once
-adopted, seemed a positive sin. The relapse of Theodore
-called forth two letters of lamentation, remonstrance, and
-exhortation from his friend. They are the earliest of his
-extant works, and exhibit a command of language which
-does credit to the training of Libanius as well as to his own
-ability, and an intimate acquaintance with Holy Scripture,
-which proves how much time he had already spent in
-diligent and patient study. Since these epistles have been
-justly considered among the finest of his productions, and
-represent his opinions at an early stage of his life respecting
-repentance, a future life, the advantages of asceticism and
-celibacy, some paraphrases from them will be presented to
-the reader.</p>
-
-<p>He begins his first letter by quoting the words of Jeremiah:
-“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a
-fountain of tears!”</p>
-
-<p>“If the prophet uttered that lamentation over a ruined
-city, surely I may express a like passionate sorrow over the
-fallen soul of a brother. That soul which was once the
-temple of the Holy Spirit now lies open and defenceless
-to become the prey of any hostile invader. The spirit of
-avarice, of arrogance, of lust, may now find a free passage
-into a heart which was once as pure and inaccessible to evil
-as heaven itself. Wherefore I mourn and weep, nor will
-I cease from my mourning until I see thee again in thy
-former brilliancy. For though this may seem impossible to
-men, yet with God it is possible, for He it is who lifteth
-the beggar from the earth and taketh the poor out of the
-dunghill, that He may set him with the princes, even with
-the princes of his people.” An eminent characteristic of
-Chrysostom is that he is always hopeful of human nature;
-he never doubts the capacity of man to rise, or the willingness
-of God to raise him. Theodore himself appears to have
-been stricken with remorse, and to have drooped into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span>
-despondency, to rouse him from which and lead him to repose
-more trustfully on the goodness of God, was one main
-purpose of Chrysostom’s letters. “Despair was the devil’s
-work;” “it is he who tries to cut off that hope whereby
-men are saved, which is the support and anchor of the soul,
-which, like a long chain, let down from heaven, little by
-little draws those who hold tightly to it up to heavenly
-heights, and lifts them above the storm and tempest of
-these worldly ills. The devil tries to extinguish that trust
-which is the source and strength of prayer, which enables
-men to cry, ‘as the eyes of a maiden look unto the hand of
-her mistress, even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God
-until He have mercy upon us.’ Yet if man will only believe
-it, there is never a time at which any one, even the most
-abandoned sinner, may not turn and repent and be accepted
-by God. For God being impassible, his wrath is not a
-passion or an emotion; He punishes not in anger, since He
-is unsusceptible by nature of injury from any insult or
-wrong done by us, but in mercy, that He may bring men
-back to Himself.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> The many instances of God’s mercy; his
-relenting towards the Jews, and even to Ahab, when he
-humbled himself; the repentance of Manasseh—of the
-Ninevites—of the penitent thief—all accepted, although
-preceded by a long course of sin, prove that the words ‘today
-if ye will hear his voice’ are applicable to any time:—it
-is always ‘to-day’ as long as a man lives; repentance is
-estimated not by length of time, but by the disposition of
-the heart.” He acutely observes that “despondency often
-conceals moral weakness; a secret though perhaps unconscious
-sympathy with the sin which the man professes to
-deplore and hate.” “To fall is natural, but to remain
-fallen argues a kind of acquiescence in evil, a feebleness
-of moral purpose which is more displeasing to God than the
-fall itself.”<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">61</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But although he speaks in the most hopeful, encouraging
-language of the efficacy of repentance, however late, if
-sincere, in <em>this life</em>, no one can assert more strongly the
-impossibility of restoration when the limits of this present
-existence have once been passed. In this respect he
-differs alike from Origen, Diodorus, and his fellow-student
-Theodore, and from believers in the later developed doctrine
-of purgatory. “As long as we are here, it is possible, even
-if we sin ten thousand times, to wash all away by repentance;
-but when once we have been taken to that other
-world, even if we manifest the greatest penitence, it will
-avail us naught, but however much we may gnash with our
-teeth, and beat our breasts, and pour forth entreaties, no one
-will be able even with the tip of his finger to cool us in the
-flame; we shall only hear the same words as the rich man:
-‘between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.’”<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> Nothing
-is more remarkably characteristic of Chrysostom’s productions,
-especially the earlier, than a frequent recurrence to
-this truth: the existence of a great impassable chasm
-between the two abodes of misery and bliss. Heaven and
-hell were no distant dreamlands to him, but realities so
-nearly and vividly present to his mind that they acted as
-powerful motives, encouraging to holiness, deterring from
-vice. He paints the two pictures in glowing colours, and
-submits them to the contemplation of his friend. “When
-you hear of fire, think not that the fire in that other world
-is like it; for this earthly fire burns up and consumes
-whatever it lays hold of, but that burns continually those
-who are seized by it and never ceases, wherefore it is called
-unquenchable. For sinners must be clothed with immortality,
-not for honour, but merely to supply a constant
-material for this punishment to feed upon; and how terrible
-this is, a description would indeed never be able to present,
-but from our experience of small sufferings it is possible
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span>to form some little conception of those greater miseries.
-If you should ever be in a bath which has been overheated,
-then I pray you consider the fire of hell; or if ever you
-have been parched by a severe fever, transfer your thoughts
-to that flame, and you will be able clearly to distinguish the
-difference. For if a bath or a fever so distress and agitate
-us, what will be our condition when we fall into that
-river of fire which flows past the terrible Judge’s throne.”<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">63</a>
-“Heaven is, indeed, a subject which transcends the powers
-of human language, yet we can form a dim image of what
-it is like. It is the place ‘whence sorrow and sighing
-shall flee away’ (Is. xxxv. 10); where poverty and sickness
-are not to be dreaded; where no one injures or is injured,
-no one provokes or is provoked; no one is harassed by
-anxiety about the necessary wants, or frets over the loftier
-ambitions, of life; it is the place where the tempest of
-human passions is lulled; where there is neither night
-nor cold nor heat, nor changes of season, nor old age; but
-everything belonging to decay is taken away, and incorruptible
-glory reigns alone. But far above all these things,
-it is the place where men will continually enjoy the society
-of Jesus Christ, together with angels and archangels and
-all the powers above.”<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> “Open your eyes,” he cries in a
-transport of feeling, “and contemplate in imagination that
-heavenly theatre crowded not with men such as we see,
-but with those who are nobler than gold or precious stones
-or sunbeams, or any brilliant thing that can be seen; and
-not with men only, but angels, thrones, dominions, powers
-ranged about the King whom we dare not describe for his
-transcendent beauty, majesty, and splendour. If we had
-to suffer ten thousand deaths every day; nay, if we had
-to undergo hell itself, for the sake of beholding Christ
-coming in his glory, and being numbered among the band
-of saints, would it not be well to submit to all these things?
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span>
-‘Master, it is a good thing for us to be here:’ if such an
-exclamation burst from St. Peter on witnessing a partial
-and veiled manifestation of Christ’s glory, what are we
-to say when the reality shall be displayed, when the royal
-palace shall be thrown open and we shall see the King
-Himself; no longer by means of a mirror, or as it were in
-a riddle, but face to face; no longer through faith, but
-actual sight.”<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> He passes on to some remarks upon the
-soul, which are Platonic in character: “Man cannot alter
-the shape of his body, but God has conceded to him a
-power, with the assistance of Divine grace, of increasing
-the beauty of the soul. Even that soul which has become
-deformed by the ugliness of sin may be restored to its
-pristine beauty. No lover was ever so much captivated
-by the beauty of the body as God loves and longs for the
-beauty of the human soul.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> You who are now transported
-with admiration of Hermione’s beauty” (the girl whom
-Theodore wished to marry) “may, if you will, cultivate a
-beauty in your own soul as far exceeding hers as heaven
-surpasses earth. Beauty of the soul is the only true and
-permanent kind, and if you could see it with the eye, you
-would admire it far more than the loveliness of the rainbow
-and of roses, and other flowers which are evanescent
-and feeble representations of the soul’s beauty.”<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> He tells
-some curious stories of men who had relapsed from monastic
-life and subsequently been reclaimed to it. One, a young
-man of noble family and heir to great wealth, had thrown
-up all the splendour which he might have commanded, and
-exchanged his riches and his gay clothing for the poverty
-and mean garb of a recluse upon the mountains, and had
-attained an astonishing degree of holiness. But some of his
-relations seduced him from his retreat, and once more he
-might be seen riding on horseback through the forum
-followed by a crowd of attendants. But the holy brethren
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>whom he had deserted ceased not to endeavour to recover
-him; at first he treated them with haughty indifference,
-when they met and saluted him, as he proudly rode through
-the streets. But at last, as they desisted not day by day,
-he would leap from his horse when they appeared, and
-listen with downcast eyes to their warnings; till, as time
-went on, he was rescued from his worldly entanglements,
-and restored to his desert and the study of the true philosophy,
-and now, when Chrysostom wrote, he bestowed his
-wealth upon the poor, and had attained the very pinnacle
-of virtue.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> Earnestly, therefore, does he implore Theodore
-to recover his trust in God, to repent and return to the
-brotherhood which was buried in grief at his defection.
-“Now the unbelieving and the worldly rejoice; but return to
-us, and our sorrow and shame will be transferred to the
-adversary’s side.” “It was the beginning of penitence which
-was arduous; the devil met the penitent at the door of the
-city of refuge, but, if defeated there, the fury of his assaults
-would diminish.” He warned him against an idle confession
-of sinfulness not accompanied by any honest effort to amend.
-“Such was no true confession, because not joined with the
-tears of contrition or followed by alteration of life.”<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> But
-of Theodore he hoped better things; as there were different
-degrees of glory reserved for men, implied in our Lord’s
-mention of “many mansions,” and his declaring that every
-one should be rewarded according to his works, he trusted
-that Theodore might still obtain a high place; that he might
-be a vessel of silver, if not of gold or precious stone, in the
-heavenly house.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">70</a></p>
-
-<p>In the second epistle Chrysostom expresses more distinctly
-his view respecting the solemn obligations of those who
-joined a religious fraternity. “If tears and groanings could
-be transmitted through a letter, this of mine would be filled
-with them; I weep that you have blotted yourself out of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span>catalogue of the brethren, and trampled on your covenant
-with Christ.” “The devil assaulted him with peculiar fury,
-because he was anxious to conquer so worthy an antagonist;
-one who had despised delicate fare and costly dress, who had
-spent whole days in the study of Holy Scripture, and whole
-nights in prayer, who had regarded the society of the
-brethren as a greater honour than any worldly dignity.
-What, I pray you, is there that appears blessed and enviable
-in the world? The prince is exposed to the wrath of the
-people and the irrational outbursts of popular feeling—to
-the fear of princes greater than himself—to anxieties about
-his subjects; and the ruler of to-day is to-morrow a private
-man: for this present life no way differs from a stage; as on
-that, one man plays the part of a king, another of a general,
-a third of a common soldier; but when evening has come
-the king is no king, the ruler no ruler, the general no general;
-so will it be in <em>that</em> day; each will receive his due reward, not
-according to the character which he has enacted, but according
-to the works which he has done.”<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> Theodore had clearly
-expressed his intention of honourably marrying Hermione;
-but though Chrysostom allows that marriage is an honourable
-estate, yet he boldly declares that for one who like Theodore
-had made such a solemn renunciation of the world, it was
-equally criminal with fornication. He had wholly dedicated
-himself to the service of God, and he had no right to bind
-himself by any other tie: to marry would be as culpable as
-desertion in a soldier. He points out the miseries, the
-anxieties, the toils, often fruitless, which accompanied
-secular life, especially in the married state. From all such
-ills the life of the brotherhood was exempt: he alone was
-truly free who lived for Christ; he was like one who,
-securely planted on an eminence, beholds other men below
-him buffeting with the waves of a tumultuous sea. For
-such a high vantage-ground Chrysostom implores Theodore
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span>to make. He begs him to pardon the length of his letter:
-“nothing but his ardent love for his friend could have constrained
-him to write this second epistle. Many indeed had
-discouraged what they regarded as a vain task and sowing
-upon a rock; but he was not so to be diverted from his
-efforts: he trusted that by the grace of God his letters would
-accomplish something; and if not, he should at least have
-delivered himself from the reproach of silence.”<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">72</a></p>
-
-<p>These letters are the productions of a youthful enthusiast,
-and as such, allowances must be made for them. They
-abound not only in eloquent passages, but in very fine and
-true observations upon human nature—on penitence—on
-God’s mercy and pardon. It is only the application of them
-to the case of Theodore which seems harsh and overstrained.
-At a later period Chrysostom’s views on ascetic and monastic
-life were modified; but in early life, though never fanatical,
-they were what we should call extreme. His earnest efforts
-for the restoration of his friend were crowned with success.
-Theodore abandoned the world once more and his matrimonial
-intentions, and retired into the seclusion of the
-brotherhood. Some twenty years later, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 394, he was
-made Bishop of Mopsuestia, which is pretty nearly all we
-know about him, but the extant fragments of his voluminous
-writings prove him to have been a man of no ordinary
-ability, and a powerful commentator of the same sensible
-and rational school as Chrysostom himself. We may be disposed
-to say, What of Hermione? Had she no claims to be
-considered? But the ascetic line of life was regarded by
-the earnest-minded as so indisputably the noblest which a
-Christian could adopt, that her disappointment would not
-have been allowed to weigh in the balance for a moment
-against what was considered the higher call.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">73</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f08">CHRYSOSTOM EVADES FORCIBLE ORDINATION TO A BISHOPRIC—THE
-TREATISE “ON THE PRIESTHOOD.” A.D. 370, 371.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">We</span> now come to a curious passage in Chrysostom’s life;
-one in which his conduct, from our moral standpoint, seems
-hardly justifiable. Yet for one reason it is not to be
-regretted, since it was the originating cause of his treatise
-“De Sacerdotio;” one of the ablest, most instructive, and
-most eloquent works which he ever produced.</p>
-
-<p>Bishop Meletius had been banished in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 370 or 371.
-The Arian Emperor Valens, who had expelled him, was
-about to take up his residence in Antioch. It was desirable
-therefore, without loss of time, to fill up some vacant sees
-in Syria. The attention of the bishops, clergy, and people
-was turned to Chrysostom and Basil, as men well qualified
-for the episcopal office.</p>
-
-<p>According to a custom prevalent at that time, they
-might any day be seized and compelled, however reluctant,
-to accept the dignity. So St. Augustine was dragged, weeping,
-by the people before the bishop, and his immediate
-ordination demanded by them, regardless of his tears.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> So
-St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, was torn from his cell, and
-conveyed under a guard to his ordination.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> The two friends
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span>were filled with apprehension and alarm. Basil implored
-Chrysostom that they might act in concert at the present
-crisis, and together accept or together evade or resist the
-expected but unwelcome honour.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom affected to consent to this proposal, but in
-reality determined to act otherwise. He regarded himself
-as totally unworthy and incompetent to fill so sacred and
-responsible an office; but considering Basil to be far more
-advanced in learning and piety, he resolved that the Church
-should not, through his own weakness, lose the services
-of his friend. Accordingly, when popular report proved
-correct, and some emissaries from the electing body were
-sent to carry off the young men (much, it would seem from
-Chrysostom’s account, as policemen might arrest a prisoner),
-Chrysostom contrived to hide himself. Basil, less wary,
-was captured, and imagined that Chrysostom had already
-submitted; for the emissaries acted with subtlety when he
-tried to resist them. They affected surprise that he should
-make so violent a resistance, when his companion, who had
-the reputation of a hotter temper, had yielded so mildly to
-the decision of the Fathers.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">76</a> Thus Basil was led to suppose
-that Chrysostom had already submitted; and when he
-discovered too late the artifice of his friend and his
-captors, he bitterly remonstrated with Chrysostom upon his
-treacherous conduct. “The character of them both,” he
-complained, “was compromised by this division in their
-counsels.” “You should have told us where your friend
-was hidden,” said some, “and then we should have contrived
-some means of capturing him;” to which poor Basil
-was ashamed to reply that he had been ignorant of his
-friend’s concealment, lest such a confession should cast a
-suspicion of unreality over the whole of their supposed
-intimacy. “Chrysostom, on his side, was accused of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>haughtiness and vanity for declining so great a dignity;
-though others said that the electors deserved a still greater
-dishonour and defeat for appointing over the heads of wiser,
-holier, and older men, mere lads,<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">77</a> who had been but yesterday
-immersed in secular pursuits; that they might now for
-a little while knit their brows, and go arrayed in sombre
-robes and affect a grave countenance.”<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> Basil begged
-Chrysostom for an explanation of his motives in this proceeding.
-“After all their mutual protestations of indivisible
-friendship, he had been suddenly cast off and turned adrift,
-like a vessel without ballast, to encounter alone the angry
-tempests of the world. To whom should he now turn for
-sympathy and aid in the trials to which he would surely be
-exposed from slander, ribaldry, and insolence? The one
-who might have helped him stood coldly aloof, and would
-be unable even to hear his cries for assistance.”<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">79</a></p>
-
-<p>We may be strongly disposed to sympathise with the
-disconsolate Basil. But the conscience of Chrysostom
-appears to have been quite at ease from first to last in
-this transaction. He regarded it as a “pious fraud.”
-“When he beheld the mingled distress and displeasure of
-his friend, he could not refrain from laughing for joy, and
-thanking God for the successful issue of his plan.”<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> In the
-ensuing discussion he boldly asserted the principle that
-deceit claims our admiration when practised in a good cause
-and from a good motive. The greatest successes in war, he
-argues, have been achieved through stratagem, as well as
-by fair fighting in the open field; and, of the two, the first
-are most to be admired, because they are gained without
-bloodshed, and are triumphs of mental rather than bodily
-force.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> But, retorts poor Basil, I was not an enemy, and
-ought not to have been dealt with as such. “True, my
-excellent friend,” replies Chrysostom, “but this kind of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span>fraud may sometimes be exercised towards our dearest
-acquaintance.” “Physicians were often obliged to employ
-some artifice to make refractory patients submit to their
-remedies. Once a man in a raging fever resisted all the
-febrifugal draughts administered to him, and loudly called
-for wine. The physician darkened the room, steeped a
-warm oyster shell in wine, then filled it with water, and
-put it to the patient’s lips, who eagerly swallowed the
-draught, believing it, from the smell, to be wine.”<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">82</a> In the
-same category of justifiable stratagem he places, not very
-discriminatingly, the circumcision of Timothy by St. Paul,
-in order to conciliate the Jews, and St. Paul’s observance
-of the ceremonial law at Jerusalem (Acts xxi. 26), for the
-same purpose. Such contrivances he calls instances, not of
-treachery, but of “good management” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">οἰκονομία</span>). There
-is something highly Oriental, and alien to our Western
-moral sense, in the sophistical tone of this whole discussion.
-If Basil really submitted to such arguments, he was easily
-vanquished. He says, however, no more about the injustice
-of his treatment, but, apparently accepting Chrysostom’s
-position that for a useful purpose deceit is justifiable, he
-begs to be informed “what advantage Chrysostom thought
-he had procured for himself or his friend by this piece
-of management, or good policy, or whatever he pleased to
-call it.”</p>
-
-<p>The remaining books on the Priesthood are occupied with
-the answer to this inquiry. The line which Chrysostom
-takes is to point out the pre-eminent dignity, difficulty,
-and danger of the priestly office, and then to enlarge upon
-the peculiar fitness of his friend to discharge its duties.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">83</a>
-“What advantage could be greater than to be engaged in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span>that work which Christ had declared with his own lips to
-be the special sign of love to Himself? For when He put
-the question three times to the leader of the apostles
-(<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">κορυφαῖος</span>), ‘Lovest thou me?’ and had been answered
-by a fervent asseveration of attachment, he added each time,
-‘Feed my sheep,’ or ‘Feed my lambs.’ ‘Lovest thou me
-<em>more</em> than these?’ had been the question, and the charge
-which followed it had been always, ‘Feed my sheep;’ not,
-If thou lovest Me, practise fasting, or incessant vigils, and
-sleep on the bare ground, or protect the injured and be to
-the orphans as a father, and to their mother as a husband;
-no, he passes by all these things, and says, ‘Feed my sheep.’
-Could his friend, therefore, complain that he had done ill
-in compassing, even by fraud, his dedication to so glorious
-an office?<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">84</a> As for himself, it was obvious that he could
-not have refused so great an honour out of haughty contempt
-or disrespect to the electors. On the contrary, it was
-when he considered the exceeding sanctity and magnitude
-of the position, and its awful responsibilities—the heavenly
-purity, the burning love towards God and man, the sound
-wisdom and judgment, and moderation of temper required
-in those who were dedicated to it—that his heart failed
-him. He felt himself utterly incompetent and unworthy
-for so arduous a task. If some unskilled person were
-suddenly to be called upon to take charge of a ship laden
-with a costly freight, he would immediately refuse; and
-in like manner he himself dared not risk by his present
-inexperience the safety of that vessel which was laden
-with the precious merchandise of souls.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> Vain-glory, indeed,
-and pride would have induced him not to reject, but
-to covet, so transcendent a dignity. The office of priest
-was discharged indeed on earth, yet it held a place among
-heavenly ranks. And rightly; for neither man, nor angel,
-nor archangel, nor created power of any kind, but the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span>Paraclete Himself, ordained this ministry. Therefore, it
-became one who entered the priesthood to be as pure as if
-he had already taken his stand in heaven itself among the
-powers above. ‘When thou seest the Lord lying slain,
-and the priest standing and praying over the sacrifice,
-when thou seest all sprinkled with that precious blood,
-dost thou deem thyself still among men, still standing
-upon this earth? art thou not rather transported immediately
-to heaven, and, every carnal imagination being
-cast out, dost thou not, with soul unveiled and pure mind,
-behold the things which are in heaven? O miracle! O
-the goodness of God! He who is sitting with the Father
-is yet at that hour held in the hands of all, and gives
-Himself to be embraced and grasped by those who desire it.
-And this all do through the eye of faith. Do these things
-seem to you to merit contempt? does it seem possible to
-you that any one should be so elated as to slight them?’<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">86</a></p>
-
-<p>“Human nature possessed in the priesthood a power
-which had not been committed by God to angels or archangels;
-for to none of <em>them</em> had it been said, ‘Whatsoever
-ye shall bind on earth or loose on earth shall be bound or
-loosed in heaven.’ Was it possible to conceive that any
-one should think lightly of such a gift? Away with such
-madness!—for stark madness it would be to despise so
-great an authority, without which it was not possible for
-man to obtain salvation, or the good things promised to
-him. For if it were impossible for any one to enter into
-the kingdom of heaven, except he were born again of water
-and the Spirit; and if he who did not eat the flesh of the
-Lord and drink his blood was ejected from life eternal,
-and if these things were administered by none but the
-consecrated hands of the priest, how would any one, apart
-from them, be able to escape the fire of hell, or obtain the
-crown laid up for him?”<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">87</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span></p>
-
-<p>There are, perhaps, no passages elsewhere in Chrysostom
-expressed in such a lofty sacerdotal tone; but it must be
-remembered that on any supposition as to the date of this
-treatise, he was young when it was composed, holding
-therefore, as on the subject of monasticism, more enthusiastic,
-highly-wrought opinions than he afterwards entertained;
-and moreover, that the whole treatise is written
-in a somewhat vehement and excited style, as by one who
-was maintaining a position against an antagonist.</p>
-
-<p>Having proved that his evasion of the episcopal office
-could have arisen from no spirit of pride, but from a consciousness
-of his infirmity and incapacity, he proceeds to
-point out the manifold and peculiar dangers which encompassed
-it. “Vain-glory was a rock more fatal than
-the Sirens. Many a priest was shipwrecked there, and
-torn to pieces by the fierce monsters which dwelt upon
-it—wrath, despondency, envy, strife, slander, falsehood,
-hypocrisy, love of praise, and a multitude more. Often
-he became the slave and flatterer of great people, even
-of women who had most improperly mixed themselves
-up with ecclesiastical affairs, and especially exercised great
-influence in the elections.”<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">88</a></p>
-
-<p>The scenes, indeed, which often took place about this
-period at the elections to bishoprics occasioned much
-scandal to the Church. In earlier times, when the Christians
-were less numerous, more simple in their habits,
-more unanimous,—when liability to persecution deterred
-the indifferent, or pretenders, from their ranks,—the episcopal
-office could be no object of worldly ambition. The
-clergy and the people elected their bishop; and the fairness
-and simplicity with which the election was usually
-conducted won the admiration of the Emperor Alexander
-Severus.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> But when Christianity was recognised by the
-State, a bishopric in towns of importance became a position
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span>of high dignity; and warm debates, often fierce tumults,
-attended the election of candidates. Up to the time of
-Justinian at least, the whole Christian population of the
-city or region over which the bishop was to preside possessed
-a right to elect. Their choice was subject to the
-approval of the bishops, and the confirmation of the metropolitan
-of the province; but, on the other hand, neither
-the bishops nor the metropolitan could legally obtrude a
-candidate of their own upon the people. A charge brought
-against Hilary of Arles was, that he ordained several
-bishops against the will and consent of the people. A
-just and legitimate ordination, according to Cyprian, was
-one which had been examined by the suffrage and judgment
-of all, both clergy and people. Such, he observes,
-was the election of Cornelius to the see of Rome in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-251.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> If the people were unanimous, there were loud
-cries of <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἄξιος</span>, <i>dignus</i>, <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀνάξιος</span>, <i>indignus</i>, as the case might
-be; but if they were divided, it was usual for the metropolitan
-to give the preference to the choice of the majority;
-or, if they appeared equally divided, the metropolitan and
-his synod selected a man indifferent, if possible, to both
-parties. Occasionally also, as in the case of Nectarius, the
-predecessor of Chrysostom in the see of Constantinople, the
-Emperor interposed, and appointed one chosen by himself.
-Sanguinary often were the tumults which attended contested
-elections. The greater the city, the greater the strife. In the
-celebrated contest for the see of Rome in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 366, between
-Damasus and Ursicinus, there was much hard fighting and
-copious bloodshed. Damasus, with a furious and motley mob,
-broke into the Julian Basilica, where Ursicinus was being
-consecrated by Paul, Bishop of Tibur, and violently stopped
-the proceedings. Frays of this kind lasted for some time.
-On one occasion, one hundred and thirty dead bodies strewed
-the pavement of the Basilica of Licinius till Damasus at
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span>last won the day. It is especially mentioned that the ladies
-of Rome favoured his side.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> It seems scarcely possible to
-doubt that as these events must have been fresh in Chrysostom’s
-recollection, he must be specially referring to them
-when, insisting on freedom from ambition as one grand
-qualification for the priesthood, he says “that he will pass
-by, lest they should seem incredible, the tales of murders
-perpetrated in churches, and havoc wrought in cities by
-contentions for bishoprics;” and when also he alludes indignantly
-to the interference of women in the elections. “The
-elections,” he says, “were generally made on public festivals,
-and were disgraceful scenes of party feeling and intrigue.
-The clergy and the people were never unanimous. The
-really important qualifications for the office were seldom
-considered. Ambitious men spared no arts of bribery or
-flattery by which to obtain places for themselves in the
-Church, and to keep them when obtained. One candidate
-for a bishopric was recommended to the electors because he
-belonged to a distinguished family; another because he was
-wealthy, and would not burden the funds of the Church.”<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">92</a>
-The provocations to ambition and worldly glory were so
-great, both in the acquisition and in the exercise of the
-episcopal office, that Chrysostom says he had “determined
-partly for these reasons to avoid the snare.”<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> He shrank
-also from many other trials incident to the office. There
-were always persons ready to detect and magnify the
-slightest mistake or transgression in a priest. One little
-error could not be retrieved by a multitude of successes, but
-darkened the man’s whole life; for a kind of immaculate
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>purity was exacted by popular opinion of a priest, as if he
-were not a being of flesh and blood, or subject to human
-passions. Often his brethren, the clergy, were the most
-active in spreading mischievous reports about him, hoping
-to rise themselves upon his ruin; like avaricious sons waiting
-for their father’s death. Too often St. Paul’s description
-of the sympathy between the several parts of the Christian
-body was inverted. ‘If one member suffered, all the others
-rejoiced; if one member rejoiced, the others suffered pain.’
-A bishop had need be as impervious to slander and envy as
-the three children in the burning fiery furnace.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> What a
-rare and difficult combination of qualities was required for
-the efficient discharge of his duties in the face of such
-difficulties! ‘He must be dignified, yet not haughty; formidable,
-yet affable; commanding, yet sociable; strictly
-impartial, yet courteous; lowly, but not subservient; strong,
-yet gentle; promoting the worthy in spite of all opposition,
-and with equal authority rejecting the unworthy, though
-pushed forward by the favour of all; looking always to one
-thing only—the welfare of the Church; doing nothing out
-of animosity or partiality.’<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> The behaviour also of a priest
-in ordinary society was jealously criticised. The flock were
-not satisfied unless he was constantly paying calls. Not the
-sick only, but the sound desired to be ‘looked after’
-(<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐπισκοπεῖσθαι</span>),—not so much from any religious feeling, as
-because the reception of such visits gratified their sense of
-their own importance. Yet if a bishop often visited the
-house of a wealthy or distinguished man to interest him in
-some design for the advantage of the Church, he would soon
-be stigmatised as a parasitical flatterer. Even the manner
-of his greetings to acquaintance in the streets was criticised:
-‘He smiled cordially on Mr. Such-an-one, and talked much
-with him; but to me he only threw a commonplace
-remark.’”<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">96</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It is amusing and instructive to read these observations.
-They prove what important personages bishops had become.
-The interests of the people were violently excited over their
-elections. They were subjected to the mingled reverence,
-deference, and court, criticism, scandal, and gossip, which
-are the inevitable lot of all persons who occupy an exalted
-position in the world.</p>
-
-<p>In the fourth book Chrysostom speaks of some of the
-more mental qualifications indispensable for a priest. Foremost
-among these was a power of speaking: “That was the
-one grand instrument which enabled him to heal the diseases
-of the body intrusted to his care. And, in addition to this,
-he must be armed with a prompt and versatile wit, to
-encounter the various assaults of heretics. Jews, Greeks,
-Manichæans, Sabellians, Arians, all were narrowly watching
-for the smallest loophole by which to force a breach in the
-walls of the Church. And, unless the defender was very
-vigilant and skilful, while he was keeping out the one he
-would let in the other. While he opposed the blind deference
-of the Jews to their Mosaic Law, he must take care not
-to encourage the Manichæans, who would eliminate the Law
-from the Scriptures. While he asserted the Unity of the
-Godhead against the Arians, there was danger of slipping
-into the Sabellian error of confounding the Persons; and,
-while he divided the Persons against the Sabellians, he must
-be careful to avoid the Arian error of dividing the substance
-also. The line of orthodoxy was a narrow path hemmed in
-by steep rocks on either side. Therefore it was of the
-deepest importance that the priest should be a learned and
-effective speaker, that he might not fall into error himself
-or lead others astray. For, if he was seen to be worsted in
-a controversy with heretics, many became alienated from
-the truth, mistaking the weakness of the defender for a
-weakness in the cause itself.”<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">97</a></p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span></p>
-<p>“But there was yet another task fraught with peril—the
-delivery of sermons. The performances of a preacher were
-discussed by a curious and critical public like those of
-actors. Congregations attached themselves to their favourite
-preachers. Woe to the man who was detected in plagiarisms!
-He was instantly reprobated like a common thief.</p>
-
-<p>“To become an effective preacher two things were necessary:
-first, indifference to praise; secondly, power of speech;
-two qualities, the one moral, the other intellectual, which
-were rarely found coexisting. If a man possessed the first
-only, he became distasteful and despicable to his congregation;
-for if he stood up and at first boldly uttered powerful
-words which stung the consciences of his hearers, but, as he
-proceeded, began to blush and hesitate and stumble, all the
-advantage of his previous remarks would be wasted. The
-persons, who had secretly felt annoyed by his telling reproofs
-would revenge themselves by laughing at his embarrassment
-in speaking. If, on the other hand, he was a weighty
-speaker, but not indifferent to applause, he would probably
-trim his sails to catch the popular breeze, and study to be
-pleasant rather than profitable, to the great detriment of
-himself and of his flock.”<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">98</a></p>
-
-<p>He makes some remarks eminently wise and true on the
-necessity of study for the preparation of sermons. “It
-might seem strange, but in truth study was even more indispensable
-for an eloquent than for an ordinary preacher.
-Speaking was an acquired art, and when a man had attained
-a high standard of excellence he was sure to decline unless he
-kept himself up by constant study. The man of reputation
-was always expected to say something new, and even in
-excess of the fame which he had already acquired. Men sat
-in judgment on him without mercy, as if he were not a human
-being subject to occasional despondency, or anxiety, or irritation
-of temper; but as if he were an angel or some infallible
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span>being, who ought always to remain at the same high level
-of excellence. The mediocre man, on the other hand, from
-whom much was not expected, would obtain a disproportionate
-amount of praise if he said a good thing now and
-then.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">99</a> The number of persons, however, in any congregation,
-who were capable of appreciating a really learned and
-powerful preacher, was very small; therefore a man ought
-not to be much disheartened or annoyed by unfavourable
-criticisms. He should be his own critic, aiming in all his
-work to win the favour of God. Then, if the admiration of
-men followed, he would quietly accept it; or, if withheld,
-he would not be distressed, but seek his consolation in honest
-work and in a conscience void of offence.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">100</a> But if a priest
-was not superior to the love of admiration, all his labour
-and eloquence would be wasted; either he would sacrifice
-truth to popularity, or, failing to obtain so much applause as
-he desired, he would relax his efforts. This last was a
-common defect in men whose powers of preaching were only
-second-rate. Perceiving that even the highly gifted could
-not sustain their reputation without incessant study and
-practice, while they themselves, by the most strenuous
-efforts, could gain but a very slender meed of praise, if any,
-they abandoned themselves to indolence. The trial was
-especially great when a man was surpassed in preaching by
-one who occupied an inferior rank in the hierarchy, and who
-perhaps took every opportunity of parading his superior
-powers. A kind of passion for listening to preaching possessed,
-he says, both Pagans and Christians at this time;
-hence it was very mortifying for a man to see a congregation
-looking forward to the termination of his discourse, while to
-his rival they listened with the utmost patience and attention,
-and were vexed only when his sermon had come to an end.”<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">101</a></p>
-
-<p>In the sixth book, Chrysostom enlarges on the dangers
-and trials which beset the priest as compared with the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span>tranquillity and security of the monk—that life to which
-he still felt himself powerfully attracted. “‘Who watch for
-your souls as they that must give an account.’ The dread
-of the responsibility implied in that saying constantly
-agitated his mind. For if it were better to be drowned in
-the sea than to offend one of the little ones of Christ’s flock,
-what punishment must they undergo who destroyed not one or
-two but a whole multitude?”<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> “Much worldly wisdom was
-required in the priest; he must be conversant with secular
-affairs, and adapt himself with versatility to all kinds of
-circumstances and men; and yet he ought to keep his spirit
-as free, as unfettered by worldly interests and ambitions as
-the hermit dwelling on the mountains.”<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">103</a></p>
-
-<p>The trials, indeed, which beset the priest so far exceeded
-those of the monk, that Chrysostom considered the monastery,
-on the whole, a bad school for active clerical life. “The
-monk lived in a calm; there was little to oppose or thwart
-him. The skill of the pilot could not be known till he had
-taken the helm in the open sea amidst rough weather. Too
-many of those who had passed from the seclusion of the
-cloister to the active sphere of the priest or bishop proved
-utterly incapable of coping with the difficulties of their new
-situation. They lost their head (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἰλιγγιῶσιν</span>), and, often,
-instead of adding to their virtue, were deprived of the good
-qualities which they already possessed. Monasticism often
-served as a screen to failings which the circumstances of
-active life drew out, just as the qualities of metal were
-tested by the action of fire.”<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">104</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom concludes by saying that he was conscious of
-his own infirmities; the irritability of his temper, his liability
-to violent emotions, his susceptibility to praise and blame.
-All such evil passions could, with the help of God’s grace,
-be tamed by the severe treatment of the monastic life; like
-savage beasts who must be kept on low fare. But in the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span>public life of a priest they would rage with incontrollable
-fury, because all would be pampered to the full—vain-glory
-by honour and praise, pride by authority, envy by the
-reputation of other men, bad temper by perpetual provocations,
-covetousness by the liberality of donors to the Church,
-intemperance by luxurious living.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> He bids Basil picture
-the most implacable and deadly contest between earthly
-forces which his imagination could draw, and declares that
-this would but faintly express the conflict between the soul
-and evil in the spiritual warfare of the world. “Many
-accidents might put an end to earthly combat, at least for a
-time—the approach of night, the fatigue of the combatants,
-the necessity of taking food and sleep. But in the spiritual
-conflict there were no breathing spaces. A man must always
-have his harness on his back, or he would be surprised by
-the enemy.”<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">106</a></p>
-
-<p>It is not surprising that Basil, after the fearful responsibilities
-and perils of his new dignity had been thus powerfully
-set before him, should declare that his trouble now
-was not so much how to answer the accusers of Chrysostom
-as to defend himself before God. He besought his friend to
-promise that he would continue to support and advise him
-in all emergencies. Chrysostom replied that as far as it was
-possible he would do so; but that he doubted not Christ,
-who had called Basil to this good work, would enable him to
-discharge it with boldness. They wept, embraced, and
-parted. And so Basil went forth to the unwelcome honours
-and trials of his bishopric, while Chrysostom continued to
-lead that monastic kind of life which was only a preparatory
-step to the monastery itself. His friendship with Basil is
-curious and romantic. Their intercourse was brought to a
-singular conclusion by the stratagem of Chrysostom. Basil
-may have, according to his own earnest request, continued
-to consult his friend in any difficulty or distress; but he is
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>never mentioned again. Although so intimately bound up
-with this passage in Chrysostom’s life, there is something
-indistinct and shadowy about his whole existence. He flits
-across the scene for a few moments, and then disappears
-totally and for ever.</p>
-
-<p>The books on the Priesthood may be regarded as containing
-partly a real account of an actual conversation between
-the two friends. But, as in the dialogues of Plato, far more
-was probably added by the writer, so that in parts the
-dialogue is only a form into which the opinions of the author
-at the time of composition were cast. It is impossible to
-decide with certainty the exact time at which the treatise
-may have been written. It is not likely to have been later
-than his diaconate in 381,<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> but more probably<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> the work
-may be assigned to the six years of leisure spent in the
-seclusion of the monastery and mountains—that is, to the
-period between Basil’s election to the bishopric, and his own
-ordination as deacon. The treatise reads like the production
-of one who had acquired considerable experience of monastic
-life; who had deliberately calculated its advantages on the
-one hand, and, on the other, had keenly observed and
-seriously weighed the temptations and difficulties which
-attended the more secular career of priest or bishop. It is a
-more mature work than the Epistles to Theodore, and is free
-from such rapturous and excessive praise of the ascetic life
-as they contain.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h3><span class="smcap">Note to foregoing Chapter.</span></h3>
-
-<p>It may excite surprise that men so young as Chrysostom
-and Basil, the former at least being not more than twenty-five
-or twenty-six, and not as yet ordained deacon, should have
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span>been designated to the highest office in the Church. The
-Council of Neocæsarea (about <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 320—<i>vide</i> Hefele, vol. i.,
-Clark’s transl. p. 222) fixed thirty as the age at which men
-became eligible for the priesthood. The same age, then, at
-least, must have been required for a bishop.</p>
-
-<p>The Constitutions called Apostolical fix the age at fifty, but
-add a clause which really lets in all the exceptions, “unless he
-be a man of singular merit and worth, which may compensate
-for the want of years.” And, in fact, there are numerous
-instances of men, both before and after the time of Chrysostom,
-who were consecrated as bishops under the age of thirty.
-The Council of Nice was held not more than twenty years
-after the persecution of Maximian, which Athanasius (Epist.
-ad Solitar., p. 382, Paris edition) says he had only heard of
-from his father, yet in five months after that Council he was
-ordained Archbishop of Alexandria. Remigius of Rheims was
-only twenty-two when he was made bishop, in<span class="smcap"> A.D.</span> 471. In
-like manner, though it was enacted by the Council of Sardica,
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 343-344, that none should rise to the Episcopal throne
-<i>per saltum</i>, yet there are not a few examples of this rule being
-transgressed.</p>
-
-<p>Augustine, when he created a See at Fassula, presented
-Antonius, a reader (the very position Chrysostom now filled)
-to the Primate, who ordained him without scruple on Augustine’s
-recommendation (Aug. Ep. 261, ad Cælest.). Cyprian,
-Ambrose, and Nestorius are celebrated instances of the consecration
-of laymen to bishoprics.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f08">NARROW ESCAPE FROM PERSECUTION—HIS ENTRANCE INTO A MONASTERY—THE
-MONASTICISM OF THE EAST, A.D. 372.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">About</span> this time, 372-373, while Chrysostom was still residing
-in Antioch, he narrowly escaped suffering the penalties
-of an imperial decree issued by Valentinian and Valens
-against the practisers of magical arts, or possessors even of
-magical books. A severe search was instituted after suspected
-persons; soldiers were everywhere on the watch to
-detect offenders. The persecution was carried on with
-peculiar cruelty at Antioch, where it had been provoked by
-the detection of a treasonable act of divination. The twenty-four
-letters of the alphabet were arranged at intervals round
-the rim of a kind of charger, which was placed on a tripod,
-consecrated with incantations and elaborate ceremonies.
-The diviner, habited as a heathen priest, in linen robes,
-sandals, and with a fillet wreathed about his head, chanted
-a hymn to Apollo, the god of prophecy, while a ring in the
-centre of the charger was slipped rapidly round a slender
-thread. The letters in front of which the ring successively
-stopped indicated the character of the oracle. The ring on
-this occasion was supposed to have pointed to the first four
-letters in the name of the future Emperor, <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">Θ Ε Ο Δ.</span> Theodorus,
-and probably many others who had the misfortune to
-own the fatal syllables, were executed. There were, of
-course, multitudes of eager informers, and zealous judges, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span>
-strove to allay the suspicious fears of the Emperors, and to
-procure favour for themselves by vigorous and wholesale
-prosecutions. Neither age, nor sex, nor rank was spared;
-women and children, senators and philosophers, were dragged
-to the tribunals, and committed to the prisons of Rome and
-Antioch from the most distant parts of Italy and Asia.
-Many destroyed their libraries in alarm—so many innocent
-books were liable to be represented as mischievous or criminal;
-and thus much valuable literature perished.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> It was during
-this dreadful time, when suspicion was instantly followed by
-arrest, and arrest by imprisonment, torture, and probably
-death, that Chrysostom chanced to be walking with a friend
-to the Church of the Martyr Babylas, outside the city. As
-they passed through the gardens by the banks of the Orontes,
-they observed fragments of a book floating down the stream.
-Curiosity led them to fish it out; but, to their dismay, on
-examining it, they found that it was inscribed with magical
-formulæ, and, to increase their alarm, a soldier was approaching
-at no great distance. At first they knew not how to act; they
-feared the book had been cast into the river by the artifice
-of an informer to entrap some unwary victim. They determined,
-however, to throw their dangerous discovery back
-into the river, and happily the attention or suspicions of the
-soldier were not roused. Chrysostom always gratefully
-looked back to this escape as a signal instance of God’s
-mercy and protection.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">110</a></p>
-
-<p>It must have been soon after this incident and previous
-to the edict of persecution against the monks issued by
-Valens in 373, that Chrysostom exchanged what might be
-called the amateur kind of monastic life passed in his own
-home for the monastery itself. Whether his mother was
-now dead or had become reconciled to the separation, or
-whether her son’s passionate enthusiasm for monastic
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span>retirement became irresistible, it is impossible to determine.
-His mother is not mentioned by him in his writings after
-this point, except in allusion to the past, which is a strong
-presumption that she was no longer living. Bishop Meletius
-would probably have endeavoured to detain him for some
-active work in the Church, but he was now in exile; and to
-Flavian, the successor of Meletius, Chrysostom was possibly
-not so intimately known.</p>
-
-<p>During the first four centuries of the Christian era, the
-enthusiasm for monastic life prevailed with ever increasing
-force. We are, perhaps, naturally inclined to associate
-monasticism chiefly with the Western Christianity of the
-Middle Ages. But the original and by far the most prolific
-parent of monasticism was the East. There were always
-ascetics in the Christian Church; yet asceticism is the
-product not so much of Christianity as of the East; of the
-oriental temperament, which admires and cultivates it; of
-the oriental climate, which makes it tolerable even when
-pushed to the most rigorous extremes. Asceticism is the
-natural practical expression of that deeply-grounded conviction
-of an essential antagonism between the flesh and
-spirit which pervades all oriental creeds. Even the monastic
-form of it was known in the East before Christianity.
-The Essenes in Judæa, the Therapeutæ in Egypt, were
-prototypes of the active and contemplative communities of
-monks.</p>
-
-<p>The primitive ascetics of the Christian Church were not
-monks. They were persons who raised themselves above
-the common level of religious life by exercises in fasting,
-prayer, study, alms-giving, celibacy, bodily privations of all
-kinds. These habits obtained for them great admiration
-and reverence. Such persons are frequently designated by
-writers of the first three centuries as “an ascetic,” “a follower
-of the religious ascetics.”<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">111</a> But they did not form a
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span>class distinctly marked off by dress and habitation from the
-rest of the world, like the monks or even the anchorites of
-later time. They lived in the cities or wherever their home
-might be, and were not subject to any rules beyond those
-of their own private making. Eusebius calls them <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">σπουδαῖοι</span>,
-“earnest persons;” and Clemens Alexandrinus <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐκλεκτῶν</span>
-<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐκλεκτότεροι</span>, “more elect than the elect.”<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> Midway between
-the primitive ascetic and the fully-developed monk must be
-placed the anchorite or hermit, who made a step in the direction
-of monasticism by withdrawing altogether from the city
-or populous places into the solitudes of mountain or desert.
-Persecution assisted the impulse of religious fervour. Paul
-retired to the Egyptian Thebaid during the persecution of
-Decius in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 251, and Antony during that of Maximin in
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 312. They are justly named the fathers or founders
-of the anchorites, because, though not actually the first,
-they were the most distinguished; and the fame of their
-sanctity, their austerities, their miracles, produced a tribe
-of followers. The further Antony retired into the depths of
-the wilderness the more numerous became his disciples.
-They grouped their cells around the habitation of the saintly
-father, and out of the clusters grew in process of time the
-monastery. A number of cells ranged in lines like an encampment,
-not incorporated in one building, was called a
-“Laura” or street.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">113</a> This was the earliest and simplest kind
-of monastic establishment. It was a community, though
-without much system or cohesion.</p>
-
-<p>The real founder of the Cœnobia or monasteries in the
-East was the Egyptian Pachomius; he was the Benedict
-of the East. His rule was that most generally adopted, not
-only in Egypt but throughout the oriental portions of the
-Empire. He and Antony had now been dead about twenty
-years, and Hilarius, the pupil and imitator of Antony, had
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span>lately introduced monasticism on the Pachomian model into
-Syria. In about fifty years more, the nomadic Saracens
-will gaze with veneration and awe at the spectacle of Simeon
-on his pillar, forty miles from Antioch. Thousands will
-come to receive baptism at his hands; his image will have
-been placed over the entrance of the shops in Rome.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> The
-spirit had been already caught in the West. The feelings
-of abhorrence with which the Italians first beheld the wild-looking
-Egyptian monks who accompanied Athanasius to
-Rome had soon been exchanged for veneration. The example
-of Marcellina, and the exhortations of her brother
-Ambrose of Milan, had induced multitudes of women to
-take vows of celibacy.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> Most of the little islands on the
-coasts of the Adriatic could boast of their monasteries or cells.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">116</a>
-St. Martin built his religious houses near Poitiers and Tours,
-and was followed to his grave by two thousand brethren.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">117</a>
-But St. Jerome, perhaps, more than any one else, promoted
-the advance of monasticism in the West. Born on the
-borders of East and West,<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> he mingled with the Eastern
-Church at Antioch and Constantinople, and in the desert
-of Chalcis had inured himself to the most severe forms of
-oriental asceticism, and returned to Rome eager to impart
-to others a kindred spirit of enthusiasm for the ascetic life.
-A little later, early in the fifth century, John Cassianus,
-president of a religious establishment in Marseilles, propagated
-monastic institutions of an oriental type in the
-south of France, and made men conversant with the system
-by his work on the rules of the cloister. These were the
-scattered forces which in the West awaited the master mind
-and strong hand of Benedict to mould and discipline them
-into a mighty system. The nearest approach in the West
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span>to the Egyptian system of Pachomius was among the Benedictines
-of Camaldoli.</p>
-
-<p>There is every reason to suppose on general grounds, and
-the supposition is corroborated by notices in the writings of
-Chrysostom, that the monasteries near Antioch, like the
-rest of the Syrian monasteries, were based on the Pachomian
-model. Pachomius was a native of the Thebaid, born
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 292. He began to practise asceticism as a hermit, but,
-according to the legend, was visited by an angel who commanded
-him to promote the salvation of other men’s souls
-besides his own, and presented him with a brazen tablet,
-on which were inscribed the rules of the Order which he
-was to found. He established his first community on
-Tabennæ, an island in the Nile, which became the parent
-of a numerous offspring. Pachomius had the satisfaction
-in his lifetime of seeing eight monasteries, containing in all
-3000 monks, acknowledging his rule; and after his death,
-in the first half of the fifth century, their numbers had
-swelled to 50,000.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> Chrysostom exulted with Christian
-joy and pride over the spectacle of “Egypt, that land
-which had been the mother of pagan literature and art,
-which had invented and propagated every species of
-witchcraft, now despising all her ancient customs, and
-holding up the Cross, in the desert no less if not more
-than in the cities: ... for the sky was not more beautiful,
-spangled with its hosts of stars, than the desert of
-Egypt studded in all directions with the habitations of
-monks.”<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">120</a></p>
-
-<p>By the Pachomian rule no one was admitted as a full
-monk till after three years of probation, during which period
-he was tested by the most severe exercises. If willing,
-after that period, to continue the same exercises, he was
-admitted without further ceremony beyond making a
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span>solemn declaration that he would adhere to the rules of the
-monastery. That no irrevocable vow was taken by the
-members of the monastery near Antioch which Chrysostom
-joined seems proved by his return to the city after a residence
-in the monastery of several years’ duration. According
-to Sozomen, the several parts of the dress worn by
-Pachomian monks had a symbolical meaning. The tunic
-(a linen garment reaching as far as the knees) had short
-sleeves, to remind the wearers that they should be prompt
-to do such honest work only as needed no concealment.
-The hood was typical of the innocence and purity of infants,
-who wore the same kind of covering; the girdle and scarf,
-folded about the back, shoulders, and arms, were to admonish
-them that they should be perpetually ready to do active service
-for God. Each cell was inhabited by three monks. They
-took their chief meal in a refectory, and ate in silence,<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">121</a> with
-a veil so arranged over the face that they could see only
-what was on the table. No strangers were admitted, except
-travellers, to whom they were bound, by the rule of their
-Order, to show hospitality. The common meal or supper
-took place at three o’clock,<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> up to which time they usually
-fasted. When it was concluded, a hymn was sung, of which
-Chrysostom gives us a specimen, though not in metrical
-form:<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> “Blessed be God, who nourisheth me from my youth
-up, who giveth food to all flesh: fill our hearts with joy and
-gladness, that we, having all sufficiency at all times, may
-abound unto every good work, through Jesus Christ our
-Lord, with Whom be glory, and honour, and power to Thee,
-together with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.
-Glory to Thee, O Lord! Glory to Thee, Holy One! Glory
-to Thee, King, who hast given us food to make us glad!
-Fill us with the Holy Spirit, that we may be found well
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span>pleasing in thy sight, and not ashamed when Thou rewardest
-every man according to his works.”</p>
-
-<p>The whole community in a Pachomian monastery was
-divided into twenty-four classes, distinguished by the letters
-of the Greek alphabet; the most ignorant, for instance,
-under class Iota, the more learned under Xi or Zeta, such
-letters being in shape respectively the simplest and the
-most complicated in the alphabet. Those hours which were
-not devoted to services or study were occupied by manual
-labour, partly to supply themselves with the necessaries of
-life, partly to guard against the incursion of evil thoughts.
-There was a proverbial saying attributed to some of the old
-Egyptian fathers, that “a labouring monk was assaulted by
-one devil only, but an idle one by an innumerable legion.”
-They wove baskets and mats, agriculture was not neglected,
-nor even, among the Egyptian monks, ship-building. Palladius,
-who visited the Egyptian monasteries about the close
-of the fourth century, found, in the monastery of Panopolis,
-which contained 300 members, 15 tailors, 7 smiths, 4 carpenters,
-12 camel-drivers, 15 tanners. Each monastery in
-Egypt had its steward, and a chief steward stationed at the
-principal settlement had the supervision of all the rest. All
-the products of monkish labour were shipped under his
-inspection on the Nile for Alexandria. With the proceeds
-of their sale, stores were purchased for the monasteries, and
-the surplus was distributed amongst the sick and poor.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">124</a></p>
-
-<p>A monastery founded on this model might be fairly
-described as a kind of village containing an industrial and
-religious population; and had the Eastern monks adhered
-to this simple and innocent way of life, such communities
-might have become more and more schools of learning,
-centres of civilisation, and homes of piety. But they were
-increasingly forgetful of the wholesome saying of Antony,
-that a monk in the city was like “a fish out of water.”
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span>
-Instead of attending exclusively to their pious and industrial
-exercises, they mixed themselves up with the theological
-and political contests which too often convulsed the cities
-of the Eastern Empire. Their influence or interference was
-frequently the reverse of peace-making, judicious, or Christian.
-They would rush with fanatical fury into the city, to rescue
-the orthodox, or to attack those whom they considered heretical.
-The evil had grown to such a height by the reign of
-Arcadius, that a law was passed by which monks were
-strictly forbidden to commit such outrages on civil order,
-and bishops were commanded to prosecute the authors of
-such attempts.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> Eastern monasticism, in fact, partook of
-the character which distinguished the Eastern Church as a
-whole, and which we may regard as one principal cause of
-its corruption and decay. A certain stability, sobriety, self-control,
-a law-making and law-respecting spirit, as it is the
-peculiar merit of the Western, so the want of it is the
-peculiar defect of the Oriental temperament. Hence a
-curious co-existence of extremes; the passions, unnaturally
-repressed at one outlet by intense asceticism, burst forth
-with increased fury at another. He who had subdued his
-body in the wilderness or on the mountains by fastings and
-macerations entertained the most implacable animosity
-towards pagans and heretics, and fought them like a ruffian
-(the word is not too strong for truth), when some tumult in
-an adjacent city afforded him an opportunity for this robust
-mode of displaying and defending his orthodoxy. Western
-monasticism, on the other hand, is distinguished by more
-gravity, more of the old Roman quality, a love of stern
-discipline. It did not run to such lengths of fanatical
-asceticism, and consequently was exempt from such disastrous
-reactions. It never produced such a caricature of the
-anchorite as Simeon Stylites, or such savage zealots as the
-monkish bands who dealt their sturdy blows in the religious
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span>riots of Constantinople and Alexandria. From the notices
-scattered up and down Chrysostom’s writings of the monasteries
-in the neighbourhood of Antioch, it appears that they
-conformed in all essential respects to the Pachomian model.
-We might anticipate, indeed, that, where such a man as
-Diodorus was president or visitor, they would be conducted
-on a simple and rational system.</p>
-
-<p>South of Antioch were the mountainous heights of Silpius
-and Casius, whence rose the springs which in a variety of
-channels found their way into the city, provided it with a
-constant and abundant supply of the purest water, and
-irrigated the gardens for which it was celebrated.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> In this
-mountain region dwelt the communities of monks, in separate
-huts or cells (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">κάλυβαι</span><a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">127</a>), but subject to an abbot, and a common
-rule. Chrysostom has in more passages than one furnished
-us with a description of their ordinary costume, fare,
-and way of life. He is fond of depicting their simple, frugal,
-and pious habits, in contrast to the artificial and luxurious
-manners of the gay and worldly people of the city. They
-were clad in coarse garments of goat’s hair or camel’s hair,
-sometimes of skins, over their linen tunics, which were worn
-both by night and day.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> Before the first rays of sunlight, the
-abbot went round, and struck those monks who were still
-sleeping with his foot, to wake them. When all had risen,—fresh,
-healthy, fasting, they sang together, under the precentorship
-of their abbot, a hymn of praise to God. The
-hymn being ended, a common prayer was offered up (again
-under the leadership of their abbot), and then each at sunrise
-went to his allotted task, some to read, others to write, others
-to manual labour, by which they made a good deal to supply
-the necessities of the poor. Four hours in the day, the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span>third, the sixth, the ninth, and some time in the evening,
-were appointed for prayers and psalms. When the daily
-work was concluded, they sat down, or rather reclined, on
-strewn grass, to their common meal, which was sometimes
-eaten out of doors by moonlight, and consisted of bread and
-water only, with occasionally, for invalids, a little vegetable
-food and oil. This frugal repast was followed by hymns,
-after which they betook themselves to their straw couches,
-and slept, as Chrysostom observes, free from those anxieties
-and apprehensions which beset the worldly man. There
-was no need of bolts and bars, for there was no fear of
-robbers. The monk had no possession but his body and
-soul, and if his life was taken he would regard it as an
-advantage, for he could say that to live was Christ, and to
-die was gain.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> Those words “mine and thine,” those fertile
-causes of innumerable strifes, were unknown.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> No lamentations
-were to be heard when any of the brethren died.
-They did not say, “such a one is dead,” but, “he has been
-perfected” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">τετελείωται</span>), and he was carried forth to burial
-amidst hymns of praise, thanksgiving for his release, and
-the prayers of his companions that they too might soon see
-the end of their labours and struggles, and be permitted to
-behold Jesus Christ.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> Such was the simple and industrial
-kind of monastic body to which Chrysostom for a time
-attached himself; and to the end of his life he regarded such
-communities with the greatest admiration and sympathy.
-But he never failed to maintain also the duty of work
-against those who represented the perfection of the Christian
-life as consisting in mere contemplation and prayer. Such a
-doctrine of otiose Christianity he proved to be based on a too
-exclusive attention to certain passages in the New Testament.
-If, for instance, our blessed Lord said to Martha, “Thou art
-careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span>needful;” or again, “Take no thought for the morrow;”
-or, “Labour not for the meat that perisheth”—all such
-passages were to be balanced and harmonised by others, as,
-for example, St. Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians to
-be “quiet and to do their own business,” and “let him that
-stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with
-his hands that which is good, that he may have to give to
-him that needeth.” He points out that the words of our
-Lord do not inculcate total abstinence from work, but only
-censure an undue anxiety about earthly things, to the
-exclusion or neglect of spiritual concerns. The contemplative
-form of monasticism, based on misconception of
-Holy Scripture, had, he observes, seriously injured the cause
-of Christianity, for it occasioned practical men of the world
-to deride it as a source of indolence.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">132</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">WORKS PRODUCED DURING HIS MONASTIC LIFE—THE LETTERS TO
-DEMETRIUS AND STELECHIUS—TREATISES ADDRESSED TO THE
-OPPONENTS OF MONASTICISM—LETTER TO STAGIRIUS.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Several</span> treatises were composed by Chrysostom during his
-monastic life. Among the first must be placed two books
-addressed to Demetrius and Stelechius. Of these the former
-was evidently written soon after the commencement of his
-retreat, for he speaks of having recently determined to take
-the step, and of the petty anxieties about food and other
-personal comforts which had at first unsettled his purpose a
-little. But he had soon conquered these hankerings after
-the more luxurious life which he had abandoned. It seemed
-to him a disgrace that one to whom heaven and celestial joys
-were offered, such as eye had not seen nor ear heard, should
-be so hesitating and timorous, when those who undertook
-the management of public affairs did not shrink from dangers
-and toil, and long journeys, and separation from wife and
-children, and perhaps unfavourable criticism, but only
-inquired whether the office were honourable and lucrative.<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">133</a></p>
-
-<p>The aim of the books is to animate torpid characters to
-a warmer piety, first by drawing a lively picture of the
-depravity of the times, secondly by a glowing description of
-the fervent energy of apostles and apostolic saints, and
-insisting that those lofty heights of Christian holiness were
-not unattainable by the Christian of his own day, if he bent
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span>the whole energy of his will, aided by Divine grace, to the
-attempt.</p>
-
-<p>“So great,” he observes, “was the depravity of the times
-that if a stranger were to compare the precepts of the Gospel
-with the actual practice of society, he would infer that men
-were not the disciples, but the enemies of Christ. And the
-most fatal symptom was their total unconsciousness of this
-deep corruption. Society was like a body which was outwardly
-vigorous, but concealed a wasting fever within; or
-like an insane person who says and does all manner of shocking
-things, but, instead of being ashamed, glories in the
-fancied possession of superior wisdom.”<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> Chrysostom applies
-the test of the principal precepts of morality in the
-Sermon on the Mount to the existing state of Christian
-morals. Every one of them was shamelessly violated. A
-kind of regard, superstitious or hypocritical, was paid to the
-command in the letter, which was broken in the spirit.
-Persons, for instance, who scrupled to use the actual expressions
-“fool” or “Raca,” heaped all kinds of opprobrious
-epithets on their neighbours.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> So the command to be
-reconciled with a brother before approaching the altar was
-really broken though formally kept. Men gave the kiss of
-peace at the celebration of Holy Communion when admonished
-by the deacon so to do, but continued to nourish
-resentful feelings in the heart all the same.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> Vainglory
-and ostentation robbed prayer, fasting and almsgiving of
-their merit; and as for the precept “Judge not,” a most
-uncharitable spirit of censoriousness pervaded every class of
-society, including monks and ecclesiastics.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> Contrast with
-this false and hollow religion of the world the condition
-of one in whom a deep compunction for sin, and a genuine
-love of Jesus Christ, was awakened. The whole multitude
-of vain frivolous passions was dispersed like dust before
-the wind. So it was with St. Paul. Having once turned
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span>the eye of his soul towards heaven, and being entranced by
-the beauty of that other world, he could not stoop to earth
-again. As a beggar, in some gloomy hovel, if he saw a
-monarch glittering with gold and radiant with jewels, might
-altogether for a time forget the squalor of his dwelling-place
-in his eagerness to get inside the palace of the king, so
-St. Paul forgot and despised the poverty and hardship of this
-present world because the whole energy of his being was
-directed to the attainment of that heavenly city.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">138</a> But men
-objected to the citation of apostolic examples. Paul and
-Peter, they said, were superhuman characters; models
-beyond our limited powers. “Nay,” Chrysostom replies,
-“these are feeble excuses. The Apostles were in all essential
-points like ourselves. Did they not breathe the same kind
-of air? eat the same kind of food? were not some of them
-married men? did they not follow mechanical trades? nay
-more, had not some of them deeply sinned? Men at the
-present day did not indeed receive grace at baptism to work
-miracles, but they received enough to enable them to lead a
-good and holy Christian life.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> And the highest blessing of
-Christ—his invitation to those who were called ‘blessed
-children’ to inherit the kingdom prepared for them—was
-addressed, not to those who had wrought miracles, but to
-those who had ministered to himself through feeding the
-hungry, entertaining the stranger, visiting the sick and the
-prisoners, who were his brethren. But grace, though undoubtedly
-given by God, required man’s own co-operation
-to become effectual. Otherwise, since God is no respecter
-of persons, it would have resided in equal measure in all
-men; whereas we see that with one man it remains, from
-another it departs; a third is never affected by it at all.”<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">140</a>
-The second book on the same subject, addressed to another
-friend, named Stelechius, is an expression of more rapturous
-and highly-wrought feeling, and is more rhetorical in style.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span>
-His description in the beginning of the blessed freedom of
-the monk’s life from secular vanities and cares, his remarks
-on David and St. Paul,<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> two of his most favourite characters,
-and still more his masterly enumeration of the
-manifold ways in which God manifests his providential care
-for man,<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">142</a> well deserve to be read. They are too long to be
-translated here in full, and a paraphrase would very inadequately
-represent such passages, of which the peculiar beauty
-consists in the language more even than in the ideas. One
-special interest of these books, written immediately after his
-retirement from the world, is that they put clearly before us
-what it was which drove him and many another to the
-monastic life. It was a sense of the glaring and hideous
-contrast between the Christianity of the Gospel and the
-Christianity of ordinary society. A kind of implacable
-warfare,<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> as he expresses it, seemed to be waged in the
-world against the commands of Christ; and he had therefore
-determined, by seclusion from the world, to seek that
-kind of life which he saw exhibited in the Gospels, but
-nowhere else.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">144</a></p>
-
-<p>But the largest and most powerful work which Chrysostom
-produced during this period was occasioned by the decree of
-the Emperor Valens in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 373—a decree which struck
-at the roots of monasticism. It directed that monks should
-be dragged from their retreats, and compelled to discharge
-their obligations as citizens, either by serving in the army,
-or performing the functions of any civil office to which they
-might be appointed.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> The edict is said to have been enforced
-with considerable rigour, and in Egypt this seems to have
-been the case. But it was evidently far from complete or
-universal in its operation. None of Chrysostom’s brethren
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span>appear to have been compelled to return to the city; certainly
-he himself was not. But they were liable, of course, to the
-persecution which, under the shelter of the decree, all the
-enemies of their order directed against them. These enemies
-of monasticism were of several kinds. There were the
-zealous adherents of the old paganism; men like Libanius,
-who were opposed to Christianity on principle, and especially
-to the monastic form of it, as encouraging idleness, and the
-dereliction of the duties of good citizens. There were also
-the more worldly-minded Christians who had adopted Christianity
-more from impulse or conformity than from conviction,
-and who disliked the standing protest of monastic life
-against their own frivolity. They were irritated also by the
-influence which the monks often acquired over their wives
-and children, sometimes alluring the latter from that lucrative
-line of worldly life which their fathers had marked out
-for them. And lastly, there were those who regretted that
-some men should have taken up a position of direct antagonism
-to the world, instead of mingling with it, and infusing good
-leaven into the mass of evil. The treatise of Chrysostom
-addressed “to the assailants of monastic life” was intended
-to meet most of these objections.</p>
-
-<p>A friend had brought the terrible tidings to his retreat of
-the authorised persecution which had just broken out. He
-heard it with indescribable horror. It was a sacrilege far
-worse than the destruction of the Jewish Temple. That an
-Emperor (an Arian, indeed, yet professing himself Christian)
-should organise the persecution, and that some actually
-baptized persons should take, as his friend informed him, a
-part in it, was an intolerable aggravation of the infliction.
-He would rather die than witness such a calamity, and was
-ready to exclaim with Elijah, “Now, O Lord, take away my
-life!” His friend roused him from this state of despondency
-by suggesting that, instead of giving way to useless lamentations,
-he should write an admonitory treatise to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span>
-originators and abettors of this horrible persecution. At first
-Chrysostom refused, partly from a feeling of incompetency,
-partly from a dread of exposing to the pagans by his writings
-some of the internal corruptions, dissensions, and weaknesses
-of the Church. His friend replies that these were already
-but too notorious; and as for the sufferings of the monks,
-they formed the topic of public conversation, too often of
-public jest. In the market-place and in the doctors’ shops
-the subject was freely canvassed, and many boasted of the
-part which they had taken against the victims. “I was the
-first to lay hands on such a monk,” one would cry, “and to
-give him a blow;” or, “I was the first to discover his cell;”
-or, “I stimulated the judge against him more than any one.”
-Such was the spirit of cruelty and profanity by which even
-Christians were animated; and, as for the pagans, they
-derided both parties. Roused by these dreadful communications,
-the indignation of Chrysostom no longer hesitated
-to set about the task.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">146</a></p>
-
-<p>His pity, he says, was excited chiefly for the persecutors;
-they were purchasing eternal misery for themselves, while
-the future reward of their victims would be in proportion to
-the magnitude of their present sufferings, since “Blessed
-were those whom men should hate, persecute, and revile for
-Christ’s sake, and great was to be their reward in heaven.”<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">147</a></p>
-
-<p>To persecute monks was to hinder that purity of life to
-which Christ attached so deep an importance. It might be
-objected, Cannot men lead lives uncontaminated at home?
-to which Chrysostom replies that he heartily wishes they
-could, and that such good order and morality might be
-established in cities as to make monasteries unnecessary.
-But at present such gross iniquity prevailed in large towns,
-that men of pious aspirations were compelled to fly to the
-mountain or the desert. The blame should fall, not on those
-who escaped from the city, but on those who made life there
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span>intolerable to virtuous men. He trusted the time might
-come when these refugees would be able to return with
-safety to the world.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">148</a></p>
-
-<p>If it was objected that on this principle of reasoning the
-mass of mankind was condemned, he could only reply, in the
-words of Christ himself, “Narrow is the way which leadeth
-unto life, and few there be that find it.” We must not
-honour a multitude before truth. If all flesh was once
-destroyed except eight persons, we cannot be surprised if
-the number of men eventually saved shall be few. “I see,”
-he says, “a constant perpetration of crimes which are all
-condemned by Christ as meriting the punishment of hell—adultery,
-fornication, envy, anger, evil speaking, and many
-more. The multitude which is engaged in this wickedness
-is unmolested, but the monks who fly from it themselves,
-and persuade others to take flight also, are persecuted without
-mercy.” So much for the Christianity of the world.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">149</a></p>
-
-<p>In Book II. he expresses his astonishment that fathers
-should so little understand what was best for their sons as
-to deter them from studying “the true philosophy.” But
-in combating this error he will put forward all that can be
-urged on their side. He imagines the case of a pagan father,
-possessed of great worldly distinction and wealth. He has
-an only son, in whom all his pride and hopes are centred;
-one whom he expects to surpass himself in riches and honour.
-Suddenly this son becomes converted to monasticism; this
-rich heir flies to the mountains, puts on a dress coarser than
-that of the meanest servant, toils at the menial occupations
-of gardening and drawing water, becomes lean and pale. All
-the schemes of his father for the future are frustrated, all
-past efforts for his education seem to have been squandered.
-The little vessel which was his pride and pleasure is wrecked
-at the very mouth of the harbour from which it was setting
-out on the voyage of life. The parent has no longer any
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span>pleasure in life; he mourns for his son as for one already
-dead.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">150</a></p>
-
-<p>Having thus stated the case on his adversary’s side as
-strongly as possible, Chrysostom begins his own defence by
-asking which would be best: that a man should be subject
-to thirst all his life, or wholly exempt from it? Surely to
-be exempt from it. Apply this to the moral appetites—love,
-avarice, and the rest. The monk is exempt from them;
-the man of the world is distracted by them, if not overwhelmed.
-Again, if the monk has no wealth of his own,
-he exercises a powerful influence in directing the wealth of
-others. Religious men will part with much of their riches
-according to his suggestions; if one refuses, another will
-give. The resources, in fact, of the monk are quite inexhaustible;
-many will subscribe to supply his wants or to
-execute his wishes, as Crito said that he and his friends
-would subscribe for Socrates. It is impossible to deprive
-the monk of his wealth or of his home; if you strip him of
-everything he has, he rejoices, and thanks you for helping
-him to live the life which he desires; and as for his home,
-the world is his home; one place is the same as another to
-him; he needs nothing but the pure air of heaven, wholesome
-streams, and herbs. As for high place and rank,
-history suffices to teach us that the desert does not destroy,
-and the palace does not give, true nobility. Plato—planting,
-watering, and eating olives—was a far nobler personage
-than Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily, amidst all the wealth and
-splendour of a monarch. Socrates—clad in a single garment,
-with his bare feet and his meagre fare of bread, and dependent
-upon others for the mere necessaries of life—was a far more
-illustrious character than Archelaus, who often invited him,
-but in vain, to court. Real splendour and distinction consisted
-not in fine raiment, or in positions of dignity and
-power, but only in excellence of the soul and in philosophy.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">151</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p>
-
-<p>He then proceeds to maintain that the influence of the
-monk was more powerful than that of the man of the world,
-however distinguished he might be. If he descended from
-his mountain solitude, and entered the city, the people
-flocked round him, and pointed him out with reverence and
-admiration, as if he were a messenger from heaven. His
-mean dress commanded more respect than the purple robe
-and diadem of the monarch. If he was required to interfere
-in matters of public interest, his influence was greater
-than that of the powerful or wealthy; for he could speak
-before an emperor with boldness and freedom, and without
-incurring the suspicion of self-interested or ambitious
-motives. He was a more effectual comforter of the mourners
-than any one in a prosperous worldly condition was likely
-to be. If a father had lost his only son, the sight of other
-men’s domestic happiness only revived his grief; but the
-society of the monk, who disdained the ties of home and
-family, and who talked to him of death as only a sleep,
-soothed his grief. Thus the man who wished his son to
-possess real honour and power would permit him to become
-a monk; for monks who were once mere peasants had been
-visited in their cells and consulted by kings and ministers of
-state.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom concludes this book by relating the history
-of one of his own brethren in the monastery, who, when first
-he desired to become a monk, had been disowned by his
-father, a wealthy and distinguished pagan, who threatened
-him with imprisonment, turned him out of doors, and allowed
-him almost to perish with hunger. But, finding him inflexible
-in his purpose, the father at last relented, and, at the time
-when Chrysostom wrote, honoured, he might say venerated,
-that son, considering the others, who occupied distinguished
-positions in the world, scarcely worthy to be his servant.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">152</a></p>
-
-<p>As the second book was intended to meet the objections
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span>of a pagan father, so the third contains admonitions to one
-who was professedly Christian, but worldly-minded, on the
-duty of parents in regard to the moral and religious education
-of their children.</p>
-
-<p>It appeared to him that the fathers of that day gave their
-sons none but worldly counsel, inculcated none but worldly
-industry and prudence, and encouraged to the emulation
-of none but worldly examples.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">153</a> The force of habit was
-intensely strong, especially when pleasure co-operated with
-it, and parents, instead of counteracting habits of worldliness,
-promoted them by their own example. God led the Israelites
-through the wilderness as a kind of monastic training, to
-wean them from the luxurious and sensual habits of an
-Egyptian life; yet even then they hankered after the land
-of their bondage. How, then, could the children of parents
-who left them in the midst of the Egypt of vice, escape
-damnation? If they achieved anything good of themselves,
-it was speedily crushed by the flood of worldly conversation
-which issued from the parent. All those things which were
-condemned by Christ—as wealth, popularity, strife, an evil
-eye, divorce—were approved by parents of that day, and
-they threw a veil over the ugliness of these vices, by giving
-them specious names. Devotion to the hippodrome and
-theatre was called fashionable refinement; wealth was
-called freedom; love of glory, high spirit; folly, boldness;
-prodigality, benevolence; injustice, manliness. Virtues, on
-the contrary, were depreciated by opprobrious names: temperance
-was called rusticity; equity, cowardice; justice,
-unmanliness; modesty, meanness; endurance of injury,
-feebleness. He truly remarks, that nothing contributes so
-much to deter men from vice as calling vices plainly by
-their proper names.<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">154</a></p>
-
-<p>“How can children escape moral ruin, when all the labour
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span>of their fathers is bestowed on the provision of superfluous
-things—fine houses, dress, horses, beautiful statues,
-gilded ceilings—while they take no pains about the soul,
-which is far more precious than any ornament of gold?”<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">155</a>
-And there were worse evils behind: vice too monstrous
-and unnatural to be named, but to which he was constrained
-to allude, because he felt that it was poisoning with deadly
-venom the very vitals of the social body. “Well,” but
-worldly men reply, “Would you have us all turn philosophers,
-and let our worldly affairs go to ruin? Nay,” says
-Chrysostom, “it is the want of the philosophic spirit and rule
-which ruins everything now; it is your rich men—with
-troops of slaves and swarms of parasites, eager for wealth and
-ambitious of distinction, building fine houses, adding field
-to field, lending money at a usurious rate of interest—who
-propagate the strife and litigation, and envy, and murder,
-and general confusion, by which life is distracted. These
-are they who bring down the vengeance of Heaven, in the
-shape of droughts, and famines, and inundations, and earthquakes,
-and submersion of cities, and pestilences. It is not
-the simple monk, or the philosophic Christian, who is contented
-with a humble dwelling, a mean dress, a little plot of
-ground. These last, shining like bright beacons in a dark
-place, hold up the lamp of philosophy on high, and endeavour
-to guide those who are tossing on the open sea in a
-dark night into the haven of safety and repose.”<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">156</a></p>
-
-<p>“In spite of law, disorder prevailed to such an extent,
-that the very idea of God’s providence was lost. Men
-assigned the course of events to fate, or to the stars, or to
-chance, or to spontaneous force. God did, indeed, still rule;
-but He was like a pilot in a storm, whose skill in managing
-and conducting the vessel in safety was not perceived or
-appreciated by the passengers, owing to the confusion
-and fright caused by the raging of the elements. In the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>monastery, on the other hand, all was tranquillity and peace
-as in a community of angels. He strenuously combated
-the error of supposing that sin was more pardonable in a man
-of the world than in a monk. Anger, uncleanness, swearing,
-and the like, were equally sinful in all. Christ made no
-distinctions, but propounded one standard of morality for
-all alike. Nothing had inflicted more injury on the moral
-tone of society than the supposition that strictness of life
-was demanded of the monk only.”<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">157</a> He strongly urges
-the advantage of sending youths for education to monasteries,
-even for so long a period as ten or twenty years.
-Men consented, he says, to part with their children, for the
-purpose of learning some art or trade, or even so low an
-accomplishment as rope-dancing; but when the object was
-to train their souls for heaven, all kinds of impediments
-were raised. To object that few attained through residence
-in a monastery that perfection of spiritual life which some
-expected of them, was a mere excuse. In the case of
-worldly things, on which men’s hearts were set, they thought
-of getting as much as they could, not of reaching absolute
-perfection. A man did not prevent his son from entering
-military service because the chances of his becoming a
-prefect were small; why, then, hesitate to send your son to
-a monastery because all monks do not become angels?<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">158</a></p>
-
-<p>These treatises are remarkable productions, and deserve
-to be read, not only because they exhibit Chrysostom’s best
-powers of argument and style, but also because they throw
-light upon the character of the man and the times in which
-he lived. He pleads his cause with the ingenuity, as well
-as eloquence, of a man who had been trained for the law
-courts. We find, indeed, that his opinions on the advantages
-of the monastic life were modified as he grew older; but
-his bold condemnation of worldliness, his denunciation of a
-cold secularised Christianity, as contrasted with the purity
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span>of the Gospel standard, the deep aspirations after personal
-holiness, the desire to be filled with a fervent and overflowing
-love of Christ, the firm hold on the idea of a superintending
-Providence, amidst social confusion and corruption;
-these we find, as here, so always, conspicuous characteristics
-of the man, and principal sources of his influence.</p>
-
-<p>From the frightful picture here drawn of social depravity,
-we perceive the value—we might say, the necessity—of
-monasteries, as havens of refuge for those who recoiled in
-horror from the surrounding pollution. It is clear also
-that the influence of the monks was considerable. Monasteries
-were recognised places of education, where pious
-parents could depend on their children being virtuously
-brought up. The Christian wife of a pagan or worldly
-husband could here find a safe home for her boy, where he
-could escape the contamination of his father’s influence or
-example. Chrysostom relates, in chapter 12, how a Christian
-lady in Antioch, being afraid of the wrath of a harsh and
-worldly-minded husband if she sent away her son to school
-at the monastery, induced one of the monks, a friend
-of Chrysostom’s, to reside for a time in the city, in the
-character of pedagogue. The boy, thus subjected to his
-training, afterwards joined the society of the monks; but
-Chrysostom, fearing the consequences both to the youth and
-to the monastic body, should his father detect his secession,
-persuaded him to return to the city, where he led an ascetic
-life, though not habited in monkish dress. Out of these
-monastic schools, after years of discipline and prayer, and
-study of the Word, there issued many a pastor and preacher,
-well-armed champions of the truth, strong in the Lord, and
-in the power of His might; like Chrysostom himself, instant
-in season and out of season; stern denouncers of evil,
-even in kings’ courts; holding out the light of the Gospel
-in the midst of a dark and crooked generation.</p>
-
-<p>The foregoing extracts and paraphrases from these treatises<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span>
-prove also that as philosophy was considered the highest
-flight in the intellectual culture of the pagan, so was asceticism
-regarded as the highest standard of Christian life; it
-was to the education of the soul what philosophy was to
-the education of the mind, and hence it was called by the
-same name. Possessed by this idea, Chrysostom threw
-himself at this period of his life into the system with all
-the ardour of his nature. If asceticism was good, it was
-right to carry it as far as nature could bear it. He adopted
-the habits of an old member of the brotherhood named Syrus,
-notorious for the severity of his self-inflicted discipline.
-The day and greater part of the night were spent in
-study, fastings and vigils. Bread and water were his only
-habitual food. At the end of four years he proceeded a
-step further. He withdrew from the community to one of
-those solitary caves with which the mountains overhanging
-Antioch on its southern side abounded. In fact, he exchanged
-the life of a monk for that of an anchorite. His
-frame endured this additional strain for nearly two years,
-and then gave way. His health was so much shattered
-that he was obliged to abandon monastic life, and to return
-to the greater comfort of his home in Antioch.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">159</a></p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile a friend of his, Stagirius by name—a person
-of noble birth, who, in spite of his father’s opposition, had
-embraced monasticism—was reduced to a more deplorable
-condition. While Chrysostom was confined to his house by
-illness, a friend common to him and Stagirius brought him
-the sad intelligence that Stagirius was affected with all the
-symptoms of demoniacal possession—wringing of the hands,
-squinting of the eyes, foaming at the mouth, strange inarticulate
-cries, shiverings, and frightful visions at night.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">160</a> We
-shall perhaps find little difficulty in accounting for these
-distressing affections, as the consequence of excessive
-austerities. The young man, who formerly lived a gay
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span>life in the world, and in the midst of affluence, had in the
-monastery fared on bread and water only, often kept vigil
-all night long, spent his days in prayer and tears of penitence,
-preserved an absolute silence, and read so many hours
-continuously, that his friends and brother monks feared
-that his brain would become disordered.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">161</a> Very probably
-it was, and hence his visions and convulsions; but those
-were not days in which men readily attributed any strange
-phenomena, mental or bodily, to physical causes. We may
-believe in the action of a spirit-world on the inhabitants of
-this earth; but we require good evidence that any violent
-or strange affection of mind or body is due to a directly
-spiritual agency, rather than to the operation of God according
-to natural law. The cases of demoniacs in the Gospel
-stand apart. Our Lord uses language which amounts to a
-distinct affirmation that those men were actually possessed
-by evil spirits. To use such expressions as “come out of
-him,” “enter no more into him,” and the like, if there was
-no spirit concerned in the case at all, would have been, to
-say the least, a mere unmeaning piece of acting, of which it
-would be shocking to suppose our Lord capable. But to
-admit the direct agency of spirit, when confirmed by such
-authoritative testimony, is widely different from the hasty
-ascription to spiritual agency, by an uncritical and unscientific
-age, of everything which cannot be accounted for by the
-most superficial knowledge and observation. Chrysostom, of
-course, not being beyond his age in such matters, did not for
-a moment dispute the supposition that Stagirius was actually
-possessed by a demon, but he displays a great deal of good
-sense in dealing with the case. As the state of his own
-health did not permit him to pay Stagirius a visit in person,
-he wrote his advice instead. He perceived the fatal temptation
-to despair in a man who imagined that the devil had
-got a firm hold upon him, and that every evil inclination
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span>proceeded directly from this demoniacal invader. He will
-not allow that the suggestion to suicide, of which Stagirius
-complained, came direct from the demon, but rather from
-his own despondency,<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">162</a> with which the devil had endeavoured
-to oppress him, that he might, under cover of that, work his
-own purposes more effectually, just as robbers attack houses
-in the dark. But this was to be shaken off by trust in God;
-for the devil did not exercise a compulsory power over the
-hearts of men; there must be a co-operation of the man’s
-own will. Eve fell partly through her own inclination to
-sin: “When she saw that the tree was good for food, and
-pleasant to the eyes, she took of the fruit thereof and did
-eat;” and if Adam was so easily persuaded to participate in
-her sin, he would have fallen even had no devil existed.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom endeavours also to console his friend by going
-through the histories of saints in all times who have been
-afflicted. His sufferings were not to be compared to those of
-Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and St. Paul. “These
-afflictions were sent for remedial, purgatorial purposes—that
-the soul might be saved in the day of the Lord. It was not
-easy to say why such a person was tried by this or that form
-of suffering, but if we knew exactly God’s motives, there
-would be no test of faith. The indispensable thing was to
-be firmly convinced that whatever God sent was right.
-Some men were disturbed because the good were often
-troubled, and the wicked prosperous; but such inequality in
-the distribution of reward and punishment in this life suggested
-a future state where they would be finally adjusted.
-The wicked who had here received his good things would
-there receive his evil.<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">163</a> Stagirius had not been attacked by
-any demon when he was living in carelessness and worldly
-pleasure, but when he had buckled on his armour and
-appeared as an antagonist, then the devil descended to the
-assault. Hence he had no need to be ashamed of his afflic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span>tion;
-the only thing to be ashamed of was sin, and it was
-owing to his renunciation of sin that the devil assailed him.
-The real demoniacs were those who were carried away by
-the impulses of unregulated passions.” His summaries of
-the lives of the Old Testament saints, which fill the rest of
-the second book and most of the third, are very masterly,
-and display most intimate acquaintance with Holy Scripture
-in all its parts. A powerful mind and retentive memory
-had profited by six years of retirement largely devoted to
-study.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f08">ORDINATION AS DEACON—DESCRIPTION OF ANTIOCH—WORKS COMPOSED
-DURING HIS DIACONATE. A.D. 381-386.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Probably</span> one of the last acts of Bishop Meletius before
-he left Antioch to attend the Council of Constantinople in
-381, was to ordain Chrysostom a deacon. The bishop
-never returned. He died during the session of the council
-of which he was president, leaving both that and the see of
-Antioch distracted by the most deplorable factions. It will
-be remembered<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">164</a> that the Catholics of Antioch had, ever
-since the ill-judged mission of Lucifer of Cagliari, been
-divided between allegiance to Paulinus, a priest of the old
-Eustathian party, who had been consecrated bishop by
-Lucifer, and Meletius, bishop of the more moderate party.
-With the laudable purpose of healing this schism, it is said
-that several of the clergy at Antioch, who were considered
-most likely to succeed to a vacancy, bound themselves under
-an oath, that in the event of either bishop dying, they would
-decline the offer of the see, if made, and acknowledge the survivor.
-But on the death of Meletius, their plan was frustrated.
-Either the Asiatics, who generally favoured Meletius, refused
-to submit to the authority of Paulinus, because he had been
-ordained by a Western prelate, or the Eustathians who acknowledged
-Paulinus were unwilling on their side to admit
-Meletians into their fold. In any case, the earnest endeavours
-of Gregory of Nazianzum, now President of the Council, to
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span>unite the two factions under one prelate were unsuccessful.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">165</a>
-The Meletians elected Flavian to be their bishop, one of
-the very priests who had, under oath, renounced their pretensions
-to the see. This appointment of course exposed
-Flavian to the imputation of perjury, but we may hope that,
-like Gregory, he yielded to a pressing necessity only, and to
-a conviction that the dissension would have been aggravated
-and protracted if he had obdurately refused.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">166</a> At any rate,
-as will hereafter appear, his conduct, wherever it comes
-before us, is worthy of all admiration, and Chrysostom must
-have filled the office of deacon with happiness under his
-administration. A greater contrast than the initiation of
-Chrysostom into clerical life, and that of a young deacon in
-modern times, can scarcely be imagined. He was in his
-thirty-seventh year, and had supplemented the good liberal
-education of his youth by several years of devotion to close
-study of Scripture, to rigorous mortification of the body, to
-prayer and meditation, and to every means of promoting the
-culture of the soul. After this long and careful training, he
-enters the subordinate ranks of the clergy, not to discharge,
-like a modern deacon, duties as laborious, and often as
-responsible, as those which pertained to the priest, but such
-light and irresponsible tasks as were suitable to men who
-might be young, and were necessarily inexperienced in
-pastoral work. The deacons were sometimes called the
-Levites of the Christian Church.<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">167</a> It was their office to take
-care of the holy table and its furniture, to administer the
-cup to the laity, but not to a priest or a bishop, and occasionally
-to read the Gospel.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">168</a> They were in most churches
-permitted to baptize.<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">169</a> But their peculiar duty in the services
-of the Church was to call the attention of the people to
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span>every fresh movement, to use a musical expression, in the
-progress of the service. Thus at the close of the sermon,
-the deacon’s voice was heard crying: “Let the hearers [<i>i.e.</i> the
-second order of catechumens who were permitted to hear the
-sermon, but not the conclusion of the Eucharistic service]
-and the unbelievers depart!”<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">170</a> Then he bid the remaining
-orders of the catechumens, <i>i.e.</i> the energumens, the competentes,
-and the penitents to pray for one another, and the
-people also to pray for them; <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐκτενῶς δεηθῶμεν</span>, “let us
-ardently pray for them”—such was the form. Again when
-they were dismissed by the command <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀπολύεσθε</span>, “disperse,”
-the faithful were invited by the deacon to pray for the whole
-state of Christ’s Church.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">171</a> Thus the deacons were the sacred
-criers or heralds of the Church; they “proclaimed or bid
-prayer,” they announced each part as it was unfolded in the
-sacred drama of the Liturgy. The frequent recurrence in
-our own Liturgy, without much apparent significance, of the
-form “Let us pray,” is a remnant of these old diaconal invitations.
-The deacons were not permitted to preach except
-by a special direction of the bishop. Their duty in part
-corresponded to that of our churchwardens; they were to
-reprove any improper behaviour during divine service,<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">172</a> to
-bring cases of poverty and sickness before the notice of the
-bishop, to distribute the alms under his direction, and also
-to report to him grave moral offences.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">173</a> They were essentially,
-as the name implies, ministers to the bishops and
-priests, and were often styled, in symbolical language, “the
-bishop’s eyes,” or “ears,” or “right hand.” The attitude of respect,
-which they were bound to maintain in church towards
-bishops and priests was in keeping with the servitorial
-character of their office as a whole. While the priests had
-their chairs ranged on either side of the central chair of
-the bishop in the choir, the deacons stood humbly by, as if
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span>ready to receive and execute the directions of their superiors.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">174</a>
-Even the Roman deacons, who rose rather above the natural
-lowliness of their office, did not presume to sit in the church.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">175</a></p>
-
-<p>The duties of the diaconate must have brought Chrysostom
-into constant intercourse with the Christian population of
-Antioch, and especially with the poorer portion of it. The
-whole population of the city amounted, according to Chrysostom’s
-statement, to 200,000,<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">176</a> and the Christians to 100,000,<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">177</a>
-of whom 3000 were indigent, and mainly supported by the
-bounty of the Church.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">178</a> The deacon’s function of searching
-out and relieving the necessitous by distribution of alms
-must have been peculiarly congenial to him. There is no
-Christian duty on which he more constantly and earnestly
-insists than that of almsgiving, not only in order to alleviate
-the sufferings of poverty, but as a means of counteracting
-the inordinate avarice and selfish luxury which were the
-prevailing vices in the higher ranks of society, both in
-Antioch and Constantinople. His hold upon the affections
-of the common people, partly no doubt through his sympathy
-with their needs, partly by his bold denunciation of the
-vices of the wealthy, partly by his affectionate and earnest
-plain-speaking of Christian truth, was remarkably strong
-throughout his life. As during the secluded leisure of his
-monastic life he had acquired a profound intimacy with
-Holy Scripture, so in the more active labours of his diaconate
-he enlarged his knowledge of human nature, and stored up
-observations on the character and manners of the people
-among whom he moved; qualifications no less important for
-the formation of a great and effective preacher.</p>
-
-<p>It may not be uninteresting to take a brief glance at the
-character of the city and its inhabitants among whom he was
-destined to labour for the next seventeen years of his life.</p>
-
-<p>Both nature and art combined to make Antioch one of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>most delectable and luxurious residences in the world. The
-advantages of its situation, in some most important respects,
-could scarcely be exceeded. The river Orontes, connecting it
-with the sea about three miles distant, was the throat through
-which the city was fed with merchandise from all parts of
-the world. The wooded shores of the large lake of Antioch
-some miles above the city, supplied the inhabitants with
-fuel, and its waters yielded fish in great abundance. The
-hills which impended over the town on the southern side
-sent down numerous and copious streams, whose water,
-unsurpassed in purity, bubbled up through the fountains
-which stood in the court of every house. Northwards extended
-a fertile plain between the Orontes and Mount Coryphæus.
-The northern winds were occasionally keen and
-searching, but the prevailing western breezes coming up
-from the sea were so delicately soft, yet refreshing, that the
-citizens delighted in summer to sleep upon the flat roofs of
-their dwellings. These advantages, however, were in some
-degree balanced by a liability to inundations and earthquakes.
-Those hill-streams, the blessing and delight of the
-inhabitants in summer, were sometimes swollen in winter
-by excessive rains into torrents of incontrollable fury, and
-caused much damage to the buildings which were situated
-near their course. But far more destructive were the earthquakes.
-More than once, indeed, especially in the reigns of
-Caligula, Claudius, and Trajan, the whole city was almost
-shattered to pieces; but on each occasion, through public
-and private exertions, it arose from its ruins in new and, if
-possible, increased magnificence. The peculiar glories of
-Antioch were its gardens, and baths, and colonnaded streets.
-As in its population, and religion, and customs, so also in its
-architecture, it presented, as time went on, a remarkable
-mixture of Asiatic, Greek, and Roman elements. The aim
-of each Greek king and Roman emperor was to leave it more
-beautiful than he had received it from the hands of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span>
-predecessor. Each marked his reign by the erection of a
-temple or basilica, or bath, or aqueduct, or theatre, or column.
-The church in which Chrysostom officiated, usually called
-“the great Church,” to distinguish it from the smaller and
-older church, called the Church of the Apostles, was begun
-by Constantine and finished by Constantius. In the main
-principles of structure, we may find some parallel to it in
-St. Vitale at Ravenna. It stood in the centre of a large
-court, and was octangular in shape; chambers, some of them
-subterranean, were clustered round it; the domed roof, of an
-amazing height, was gilded on the inside; the floor was
-paved with polished marbles; the walls and columns were
-adorned with images, and glistened with precious stones;
-every part, indeed, was richly embellished with bronze and
-golden ornament.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">179</a> Among the principal wonders of Antioch
-was the great street constructed by Antiochus Epiphanes,
-nearly four miles in length, which traversed the city from
-east to west; the natural inequalities of the ground were
-filled up, so that the thoroughfare was a perfect level from
-end to end; the spacious colonnades on either side were
-paved with red granite. From the centre of this magnificent
-street, where stood a statue of Apollo, another street, similar
-in character, but much shorter, was drawn at right angles,
-leading northwards in the direction of the Orontes. Many
-of the other streets were also colonnaded, so that the inhabitants,
-as they pursued their errands of business or pleasure,
-were sheltered alike from the scorching sun of summer and
-the rains of winter. Innumerable lanterns at night illuminated
-the main thoroughfares with a brilliancy which almost
-rivalled the light of day, and much of the business, as well
-as the festivity, of the inhabitants was carried on by night.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">180</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The character of the inhabitants partook of the various
-elements—Asiatic, Syrian, Greek, Jewish, Roman—which
-composed the whole population. But the impulsive oriental
-temperament, subject at times to fits of gloomy despondency,
-and to outbursts of wild ferocity, was undoubtedly the most
-dominant. When not driven under the pressure of excitement
-to either of these extremes, they abandoned themselves
-very freely to those voluptuous recreations for which the
-character of their city and climate afforded every facility
-and inducement. The bath, the circus, the theatre, were the
-daily amusements of the citizen; the Olympic games (instituted
-in the time of Commodus), which were celebrated in
-the grove of Daphne, and the festivities held at particular
-seasons in honour of different deities, were the greater
-occasions to which he looked forward with all the eagerness
-of a pleasure-loving nature.</p>
-
-<p>These main characteristics of the people are abundantly
-illustrated in detail, as will be seen hereafter, in the homilies
-of Chrysostom. He is ever, in them, labouring with indefatigable
-industry and earnestness to lift the Christians above
-the frivolity and vices of the rest of the population. His
-opportunities for investigating the condition of the Christian
-community were great during his diaconate. He did not as
-yet preach; but by observations on life and manners, he laid
-up copious materials for preaching. And he was not idle in
-the use of his pen, for to this period may be assigned the
-treatise on Virginity; a letter addressed to a young widow;
-a book on the martyr Babylas; and, perhaps, though this
-cannot certainly be determined, the six books on the Priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">181</a></p>
-
-<p>The letter to a young widow must have been written soon
-after the destruction of the Emperor Valens and his army by
-the Goths in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 378, since it contains a reference to that
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span>event as a recent occurrence,<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">182</a> yet it must have been antecedent
-to the crushing defeats inflicted on them by Theodosius
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 382, because the writer implies that at the
-time of composition the Goths were overrunning large tracts
-of the empire with impunity, and mocking the helplessness
-and timidity of the imperial troops.<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">183</a> The whole book is
-penetrated with that profound sense of the misery and instability
-of things human, which the corruption of society
-and recent calamities of the empire impressed with peculiar
-force on the minds of reflecting persons; which produced
-among pagans either melancholy or careless indifference, but
-made Christians cling with a more earnest and tenacious
-trust to the hopes and consolations of the Gospel.</p>
-
-<p>Therasius, the husband of the young widow, had died
-after five years of married life. He is described by Chrysostom
-as having been distinguished in rank, in ability, and,
-above all, in virtue; as having held a high position in the
-army, with a reasonable expectation of soon becoming a
-prefect. But these very excellencies and brilliant prospects,
-which seemed to aggravate the sense of his loss, “ought,”
-Chrysostom observes, “to be regarded as sources of consolation.
-If death were a final and total destruction, then
-indeed it would have been reasonable to lament the extinction
-of one so benevolent, so gentle, so humble, prudent, and
-devout, as her late husband. But if death was only the
-landing of the soul in a tranquil haven, only a transition
-from the worse to better, from earth to heaven, from men
-to angels and archangels, and to Him who is the Lord
-of angels, then there was no place left for tears. It was
-better that he should depart and be with Christ, his true
-King, serving Whom in that other world, he would not be
-exposed to the dangers and animosities which attended the
-service of an earthly monarch. They were, indeed, separated
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span>in body, but neither length of time nor remoteness of place
-could sunder the friendship of the soul. Endure patiently
-for a little time, and you will behold again the face of your
-desire; perhaps even now, in visions, his form will be permitted
-to visit you.”<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">184</a> If it was the loss of the prefecture
-that she specially deplored, let her think from what dangerous
-ambitions her husband had been preserved; think of the
-fate of Theodorus, who was tempted by his high station to
-lay a plot against the Emperor, and suffered capital punishment
-for his treason.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">185</a> The loftier a man’s ambitions in life,
-the more probable a disastrous fall. Look at the tragical
-fate of the Emperors in the course of the past fifty years.
-Two only, out of nine, had died natural deaths; of the other
-seven, one had been killed by a usurper,<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">186</a> one in battle,<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">187</a> one
-by a sedition of his domestic guards,<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">188</a> one by the man who
-had invested him with the purple.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">189</a> Julian had fallen in
-battle in the Persian expedition. Valentinian <span class="smcap">I.</span> died in a
-fit of rage, and Valens had been burnt, together with his
-retinue, in a house to which the Goths set fire. And of
-the widows of these Emperors, some had perished by
-poison, others had died of despair and broken hearts. Of
-those who yet survived, one was trembling for the safety of
-an orphan son,<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">190</a> another had with difficulty obtained permission
-to return from exile.<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">191</a> Of the wives of the present
-Emperors, one was racked by constant anxiety on account of
-the youth and inexperience of her husband,<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">192</a> the other was
-subject to no less anxiety for her husband’s safety, who
-ever since his elevation to the throne had been engaged in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span>incessant warfare with the Goths.<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">193</a> Human ambition was a
-hard taskmistress, who employed arrogance and avarice as
-her agents; “do not then, mourn that your husband has been
-emancipated from her tyranny.” Most of the wisest and
-noblest characters even of the pagan world had resisted the
-allurements of ambition—Socrates, Epaminondas, Aristides,
-Diogenes, Crates. Shall the Christian then complain, if
-God takes one away from these temptations? He who
-cared least about glory, who was natural and modest, and
-unambitious, often acquired most glory, whereas he who was
-most eager and anxious to secure it, often obtained nothing
-but derision and reproach. She believed that her husband
-might have obtained the prefecture; it was a reasonable
-hope, but there was many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip,
-and he who was king to-day was dead to-morrow. “Strive,
-then, to equal and even surpass your husband in piety and
-goodness, that you may be admitted into the same home,
-and reunited to him in a bond far more lovely and enduring
-than that of earthly wedlock.”</p>
-
-<p>In the long treatise “De Virginitate,” Chrysostom boldly
-declares his preference for celibacy, but at the same time
-he exposes and denounces the mischievous error of Marcionites
-and Manichæans, who condemned marriage altogether
-as positive sin. “They were mistaken in supposing that
-abstinence from marriage would procure them a high place
-in heaven, because, even if it were granted that marriage
-was a positive sin, it must be remembered that not those
-who abstained from sin, but those who did positive good,
-would receive the highest rewards; not one who abstained
-from calling his brother ‘Raca,’ but he who loved
-his enemies. The celibacy of heretics, such as the Manichæans,
-was based on the false conception that all created
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span>matter was evil, and that the Creator Himself was an
-inferior being to the Supreme Deity. Hence their celibacy
-was the work of the devil; they belonged to those mentioned
-only to be condemned in 1 Tim. iv. 1-3 ‘as forbidding
-to marry.’<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">194</a> Chastity of body was worthless, if the
-soul within was depraved; but celibacy rightly cultivated,
-to preserve the purity of the soul towards God, was better
-than marriage, better as heaven was better than earth, and
-angels better than men.” He confronts the common objection:
-if all men embraced celibacy, how would the race be
-propagated? “Myriads of angels inhabit heaven, yet we
-believe they are not propagated by matrimony, and it was
-only by the special provision and will of God, that matrimony
-itself produced offspring. Sarah was barren till God
-vouchsafed her Isaac. Marriage was the inferior state to
-conduct us to the higher; it was to celibacy as the Law to
-the Gospel, it was a crutch to support those who would
-otherwise fall into sin, but to be dispensed with when
-possible. Let those, then, who reproached and derided
-celibacy, put a restraint upon their lips, lest like Miriam,
-or the children who mocked Elisha, they should be severely
-punished for pouring contempt on so holy a state.”<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">195</a></p>
-
-<p>We are enabled to understand from this work why the
-best Christianity in the East was so disparaging of the
-married state. The woman had not attained her proper
-place in society. She seems to have been ill-educated, to
-have been kept, especially before marriage, in a state of
-unnatural seclusion, which she broke when she could, and
-was too often treated by the husband like a slave, with
-severity and distrust. This degrading position was partly
-a remnant of a pagan state of society, partly the offspring
-of oriental character and habits of life. Christianity perceived
-the evil, but had not effected much towards a remedy.
-Instead of endeavouring to elevate, to soften, and refine the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>relation of one sex to the other, it encouraged rather a total
-separation. The treatise now under notice presents curious
-pictures of domestic life, if such it can be called, in that
-age. Matrimonial matches were arranged entirely by the
-parents, the attentions of the suitors were paid to the parents,
-not to the maiden herself. She suffered an agony of suspense,
-while the favourite of yesterday was supplanted by
-the superior charms of some rival of to-day, who in his turn
-was superseded by a third. Sometimes, on the very eve of
-marriage, the suitor whom she herself preferred was dismissed,
-and she was finally handed over to another whom
-she disliked. The suitors also, on their side, were racked
-by anxiety; for it was difficult to ascertain what the real
-character, personal appearance, and manners were of the
-maiden, who was always kept in the strictest seclusion.
-Then there was often great difficulty in getting the dowry
-paid by the father-in-law, which was an annoyance to each
-of the newly-married pair.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">196</a></p>
-
-<p>He draws a highly-wrought picture, with some caustic
-humour, of the miseries of jealous wives and husbands.
-When a man constantly suspects “his dearest love,”<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">197</a> for
-whom he would willingly sacrifice life itself, what can console
-him? By day and night he has no peace, and is irritable
-to all. Some men have even slain their wives, without succeeding
-in cooling their own jealous rage. The trials of the
-wife were more severe; her words, her very looks and sighs,
-were watched by slaves, and reported to her husband, who
-was too jealous to distinguish false tales from the true. The
-poor woman was reduced to the wretched alternative of
-keeping her own apartment, or, if she went out, of rendering
-an exact account of her proceedings. Untold wealth, sumptuous
-fare, troops of servants, distinguished birth, amounted
-to nothing when placed in the balance against such miseries
-as these. If it was the woman who was jealous, she
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span>suffered more than the man, for she could not keep him at
-home, or set the servants to watch him. If she remonstrated
-with him, she would be told that she had better hold her
-tongue, and keep her suspicions to herself. If the husband
-instituted a suit against the wife, the laws were favourable
-to him, and he could procure her condemnation, and even
-death; but if she were the petitioner, he would escape.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">198</a></p>
-
-<p>It was very natural that the woman, who, before marriage,
-was cooped up like a child in the parental home, should
-break out afterwards into extravagance, dissipation, and
-frivolity, if not worse. An inordinate amount of time and
-money was bestowed upon dress, though perhaps not more
-than by the fashionable ladies of modern times. Women
-loaded themselves with ornaments, under the delusion that
-these added to their charms, whereas, Chrysostom observes,
-if the woman was naturally beautiful, the ornaments only
-concealed and detracted from her charms. If she was ugly,
-they only set off her ugliness by the glaring contrast, and
-the effect on the spectator was ludicrous or painful. But
-the adornment of the virgin who had dedicated herself to
-God was altogether spiritual. She arrayed herself in gentleness,
-modesty, poverty, humility, fasting, vigils. Incorporeal
-graces and incorporeal beauty were the objects of her love
-and contemplation. She treated enemies with such perfect
-courtesy and forbearance, that even the depraved were put
-to shame in her presence. The goodness of the soul within
-overflowed into all her outer actions.<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">199</a> From this rapturous
-description of a highly spiritual kind of life, Chrysostom
-passes, with versatile quickness, to a somewhat ludicrous
-picture of the petty cares of life in the world. “The worldly
-lady thinks it a fine thing to drive round the Forum; how
-much better to be independent, and use her feet for the
-purpose for which God gave them! There was always some
-difficulty about the mules: she and her husband wanted
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span>them at the same time; one or both were lame or turned
-out to grass. A quiet and modestly-dressed woman needed
-no carriage and attendants to protect her in her passage
-through the streets, but might walk through the Forum, free
-from any annoyance. Some might say it was pleasant to be
-waited on by a troop of handmaids; but, on the contrary, such
-a charge was attended with much anxiety. Not only had the
-sick to be taken care of, but the indolent to be chastised,
-mischief, quarrels, and all kinds of evil doings to be corrected;
-and if there happened to be one distinguished by personal
-beauty, jealousy was added to all these other cares, lest the
-husband should be so captivated by her charms as to pay
-more attention to her than to her mistress.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">200</a> If it was
-replied to all these objections against married life, that
-Abraham and other saints in the Old Testament were all
-married men, it must be remembered that a much higher
-standard was required under the New Dispensation. There
-were degrees of perfection. When Noah was said to be
-‘perfect in his generation,’ it meant relatively to that age in
-which he lived, for what is perfect in relation to one era
-becomes imperfect for another. Murder was forbidden by
-the Old Law, but hatred and wrath under the New. A
-larger effusion of the Holy Spirit rendered Christian men
-fully grown as compared with the children of the Old
-Dispensation. Degrees of virtue, impossible then, were
-attainable now; and as the moral standard under the Old
-Dispensation was lower, so the rewards of obedience were
-less exalted. The Jews were encouraged to obedience by
-the promise of an earthly country, Christians by the prospect
-of heaven. The Jews were deterred from sin by menaces
-of temporal calamity; the Christian, of eternal punishment.
-Let us, therefore, not spend our care upon money-getting
-and wives and luxurious living, else how shall we ever
-become men rather than children, and live in the spirit? for
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span>when we have taken our journey to that other world, the
-time for contest will have passed; then those who have not oil
-in their lamps will be unable to borrow it from their neighbours,
-or he who has a soiled garment to exchange it for
-another robe. When the Judge’s throne has been placed,
-and He is seated upon it, and the fiery stream is ‘coming
-forth from before Him’ (Dan. vii. 10), and the scrutiny of
-past life has begun: though Noah, Daniel, and Job were to
-implore an alteration of the sentence passed upon their own
-sons and daughters, their intercession would not avail.”<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">201</a></p>
-
-<p>The long treatise “De S. Babyla contra Julianum et
-Gentiles” presents several interesting subjects for consideration.
-In the history of the grove of Daphne we have a
-singular instance of the way in which Grecian legend was
-transplanted into foreign soil. Daphne, the daughter of the
-Grecian river-god Ladon, was, according to the Syrian version
-of the myth, overtaken by Apollo near Antioch. Here it
-was, on the banks, not of the Peneus, but of the Orontes,
-that the maiden prayed to her mother earth to open her
-arms and shelter her from the pursuit of the amorous god,
-and that the laurel plant sprang out of the spot where she
-disappeared from the eyes of her disappointed lover. The
-horse of Seleucus Nicator, founder of the Syrian monarchy,
-was said to have struck his hoof upon one of the arrows
-which Apollo had dropped in the hurry of his chase; in consequence
-of which the king dedicated the place to the god.
-A temple was erected in his honour, ample in proportions,
-and sumptuous in its adornments; the interior walls were
-resplendent with polished marbles, the lofty ceiling was of
-cypress wood. The colossal image of the god, enriched with
-gold and gems, nearly reached the top of the roof; the
-draped portions were of wood, the nude portions of marble.
-The fingers of the deity lightly touched the lyre which hung
-from his shoulders, and in the other hand he held a golden
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>dish, as if about to pour a libation on the earth, “and
-supplicate the venerable mother to give to his arms the cold
-and beauteous Daphne.”<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">202</a> The whole grove became consecrated
-to pleasure, under the guise of festivity in honour of
-the god. A more beautiful combination of delights cannot
-well be conceived. The grove was situated five miles to the
-south-west of Antioch, among the outskirts of the hills,
-where many of the limpid streams, rushing down towards
-the valley of the Orontes, mingled their waters. The road
-which connected the city with this spot was lined on the
-left hand with large gardens and groves, baths, fountains,
-and resting-places; on the right were villas with vineyards
-and rose-gardens irrigated by rivulets. Daphne itself was,
-according to Strabo,<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">203</a> eighty stadia, or about ten miles, in
-circumference. It contained everything which could gratify
-and charm the senses; the deep impenetrable shade of cypress
-trees, the delicious sound and coolness of falling waters,
-the fragrance of aromatic shrubs. Such a combination of
-all that was voluptuous told with fatal and enervating effect
-upon the morals of a people who were at all times disposed
-to an immoderate indulgence in luxurious pleasures. Roman
-troops, and even Roman emperors, fell victims to the allurements
-of the spot.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">204</a> The annual celebration of the Olympian
-games instituted here by Commodus was especially the
-occasion of shocking excesses of every kind. But by the
-order of Gallus Cæsar an attempt was made to introduce a
-pure association into the spot hitherto abandoned to the
-licentiousness of pagan rites. The remains of Babylas, the
-Bishop of Antioch, who had suffered martyrdom in the reign
-of Decius, were transferred from their resting-place in the
-city to the grove of Daphne. The chapel or martyry erected
-over the bones of the Christian saint stood hard by the
-temple of the pagan deity. Here it confronted the Christian
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span>visitor, as a warning to him not to take part in pagan and
-licentious rites, abhorrent to the faith for which the Bishop
-had died. But the remains of the martyr were not permitted
-to rest in peace. When Julian visited Antioch, he consulted
-the oracle of Apollo at Daphne respecting the issue of the
-expedition which he was about to make into Persia. But
-the oracle was dumb. At length the god yielded to the
-importunity of repeated prayers and sacrifices so far as to
-explain the cause of his silence. He was disturbed by the
-proximity of a dead body: “Break open the sepulchres, take
-up the bones, and remove them hence.” The demand was
-interpreted as referring to the remains of Babylas, and the
-wishes of the crestfallen oracle were complied with.<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">205</a> But
-the insult done to the Christian martyr was speedily avenged.
-Soon after the accomplishment of the impious act, a violent
-thunderstorm broke over the temple, and the lightning consumed
-both the roof of the building and the statue of the
-deity. At the time when Chrysostom wrote, some twenty
-years after the occurrence, the mournful wreck was yet
-standing; but the chapel again contained the relics of the
-saint and martyr, and conferred blessings on the pilgrims
-who resorted thither in crowds. The ruined and deserted
-temple, side by side with the carefully-preserved church of
-the martyr, thronged by devotees, presented a striking
-emblem of the fate of paganism, crumbling and vanishing
-away before the presence of the new faith, blasted by the
-lightning flash of a mightier force. A great portion of the
-treatise of Chrysostom is occupied by an analysis of his old
-master Libanius’s elegy over the fate of the stricken shrine
-of pagan worship. The affected and inflated tone of the
-sophist’s composition deserves the sarcasm and scorn which
-his pupil unsparingly pours upon it.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD BY FLAVIAN—INAUGURAL DISCOURSE
-IN THE CATHEDRAL—HOMILIES AGAINST THE ARIANS—ANIMADVERSIONS
-ON THE CHARIOT RACES. A.D. 386.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Chrysostom</span> had used the office of a deacon well. The lofty
-tone of Christian piety, the boldness, the ability, the command
-of language manifested in his writings, marked him
-out as eminently qualified for a preacher. His treatises,
-indeed, are distinguished by a vehemence and energy which
-belong more to the fervour of the orator than to the calmness
-of the writer. No doubt also men had not forgotten the
-talent for speaking which he had displayed when he began
-to practise, nearly twenty years before, as a lawyer. The
-Bishop Flavian ordained him a priest in 386, and immediately
-appointed him to be one of the most frequent
-preachers in the church. The bishop of a see like Antioch
-at that time rather resembled the rector of a large town
-parish than the bishop of modern times. He resided in
-Antioch, and discharged the duties of a chief pastor, assisted
-by his staff of priests and deacons. Where the whole
-Christian population amounted to not more than 100,000
-souls, as in Antioch,<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">206</a> that division into distinct districts,
-such as were formed in Alexandria,<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">207</a> Rome, and Constan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span>tinople,
-with separate churches, served by members of the
-central staff in rotation, or by pastors especially appropriated
-to them, does not seem to have been made. Chrysostom
-officiated and preached in the great church, where the
-bishop also officiated. The less learned and less able priests
-were appointed to the less responsible duties of visiting the
-sick and the poor, and administering the sacraments. The
-vocation of Chrysostom, however, was especially that of
-a teacher. It will be readily acknowledged how difficult,
-how delicate an office preaching was, in an age when Christianity
-and Paganism were still existing side by side, and
-when the opinions of many men were floating in suspense
-between the old faith and the new, and were liable to be
-distracted from a firm hold upon the truth by Judaism and
-heresies of every shade.</p>
-
-<p>Either on the occasion of his ordination, or very soon after
-it, Chrysostom preached an inaugural discourse, in the presence
-of the bishop. It is distinguished by that flowery and
-exaggerated kind of rhetoric which he occasionally displays
-in all its native oriental luxuriance, and which is due to the
-school in which he was brought up, rather than to the man.
-On such a public and formal occasion he appears less as the
-Christian teacher than as the scholar of Libanius the
-Rhetorician. His self-disparagement at the opening of his
-discourse, and his flattering encomiums on Flavian and
-Meletius at the close, would to modern, certainly at least to
-English, ears sound intolerably affected. No doubt, however,
-they were acceptable to the taste of his audience at
-Antioch; and, indeed, the whole discourse contains nothing
-more overstrained or ornate than is to be found in some of the
-most celebrated performances of the great French preachers
-in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.</p>
-
-<p>A few paraphrases will suffice to illustrate the character
-of his discourse.</p>
-
-<p>“He could scarcely believe what had befallen him, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>
-he, an insignificant and abject youth,<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">208</a> should find himself
-elevated to such a height of dignity. The spectacle of so
-vast a multitude hanging in expectation on his lips quite
-unnerved him, and would have dried up fountains of eloquence,
-had he possessed such. How, then, could he hope
-that his little trickling stream of words would not fail, and
-that the feeble thoughts which he had put together with so
-much labour would not vanish from his mind?</p>
-
-<p>“Wherefore he besought them to pray earnestly that he
-might be inspired with courage to open his mouth boldly in
-this hitherto unattempted work.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">209</a> He wished to offer the
-first-fruits of his speech in praise to God. As the tiller of
-the ground gave of his wheat, grapes, or olives, so he would
-fain make an offering in kind; he would ‘praise the name
-of God with a song, and magnify it with thanksgiving.’ But
-the consciousness of sin made him shrink from the task, for
-as in a wreath not only must the flowers be clean, but also
-the hands which wove it, so in sacred hymns not only must
-the words be holy, but also the soul of him who composed
-them. The words of the wise man who said, ‘praise is not
-becoming in the mouth of a sinner,’<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">210</a> sealed up his lips, and
-when David invited all creation, animate and inanimate,
-visible and invisible, to ‘praise the Lord of Heaven, to praise
-him in the height,’ he did not include the sinner in the
-invitation. He would rather therefore dilate on the merits
-of some of his fellow-men who were worthier than himself.
-The mention of their Christian virtues would be an indirect
-way, legitimate for a sinner, of paying glory and honour
-to God himself. And to whom should he address his praises
-first but to their bishop, whom he might call the teacher of
-their country, and through their country of the world at
-large? To enter fully, however, into his manifold virtues
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span>was to dive into so deep a sea that he feared he should lose
-himself in its profundities. To do justice to the task would
-require an inspired and apostolic tongue. He must confine
-himself to a few points. Although reared in the midst of
-affluence, Flavian had surmounted the difficulties which
-impeded the entrance of a rich man into the kingdom of
-heaven. He had been distinguished from youth by perfect
-temperance and control over the bodily appetites, by contempt
-of luxury and a costly table. Though untimely
-deprived of parental care, and exposed to the temptations
-incident to wealth, youth, and good birth, yet had he
-triumphed over them all. He had assiduously cultivated his
-mind, and had put the bridle of fasting on his body sufficient
-to curb excess, without impairing its strength and usefulness;
-and though he had now glided into the haven of a calm old
-age, yet he did not relax the severity of this personal discipline.
-The death of their beloved father Meletius had caused
-great distress and perplexity to the Church, but the appearance
-of his successor had dispersed it, as clouds vanished
-before the sun. When Flavian mounted the episcopal throne,
-Meletius himself seemed to have risen from his tomb.”</p>
-
-<p>All that can be collected from history respecting Flavian’s
-character confirms and justifies these eulogiums, though
-English taste would prefer them to have been uttered after
-his death rather than in his actual presence. Chrysostom concludes
-by saying that he had prolonged his address beyond the
-bounds which became his position, but the flowery field of
-praise had tempted him to linger. “He would conclude his
-task by asking their prayers: prayers that their common
-mother the Church might remain undisturbed and steadfast,
-and that the life of their father, teacher, spiritual shepherd,
-and pilot, might be prolonged; prayers finally that he, the
-preacher, might be strengthened to bear the yoke which was
-laid upon him, might in the great day restore safely the
-deposit which his Master had committed to his trust, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span>
-obtain mercy for his sins through the grace and goodness of
-the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, and power, and
-worship for ever and ever.”</p>
-
-<p>We now enter on a period of ten years, during which
-Chrysostom constantly resided in Antioch, and was occupied
-in the almost incessant labour of preaching. The main bulk
-of those voluminous works which have been preserved to
-our times belongs to this period; yet there can be no doubt
-that, numerous as are the extant works, they represent but a
-fraction of the discourses which he actually delivered. For
-we know, on his own authority, that he frequently preached
-twice, occasionally oftener, in the course of a week.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">211</a></p>
-
-<p>It does not fall within the scope of this essay to determine
-how many of the homilies which we possess were delivered
-in each year, or to enter into a critical examination of every
-set. But an attempt will be made to extract from them
-whatever seems to throw light upon the life and times of
-their author, upon events in which he played a conspicuous
-part, or which were of great public importance; whatever
-also illustrates the special condition of the Church,—her
-general practice, her merits and defects, the dangers and
-difficulties with which, from dissension within or heresy
-without, she had at this era to contend.</p>
-
-<p>The field of subjects on which the preacher was called to
-exercise his powers was varied and extensive. Christianity
-was imperilled by corruption of morals and corruption of
-faith. Not the laity only, but the clergy also, at least in the
-great towns, had become deeply infected by the prevalent
-follies and vices of the age. Again, between the orthodox
-Christian and the Pagan every variety of heresy intervened.
-The Arian, the Manichæan, the Marcionite, the Sabellian, the
-Jew,—all were, so to say, touching and fraying the edge of
-pure Christianity; the danger was, lest they should gradually
-so wear it away as to injure the very vitals of the faith.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span>
-Such were the evils which Chrysostom bent his energies to
-redress, such the enemies whom he manfully endeavoured to
-repel. He is alternately the champion of a pure morality
-and of a sound faith.</p>
-
-<p>Among the discourses which belong to the first year of his
-priesthood falls one delivered in commemoration of Bishop
-Meletius, the predecessor of Flavian.<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">212</a> He had died at Constantinople
-about the end of May <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381, and Chrysostom
-in the commencement of his homily remarks, that five years
-had now elapsed since the bishop had taken his journey to
-the “Saviour of his longings.” The tone of the discourse
-illustrates a characteristic of the times; a passionate devotion
-to the memory of departed saints which was rapidly passing
-into actual adoration; a subject on which more will be said
-hereafter. The shrine which contained the reliques of
-Meletius was placed in the sight of the preacher and the
-congregation, who swarmed round it like bees.<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">213</a> When
-Chrysostom looked at the great multitude assembled he congratulated
-the holy Meletius on enjoying such honour after
-his death, and he congratulated the people also on the endurance
-of their affection to their late spiritual father. Meletius
-was like the sound root which though invisible proved its
-strength by the vigour of its fruit. When he had returned
-from his first banishment the whole Christian population
-had streamed forth to meet him. Happy those who succeeded
-in clasping his feet, kissing his hand, hearing his
-voice. Others who beheld him only at a distance felt that
-they too had obtained a blessing from the mere sight. A
-kind of spiritual glory emanated from his holy person, even
-as the shadows of St. Peter and St. John had healed the sick
-on whom they fell. “Let us all, rulers and ruled, men and
-women, old and young, free men and slaves, offer prayer,
-taking the blessed Meletius into partnership with this our
-prayer (since he has more confidence now in offering prayer,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span>and entertains a warmer affection towards us), that our love
-may be increased and that as now we stand beside his
-shrine, so one day we may all be permitted to approach his
-resting-place in the other world.”</p>
-
-<p>The discourses of Chrysostom against Arians and Jews fall
-within the first year of his priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">214</a> They are among the
-finest of his productions, and deserve perusal on account of
-their intrinsic merit no less than of the important points of
-doctrine with which they are concerned. Antioch, indeed,
-may in some sort be regarded as the cradle of Arianism.
-Paul of Samosata, who was deposed from the see of Antioch
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 272, advocated doctrines of a Sabellian character, but
-that sophistical dialectical school of thought of which the
-Arians were the most conspicuous representatives may be
-traced to him. His original calling had been that of a
-sophist, and he was therefore by training more fitted to attack
-established doctrines than to build up a definite system of
-his own. Hence it is not surprising that, though his own
-tendency was to Sabellian opinions, Lucian, his intimate
-friend and fellow-countryman, held doctrines diametrically
-opposite, or what were afterwards called Arian.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">215</a> Lucian,
-when presbyter at Antioch, was the teacher of Eusebius,
-Bishop of Nicomedia, of Leontius, the Arian Bishop of
-Antioch, and perhaps also of Arius himself.<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">216</a> Aëtius, and his
-pupil Eunomius, originators of the most extreme and undisguised
-form of Arianism, resided in the beginning of their
-career at Antioch. Eunomius, in fact, was the founder of
-a sect which was called Eunomian after him; or sometimes
-Anomœan, because it denied not only equality but even
-similarity (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ὁμοιότης</span>) between the Father and the Son in the
-Holy Trinity. It was the most materialistic phase which
-Arianism developed. Mystery was to be eliminated from
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span>revelation as much as possible, sacramental grace was little
-recognised, asceticism disparaged. Adherents of this school
-seem to have existed still in some force at Antioch. A
-system marked by so much of cold intellectual pride was
-especially repugnant to the fervid and humble faith of
-Chrysostom. Yet in his assaults upon it he was neither
-precipitate nor harsh. In his first homily “On the incomprehensible
-Nature of God,” he says that, having observed
-several persons who were infected by this heresy listening to
-his discourses, he had abstained from attacking their errors,
-wishing to gain a firmer hold upon their interest before
-engaging with them in controversy. But having been invited
-by them to undertake the contest, he could not decline
-it, but would endeavour to conduct it in a spirit of gentleness
-and love, since “the servant of the Lord must not strive, but
-be gentle towards” all, as well as “apt to teach.” He urges
-all disputants to remember our Lord’s answer when He was
-buffeted, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil;
-but if well, why smitest thou me?”<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">217</a></p>
-
-<p>He dilates on the arrogance of the Anomœans in pretending
-to understand and to define the exact nature of God.
-“Professing themselves wise they only discovered their folly.
-Imperfect knowledge on so profound a subject was an inevitable
-part of the imperfection of our human state. The
-condition of our present knowledge was this: we know many
-things <em>about</em> God, but we do not know <em>how</em> they are or take
-place. For example, we may know that He is everywhere
-and without beginning or end, but <em>how</em> He is thus, we know
-not. We know that He begat the Son, and that the Holy
-Spirit proceeded from Him, but <em>how</em> these things can be we
-are unable to tell. This is analogous to our knowledge of
-many things which are called natural. We eat various kinds
-of food, but <em>how</em> they nourish us and are transmuted into
-the several humours of the body we do not understand.”<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">218</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p>
-
-<p>“Again, if the wisest and holiest men have confessed
-themselves incompetent to fathom the <em>purposes</em> and <em>dispensations</em>
-of God, how far more inscrutable must His <em>essence</em> be!
-If David exclaims ‘Such knowledge is too wonderful and
-excellent for me, I cannot attain unto it;’ and St. Paul,
-‘Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom of God! how unsearchable
-are His judgments, how untraceable His ways!’
-if the very angels do not presume to discuss the nature of
-God, but humbly adore Him with veiled faces, crying ‘Holy,
-Holy, Holy,’ how monstrous is the conceit and irreverence
-of those who curiously investigate and pretend to define the
-exact nature of the Godhead!”<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">219</a></p>
-
-<p>He proceeds to dwell upon the littleness and feebleness of
-man, as contrasted with the amazing and boundless power
-of God. The Eunomians maintained that man could know
-the nature of God as much as God Himself knew it. “What
-mad presumption was this! The Prophets exhaust all available
-metaphors to express the insignificance of man as compared
-with God. Men are ‘dust and ashes,’ ‘grass,’ and the
-‘flower of grass,’ ‘a vapour,’ ‘a shadow.’ Inanimate creation
-acknowledges the irresistible supremacy of His power; ‘if
-He do but touch the hills they shall smoke,’ ‘He shaketh
-the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble’
-(Job ix. 6).” “Seest thou not yon sky, how beautiful it is,
-how vast, spangled with what a choir of stars? Five
-thousand years and more has it stood, yet length of time has
-left no mark of old age upon it: like a youthful vigorous
-body it retains the beauty with which it was endowed at
-the beginning. This beautiful, this vast, this starry, this
-ancient firmament, was made by that God into whose nature
-you curiously pry, was made with as much ease as a man
-might for pastime construct a hovel: ‘He established the
-sky like a roof, and stretched it out like a tent over the
-earth’ (Isa. xl. 22). The solid, durable earth He made, and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>all the nations of the world, even as far as the British Isles,
-are but as a drop in a bucket; and shall man, who is but an
-infinitesimal part of this drop, presume to inquire into the
-nature of Him who made all these forces and whom they
-obey?”<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">220</a> “God dwells in the light which no man can
-approach unto. If the light which surrounds Him be inaccessible,
-how much more God Himself who is within it?
-St. Paul rebukes those who presume to question the dispensation
-of God. ‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest
-against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that
-formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?’ How much more,
-then, would he have reproved dogmatic assumptions respecting
-the nature of the great Dispenser?<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">221</a> The declaration of
-St. John, that no man had seen God at any time, might
-appear at variance with the descriptions in the prophets of
-visions of the Deity. As: ‘I saw the Lord sitting on His
-throne, high and lifted up’ (Isa. vi. 1). ‘I saw the Lord
-standing above the altar’ (Amos ix. 1). ‘I beheld till the
-thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit,
-whose garment was white as snow,’ etc. (Dan. vii. 9). But
-the very variety of forms under which God is said to have
-appeared proves that these manifestations were merely
-condescensions to the weakness of human nature, which
-requires something that the eye can see and the ear can hear.
-They were only manifestations of the Deity adapted to man’s
-capacity; not the Divine Nature itself, which is simple,
-incomposite, devoid of shape. So also, when it is said of
-God the Son that He is ‘in the bosom of the Father,’ when
-He is described as standing, or sitting, on the right hand of
-God, these expressions must not be interpreted in too
-material a sense; they are expressions accommodated to
-our understandings, to convey an idea of such an intimate
-union and equality between the two Persons as is in itself
-incomprehensible.”<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">222</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span></p>
-
-<p>And this leads him on to consider the second error of the
-Arians—their denial of absolute equality between the three
-Persons in the Godhead. His arguments are based, as usual,
-entirely on an appeal to Holy Scripture. He makes a
-skilful selection and combination of texts to prove his point:
-that the titles “God” and “Lord” are common to the first
-two Persons in the Trinity—the names Father and Son being
-added merely to distinguish the Personality. Had the
-Father alone been God, then it would have been superfluous
-to add the name Father at all: “there is one God” would
-have been sufficient. But, as it was, the titles “God” and
-“Lord” were applied to both Persons to prove their equality
-in respect of Godhead. That the appellation of Lord no
-way indicated inferiority was plain, because it was frequently
-applied to the Father. “The Lord our God is one Lord,”
-Exod. xx. 2. “Great is our Lord, and great is his power,”
-Ps. cxlvii. 5. On the other hand, Christ is frequently
-entitled <em>God</em>, e.g. “Immanuel—<em>God</em> with us.” “Christ
-according to the flesh, who is over all, <em>God</em> blessed for ever.”
-In some instances the Father and the Son are both called
-Lord, or both God, in the <em>same</em> passage; as, for example,
-“The Lord said unto my Lord, ... Thy throne, O God
-(the Son), is for ever and ever; ... wherefore God (the
-Father), even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
-gladness,” etc.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">223</a></p>
-
-<p>The reason why Christ sometimes acted and spoke in a
-manner which implied human infirmity and inferiority to
-the Father was twofold: First, that men might be convinced
-that He did really, substantially, exist in the truth of our
-human nature; that He was not a mere phantom—the error
-of Marcion, Manes, and Valentinus—an error which would
-have been still more prevalent had He not so clearly manifested
-the reality of his humanity. On the other hand, He
-was reserved and cautious in declaring the highest mystery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span>—his
-divine union and equality with the Father—out of
-condescension to the weakness of man’s intellect, which
-recoiled from the more recondite mysteries. When He told
-them that “Abraham rejoiced to see his day,” that “before
-Abraham was He was,” “that the bread from heaven was
-his flesh, which He would give for the life of the world,”
-that “hereafter they should see the Son of Man coming in
-the clouds,” they were invariably offended. But, on the
-contrary, He was chiefly accepted when He spoke words
-implying more humiliation—for example, “I can of my own
-self do nothing, but as my Father taught me, even so I
-speak.” “As He spake these words,” we are told, “many
-believed on Him.”<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">224</a></p>
-
-<p>Two other reasons might be assigned for this language
-of self-abasement. One was, that He came to teach us
-humility,—“Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.”
-He “came not to be ministered unto but to minister.” He
-who bids others be lowly must first and pre-eminently be
-lowly himself. Therefore He performed such acts as washing
-his disciples’ feet; and the Incarnation itself was no
-sign, as the Arian maintained, of inferiority, but only the
-highest expression of that great principle of self-sacrificing
-love which He came to teach. Lastly, by such language He
-directs our minds to the apprehension of a clear distinction
-between the Persons in the Godhead. If his sayings about
-Himself had all been of the same type as “I and my
-Father are one,” the Sabellian error of confounding the
-Persons would have become yet more prevalent than it was.
-Thus, we find throughout our Lord’s life, in his acts and
-language, a careful mixture and variation of character in
-order to present the two elements—the human and divine—in
-equal proportions. He predicts his own sufferings and
-death, yet quickly afterwards He prays the Father that He
-might be, if possible, spared undergoing them. In the first
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span>act is pure divinity; in the second, humanity shrinking from
-that pain which is abhorrent to human nature.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">225</a></p>
-
-<p>This very fact, however, of our Lord’s praying, was laid
-hold of by the Arians to prove the inferiority of his nature.
-This argument Chrysostom meets in Homilies <span class="smcap">IX.</span> and <span class="smcap">X.</span>
-The raising of Lazarus had been read in the Gospel for the
-day. “I perceive,” he says, “that many of the Jews and
-heretics will find an excuse, in the prayer offered by Christ
-before performing this miracle, to impugn his power, and
-say He could not have done it without the Father’s assistance.”
-But this fell to the ground, because on most other
-occasions our Lord wrought his miracles without any prayer
-at all. To the dead maiden he simply said, “Talitha cumi,”
-and she arose; the woman with an issue of blood was healed
-without any word or touch from Him. In the case of
-Lazarus He prayed, as He Himself declared, for the sake of
-the people, that they might perceive that God heard his
-prayers—that there was a perfect unanimity between the
-Father and the Son. Martha, in fact, had asked for a
-prayer—“I know whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will
-give it thee;” therefore He prayed; just as, when the centurion
-said, “Speak the word only,” He spake the word and
-the servant was healed. If He had needed help He would
-have invoked it before all his miracles. In fact there was
-no kind of sovereign power which He hesitated to exercise.
-“Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee” ... “the
-Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins;”—to an evil
-spirit, “<em>I</em> charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more
-into him;” ... “to them of old it was said, Thou shalt
-not kill; but <em>I</em> say, whosoever is angry with his brother
-without a cause,” etc. He represents Himself as saying on
-the final day, “Come, ye blessed;” or “Depart, ye cursed.”
-Thus He claims authority to absolve, to judge, to legislate.</p>
-
-<p>Homilies <span class="smcap">XI.</span> and <span class="smcap">XII.</span>, against the Anomœans, were
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span>delivered some ten years later at Constantinople, but as they
-contain no special references to the events of that time, the
-continuity of this subject may be maintained by extracting
-from them the argument there employed to prove the
-equality of the Son with the Father. It is based on the
-passage, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (St.
-John v. 17); by which our Saviour justified Himself from
-the accusation of breaking the Sabbath when He healed the
-paralytic. The words “My Father worketh,” Chrysostom
-observes, refer to the daily operations of God’s providence,
-by which he sustains in being those things which he commanded
-into existence.</p>
-
-<p>This upholding energy, our Lord declares, is active at all
-times and on all days alike; and if it were not, the fabric of
-the universe would fall to pieces. He claims a similar right
-to providential rule, which implies equality with the Father.
-“My Father worketh, <em>and I</em> work.” If the Son had been
-inferior, such a method of justifying Himself would only
-have added force to the charges of his enemies. If a subject
-of the Emperor were to put on the imperial diadem and
-purple, it would be no excuse to say that he wore them
-<em>because</em> the Emperor wore them—“the Emperor wears them,
-<em>and I</em> wear them;”—on the contrary, it would augment the
-offensiveness of his presumption and arrogance. If Christ
-were not equal with the Father, it was the height of presumption
-to use those words, “My Father worketh hitherto,
-and I work.”</p>
-
-<p>In dealing with such lengthy homilies, it has been impossible
-to do more than give specimens in a very condensed
-form of the main lines of argument which Chrysostom
-adopts. They vary greatly in value; but two points cannot
-fail to arrest the notice of any one who reads these homilies
-through:—First, the profound acquaintance of their author
-with Holy Scripture; extending apparently with equal force
-to every part of the sacred volume. Old and New Testament<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span>
-and Apocrypha are almost equally employed for argument,
-illustration, adornment; he is at home everywhere. Secondly,
-upon Scripture all his arguments are based: in none of his
-controversial homilies does Chrysostom take his stand upon
-the platform of existing tradition, or rely on the authority of
-the Church alone; “to the law and to the testimony” is
-always the way with him. And this was a test at that time
-universally accepted. The dispute with the most rationalistic
-and critical Arians seems never to have turned on the
-<em>authority</em>, but only on the <em>interpretation</em> of Scripture. Scripture
-is appealed to as the supreme court for trying all their
-differences; the only question was, as to the exact meaning
-of its decisions.</p>
-
-<p>Again, we cannot fail to be struck by the ease and
-rapidity with which he glances off from the most controversial
-and theological parts of his discourse to practical
-reproof and exhortation. Nothing provoked him more than
-to see the bulk of that large concourse of people, who had
-been listening with profound attention to his address, leave
-the church just as the celebration of the Eucharist was
-about to commence. “Deeply do I groan to perceive that
-when your fellow-servant is speaking, great is your earnestness,
-strained your attention, you crowd one upon another,
-and stay till the very end; but that, when Christ is about
-to appear in the holy mysteries, the church is empty and
-deserted.... If my words had been laid up in your hearts
-they would have kept you here, and brought you to the
-celebration of these most solemn mysteries with greater
-piety; but as it is, my speech seems as fruitless as the performance
-of a lute-player, for as soon as I have finished
-you depart. Away with the frigid excuse of many: I can
-say prayers at home, but I cannot at home hear homilies
-and doctrine. Thou deceivest thyself, O man; you may
-indeed pray at home, but it is impossible to pray <em>in the same
-manner</em> as at church, where there is so large an assembly of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>
-your spiritual fathers, and the cry of the worshippers is
-sent up with one accord; where there is unanimity and
-concert in prayer; and where the priests preside, that the
-weaker supplications of the multitude being supported by
-theirs, which are more powerful, may ascend together with
-these to heaven. First prayer, then discourse; so say the
-Apostles—“But we will give ourselves to <em>prayer and</em> to the
-ministry of the word.”<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">226</a></p>
-
-<p>Again, as frequently in other discourses, he reproves the
-congregation for testifying their admiration of his words by
-applause. “You praise what I have said, you receive my
-exhortation with tumults of applause; but show your approbation
-by obedience; that is the praise which I seek, the
-applause which comes through deeds.”<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">227</a></p>
-
-<p>His hearers, in fact, were so closely packed, and so much
-absorbed in listening to his discourse, that pickpockets often
-practised on them with some success. Chrysostom advises
-them, therefore, to bring no money or ornaments about their
-persons to church. It was a device of the devil, who hoped
-by means of this annoyance to chill their zeal in attending
-the services, just as he stripped Job of everything, not
-merely to make him poor but to rob him if possible of his
-piety.<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">228</a></p>
-
-<p>But the most inveterate enemy with which Chrysostom
-had to contend was the circus. Against this he declaims
-with all the vehemence of Evangelical invectives against
-horse-racing in modern times. The indomitable passion
-for the chariot-races, and the silly eagerness displayed about
-them by the inhabitants of Rome, Constantinople, and
-Antioch, are among the most remarkable symptoms of the
-depraved state of society under the later Empire. The
-whole populace was divided into factions distinguished by
-the different colours adopted by the charioteers, of which
-green and blue were the two chief favourites. The ani<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span>mosity,
-the sanguinary tumults, the superstitions,<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">229</a> folly,
-violence of every kind, which were mixed up with these
-popular amusements, well deserved the unsparing severity
-with which they were lashed by the great preacher.</p>
-
-<p>A few specimens shall be collected here from other
-homilies, as well as from those immediately under consideration.</p>
-
-<p>“Again we have the horse-races; again our assembly is
-thinned. There were many indeed whose absence he little
-regretted: they were to the faithful amongst the congregation
-only as leaves to fruit.<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">230</a> Sometimes, however, the church
-was deserted by those of whom he had expected more fidelity.
-He felt disheartened, like a sower who had scattered good
-seed plentifully, but with no adequate result. Gladly and
-eagerly would he continue his exertions could he see any
-fruit of his labours; but when, forgetful of all his exhortations
-and warnings, and solemn remindings of the terrible
-doom, the unquenchable fire, the undying worm, they again
-abandoned themselves to the diabolical exhibitions of the race-course,
-with what heart could he return to the unthankful
-task? They manifested, indeed, by applause, the pleasure
-with which they heard his words, and then they hurried off
-to the circus, and, sitting side by side with Jew or Pagan,
-they applauded with a kind of frenzied eagerness the efforts
-of the several charioteers; they rushed tumultuously along,
-jostling one another, and shouting, ‘that horse didn’t
-run fairly,’ ‘that was tripped up and fell,’ and the like.<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">231</a>
-Various excuses were pleaded for absence from church—the
-exigencies of business, poverty, ill health, lameness; but
-these impediments never prevented attendance at the Hippodrome.
-In the church the chief places even were not
-always all occupied, but <em>there</em> old and young, rich and poor,
-crowded every available space for standing or sitting;
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span>pushing, and squeezing, and trampling on one another’s feet,
-while the sun poured down on their heads: yet they appeared
-thoroughly to enjoy themselves, in spite of all these discomforts;
-while in the church the length of the sermon,
-or the heat, or the crowd, were perpetual subjects of complaint.”<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">232</a></p>
-
-<p>Such are a few illustrations of one, but perhaps the most
-notable, form among many in which the impulsiveness and
-frivolity of the people of Antioch were displayed. “The building
-which the preacher had so laboriously and industriously
-reared in the hearts of his disciples was thus cruelly dashed
-down and levelled to the very ground by a few hours of
-dissolving pleasure and iniquitous frivolity.”<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">233</a></p>
-
-<p>Truly indeed might the lamentation of the prophet over
-the evanescent piety of Ephraim and Judah have been
-applied to these people: “Your goodness is as a morning
-cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away” (Hos. vi. 4).</p>
-
-<hr />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">HOMILIES AGAINST PAGANS AND JEWS—CONDITION OF THE JEWS IN
-ANTIOCH—JUDAISING CHRISTIANS—HOMILIES ON CHRISTMAS DAY AND
-NEW YEAR’S DAY—CENSURE OF PAGAN SUPERSTITIONS. A.D. 386, 387.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">In</span> dealing with the Arians, the contest mainly turned, as
-has been pointed out in the previous chapter, on the interpretation
-of Scripture; but in doing battle with Pagans and
-Jews, with the former especially, Chrysostom had of course
-to take up a different attitude. The method which he adopts
-towards the Jew is to demonstrate the fulfilment of Old
-Testament prophecy in the person and work of Jesus Christ,
-and to insist on the consequent abrogation of the Jewish
-dispensation. The ground on which he mainly relies against
-the Pagan is the miraculous establishment and progress of
-Christianity in the face of unprecedented opposition, as an
-evidence of its divine origin.</p>
-
-<p>The treatise addressed to Jews and Gentiles combined
-exhibits a powerful application of both these methods.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">234</a>
-“He would first of all enter the lists against the Pagan.
-And here caution was requisite. He would not say, when
-the Pagan asked how the divinity of Christ was to be
-proved, that Christ created the world, raised the dead, healed
-the sick, expelled demons, promised a resurrection and a
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span>heavenly kingdom, because these were the very questions
-upon which they joined issue. But he would start from a
-ground which even the Pagan would accept: no one would
-venture to deny that the Christian religion was founded by
-Jesus Christ, and from this simple fact he would undertake
-to prove that Christ could be no less than God. No mere
-man could, in so short a time, with such feeble instruments,
-and in the face of such opposition arising from inveterate
-custom and forms of faith, have subdued so many and such
-various races of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">235</a> How contrary to the common
-course of events, that He who was despised, weak, and put
-to an ignominious death, should now be honoured and adored
-in all regions of the earth! Emperors who have made laws,
-and altered the constitution of states, who have ruled nations
-by their nod, in whose hands was the power of life and
-death, pass away; their images are in time destroyed, their
-actions forgotten, their adherents despised, their very names
-buried in oblivion:—present grandeur is succeeded by
-nothingness. In the case of Jesus Christ all is reversed.
-During his lifetime, all seemed failure and degradation, but
-a career of glory and triumph succeeded his death.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">236</a> Before
-his death Judas betrayed him, St. Peter denied him; after
-his death, St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles traversed
-the world to bear witness to his truth, and thousands of
-people have died rather than utter what the chief of the
-Apostles once uttered from fear of a maid-servant’s taunts.
-‘His rest shall be glorious:’—this was true, not only of the
-Master, but also of his disciples. In that most royal city
-of Rome, monarchs, prefects, generals, flocked to the sepulchres
-of the fisherman and the tent-maker; and in Constantinople
-they who wore the diadem were content to lay their
-bones in the porch of the Apostles’ Church, and to become
-as it were the door-keepers of humble fishermen.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">237</a> Christ
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>had made the most ignominious death, and the instrument of
-it, glorious. It was written, ‘Cursed is he that hangeth on a
-tree,’ yet the cross had become the object of desire and love;
-it was more honourable than the whole world, for the
-imperial crown itself was not such an ornament to the head:
-princes and subjects, men and women, bond and free, all
-delighted to wear it imprinted on the brow. It was conspicuous
-on the Holy Table, and in the ceremony of ordaining
-priests; in houses, in market-places, by the wayside,
-and on mountain sides, on couches and on garments, on
-ships, on drinking vessels, in mural decorations, the cross
-was depicted. Whence all this extraordinary honour to a
-piece of wood, unless the power of him who died upon it
-was divine?”<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">238</a></p>
-
-<p>Christ had declared that the gates of hell should not
-prevail against his Rock-founded Church. How far had
-this prediction been verified? In a short space of time
-Christianity had abolished ancestral customs, plucked up
-deeply-rooted habits, overturned altars and temples, caused
-unclean rites and ceremonials to vanish away. Christian
-altars had been erected in Italy, in Persia, in Scythia, in
-Africa. “What say I? even the British Isles, which lie
-outside the boundaries of our world and our sea, in the
-midst of the ocean itself, have experienced the power of the
-Word, for even there churches and altars have been set up.”
-Thus the world had been, so to say, cleared of thorns, and
-purified to receive the seed of godliness. What a proof of
-superhuman power! The progress of the Church had been
-encountered by customs which were not only venerated but
-pleasant; yet these traditions, handed down through long
-lines of ancestors, were abandoned for a religion far more
-severe and laborious, a religion which substituted fasting
-for enjoyment, poverty for money-getting, temperance for
-lasciviousness, meekness for wrath, benevolence for ill-will.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span>
-Men who had long been enervated by luxury, and accustomed
-to the broad way, had been converted into the narrow,
-rugged path, not by tens or twenties, but by multitudes
-under the whole heaven. By whose agency had these
-mighty results been wrought? By a few unlearned obscure
-men, without illustrious ancestors, without money, without
-eloquence.<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">239</a> And all this in the teeth of opposition of the
-most varied kind. For where the new doctrine penetrated,
-it excited divisions and strife; children were set at variance
-with parents, brother with brother, husband with wife,
-master with servant. Yet, in spite of persecution and disruption
-of social ties, the new faith grew and flourished.
-How could such unprecedented marvels have come to pass
-but through the divine power, and in obedience to that Word
-of God which is creative of actual results? Just as, when
-He said “Let the earth bring forth grass,” the wilderness
-became a garden, so when the expression of His purpose had
-gone forth, “I will build my Church,” straightway the process
-began, and though tyrants and people, sophists and
-orators, custom and religion, had been arrayed against it,
-yet the Word, going forth like fire, consumed the thorns,
-and scattered the good seed over the purified soil.<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">240</a></p>
-
-<p>In attempting to convince the Jews of the divinity of
-Jesus Christ by proving the exact fulfilment of Old Testament
-prophecy in his person and work, Chrysostom displays
-that intimate familiarity with every part of Scripture which
-is his eminent characteristic.</p>
-
-<p>The passages are, on the whole, most judiciously selected;
-some corresponding passage from the New Testament being
-placed, if possible, against each, with a careful attention even
-to verbal parallelism. For instance, against the passage in
-Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord shall <em>rest</em> upon him,” he
-places the verse from St. John i. 32, “I beheld the Spirit
-descending like a dove, and it <em>abode</em> upon him.”<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">241</a> He refers
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span>each event in Christ’s life, his Incarnation, his rejection by
-the Jews, his betrayal, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, the
-descent of the Holy Ghost, and the beginning of the Apostolic
-labours to some corresponding prediction.<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">242</a> He sometimes,
-however, falls into the error, less common in him than in
-other patristic interpreters, of seeing direct references to the
-Messiah and the Messianic kingdom, to the almost total
-exclusion of any other meaning. For instance, such passages
-as “Their sound is gone out into all lands,” “That thou
-mayest make princes in all lands,” are cited as if exclusively
-predictive of the propagation of Christianity. In such words
-as “The virgins that be her fellows shall bear her company,”
-he sees a distinct foreshadowing of the honour to be paid to
-virginity under Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">243</a> In other passages, again, he is
-misled by ignorance of the Hebrew, and a too literal adherence
-to the Septuagint translation. In the passage, “I will
-make thy officers peace,” thine “exactors” being rendered in
-the Septuagint bishops or overseers, he extracts from this
-word a direct reference to the Christian priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">244</a> “He
-shall descend like rain into a fleece of wool” is interpreted
-as significant of the extreme secrecy of Christ’s birth, and
-the noiseless gentleness with which his kingdom was founded.<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">245</a>
-Whereas, the strict translation being “like rain upon new-mown
-grass,” it is rather illustrative of the fruitful results of
-Christ’s advent.<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">246</a></p>
-
-<p>Such occasional defects, however, will not prevent us from
-according the praise due to the great skill with which, on
-the whole, he has worked out this method of argument, and
-the noble vindication of Christianity in this treatise has
-seldom if ever been surpassed by Chrysostom elsewhere. The
-several parts of his argument are unfolded in orderly procession,
-and expressed with an eloquence at once luminous and
-earnest, and which, though at times copious and ornate, does
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span>not degenerate into the mere redundancy, still less into the
-affectations and flowery artifices, of rhetoric; he is always
-real and earnest, he is sometimes sublime.</p>
-
-<p>Closely connected with this treatise in subject, and not far
-distant in time of composition, are the Homilies directed
-against Jews and Judaising Christians. The Jews, ever since
-the time of Antiochus the Great, were a considerable body in
-Antioch, and over the Christian population exerted a seriously
-pernicious influence. Their position, indeed, in the Empire
-at large had been increasingly favourable from the reign of
-Hadrian to Constantine. Though they were not permitted
-to approach Jerusalem, yet the worship in their synagogues
-was freely tolerated; they were permitted to circumcise their
-own children though not the children of proselytes; and their
-religious organisation in the Empire was held together under
-the sway of the Patriarch of Tiberias.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">247</a> After the recognition
-of Christianity by the Empire, the Jews, as a natural consequence,
-were less favourably treated. The statutes of
-Constantine and Constantius were severe. Those Jews who
-attempted the life of a Christian were to be burned. No
-Christians were to become Jews, under pain of punishment.
-Jews were forbidden to marry Christian women or to possess
-Christian slaves. The national character of the Jew seems to
-have deteriorated, as the race became more widely dispersed,
-and as their wealth and importance increased. They were no
-longer indeed so morosely and sullenly proud as when they
-gloried in the possession of a holy city and distinct religious
-ordinances, and a geographical position which isolated them
-from the rest of mankind, but neither were their faith or
-morals so pure. Self-indulgence, sensualism, and low cunning
-corrupted their life; a superstitious and material cast of
-thought depraved their faith. Their habits harmonised too
-well with that propensity to luxury and licentiousness which
-was the besetting vice of the people of Antioch; their
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span>materialism worked hand in hand with the prevailing Arianism,
-if, indeed, Arianism may not be regarded as in some
-sort its product. Certainly, whenever popular insurrections
-caused by religious dissensions occurred either in Antioch or
-in Alexandria, the Jews ranged themselves on the Arian side,
-as if the spirit and character of the Arian sect were the most
-congenial to their own.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">248</a></p>
-
-<p>Allowing for some exaggerations in the preacher, carried
-away by the impulse of the moment, the invectives of
-Chrysostom must be permitted to prove that the Jewish
-residents in Antioch were of a low and vicious order. They
-seem to have been regarded by the common people with a
-mixture of dislike and awe; the age was superstitious, and
-the Jews availed themselves of superstitious terrors to make
-a livelihood, especially through a kind of quackery in medicine.
-Their quarters are denounced by Chrysostom as dens of
-robbers and habitations of demons.<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">249</a> A whole day would not
-suffice to tell the tale of their extortions, their thefts, their
-deceptions, their base methods of traffic, such as the sale of
-amulets and charms.<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">250</a> Their priests were no better than
-counterfeits, because they had not gone through all the
-elaborate rites of consecration. They had no sacred ephod,
-no Urim and Thummim, no altar, no sacrifice, no prophecy.</p>
-
-<p>The Festival of Trumpets was a scene of great debauchery,
-more iniquitous than the proceedings in the theatre. Any
-catechumen who was detected attending that festival was to
-be excluded from the porch of the church; any communicant
-so detected was to be denied access to the Holy Table. The
-booths erected at the Feast of Tabernacles were like taverns,
-crowded with flute-players and ill-conditioned women. The
-synagogues were frequented by the most abandoned charac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span>ters
-of both sexes, and dancers, actors, and charioteers were
-largely drawn from the Jewish population. In spite of this,
-many Christians were seduced to attend the Jewish festivals
-and fasts, and even to swear Jewish oaths in the synagogues,
-under the superstitious impression that such were
-more solemn and binding than any Christian forms. He had
-himself, only three days ago, rescued a woman being dragged
-off, against her will, to take an oath of this kind, by a man
-who professed himself a Christian. On stopping to rebuke
-him in the sternest language, Chrysostom was shocked to
-learn that the practice was extremely common among
-Christians. He passionately exhorts the faithful to reclaim
-their deluded brethren from these pernicious ways:—If
-twelve Apostles had converted the larger part of the world,
-it would be a shame that the Christians, who were the
-majority in the population of Antioch, should fail to allay
-the plague of Judaism. What treason! what inconsistency,
-that they, who worshipped the Crucified One, should associate
-with the race which crucified Him.<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">251</a> The synagogue ought
-not to be an object of reverence because it contained the
-Books of the Law and the Prophets, but rather of abhorrence,
-because those who possessed the Prophets refused to recognise
-Him of whom their writings spoke. Was the temple of
-Serapis holy because it contained the Septuagint, deposited
-there by Ptolemy Philadelphus?<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">252</a></p>
-
-<p>Christians seem to have attended Jewish services much
-in that spirit of curiosity with which Protestants sometimes
-go to Roman Catholic churches, to be entertained by music,
-incense, and a grand ritual. They maintained that the
-effect was solemnising; but, observes Chrysostom, the value
-of the offering to God depends not on the nature of the
-offering, but on the heart of the offerers. The worshippers
-sanctify the temple, not the temple the worshippers. You
-would not touch or address the murderer of your own son,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span>and will you court the society of those who slew the Son of
-God?<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">253</a> Let them consider that cry uttered by the deacon
-from time to time in the celebration of the holy mysteries:
-“Discern one another.”<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">254</a> So let them do. “If you discern
-any one Judaising, hold him fast and expose him, that you
-may not yourself participate in the danger.”</p>
-
-<p>“In military camps, if any soldier be detected sympathising
-with the barbarian or the Persian, not only does he
-himself run a risk of his life, but also any of his comrades
-who were conscious of his defection, but did not represent it
-to the general. Since, then, you are the army of Christ,
-search diligently whether any stranger has intruded into
-your camp, and expose him, not that we may put him to
-death, but that we may punish him, deliver him from his
-error and impiety, and render him wholly our own; but if
-you willingly conceal him, be well assured that you will
-sustain the same punishment with him.” This homily is
-concluded by a solemn adjuration: “In the words of Moses,
-I call heaven and earth to record against you this day, that
-if any of you now present or absent attend the Feast of
-Trumpets, or enter a synagogue, or observe a fast, or a
-sabbath, or any Jewish rite whatever, I am guiltless of your
-blood. These discourses will rise up for both of us in the
-great day of our Lord: if you shall have obeyed them, they
-will give you confidence; but if otherwise, they will stand
-as severe accusers against you.” Therefore he implored
-them to institute the most rigorous search after the Judaising
-brethren. When their mother the Church had lost a
-child, it was criminal to conceal either the captor or the
-captured; let the men seek out the men, the women the
-women, the slave his fellow-servant, and present the culprit
-to him before the next assembly.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Another Judaising practice, which he condemns in the
-severest language, was the custom of keeping Easter on
-the 14th day of the month, according to Jewish calculation,
-irrespective of the week-day on which it might fall;
-thus sometimes feasting when the rest of the Church was
-fasting, or fasting when the rest was feasting. The existence
-of such a practice at this time was a remarkable instance of
-the increasing influence of the Jews in Antioch and the
-neighbouring regions. For up to the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 276, the
-Antiochene patriarchate had observed Easter in conformity
-with the Catholic usage; the adoption of the Jewish calculation
-was made after that date, when most of the rest of
-Christendom had dropped it, and was therefore the subject
-of special condemnation at the Council of Nice.<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">255</a> Such a
-discrepancy in practice was regarded as a most serious rent
-in the unity of the Church. Chrysostom denounces it
-especially as a contumacious disregard of the Council of
-Nice, which had distinctly ordained by the mouths of three
-hundred bishops that Easter should be kept at one and
-the same time throughout Christendom. He implores the
-Judaisers to desist from the idle inquiry into the exact
-dates of seasons; to follow the Church, and to place harmony
-and charitable peace before all things. It was impossible,
-in fact, to fix the actual day on which Christ rose; therefore
-let them observe that day which the Church through her
-bishops had prescribed. It was a less offence to fast on the
-wrong day than to rend the unity of the Church. “How
-long halt ye between two opinions?” if Judaism be true,
-embrace it altogether, and “cease to annoy the Church; if
-Christianity be true, abide in it, and follow it.”<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">256</a></p>
-
-<p>The Jews themselves could not, in Chrysostom’s opinion,
-legally perform sacrifices, or observe festivals of any kind.
-Jerusalem was the only place in which such observances
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span>were commanded; and Jerusalem being destroyed they
-became void.<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">257</a> They had been suspended during the Captivity,
-to be resumed when the people returned to the holy
-soil. If the Jews of the present day also expected restoration,
-let them likewise suspend their rites; but, in fact, this
-never would occur. The Temple never would be rebuilt,
-and restoration was a vain hope. Jerusalem was to be
-trodden down of Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles were
-fulfilled; and by the fulfilment of those times Chrysostom
-understood the end of the world.<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">258</a> All four Captivities of
-the Jews—their subjection to the Egyptians, Babylonians,
-Antiochus, and the Romans—had been distinctly foretold. To
-each of the <em>first three</em> prophecy had assigned a limit; but to
-the last <em>none</em>—it reached into all time; there was no sign or
-intimation of any probable cessation.<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">259</a> The revolt of the
-Jews under Hadrian, and under Constantine,<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">260</a> had ignominiously
-failed; the attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple
-had been frustrated by portents: fire issuing from the
-foundations had consumed some of the workmen, and scared
-the spectators; the naked substructions, left just as they
-were when the work was abandoned, presented a visible
-monument of the divinely-arrested work.<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">261</a></p>
-
-<p>The eager exhortation reiterated in his last homily, that
-the faithful should seek out their brethren who had been
-caught in the Jewish snare, is a powerful rush of indignant
-eloquence, and a wholesome admonition on the responsibility
-of all for the spiritual welfare of their fellow-men. “Say
-not within thyself, I am a man of the world; I have a wife
-and children; these matters belong to the priests and the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span>monks. The Samaritan in the parable did not say, Where
-are the priests? where are the Pharisees? where are the
-Jewish authorities? but seized the opportunity of doing a
-good deed, as if it was a great advantage. In like manner,
-when you see any one requiring bodily or spiritual care, say
-not within thyself, Why did not this or that man attend to
-him?—but deliver him from his infirmity. If you find a
-piece of gold in your path, you do not say, Why did not
-some other person pick it up? but you eagerly anticipate
-others by seizing it yourself. Even so, in the case of your
-fallen brethren, consider that you have found a treasure in
-them and give the attention necessary for their wants.”
-He besought them not to proclaim the calamity of the
-Church by idly gossiping about the numbers of those who
-had observed some Jewish custom, but to search them out;
-and, if necessary, to enter their houses, tax them with their
-guilt, and solemnly warn them against the iniquity of consorting
-with the enemies of Jesus Christ. “Listen not to
-any excuses which they may plead on the ground of cures
-effected by the Jews; expose their impostures, their incantations,
-their amulets, their charms, their drugs.” Even if
-they really effected cures, it would be better to die and save
-the soul, than resort to the enemies of Christ to heal the
-body. Let them rather appeal to the assistance of the
-martyrs and saints who were His friends, and had great
-confidence in addressing Him. “Why did the Son of Man
-Himself enter the world? Was it not to seek and to save
-wandering sheep? This do thou, according to thy ability.
-I will not cease to speak, whether you hear or whether you
-forbear. If you heed not, I shall do it, but with grief; if
-you listen and obey, I shall do it, but with joy.”<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">262</a></p>
-
-<p>It is difficult for us, in our altered position towards Jews
-and heretics of all kinds, to sympathise with the vehemence
-of Chrysostom’s feelings and language. Yet there can be no
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span>doubt that such dabbling, if the word may be used, in the
-customs, the observances, the ritual of an obsolete dispensation,
-and a debased people, did seriously imperil purity of faith
-and morals, and unity of discipline, in the Christian Church.</p>
-
-<p>Towards dissentient Christians, not infected by Judaism,
-Chrysostom adopts a milder tone, and indeed restrains the
-immoderation of party feeling in others with wholesome
-censure. He laments<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">263</a> the distracted state of the Church
-in Antioch, which was now divided into the three sections
-of Meletians, Eustathians, and Arians; but he denounces
-the practice of anathematising. It was uncharitable and
-presumptuous. St. Paul anathematised once only; the casting
-off of a heretic ought to be as painful as plucking out an
-eye or cutting off a limb. A holy man before their times,
-one of the successors of the Apostles, and judged worthy of
-the honour of martyrdom, used to say, that to assume the
-right to anathematise was as great a usurpation of Christ’s
-authority as for a subject to put on the Imperial purple.
-In dealing with erring brethren, the Christian should “in
-meekness instruct those that oppose themselves, if God,
-peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
-of the truth.” “If a man accepts your counsel and
-confesses his error, you have saved him, and delivered your
-own soul also; but if he will not, do you nevertheless continue
-to testify with long-suffering and kindness, that the
-Judge may not require his soul at thy hand. Hate him not;
-turn not from him; persecute him not, but catch him in the
-net of sincere and genuine charity. The person whom you
-anathematise is either living or dead; if living, you do
-wrong to cut off one who may still be converted; if dead,
-much more you do wrong; ‘to his own master he standeth
-or falleth;’ and ‘who hath known the mind of the Lord, or
-who hath been his counsellor?’ You may anathematise
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span>heretical dogmas, but towards the persons who hold them
-show the greatest possible forbearance, and pray for their
-salvation.”</p>
-
-<p>In the winter of 386, Chrysostom preached a sermon on
-Christmas Day, which, though not distinguished by any
-unusual merit, possesses an interest of its own. We learn
-from it, that this festival was not originally celebrated in
-the Eastern Church; it had been adopted from the West,
-and, in Antioch at least, less than ten years before the year
-of Chrysostom’s discourse. It had gradually increased in
-popularity, and this year Chrysostom rejoiced to observe
-that the church was crowded to overflowing. Rome had
-fixed the observance of the 25th of December, and this was
-the day kept throughout Christendom from Thrace to Gades;
-but the propriety of the date was much debated in the
-Eastern Churches, and the observance of the festival at all
-was considered by some as a questionable innovation.
-Chrysostom energetically vindicates the dignity of the
-festival and the correctness of the date.<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">264</a> It was the metropolis,
-so to say, of all other festivals, and as such it was the
-most solemn and awful. For the incarnation of Christ was
-the necessary condition of all the succeeding events of His
-career on earth, and in the profundity of its mystery it
-exceeded them all. That Christ should die was a natural
-consequence of human nature once assumed; but that He,
-being God, should have stooped so low as to assume that
-nature, was a mystery unfathomable to the mind of man!
-“Wherefore I specially welcome and belove this day, and
-desire to make you partakers in my affection. I pray and
-implore you all to come with zeal and alacrity, every man
-first purging his own house, to behold our Lord wrapped in
-swaddling clothes and lying in a manger; for if we come
-with faith, we shall indeed behold Him lying in the manger;
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span>for this Table supplies the place of the manger, and here
-also the body of the Lord will lie, not wrapped in swaddling
-clothes, but invested on all sides by the Holy Spirit. The
-initiated (or the baptized) understand what I mean.”<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">265</a> But
-he warns his hearers against crowding in a tumultuous and
-disorderly manner to partake of the holy feast. “Approach
-with fear and trembling, with fasting and prayer, not making
-an uproar, hustling and jostling one another: consider, O
-man, what kind of sacrifice thou art about to handle; consider
-that thou, who art dust and ashes, dost receive the
-body and blood of Christ.”<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">266</a> This irreverent conduct at the
-reception of the Eucharist frequently provoked the indignation
-and censure of Chrysostom. It occurred especially
-at the greater festivals, because on those days multitudes
-received the Eucharist who did not enter the church at
-other times. “How,” he cries in the homily on the Epiphany,
-“shall we teach you what is necessary concerning your soul,
-immortality, the kingdom of heaven, the long-suffering and
-mercy of God, and a future judgment, when you come to us
-only once or twice in the year?” Many of those who pushed
-and kicked one another in the eagerness of each to get
-foremost to the holy Table, withdrew from the church
-before the final thanksgiving. “What,” Chrysostom cries,
-“when Christ is present, and the angels are standing by,
-and this awe-inspiring Table is spread before you, and your
-brethren are still partaking of the mysteries, will you hurry
-away?” Too often they who thronged the church on these
-great occasions led worldly and even vicious lives; they
-hurried away before the sacred feast was ended, like Judas,
-to do the devil’s work.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">267</a> Such is one among many examples
-which may be elicited from Chrysostom’s works of that
-Pagan grossness and superstition which was mingled
-with the faith and the most solemn observances of Chris<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span>tianity.
-The vitality of superstitious customs, the subtlety
-with which they have grafted themselves upon Christianity,
-the tenacity with which they have clung to men in spite of
-it late into modern times, is indeed extraordinary; but for
-centuries their existence and influence were not appreciably
-if at all affected by Christianity. A half Oriental, half
-Greek, partly Jewish population, like that of Antioch, whose
-purer feelings and nobler reason were seriously impaired by
-habits of licentiousness and luxury, was naturally liable to
-superstitious terrors, and addicted to superstitious practices
-of all kinds. Chrysostom is frequently reproving his people
-for being anxious and afraid where there was no cause, while
-they abandoned themselves to vice, the only worthy cause
-for fear, without scruple or alarm. If Christmas Day was
-observed as a Christian festival, though without becoming
-reverence, New Year’s Day was given up to riotous festivity,
-thoroughly Pagan in character. The houses were festooned
-with flowers, the inns were scenes of the most disgraceful
-intemperance; men and women drinking undiluted wine
-there from an early hour in the morning; auguries and
-omens were consulted by which the horoscope of the year
-was cast. Good luck in the coming year was supposed to
-depend (how is not clearly stated) on the manner in which
-the first day was spent. This is the theme of the preacher’s
-righteous indignation. The real happiness of the year was
-determined, not by the observation of particular feasts, but
-by the amount of goodness which we put into it. Sin was
-the only real evil, virtue the only real good; therefore, if a
-man practised justice, almsgiving, and prayer, his year could
-not fail to be propitious; for he who had a clean conscience
-carried about with him a perpetual holy day, and without
-this, the most brilliant and joyous festival was obscured by
-darkness. “When thou seest the year completed, thank
-God that He has brought thee safely to the conclusion of
-the cycle: prick thine heart, reckon up the time of thy life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span>
-and say to thyself, The days are hurrying along, the years
-are being fulfilled, I have advanced far on the road, the
-judgment is at the doors, my life is pressing on towards old
-age: well! what good have I done? shall I depart hence
-destitute and empty of all righteousness?”<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">268</a></p>
-
-<p>There is a fuller notice, in some of his homilies on the
-Epistle to the Ephesians, of the many gross and senseless
-forms of superstition which prevailed even among the communicants
-in the Christian Church. He laments the decay
-of discipline, by which a more rigorous scrutiny was once
-instituted into the characters of those who came to the holy
-feast. If any one were to examine the lives of all those who
-partake of the mysteries on Easter Day, he would find
-amongst them persons who consulted auguries, who used
-drugs, and omens, and incantations; even the adulterer,
-curser, and drunkard, dared to partake. Iniquitous men
-had crept into the Church, the highest places of command
-were bought and sold, till the pure livers had betaken themselves
-to the mountains to escape from the contamination.<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">269</a>
-Some of the vulgar superstitions of the day were ludicrously
-puerile. “This or that man was the first to meet me as I
-walked out; consequently innumerable ills will certainly
-befall me: that confounded servant of mine, in giving me
-my shoes, handed me the left shoe first; this indicates dire
-calamities and insults: as I stepped out, I started with the
-left foot foremost; this too is a sign of misfortune: my right
-eye twitched upwards as I went out; this portends tears.”<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">270</a>
-To strike the woof with the comb in a particular way, the
-braying of a donkey, the crowing of a cock, a sudden sneeze,—all
-these were indications of something or other. “They
-suspect everything, and are more in bondage than if they
-were slaves many times over. But let not us, brethren, fear
-such things, but laughing them to scorn as men who live in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span>the light, and whose citizenship is in heaven, and who have
-nothing in common with this earth, let us regard one thing
-only as terrible,—and that is, sin.”<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">271</a></p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">SURVEY OF THE FIRST DECADE OF THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUS—HIS
-CHARACTER—HIS EFFORTS FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF PAGANISM AND
-HERESY—THE APOLOGIES OF SYMMACHUS AND LIBANIUS. A.D. 379-389.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Before</span> Chrysostom had laboured two full years in “confirming
-the souls of the disciples” at Antioch, that city
-became the scene of events memorable in history; and
-events in which the great preacher played an honourable
-and distinguished part.</p>
-
-<p>The foremost man of the age, not only by position but
-also to a great extent in character, was Theodosius the
-Emperor; Theodosius the Great, deservedly so called in spite
-of one prominent defect in character, and a few glaring
-misdeeds which tarnish his reputation. The military exploits
-of his father, Theodosius the elder, had provoked the jealousy
-of the court<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">272</a> and cost him his life, and the son, who had
-manifested ability almost equal, in serving under him both
-by land and sea against Scots and Saxons, Moors and Goths,
-was glad to escape a similar ungrateful return for his
-services, by retiring to the obscurity of his native village
-in Spain. He was disgraced when the Empire had been
-liberated from danger by the exertions of his father and
-himself; but in the hour of its utmost jeopardy, and direst
-distress, he was recalled to more than his former position.
-The total defeat and death of Valens, and the almost
-extermination of his army before Hadrianople in <span class="smcap">A.D</span>. 378,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span>placed the Empire at the mercy of victorious barbarians
-within the frontier, and on the edge of the horizon more
-storm-clouds of Gothic or Hunnish invasion were lowering.
-There was but one person to whom the mind of Gratian,
-the young Emperor of the West, and his advisers, overwhelmed
-by the prospect of impending calamity, instinctively
-turned as capable of saving the State in this crisis.
-For three years Theodosius had been quietly cultivating
-his farm between Valladolid and Segovia, when he was
-summoned to accept the title of Augustus, together with all
-the responsibilities and perils which attended the possessor,
-at such a time, of that venerable name. He was equal to
-the situation; handsome with a manly beauty, courageous
-and determined of purpose, just and politic in intention if
-not always in act, he was endowed with some of the noblest
-qualities of a soldier and a statesman, by which to rescue
-and reorganise a panic-stricken and crumbling State. This
-is not the place to narrate the military achievements of
-Theodosius. The original materials for information respecting
-them are scanty; but they have been collected and
-arranged by that historian whose indefatigable industry
-brings order out of confusion, and whose luminous style lights
-up with interest even the darkest and most meagre annals.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">273</a>
-It is sufficient to remind the reader of Gibbon, that Theodosius
-subdued the Goths, not in any one or two great
-battles, but by frequent and skilfully contrived engagements
-on a smaller scale. He thus gradually revived the
-drooping courage and discipline of the imperial troops, and
-wore out the enemy. The several tribes, on their submission,
-were settled in the waste tracts of country, which they were
-to occupy free of taxation, on the wise condition that they
-kept the land in a state of cultivation. So a numerous
-colony of Visigoths was established in Thrace, and of Ostrogoths
-in Phrygia and Lydia. The ability of Theodosius is
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span>proved more by the results of his energy than by anything
-that we know of the manner in which he accomplished
-them. He not only vanquished the Goths, but arrested the
-progress of the usurper Maximus in the West, who was
-leading his victorious legions to Italy, flushed with success
-after the ignominious flight and assassination of Gratian.
-Theodosius was not in a position, surrounded as he was
-by half-vanquished barbarians, to dispute the passage of the
-conqueror; but by assuming a firm tone in negotiations, he
-secured for Valentinian, Gratian’s brother and successor, the
-sovereignty of Italy, Africa, and Western Illyricum, surrendering
-for the present to the usurper the regions north
-of the Alps.</p>
-
-<p>Theodosius was a Christian; as a Spaniard he was a
-Trinitarian, and as a soldier he was anxious to establish one
-uniform type of religious faith and ecclesiastical discipline
-throughout the Empire. But such a task proved more
-impracticable than the reduction of military foes. Neither
-Paganism nor Arianism could be extinguished in a few
-years by suppressive edicts. Theodosius himself had been
-baptized in the first year of his reign, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 380, when his
-life was threatened by a severe illness, and he had then
-announced his will and pleasure that his own solemn
-declaration of faith should be accepted by his subjects
-also. That faith which was “professed by the Pontiff
-Damasus, and Peter, Bishop of Alexandria” was to be the
-faith of the Empire. “Let us believe the sole deity of the
-Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, under an equal
-majesty and a pious Trinity. We authorise the followers
-of this doctrine to assume the title of Catholic Christians,
-and as we judge that all others are extravagant madmen,
-we brand them with the infamous name of heretics.”<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">274</a> Their
-places of assembly were not to enjoy the title of churches,
-and they themselves were to expect severe civil penalties
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span>as well as the Divine condemnation. Damophilus, the
-Arian Bishop of Constantinople, preferred exile to signing
-the creed of Nice; and Gregory of Nazianzus was conducted
-by the Emperor in person through the streets of
-Constantinople (though not without a strong guard) to
-occupy the episcopal throne. A project for another general
-council (after the Council of Constantinople, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381) was
-entertained but abandoned, for the factious demeanour of the
-several prelates and their partisans on their arrival did not
-augur a very successful settlement of differences by that
-method. The Emperor fell back, for the accomplishment
-of his object, on his own authority. On July 25, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 383,
-an edict was posted in Constantinople, prohibiting all the
-heretics therein named, Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians,
-and Manichæans, from holding any kind of assembly, public
-or private, either in the cities or in the country. Any
-ground or building used for such illegal purpose was to be
-confiscated to the State; and the penalty of banishment was
-pronounced against those who allowed themselves to be
-ordained priests or bishops of the heretical sects. Historians
-concur in the opinion that few of these penalties were
-actually enforced. The heretical sects were not animated
-by a spirit of martyrdom; the intimidation was generally
-sufficient.<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">275</a> The hypocrite or the indifferent conformed, the
-more conscientious retired into obscurity. There seem to
-have been few if any Arian prelates of great and commanding
-ability. All the leading ecclesiastics of the day—Chrysostom,
-Jerome, Basil, the two Gregories, and Ambrose—were
-by conviction on the side of the Emperor, and added
-all the weight of their influence to his decrees.</p>
-
-<p>When measures had been taken for the suppression of
-heresy, it was the Pagan’s turn to suffer. The spectacle of
-temples standing open for worship side by side with Chris<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span>tian
-churches was a painful incongruity in the eyes of
-Theodosius, with his soldier-like ideas of uniformity and
-discipline. The first blow was directed against those disloyal
-sons of the Church who had seceded to Paganism.
-They were deprived of the power to make wills or to receive
-bequests.<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">276</a> The second step was absolutely to prohibit all
-sacrifices in those temples which were still open. Nearly
-twenty years before, the sacrifice of animals had been
-forbidden by Valentinian and Valens, owing to their connection
-with arts of divination, which were used for political
-purposes. As long as such sacrifices were permitted, the
-priests could not refrain from consulting the entrails of the
-victims, and pretending to read therein future events: the
-death of this Emperor, the elevation of that, the success or
-failure of expeditions, and the like, were intimated to the
-people, always eager to know what is beyond the limits of
-human knowledge. Such divinations encouraged a restless
-spirit in the subjects, and often disaffected them towards the
-ruling power. That these laws of Valentinian were renewed
-by Theodosius in 381, and again in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 385, proves that
-they had been imperfectly obeyed.<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">277</a></p>
-
-<p>They were followed up by a yet more decisive step in
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 392. Cynegius, the Prætorian Prefect of the East, the
-Counts Jovinus and Gaudentius in the West, were commissioned
-to shut up the temples, to destroy their contents,
-images, and vessels, and to confiscate their property. In
-many instances the executors of the edict, aided by the
-fanatical fury of monks, seem to have exceeded their instructions.
-The great temple of Jupiter, at Apamea, in
-Syria, of which the roof was supported on sixty massive
-columns, fell, but not unavenged; for the Bishop Marcellus,
-who headed the assailants, fell a victim to the rage of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span>exasperated rustics who defended it.<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">278</a> The safety of the
-universe was represented by Pagans to depend on the preservation
-of the colossal gold and silver image of Serapis at
-Alexandria. Even Christians beheld with some trepidation
-an audacious soldier deal a blow with a battle-axe on the
-cheek of this awful deity; but as the only result of the gash
-was the issue of a swarm of rats who had harboured in the
-sacred head, instead of the avenging thunders which had
-been expected, a revulsion of feeling was experienced. The
-huge idol was hewn to pieces, the limbs were dragged
-through the streets, and the remains of the carcase burned
-in the amphitheatre, amidst the derision of the populace.</p>
-
-<p>These were shattering blows to Paganism. But the
-religion of sentiment and custom long survives the extinction
-of more solid if not reasonable convictions. Chrysostom’s
-homily on New Year’s Day is only one among many
-illustrations of the way in which Pagan rites and superstitions
-lingered, especially in connection with public festivals. All
-the Pagan concomitants of these festivals in the country
-districts—hymns, libations, garlands, incense, lights—were
-strictly prohibited, under heavy penalties, by Theodosius in
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 392, but, in the West especially, the extirpation was
-very incomplete. The Bishops of Verona and of Brescia
-protested, but in vain, against the proprietors of land indulging
-their tenantry in these practices. Sicily, Corsica,
-and Sardinia, were strongholds of Paganism as late as
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 600. Sacrifices were offered to Apollo on Monte Casino
-till the establishment of St. Benedict’s monastery in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-529.</p>
-
-<p>The riotous populace of towns, and the simple country folk
-attached to old customs, thus evinced some spirit in their
-resistance to repressive enactments. But the hold which
-Paganism retained upon intellectual people was feeble indeed.
-Two apologists only, with any pretensions to ability, stepped
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span>forward to plead for the sinking cause: Symmachus<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">279</a> in the
-West, and Libanius in the East; and their intercessions are
-addressed to sentiments of affection for antiquity, and compassion
-for oppressed weakness, rather than to the reason.
-Symmachus, as is well known, pleaded twice for the retention
-of the altar and statue of Victory in the senate-house at
-Rome. Eloquent and touching, his appeal is directed to
-patriotic feeling and a sense of political expediency, not to
-religious conviction. He does not profess to <em>believe</em> in the
-Pagan deities, but regards with a philosophic eye the various
-kinds of faith in the world as so many forms of homage to
-the great unknown Being who presides over the universe.
-“It is right to recognise that what all adore can be at bottom
-but one Being only. We contemplate the same stars; the
-same sky covers us; the same universe encloses us. What
-matters it by what reasonings each seeks the truth? a single
-path cannot conduct us to the grand secret of nature. As
-an individual, a man may be a worshipper of Mithras, or
-of Christ, but as a citizen it is his duty to conform to
-that worship which is bound up with the history and
-glory of his country; to part from it is heartless and disloyal.”<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">280</a></p>
-
-<p>The memorial of Symmachus got into the hands of Ambrose,
-and was rather rudely treated by him. He subjects it to a
-stern test of facts. Had the national gods indeed protected
-the Romans from disaster? It was maintained that by their
-aid the conquest of Italy by Hannibal had been averted.
-Why then did they permit the invader to inflict such ravages
-as he had done? Would not the Gauls also have captured
-the Capitol, but for the timely cry of the goose? Where was
-Jupiter <em>then?</em> but perhaps he was speaking through the
-goose. The Carthaginians worshipped some of the same
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span>deities as the Romans. If then the gods conquered with the
-Romans they yielded with the Carthaginians. Paganism
-declined, notwithstanding support; the Church flourished, in
-spite of opposition. As to the abandonment of ancient
-customs, was not progress the law of improvement? The
-glimmering dawn gradually brightened into the full and
-perfect day; the riches of harvest and vintage came in the
-maturity of the year; even so the faith of Christ had gradually
-planted itself on the ruins of a worn-out creed, and was now
-reaping an abundant harvest among all nations of the earth.<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">281</a>
-The whole reply of Ambrose is pitched in the positive, confident,
-authoritative tone of one who speaks from a conviction
-that he stands on the platform of absolute truth, and that his
-cause is therefore inevitably destined to win.</p>
-
-<p>If the appeal of Symmachus was addressed to the sentiment
-of reverence for <em>national</em> antiquity, that of Libanius was
-directed to a sentiment of attachment to <em>classical</em> antiquity.
-The citizen mourns over the suppression of a worship which
-was bound up with the history and the glory of his country;
-the scholar sighs over the degradation of that which was
-connected with all that was most beautiful in the literature
-and life of the olden time—with the poetry of Homer and
-the tragedians—with the festive song and dance—with the
-hills, and fountains, and groves of Greece. He clings to the
-past with the love of the antiquarian. Though his actual
-belief in the myths of the classical era may not have been
-very deep or earnest, there is no doubt that he entertained a
-genuine animosity towards the new faith which was usurping
-their place. A flowery description of the origin and antiquity
-of the honour paid to the gods is followed by a vehement
-invective against the monks, “those black-robed creatures,
-more voracious than elephants, who rush upon the temples,
-armed with stones, wood, and fire; who break up the roofs,
-destroy the walls, throw down the statues, raze the altars.”
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span>
-They glaringly exceeded the edicts of the Emperor, which had
-forbidden the offering of sacrifice in the temples, but had not
-commanded the actual destruction of the buildings.<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">282</a> There
-is real feeling also in his description of the distress caused in
-country districts by the demolition of the temples. “They
-were the centres round which human habitations and civilisation
-grew; in them the labourer placed all his hopes; to them
-he commended his wife, his children, his plantation, his crops.
-Deprived of the gods, from whom he expected the rewards
-of toil, he felt as if henceforth his labours would be vain.
-Sometimes the very land was wrested from them on the
-pretext that it had been consecrated to gods; if the poor
-despoiled owners sought redress from the pastor (<i>i.e.</i> the
-bishop) of the neighbouring town (falsely called pastor, since
-there was no gentleness in his nature), he praised the robber
-and dismissed the complainers.” No doubt to a great extent
-this was a true picture, and such harshness and injustice
-must have retarded (as always happens when an attempt is
-made to coerce opinion) the cause of Christianity, which the
-law was intended to promote.</p>
-
-<p>Theodosius, however, was in principle far too upright to
-treat the Church with a blind partiality. Cynegius, the
-Prefect, was ordered to enforce the law at Alexandria with
-full rigour against those despicable beings who sought to
-make traffic by informing against Pagans. Constantine had
-exempted the clergy from serving in curial offices; Theodosius
-compelled them to pay for substitutes, and renounce
-their claims to patrimony. They were to enjoy immunity
-from torture when brought to trial, but if detected in falsehood
-were to be visited with penalties of peculiar severity,
-because they had abused the shelter of the law which
-favoured them.<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">283</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Such was Theodosius—a prudent and skilful general, a
-firm and upright ruler; a sincere and simple-minded believer
-in Christianity, who did his best, as head at once of the
-army, the civil government, and the Church, to consolidate
-the fabric of the Empire. The barbarians were repelled, or
-held down; taxes were collected with honesty and firmness,—some
-of the most burdensome were taken off; Paganism
-and heresy languished, however far from being extinguished,
-and the Emperor fondly hoped that uniformity in faith and
-discipline would soon be established throughout Christendom.</p>
-
-<p>The good genius of his life was the Empress Flacilla; she
-was a Christian of a pure and noble type; imperial state
-had not corrupted the simplicity or hardened the tenderness
-of her disposition. She was accustomed to visit the hospitals
-in Constantinople, not attended by a single slave or waiting-woman;
-administered food and medicine to the patients,
-and dressed their wounds with her own hands. She was
-wont to remind her husband of the great change in their
-worldly position, as a motive to humility and gratitude to
-God. “It behoves thee to consider what thou wert and
-what thou hast become; by constantly reflecting on this
-thou wilt not be ungrateful to thy benefactor, but wilt guide
-the kingdom which thou hast received with a due regard to
-law, and by so doing wilt pay homage to Him who gave it
-thee.”</p>
-
-<p>She, we may well believe, restrained the impulses of that
-choleric temper which was the principal defect in the
-Emperor’s character, and which occasionally after her death
-burst forth into acts of deplorable violence. This wise and
-pious monitress was taken from him in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 385. She died
-at a watering-place in Thrace, whither she had gone to
-recover her health after the shock caused by the death of the
-infant Princess Pulcheria. Her body was brought back to
-Constantinople on a melancholy day in autumn, when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span>
-skies poured down a gentle rain, as if mingling their tears
-with those of the disconsolate people.<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">284</a></p>
-
-<p>This condensed survey of the character and work of
-Theodosius, during the first ten years of his reign, will assist
-us in forming a proper estimate of his conduct in that
-memorable occurrence which brings his life into contact
-with the life of Chrysostom.</p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f08">THE SEDITION AT ANTIOCH—THE HOMILIES ON THE STATUES—THE
-RESULTS OF THE SEDITION. A.D. 387.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> wise counsel and softening influence of the Empress
-were removed from her husband at an inopportune season.
-Political storms were approaching, and the passionate temper
-of Theodosius was soon to be subjected to a most severe
-trial.</p>
-
-<p>The year 388 would have completed the first decade of
-his reign. The year 387 was the fifth of the reign of his son
-Arcadius, whom he had nominally associated with himself
-in the government. The celebration of these two events
-Theodosius, from motives of prudent economy and convenience,
-resolved to combine. The army on such occasions
-claimed a liberal donative, five gold pieces to each man. It
-was obviously desirable, therefore, to avoid, if possible, the
-repetition of such a donative within a short space of time.
-It was always a strain on the royal treasury, and at the present
-juncture the strain was increased, for the Goths were
-assuming a menacing attitude on the Danubian frontier. It
-was necessary to mass troops in that direction, and, with a
-view to provide for these expenses, it was proposed to raise
-a special subsidy from the opulent cities of the Eastern
-empire. But the inhabitants of Alexandria and Antioch
-were loath to part with any of the wealth which they had
-accumulated during nearly ten years of peace and exemption
-from onerous taxation. Large meetings were held by
-the citizens of Alexandria in the theatres and other public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span>
-places; inflammatory and seditious speeches were made.
-“If we are to be treated thus,” they cried, “a simple remedy
-is open: we will appeal to Maximus in the West; he knows
-how to shake off a troublesome tyrant.” Fortunately the
-Prefect Cynegius was a man of firmness and promptitude;
-he made some arrests of the most conspicuous leaders of the
-mutinous faction, and enforced an immediate payment of the
-tribute, and by these decisive measures public order was
-restored. Either the people of Antioch were more deeply
-disaffected, or no such energetic officer was in that city to
-nip the spirit of rebellion in the bud. It is said that the
-inhabitants entertained a grudge against the Emperor,
-because he had never visited their city, which had been
-frequently graced by the royal presence of his predecessors.<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">285</a></p>
-
-<p>The edict which enjoined the levying of the tribute was
-proclaimed by a herald on February 26. Large numbers
-of the people assembled on the spot, collected chiefly into
-groups, amongst which were some persons of distinction,
-senators and other civic functionaries, noble ladies, and
-retired soldiers. An ominous silence succeeded the announcement
-of the edict. The crowd then dispersed, but
-reassembled about the prætorium, where the governor
-resided.<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">286</a> There they stood in gloomy silence, save that
-the women, from time to time, raised a wailing lamentation,
-crying that the ruin of the city was determined, and
-that since the Emperor had abandoned them, God alone
-from henceforth could come to their succour. At last a
-little band detached itself from the mass, shouting that
-they must go and seek the Bishop Flavian, and constrain
-him to intercede with the Emperor on their behalf.
-Flavian, by accident or design, was absent from the episcopal
-residence, and the mob returned to the prætorium,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span>crying that the governor must do them justice. The people
-appear to have been excited to violence chiefly by those
-turbulent foreign adventurers who abounded in Antioch,
-sordid venal creatures, often hired by actors to get up
-applause in the theatres, or by great men not over popular
-to raise cheers when they appeared in public places. But
-however stimulated, the passions of the mob were thoroughly
-roused, and their fury vented itself in a tumultuous rush
-into one of the great public baths, where they soon tore
-everything to pieces. Having completed this work of destruction,
-they hurried back once more to the hall of the
-unfortunate governor. Here they were kept at bay by a
-guard for a sufficient time to enable the governor to escape
-by a back-door, and when they at last succeeded in bursting
-in, the vacancy of the place aggravated their rage. The
-governor was not seated in the judicial chair, but they found
-themselves face to face with the statues of the imperial
-family, which as emblems of authority were ranged above it.
-They paused for a few moments; highly excited as they
-were, imperial majesty, even so represented, had some deterrent
-influence upon their fury.</p>
-
-<p>But, unfortunately, there were boys in the crowd; the
-love of stone-throwing without respect of persons was as
-ardent in boy nature fifteen hundred years ago as it is now.
-A stone was cast by one of these juvenile hands, which hit
-one of the sacred statues. The momentary feelings of reverence
-which had arrested the people were dissipated. The
-images were mutilated, almost battered to pieces, and the
-fragments dragged through the streets. Other images of the
-imperial family with which the city was adorned were
-treated in the same manner; the equestrian statue of Count
-Theodosius, father of the Emperor, was dislodged from its
-pedestal and hacked about, amidst derisive shouts of “Defend
-thyself, grand cavalier!”<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">287</a></p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span></p>
-<p>The unrestrained fury of the people was inflamed by
-success; they began to bring up torches and actually set
-fire to one of the principal buildings of the city, when the
-governor, who had escaped their hands, returned at the head
-of a company of archers. As usual with disorderly mobs,
-however furious, they were unable to face the discipline of
-military force; the soldiers were no sooner drawn up and
-preparing to fix their weapons than rage turned to panic,
-and the mob, lately so formidable, melted away.</p>
-
-<p>The whole tumult had not lasted more than three hours;
-before noon, every one had returned to his home, the streets
-and squares were empty, and a death-like stillness pervaded
-the city. Remorse was mingled with great terror respecting
-the consequences of the outrage which had been perpetrated.
-The Emperor, indeed, was humane and forgiving of wrongs
-which concerned himself alone, but how would he brook the
-insults done to the memory of his father and his tenderly
-beloved Empress? One hope remained: Flavian, the bishop,
-was a favourite at court; his intercessions might avail; the
-people besought him with tears to stand their friend in this
-distress. From Antioch to Constantinople was a long and
-perilous journey of 800 miles, and the winter was not yet
-ended. Flavian was old, his only sister was seriously ill,
-and the approaching season of Lent required his presence at
-Antioch, but a sense of the emergency prevailed over all
-these obstacles. Animated by the spirit of the Good Shepherd
-the intrepid old man was ready to lay down his life
-for his flock, and set out upon his errand of mercy with all
-possible speed, in the hope of overtaking the messengers
-who had started before him, but had been detained at
-the foot of Mount Taurus by a fall of snow.<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">288</a></p>
-
-<p>During the absence of Flavian all the powers of Chryso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span>stom
-as an orator, a pastor, and a citizen, were called forth
-in attempting to calm the fears and revive the deeply-dejected
-spirits of the people. Perseveringly did he discharge
-this anxious and laborious task; almost every day,
-for twenty-two days, that small figure was to be seen either
-sitting in the Ambo, from which he sometimes preached on
-account of his diminutive stature, or standing on the steps
-of the altar, the preacher’s usual place;<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">289</a> and day after day,
-the crowds increased which came to listen to the stream of
-golden eloquence which he poured forth. With all the
-versatility of a consummate artist, he moved from point to
-point. Sometimes a picture of the city’s agony melted his
-hearers to tears, and then again he struck the note of encouragement
-and revived their spirits by bidding them take
-comfort from the well-known clemency of the Emperor, the
-probable success of the mission of Flavian, and, above all,
-from trust in God.</p>
-
-<p>“The gay and noisy city, where once the busy people
-hummed like bees around their hive, was petrified by
-fear into the most dismal silence and desolation; the
-wealthier inhabitants had fled into the country, those who
-remained shut themselves up in their houses, as if the town
-had been in a state of siege. If any one ventured into the
-market-place, where once the multitude poured along like
-the stream of a mighty river, the pitiable sight of two or
-three cowering dejected creatures in the midst of solitude
-soon drove him home again. The sun itself seemed to veil
-its rays as if in mourning. The words of the prophet were
-fulfilled, ‘Their sun shall go down at noon, and their earth
-shall be darkened in a clear day’ (Amos viii. 9). Now they
-might cry, ‘Send to the mourning women, and let them come,
-and send for cunning women that they may come’ (Jer. ix.
-17). Ye hills and mountains, take up a wailing, let us invite
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span>all creation to commiserate our woes, for this great city, this
-capital of Eastern cities, is in danger of being destroyed out
-of the midst of the earth, and there is no man to help her,
-for the Emperor, who has no equal among men, has been
-insulted; therefore let us take refuge with the King who is
-above, and summon Him to our aid.”<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">290</a></p>
-
-<p>The chief reason of the people’s extreme dejection was,
-that the governor and magistrates, probably to disarm any
-suspicion at court of their own complicity in the sedition,
-were daily seizing real or supposed culprits, and punishing
-them with the utmost rigour. Even those who might have
-been pardoned on account of their tender age were mercilessly
-handed over to the executioner. Chrysostom speaks
-of some even having been burnt, and others thrown to wild
-beasts. The weeping parents followed their unhappy offspring
-at a distance, powerless to help but fearing to plead,
-like men on shore beholding with grief shipwrecked sailors
-struggling in the water, but unable to rescue them.<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">291</a></p>
-
-<p>But the object of Chrysostom was, not to utter ineffectual
-lamentations. He aimed at rousing the people from their
-profound dejection, and printing, if possible, on their hearts,
-humbled and softened by distress, deep and lasting impressions
-of good. He told them that there was everything to
-be hoped for from the embassy of Flavian. “The Emperor
-was pious, the bishop courageous, yet prudent and adroit;
-God would not suffer his errand to be fruitless. The very
-sight of that venerable man would dispose the royal mind
-to clemency. Flavian would not fail to urge how especially
-suitable an act of forgiveness was to that holy season, in
-which was commemorated the Death of Christ for the sins
-of the whole world. He would remind the Emperor of the
-parable of the two debtors, and warn him not to incur the
-risk of being one day addressed by the words, ‘Thou wicked
-servant, I forgave thee all that debt; shouldest not thou also
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>have had compassion on thy fellow-servants?’ He would
-represent that the outrages had not been committed by the
-whole community, but chiefly by some lawless strangers.
-He would plead that the inhabitants, even had they all
-offended, had already undergone sufficient punishment in
-the anxiety and alarm which they endured. It would be
-unreasonable to visit the crime of a few by the extirpation
-of a whole city, a city which was the most populous capital
-of the East, and dear to Christians as the place where they
-had first received that sweet and lovely name.”<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">292</a></p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile he earnestly calls upon the people to improve
-this season of humiliation by a thorough repentance and
-reformation in respect of the prevailing vices and follies.
-The words of St. Paul in writing to the Philippians, “To
-write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous,
-and for you it is safe,” might be aptly applied to Chrysostom.
-He is never tired of denouncing special sins and exhorting
-to the renunciation of them in every variety of language.
-Ostentatious luxury, sordid avarice, religious formalism, a
-profane custom of taking rash oaths, were the fashionable sins
-against which he waged an incessant and implacable warfare.</p>
-
-<p>His exhortations are generally based on some passage
-read in the lesson of the day. “What have we heard today?
-‘Charge them that are rich in this world, that they
-be not high-minded.’ He who says ‘the rich in this world’
-proves thereby that there are others rich in regard to a
-future world, like Lazarus in the parable.” Wealth of this
-world was a thankless runaway slave, which, if bound with
-thousands of fetters, made off, fetters and all. Not that he
-would quarrel with wealth; it was good in itself, but became
-evil when inordinately desired and paraded, just as the evil
-of intoxication lay not in wine itself, but in the abuse of it.
-The Apostle did not charge those who were rich to become
-poor, but only not to be high-minded. “Let us adorn our
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span>own souls before we embellish our houses. Is it not disgraceful
-to overlay our walls with marbles and to neglect
-Christ, who is going about unclothed? What profit is
-there, O man, in thy house? Wilt thou carry it away with
-thee? Nay, thou must leave thy <em>house</em>; but thy <em>soul</em> thou
-wilt certainly take with thee. Lo! how great the danger
-which has now overtaken us: let our houses, then, be our
-defenders; let them rescue us from the impending peril;—but
-they will not be able. Be those witnesses to my words
-who have now deserted their houses, and hurried away to
-the wilderness as if afraid of nets and snares. Do you wish
-to build large and splendid houses? I forbid you not, only
-build them not upon the earth; build yourselves tabernacles
-in heaven—tabernacles which never decay. Nothing is more
-slippery than wealth, which to-day is with thee and to-morrow
-is against thee; which sharpens the eyes of the envious on all
-sides; which is a foe in your own camp, an enemy in your
-own household. Wealth makes the present danger more intolerable;
-you see the poor man unencumbered and prepared
-for whatever may happen, but the rich in a state of great
-embarrassment, and going about seeking some place in which
-to bury his gold, or some person with whom to deposit it.
-Why seek thy fellow-servants, O man? Christ stands ready
-to receive and guard thy deposits—yea, not only to guard,
-but also to multiply and to return with rich interest. No
-man plucks out of His hand; men, when they receive a
-deposit from another, deem that they have conferred a favour
-upon him; but Christ, on the contrary, declares that He
-receives a favour, and, instead of demanding a reward,
-bestows one upon you.”<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">293</a></p>
-
-<p>He entreated them to make the present Lent a season of
-spiritual renovation. Lent fell in the spring, when the
-stream of industry which the winter had frozen began to
-flow again. The sailor launched his vessel, the soldier
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span>furbished his sword, the farmer whetted his scythe, the
-traveller set out confidently on his long journey, the athlete
-stripped for the contest. “Even so let this fast be to us a
-spiritual spring-tide; let us polish our spiritual armour, let
-us breast the waves of evil passions, set out like travellers
-on our journey heavenwards, and prepare like athletes for
-the combat. For the Christian is both husbandman, and
-pilot, and soldier, and athlete, and traveller. Hast thou seen
-the athlete? hast thou seen the soldier? if thou art an
-athlete thou must strip to enter the lists; if thou art a
-soldier thou must put on armour before taking thy place in
-the ranks. How then to the same man can both these
-things be possible? How, dost thou ask? I will tell
-thee. Strip thyself of thy worldly business, and thou hast
-become an athlete; clothe thyself with spiritual armour, and
-thou hast become a soldier. Strip thyself, for it is a season
-of wrestling; clothe thyself, for we are engaged in a fierce
-warfare with devils. Till thy soul, and cut away the thorns;
-sow the seed of piety, plant the good plants of philosophy,
-and tend them with much care, and thou hast become a
-husbandman, and St. Paul will say to thee, ‘The husbandman
-which laboureth must first be a partaker of the fruits.’
-Whet thy sickle which thou hast blunted by surfeiting;
-sharpen it, I say, by fasting. Enter on the road which leads
-to heaven, the rugged and narrow road, and travel along it.
-And how shalt thou be able to set out and travel? By
-buffeting thy body and bringing it into subjection; for where
-the road is narrow, obesity, which comes from surfeiting, is
-a great impediment. Repress the waves of foolish passions,
-repulse the storm of wicked imaginations, preserve the vessel,
-display all thy skill, and thou hast become a pilot.”<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">294</a> The
-originator and instructor of all these arts was abstinence;
-not the vulgar kind of abstinence, not abstinence from food
-only, but also from sins. “If thou fastest, show me the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span>results by thy deeds. What deeds, do you ask? If you see
-a poor man, have pity on him; if an enemy, be reconciled;
-if a friend in good reputation, regard him without envy.
-Fast not only by thy mouth, but with thine eyes, thine ears,
-thy hands, thy feet; avert thine eyes from unlawful sights,
-restrain thy hands from deeds of violence, keep thy feet from
-entering places of pernicious amusement, bridle thy mouth
-from uttering, and stop thine ears from listening to tales of
-slander.” This kind of fast would be acceptable to God,
-only it should be co-extensive with life. To spend a few
-days in penance and then to relapse into the former course
-of life was only an idle mockery.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">295</a> He disparaged that
-rigorous kind of fasting which some had carried to the
-extent of taking no food but bread and water. Many boasted
-of the number of weeks they had fasted; this excessive
-abstinence was likely to be followed by a reaction. Let
-them seek rather to subdue evil passions and habits; let one
-week be devoted to the suppression of swearing, another of
-anger, a third of slander, and so gradually advancing they
-might at last attain the consummation of virtue, and propitiate
-the displeasure of God.<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">296</a> “Let us not do now what
-we have so often done, for frequently when earthquakes,
-or famine, or drought have overtaken us, we have become
-temperate for three or four days, and then have returned to
-our former ways of life. But, if never before, now at least
-let us remain steadfast in the same state of piety, that we
-may not again require to be chastised by another scourge.”<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">297</a></p>
-
-<p>Almost all the homilies are concluded by an admonition
-against the sin of swearing, and the greater portion of some
-is devoted to this topic. The passionate impetuous people of
-Antioch seem to have been constantly betrayed into the
-folly of binding themselves by rash oaths. The master, for
-instance, would take an oath to deprive his slave of food, or
-the tutor his scholar, till a certain task was accomplished, a
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span>threat which it was of course often impossible to enforce.
-Hence perjury on the part of a superior, and loss of respect
-on the side of the subordinate. Chrysostom himself had
-often dined at a house where the mistress swore that she
-would beat a slave who had made some mistake, while the
-husband would with another oath forbid the punishment.
-Thus one of the two would be inevitably involved in
-perjury.<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">298</a> He frequently exhorted his hearers to form a
-kind of Christian club amongst themselves for the suppression
-of this vice. In one place he suggests a stern remedy:
-“When you detect your wife or any of your household
-yielding to this evil habit, order them supperless to bed,
-and if you are guilty impose the same penalty on yourself.”<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">299</a>
-Near the close of Lent he declares that he will repel from
-the holy Table at Easter those whom he detects still addicted
-to this vice.<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">300</a></p>
-
-<p>On the whole, the eager and earnest pastor may be said
-to have rejoiced at the grand opportunity afforded by the
-humiliation of the city, to effect a reformation in the moral
-life of the people. He observed with great satisfaction, that
-if the forum was deserted the church was thronged, just as
-in stormy weather the harbour is crowded with vessels.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">301</a>
-Many an intemperate man had been sobered, the headstrong
-softened, or the indolent quickened into zeal. Many
-who once assiduously frequented the theatre now spent
-their day in the church. Meanwhile they must abide God’s
-pleasure for the removal of their affliction. He had sent it
-for the purpose of purifying and chastening them; He was
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span>waiting till He saw a genuine, an unshakeable repentance,
-like a refiner watching a piece of precious metal in a crucible,
-and waiting the proper moment for taking it out.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">302</a> As for
-those who said what they feared was not so much death, as
-<em>ignominious</em> death by the hand of the executioner, he protested
-that the only death really miserable was a death in
-sin. Abel was murdered and was happy, Cain lived and
-was miserable. John the Baptist was beheaded, St. Stephen
-was stoned, yet their deaths were happy. To the Christian
-there was nothing formidable in death itself. To dread
-death but not to be afraid of sin was to act like children
-who are frightened by masks whilst they were not afraid of
-fire. “What, I pray you, is death? It is like the putting
-off of a garment, for the soul is invested with a body<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">303</a> as it
-were with a garment, and this we shall put off for a little
-while by death, only to receive it again in a more brilliant
-form. What, I pray you, is death? It is but to go a journey
-for a season, or to take a longer sleep than usual.”
-Death was but a release from toil, a tranquil haven.
-“Mourn not over him who dies, but over him who, living
-in sin, is dead while he liveth.”<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">304</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom’s own calmness, and his skill in diverting the
-thoughts of his flock from present alarm, are manifested by
-the power and ease with which he dilates on such grand
-topics as the creation, Divine Providence, the nature of man,
-and his place in the scale of created beings. His best
-thoughts, expressed in his best style on these subjects, are
-to be found in the homilies now under consideration.</p>
-
-<p>The size and beauty of the universe, but still more the
-perfect regularity with which the system worked, proclaimed
-a designing power. The succession of day and night, the
-series of the seasons, like a band of maidens dancing in a
-circle, the four elements of which the world was composed,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span>mingling in such exquisite proportions that they exactly
-balanced one another, the sun tempering the action of water,
-the water that of the sun, the sea unable to break its bounds
-or reduce the earth to a mass of clay; who could contemplate
-all these forces at work and suppose that they moved
-spontaneously, instead of adoring Him who had arranged
-them all with a wisdom commensurate with the results?
-As the health of the body depended on the due balance of
-those humours of which it was composed, if the bile increased
-fever was produced, or if the phlegmatic element
-prevailed many diseases were engendered, so was it in the
-case of the universe: each element observed its proper
-limits, restrained, as it were, with a bridle by the will of the
-Maker; and the struggle between these elements was the
-source of peace for the whole system. As the body failed,
-languished, died, in proportion as the soul was withdrawn
-from it, so if the regulating and life-giving power of God’s
-providence were removed from the earth, all would go to
-rack and ruin, like a vessel deserted by her pilot.<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">305</a></p>
-
-<p>In treating this subject, he manifests a keen appreciation
-of natural beauties. The infinite varieties of flowers and
-herbs, trees, animals, insects, and birds—the flowery fields
-below, the starry fields above—the never-failing fountains—the
-sea receiving countless streams into its bosom, yet
-never overflowing,—all proclaimed a Creator and an Upholder,
-and drew from man the exclamation, “How manifold
-are Thy works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all!”
-Yet, lest they should be worshipped instead of the Maker,
-conditions of change, as decay or death, were imposed upon
-all.<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">306</a> His observation of nature appears in some of his
-similes. The poor female relatives hovering about the
-courts of justice, when the culprits of the outrage on the
-statues were being tried, he compares to parent birds, which
-wildly flutter round the hunter who has stolen the young
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span>from their nest, in an agony of grief, but impotent from
-weakness and fear.<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">307</a> He perceives in some of the lower
-animals characteristics to be imitated or avoided, and describes
-them with a kind of humour. The bee especially
-was a pattern for imitation, not merely because it was
-industrious, but because it toiled with an unconscious kind
-of self-sacrifice for the benefit of others as well as itself. It
-was the most honourable of insects; the spider, on the contrary,
-was the most ignoble, because it spread its fine web
-for its own selfish gratification only. The innocence of the
-dove, the docility of the ox, the light-heartedness of birds,
-were all examples for imitation. The ferocity, or the cunning
-of other animals or insects, were examples for avoidance.
-The good which brutes had by nature man might acquire
-by force of moral purpose; and the sovereign of the lower
-animals ought to comprise in his nature all the best qualities
-of his subjects.<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">308</a> The plumage of the peacock, excelling in
-variety and beauty all possible art of the dyer, evinced the
-superhuman power of the Maker of all things.<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">309</a></p>
-
-<p>His ethical doctrine bears singular resemblance to that of
-Butler. God has bestowed on man a faculty of discerning
-right from wrong; He has impressed upon him a natural law,
-the law of conscience. Hence some commands are delivered
-without explanation: for instance, the prohibition to kill, or
-to commit adultery, because these merely enjoin what is
-already evident by the light of the natural law. On the
-other hand, for the command to observe the Sabbath a reason
-is assigned, because this was a special and temporary enactment.
-The obligation of the law of conscience was universal
-and eternal. As soon as Adam had sinned, he hid himself,
-a clear evidence of his consciousness of guilt, although no
-written law existed at that time.</p>
-
-<p>The Greeks might attempt to deny the universality of this
-inherent law, but to what other origin could they ascribe the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span>laws which had been made by their own ancestors concerning
-respect for life, the marriage bond, covenants, trusts, and the
-like? They had indeed been handed down from generation
-to generation; but whence did the first promulgators derive
-the idea of them, if not from this moral sense? To the law
-of conscience was added the energy of a moral purpose, <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">προαίρεσις</span>,
-which enabled man to practise what conscience prescribed:
-conscience informs man that temperance is right;
-moral purpose enables him to become temperate. God had
-also endowed man with some natural virtues: indignation at
-injustice, compassion for the injured, sympathy with the joys
-and sorrows of our fellow-men.<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">310</a> At the same time Chrysostom
-fully allows the value of training and teaching as
-supplementary to and co-operating with all these natural
-gifts.<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">311</a> If conscience grew languid, the admonition of parent
-and friend, and, in the case of public offences, the law, stepped
-in, to effect what conscience failed to do; and frequently
-God sent afflictions for the same remedial purpose.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">312</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus day after day the indefatigable preacher sounded the
-note of encouragement, or warning, or instruction. He not
-only held the Christian flock together, but largely increased
-its numbers. His eloquence frequently excited rapturous
-applause, which was invariably repressed with sternness.
-On one occasion the congregation yielded to a panic; a false
-rumour was circulated that a body of troops was entering
-the city, to take vengeance on the inhabitants. The Prefect
-entered the church to allay the fears of the affrighted people
-who had fled thither, but Chrysostom was overwhelmed with
-shame, and sharply upbraided them that a Christian con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span>gregation
-should owe the restoration of calmness to a Pagan,
-whom they ought to have impressed, like Paul before
-Agrippa, by a display of Christian firmness and fortitude.<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">313</a></p>
-
-<p>About the middle of Lent, two commissioners, Hellebicus
-and Cæsarius, arrived at Antioch, invested with full powers
-to inquire into the late outrage. Their authority was
-backed by a considerable military force. They were men
-not only of intelligence and humanity, but Christians in
-faith; and they had many friends in Antioch. They entered
-the city, surrounded by a large multitude, who turned weeping
-faces and held out supplicating hands towards them.
-The commissioners were moved, and in deep silence entered
-the lodging provided for them; but it was necessary for
-them to perform their duty, which was in the first place to
-announce that Antioch was degraded from the rank of
-capital of Syria, and its metropolitan honours were transferred
-to the neighbouring city of Laodicea. Secondly, all
-the public baths, circuses, theatres, and other places of
-recreation, were to be closed for an indefinite time. Thirdly,
-the commissioners were to revise the trials already held by
-the local governor, and to inflict rigorous sentences upon
-all the guilty, especially any persons of distinction. These
-judicial proceedings were to begin on the following day.</p>
-
-<p>The scene at the entrance of the court was a melancholy
-spectacle; the wives and daughters of the accused hung
-around it in mean garments sprinkled with ashes, and in
-attitudes of supplication or despair.</p>
-
-<p>There were no lawyers to plead for the prisoners; they
-had run away or concealed themselves, to evade the perilous
-duty. Libanius alone, towards evening, crept timidly into
-the court. Cæsarius, to whom he was known, observed him,
-beckoned him to approach, and placed him by his side. In
-a low voice he bade him take courage; he and his colleague
-would endeavour as much as possible to spare life. Libanius
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span>earnestly thanked him, and promised if he kept his word to
-immortalise him by an oration in his honour.<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">314</a></p>
-
-<p>An appeal, however, more effectual, was made to the
-mercy of the commissioners, by persons widely different
-from Libanius. As they were riding in state to the hall of
-justice on the second day, they saw amongst the people a
-group of strange half-wild-looking beings, in rough coarse
-garments, with long unkempt hair. These were hermits,
-who had descended from their solitudes in the neighbouring
-mountains—some who for years had not been seen in the
-streets of the city, but now appeared to plead on behalf of
-the offending people. An old man, diminutive in stature,
-whose clothing was in tatters, started forward from the
-group as the commissioners passed by, seized the bridle of
-one, and commanded them in a tone of authority to dismount.
-“Who is this mad fellow?” inquired the commissioners.
-They were informed that he was the revered hermit
-Macedonius, surnamed Crithophagus, or the barley-eater,
-because barley was his only sustenance. Hellebicus and
-Cæsarius immediately alighted, and, falling on their knees
-before him, craved his pardon for having received him so
-rudely. “My friends,” replied the solitary, “go to the
-Emperor and say, ‘You are an emperor, but also a man, and
-you rule over beings who are of like nature with yourself.
-Man was created after a Divine image and likeness; do not,
-then, mercilessly command the image of God to be destroyed,
-for you will provoke the Maker if you punish his image.
-For, consider that you are doing this from displeasure at the
-injury inflicted on a statue of bronze; and how far does a
-living rational creature exceed the value of such an inanimate
-object! Let him consider that it is easy to manufacture
-many statues in the place of those destroyed, but it is wholly
-impossible for him to make a single hair again of those men
-who have been put to death.’”<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">315</a> The other hermits declared
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span>that they were all prepared to shed their blood and lay down
-their lives for the culprits; that they would not withdraw
-from the city until they were sent as ambassadors to the
-Emperor, or until the city itself had been acquitted. The
-joy of Chrysostom at the courage displayed by these hermits
-was extreme; their noble conduct compensated for the sad
-pusillanimity lately exhibited by the congregation in the
-church. He triumphantly contrasts them with the so-called
-philosophers of Antioch, who appear to have displayed anything
-but philosophic calmness in the hour of danger.
-“Where now are those long-bearded, cloak-wearing, staff-bearing
-fellows—cynic refuse, more degraded than dogs
-licking up the crumbs under the table, doing everything
-for their belly? Why, they have all hurried out of the city
-and hidden themselves in caves and dens, whilst those who
-inhabited the caves have entered the city, and boldly walk
-about the forum as if no calamity had happened. Their
-conduct illustrates what I have never ceased to maintain,
-that even the furnace cannot injure one who lives in virtue.
-Such is the power of philosophy introduced to man by
-Christ.”<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">316</a> The result of this singular intercession was, that
-the commissioners consented to suspend the execution of
-their sentence on those pronounced guilty, until an appeal
-had been made to the Emperor. Meanwhile the prisoners
-were to remain in confinement, and their property to be
-held by the State.</p>
-
-<p>The hermits were anxious to repair to the court of Theodosius,
-but the commissioners wisely refused, making the
-length of the journey an objection, but perhaps really
-because they feared such excitable zealots might frustrate
-the object of their embassy by imprudent behaviour. It
-was finally decided that Hellebicus should remain to preserve
-order in Antioch, while his colleague went to Constantinople,
-carrying with him an intercessory letter signed by
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span>the hermits, and declaring that they were ready to give their
-own lives in ransom for the city.</p>
-
-<p>Cæsarius departed amidst the blessings and acclamations
-of the people.<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">317</a></p>
-
-<p>What had the energetic preacher, who had sustained the
-spirits of the people so long, been doing, since the arrival of
-the Emperor’s legates? It had been, indeed, a relief to find
-that the city was not to be surrendered to the sword; but to
-a proud and luxurious people the loss of metropolitan rank,
-and the closing of the public baths, theatres, and public
-places of amusement, were severe blows. Loud and general
-was the lamentation over their fallen grandeur and their
-lost enjoyments. Chrysostom expostulated with them on
-their discontent. The real dignity of a city did not consist
-in pre-eminence of rank or vastness of population, but
-in the virtue of its citizens. What constituted the noblest
-distinction of Antioch?—the fact that the disciples there
-were the first to be called Christians—that they had sent
-relief to the distressed brethren in Judæa in the time of the
-famine (Acts xi. 28, 29)—that they had sent Paul and
-Barnabas to that Council at Jerusalem which had emancipated
-the Gentile Christians from Judaic bondage. These
-were honourable distinctions, which no other city, not even
-Rome itself, could rival. They enabled Antioch to look the
-whole Christian world in the face, for they proved how
-great had been her Christian courage and her Christian love.
-These were her true metropolitan honours; and, if these
-were in aught diminished, not by the size or beauty of her
-buildings, not by her airy colonnades or her spacious
-porticos and promenades,<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">318</a> not by the sacred Grove of
-Daphne, not by the number and loftiness of her cypresses,
-not by her fountains or her multitudinous population, or her
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span>genial climate,—not by these could she recover her tarnished
-reputation, but by equity, almsgiving, vigils, prayers, temperance.
-External size and beauty did not constitute real
-greatness. David was little of stature, yet he prostrated by
-a single blow a very tower of flesh. Away with these
-womanish complaints! “I have heard many in the forum
-saying, ‘Woe to thee, Antioch! what has become of thee?
-how art thou dishonoured!’ and when I heard I laughed
-at the childish understanding of those who say such things.
-It behoves you not to speak thus now; but, when you see
-dancing, and drunkenness, and singing, and blaspheming,
-and swearing, then utter the cry, ‘Woe to thee, O city!
-what has become of thee?’ but when you see only a few
-equitable, temperate, and moderate men in the forum, then
-call the city happy.”<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">319</a></p>
-
-<p>He remonstrates indignantly with them for their querulous
-complaints of the prohibition to use the public baths.
-Bathing, indeed, was a luxury so indispensable to the bodily
-health and comfort of the people, that they now resorted to
-the river in large numbers, with very little regard to decency.
-He reminds those who murmured over this deprivation of
-their favourite indulgence, that a short time ago, when they
-were daily expecting an incursion of soldiers, and were
-flying to the desert and mountains, they would have been
-too thankful to escape with so cheap a penalty. He urges the
-duty of reconciliation with enemies as specially incumbent
-on them when such great efforts were being made to obtain
-mercy for themselves. They should have one enemy alone,
-the devil, with whom they should wage an implacable warfare.<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">320</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus the prophet, ever vigilant for the true welfare and
-honour of his people, ceased not to lift up his voice.</p>
-
-<p>Cæsarius travelled day and night, and in the course of a
-week accomplished the eight hundred miles which separated
-Antioch from Constantinople. But his arrival and his
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span>errand had been anticipated. Flavian had reached the
-court a week before, and the pardon of Antioch was already
-secured. The aged bishop returned to Antioch just in time
-to celebrate Easter, and to augment the natural joyfulness of
-the festival by the tidings which he brought. He had, however,
-been preceded a few days by an express courier, who
-delivered the imperial rescript to Hellebicus. When the
-contents were publicly proclaimed, the pent-up feelings of
-the people burst forth into demonstrations of almost frantic
-joy. Hellebicus was received with ovation wherever he
-went. Libanius walked by his side, reciting passages from
-his orations, in honour of Theodosius and praise of the two
-commissioners.<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">321</a> On Holy Saturday, Flavian himself entered
-the city, partly attended, partly borne along, by vast crowds
-of grateful people. On that night the forum was decorated
-with garlands and illuminated by lanterns. On the next
-morning, Easter Day, a vast concourse thronged the church,
-and once more the well-known voice, which had exhorted
-and encouraged and warned, during the days of their gloom,
-now poured forth in the sunshine of their joy a pæan of
-thanksgiving and praise.</p>
-
-<p>“Blessed be God, who hath vouchsafed us to celebrate
-this holy feast with great joy and gladness, who has restored
-the Head to the body, the Shepherd to the sheep, the Master
-to his disciples, the Pontiff to the priests. Blessed be God,
-who hath done exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
-or think, for it seemed to us sufficient to be for a time
-released from the impending calamities; but the merciful
-God, ever exceeding in His gifts our petitions, has restored
-to us our father sooner than all our expectation. And not
-only has our beloved prelate escaped all the perils incident
-to so long a journey in the winter season, but has found his
-sister, whom he left on the point of death, still living to
-welcome his return.”<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">322</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span></p>
-
-<p>He then proceeds to describe the interview of Flavian
-with Theodosius, as it had been related to him by an eye-witness.
-The bishop, when introduced into the royal presence,
-stood at a distance, silently weeping, bending low,
-and covering his face, as if he himself had been the author
-of all the late offences. By this attitude he hoped to expel
-emotions of anger, and introduce the emotion of pity into
-the Emperor’s breast, before he undertook the actual defence
-of the city.</p>
-
-<p>Theodosius was moved; he advanced to the bishop, and
-used no harsh or indignant language, but only mildly reproached
-with ingratitude a city which he had always
-treated with lenity, and had long desired and intended to
-visit. Even had the people been able to accuse him of any
-injury done to them, they might at least have respected the
-dead, who could do them no harm (alluding to the destruction
-of his wife’s and father’s images).</p>
-
-<p>The aged prelate no longer remained silent. With a fresh
-flood of tears, he poured forth his pathetic appeal to the
-Christian clemency and forbearance of the Emperor. “He
-would not attempt to extenuate the offence, the sense of
-their ingratitude caused them the deepest distress, and they
-frankly confessed that it deserved the severest chastisement
-which could be inflicted. Yet the noblest kind of revenge
-which he could take was freely to forgive the insult; thereby
-he would defeat the malice of those demons who had tried
-to work the ruin of the people by seducing them from their
-allegiance. In like manner, the devil had tried to compass
-the death of the human race, but his malevolence had been
-frustrated by God, who offered even heaven to those who
-had been excluded from paradise. A free pardon would
-secure for him a station in the hearts of all his subjects, far
-more enduring than those statues which had been broken
-down. He reminded him, how once his great predecessor,
-Constantine, when urged to revenge some insult done to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span>
-one of his statues, passed his hand over his face, and
-observed, with a quiet smile, that he did not feel the blow;—a
-saying which had endeared him to his people more than
-his military exploits. But why need he refer to Constantine?
-Theodosius himself, on a previous Easter, had
-commanded a general release of prisoners, and had nobly
-exclaimed, ‘Would that it were possible also for me to recall
-the dead to life!’<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">323</a> Now he might in some sort realise that
-wish, by restoring to life a whole city, which lay, as it were,
-dead under remorse and fear. Such an act of clemency
-would both strengthen his own throne and the cause of Christianity.
-Greeks, Jews, and barbarians were waiting to hear
-his decision. If it was on the side of mercy, all would
-applaud it, saying, ‘Heavens! how mighty is the power of
-Christianity, which has restrained the wrath of a monarch
-who has not his peer in the world.’ How noble a tale for
-posterity to hear, that what the governor and magistrates
-of a great city dared not ask, had been granted to the prayer
-of an old man, because he was the priest of God, and from
-reverence to the Divine laws. He would solemnly remind
-him of the words, ‘If ye forgive not men their trespasses,
-neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you
-your trespasses.’ He begged him to remember that there
-was a day coming in which all men would render an account
-of their actions, and to imitate the example of God, who,
-though daily sustaining insults from man, did not cease to
-bestow blessings upon him. He concluded by declaring that
-he would never return to Antioch unless he could take back
-the imperial pardon, but would enrol himself in another city.”<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">324</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span></p>
-
-<p>If Flavian’s intercession was thrown into the form of an
-oration at all, it is clear that Chrysostom’s version of it,
-which has been here greatly condensed from the original,
-must be his own, rather than the speech actually delivered.
-If it had been only half as long, it could not have been accurately
-related to him from memory, or faithfully rehearsed
-by him afterwards. The excitement of addressing so large
-an audience, on so great an occasion, would naturally stimulate
-him to amplify and embellish.</p>
-
-<p>There is, however, no reason to doubt that Chrysostom
-has furnished us with an accurate description of Flavian’s
-conduct in the interview, and given us the main substance
-of his arguments. The whole narrative of the occurrence
-illustrates the difference between the Eastern and Western
-character. Compare the demeanour of Ambrose and of
-Flavian. The first speaks in a tone of majestic authority,
-which brooks no disputing; the other, though far from
-deficient in courage, approaches the Emperor with that
-deferential and submissive manner which the Oriental is
-accustomed to adopt in the presence of a potentate. His
-tone is that of an appeal, though based upon the highest
-grounds; not of a command. There is something of the
-courtier in Flavian; in Ambrose there is more of the
-pope.</p>
-
-<p>To conclude Chrysostom’s account: the Emperor was
-deeply affected, though, like Joseph, he refrained himself in
-the presence of spectators. He declared his intention of
-granting a free pardon, in language eminently Christian.
-“If the Lord of the earth, who became a servant for our
-sakes, and was crucified by those whom He came to benefit,
-prayed for the pardon of his crucifiers, what wonder was it
-that a man should forgive his fellow-servants?” He begged
-Flavian to return with all expedition, that he might release
-the people from the agony of their suspense. The bishop
-entreated that the young prince Arcadius might accompany<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span>
-him as a pledge of imperial favour to the city. But Theodosius
-said that he designed to confer on Antioch a greater
-honour. He requested the bishop to offer up prayers for
-the termination of the present war, that he might ratify
-his pardon by a visit to the city in person. The express
-courier was then despatched, while Flavian followed at a
-pace more suitable to his dignity and advanced age.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom concludes his discourse by a moral exhortation
-suggested by those festive demonstrations of joy already
-described. “Let the lanterns and the chaplets be to them
-emblems of spiritual things. Let them not cease to be
-crowned with virtue or to light up a lamp in their soul by
-the diligent practice of good works; let them rejoice with
-holy joy, and thank God not only for rescuing them from
-destruction, but for sending them so wholesome a chastisement,
-the salutary effects of which would, he trusted, extend
-to many generations.”<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">325</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus terminated the celebrated sedition of Antioch. It
-is a singular and instructive picture of the times: the impulsive
-character of the people in the great Eastern cities
-of the Empire, alternating between frantic rage and abject
-despondency; the expectation of violent imperial vengeance,
-nothing less than the extermination of the city; the remarkable
-veneration paid to monks,—these are points which
-stand out in vivid colours. But still more remarkably does
-this event supply an example of the softening, humanising
-influence of Christianity, in a fierce and heartless age. The
-issue reflects the greatest honour on those who brought it
-to pass; and they were <em>all Christians</em>: the intrepid old
-bishop, sacrificing comfort and risking life to intercede, the
-generous Emperor who yielded to the persuasion of his
-Christian arguments; the humane commissioners; and last,
-but not least, the pastor and preacher, who with unwearied
-patience, invincible courage, unfailing eloquence, sustained
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span>the fainting spirits of his flock, and endeavoured to convert
-their calamity into an occasion of lasting good.</p>
-
-<p>One great and happy result of the recent trouble was
-a large accession of Pagans to the ranks of the Church.
-When the city lay under ban, the baths, theatres, and circus
-were closed, and the panic-stricken people had no heart to
-pursue their ordinary business. But one place had been
-constantly open. All knew that in the church prayer was
-being offered up day by day; and to the first portion of the
-service, up to the end of the sermon, there was free admission
-for all without respect of creed. Curiosity alone, if not any
-deeper feeling, would lead many Pagans to turn into the
-church, to hear what consolations, what encouragements, the
-Christian preacher had to offer in this season of general
-distress and painful suspense. And what had they heard?
-They had heard an unsparing exposure and denunciation of
-the follies and vices which prevailed in that great and
-dissolute city, a trumpet-call to repentance and reformation;
-they had heard the fleeting nature of earthly honour and
-earthly riches, their impotence to satisfy the heart or to save
-the life in the time of danger and distress vividly contrasted
-with the Christian’s aim of laying up incorruptible treasure
-in an imperishable world; they had heard of the Christian’s
-faith that righteousness was the only permanent good, as
-sin was the only real evil, that to a good man death was
-only the transition to a more blessed life, and that affliction
-was useful in purifying and elevating the soul. They had
-heard the proofs of a Creator, and of His providential care
-for the things which he had made as evinced by the majesty,
-beauty, and organisation of the universe, by the conscience
-and moral faculties of man, as well as by the more direct
-testimony of the written word.<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">326</a> There is no evidence as
-to the number of converts reclaimed from Paganism.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span>
-Chrysostom only informs us<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">327</a> that he was occupied for
-some time after the return of Flavian with confirming in
-the faith those who “in consequence of the calamity had
-come to better mind and deserted from the side of Gentile
-error.”</p>
-
-<p>The sermons themselves are lost.</p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">ILLNESS OF CHRYSOSTOM—HOMILIES ON FESTIVALS OF SAINTS AND
-MARTYRS—CHARACTER OF THESE FESTIVALS—PILGRIMAGES—RELIQUES—CHARACTER
-OF PEASANT CLERGY IN NEIGHBOURHOOD
-OF ANTIOCH. A.D. 387.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Very</span> probably the physical labour and mental strain which
-Chrysostom had undergone during the events recorded in
-the previous chapter may have brought on the illness to
-which he alludes in the homily preached on the Sunday
-before Ascension Day.<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">328</a> He was prevented by this attack
-from taking part in the services which were held some time
-after Easter under the conduct of Bishop Flavian at the
-chapels built over the remains of martyrs and saints.<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">329</a> A
-variety of homilies delivered by Chrysostom at such “martyries”
-on other occasions are extant, and it may be as well
-to introduce here such indications as can be collected from
-them of the general feeling of the Church, as well as of
-himself, with regard to saints, and such kindred subjects as
-pilgrimages and reliques.</p>
-
-<p>Churches had in most instances been erected to commemorate
-the death of a martyr, or to mark the spot where
-he died. Tertullian’s saying that “the blood of martyrs was
-the seed of the Church” thus became verified in a literal,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span>material sense. Socrates (iv. 23) even speaks of the churches
-of St. Paul and St. Peter at Rome as their “martyries,” as
-Eusebius<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">330</a> also calls the church which Constantine built
-on Golgotha the “martyry” of our Saviour. By the age of
-Chrysostom the festivals of martyrs and saints had grown
-so numerous that frequently more than one occurred in the
-same week.<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">331</a> Good Friday and Ascension Day, and the
-Sunday after Whitsun Day (not observed as Trinity Sunday
-till much later), were especially dedicated to the commemoration
-of saints.<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">332</a> The congregation kept a vigil the
-night before, or very early before dawn on the Saints’ day
-itself. The vigil consisted of psalms, hymns, and prayers,
-and was followed early in the day by a full service, when,
-in addition to the ordinary lessons of the day, the acts or
-passions of the saint or martyr were read. St. Augustine
-permitted his people to sit during the reading of them
-because they were often of great length. Pope Gelasius
-forbade them to be read because they were so seldom
-authentic.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">333</a> The martyries were generally outside the city
-walls, not always built over the grave of the saint, but
-close to it; in which case the congregation assembled at
-the grave first, and walked in procession from it to the
-church, singing hymns as they went. There can be no
-doubt that Chrysostom believed in the intercessory power of
-departed saints, and encouraged the invocation of their intercession.
-They were nearer to the Divine ear, and by virtue
-of their glorious deaths had justly obtained more confidence
-in making their requests to God than had the inhabitants
-of earth. He implores Christians not to resort for medical
-assistance to Jews, who were the enemies of Christ, but
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span>to seek aid from His friends the saints and martyrs, who
-had much confidence in addressing God.<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">334</a> At the close of
-his homily on the festival of two soldiers who had been
-beheaded by Julian for obstinate adherence to Christianity,
-he says: “Let us constantly visit them, touch their shrine,
-and with faith embrace their reliques, that we may derive some
-blessing therefrom; for like soldiers who converse freely
-with their sovereign when they display their wounds, so
-these, bearing their heads in their hands, are easily able to
-effect what they desire at the court of the King of Heaven.”<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">335</a>
-So, again, in the homily on Bernice and Prosdoke: “Let us
-fall down before their reliques ... let us embrace their
-shrines: not only on their festival, but at other times, let us
-resort to them and invoke them to become our protectors;
-for they can use much boldness of speech when dead, more,
-indeed, than when they were alive, for now they bear in
-their bodies the marks of Jesus Christ ... let us therefore
-procure for ourselves, through them, favour from God.”<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">336</a>
-Thus the saint is to be appealed to as a kind of friend at
-court, who will present petitions, and use his influence to
-obtain a favourable answer from the Monarch; but the
-further step of invoking saints as the <em>direct</em> dispensers of
-spiritual and other benefits had not yet been taken. The
-feeling of the Church of Smyrna towards their beloved
-martyr and bishop Polycarp, as expressed in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 160 to the
-Church of Philomelium, still represented the general state of
-feeling in the Church.<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">337</a> The Jews and other malignants had
-suggested, when the remains of Polycarp had been earnestly
-asked for, that the Christians intended to worship him; and
-“this they said, being ignorant that we should never be able
-to desert Christ, or worship any other Being. For Him,
-being the Son of God, we adore, but the martyrs, as the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span>disciples and imitators of the Lord, we love with a deserved
-affection; desiring to become partners and fellow-disciples
-with them.” The language of St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom
-thoroughly corresponds to that in the passage just
-cited. “Our religion,” says Augustine, “consists not in
-the worship of dead men; because if they lived piously they
-are not considered likely to desire that kind of honour; but
-would wish Him to be worshipped by us through whose
-illumination they rejoice to have us partners with them in
-their merit. They are therefore to be honoured for the sake
-of imitation, not to be worshipped as a religious act.”<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">338</a> And
-in another place: “Christian people celebrate the memory
-of martyrs with religious solemnity, to stimulate imitation,
-to become partners in their merits, and to be assisted by
-their prayers; but in doing this we never offer sacrifice to a
-martyr, but only to Him who is the God of martyrs.”<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">339</a> A
-multitude of passages might be cited from Chrysostom’s
-homilies on Saints’ Festivals, in which he passionately
-exhorts to the imitation and emulation of their noble lives
-and glorious deaths, and dwells on the great advantages to
-the Church arising from these solemn commemorations.
-The very memory of the martyrs wrought upon the minds
-of men in confirming them against the assaults of wicked
-spirits, and delivering them from impure and unseemly
-thoughts; ... the death of the martyrs was the exhortation
-of the faithful, the confidence of Churches, the confirmation
-of Christianity, ... the reproach of devils, the condemnation
-of Satan, a consolation in affliction, a motive to patience,
-encouragement to fortitude, the root, fountain, mother of all
-which is good.<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">340</a></p>
-
-<p>But if no inculcations to direct worship of saints are to be
-found in Chrysostom, it is evident that no small virtue was
-ascribed by popular faith (and, in his opinion, justly) to
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span>their remains.<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">341</a> Miracles of healing were wrought, or supposed
-to be wrought, at their tombs; demons were expelled
-by the application of their ashes to the persons possessed.
-It is obvious that, where such a belief has taken possession
-of the popular mind, prayer will very soon be addressed to
-the saint for the direct bestowal of those advantages which
-are supposed to be derivable from his reliques. Pilgrimages
-were fashionable in all parts of Christendom. Prefects and
-generals, when they visited Rome, hastened to pay their
-devotion at the tombs of the tentmaker and fisherman;
-journeys were made into Arabia to visit the supposed site of
-Job’s dunghill.<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">342</a></p>
-
-<p>Two different causes seem to have led on the mind of the
-Church to an increasing veneration of martyrs. First, the
-Church owed to them a real debt; the heroic steadfastness
-of their deaths contributed much to promote and establish
-Christianity. Chrysostom observes how the sight of the
-aged Ignatius going to die at Rome for his faith—going not
-only with calmness, but even with alacrity—mightily confirmed
-the souls of the disciples in the several cities through
-which he passed.<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">343</a> “As irrigation made gardens fruitful,
-so the blood of martyrs gave drink to the Churches.”<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">344</a>
-Honour, affection, veneration, easily pass into actual adoration.</p>
-
-<p>Secondly, there is a natural desire to bridge over the
-chasm which divides the human nature from the Divine,
-and earth from heaven, by enlisting the agency of some
-intermediate being. In its earliest conflicts with heresy,
-theology was chiefly engaged in zealously defending the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span>pure divinity of Christ—his co-equal, co-eternal power and
-majesty with the Father. The more He was withdrawn
-into a less accessible region of exalted deity, the more this
-need of the half-deified human interpositor was felt, and
-worked itself out at last into a distinct article of faith.</p>
-
-<p>Some of those abuses of saints’ days, which we are apt to
-associate more especially with medieval times, were far
-from uncommon in the days of Chrysostom. The day which
-had begun in fasting, and was preceded by a vigil, too often
-terminated in a very carnal kind of revelry. “Ye have
-turned night into day by your holy vigils: do not turn day
-into night by drunkenness, surfeiting, and lascivious songs;
-let not any one see you misbehaving in an inn on your
-return home.”<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">345</a> A custom prevailed of holding a “love-feast,”
-at or near the tomb of the saint, which was furnished
-by the oblations of the wealthier devotees. Chrysostom
-on one occasion urges his congregation to attend such a
-sacred banquet when they dispersed after service, instead
-of hurrying off to the diabolical entertainments at Daphne.
-The sight of the martyrs, standing as it were near their
-table, would prevent their pleasure from running to excess.<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">346</a>
-But there is abundant evidence in other contemporary
-writers that these meetings too often did degenerate into
-scenes of mere conviviality and intemperance. St. Augustine
-speaks of those who “made themselves drunk at
-the commemoration of martyrs.”<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">347</a> St. Ambrose prohibited
-all such feasts in the churches of Milan; and St. Augustine
-cited his example to obtain a similar prohibition
-from Aurelius, the Primate of Carthage.<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">348</a> St. Basil reprobates
-a growing custom of trading near the martyries on
-festival days, under pretence of making a better provision
-for the feasts, to which we may fairly, perhaps, attribute
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span>the universal custom in Christendom of holding fairs on
-saints’ days.<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">349</a> As they were in medieval times, so in
-Roman Catholic countries at the present day, the booths of
-the fair are in close contiguity with the walls of the church,
-and they who attend mass in the morning, as well as those
-who do not attend it at all, may disgrace themselves by
-drunkenness and all kinds of folly in the evening. Such
-abuses are an inevitable consequence of keeping up the
-observance of days after the real enthusiasm for the person
-or cause which they commemorate has begun to grow, or has
-altogether grown, cold. Little may ever have been really
-known about the saint whose memory is celebrated, and that
-little ceases to speak with any meaning to the minds of later
-generations. The service, which was once a living reality,
-becomes a cold and empty form, or the place of religious
-enthusiasm is supplied by some form of sensual excitement.
-Crowds of peasants will not fail to be attracted to a church
-which blazes with thousands of candles arranged in fantastic
-patterns, and which rings with noisy sensational music:
-they probably place a superstitious faith in the tutelary
-power of their patron: but how different is all this from the
-hearty, genuine, reasonable devotion of more enlightened
-worshippers to the Lord Himself, and the less strong but
-more real respect and honour paid by such to His day! It is
-surely one among many proofs of the deep and lasting hold
-of Christ’s character upon the mind of men, of the applicability
-of its influence to all times and places, and of its
-Divine superiority to that of all His followers, however
-exalted, that abuses which have accompanied the commemorations
-of saints have never extended in the same
-degree to His day.<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">350</a></p>
-
-<p>As already remarked, Chrysostom was prevented this year
-by illness from attending the festivals of saints and martyrs,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span>which fell very thickly between Easter and Whitsun Day.
-He commences his homily preached on the Sunday before
-Ascension Day with an allusion to his recent sickness, and
-tells his congregation that, though absent in body from their
-sacred festivities, he had been present and rejoiced with
-them in spirit; and now, though he had not fully recovered
-his health, he could not refrain from meeting his beloved
-and much-longed-for flock again. He was the more anxious
-also to occupy his accustomed place on that day, because
-large numbers of the rustic population from the neighbouring
-country had flocked into the city and attended the
-services of the church. They spoke a different dialect, but
-they were one with the Christian inhabitants of the town in
-the soundness of their faith; and their habits of simple piety,
-pure morality, and honourable industry, put to shame the
-dissolute manners and indolence which prevailed in the city.
-Their peasant clergy were a noble race of men; they might
-be seen, one while yoking their oxen to the plough, and
-marking out furrows in the soil, another while mounting
-the pulpit and ploughing the hearts of their flock; now
-cutting away thorns from the ground with a sickle, now
-cleansing men’s minds from sin by their discourse: for they
-were not ashamed of hard work, like the people of the city,
-but of idleness, knowing that it was idleness which taught
-men vice, and had been from the beginning to those who
-loved it the schoolmaster of all iniquity. Though little
-skilled, by training, in reasoning or rhetoric, they proved
-more than a match for those counterfeit philosophers who
-paraded themselves about the streets with their professional
-cloak, staff, and beard, but who could not give any satisfactory
-information on the subjects upon which they expended
-such a heap of words,—as the immortality of the soul, the
-creation of the world, Divine Providence, a future world and
-judgment. The rustic pastor, being simply and firmly persuaded
-of the truth of these things, could instruct men with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span>
-clearness and decision about them; he could give solid
-matter, the others only polished language, like a man who
-should have a sword with a silver ornamented hilt, but a
-weak blade. Their wives were not luxurious creatures,
-covering themselves with unguents, paints, and dyes, but
-simple, sober, quiet matrons; which increased the influence
-of the pastor over the people committed to his charge, and
-caused the precept of St. Paul, “having food and raiment,
-let us be therewith content,” to be strictly observed<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">351</a> among
-them.</p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">SURVEY OF EVENTS BETWEEN A.D. 387 AND A.D. 397—AMBROSE AND
-THEODOSIUS—REVOLT OF ARBOGASTES—DEATH OF THEODOSIUS—THE
-MINISTERS OF ARCADIUS—RUFINUS AND EUTROPIUS.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Some</span> account has now been given of the most remarkable
-among the homilies delivered by Chrysostom during the first
-year of his priesthood; not only because to follow the course
-of the Christian seasons through the cycle of one year seemed
-the most convenient method of giving specimens of his
-ordinary style of preaching, but also because these first
-efforts were seldom if ever surpassed in power and beauty
-by his later productions. A more extensive survey of his
-theology, under its several heads, is reserved for the concluding
-chapter; and the remainder of the ten years during
-which he resided at Antioch being uneventful as regards his
-life, it will be profitable to fill up the gap by taking a glance
-at the world outside his present sphere. Some knowledge of
-contemporary events and men is indeed necessary to a just
-appreciation of his position and conduct, when he is summoned
-to occupy a more public and exalted station.</p>
-
-<p>It is a melancholy scene which meets the eye. The
-mighty fabric of the Empire crumbles, perhaps more rapidly
-in this decade than in any previous period of equal length—like
-an old man whose constitution is thoroughly broken.</p>
-
-<p>Effeminate luxury in the civilised population is matched
-by the rude ferocity of the barbarians who hem it in or
-mingle with it, and the new barbarian patch agrees ill with
-the old garment, which is not strong enough to bear it. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span>
-pages of historians are filled with tales of murder, massacre,
-treachery, venality, corruption, everywhere and of all kinds.
-There is no national greatness, but great men move across
-the stage: Theodosius himself, generous, just though passionate,
-vigorous when roused to a sense of emergency; the
-last Emperor who deserved the name of “great;” Ambrose,
-the intrepid advocate of religious duty to God and man, the
-champion of the rights of Church and hierarchy; Stilicho,
-the skilful commander of armies and able guardian of the
-Empire after the death of Theodosius; Alaric, the very type
-of Gothic force; Rufinus and Eutropius, the clever, scheming
-adventurers, destitute of all nobility, who in a degenerate
-court contrive to raise themselves to the pinnacle of power,
-and are suddenly toppled headlong from it.</p>
-
-<p>The most commanding public character in the West at
-this time was, and for some years had been, Ambrose,
-Archbishop of Milan. Disliked but feared by the Arian
-court, respected and beloved by the people, he fought in
-some respects a similar battle to that in which Chrysostom
-was afterwards engaged in the East, and amidst many differences
-there are also many parallels in the character and
-history of the two men: the same fearless courage to speak
-what they believed to be God’s truth, in the face of royalty
-itself, animated both; in both cases was it rewarded by
-virulent persecution; both had to contend with an imperious,
-passionate woman; both were protected from her fury by
-the populace keeping guard night and day before the walls
-of the church. In <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 384, Ambrose had been summoned
-before a royal council, and, in the presence of the young
-Emperor Valentinian <span class="smcap">II.</span> and the Queen-mother Justina, had
-been commanded to surrender the Portian Basilica for the
-use of the Arians. But Ambrose had replied undauntedly,
-that not one inch of ground which had been consecrated to
-truth would he concede to error.<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">352</a> For more than two years
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span>Ambrose maintained his ground against all the stratagems
-of his adversaries. On one occasion they seized the Portian
-Basilica, but dared not hold it in the face of the infuriated
-people. Messengers from court endeavoured to maintain
-before the archbishop that the Emperor had a right to dispose
-of the churches as he pleased, but the argument was contemptuously
-dismissed as a base sophistry. “What!” he
-cried; “the Emperor has no right to violate the house of a
-private individual, and think you that he may do violence
-to the house of God? No! let him take all that is mine—my
-land, my money, though these belong to the poor; if he
-seeks my patrimony, let him seize it; if my person, I will
-present it to him: but the church it is not lawful for me to
-surrender, or for him to accept.”<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">353</a> Force was not more
-successful than argument. Soldiers were sent to dislodge
-him and his congregation from one of the basilicas, but
-instead of drawing their swords they fell on their knees, and
-declared that they came not to attack the archbishop, but to
-pray with him. The effect of an edict was tried in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 386,<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">354</a>
-which permitted free worship to all who professed the creed
-of Rimini (an Arian creed), and rendered liable to capital
-punishment any who should impede the action of the edict,
-as offenders against the imperial majesty. Under shelter of
-this edict, the Portian Basilica was again demanded, but
-Ambrose refused to recognise such an edict, which militated
-against his sense of duty to a higher power. “God forbid
-that I should yield the heritage of Jesus Christ. Naboth
-would not part with the vineyard of his fathers to Ahab,
-and should I surrender the house of God? the heritage of
-Dionysius, who died in exile for the faith; of Eustorgius
-the confessor; of Miroclus, and all the faithful bishops which
-were before me?”<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">355</a> But though Ambrose disobeyed, the
-penalties of the edict were not enforced upon him. An
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span>order of banishment was served upon him, expressed in
-vague terms: “Depart from the city, and go where you
-please.” But Ambrose did not please to go anywhere, and
-remained where he was, moving up and down the city, and
-officiating as usual in the churches, using in his sermons
-the same Scripture parallels to indicate the Queen-mother,
-“Herodias” and “Jezebel,” which Chrysostom afterwards
-applied to the Empress Eudoxia. He preaches day after
-day, guarded by his faithful flock, who during passion-tide
-suffered him not to quit the cathedral for fear of violence to
-his person. Amongst that crowd, touched by the spell of
-the chants and hymns which Ambrose taught the people<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">356</a>
-to beguile the tediousness of their watch, and impressed by
-his pungent and decisive doctrine, are two remarkable
-persons, a mother and her son. They are Monica and
-Augustine. Monica is among the most faithful in watching,
-the most earnest in praying for the welfare of the bishop
-and the church. Augustine is about thirty-two years old;
-he has been in many places and passed through many phases
-of thought. He has subdued the vices and follies which
-stained his youth; he has shaken off the errors of Manicheism
-which for a time enthralled him; he has been a
-teacher of rhetoric at Tagaste, at Carthage, at Rome; and
-Symmachus has now obtained for him a professorial chair
-at Milan. But Pagan literature is losing its hold upon him.
-Plato no longer fascinates him equally with Holy Scripture.
-He is gravitating steadily towards Christianity, and in
-another year, April 387, just about the time that Chrysostom
-is delivering his homilies on the Statues, he will crown his
-mother’s hopes by making a public confession of his faith,
-and receiving baptism at the hands of Ambrose.<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">357</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span></p>
-
-<p>One more effort was made to win the contest, this time
-through diplomacy. The court proposed that the question
-under dispute should be settled by arbitration, the judges to
-be selected by Ambrose and Auxentius the Arian bishop.
-But Ambrose would not accept the arbitrators nominated by
-Auxentius, four of whom were Pagans and one a catechumen.
-In the name of himself and the clergy of his province he
-denied the validity of the tribunal. In an address to the
-people the same lofty tone of independence was maintained.
-“He would pay deference to the Emperor, but never yield
-in things unlawful: the Emperor was ‘in the Church, not
-above it.’”<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">358</a> So he remained master of the field. The
-unfinished basilica, which had been the prize contended for,
-was consecrated by Ambrose with great pomp, and the joy
-of the people was completed by the discovery of the martyrs’
-skeletons beneath the pavement, pronounced to be those of
-Gervasius and Protasius, who had suffered in the persecution
-of Diocletian. When demoniacs shuddered on being placed
-in proximity to these reliques, and a blind man was cured
-by the application to his eyes of a handkerchief which
-had been placed in contact with these same reliques, the
-crown was put on the triumph of Ambrose; the people
-were more firmly convinced than ever that his cause was
-the cause of God.<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">359</a></p>
-
-<p>He was so indisputably the ablest man of the time in
-the West, that, when danger impended over the state, the
-very court which persecuted him turned to him to rescue
-the country. Threatening messages came from the court
-of Maximus at Treves. Ambrose was the ambassador
-selected to go and pacify or intimidate the tyrant. Maximus
-was a Catholic, and a ruthless persecutor of those whom
-he deemed heretics, especially Priscillianists; yet Ambrose
-did not hesitate to denounce his cruelty to brethren who
-were Christians, however erring, as well as his disloyal
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span>attitude towards Valentinian. The embassy was unsuccessful,
-but the dignity of the ambassador and of the court
-which he represented was fully maintained. The artifices
-by which another ambassador, the Syrian Domninus, was
-blinded to the preparations of Maximus for the invasion of
-Italy; the passage of the Alps by the usurper; the flight of
-Justina and her son to Thessalonica; the prompt march of
-Theodosius to the succour of Italy, and his complete victory
-over Maximus, near Aquileia,—belong to the secular
-historian; but the connection between Theodosius and
-Ambrose will be related here more in detail.</p>
-
-<p>There is no account of the first meeting between the two
-great characters of the day—the Emperor and the archbishop.
-That Ambrose immediately exercised influence
-over the imperial mind may be inferred from the mildness
-of the measures by which the embers of the late revolution
-were extinguished. No bloody executions took place; no
-rigorous search for rebels was made; the mother and
-daughter of Maximus—who had been himself beheaded—were
-provided with a maintenance. Ambrose, in one of his
-letters, thanks the Emperor for granting liberty, at his
-request, to several exiles and prisoners, and for remitting
-the sentence of death to others.</p>
-
-<p>Theodosius could be generous to enemies, and was the
-zealous friend of Catholic Christianity, but he was a strict
-punisher of any violations of civil order, even when the
-offenders were Christian. The people of Callinicum in
-Osrhoene, instigated by the bishop and some fanatical monks,
-had set fire to a Jewish synagogue, and to a church of the
-sect of Valentinians. The Emperor directed the Count of
-the East to punish the offenders, and commanded the bishop
-to restore the buildings at the expense of the Church. But
-the extension of such favour to heretics was in the sight of
-Ambrose intolerable. It might, indeed, have been wrong to
-disturb civil order, but it was far more wrong to reinstate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span>
-error: to order Christians to rebuild a place of worship for
-those who set Christ at naught was, in his eyes, simple profanity.
-He expressed his opinion to the Emperor in a letter.
-It is the first great instance of the Church distinctly claiming
-a pre-eminence of authority superseding that of civil
-law. “If I am not worthy to be listened to by you, how
-can I be worthy to transmit, as your priest, your vows and
-prayers to God?” Basing on this ground his right to speak
-out his mind, he declares that “if the Bishop of Callinicum
-obeyed the imperial command, he would be guilty of culpable
-weakness, and the Emperor would be responsible for it.
-If he refused to obey, the Emperor could execute his will by
-force of arms only; the labarum, perhaps the standard of
-Christ, would be employed to rebuild a temple where Christ
-would be denied. What a monstrous inconsistency!” The
-last words which it contained were: “I have endeavoured to
-make myself heard in the palace; do not place me under
-the necessity of making myself heard in the church;” but
-the letter was unanswered, and so Ambrose put his threat
-into execution. He preached in Milan in the presence of
-the Emperor; “he compared the Christian priest to the prophets
-of the Old Testament, whose duty it was to proclaim
-God’s message to the king himself, as Nathan did to David.
-As the Israelites were warned not to say, when they entered
-the land of Canaan, ‘My virtue has deserved these good
-things,’ but ‘the Lord God has given them,’ so the Emperor
-should remember that he was what he was by the mercy of
-God. Therefore, he ought to love the body of Christ, the
-Church—to wash, kiss, and anoint her feet, that all the
-dwelling where Christ reposes might be filled with the
-odour; that is, he ought to honour his least disciples, and
-pardon their faults; every one of the members of the
-Christian body was necessary to it, and ought to receive his
-protection.”</p>
-
-<p>Having uttered such words, he descended from the altar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span>
-steps. Theodosius perceived that the archbishop had taken
-up his parable against him, and as Ambrose was going out
-of the church he stopped him, saying, “Is it I whom you
-have made the subject of your discourse?” “I have said
-that which I deemed useful for you,” Ambrose replied. “I
-perceive it is of the synagogue that you would speak,” rejoined
-Theodosius. “I own that my commands have been
-a little severe, but I have already softened them, and these
-monks are troublesome men.” “I am going to offer the
-sacrifice,” said Ambrose; “enable me to do so without fear
-for you; deliver me from the load which oppresses my
-spirit.” “It shall be so,” responded the Emperor; “my
-orders shall be mitigated; I give you my promise.” But
-Ambrose was not satisfied with so vague an assurance.
-“Suppress the whole matter,” he said; “swear it to me, and,
-on your sworn promise, I proceed to offer the sacrifice.”
-The Emperor swore; Ambrose celebrated mass; “and never,”
-said he, in a letter written the day after to his sister, “did I
-experience such sensible marks of the presence of God in
-prayer.”<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">360</a></p>
-
-<p>In the spring of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 389, Theodosius made his triumphal
-entry into Rome, accompanied by Valentinian and his own
-son Honorius, a boy of ten. His arrival was preceded by
-two popular enactments: one a decree, renouncing for himself
-and family all bequests made by codicils—striking a
-blow at a vicious custom, which had long prevailed, of bribing
-imperial favour for particular families, by bequeathing large
-legacies to the reigning sovereign. By heathen emperors
-these bequests had been sought with great cupidity; sick or
-old men were sometimes threatened with an acceleration of
-death, unless they satisfied the royal expectations in this
-way. The other, no less popular, decree was, to abolish the
-custom by which royal couriers, when conveying news of
-victory, exacted donations from the villages through which
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span>they passed. The victory of Theodosius over Maximus was
-the first which had been gratuitously proclaimed along the
-route to Rome; and the people greeted the Emperor as he
-made his progress to the capital with all the warmer welcome
-in consequence.<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">361</a></p>
-
-<p>Rome had at this period scarcely recovered from the ferment
-into which society had been thrown by the three years’
-residence of Jerome, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 382-385. His denunciations of
-clerical luxury; his cutting satires on the vices and follies
-of the laity; his allurement to monastic life of some of the
-wealthiest and noblest of the Roman ladies, had stirred up
-a tumult of feeling for the most part adverse to him. But
-Theodosius prudently abstained from interfering with the
-religious debates of Rome. In Constantinople he was the
-absolute sovereign; in Rome he desired to appear simply as
-the successful general and the foremost citizen. He assumed
-no imperial or Asiatic splendour; he exhibited no fastidious
-abhorrence of statues, temples, and other remnants of
-Paganism. Symmachus, the most eminent Pagan citizen,
-was cordially received, and gratified by the promise of consulship.
-The result of this amiable and moderate conduct was
-that some of the most powerful Roman families embraced
-the faith of the Emperor.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 390. But the generosity which Theodosius had
-manifested towards the people of Antioch, his moderation
-after the defeat of Maximus, and during his triumphal residence
-in Rome, was presently stained by one of those
-paroxysms of anger to which he was occasionally subject.
-The intercession of Flavian had averted any such outburst in
-the case of the sedition of Antioch; the authority of Ambrose,
-too late to prevent the crime, enforced penance for the cruel
-vengeance executed on the people of Thessalonica.</p>
-
-<p>Botheric, the governor of Thessalonica, had imprisoned a
-favourite charioteer for attempting to commit a disgusting
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span>crime. The people, passionately attached to the races of the
-circus, demanded his release on a certain day to take part
-in the contest. The governor refused, and the people then
-broke out into rebellion; the tumult was with difficulty
-quelled by the troops, and not before Botheric had been
-mortally wounded, several other officers torn to pieces, and
-their mangled remains dragged through the streets. The
-irritation of the Emperor, on hearing of this barbarous
-violence, was extreme; and all the more so, because of
-Thessalonica he could have expected better things. It did
-not contain, like Antioch, Rome, or Alexandria, a large
-mixed population, but one almost exclusively Christian, and
-for the most part even Catholic. The city was the scene of
-his early triumphs, and frequently honoured by his visits.
-It is possible that Ambrose may have pushed his exhortations
-to clemency too far in the first glow of the Emperor’s
-resentment. At any rate, the counsel of those rivals or
-enemies of Ambrose, who represented that the affair belonged
-purely to civil government, and should be decided independently
-of all clerical interference, prevailed. Rufinus,
-the flattering, heartless courtier, persuaded Theodosius that a
-public offence of such magnitude deserved the most merciless
-punishment which could be inflicted. Orders were issued to
-the officials at Thessalonica to assemble the populace, as if
-for a fête, in the circus, and then to let in the troops upon
-them. This barbarous mandate was too faithfully executed.
-The unsuspecting victims crowded into their favourite place
-of amusement; at a given signal the soldiers rushed in, and
-in the course of two or three hours the ground was strewn
-with some 7000 corpses of men, women, and children.<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">362</a> The
-horror of the people of Milan was only equalled by their
-astonishment. Was it possible that he who had displayed
-such magnanimity and Christian moderation could be guilty
-of an act which savoured of the most heathen treachery and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span>ferocity? When the Emperor returned from Rome, Ambrose
-withdrew from Milan into the country, and thence wrote to
-him a letter expressing his horror at the recent massacre;
-exhorting him to the deepest repentance and humiliation as
-the only hope of obtaining mercy from God, and declaring
-that he could not celebrate mass again in his presence. The
-mode by which the Emperor was to expiate his guilt is not
-indicated in this epistle, and he presented himself soon afterwards
-at the doors of the cathedral church with his usual
-royal retinue. But he was confronted by Ambrose in his
-pontifical robes, who with flashing eyes expressed his astonishment
-at such audacity, and barred the entrance with his
-person. “I see, Emperor, you are ignorant of the flagrancy
-of the murder which you have perpetrated. Perhaps your
-unlimited power blinds you to your guilt, and obscures your
-reason. Yet consider your frail and mortal nature; think of
-the dust from which you were formed, and to which you will
-return, and beneath the splendid veil of your purple recognise
-the infirmity of the flesh which it covers. You rule over
-men who are your brethren by nature, and by service to a
-common King, the Creator of all things. How then will you
-dare to plant your feet in His sanctuary, and elevate your
-hands towards Him, all dripping as they are with the blood
-of men unjustly slain? How will you take into your
-hands the sacred body of the Lord, or dare to put His
-precious blood to those lips, which by a word of anger have
-spilt the blood of so many innocent victims? Withdraw,
-then, and add not a fresh crime to those with which you are
-already burdened.” The Emperor returned, conscience-stricken
-and weeping, to his palace. For eight months no
-intercourse took place between him and Ambrose. Christmas
-approached; exclusion from the church at such a season
-seemed insupportable to the Emperor. Rufinus found him
-one day dissolved in tears. “The church of God,” he cried,
-“is open to the slave and the beggar, but to me it is closed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span>
-and with it the gates of heaven; for I remember the words
-of the Lord: ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
-bound in heaven.’” Rufinus sought to console him: “I will
-hasten to Ambrose, and force him to release you from this
-bond.” “No,” said the Emperor, “you will not persuade
-Ambrose to violate divine law from any fear of imperial
-power.” Rufinus, however, sought an interview with the
-archbishop; but Ambrose spurned him indignantly from him,
-as being the chief counsellor of the late massacre. Rufinus
-informed him that the Emperor was approaching. “If he
-comes,” said the prelate, “I will repel him from the vestibule
-of the church.” The minister returned to the Emperor
-discomfited, and advised him to abstain from visiting the
-church; but Theodosius had subdued all pride, and replied
-that he would now go and submit to any humiliation which
-Ambrose might see proper to impose. He advanced to the
-church. Perceiving the archbishop in the exterior court or
-atrium, he cried, “I have come; deliver me from my sins.”
-“What madness,” replied Ambrose, “has prompted you to
-violate the sanctuary, and to trample on divine law?” “I
-ask for my deliverance,” said the humbled monarch; “shut
-not the door which God has opened to all penitents.” “And
-where is your penitence?” said the archbishop; “show me
-your remedies for healing your wounds.” “It is for <em>you</em> to show
-them to <em>me</em>,” Theodosius replied; “for me to accept them.”
-Once more Ambrose had gained the day. He could prescribe
-his own terms. First, he required that the recurrence of a
-similar crime should be guarded against by a decree which
-should interpose a delay of thirty days between a sentence of
-confiscation or death and the execution of it. At the expiration
-of this period the sentence was to be presented to the
-Emperor for final reconsideration. Theodosius consented,
-ordered the law to be drawn up, and subscribed it with his
-own hand. He was then admitted within the walls, but in
-deeply penitential guise; stripped of imperial ornaments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span>
-prostrate on the pavement, beating his breast, tearing his
-hair, and crying aloud, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust,
-quicken thou me according to thy word.” So he remained
-during the first portion of the Liturgy. When the offertory
-began, he rose, advanced within the choir to present his
-offering, and was about to resume the place which at Constantinople
-he usually occupied—a seat in the midst of the
-clergy, in the more elevated portion of the choir. But
-Ambrose determined, by taking advantage of the Emperor’s
-present humiliation, to put a stop to this custom. An
-archdeacon stepped up to Theodosius, and informed him
-that no layman might remain in the choir during the celebration.
-The submissive Emperor withdrew outside the rails.
-When he had returned to Constantinople, he was invited
-by Nectarius, the archbishop, to occupy his accustomed
-chair in the choir. “No!” replied Theodosius, with a sigh;
-“I have learned at Milan the insignificance of an Emperor
-in the Church, and the difference between him and a
-bishop. But no one here tells me the truth. I know not
-any bishop save Ambrose who deserves the name.”<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">363</a> He
-had hit the truth. The difference between the conduct of
-Ambrose and of Nectarius symbolised the difference between
-the character of the Western and Eastern Church generally:
-the one stern, commanding, jealous of any encroachment of
-the civil power; the other, subservient, submissive, courtier-like;
-the one aspiring and advancing, the other receding and
-decadent. Chrysostom would have told him the truth; but
-Chrysostom, in his uncompromising and fearless honesty of
-purpose and speech, is such a grand exception among the
-patriarchs of Constantinople, that he proves the general rule.
-Even Flavian had only <em>supplicated</em> mercy from the Emperor;
-Ambrose <em>commanded</em> it.</p>
-
-<p>On one subject the deference of Theodosius for the opinion
-of Ambrose caused him some embarrassment. Ambrose, in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span>common with the other Western prelates, had recognised
-Paulinus as Bishop of Antioch—the priest of the Eustathian
-party who had been consecrated by Lucifer of Cagliari; and
-he now acknowledged Evagrius, his successor. Theodosius
-was distracted between his friendship for Flavian, the rival
-of Evagrius, and for Ambrose. Flavian was summoned to
-court. The Emperor implored him to go to Rome and
-justify his claims before the Pope; but Flavian refused. At
-the suggestion of Ambrose, the Western Bishops assembled
-in council at Capua, and there delegated the decision to
-Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria. Once more Flavian
-was summoned to court, and advised to submit to the
-arbitration of Theophilus; but he was still intractable.
-“Take my bishopric at once, and give it to whom you
-please; but I will submit neither my honour nor my faith
-to the judgment of my equals.” Nearly eighteen months
-were consumed in these negotiations. The West grew
-impatient. The letters of Ambrose took a severer tone:
-“Flavian has something to fear; that is why he avoids
-examination. Will he place himself outside the Church, the
-communion of Rome, and intercourse with his brethren?”
-The strife was mercifully broken off by the sudden death
-of Evagrius, before he had time to designate a successor;
-and the wound was salved, though not healed. That final
-good work was destined to be accomplished by Chrysostom.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">364</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 392. Only a few years more of life remained for
-Theodosius, and his reign was occupied at the end as at the
-beginning by quelling rebellion in the West. When he
-returned to the East, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 391, after the defeat of Maximus,
-he had generously left the youthful Valentinian in full
-possession of all his hereditary dominions, which he had
-rescued for him from the usurper. Arbogastes, a Gaul, was
-appointed general of the forces; Ambrose was a kind of
-general counsellor. But Arbogastes was bold, ambitious,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span>unscrupulous. He possessed much power; he determined
-to acquire the whole. He obeyed the commands of his
-young sovereign or not, as suited his pleasure and purposes,
-and surrounded him with creatures of his own, who, under
-the semblance of courtiers, acted as spies and gaolers.
-Valentinian’s residence at Vienne, in Gaul, became his
-prison rather than his palace. The sequel belongs to secular
-history, and is well known. An open rupture took place.
-Arbogastes threw off the mask. Valentinian was found
-strangled, too late to receive baptism at the hands of Ambrose,
-whose coming he had awaited with great eagerness
-as soon as he knew that his life was in danger.<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">365</a> Once more
-Italy became the prey of a usurper; once more the veteran
-Emperor of the East roused himself from his well-earned
-repose, collected a huge force, consulted John, the hermit of
-the Thebaid, on the issue of the war, solicited the favour of
-Heaven by visiting the principal places of devotion in the
-city, and kneeling on flint before the tombs of martyrs
-and apostles, then set out on his march, and by the summer
-of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 394 again looked down from the Alps on the plains
-of Venetia, near the scene of his former victory over one
-usurper, and now covered with the tents belonging to the
-army of another. He prosecuted the campaign in the same
-religious spirit in which he had undertaken it. The first
-assault made on the 5th of September against the enemy was
-repulsed. Theodosius rallied and harangued the troops
-lifted up his eyes to heaven, and cried: “O Lord, Thou
-knowest that I have undertaken this war only for the
-honour of thy Son, and to prevent crime going unpunished;
-stretch forth, I pray Thee, thy hand over thy servants, that
-the heathen say not of us, ‘Where is their God?’” The
-second assault was more successful; the night was spent by
-the Emperor in prayer, who was rewarded towards dawn by
-a vision of two horsemen, clothed in white, who bade him be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span>of good cheer, for that they were the apostles St. Philip and
-St. John, and would not fail to come to his succour on the
-following day. The issue of that day was decisive; the
-overthrow of Arbogastes complete; his army routed; himself
-slain.<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">366</a></p>
-
-<p>The conqueror was received by Ambrose, at Milan, with
-transports of joy. The victory was nobly signalised by a
-display of Christian clemency. Free pardon was proclaimed
-in the church (whither the offenders had fled for refuge)
-to all those Milanese who had joined the side of the usurper.
-Among them were the children of Arbogastes, and of the
-puppet king whom he had set up, Eugenius. They were
-made to expiate the crimes of their Pagan fathers by submitting
-to baptism.<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">367</a></p>
-
-<p>But there was an increasing shade of gloom which overcast
-the general sunshine of joy. The health of Theodosius,
-long undermined by a disease, was now manifestly fast
-giving way. He was sensible of his danger, and despatched
-a message to Constantinople, desiring that his younger son,
-Honorius, should be sent to join him at Milan. The young
-prince, accompanied by his cousin Serena (the wife of
-Stilicho) and his little sister Placidia, set off without delay.
-They reached Milan early in the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 395. Some shocks
-of earthquake, and terrific storms, which coincided with
-their arrival, were regarded as portents of future evil. The
-malady of Theodosius, a dropsical disorder, was rapidly gaining
-ground. He revived a little at the sight of his son, and
-received the Eucharist from the hands of Ambrose, which
-he had hitherto refused, as having too recently been engaged
-in the sanguinary scenes of war. He gave audience to a
-deputation of Western bishops, who came to pay him homage,
-and besought them to heal the schism of Antioch by acknowledging
-Flavian. He besought the Pagan members of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span>senate of Rome to embrace the Christian faith, adding the
-somewhat potent argument, that Pagan worship must no
-longer expect any pecuniary aid from the State. He appeared
-for a few times at the circus, where races were held
-in honour of his victory and the arrival of the young prince;
-but one day, while dining, he was taken suddenly worse, and
-expired early the next morning, Jan. 17th, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 395, in the
-fiftieth year of his age, and the sixteenth of his reign. Those
-who watched by his bedside thought they detected the name
-of Ambrose faintly murmured by his dying lips.<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">368</a></p>
-
-<p>So passed away the last great Emperor of the Roman
-world.<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">369</a> He had persistently kept in view a single and
-noble aim—the consolidation of the Empire. He had repelled
-invasion, crushed rebellion, laboured to extirpate
-heathenism, to suppress heresy, to reconcile opposing factions
-in the Church; and the work seemed advancing
-when he was called away, and years ensued of misrule and
-disorder, Gothic devastation, and internal corruption and
-decadence.</p>
-
-<p>The history of the Empire under Arcadius and Honorius
-presents a pitiable picture of imbecility on the part of the
-sovereigns; of infidelity and unscrupulous ambition on the
-part of their ministers. Theodosius himself, as he lay on
-his death-bed, was perhaps conscious of impending troubles.
-The words supposed by Claudian to be spoken by the shade
-of Theodosius to his son Arcadius: “Res incompositas fateor
-tumidasque reliqui,”<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">370</a> express at any rate the true condition
-of affairs. To Stilicho he commended his younger son,
-Honorius, and the interests of the Western Empire, but
-added a request that he would not neglect Arcadius and the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span>Eastern portion of the Empire also. The legal guardian,
-however, of Arcadius was not a man who would tamely
-submit to any supervision, or to any encroachment, fancied
-or real, upon the rights of his office. He was as jealous
-of Stilicho as Constantinople was of Rome. Discernment of
-character cannot be reckoned among the great qualities of
-Theodosius; otherwise he would not have intrusted his
-two sons to the guardianship of two men dissimilar in all
-respects but one—an insatiable love of power. He had
-placed the two weak princes in the hands of deadly rivals.</p>
-
-<p>Rufinus, the guardian of Arcadius and regent of the East,
-was an Aquitanian Gaul, born at Elusa, the modern Eauze,
-at the foot of the Pyrenees.<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">371</a> He was the very model of
-an accomplished adventurer. Sprung from poverty and
-obscurity, he was gifted by nature with a handsome figure,
-a noble demeanour, a ready tongue, an inventive, versatile
-wit.<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">372</a> He made his way, after residing in Milan and Rome,
-to the court of Constantinople; and found in Theodosius a
-patron who could appreciate his talents without detecting
-his vices. He rapidly rose till he had attained the high distinction
-of “Master of the Offices,” in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 390; of consul, in
-connection with Arcadius, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 392; and, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 394,
-prætorian prefect <em>in presenti</em>, a position second only to that
-of the Emperor himself.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">373</a> He affected the warmest zeal for
-the Catholic faith, and threw himself heartily into the
-schemes of Theodosius for the suppression of heresy, no less
-than into those for the consolidation of the social and
-political fabric.</p>
-
-<p>But underneath this appearance of patriotic enthusiasm
-he indulged what Claudian terms an “accursed thirst” for
-gain.<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">374</a> By unjust law-suits he wrested patrimonies from the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span>poor, and manœuvred to marry the daughters and widows of
-the wealthy to his own favourites, in order that he might
-reap their legacies and gifts. If any exposure of these
-iniquities was threatened, he stopped the mouths of accusers
-by large bribes, and compensated his extortions from towns
-by making presents to their churches or enlarging their
-public buildings.</p>
-
-<p>When Theodosius departed for the Italian war, Rufinus,
-being left as guardian of Arcadius, began to conceive the
-project of elevating himself to the imperial throne. He
-made a magnificent display of his piety. Hard by his villa,
-or rather palace, in the suburb of Chalcedon, called the Oak, a
-spot which afterwards acquired a melancholy notoriety in the
-history of Chrysostom, he had built a church and a monastery
-attached to it. This church he now determined to dedicate
-with great pomp, and at the same time to be baptized himself.
-For this purpose he assembled nineteen Eastern bishops,
-chiefly metropolitans, and a number of Egyptian hermits;
-strange-looking figures, who, with their raiment of skins,
-their flowing beards and long hair, excited much superstitious
-reverence. In the midst of this august assembly, the
-depredator of the East descended into the baptismal waters,
-arrayed in the white robes typical of innocence. The celebrated
-Egyptian solitary, Ammonius (who will come before
-us again), administered the sacrament, and Gregory of Nyssa
-delivered a discourse.<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">375</a> Rufinus now surrounded himself
-with a powerful party of followers; Arcadius was too stupid
-to see, or too timid to oppose, the dangerous ambition of his
-so-called protector.</p>
-
-<p>But the death of Theodosius and the elevation of Stilicho
-to the guardianship of the West brought the intriguer face
-to face with an able and determined soldier, who united
-some of the ferocity of the barbarian with the steadfast
-patriotism of an old Roman. This last, indeed, was the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span>character which Stilicho, a Vandal by birth, but educated at
-Rome, more especially emulated. It was his ambition to be
-compared to Fabricius, Curtius, Camillus.<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">376</a> Great was his
-delight when Claudius, himself called a second Virgil,
-likened him in his verses to Scipio.<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">377</a> The poet declared that
-Theodosius had never fought without Stilicho, though Stilicho
-had fought without Theodosius. He was made not only the
-guardian but father-in-law of Honorius, who was betrothed
-to his eldest daughter beside the death-bed of Theodosius;
-the father dying in the happy assurance that, by creating
-this parental tie, he had secured the fidelity of his minister.
-The boy and girl were brought into the sick-room, exchanged
-rings, and repeated the words which were dictated
-to them.<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">378</a></p>
-
-<p>The regent of the East naturally became profoundly
-jealous of the regent of the West, and in point of royal connection
-determined to be even with him. He humoured
-Arcadius into a consent to marry his own daughter; and his
-scheme seemed on the point of completion when an inopportune
-matter of business took him away to Antioch, and his
-enemy, the chamberlain Eutropius, took advantage of his
-absence to frustrate the plan. A Frankish general, called
-Bautho, who had been elevated to the consulship, but had
-prematurely died, left a daughter of rare beauty named
-Eudoxia. The orphan girl was brought up by a friend of
-Bautho, the son of Promotus, a magister militum, whom
-Rufinus, in revenge for an insult, had caused to be assassinated.
-Eutropius introduced a portrait of the young beauty
-to the notice of Arcadius. Curiosity, and soon a tenderer
-sentiment, were excited in the young Emperor’s breast; the
-cunning chamberlain fanned the flame, till he was able to
-persuade the royal youth that Eudoxia was a more eligible
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span>bride than the daughter of the low-born Gaul.<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">379</a> The intrigue
-was conducted with such secrecy that Rufinus, on his return
-from Antioch, remained unsuspicious, and his boastful remarks
-on the approaching nuptials excited the indignation
-of the public. The wedding-day was fixed for April 25,
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 395. Eutropius selected from the imperial wardrobe
-some of the costliest female robes and jewels which it contained.
-They were placed on litters, which, escorted by a
-large train of splendidly apparelled serving-men, paraded
-the streets, on the way, as was supposed, to the house of
-Rufinus. What was the astonishment of the populace when
-the procession suddenly turned in another direction, and
-presently stopped in front of the house of Promotus! A
-loud shout of joy burst from the lips of the multitude, and
-proclaimed to Rufinus the unpopularity of his project, and
-the general satisfaction at its defeat. The bride thus cunningly
-substituted was destined to play a conspicuous part
-in the later scenes of Chrysostom’s career. She inherited
-the fair beauty, the energetic spirit, the impulsive, sometimes
-fierce, temper of the race from which she sprang. Her
-father had remained firmly attached to the Pagan religion of
-his ancestors, but, in deference to Theodosius, his patron, he
-had allowed his daughter to be baptized and educated in the
-Christian faith.<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">380</a> Impatient of control, she resolved to
-possess herself of her husband’s confidence in order to govern
-through him, and gradually to disengage herself from the
-management alike of Rufinus and Eutropius.</p>
-
-<p>Rufinus had been thoroughly outwitted in his matrimonial
-scheme, but his resources were far from being exhausted.
-The sequel of his life belongs too exclusively to secular
-history to be more than glanced at here. He played a
-subtle and desperate game, seldom if ever surpassed in
-villainy. Some Hunnish tribes, encouraged by him, made
-incursions into Armenia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and even as
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span>far as the vicinity of Antioch.<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">381</a> The court was in the
-extremity of alarm, for the main forces of the army and
-treasury had been drained to the West when Theodosius
-marched against Arbogastes, and remained in the hands of
-Stilicho. Worse still, the formidable chieftain Alaric, of
-the royal race of the Visigoths, who had lately distinguished
-himself in the Italian wars under Theodosius, began to
-complain of unrequited services, and with a motley force of
-Huns, Alani, Sarmatians, and Goths, descended into Thrace,
-and ravaged the country up to the walls of Constantinople.
-The inhabitants were convulsed with panic; all except the
-artful intriguer, who had already struck his bargain with
-the invaders. He rode out of Constantinople accoutred as
-a Gothic warrior, went through the farce of an interview
-with Alaric, and returned with the joyful intelligence that
-his intercessions had saved the city, and that the Gothic
-prince had consented to withdraw his troops. And so he
-did; not, however, to retire to the Gothic settlements in the
-north, but to pour southwards in a devastating flood over
-Greece. This was the plot of Rufinus. The possession of
-the Illyrian provinces was disputed between the courts of
-East and West. Alaric occupied these. Stilicho, with extraordinary
-energy, collected a large army, advanced against
-the devastator, who was supposed to be the common enemy
-of the whole Empire; but when on the point of attacking
-him, he was arrested by a message from Constantinople,
-which commanded him to abstain from any hostilities
-against the ravager of Greece. “He was the good friend of
-Arcadius: he occupied the province of Illyria as his ally,
-which Stilicho was to evacuate immediately, and to restore
-the troops and treasure which belonged to the East.” The
-troops were sent back by Stilicho under the command of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span>
-Gaïnas, but with the secret understanding that he should
-compass the death of Rufinus. The result is well known.
-Rufinus fell just as he was placing his foot on the topmost
-round of his ladder of ambition. He was standing on the
-tribune, where Arcadius was to proclaim him Cæsar, in
-the presence of a vast multitude; he was making a flowery
-harangue to the troops, complimenting them on their exploits,
-congratulating them on their restoration to their homes, when
-those very troops closed in upon him, plunged their swords
-into his body, and presently hacked it to pieces. A soldier
-who got hold of his right arm, and having crooked the fingers
-of the hand, went about the town, holding it in front of him,
-and crying, “An obol, an obol for him who never had enough,”
-collected a large sum by his grim and savage jest.<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">382</a></p>
-
-<p>Arcadius was quite incapable of handling the reins of
-government himself, and the downfall of one all-powerful
-minister would in any case have been quickly followed by
-the rise of another; but, as it happened, there was one ready
-to step immediately into the vacant place. The fortunes of
-this person, the eunuch Eutropius, ran a strange career.
-Born a slave, somewhere in the region of the Euphrates, and
-condemned in infancy to the most degraded condition possible
-even to slavery, he passed in boyhood and youth through
-the hands of many owners. He performed the most menial
-offices as a household slave, cutting wood, drawing water, or
-whisking the flies from his mistress’s face with a large fan.
-Arinthus, an old magister militum, who had become possessed
-of him, presented him to his daughter on her marriage;
-and, in the words of Claudian, “the future consul of the
-East was made over as part of a marriage dowry.”<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">383</a> But the
-young lady grew tired of the slave, who was getting elderly
-and wrinkled, and without attempting to sell him, simply
-turned him out of doors.<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">384</a> He lived for a time, picking
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span>up a precarious livelihood, and often in great want, till an
-officer about court at Constantinople took pity on him, and
-with some difficulty obtained for him a situation in the
-lowest ranks of the imperial chamberlains.<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">385</a> This was the
-beginning of his rise. By the diligence and precision with
-which he discharged his ordinary duties, by occasional witty
-sayings, and the semblance of a fervent piety, he attracted
-the notice of the Emperor Theodosius, and gradually acquired
-his confidence so as to be employed on difficult and delicate
-missions. He it was whom the Emperor sent to consult the
-hermit John in Egypt before undertaking the Italian campaign
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 394.<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">386</a></p>
-
-<p>On the death of Theodosius he became, in the capacity
-of grand chamberlain, the intimate adviser and constant
-attendant of Arcadius; and, when Rufinus was removed, the
-government was practically in his hands, though he was
-careful to avoid the error of his late rival, and was content
-with the reality without the display of power. He continued
-to execute all the household duties which fell to his
-lot as chamberlain with humble assiduity, and sought no
-other title than what he possessed.<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">387</a> But it was soon
-apparent, to the amusement of the East and the indignation
-of the West, that the eunuch slave was really master of the
-Emperor of half the Roman world. He gradually removed
-by his arts the friends of Theodosius from the principal posts
-of trust, and replaced them by creatures of his own. By
-surrounding his royal charge with a crowd of frivolous companions;
-by dissipating his thoughts amidst a perpetual
-round of amusement, public spectacles, chariot races, and
-the like; by taking him every spring to Ancyra in Phrygia,
-where he was subjected to the soft enchantments of a delicious
-climate and luxurious manner of life, he made the
-naturally feeble mind of Arcadius more feeble still, and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span>withdrew it from the influence of every superior intellect
-but his own.<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">388</a></p>
-
-<p>Whilst the effeminate monarch languished in inglorious
-ease in Phrygia, the fairest and most renowned portions of
-his Empire were overrun by the barbarian forces of Alaric.
-The sacred pass of Thermopylæ was violated by the Gothic
-prince, and the ravager spread his devastations over Peloponnesus.
-Once more Stilicho hastened to the rescue;
-once more his hand was stayed by the astonishing announcement
-that Alaric was rewarded for his career of
-spoliation by being made commander-in-chief of the forces
-of the East. Thus the invader was turned into the position
-of friend, and the defender into the position of rebel, who
-had to withdraw with feelings of shame, disappointment,
-and rage. To such base arts did the court of Arcadius,
-under the direction of Eutropius, stoop to protect itself in
-its pitiful jealousy of its rival in the West.<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">389</a></p>
-
-<p>Eutropius mounted to the summit of power by the simple
-process of putting all dangerous competitors out of the way,
-under various pretexts, as treasonable or otherwise public
-offenders.<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">390</a> He deprived them of their last hope of escape,
-by abolishing the right of the Church to afford asylum to
-fugitives.<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">391</a> He sold the chief functions of the State, and the
-command of the provinces, to the highest bidders. He was
-ambitious even of military glory; and, to the amusement of
-the enemy, as well as of the imperial army, appeared in
-military costume at the head of the troops, to repel an
-incursion of Huns. He succeeded, however, more in his
-negotiations by which he bought off the enemy, than in his
-martial exploits, and returned mortified by the ridicule
-which had attended his attempts in war.<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">392</a></p>
-
-<p>From the pettiest detail of domestic life to the most
-serious affairs of state, the minister was supreme. Arcadius
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span>was little more than a magnificently dressed puppet. The
-descriptions of his palace read like accounts in fairy tales: it
-swarmed with slaves of every conceivable variety of race,
-profession, and costume; the floors of the imperial apartments
-were sprinkled with gold dust, in the carriage of
-which from Asia a special service of vessels and wagons
-was constantly engaged.<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">393</a> The great annual public spectacle
-was the departure of the Emperor for his summer sojourn
-in Phrygia. From an early hour the streets were thronged
-with people eagerly waiting for the pageant. At length,
-from the portals of the palace there issued a gorgeous
-procession; soldiers in white uniform, with gold-brocaded
-ensigns; then the body guard, called domestics, with their
-tribunes and generals arrayed in robes flashing with gold,
-mounted on horses with golden caparisons; each rider bore
-a gilded lance in the right hand, and in the left a gilded
-shield studded with precious stones. In the rear, surrounded
-by a grand cortége of state officials, came the imperial car,
-drawn by milk-white mules, clothed in purple housings,
-which were tricked out with gold and jewels. The sides of
-the car also were gilded, and flashed out rays of golden light
-as it moved along towards the harbour, where rode a fleet
-of barges richly decorated, waiting to convey the royal
-traveller to the opposite shore of the Bosporus. In strange
-contrast to all this splendour appeared in the centre of the
-car the dull and somnolent countenance of the young
-Arcadius and the wrinkled visage of his old minister. The
-multitude, ever greedy of show, would eagerly strain forward
-their necks to catch a glimpse, if it were only of the imperial
-ear-rings, or the circlet of his diadem, or the strings of pearls
-upon his robe. With such empty exhibitions of their
-puppet king did the wily minister seek to amuse the
-frivolous inhabitants of the capital, while he himself enjoyed
-the exercise of real power.<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">394</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">DEATH OF NECTARIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE—EAGER COMPETITION
-FOR THE SEE—ELECTION OF CHRYSOSTOM—HIS COMPULSORY
-REMOVAL FROM ANTIOCH—CONSECRATION—REFORMS—HOMILIES
-ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS—MISSIONARY PROJECTS.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Such</span> was the political and social condition of the Empire
-in the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 397. In September of that year died
-Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, a man of an easy,
-amiable disposition, who, not taking a very elevated or
-severe view of the duties of his position, had administered
-the see for sixteen years, without annoyance, but without
-distinction.<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">395</a> A conscientious discharge, indeed, of episcopal
-duties was at this epoch beset by no small difficulties in the
-great cities of the Empire. Bishops of important sees now
-occupied a high social rank.<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">396</a> This had to be assumed
-(in Constantinople at least) in the midst of an intriguing,
-factious court, a corrupt, frivolous people, and a demoralised,
-or at least secularised, clergy. “Nothing,” said St. Augustine,
-“can in this life, and especially at this time, be easier or
-more agreeable than the office of bishop, presbyter, or deacon,
-if discharged in a perfunctory and adulatory manner; nothing
-can in this life, and especially at this time, be more
-laborious and perilous than such an office, if discharged as
-our heavenly Commander bids us.”<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">397</a> And the testimony of
-Chrysostom’s friend, Isidore, Abbot of Pelusium, is to the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span>same effect: “True freedom and independence are not to be
-found in these distinguished positions: it is so difficult to
-rule some, and to submit to others; to direct some, and to
-be directed by others; to be complaisant to some and severe
-to others.” Into this difficult and delicate position the
-pious, single-minded, unworldly, but courageous preacher of
-Antioch was to be suddenly transplanted, and that in a city
-where the difficulties incident to such a position existed in
-peculiar force.</p>
-
-<p>At the time of the decease of Nectarius, several bishops
-happened to be sojourning in Constantinople on business,
-and as tidings of the vacancy of the see got abroad, the
-number of episcopal visitors largely increased; some coming
-as candidates, others by the invitation of the Emperor, who
-wished to make the ceremony of consecration as dignified
-and august as possible.<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">398</a> Constantinople became convulsed
-by all those factious disputes and dissensions which usually
-attended the election of a bishop to an important see, and
-which Chrysostom has so vividly described in his treatise
-on the priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">399</a> From dawn of day the places of public
-resort were occupied by the candidates and their partisans
-paying court, or paying bribes to the common people; canvassing
-the nobles and the wealthy not without the potent
-aid of rich and costly gifts, some statue from Greece or silk
-from India, or perfumes from Arabia.<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">400</a> One of the most
-conspicuous candidates was Isidore, a presbyter of Alexandria.
-His claims were eagerly pushed by Theophilus,
-Archbishop of Alexandria, who had a strong personal interest
-in securing his success. For Isidore was in possession of a
-rather awkward secret in the past history of Theophilus
-himself. When the war between Theodosius and the usurper
-Maximus was impending, Isidore had been despatched by
-the Archbishop to Italy with letters of congratulation to be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span>presented to him who should prove the conqueror. Isidore
-waited till victory had declared itself in favour of Theodosius;
-presented the humble felicitations of the patriarch,
-and returned to Alexandria. But he was unable on his
-return to produce the other letter, designed for Maximus had
-he proved the victor. According to his own account, it had
-been abstracted by the reader who had accompanied him on
-the journey. Theophilus, however, suspected the fidelity of
-Isidore himself, and that some ugly stories which began to
-circulate respecting the affair had emanated from him. The
-see of Constantinople, if secured through his interest, would
-be an effectual means, he thought, of stopping the mouth of
-Isidore.<a name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">401</a> But he was doomed to disappointment. While
-the several candidates and their patrons were exhausting all
-their arts on the spot to obtain the favour of the electors, the
-clergy and people, distracted by conflicting bribes and arguments,
-unanimously decided to summon a man from a
-distance who had not come forward at all. They submitted
-the name of Chrysostom to the Emperor, who immediately
-approved their choice.<a name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">402</a> In fact, the election of Chrysostom
-was in all probability the suggestion of Eutropius. During
-a recent visit on public business to Antioch, he had heard
-and recognised the eloquence of the great preacher. Even
-if the heart of the man was not touched by the pungent
-warnings, or warmed by the kindling exhortations of Chrysostom,
-he had plenty of astuteness to perceive, if only such an
-eloquence could be employed in the service of the Government,
-what a powerful engine it would be.<a name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">403</a> The appointment, at
-any rate, was certain to be welcomed by the people, and of
-popularity Eutropius stood greatly in need. By the people
-of Antioch indeed Chrysostom was so deeply and ardently
-beloved, that the question was how to remove him without
-causing a disturbance of the public peace. The excitable
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span>feelings of the populace at Antioch were at all times a train
-of powder which needed but the application of a spark to
-cause a serious explosion of tumult. The difficulty was
-solved by a mixture of force and fraud highly characteristic
-of the chief designer and executor of the project. Eutropius
-addressed a letter to Asterius, the Count of the East, who
-resided in Antioch, and who promptly acted on his instructions.
-He proposed to the unsuspecting Chrysostom that
-they should pay a visit together to one of the martyries
-outside the city walls. Well pleased to make this pious
-pilgrimage, the saintly preacher accompanied his captor
-through the Roman gate, and turned his back on his beloved
-native city, which he was destined never to revisit. At the
-martyry he was seized by some Government officials, and
-carried on to Pagræ, the first station on the high road for
-Constantinople. Here a chariot and horses awaited them,
-together with one of the imperial chamberlains, a “magister
-militum,” and an escort of soldiers. The bewildered Chrysostom
-was hurried into the chariot, without any attention
-being paid to his remonstrances or inquiries; the horses were
-put into a smart gallop, and the pace well kept up to the
-next stage, where a similar equipage was in waiting. Such
-was the rapid, but, considering all the circumstances,
-undignified approach of the future archbishop to take possession
-of his see.<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">404</a></p>
-
-<p>Great was the joy of the people on his arrival, great the
-mortification and consternation of the rival candidates.
-Theophilus loudly declared that he would take no part in
-the ordination. “You will ordain him,” said Eutropius, “or
-take your trial on the charges contained in these documents;”
-producing certain papers of accusations brought against him
-from various quarters, at the sight of which Theophilus
-turned pale. His opposition was effectually silenced, though
-he nourished his revenge for a future day.<a name="FNanchor_405_405" id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">405</a> And we may
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span>presume that he took the lead, by virtue of his rank, in the
-ceremony of consecration—that is, that he pronounced the
-consecration prayer and blessing, while two other bishops
-held the gospels over the head, and the other prelates who
-were present laid their hands on the head of the recipient of
-consecration.<a name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">406</a> The ceremony took place on February 26,
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 398, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, who
-came, no doubt, not only to witness the spectacle, but to hear
-from the lips of one so famed for eloquence the “Sermo
-enthronisticus,” or homily on the lesson for the day, which
-was delivered by the new Patriarch<a name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">407</a> after he had been conducted
-to his throne, and which was regarded as a test of his
-powers. This discourse has not been preserved, but Chrysostom
-alludes to it in the homily numbered xi. against the
-Anomœans, which was the second discourse he delivered as
-archbishop. He there reminds his hearers how in his first
-discourse he had promised, in his warfare with heretics, to
-trust, not in the carnal weapons of human dialectic, but in
-the spiritual armour of Holy Scripture, even as David had
-confronted and prevailed over the Philistine with weapons
-which the warrior despised, but which were crowned with
-success because blessed by God.<a name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">408</a> In the review already
-taken of his discourses against Arians and other heretics,
-it has been seen how faithfully he adhered to this principle.</p>
-
-<p>The disadvantages of a monastic, secluded training, in one
-who was called upon to occupy a large and important see,
-have been pointed out by no one better than by Chrysostom
-himself,<a name="FNanchor_409_409" id="FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">409</a> and he now experienced the truth of his own
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span>observations. His genius was not of that practical order
-which displays itself in great discernment of character and
-tact in the management of men; and his virtues were of that
-austere kind, the virtues of the monk rather than of the
-Christian citizen, joined to a certain irritability of temper and
-inflexibility of will, which were ill calculated to first conciliate
-and then delicately lead on to a purer way of life the
-undisciplined flock committed to his care.<a name="FNanchor_410_410" id="FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">410</a> If Nectarius
-had been too much the man of the world, his successor was,
-for the position in which he was placed, too much the saint of
-the cloister. The new wine burst the old bottles. He began
-immediately to reform with an unsparing hand—first of all
-within the limits of his own palace. The costly store of
-silken and gold-embroidered robes, the rich marbles, ornaments,
-and vessels of various kinds which his courtly
-predecessor had accumulated, were sold in exchange for
-homelier articles, and the surplus was applied to the aid of
-hospitals and the relief of the destitute.<a name="FNanchor_411_411" id="FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">411</a> The bishop, and
-many of the clergy of Constantinople, had been accustomed
-to entertain and be entertained by the wealthy and the great.
-Ammianus Marcellinus contrasts the luxurious style of
-living affected by the bishops of great cities, who “rode
-about in their carriages, elaborately dressed, and gave
-princely banquets,” with the frugal fare, the cheap clothing,
-the modest deportment of the provincial bishops.<a name="FNanchor_412_412" id="FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">412</a> The
-admonition of Jerome also to an episcopal friend demonstrates
-the tendency at this period to an immoderate and
-worldly hospitality on the part of the clergy. “Avoid,” he
-says, “giving great entertainments to the laity, and especially
-to those who occupy high stations; for it is not very reputable
-to see the lictors and guards of a consul waiting outside
-the doors of a priest of Jesus Christ, nor that the judge of a
-province should dine more sumptuously with you than in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span>the palace. If it be pretended that you do this only to be
-able to intercede with him for poor criminals, there is no
-judge who will not pay greater respect to a frugal priest
-than to a rich one, and show more deference to your piety
-than to your wealth.”<a name="FNanchor_413_413" id="FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">413</a> Chrysostom, like Jerome, was an
-uncompromising ascetic in his views on clerical life. He
-ate in solitude the spare and simple diet of a monk, and
-declared that he would never set foot at Court except on
-pressing affairs concerning the welfare of the Church.
-When one considers what the character of that Court was,
-it must be confessed that the resolution highly became a
-Christian bishop.<a name="FNanchor_414_414" id="FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">414</a> His own seclusion might have been
-easily tolerated if he had not exacted the same severe
-simplicity of life in his clergy. He denounced their parasitical
-flatteries, and their propensity to seek entertainments
-at the tables of the wealthy, and insisted that their stipends
-must be quite sufficient to supply them with the necessaries
-of life. He suspended many from their cures on account
-of worldly or immoral conduct, and repelled others from
-the Eucharist. Several of these became the most active
-organisers of hostile cabals.</p>
-
-<p>But there was another cause of the archbishop’s unpopularity
-with his clergy, which arose from his vigorous assaults
-upon a deep and apparently most prevalent evil.</p>
-
-<p>Celibacy appears never to have been made obligatory on
-the clergy of the Eastern Church. The Synod of Elvira,
-which enjoins celibacy, was a purely Spanish synod;<a name="FNanchor_415_415" id="FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">415</a> and
-the decree of Pope Siricius to the same effect, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 385,
-could not affect any countries beyond Italy, Spain, and
-perhaps Southern Gaul. That decree is a remarkable instance
-of the law-giving spirit of the Western Church, which
-hardened tendencies into binding statutes. But sentiment
-and opinion were quite as strong in favour of clerical celibacy
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span>in the East as in the West. It was proposed at the Council
-of Nice that a canon should be passed enforcing it upon
-every order of the clergy; a proposal which was defeated
-only by the influence of the aged Egyptian monk Paphnutius,
-who, though he had never been married, and had always
-lived an ascetic life, earnestly deprecated the imposition of
-a burden upon all men which some men only were able to
-bear. The result was that the clergy were permitted to
-retain their wives whom they had married before ordination,
-but were forbidden to marry after ordination. And this is
-called “the ancient tradition of the Church.”<a name="FNanchor_416_416" id="FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">416</a> There can be
-no doubt, however, that a profound conviction possessed the
-minds of all the most earnest Christians in Eastern Christendom
-that the unmarried life was inherently better than the
-married; and, consequently, clerical celibacy was honoured
-and encouraged, though marriage was allowable. On the
-other hand, there grew up, side by side with the practice of
-celibacy, a custom which broke it in the spirit while it was
-preserved in the letter. The same Council of Nice which
-by one canon freely granted to the clergy the society of their
-lawful wives, by another prohibits unmarried clergy of every
-rank to have any woman dwelling under the same roof who
-was not their mother, sister, or aunt.<a name="FNanchor_417_417" id="FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">417</a> It was the transgression
-of this canon which was indignantly complained of by
-several writers<a name="FNanchor_418_418" id="FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">418</a> and at councils<a name="FNanchor_419_419" id="FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">419</a> in or near the time of Chrysostom,
-as well as by Chrysostom himself. Under the name
-of spiritual sisters, young women, often consecrated virgins
-of the Church, lived, as they maintained, in all innocent and
-sisterly affection with unmarried priests. But the risk to
-the morals of both was imminent, and the scandal which it
-brought upon the clergy in the eyes of the world was certain.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span>
-Chrysostom denounces the custom on both these grounds.
-Whether two treatises, one addressed to the men, the other
-to the women, were composed at Constantinople, or, as
-Socrates says, during his diaconate, they embody his views
-on the whole subject, and afford a curious insight into
-clerical life in the great cities at this epoch.<a name="FNanchor_420_420" id="FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">420</a></p>
-
-<p>He places the offenders on the horns of a dilemma. “If
-you are weak, the temptation to evil is so great, that for
-your own sake you ought to avoid it; if you are strong, you
-ought to abandon the practice for the sake of those who are
-weak.” They brought a great scandal on the Church and
-opened the mouths of adversaries. An isolated sin would
-be less severely visited than one which, though comparatively
-small in itself, caused others also to offend. They should
-imitate the wisdom of St. Paul, who would not do a thing in
-itself desirable or harmless, if the evil resulting to some
-exceeded any possible advantage to others.<a name="FNanchor_421_421" id="FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">421</a> A pretext for
-the reception of these unmarried women was made on the
-ground that they were orphans who had no protectors. But
-this became a great snare both to the women and the clergy:
-they were occupied with the management of property instead
-of devoting themselves to spiritual concerns. It would be
-far better that a maiden should marry, than, by abstaining
-from marriage, involve herself and others in worldly business
-who ought to be free from it. If poor, it was better she
-should remain poor and friendless, than be received into
-a home where the danger incurred by the soul would far
-exceed the advantages procured for the body. There were
-many aged women who were poor, friendless, maimed, or
-diseased; the city was full of them. These were the most
-deserving objects of clerical charity, and on them it could
-be exercised without fear of reproach.<a name="FNanchor_422_422" id="FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">422</a> These “spiritual
-sisters” appear from Chrysostom’s account to have often
-lived very much like fine ladies of fashion. “How incon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span>gruous
-and ludicrous,” he says, “when you enter the house
-of one who calls himself a single man, to see articles of
-female dress and instruments of female occupation lying
-about—girdles, head-gear, wool-baskets, spindles, distaffs!”
-In the elaboration of their dress these companions often
-surpassed actresses; they were gossips and match-makers.
-The man who ought to have renounced all worldly calls
-might be seen inquiring at the silversmith’s if his lady’s
-mirror was ready, her casket finished, her flask returned;
-from the silversmith’s he hurried to the perfumer’s to see
-about her scents; from the perfumer to the linen-draper,
-and so on upon a round of shopping. All this business and
-worldly worry made them harsh to the servants, who retaliated
-by secretly abusing their master and mistress.<a name="FNanchor_423_423" id="FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">423</a> This
-was bad enough, but the clergy were not ashamed to display
-their servile attachment to these women even in the churches.
-They received them at the doors, forced others to make way
-for them, and walked in front of them with a proud air,
-when they ought not to have been able to lift up their heads
-for shame.<a name="FNanchor_424_424" id="FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">424</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom implores the clergy as a suppliant, to free
-themselves from these disgraceful and degrading connections.
-“Christ would have them be strenuous soldiers and combatants.
-He did not arm them with spiritual weapons to
-help women sew and weave, but to engage with the invisible
-powers, to put to flight the forces of Satan, and to lead
-captive the rulers of spiritual darkness. If a soldier who
-was fully equipped were to run in-doors and sit down with
-the women just at the moment of the enemy’s attack, when
-the trumpet summoned every one to the combat, would you
-not run your sword through the craven on the spot? How
-much more would God be offended with the Christian
-soldier who evaded the combat with the spiritual enemy?”<a name="FNanchor_425_425" id="FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">425</a></p>
-
-<p>The rigour with which Chrysostom pressed reformation
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span>upon the clergy in these and many other points, not being
-tempered by a conciliatory manner or genial way of life,
-excited a vehement spirit of opposition. He was encouraged
-in his severity by his Archdeacon Serapion, who on one
-occasion had said, in the hearing of a large body of clergy:
-“You will never subdue these mutinous priests, my Lord
-Bishop, till you drive them all before you as with a single
-rod.”<a name="FNanchor_426_426" id="FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">426</a> In fact, a large body of the more worldly clergy
-seem to have regarded the archbishop and his deacon with
-much the same mingled feelings of fear and aversion which
-unruly schoolboys entertain towards an austere master.</p>
-
-<p>The rigorous discipline exacted from the clergy was
-probably by no means distasteful to the people or the Court,
-and by the eloquence of their new bishop they were entranced
-so long as his declamations were poured forth
-against the vices and follies of society in general. The
-Empress and archbishop stood for a time high in each
-other’s favour. She conducted with him a vast torchlight
-procession in which the reliques of some martyrs were
-conveyed to the martyry of St. Thomas in Drypia, a considerable
-distance outside the city. A rapturous homily
-was delivered by Chrysostom when they reached the chapel
-at dawn of day. “What shall I say? I am verily mad
-with joy; yet such a madness is better than even wisdom
-itself. Of what shall I most discourse?—the virtue of the
-martyrs, the alacrity of the city, the zeal of the Empress, the
-concourse of the nobles, the worsting of the demons?”...
-“Women, more delicate than wax, leaving their comfortable
-homes, emulated the stoutest men in the eagerness with
-which they made this long pilgrimage on foot. Nobles,
-leaving their chariots, their lictors, their attendants, mingled
-in the common crowd. And why speak of them when she
-who wears the diadem, and is arrayed in purple, has not
-consented along the whole route to be separated from the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span>rest even by a little space, but has followed the saints like
-their handmaid, with her finger on the shrine and upon the
-veil covering it—she, visible to the whole multitude, whom
-not even all the chamberlains of the palace are usually permitted
-to see?” The mixture of races in Constantinople is
-indicated in one passage, where, comparing the Empress to
-Miriam leading the chorus of triumphant Israelites, he says:
-“<em>She</em>, indeed, led forth a people of one language only, but
-<em>thou</em> innumerable bands, chanting the Psalms of David,
-some in the Roman, some in the Syrian, some in a barbarian,
-some in the Greek tongue.” The procession moved along
-like a stream of fire, or continuous golden chain; the moon
-shone down upon the crowd of the faithful, and in the midst
-the Empress, more brilliant than the moon itself; for what
-was the moon compared to a soul adorned with such faith?
-He called her blessed, for the ends of the earth would hear
-of and extol this glorious act of piety. If the deed of the
-poor sinful woman in the Gospel, who anointed our Lord’s
-feet, was to be proclaimed throughout the world, how much
-more that of a modest, dignified, chaste woman, who displayed
-such piety in the midst of imperial state. And
-there is much more of the same Oriental, rhapsodical,
-rhetoric.<a name="FNanchor_427_427" id="FNanchor_427_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_427_427" class="fnanchor">427</a></p>
-
-<p>The Emperor made a pilgrimage on the following day
-to the shrine, accompanied by all the great officials of the
-Court; and another discourse, similar in tone though not
-quite so extravagantly rapturous, was delivered by the
-archbishop.</p>
-
-<p>As in Antioch, so also and with still greater vehemence
-in Constantinople, the voice of Chrysostom was incessantly
-lifted up against those vices which specially beset a large
-mixed population living under a corrupt despotism. Here,
-as there, the avarice and luxury of the wealthy are the
-themes of his indignant invective; the wrongs and pitiable
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span>poverty of the poor the occasions of his pathetic appeal.
-One day lamenting the paucity of worshippers, he exclaims:
-“O tyranny of money which drives the greater part of our
-brethren from the fold! for it is nothing but that grievous
-disease, that never-quenched furnace, which drives them
-hence; this mistress, more ferocious than any barbarian or
-wild beast, fiercer than the very demons, taking her slaves
-with her, is now conducting them round the Forum, inflicting
-upon them her oppressive commands, nor suffers them
-to take a little breath from their destructive labours.”...
-“May you derive great good from the zeal with which you
-listen to these words, for your groanings and the smitings of
-your foreheads prove that the seed which I have sown is
-already bearing fruit.”<a name="FNanchor_428_428" id="FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">428</a></p>
-
-<p>A signal instance of the passionate attachment of the
-people to the Circensian and theatrical exhibitions occurred
-about the close of the first year of his episcopate.<a name="FNanchor_429_429" id="FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">429</a> A violent
-rain had half inundated the fields and almost destroyed the
-growing crops; solemn processional litanies were made to
-the churches of the Apostles on both sides of the Bosporus;
-yet two days later the majority of that multitude, which
-had just been invoking the intercession of saints and supplicating
-the mercy of God, poured into the circus, and
-might be seen wildly applauding and cheering on the chariots;
-and from that they hastened to witness with eager eyes
-the indecent performances of the theatre: “while I,” said
-the archbishop, “sitting at home and hearing your shouts,
-suffered worse agonies than those who are tossed by storms
-at sea.”<a name="FNanchor_430_430" id="FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">430</a>... “What defence will you be able to make when
-you have to render an account of that day’s work? For
-thee the sun rose, the moon lit up the night, choirs of
-stars spangled the sky; for thee the winds blew, and rivers
-ran, seeds germinated, plants grew, and the whole course of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span>nature kept its proper order: but thou, when Creation is
-ministering to thy needs, thou fulfillest the pleasure of the
-devil.”<a name="FNanchor_431_431" id="FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">431</a>... “Say not that few have wandered from the
-fold; though it were but five or two or one, the loss would
-be great. The shepherd in the Gospel left the ninety-and-nine,
-and hastened after the one, nor did he return till he
-had made up the complete number of the flock by its
-restoration. Though it be only one, yet it is a soul for
-which this visible world was created, for which laws and
-statutes and the diverse operations of God have been put
-in motion, yea, for whose sake God spared not His only
-Son.”... “Therefore I loudly declare that if any one after
-this admonition shall desert the fold for the pestilent vice
-of the theatre, I will not admit him inside these rails.<a name="FNanchor_432_432" id="FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">432</a>
-I will not administer to him the holy mysteries or allow
-him to touch the holy table, but expel him as shepherds
-drive out the diseased sheep from the fold lest they should
-contaminate the rest.”</p>
-
-<p>The iniquity of the people’s defection had been aggravated
-on this occasion by the fact that the days on which they
-had rushed in such crowds to the circus and theatre were
-Good Friday and Holy Saturday. On the Sunday following
-Easter Day the church was fully thronged. An aged
-Galatian bishop, being present, was requested, according to
-a polite custom of that time, to preach. But the congregation
-expressed their disapproval by shouts of dissent, and by
-withdrawing in large numbers. They wanted to hear what
-more their eloquent castigator had to say on the subject
-on which he had so vehemently declaimed on Easter Day.
-Chrysostom was so much gratified and encouraged by the
-alacrity which the people had thus manifested to listen to
-his objurgations that his censures of the chariot races, the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span>next time he preached, were milder than usual. He contents
-himself with observing that the shocking accident of
-the day before, when a young man about to be married had
-been run over in the course and cut to pieces by the chariot
-wheels, was a damning proof of the wild folly and wickedness
-of these spectacles. Nor does he rebuke them very
-sharply for their discourtesy to the Galatian prelate.<a name="FNanchor_433_433" id="FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">433</a> They
-always resented the preaching of a stranger; on several
-occasions Chrysostom had to appeal to their feelings of
-respect for the custom of the Church, or enlarge on the
-reverence due to the preacher, either on account of his age
-or his great virtues, before they would listen patiently.</p>
-
-<p>It is impossible to determine in the case of every homily
-or set of homilies whether they were delivered at Antioch or
-Constantinople, but the character of society seems to have
-been in its main features so similar in the two cities that
-it may be allowable to collect into one place notices on
-various social subjects scattered up and down Chrysostom’s
-works.</p>
-
-<p>The extremes of wealth and poverty, barbaric splendour,
-and abject beggary, existed side by side in hideous and
-glaring contrast. The passion for the use of the precious
-metals was amazing. Vessels for the meanest purposes
-were made of silver; superfluous display without regard to
-utility prevailed everywhere. “If it were in their power, I
-verily believe that some men would have the ground they
-walk on,<a name="FNanchor_434_434" id="FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">434</a> the walls of their houses, and perhaps even the
-sky and air, made of gold.” Clothes were in the opinion of
-Chrysostom a memorial of man’s fall from that state of
-innocence in which they had been unnecessary, and were
-therefore to be made of as little consequence as possible.
-“Say, ye who indulge in such grandeur as to discard all
-woollen garments and array yourselves in silk only, and have
-even advanced to such a height of madness as to weave gold
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span>into your robes (for most women do this), to what purpose
-do you deck out your persons in these things, not perceiving
-that the covering of dress was devised for us after the transgression
-in the place of a severe punishment?”<a name="FNanchor_435_435" id="FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">435</a></p>
-
-<p>The particular make of shoes worn by the fashionable
-young ladies and gentlemen of the day seems to have excited
-his special indignation. “To put silk threads into your
-boots, how disgraceful, how ridiculous!<a name="FNanchor_436_436" id="FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">436</a> Ships are built,
-sailors hired, pilots appointed, the sails are spread, the sea
-crossed, wife, children, and home left behind, the country of
-the barbarian entered, and the life of the merchant exposed
-to a thousand perils, in order that after it all you may trick
-out the leather of your boots with these silken threads: what
-form of madness can be worse?”... “He who ought to
-bend his thoughts and eyes heavenwards casts them down
-upon his shoes instead. His chief care, as he walks delicately
-through the Forum, is to avoid soiling his boots with mire
-or dust. Will you let your soul grovel in the mire while
-you are taking care of your boots? Boots were made to be
-soiled; if you cannot bear this, take them off and wear them
-on your head instead of on your feet. You laugh when I
-say these words, but I rather weep for your folly.”<a name="FNanchor_437_437" id="FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">437</a> Again,
-“You may see one sitting in his chariot with haughty brow,
-touching as it were the clouds in the senseless pride of his
-heart; but think him not really lofty, for it is not the
-sitting up in a chariot drawn by mules, but only virtue
-mounting to the vault of heaven which really elevates a
-man. Or if you see another on horseback, attended by a
-troop of lictors driving the multitude out of his way in the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span>Forum, call him not happy on that account. How ridiculous!
-why, prithee, do you drive your fellow-creatures before
-you? Were you made a wolf or a lion? Your Lord Jesus
-Christ raised man to heaven; you do not condescend to
-share even the market-place with him. When you put a
-gold bit on your horse, a gold bracelet on your slave’s arm,
-when your clothes even to your shoes are gilded, you are
-feeding that most ferocious of monsters, avarice; you are
-robbing the orphan, denuding the widow, and acting as the
-common enemy of all. When your body is committed to
-the ground the memory of your ambition will not be buried
-with you, for each passer-by, as he contemplates the height
-and size of your grand mansions, will say to himself or his
-neighbour, ‘How many tears did it cost to build that house!
-how many orphans were left naked! how many widows
-wronged! how many persons deprived of wages!’ Thus the
-exact contrary of what you expected comes to pass: you
-desired to obtain glory during your life, and lo! even after
-death you are not delivered from accusers.”<a name="FNanchor_438_438" id="FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">438</a></p>
-
-<p>Such are the natural expressions of indignation on the
-part of one trained in a monkish school of piety and austere
-simplicity of life, when brought into practical contact with
-a corrupt civilisation. Every denunciation of inordinate
-luxury is coupled with an exhortation to the relief of distress.
-Almsgiving is represented as the one certain method
-of laying up treasure in heaven, and the true riches are
-increased in proportion as this world’s goods are given away.
-He lived in the days when social science and political
-economy did not exist; he only perceived the moral wrong
-of profuse luxury and extreme destitution side by side, and
-the only method which he could suggest for rectifying the
-evil was to impress on the wealthy the duty of almsgiving
-on a large scale. Beggars swarmed in the streets, and
-thronged the entrances of the churches and public baths;<a name="FNanchor_439_439" id="FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">439</a>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span>and he is for ever exhorting his congregations to relieve
-these unfortunate people. All honour to his simple Christian
-charity! though of course he could not have given worse
-advice with a view to curing the evil which he deplored.
-The man who wore shoes inwoven with silk or gold threads
-may have been a ridiculous fop, and yet have done more
-good by buying his finery, the produce of honest labour, than
-did the pious member of Chrysostom’s congregation who
-flung his money to the beggars congregated at the church
-doors.</p>
-
-<p>The luxurious habits and extravagant dress of the ladies
-were especial objects of Chrysostom’s attack; but he draws
-a charming picture, on the other side, of the influence which
-good Christian wives might, and which many did, exercise
-upon their husbands. The close of the exhortation in our
-own “Marriage Service” seems almost as if suggested by a
-passage in which he quotes Sarah the wife of Abraham as a
-pattern of dutiful obedience to her husband, as adorned with
-virtue, instead of the outward adorning of “plaiting the hair
-and putting on of apparel.”<a name="FNanchor_440_440" id="FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">440</a> “The good wife, as she remains
-more at home than the man, and has more leisure for
-‘pious contemplation’ (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">φιλοσοφία</span>), can calm and soothe the
-husband when he returns harassed by business, cut off his
-superfluous cares, and so send him back free of the troubles
-contracted in the Forum, and carrying with him the good
-lessons which he has learned at home.”... “No influence
-is more potent than that of a careful and discreet wife to
-harmonise and mould the soul of a man.”... “I could
-mention many hard, intractable men who have been
-softened in this manner.” And this influence would be in
-proportion to the Christian purity and simplicity of her own
-life. “When thy husband shall see thee modest, not a lover
-of ornament, not demanding an unnecessary allowance, then
-he will listen to thy counsel. When you seek not gold
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span>or pearls, or costly array, but modesty, temperance, and
-benevolence, in proportion as you manifest these virtues
-yourself, you may demand them of him; these are the
-ornaments which never fail to attract; this is the adornment
-which old age does not dissolve or disease destroy.”...
-“When your husband sees you laying aside luxury, he will
-lay aside the love of gain, and will be more inclined to deeds
-of charity. With what face, O ye wives, can you exhort
-your husbands to almsgiving, when you consume the largest
-portion of his means on the decoration of your own persons?”<a name="FNanchor_441_441" id="FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">441</a></p>
-
-<p>He urgently represents to the wealthy proprietors of land
-in the country the solemn duty incumbent on them of providing
-for the spiritual welfare of the people on their estate,
-by building a church and maintaining a pastor among them.
-“There are many who possess farms and fields, but all their
-anxiety is to make a bath-house to their mansion, to build
-entrance courts and servants’ offices; but how the souls of
-their dependants are cultivated they care not.”... “If you
-see thorns in a field, you cut them down and burn them;
-but when you see the souls of your labourers beset with
-thorns and cut them not down, tell me, do you not fear
-when you reflect on the account which will be exacted from
-you for these things? Ought not every Christian estate-holder
-to build a church and to make it his aim before
-all things else that his people should be Christian?”...
-“Therefore I exhort, I supplicate as a favour, or rather I
-affirm it as a principle, that no one should be seen in possession
-of an estate which is not provided with a church.”
-He concludes by drawing a pleasing picture of the benefit
-derived from the residence of a pastor in the quiet country
-village; the softening, humanising, civilising effect of his
-presence; the relief given to the needy, the comfort to the
-sick and dying; the pleasant repose which the proprietor
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span>may enjoy when he withdraws for a time from the turmoil
-of city life, and worships among his grateful people in the
-church which he has founded, and where his name will be
-blessed for many future generations. “And think of the
-reward in heaven; Christ said, ‘If thou lovest me feed my
-sheep.’ If you were to see any of the royal sheep or horses
-destitute of shelter and exposed to attack, and were to house
-them, provide stabling for them, and appoint some one to
-tend them, with how great a gift would the sovereign requite
-you. And think you that, if you fold Christ’s flock and set
-a shepherd over them, He will not do some great thing for
-you?”<a name="FNanchor_442_442" id="FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">442</a></p>
-
-<p>The responsibility indeed of <em>every</em> Christian man to promote
-the spiritual welfare of his brethren is one of the
-topics on which Chrysostom most constantly and earnestly
-dilates. “Nothing can be more chilling than the sight of a
-Christian who makes no efforts to save others. Neither
-poverty, nor humble station, nor bodily infirmity can exempt
-men and women from the obligation of this great duty. To
-hide our Christian light, under pretence of weakness, is as
-great an insult to God as if we were to say that He could
-not make His sun to shine.”<a name="FNanchor_443_443" id="FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">443</a></p>
-
-<p>The practice of swearing deep oaths about trifles appears
-to have been as prevalent at Constantinople as at Antioch,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span>and equally to have excited the indignation of the Archbishop.
-He would not cease to denounce this devilish habit,
-and that vehemently, lest he should incur the condemnation
-pronounced on Eli, who rebuked, but not with sufficient
-severity. He would unsparingly repel from the threshold of
-the Church any who persisted in this pernicious vice, were he
-emperor or prince. Men might deride his vehemence, but
-they forgot that he was only the servant of Jesus Christ;
-their mockery fell on the Master rather than the minister.
-Let them laugh and jest as much as they would; he was
-placed there to suffer it. “Obey my voice or depose me
-from this my office. I cannot consent to mount this throne
-unless I accomplish something great. If I cannot do this, it
-were better for me to stand below. As long as I sit here I
-cannot refrain, not so much out of fear of punishment to
-myself as on account of your salvation, which I earnestly
-desire.”<a name="FNanchor_444_444" id="FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">444</a></p>
-
-<p>Immoderate addiction to the pleasures of the table is a
-frequently recurring subject of censure. He depicts in lively
-terms the freshness, activity, and good health of the temperate
-man; the lethargy, the headaches, the cramps, the
-gout, the sickness of the glutton. Here is his portrait of a
-fat gourmand:—“To whom is not the man disagreeable who
-makes obesity his study, and has to be dragged about like a
-seal? I speak not of those who are such by nature, but of
-those who, naturally graceful, have brought their bodies into
-this condition through luxurious living. The sun has risen,
-he has darted everywhere his brilliant rays, he has roused
-every one to his work: the tiller has taken his hoe, the
-smith his hammer, each workman his proper tool; the
-woman sets to work to spin or weave; while he like a hog
-goes forth to the occupation of filling his stomach, seeking
-how to provide for a costly table. When the sun has filled
-the market-place, and other men have already tired them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span>selves
-with work, he rises from his bed, stretching himself
-like a fatting pig. Then he sits a long time on his couch
-to shake off the drunkenness of the previous evening, after
-which he adorns himself and walks out a spectacle of ugliness,
-not so much like a man as a man-shaped beast.”...
-“Who might not justly say, ‘this fellow is a burden to the
-earth; he has come into the world in vain; nay, not in vain,
-alas! but to the injury both of himself and other people?’”<a name="FNanchor_445_445" id="FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">445</a></p>
-
-<p>Such passages as these prove that the power of Chrysostom
-to captivate his hearers consisted not always in
-eloquence or ornate rhetoric, but in a kind of bold and
-rough plain-speaking, which dragged out into broad daylight
-the most flagrant evils of the time, and painted them
-in strong coarse colours, to excite derision or disgust. But
-the fickleness and impulsiveness of the people were fatal
-obstacles to the retention of fixed and durable impressions.
-The population upon whom Chrysostom poured forth his
-torrents of exhortation or invective was more debased than
-that to which Savonarola preached; not so vigorous, not so
-homogeneous, not so much animated by a sentiment of
-citizenship, not under the refining influence of a taste for
-literature and art.<a name="FNanchor_446_446" id="FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">446</a> It was a vast, disorderly medley of
-incoherent elements, destitute of those political privileges,
-and of that industrial commercial spirit, which inspire the
-character with manly energy and independence. A passionate,
-invincible love of pleasure, an abandoned devotion
-to such public amusements as in no way appealed to the
-intellect, and were calculated to debase and relax the finer
-moral feelings,—these were insuperable bars to the substantial
-success of the Christian reformer. A large proportion
-of his hearers seem to have listened to his discourses as
-pleasant exhibitions of bold satire and eloquent declamation;
-they applauded, they laughed, they wept, they were smitten
-with something like compunction; and Chrysostom confesses
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span>that at the moment he could not repress a natural feeling of
-gratification at the effect produced; but that when he went
-home, and reflected that the benefit which his hearers should
-have derived generally evaporated in empty applause, instead
-of manifesting itself in some solid improvement, he wept and
-groaned from vexation. What men learned in the church
-was undone in the theatre: “his work was like that of a
-man who attempted to clean a piece of ground into which a
-muddy stream was constantly flowing.”<a name="FNanchor_447_447" id="FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">447</a></p>
-
-<p>His letters to individuals, and the eulogia which he passes
-at the beginning of some of his homilies on the zeal, piety,
-and attention of his flock, prove indeed that there were
-bright exceptions, but the mass of the people remained
-irreclaimable. On grand festivals, such as Easter Day, vast
-crowds attended the church; the very precincts were
-thronged, and the multitude surged backwards and forwards
-like the waves of the sea. A large portion was composed of
-the fashionable and rich; but Chrysostom greatly preferred
-those smaller congregations, consisting chiefly of poor, who
-attended regularly, and on whose attachment to the Church
-he could depend. He enjoyed these quiet services, free from
-the bustle and disturbance of large crowds.<a name="FNanchor_448_448" id="FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">448</a> The wealthy
-and the gay spared little time for the services of the
-Church, though they never pleaded business as an excuse
-for absence from the theatre. If they came now and then,
-they did so as a kind of condescension and favour shown to
-God and his priest. They lazily slumbered, or idly gossiped
-during the service; yet they boasted of their attendance
-afterwards.<a name="FNanchor_449_449" id="FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">449</a></p>
-
-<p>After the account in previous chapters of Chrysostom’s
-method of dealing with the prevalent heresies of the day at
-Antioch, there is no occasion to say much more. The same
-forms of error had to be encountered at Constantinople by
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span>much the same arguments. Only one, Novatianism, appears
-to have been more prominent in this city than at Antioch.
-The exclusive pretensions to purity of doctrine and moral
-life made by the Novatians excited his special indignation.
-“What arrogance! what boastfulness is this! Can you,
-being a man, call yourself clean? Nay, what madness is it?
-As well call the sea free from waves; for as waves never
-cease to move on the sea, so do sins never cease to work in
-us.”<a name="FNanchor_450_450" id="FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">450</a> The harshness of the Novatians, in refusing the readmission
-of apostates on repentance, was peculiarly offensive
-to his merciful and hopeful view of human nature.
-Sicinnius, the Novatian bishop in Constantinople, wrote a
-book against him, in which he makes a handle of particular
-expressions in Chrysostom’s homilies detached from their
-context; such as, “Repent a thousand times, and enter the
-Church;” ... “let the unclean person, the adulterer, the
-thief, enter;” but omitting the words which follow—“that
-he may learn to do these things no more. I draw all, I
-throw my net over all, desiring to catch not those only who
-are sound, but those who are sick.”<a name="FNanchor_451_451" id="FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">451</a> A hopefulness and
-love, which never despaired of the sinner, are eminently
-characteristic of Chrysostom; and the strong words of
-encouragement and comfort which he used were of course
-susceptible of a construction injurious to him, by those
-who prided themselves on enforcing a very rigid standard
-of moral and ecclesiastical discipline.</p>
-
-<p>Twenty years had elapsed since Gregory Nazianzenus,
-with much reluctance and trembling, had accepted the See
-of Constantinople. The city was at that time a very stronghold
-of Arianism. Arians had held the see for nearly forty
-years. The services of the orthodox were held in a private
-house, and were at first exposed to violent disturbance from
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span>the populace, which, hounded on by the Arian clergy, hooted
-and threw stones at the worshippers. But the eloquence,
-combined with the holiness, of Gregory had subdued this
-violent opposition. The ranks of the orthodox were swelled,
-and the little house was enlarged into a noble church, under
-the name of Anastasia, as significant of the revival of the
-true faith.<a name="FNanchor_452_452" id="FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">452</a> Imperial authority completed the work which
-Gregory had begun. The Arians and other sectaries were
-prohibited by various enactments from assembling for worship
-within the city walls;<a name="FNanchor_453_453" id="FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">453</a> but in the time of Chrysostom
-they began again to molest the faithful. On Saturdays and
-Sundays they made a practice of assembling in colonnades
-and public places, and there loudly singing Arian songs—songs,
-that is, embodying Arian doctrine, like the Thalia
-composed by Arius; abstract statements of theology, very
-unpoetical in form, very incapable, as we should have supposed,
-of exciting popular feeling.<a name="FNanchor_454_454" id="FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">454</a> This noisy singing went
-on during the greater part of the night; at dawn they
-marched through the streets singing antiphonally, and then
-held assemblies for worship outside the gates. Chrysostom,
-with more of zeal perhaps than wisdom, organised rival
-processions of antiphonal singers; the Empress supplied
-them with tapers mounted on silver crosses. Street frays
-were the inevitable consequence of these counter demonstrations;
-the Arians took to their old practice of stone-throwing;
-Briso, one of the Emperor’s chamberlains, was wounded
-by a stone in the forehead, and several persons killed on
-both sides, after which the Arian assemblies were suppressed
-by royal order.</p>
-
-<p>The practical energy of Chrysostom was not confined
-within the limits of his own diocese. He did not forget his
-native city, but laboured, and laboured successfully, to heal
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span>the schism by which the Church of Antioch had been so
-long distracted. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, consented
-at his earnest request to join with him in the despatch
-of an embassy to Rome, to supplicate the recognition of
-Flavian as sole bishop. Acacius, Bishop of Berœa, and
-Isidore, for whom Theophilus had striven to obtain the See
-of Constantinople, were selected to carry the petition, and
-they returned with a favourable answer from the Bishops of
-the West. It is a satisfaction to find Chrysostom united in
-this charitable work with those who afterwards became his
-most malignant enemies.<a name="FNanchor_455_455" id="FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">455</a></p>
-
-<p>His missionary efforts extended northwards to the Danube,
-and southwards to Phœnicia, Syria, and Palestine. He
-sought out men of apostolic zeal to evangelise some Scythian
-tribes on the banks of the Danube, and appointed a Gothic
-bishop, Unilas, who accomplished great things, but died in
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404, when Chrysostom was in exile, and unable to
-appoint a successor.<a name="FNanchor_456_456" id="FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">456</a> A novel spectacle was witnessed one
-day in the Church of St. Paul. A large number of Goths
-being present, Chrysostom ordered some portions of the
-Bible to be read in Gothic, and caused a Gothic presbyter to
-address his countrymen in their native tongue. The Archbishop,
-who preached afterwards, rejoiced in the occurrence
-as a visible illustration of the diffusion of the Gospel among
-all nations and languages, a triumph before their very eyes
-over Jews and Pagans, and a fulfilment of such prophecy as
-“Their sound is gone out into all lands;” “The wolf and the
-lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like
-the ox.” “Where is the philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras?
-Extinguished. Where is the teaching of the tent-maker and
-the fisherman? Not only in Judæa, but also among the
-barbarians, as ye have this day perceived, it shines more
-brilliantly than the sun itself. Scythians, and Thracians,
-Samaritans, Moors, and Indians, and those who inhabit the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span>extremities of the world, possess this teaching translated
-into their own language; they possess such philosophy as
-was never dreamed of by those who wear a beard and thrust
-passengers aside with their staff in the Forum, and shake
-their wise locks, looking more like lions than men.”...
-“Nay! our world has not sufficed for these evangelists;
-they have betaken themselves even to the ocean, and
-enclosed barbarian regions and the British Isles in their
-net.”<a name="FNanchor_457_457" id="FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">457</a> Chrysostom assigned a church in Constantinople for
-the use of the Scythian inhabitants (probably Gothic, for
-the Greek historians used the word Scythian very vaguely),
-ordained native readers, deacons, and presbyters, and frequently
-preached there himself through the medium of an
-interpreter.<a name="FNanchor_458_458" id="FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">458</a> Some of his letters when in exile are addressed
-to Gothic monks, who occupied the house where Promotus
-had lived.<a name="FNanchor_459_459" id="FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">459</a> They were staunch friends to him during his
-exile, and the monastic body established in this house
-existed in the seventh century.</p>
-
-<p>Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, wrote a letter to Chrysostom
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 398, urging him to obtain an order from the Emperor
-for the destruction of Pagan temples in that city. Chrysostom
-did not cease to solicit Eutropius till he had procured
-an edict, not indeed for the destruction, but for the closing
-of the temples, and the demolition of the idols which they
-contained. In the following year, however, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 399, an
-edict was issued addressed to Eutychianus, Prefect of the
-East, directing that the temples should be demolished
-throughout the country. This appears to have been obtained
-chiefly through the influence of Chrysostom; and large
-bodies of monks were sent by him into Phœnicia, where
-especially paganism prevailed, who were to use every
-effort to extirpate it, both by assisting in the destruction
-of temples, and by the propagation of Christian truth. The
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span>money required for this missionary expedition was supplied
-by the liberality of some ladies in Constantinople, rich not
-only in faith, but also in the wealth of this world. The
-welfare of these missionary projects continued, as will hereafter
-be seen, to engage his most anxious attention throughout
-his exile to the very close of his life.<a name="FNanchor_460_460" id="FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">460</a></p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">THE FALL OF EUTROPIUS—HIS RETREAT TO THE SANCTUARY OF THE
-CHURCH—RIGHT OF SANCTUARY MAINTAINED BY CHRYSOSTOM—DEATH
-OF EUTROPIUS—REVOLT OF GOTHIC COMMANDERS TRIBIGILD
-AND GAÏNAS—DEMAND OF GAÏNAS FOR AN ARIAN CHURCH REFUSED
-BY CHRYSOSTOM—DEFEAT AND DEATH OF GAÏNAS. A.D. 399-401.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> Empress Eudoxia had rejoiced to discover that the new
-Archbishop, although he mainly owed his promotion to the
-supreme minister of the Court, was by no means disposed to
-be ruled by him. If, indeed, Eutropius had expected to be
-rewarded for the elevation of Chrysostom by finding in him
-a complaisant servant, he sustained a severe disappointment.
-Some little pretences which the minister made of assisting
-the Church, by patronising Chrysostom’s missionary projects,
-could not disguise the iniquitous venality of his administration,
-or protect him from the solemn warnings and severe
-censure of one who was no respecter of persons. In fact,
-when the Archbishop declaimed against the cupidity, injustice,
-and extortions of the rich, it was obvious to all that
-Eutropius was the most signal example of those vices.
-Eudoxia was anxiously aiming to compass the fall of the
-detested minister; detested by her more especially, not only
-because he thwarted her influence with Arcadius generally,
-but had also persuaded him to withhold from her the title
-of Augusta until she should present a male heir to the
-throne. She spared no pains therefore to conciliate the
-Archbishop, who might prove a valuable ally to her cause.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span>
-It has been seen with what an appearance at least of humble
-piety she took part in the nocturnal procession which conducted
-some sacred reliques to their resting-place outside
-Constantinople.</p>
-
-<p>Her chamberlain, Amantius (himself distinguished for
-unaffected Christian piety), was the frequent bearer to the
-Archbishop of her liberal contributions to the support of
-churches, or the relief of the poor. With her own hands,
-it is said, she traced designs for basilicas to be erected at her
-expense in some of the country districts.<a name="FNanchor_461_461" id="FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">461</a> Chrysostom was
-always ready to welcome as genuine any manifestations of
-religious feeling. Such practical proofs of her attachment
-to the Church completely captivated him, and for the
-present his rich vocabulary could hardly furnish language
-adequate to express his admiration and gratitude.<a name="FNanchor_462_462" id="FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">462</a></p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, the poor doomed minister, not content to
-remain as he began, enjoying the reality of power without
-the name, prepared the way for his own destruction by
-inducing the Emperor to bestow on him the titles of
-Patrician and Consul. The acquisition of these venerated
-and venerable names by the eunuch slave caused a profound
-emotion of indignation and shame throughout the Empire,
-but especially in the Western capital, where they were
-bound up with all the most noble and glorious memories in
-the history of the nation. It is true the consulship was now
-an empty honour, destitute of all the great duties and responsibilities
-which formerly were attached to it. But the year
-was still named after the consul, and the character of the
-man was by a superstitious feeling projected on to the year
-which he inaugurated. The name of the odious Eutropius,
-eunuch and slave, if prefixed to the year, would seem to
-overshadow it with a kind of ominous and baleful blight,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span>and to be in itself a portent of incalculable disaster. In
-short, after their indignation had vented itself in much bitter
-sarcasm, the Romans resolved that the consulship of
-Eutropius should never be inscribed at the Capitol. A
-solemn deputation from the people and senate waited on
-Honorius and Stilicho at Milan, to submit their decision,
-and to implore the imperial assent. Their spokesman
-recounted the glorious exploits of Theodosius and (by a
-flattering courtesy) of his son. The Saxon by the ocean,
-defeated; Britain delivered from the Picts; Gaul protected
-from the menaces of Germany! “Through thee Rome
-beholds the Frank humbled at her feet, the Suevian discomfited,
-and the Rhine, submissive to thy rule, salutes thee
-under the name of Germanicus. But the East, alas! envies
-us our prosperity; abominable conspiracies are fermenting
-there which tend to break up our unity” ... the revolt of
-Gildo, the destruction of African towns, the famine of Rome,
-all these calamities were the work of Eutropius, and for
-these he was rewarded with the consulship! The East,
-accustomed to stoop under the sceptre of women, might
-accept the rule of a eunuch slave; but that to which the
-Orontes and the Halys submitted as ordinary custom would
-be a foul stain on the waters of the Tiber. The image of
-Eutropius should never be placed in the same rank with
-those of Æmilius, of Decius, of Camillus, the saviours and
-supporters of their country, the champions of Roman
-freedom!... “Rise from your tombs, ancient Romans,
-pride of Latium; behold an unknown colleague on your
-curule chairs; rise and avenge the majesty of the Roman
-name!”<a name="FNanchor_463_463" id="FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">463</a></p>
-
-<p>Honorius, prompted no doubt by Stilicho, accorded a
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span>favourable reply to the supplication of the Roman people.
-Mallius Theodorus, prætorian prefect of Italy, a man eminent
-in virtue and ability as lawyer, soldier, and writer, and
-not less popular than distinguished, was nominated Consul
-by Honorius amidst general approbation, and his name
-appears in the Fasti of the West without a colleague.<a name="FNanchor_464_464" id="FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">464</a></p>
-
-<p>No doubt some of the virtuous indignation of the Romans
-is to be attributed to the jealousy which now ran high
-between East and West, but we may also not fancifully
-discern genuine sparks of the independent spirit of their
-forefathers. Amidst the general decadence and degeneracy
-of the whole Empire, the West did not descend, could not
-have descended, to such depths of servile adulation as did
-the Byzantines on the occasion of the inauguration of
-Eutropius as Consul. When, arrayed in an ample Roman
-robe, he assumed his seat in the palace of the Cæsars, the
-doors were thrown open to an eager crowd of flatterers. The
-senate, the generals, all the high functionaries of the state,
-poured in to offer their homage to the great personage;
-emulated each other in the honour of kissing his hand, and
-even his wrinkled visage. They saluted him as the bulwark
-of the laws, and the parent of the Emperor. Statues of
-bronze or marble were placed in various parts of the city,
-representing him in the costume of warrior or judge, and
-the inscriptions on their pedestals styled him third founder
-of the city after Byzas and Constantine.</p>
-
-<p>No wonder that Claudian declaimed with bitter sarcasm
-against “a Byzantine nobility and Greek Quirites,” and
-even invokes Neptune by a stroke of his trident to unseat
-and submerge the degenerate city which had inflicted such
-a deep disgrace upon the Empire.<a name="FNanchor_465_465" id="FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">465</a></p>
-
-<p>And in truth a blow of no mean force, though directed
-not by the hand of a mythic deity, but of a stout barbarian
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span>was about to descend on the Eastern capital. The consequences
-of it were averted only by the sacrifice of the
-new consul who had chiefly provoked it; upon him it came
-with crushing effect: he fell never to rise again. In the
-final scene of this curious drama the Archbishop plays a
-conspicuous part, and therefore it must be unfolded from
-the beginning. But, independently of this, it throws light
-upon the condition of the Eastern Empire at that period.</p>
-
-<p>Tribigild, a Gothic soldier of distinction, had been, according
-to a usage now prevalent, promoted to the rank of Tribune,
-and placed in command of a military colony of Gruthongi (a
-large branch of the Ostrogoths), established in the region of
-Phrygia, near the town of Nacolea. The recent elevation of
-Alaric to the rank of Commander-in-chief of the Roman
-forces in the East had encouraged the pretensions and raised
-the expectations of all barbarian commanders. In the
-February or March next after the appointment of Eutropius
-to the consulship, Tribigild appeared at court to solicit promotion
-for himself and a higher rate of pay for his martial
-colonists, who, too ignorant or too proud to maintain themselves
-by cultivating the soil, were perishing of hunger in
-the midst of the most productive regions of Asia Minor.
-His suit was one among many of similar applications at
-that time constantly brought before the Court, and it was
-coldly dismissed by the Emperor’s minister. Tribigild was
-not one to return home and brood in sullen and ineffective
-silence over his repulse. Gaïnas, the Gothic leader, to whom
-it will be remembered Stilicho had confided the task of
-putting Rufinus to death, was still in Constantinople; and
-he was a relation of Tribigild, who found in him a sympathiser
-to inflame rather than soothe his sense of wrong.
-In this irritated frame of mind, like a train of powder only
-needing the application of a match to produce an explosion,
-he returned to Phrygia. According to Claudian, that match
-was applied by his wife. He dramatically describes her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span>
-welcome of the returning husband: “She flies to meet him,
-embraces him with her snow-white arms, and eagerly
-inquires what honours or rewards he brings back from the
-generous prince.” When the chieftain relates his ineffectual
-errand, and the cold disdain with which he had been treated
-by Eutropius, the chieftainess tears her face with her nails,
-and with bitter irony bids her husband sheathe his sword
-and attend to his plough or his vine. She contrasts her
-own condition with the happy wives and sisters of other
-warriors; they enjoyed rich spoils in the shape of adornments
-or of beautiful Grecian handmaids. “Alaric, who
-broke treaties, was rewarded for it, but those who observe
-them remain poor. Alaric invaded and pillaged Epirus, and
-was made commander of the forces; <em>you</em> go humbly to
-solicit your due and are repulsed. Enrich yourself with
-booty, and you will be a Roman citizen as soon as you
-please.”<a name="FNanchor_466_466" id="FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">466</a> No doubt this scene, whether wholly imaginary
-or not, faithfully represents the feelings which, since the
-fatal promotion of Alaric, must have encouraged treasonable
-designs on the part of many barbarian chiefs. At any rate,
-whether the resentment of Tribigild was inflamed or not by
-the irony of his wife, he resolved to cast off allegiance to
-the Empire. He mustered his forces, which gladly abandoned
-their feeble attempts at husbandry to return to the
-more congenial pursuit of war and plunder. The rich
-country of Phrygia was rapidly overrun, and some of the
-fortified towns, owing partly to the decay of their walls,
-were captured. All Asia Minor was convulsed with apprehension,
-and appealed to Constantinople for protection.</p>
-
-<p>Eutropius affected to treat the rebellion as a petty insurrection,
-the suppression of which belonged rather to the
-judge armed with instruments of torture than to a military
-force. He declined the proffered assistance of Gaïnas, but
-secretly negotiated with Tribigild, in the hope of subduing
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span>him by means of promotion or of a bribe in money. The
-Goth, proud to have turned the tables upon the minister
-who had recently treated him with scorn, steadfastly declined
-to accept any satisfaction but one—the head of Eutropius
-himself. Thus war was inevitable; but who was to conduct
-it? Eutropius dared not trust Gaïnas to act against his
-own countryman and kinsman. He retained him therefore
-at Constantinople in command of the city troops, and committed
-the management of the legions to one of his favourites,
-Leo, described by Claudian as a man “abounding in flesh,
-but scant of brains;”<a name="FNanchor_467_467" id="FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">467</a> once a wool-carder, but, under the
-administration of the eunuch, a military commander. His
-obesity made him an object of derision to the army, and,
-joined to his natural incapacity and ignorance, rendered him
-the most unfit man to conduct an expedition against the
-subtle and active barbarian. Leo crossed the Bosporus
-with a large, ill-disciplined army, whose approach was
-welcomed by the devastated provinces, which vainly rejoiced
-at the prospect of speedy deliverance from the ravager.
-The enemy, meanwhile, had retreated southwards through
-Pisidia, and after a narrow escape from destruction in the
-defiles of Mount Taurus, where the inhabitants made a fierce
-stand, he emerged into Pamphylia, and awaited Leo in the
-vast plain of the Eurymedon and Melas, which extends
-between the chain of Taurus and the sea. The doughty
-commander of the imperial forces eagerly pursued the Goths,
-and flattered himself, as the artful chieftain pretended to
-retreat in alarm, that he had cooped him up by the sea.
-In the confident anticipation of success, the discipline, such
-as it was, of Leo’s camp became still more relaxed. Little
-or no watch was kept; festivity, drunkenness, and disorder
-of all kinds prevailed; while the general had allowed himself
-to be drawn into a fatal position between a wary enemy
-in front and an impassable morass in his rear. In the depth
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span>of a dark night, the Goth swooped down upon his prey: all
-were asleep in the camp, the slumbers of many deepened by
-drunkenness. Those who were not killed on the spot fled
-in wild confusion, but only to flounder in the marsh, in the
-oozy bed of which large numbers were absorbed. A few
-scattered remnants reached the Bosporus by devious routes,
-to carry tidings of the disaster to Constantinople. Leo himself
-had plunged on horseback into the morass; the animal
-soon sank under the weight of his bulky rider, who, after
-vain struggles to extricate himself, was finally sucked beneath
-the quag. To such a bathos have the annals of Roman warfare
-descended! A Roman general suffocated in mud!<a name="FNanchor_468_468" id="FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">468</a></p>
-
-<p>The news of this disaster struck panic into the population
-and Court of Constantinople. There was but one who
-rejoiced; for he saw himself master of the situation. This
-was Gaïnas; he was the only man at hand capable of confronting
-Tribigild, and he was despatched across the Bosporus
-with his barbarian auxiliaries. But he did nothing to
-check the enemy, who had resumed his career of pillage.
-He represented that the forces opposed to him were insuperable,
-but expressed a firm conviction that Tribigild would
-become as loyal a servant as himself on one condition—the
-surrender of the minister Eutropius, the principal author of
-all the evils of the State.<a name="FNanchor_469_469" id="FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">469</a></p>
-
-<p>Arcadius was placed in a state of cruel perplexity. We
-need not suppose that he was attached to Eutropius, but
-his weak and indolent nature shrank from the responsibility
-and labour to which, through the industry of his ambitious
-minister, he had been a stranger. Now, however, from all
-quarters the truth was forced upon him, that if he would
-save his throne, he must part with his newly-made consul.
-Ugly rumours were prevalent that Stilicho was meditating
-a march to the East, and at the same time a new king,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span>hostile to the Empire, had ascended the throne in Persia.<a name="FNanchor_470_470" id="FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">470</a>
-But a nearer and more persuasive enemy of Eutropius was at
-hand to give the finishing impulse to his fall. The profound
-jealousy of his power entertained by Eudoxia has been
-already intimated. Not only had the title of Augusta been
-withheld from her through his influence, but he had even
-carried his arrogance so far at this time as to declare that
-his hand, which had elevated her, could also depose her from
-her present position altogether. The proud Frankish blood
-of the Empress could ill brook such words from the lips of
-an upstart menial, consul though he now was. With a
-passionate gesture she dismissed him from her presence,
-hastened to her two young children, Flaccilla and Pulcheria,
-and with them made her way into the apartment of Arcadius.
-To his inquiries as to the purpose of her sudden
-appearance she made at first no reply save by a flood of
-tears, in which the children, from natural sympathy, joined;
-but presently, in language broken by sobs, she related a tale
-of insults received at the hands of Eutropius, and the
-crowning insult of the whole series. This was the blow
-which was completely to fell the tottering minister. He
-was summoned to the imperial presence, and having been
-informed that he was deprived of his official dignity, and his
-property confiscated, he was commanded instantly to quit
-the palace under pain of death.<a name="FNanchor_471_471" id="FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">471</a></p>
-
-<p>The poor wretch, who had mounted from the lowest dregs
-of society to the grandest position a subject could occupy, was
-thus by a single blow suddenly reduced to the position from
-which he had started; and even worse, for death stared him
-in the face. The bows and smiles with which courtiers had
-greeted him that morning, when he was still the royal
-favourite, concealed, he well knew, a hatred and a scorn
-which were not confined to them, but animated the whole
-population, and only needed opportunity to declare them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span>selves.
-That opportunity had come. He had no friends;
-whither should he fly? There was but one place to which
-he could in his extremity naturally turn—the sanctuary of
-the Church; but here, by the cruel irony of his fate, a law
-emanating from himself barred his entrance.</p>
-
-<p>The right of asylum, which was once possessed by many
-of the Pagan temples, passed over, by a natural transition,
-about the time of Constantine, to Christian churches. However
-useful in ages of great rudeness and ferocity this right
-may be, either to shelter the innocent from lawless violence,
-or to give offenders protection from vindictive rage till the
-time of equitable trial, it inevitably becomes, sooner or later,
-an intolerable interference with the natural course of law
-and justice. Tiberius had found it expedient to restrict or
-abolish such rights attached to many of the Greek and
-Asiatic temples. Their suppression was resisted partly
-from feelings of pride, partly of mercenary interest, partly
-of respect for the sanctity of the places, as in the case in our
-own country of the sanctuary of Westminster.<a name="FNanchor_472_472" id="FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">472</a> In the reign
-of Theodosius <span class="smcap">I.</span> a law was passed which excepted gross
-criminals and public debtors, and another in the reign of
-Arcadius, which excepted Jewish debtors who pretended to
-be Christians, from the privileges of asylum;<a name="FNanchor_473_473" id="FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">473</a> but by a law
-of September, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 397, suggested by Eutropius, clergy and
-monks, in whose churches or convents fugitives might shelter,
-were obliged to surrender them to the officers of justice,
-though they might appeal to the Court in their favour.<a name="FNanchor_474_474" id="FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">474</a>
-The special object of Eutropius had been to cut off all
-retreat from the victims of his jealous ambition or avarice;
-and now he was one of the first to want the protection
-which he had himself abolished. But he knew, no one
-better, that the law had excited much resentment and
-resistance on the part of the Church; and it might well be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span>that the Archbishop would gladly connive at the violation
-of the obnoxious measure by the very person who had
-framed it. He resolved to make the attempt. In the
-humblest guise of a suppliant, tears streaming down his
-puckered cheeks, his scant grey hairs smeared with dust, he
-crept into the cathedral, pushed aside the curtain which
-divided the chancel or sanctuary from the nave, and, clinging
-closely to the holy table,<a name="FNanchor_475_475" id="FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">475</a> awaited the approach of the Archbishop
-or any of the clergy.<a name="FNanchor_476_476" id="FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">476</a> The enemy was on his track.
-As he lay quaking with terror, he could hear on the other
-side of the thin partition the trampling of feet, mingled with
-the clattering of arms and voices raised in threatening tones
-by soldiers on the search. At this crisis he was found by
-the Archbishop, in a state of pitiable and abject terror; his
-cheek blanched with a death-like pallor, his teeth chattering,
-his whole frame quivering, as with faltering lips he craved
-the asylum of the Church.<a name="FNanchor_477_477" id="FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">477</a></p>
-
-<p>He was not repulsed as the destroyer of that shelter which
-he now sought. Chrysostom rejoiced in the opportunity
-afforded to the Church of exhibiting at once her clemency
-and power, by taking a noble revenge upon her former adversary.
-The clamour of the soldiers on the other side of the
-veil increased. Chrysostom led the unhappy fugitive to the
-sacristy; and having concealed him there, he confronted his
-pursuers, asserted the inviolability of the Church’s sanctuary,
-and refused to surrender the refugee. “None shall penetrate
-the sanctuary save over my body; the Church is the Bride
-of Jesus Christ, who has intrusted her honour to me, and I
-will never betray it.” The soldiers threatened to lay violent
-hands on the Archbishop; but he freely presented himself
-to them, and only desired to be conducted to the Emperor,
-that the whole affair might be submitted to his judgment.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span>He was accordingly placed between two rows of spearmen,
-and marched like a prisoner from the cathedral to the palace.<a name="FNanchor_478_478" id="FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">478</a></p>
-
-<p>The populace meanwhile had heard of the wonderful event
-of the day. The news of the detested minister’s degradation
-had circulated through the Hippodrome, where a grand performance
-had attracted large multitudes. The spectators
-rose in a mass, uttered a shout of exultation, and vociferously
-demanded the head of the culprit.<a name="FNanchor_479_479" id="FNanchor_479_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_479_479" class="fnanchor">479</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom meanwhile maintained before the Emperor
-his lofty tone of authority in vindication of the Church’s
-right of asylum. Human laws could not weigh in the
-balance against divine; the very man who had assailed the
-Church’s divine right was now forced, in his day of distress,
-to plead in favour of it. The Emperor was moved, as he
-always was by any one who possessed some of that force
-of character which he himself lacked. Some feelings of
-compassion also for his late minister’s humiliation may
-have mingled themselves with superstitious dread of incurring
-Divine wrath. He promised to respect the retreat of
-Eutropius. But, on learning his decision, the troops which
-were in the city became indignant and furious in their
-demands that the culprit should be surrendered to justice.
-The Emperor made an address to them, entreating them
-even with tears to remember that they had received benefits
-as well as wrongs from the object of their present rage, and,
-above all things, imploring them to respect the sanctity of
-the holy table, to which the suppliant was clinging. By
-such words he restrained them with difficulty from the
-commission of any immediate violence.<a name="FNanchor_480_480" id="FNanchor_480_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480_480" class="fnanchor">480</a></p>
-
-<p>The following day was Sunday; but the places of public
-amusement and resort were deserted, and such a vast concourse
-of men and women thronged the cathedral as was
-rarely seen except on Easter Day.<a name="FNanchor_481_481" id="FNanchor_481_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_481_481" class="fnanchor">481</a> All were in a flutter of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span>expectation to hear what the “golden mouth” would utter,
-the mouth of him who had dared, in defence of the Church’s
-right, to defy the arm of the law, and to stem the tide of
-popular feeling. But few perhaps were prepared to witness
-such a dramatic scene as was actually presented, and which
-gave additional force and effect to the words of the preacher.
-It was a common practice with the Archbishop, on account
-partly of his diminutive stature and some feebleness of voice,
-to preach from the “ambo,” or high reading-desk, which
-stood a little westward of the chancel, and therefore brought
-him into closer proximity with the people.<a name="FNanchor_482_482" id="FNanchor_482_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_482_482" class="fnanchor">482</a> On the present
-occasion, he had just taken his seat on the ambo, and a sea
-of upturned faces was directed towards his thin pale countenance
-in expectation of the stream of golden eloquence,
-when the curtain which separated the nave from the chancel
-was partially drawn aside, and disclosed to the view of the
-multitude the cowering form of the unhappy Eutropius,
-clinging to one of the columns which supported the holy
-table. Many a time had the Archbishop preached to light
-minds and unheeding ears on the vain and fleeting character
-of worldly honour, prosperity, luxury, wealth; now he would
-enforce attention, and drive his lesson home to the hearts of
-a vast audience, by pointing to a visible example of fallen
-grandeur in the poor unhappy creature who lay grovelling
-behind him. Presently he burst forth: “‘<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων</span>!—O
-vanity of vanities!’” words how seasonable
-at all times, how pre-eminently seasonable now. “Where
-now are the pomp and circumstance of yonder man’s consulship?
-where his torch-light festivities? where the applause
-which once greeted him? where his banquets and garlands?
-Where is the stir that once attended his appearance in the
-streets, the flattering compliments addressed to him in the
-amphitheatre? They are gone, they are all gone; one rude
-blast has shattered all the leaves, and shows us the tree
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span>stripped quite bare, and shaken to its very roots.”...
-“These things were but as visions of the night, which fade
-at dawn; or vernal flowers, which wither when the spring is
-past; as shadows which flitted away, as bubbles which burst,
-as cobwebs which rent.”... “Therefore we chant continuously
-this heavenly strain: <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων καὶ
-πάντα ματαιότης</span>. For these are words which should be
-inscribed on our walls and on our garments, in the market-place,
-by the wayside, on our doors, but above all should
-they be written in the conscience, and engraved upon the
-mind of every one.” Then, turning towards the pitiable
-figure by the holy table: “Did I not continually warn thee
-that wealth was a runaway slave, a thankless servant? but
-thou wouldst not heed, thou wouldst not be persuaded.
-Lo! now experience has proved to thee that it is not only
-fugitive and thankless, but murderous also; for this it is
-which has caused thee to tremble now with fear. Did not
-I declare, when you rebuked me for telling you the truth,
-‘I love thee better than thy flatterers; I who reprove thee
-care for thee more than thy complaisant friends?’ Did I not
-add that the wounds inflicted by a friend were to be valued
-more than the kisses given by an enemy? If thou hadst
-endured my wounds, the kisses of thy enemies would not
-have wrought thee this destruction.”... “We act not like
-thy false friends, who have fled from thee, and are procuring
-their own safety through thy distress; the Church, which
-you treated as an enemy, has opened her bosom to receive
-thee; the theatre, which you favoured, has betrayed thee, and
-whetted the sword against thee.”<a name="FNanchor_483_483" id="FNanchor_483_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_483_483" class="fnanchor">483</a> He thus depicted, he
-said, the abject condition of the minister, not from any desire
-to insult the prostrate, not to drown one who was tossed on
-the billows of misfortune; but to warn those who were still
-sailing with a fair wind, lest they should be hurried into the
-same abyss. Who had been more exalted than this man?
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span>Had he not surpassed all in wealth? had he not climbed to
-the very pinnacle of grandeur? yet now he had become more
-miserable than a prisoner, more pitiable than a slave....
-It was the glory of the Church to have afforded shelter to
-an enemy; the suppliant was the ornament of the altar.
-“What!” you say, “is this iniquitous, rapacious creature an
-ornament to the altar?” Hush! the sinful woman was permitted
-to touch the feet of Jesus Christ Himself, a permission
-which excites not our reproach, but our admiration and
-praise.... The degradation of Eutropius was a wholesome
-example both to the rich and poor. “Let some rich man
-enter the church, and he will derive much advantage from
-what he sees. The spectacle of one, lately at the pinnacle of
-power, now crouching with fear like a hare or a frog, chained
-to yonder pillar not by fetters, but by fright, will repress
-arrogance, and subdue pride, and will teach him the truth of
-the Scripture precept: ‘All flesh is grass, and all the glory
-of man as the flower of grass.’ On the other hand, let a poor
-man enter, and he will learn not to be discontented, or to
-deplore his lot; but will be grateful to his poverty, which
-is to him as a most secure asylum, a most tranquil haven, a
-most impenetrable fortress.”<a name="FNanchor_484_484" id="FNanchor_484_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_484_484" class="fnanchor">484</a> The Archbishop concluded by
-exhorting the people to mercy and forgiveness, following the
-example of their Emperor. How else could they with a clear
-conscience join in the Holy Mysteries about to be celebrated,
-or join in the prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
-them that trespass against us?” He did not deny that the
-offender had committed great crimes, but the present was a
-season not for judgment but for mercy. If they would enjoy
-the favour of God, who had declared, “I will have mercy and
-not sacrifice,” they would intercede with the Emperor for the
-life of their enemy. So would they obtain the mercy of
-God for themselves, and remission of their own sins; so
-would they shed glory on their Church, and win the praise
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span>of their humane sovereign, while their own clemency would
-be extolled to the ends of the earth.”</p>
-
-<p>The people probably thought that sufficient mercy had
-already been exercised by respecting the asylum of the
-Church as against the law, and no further effort, so far as
-is known, was made on behalf of the fallen minister. He
-remained for several days more in the sanctuary, and then
-secretly and suddenly quitted it. Whether he fled designedly,
-mistrusting the security of his retreat, perhaps even, with
-the suspiciousness natural to a deceitful person, mistrusting
-the fidelity of his protectors, and hoping to make his escape
-from Constantinople in disguise; or whether he surrendered
-himself on the condition that exile should be substituted for
-capital punishment, cannot with perfect certainty be determined.
-It is implied by one writer<a name="FNanchor_485_485" id="FNanchor_485_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485_485" class="fnanchor">485</a> that he was seized and
-forcibly removed from the sanctuary. Chrysostom, on the
-other hand, declares that he would never have been given up,
-had he not abandoned the Church.<a name="FNanchor_486_486" id="FNanchor_486_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486_486" class="fnanchor">486</a> However and wherever he
-may have been captured, some promise appears to have been
-made that his life at least should be spared. He was put on
-board a vessel which conveyed him to Cyprus, that island
-being designed, it was said, to be the place of his banishment
-for the remainder of his life.<a name="FNanchor_487_487" id="FNanchor_487_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_487_487" class="fnanchor">487</a> But his enemies had
-determined that his life should be brief. A suit was instituted
-against him at Constantinople on a variety of charges
-under the presidency of Aurelian, Prætorian Prefect. Over
-and above all his other crimes, he was found guilty of
-mingling with the ordinary costume of the consul certain
-ornaments or badges which belonged exclusively to the
-Emperors, and even of harnessing to his chariot animals of
-the imperial colour and breed. These were found to be
-treasonable offences, on the strength of which, in spite of
-some misgivings and hesitation on the part of Arcadius,
-which were overruled by Eudoxia and Gaïnas, the miserable
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span>culprit was recalled from Cyprus to Chalcedon, and there
-beheaded. As he entered that city, he might have seen
-affixed to the walls the imperial sentence, by the terms of
-which his property was declared confiscated to the State, his
-acts as consul were cancelled, the title of the year was
-changed, the world invited to rejoice at the purification of
-the consulship, and to cease to groan over the sight of the
-monstrosity which had disgraced and disfigured the divine
-honour of that sacred office. Finally, it was commanded
-that all statues or representations whatever of Eutropius
-in public places should be thrown down and broken in
-pieces.<a name="FNanchor_488_488" id="FNanchor_488_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_488_488" class="fnanchor">488</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus the earnest desire of Eudoxia was accomplished:
-she remained mistress of the field, mistress, as she fondly
-hoped, of the Empire. The government for the present
-passed from the hands of a eunuch and slave into the hands
-of a woman. The possible rivals to her supremacy were
-the Gothic commander Gaïnas and the Archbishop. In
-what manner she was brought into hostile collision with
-these two very different personages remains now to be
-related. The Goth was determined in the ambitious pursuit
-of power, the Archbishop equally determined in the conscientious
-discharge of duty. The collision of the ruling
-powers with him was yet to come, but the contest with
-Gaïnas immediately succeeded the fall of Eutropius.</p>
-
-<p>The Empress procured the elevation of Aurelian, Prætorian
-Prefect, to the consulship, and of her favourite (some
-said her criminal lover<a name="FNanchor_489_489" id="FNanchor_489_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_489_489" class="fnanchor">489</a>), Count John, to the office of Comptroller
-of the Royal Treasury, or sacred largesses. The
-public affairs of the Empire were discussed and settled in
-a sort of cabinet council by her and her friends, of whom
-three wealthy but avaricious ladies, Castricia, Eugraphia,
-and Marcia, were the most influential. The haughty and
-manly spirit of the Gothic warrior naturally disdained to
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span>be directed by a coterie of women. He united his army
-with that of Tribigild, and the two forces assumed a menacing
-attitude in the vicinity of Constantinople, on the Asiatic
-side of the Bosporus. Gaïnas opened negotiations with the
-Emperor, refusing to communicate with any lesser power,
-complained that his services had been inadequately requited,
-and demanded, as a preliminary to any further correspondence,
-the surrender of three principal favourites at Court—Aurelian
-the Consul, Saturninus the husband of Castricia,
-and the Count John. The embarrassment of the Court was
-extreme; but the three ministers, in a genuine spirit, to all
-appearance, of Roman courage and self-sacrifice for the good
-of the State, crossed the Bosporus, and sent word to the
-camp of Gaïnas that they had come to surrender themselves
-into his hands. The chieftain subjected them to a grim
-practical jest. He caused them to be loaded with chains,
-and received them in his tent in the presence of an executioner.
-After all manner of insults had been heaped upon
-them, the executioner approached and swung his sword over
-them with a furious countenance as if on the point of decapitating,
-but, checking the impending blow, only made a
-slight scratch on their necks so as just to draw blood.
-This savage farce having been performed, the three were
-simply detained in the camp without suffering further
-violence.<a name="FNanchor_490_490" id="FNanchor_490_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490_490" class="fnanchor">490</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom appears to have laboured diligently to mitigate
-the demands of Gaïnas. His language, in a homily
-delivered just after the surrender of the three captives,
-implies that some degree of success had attended his efforts,
-but it manifests also a feeling of great depression, caused
-by the unsettled, indeed anarchical, state of public affairs.</p>
-
-<p>“After a long interval of silence, I return to you, my
-beloved disciples—a silence occasioned, not by any indifference
-or indolence, but by my absence spent in earnest
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span>endeavours to allay a tempest, and to bring into a haven
-those who were beginning to drown.”... “For this purpose
-I have withdrawn from you for a time, going backwards
-and forwards” [across the Bosporus], “exhorting,
-beseeching, supplicating, so as to avert the calamity which
-was impending over the higher powers. But now that these
-dismal matters have been concluded I return to you....”
-He had gone to rescue those who were falling and tempest-tossed;
-he came back to confirm those who were still standing
-and at rest, lest they should become victims of some
-calamity. “For there is nothing secure, nothing stable in
-human affairs; they are like a raging sea, every day producing
-strange and fearful shipwrecks. The world is full of
-tumult and confusion; everywhere are cliffs and precipices,
-rocks and reefs, fearfulness and trembling, peril and suspicion.
-No one trusts any one; each man is afraid of his
-neighbour. The time is at hand which the prophet depicted
-in those words: ‘Trust not in a friend, put not confidence in
-a guide’ (Micah vii. 5); civil strife prevails everywhere,
-not honest open warfare, but veiled under ten thousand
-masks. Many are the fleeces beneath which are concealed
-innumerable wolves; so that one might live more safely
-among enemies than among those who appear to be friends.”<a name="FNanchor_491_491" id="FNanchor_491_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_491_491" class="fnanchor">491</a></p>
-
-<p>It is possible that the intercessions of Chrysostom may
-have saved the lives of the three captives, or averted any
-immediate assault of the Gothic army; but Gaïnas was in
-a position to dictate any terms he pleased, and his army
-was like a great swelling wave, threatening at any moment
-to break in overwhelming force upon the capital. An interview
-with the Emperor, protected from any insidious attack
-by the solemn oath of each party, took place in the church
-of St. Euphemia, situated on a lofty eminence above the city
-of Chalcedon. The Gothic leader no longer pretended to
-disguise his ambitious designs. He demanded to be made
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span>
-Consul and Commander-in-chief of the Imperial army,
-cavalry and infantry, Roman as well as barbarian troops; in
-short, he aspired to be in position the Stilicho of the East.
-The Emperor yielded to these ignominious terms, which in
-effect placed his capital at the mercy of a foreign invader.
-The troops were rapidly transported from the Asiatic side
-of the Bosporus and occupied Constantinople. They waited
-but the word of their commander to fly upon the booty with
-which the wealthy and luxurious city teemed, and which
-they beheld with hungry eyes; but for a time the signal
-was not given.<a name="FNanchor_492_492" id="FNanchor_492_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492_492" class="fnanchor">492</a></p>
-
-<p>Gaïnas, either from sincere attachment to the Arian form
-of faith, or possibly from ambition to display his power
-to his countrymen, who were mainly of the Arian persuasion,
-demanded the abolition of that law of Theodosius by
-which Arians were prohibited from public worship inside
-the city walls. He represented that it was specially indecorous
-for the Commander-in-chief of the Imperial forces
-to go outside the city to pay his public devotions. Arcadius,
-intimidated, and as usual on the point of yielding, referred
-the matter to the Archbishop. Chrysostom earnestly and
-indignantly deprecated any concession; to give up one of
-the Catholic churches to the Arians would be to cast things
-holy to the dogs, and to reward the impious at the expense
-of the reverent worshippers of Jesus Christ. He begged
-the Emperor to allow the whole matter to be discussed
-between himself and Gaïnas in the royal presence, when
-he trusted that, by the help of God, he should succeed
-in silencing the Gothic heretic, and in repressing any repetition
-of his profane demand.<a name="FNanchor_493_493" id="FNanchor_493_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_493_493" class="fnanchor">493</a> Gaïnas was not averse
-from the interview; he rather prided himself on his skill
-in theological debate, and boasted of having vanquished
-the monk Nilus on the question of the identity, or
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span>similarity, of substance in the first two Persons of the Holy
-Trinity.<a name="FNanchor_494_494" id="FNanchor_494_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_494_494" class="fnanchor">494</a> The Emperor was well satisfied to act the part of
-a quiet, irresponsible auditor. Accordingly, on the following
-day, Chrysostom appeared at the palace, accompanied by all
-those bishops who were in Constantinople at the time.
-Gaïnas put forward his demand. The Archbishop replied
-that it was impossible for a prince who laid claim to piety
-to take any step adverse to the interests of the Catholic
-faith. If Gaïnas wished to worship inside the walls, all the
-churches in the city were open to him. When the Goth
-claimed a right to possess one for his own sect, in consideration
-of his great services to the State, Chrysostom repelled
-the demand with indignant scorn. “You have already
-rewards far exceeding your deserts; you are Commander-in-chief
-and Consul. Consider what once you were, and what
-now you are; consider your former destitution and your
-present abundance. Look at the magnificence of your consular
-robes, and remember the rags in which you crossed
-the Danube. Speak not then of ingratitude on the part of
-those who have laden you with honours. Remember the
-oaths by which you swore fidelity to the great Theodosius
-and to his children.” He then cited the prohibitory law
-issued by Theodosius in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381, called upon the Emperor to
-enforce it, and on the Gothic commander to observe it. The
-ecclesiastical historians concur in affirming that the Goth
-was completely vanquished by the authoritative demeanour
-and eloquence of the Archbishop, and for the time at least
-desisted from pressing his demand; but it appears that
-Arcadius was obliged to satisfy his rapacity by melting the
-plate of the Apostles’ Church.<a name="FNanchor_495_495" id="FNanchor_495_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495_495" class="fnanchor">495</a></p>
-
-<p>Possibly, indeed, extortion of money had been the object
-of Gaïnas from the beginning in making his demand for an
-Arian church. The plunder-loving spirit of his army was
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span>aroused, and the gold and silver visible on the counters of
-money-changers, and in the shops of wealthy jewellers, was
-a temptation constantly dangling before their eyes, till a
-rumour of violent intentions, or perhaps common prudence,
-caused the owners to remove these alluring treasures into
-secret places of safety. If the enemy had entertained any
-design upon the shops, it was transferred from them to the
-palace, upon which they made a nocturnal assault. According
-to some accounts, it was repulsed by the vigorous
-courage of the citizens, who fell with arms upon the assailants;
-according to others, Gaïnas was scared in several
-attempts by a vision of an angelic host planted in bright
-array around the walls of the palace.<a name="FNanchor_496_496" id="FNanchor_496_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_496_496" class="fnanchor">496</a> The materials for
-the history of these occurrences are so meagre that it is
-impossible to ascertain details, but, from whatever cause,
-Gaïnas resolved to escape from the city. Fearing that if
-he attempted to quit it openly with his troops, he might
-be forcibly stopped or impeded in his departure, he
-pretended to be under the influence of a demon and that
-he desired to offer up prayers for relief from his affliction at
-the martyry of St. John at Hebdomon, seven miles outside
-Constantinople.</p>
-
-<p>As he was going out, however, by one of the gates on this
-pretext, the guards stationed at the gate perceived that his
-followers were taking with them a quantity of arms which
-they endeavoured to conceal. The guards refused to let
-them pass; a fray ensued in which the guards were killed.
-The inhabitants were seized with mingled rage and terror.
-Gaïnas was declared by royal decree a public enemy. He
-himself was outside the walls, and the city gates were now
-all closed to cut him off and such forces as were with him
-from those who were left inside Constantinople. A large
-number of these assembled in and around the church of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span>Goths. Here they were attacked by the infuriated populace,
-which set fire to the building. The Goths perished wholesale
-in the flames or by the sword. Gaïnas, with the remainder
-of his followers, betook himself to a life of plunder
-in the Thracian Chersonese. But he found the inhabitants
-generally prepared to offer a stout resistance to his pillaging
-bands, which were soon reduced to great straits for subsistence.
-Meanwhile, a countryman of his in Constantinople
-was organising measures for his destruction. Fravitta was
-one of those Goths who had become assimilated to the people
-among whom they lived. He had married a Roman lady,
-and was eminent alike for refinement of manners, for valour
-in arms, and for honest fidelity to the government which he
-served.<a name="FNanchor_497_497" id="FNanchor_497_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_497_497" class="fnanchor">497</a> He offered to lead out such forces as could be
-placed at his disposal, pledged himself to clear the Chersonese
-of the rebels, and drive them, if necessary, beyond the
-Danube. The offer was accepted with joy, and Fravitta
-defeated the enemy in several engagements. Gaïnas
-attempted to cross the Hellespont, and throw his troops
-again into the fertile regions of Asia Minor; but his flimsy
-fleet of hastily-constructed rafts, being attacked by a well-managed
-body of galleys in the middle of the passage, was
-dispersed or broken in pieces, and a large part of his army
-was drowned. Gaïnas then determined, with the remnant
-of his followers, to beat a hasty retreat in the direction of
-the Danube, where he hoped to be joined by some of his
-own countrymen, and renew the offensive. The accounts of
-his march are not quite harmonious, and somewhat obscure.
-According to Zosimus,<a name="FNanchor_498_498" id="FNanchor_498_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498_498" class="fnanchor">498</a> he was hotly pursued by Fravitta
-from place to place, across the range of Hæmus up to the
-shores of the Danube, into the waters of which he plunged
-on horseback, and with a scanty band of followers gained
-the opposite bank, intending thence to make his way to the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span>settlements of his forefathers on the banks of the Pruth or
-Borysthenes. But his design was frustrated by an unexpected
-enemy. The Huns occupied at that time the region
-immediately north of the Danube, and their king, Uldes or
-Uldin, was disposed to enter into friendly relations with
-the Roman Empire. He took up the pursuit which Fravitta
-had abandoned at the river frontier, chased the unhappy
-Goth like a wild beast from one hiding-place to another, till
-at last the prey was caught and killed. His head was
-carried on the point of a lance to Constantinople, as a visible
-pledge of the good-will of the Hunnish chief. Sozomen and
-Socrates,<a name="FNanchor_499_499" id="FNanchor_499_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_499_499" class="fnanchor">499</a> on the other hand, represent him to have been
-overtaken, routed, and slain by Roman troops in Thrace.<a name="FNanchor_500_500" id="FNanchor_500_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500_500" class="fnanchor">500</a></p>
-
-<p>Theodoret has a vague story of his own, that when Gaïnas
-was ravaging Thrace, neither warrior nor ambassador could
-be found courageous enough to encounter him but Chrysostom,
-who, yielding to the public appeal, set forth to intercede,
-and was most respectfully received by the barbarian,
-who placed the right hand of the Archbishop on his own
-eyes, and brought his children to his knees—it may be presumed,
-to receive his blessing. Theodoret does not venture
-to affirm that the mission availed to induce the Goth to lay
-down his arms, and the whole story has an unreal and
-romantic character.<a name="FNanchor_501_501" id="FNanchor_501_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_501_501" class="fnanchor">501</a></p>
-
-<p>Three aspirants to the absolute control of the Eastern
-Empire, widely different in race, character, and original
-condition of life—Rufinus, Eutropius, Gaïnas—had alike
-perished by a violent death. Fravitta was made consul, but
-he was too loyal or too unambitious to go beyond the line
-of his legitimate power. Eudoxia now stood without a rival
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span>in the management of the Emperor and the kingdom. Her
-influence over her husband was enhanced by the birth of a
-prince, who afterwards mounted the throne as Theodosius <span class="smcap">II.</span>;
-and thus the final obstacle was removed to her being solemnly
-proclaimed Empress under the venerable title of Augusta.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">CHRYSOSTOM’S VISIT TO ASIA—DEPOSITION OF SIX SIMONIACAL BISHOPS—LEGITIMATE
-EXTENT OF HIS JURISDICTION—RETURN TO CONSTANTINOPLE—RUPTURE
-AND RECONCILIATION WITH SEVERIAN, BISHOP
-OF GABALA—CHRYSOSTOM’S INCREASING UNPOPULARITY WITH THE
-CLERGY AND WEALTHY LAITY—HIS FRIENDS—OLYMPIAS THE DEACONESS—FORMATION
-OF HOSTILE FACTIONS, WHICH INVITE THE AID OF
-THEOPHILUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA. A.D. 400, 401.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Up</span> to this point the episcopal career of Chrysostom may be
-pronounced eminently successful. He had distinguished
-himself not only as a vigorous reformer of ecclesiastical
-discipline, an eloquent master of pure Christian doctrine,
-and preacher of lofty Christian morality, but he had done
-good service to the State; and even while he upheld with
-inflexible firmness the full rights of the Church, he had not
-by overbearing or haughty independence forfeited the goodwill,
-respect, and admiration of the Emperor and Eudoxia.
-But now the horizon gradually darkens. We have to begin
-unravelling a tangled skein of troubles, to trace a series of
-subtle intrigues, against which the single-minded honesty of
-Chrysostom was ill matched, ultimately bringing about his
-degradation, exile, and death. We are fortunate in possessing,
-to guide us among these complicated proceedings, the
-narrative of one who was not only an eye-witness, but an
-actor in many of the scenes which he relates.<a name="FNanchor_502_502" id="FNanchor_502_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502_502" class="fnanchor">502</a></p>
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span></p>
-<p>In the spring of the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 400, during the military
-usurpation of Gaïnas, twenty-two prelates had assembled in
-Constantinople to confer with the Archbishop on ecclesiastical
-business.<a name="FNanchor_503_503" id="FNanchor_503_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503_503" class="fnanchor">503</a> Palladius has mentioned the names of a
-few, Theotimus from Scythia, Ammon an Egyptian from
-Thrace, Arabianus from Galatia. One Sunday when the
-conclave was sitting, Eusebius, bishop of Valentinopolis in
-Asia, apparently not himself a member of the synod, entered
-the place of assembly, and presented a document addressed
-to the Archbishop as President, which contained seven grave
-charges against Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus: “He had
-melted down some of the sacred vessels to make plate for
-his son; he had transferred some of the marble at the
-entrance of the baptistry to his own bath; he had placed
-some fallen columns which belonged to the Church in his
-own dining-room; he had retained in his employment a
-servant who had committed murder; he had taken possession
-of some property in land which had been left to the
-Church by Basilina, the mother of Julian; he had resumed
-intercourse with his wife, and had children born to him,
-after his ordination; lastly, the worst offence of all, he had
-instituted a regular system of selling bishoprics on a scale
-proportioned to the revenue of the sees.” Chrysostom probably
-perceived, or suspected from the eagerness of the
-accuser, that he entertained some personal animosity towards
-the accused. He replied with calmness and caution:
-“Brother Eusebius, since accusations made under the influence
-of agitated feelings are often not easy to prove,
-let me beseech you to withdraw the written accusation,
-while we endeavour to correct the causes of your annoyance.”
-Eusebius waxed hot, and repeated his tale of
-charges with much vehemence and acrimony of tone. The
-hour of service was approaching; Chrysostom committed
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span>to Paul, bishop of Heraclea, who appeared friendly to
-Antoninus, the task of attempting to conciliate Eusebius,
-and passed with the remainder of the prelates into the
-cathedral.</p>
-
-<p>The opening salutation, “Peace be with you,” was pronounced
-by the Archbishop as he took his seat in the centre
-of the other bishops, ranged, according to custom, on either
-side of him round the wall of the choir or tribune. The
-service was proceeding, when, to the amazement alike of the
-clergy and the congregation, Eusebius abruptly entered the
-choir, hurried up to the Archbishop, and again presented
-the document of charges, adjuring him by the life of the
-Emperor and other tremendous oaths to attend to its contents.
-From the agitation of his manner, the people
-imagined that he must be a suppliant entreating the Archbishop
-to intercede with the Emperor for his life. To avoid
-a disturbance in the face of the congregation, Chrysostom
-received the paper of charges, but when the lessons for the
-day had been read, and the Liturgy of the Faithful (Missa
-Fidelium) was about to begin, he desired Pansophius, bishop
-of Pissida, to “offer the gifts,” and, with the rest of the
-prelates, quitted the church. His serenity of mind was
-ruffled by the impetuous behaviour of Eusebius, and he
-dreaded the possibility of infringing our Lord’s command
-to abstain from bringing a gift to the altar when “thy
-brother hath aught against thee.” After the conclusion of
-the service, he took his seat with the other bishops in the
-baptistry, and summoned Eusebius into the presence of the
-conclave. Once more the accuser was warned not to
-advance charges which he might not be able to substantiate,
-and was reminded that when once the indictment had been
-formally lodged, he could not, being a bishop, retract the
-prosecution. Eusebius, however, intimated his willingness
-to accept all the responsibility of persevering with the
-accusation. The list of charges was then formally read.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span>
-The bishops concurred in pronouncing each of the alleged
-offences to be a gross violation of ecclesiastical law, but
-recommended that Antoninus should be tried upon the
-cardinal crime of simony, since this transcended, and in a
-manner comprehended, all the rest. “Love of money was
-the root of all evil;” and he who would basely sell for
-money the highest spiritual office, would not scruple to
-dispose of sacred vessels, marbles, or land belonging to the
-Church. The Archbishop then turned to the accused:
-“What say you, brother Antoninus, to these things?” The
-Bishop of Ephesus replied by a flat denial of the charges.
-A similar question being addressed to some of the bishops
-there present, described as purchasers of their sees, was
-answered by a similar denial. An examination of such
-witnesses as could be procured lasted till two o’clock in the
-day, when, owing to the lack of further evidence, the proceedings
-were adjourned. Considering the gravity of the
-affair, and the inconvenience of collecting the witnesses
-from Asia, the Archbishop announced his intention of paying
-a visit to Asia Minor in person. Antoninus, conscious of
-guilt, and aware of the rigorous scrutiny to which his conduct
-would be subjected, was now thoroughly alarmed. He
-made interest with a nobleman at court, whose estates he
-managed (contrary to ecclesiastical law) in Asia, and besought
-him to prevent the visit of the Archbishop, pledging
-himself to present the necessary witnesses at Constantinople.
-The Archbishop, accordingly, found his intended departure
-opposed by the Court. It was represented that the absence
-of the chief pastor from the capital, undesirable at all times,
-might be especially inconvenient at a crisis when tumults
-were apprehended from the movements of Gaïnas; and it
-was unnecessary, as the appearance of witnesses from Asia
-in due time was guaranteed.<a name="FNanchor_504_504" id="FNanchor_504_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_504_504" class="fnanchor">504</a> Any delay was an immediate
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span>relief to the accused; and there was a further hope that,
-by bribery or intimidation, the ultimate production of the
-witnesses might be prevented. But he was disappointed;
-for though the Archbishop consented to defer his own visit
-to Asia, he appointed, with the sanction of the synod, three
-delegates to proceed thither immediately and institute an
-inquiry into the case of Antoninus.</p>
-
-<p>The delegates were instructed to hold their court at
-Hypœpœ, a town not far from Ephesus, in conjunction with
-the bishops of the province; and the Archbishop and his
-synod further determined, that if either the accuser or
-accused failed to appear there within two months, he should
-be excommunicated. One of the delegates, Hesychius,
-bishop of Parium on the Hellespont, was a friend of
-Antoninus, and withdrew from the mission under the pretence
-of illness; the other two, Syncletius, bishop of
-Trajanopolis in Thrace, and Palladius, bishop of Hellenopolis
-in Bithynia, proceeded to Smyrna, announced their
-arrival to the accuser and defendant by letter, and summoned
-them to appear at Hypœpœ within the appointed
-time. The summons was obeyed, but the appearance of the
-two was only for the purpose of playing off a farce before
-the commissioners. Strange to relate, a reconciliation had
-taken place between Antoninus and his apparently implacable
-accuser. Eusebius had yielded to the temptation to
-commit the very crime which he had so vehemently denounced.
-A bribe of money had quelled his righteous
-indignation; plaintiff and defendant were now accomplices,
-whose one interest was to conceal their joint iniquities.
-They professed great willingness to produce their witnesses,
-but pleaded the difficulty of collecting persons who lived in
-different and distant places, and were engaged in various
-occupations. The commissioners requested the accuser to
-name a period within which he could guarantee the appearance
-of his witnesses. Eusebius required forty days. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span>
-this space of time covered the hottest part of the summer, it
-was hoped that the patience or health of the commissioners
-would be too much exhausted at the expiration of it to
-prosecute the inquiry. Eusebius then departed, ostensibly to
-search for witnesses; but, in fact, he quietly sneaked away
-to Constantinople, and concealed himself in some obscure
-corner in that great city. The forty days expired, and,
-Eusebius not appearing, the two delegates wrote to the
-bishops of Asia, pronouncing him excommunicated for contumacy.
-They lingered a whole month longer in Asia, and
-then returned to Constantinople. Here they chanced to
-light upon Eusebius, and upbraided him with his faithless
-conduct. He affected to have been ill, and renewed his
-promises to produce witnesses. During these prolonged
-delays Antoninus died; and Chrysostom now received
-earnest solicitations from the clergy of Ephesus, and from
-the neighbouring bishops, to apply a healing hand to the
-wounds and diseases of the Asiatic Church. “We beseech
-your Dignity<a name="FNanchor_505_505" id="FNanchor_505_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_505_505" class="fnanchor">505</a> to come down and stamp a divine impress on
-the Church of Ephesus, which has long been distressed,
-partly by the adherents of Arius, partly by those who, in the
-midst of their avarice and arrogance, pretend to be on our
-side; for very many are they who lie in wait like grievous
-wolves, eager to seize the episcopal throne by money.”<a name="FNanchor_506_506" id="FNanchor_506_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506_506" class="fnanchor">506</a></p>
-
-<p>The death of Gaïnas in January, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 401, set Chrysostom
-free to comply with this earnest appeal to his authority and
-aid. It was the depth of the winter season; his health was
-infirm and impaired by the strain of the past year’s anxiety
-and toil; but the zeal of the Archbishop disregarded these
-impediments. He embarked at Constantinople without
-delay, leaving Severian, Bishop of Gabala, to act as deputy
-bishop in his absence. Such a violent north wind sprang up
-soon after starting, that the crew of the vessel, afraid of being
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span>driven on Proconnesus, lay at anchor for two days under
-shelter of the promontory of Trito. On the third day they
-took advantage of a southerly breeze to land near Apamea
-in Bithynia, where Chrysostom was joined by three bishops,
-Paul of Heraclea, Cyrinus of Chalcedon, and Palladius of
-Hellenopolis. With these companions he proceeded by land
-to Ephesus. There he was received with hearty welcome by
-the clergy and by seventy bishops.</p>
-
-<p>The first business to which the Archbishop and this
-council of prelates addressed themselves was the election of
-a new bishop to the see of Ephesus. As usual there were
-many rival candidates, and factions supporting each with
-equal vehemence. Chrysostom fell back on the expedient of
-putting forward a candidate regarded with indifference by all
-parties. The plan succeeded, and Heracleides was elected.
-He was a deacon of three years’ standing, ordained by Chrysostom,
-and in immediate attendance on him; a native of
-Cyprus, who had received an ascetic training in the desert of
-Scetis, a man of ability and learning. He comes before us
-again as a fellow-sufferer with the Archbishop, to whom he
-had owed his elevation.</p>
-
-<p>Not long after the arrival of Chrysostom, Eusebius, the
-original persecutor of Antoninus and of the simoniacal
-bishops, appeared, and requested to be re-admitted to communion
-with his brethren. The request was not immediately
-granted; but it was determined to proceed with the trial of
-the accused bishops, to prove whose guilt Eusebius affirmed
-that he could produce abundant evidence. The witnesses
-were examined, and the crime being considered fully proven
-in the case of six bishops, the offenders were summoned into
-the presence of the council. At first they stoutly denied
-their guilt, but finally gave way before the minute and
-circumstantial depositions of lay, clerical, and even female
-witnesses as to the place, time, and quality of the purchases
-which they had transacted. They pleaded partly the pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span>valence
-of the custom in excuse for their crime, and partly
-their anxiety to be exempted from the burden of discharging
-curial duties; that is, from serving on the common and
-municipal council of their city. Every estate-holder to the
-amount of twenty-five acres of land was bound to serve in
-the curia of his city. Many of the functions incident to
-that office, such as the assessment and collection of imposts,
-were (especially under an ill-administered despotism) invidious
-and onerous. Constantine had exempted the clergy
-from curial office, and the consequence was that many men
-got themselves ordained simply to evade the disagreeable
-duty; and this becoming detrimental both to the Church
-and State, the law of Constantine underwent modifications
-by his successors. The Church passed canons forbidding
-those who were curiales to be ordained, the effect of which
-was to diminish the number of wealthy men who entered
-the ranks of the clergy.<a name="FNanchor_507_507" id="FNanchor_507_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_507_507" class="fnanchor">507</a> The Asiatic bishops, therefore, if
-curiales when ordained, had acted against the laws of the
-Church, and could not legally have claimed exemption from
-curial duties on the ground of their orders. They sued for
-mercy to the council; they entreated that, if deprived of
-their sees, the money which they had paid to obtain them
-might be returned. In many cases it had been procured
-with much difficulty; some had even parted with the furniture
-of their wives to raise the requisite amount. The
-Archbishop undertook to intercede with the Emperor for
-their exemption from curial duty; the ecclesiastical question
-he submitted to the council. The decision of the prelates,
-under the influence of their president, was temperate and
-wise. The six bishops were to be deprived of their sees, but
-allowed to receive the Eucharist inside the altar rails with
-the clergy, and the heirs of Antoninus were required to
-restore their purchase-money to them. The deposed prelates
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span>were superseded by the appointment of six men, unmarried,
-eminent for learning and purity of life.<a name="FNanchor_508_508" id="FNanchor_508_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_508_508" class="fnanchor">508</a></p>
-
-<p>On his return through Bithynia the Archbishop was
-detained by a not less difficult and delicate piece of business.
-Gerontius, Archbishop of Nicomedia, the metropolitan of
-Bithynia, was a singular specimen of an ecclesiastical
-adventurer. He had been a deacon at Milan, but was
-expelled by Ambrose for misconduct. He made his way to
-Constantinople, where, by general cleverness, and by some
-real or pretended skill in medicine, he became a favourite
-with people of rank, and through the interest of some influential
-friends obtained the See of Nicomedia. He was
-consecrated by Helladius, bishop of Heraclea, for whose son
-Gerontius had managed to procure a high appointment in
-the army. The new bishop of Nicomedia gained the attachment
-of his people, again it is said, through his skill in
-curing diseases of the body rather than of the soul. Ambrose
-incessantly demanded of Nectarius, then Patriarch of Constantinople,
-that he should be deposed; but Nectarius did
-not venture to incur the displeasure of the Nicomedians.
-The bolder spirit and more scrupulous conscience of Chrysostom
-did not hesitate to strike the blow which his more
-worldly and courtly predecessor had shrunk from striking.
-Gerontius was deposed, whether by the sole authority of the
-Archbishop, or by the decree of a council acting under his
-influence, is not stated. Pansophius, formerly tutor to the
-Empress, a man of piety, wisdom, and gentleness, was promoted
-to the see. But the Nicomedians bewailed the loss of
-their favourite; they went about the streets in procession,
-singing litanies, as if in the time of some great national
-calamity.<a name="FNanchor_509_509" id="FNanchor_509_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_509_509" class="fnanchor">509</a></p>
-
-<p>Before quitting Asia, Chrysostom is also said to have
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span>taken active measures for the suppression of the worship
-of Midas at Ephesus, and of Cybele in Phrygia.<a name="FNanchor_510_510" id="FNanchor_510_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510_510" class="fnanchor">510</a> All
-these proceedings are worth recording, not only as of
-some ecclesiastical interest in themselves, but also because
-they were all remembered and turned against him by his
-enemies. It has been much debated whether Chrysostom,
-by his acts in Asia, overstrained his legal powers, or rather,
-whether he exceeded the legal boundaries of his jurisdiction
-as Patriarch of Constantinople. The fact seems to be that
-the importance of his see was in that growing state which
-enabled the possessor of it, if a man of energy and ability, to
-go great lengths without any exception being taken to his
-authority, unless and until a hostile feeling was provoked
-against him. By the Council of Constantinople, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381,
-the Patriarch of that city was restricted in his jurisdiction to
-the diocese of Thrace.<a name="FNanchor_511_511" id="FNanchor_511_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511_511" class="fnanchor">511</a> His authority over the dioceses of
-Asia Minor and Pontus was not established till the Council
-of Chalcedon, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 451, when there was a long discussion on
-the subject, and the papal legates especially resisted any
-claim to such an extension; but it was affirmed that the
-Patriarchs had <em>long enjoyed</em> the privilege of ordaining metropolitans
-to the provinces of those dioceses, and so it was
-finally conveyed to them by that Council; and the additional
-right was granted them of hearing appeals from these
-metropolitans.<a name="FNanchor_512_512" id="FNanchor_512_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_512_512" class="fnanchor">512</a> Theodoret (c. 28) simply observes that the
-jurisdiction of Chrysostom extended not only over the six
-provinces of Thrace, but also over Asia and Pontus. The
-Council of Constantinople gave the bishop of that see the
-first rank after the Bishop of Rome, because Constantinople
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span>was “a new Rome.” The Council of Chalcedon declared
-him for the same reason to be invested with <em>equal</em> privileges.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom was welcomed, on his return to Constantinople,
-with hearty demonstrations of joy. On the following
-day he was at his post in the cathedral, and once more
-addressing his beloved flock. In somewhat rapturous language
-he expresses his thankfulness at learning that their
-fidelity to the Church, and their attachment to their spiritual
-father, had not been impaired by his absence, which had
-lasted more than a hundred days. They were disappointed
-that he had not returned in time to celebrate Easter with
-them. But he consoles them by representing that every
-participation of the Eucharist was a kind of Easter. “<em>As
-often</em> as ye eat this bread, ye do show forth the Lord’s death
-till He come.” “They were not tied to time and place like
-the Jew. Wherever and whenever the Christian celebrated
-that holy feast with joy and love, there was the true Paschal
-Festival.”<a name="FNanchor_513_513" id="FNanchor_513_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513_513" class="fnanchor">513</a> They regretted also that so many had been
-baptized by other hands than his. “What then? that does
-not impair the gift of God; <em>I</em> was not present when they
-were baptized, but <em>Christ</em> was present.” “In a document
-signed by the Emperor, the only question of importance is
-the autograph; the quality of the ink and paper matters not.
-Even so in baptism, the tongue and the hand of the priest
-are but as the paper and pen: the hand which writes is the
-Holy Spirit Himself.”<a name="FNanchor_514_514" id="FNanchor_514_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514_514" class="fnanchor">514</a></p>
-
-<p>The thankfulness and joy of Chrysostom at the affectionate
-reception with which he was greeted by the people were
-probably felt and expressed the more warmly, owing to some
-unpleasant accounts which had been forwarded to him by
-his deacon Serapion, that Severian, Bishop of Gabala, had
-been endeavouring to undermine his influence in his absence.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span>It will be remembered that to Severian Chrysostom had
-intrusted his episcopal duties during his visitation journey
-in Asia. The circumstance of a bishop of Syria residing for
-so long a time in Constantinople is worth considering, and
-affords a curious insight into the character of the times.
-Antiochus, Bishop of Ptolemais in Phœnicia, had a reputation
-as a learned and eloquent man; he paid a visit to Constantinople,
-and excited much admiration by his discourses.
-Severian, hearing of his success, was animated by a spirit of
-emulation, if not envy, which could not be satisfied till he
-had exhibited his powers on the same theatre. He carefully
-composed a large stock of sermons, and set out to try his
-fortune in the capital. The unsuspicious and generous
-Archbishop received him cordially, and frequently invited
-him to preach. Severian possessed some powers of speaking,
-though he had a harsh provincial accent, and he exerted all
-his eloquence in the church, and all his arts of flattery out
-of it, to win the confidence and admiration, not only of the
-Archbishop, but also of the chief personages at court, and
-even the Emperor and Empress. It was with their full
-approval that he remained as deputy of the Archbishop
-during his sojourn in Asia. But he found himself narrowly
-and suspiciously watched by the Archdeacon Serapion, who
-opposed some of his proceedings as arbitrary, and made no
-concealment of his dislike. One day after the return of
-Chrysostom, Severian passed through an apartment of the
-episcopal palace where Serapion was sitting. Serapion rose
-not to make the customary salutation of respect. Severian,
-irritated by his discourtesy, exclaimed in a loud voice: “If
-Serapion dies a Christian, then Jesus Christ was not incarnate.”
-The last clause only of the sentence was repeated by
-Serapion to Chrysostom. It was corroborated by witnesses;
-the indignation of the Archbishop was excited. Severian
-was peremptorily commanded to quit the city. The Empress
-resented the expulsion of a favourite preacher, and com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span>manded
-the Archbishop to recall him. Chrysostom yielded
-so far, but was inflexible in his refusal to admit the offender
-to communion, till Eudoxia came in person to the Church of
-the Apostles, placed her infant son Theodosius on his knees,
-and conjured him by solemn oaths to listen to her request.
-The Archbishop then, but with some reluctance, consented.<a name="FNanchor_515_515" id="FNanchor_515_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_515_515" class="fnanchor">515</a>
-He was, however, thoroughly honest in doing that to which
-he had once made up his mind. Fearing that his congregation,
-in their zealous attachment to him, might disapprove of
-the reconciliation, he delivered a short address on the subject.
-He was their spiritual father, and he trusted therefore they
-would extend to him the respect and obedience of affectionate
-and dutiful children. He came to them with the most
-appropriate message that could be delivered by the mouth of
-a bishop—a message of peace and love. There was also a
-further duty incumbent on all—respectful submission to the
-civil powers. If the apostle Paul said, “Be subject to
-principalities and powers” (Tit. iii. 1), how especially was this
-precept incumbent on the subjects of a religious sovereign
-who laboured for the good of the Church? He besought them
-to receive Severian with a full heart and with open arms.
-The request was received by the congregation with expressions
-of approbation. He thanked them for their obedience,
-and concluded with a prayer that God would grant a fixed
-and lasting peace to His Church.</p>
-
-<p>Severian addressed them the next day in a rhetorical and
-artificial discourse on the beauty and blessings of peace—a
-subject painfully incongruous with the subsequent conduct
-of the speaker; for this misunderstanding with the Bishop of
-Gabala was the first muttering of the storm which was soon
-to burst over the head of the doomed Archbishop.<a name="FNanchor_516_516" id="FNanchor_516_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_516_516" class="fnanchor">516</a></p>
-
-<p>The inevitable fate of one who attempts to reform a deeply
-corrupt society, and a secularised clergy, on an ascetic model
-befell Chrysostom. He lashed with almost equal severity
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span>the most unpardonable crimes and the more venial foibles
-and follies of the age. His denunciations of heartless
-rapacity, sensuality, luxury, addiction to debasing and
-immoral amusements, might have been borne; but he presumed—an
-intolerable offence!—to censure the fashionable
-ladies for setting off their complexions with paint, and surmounting
-their heads with piles of false hair. The clergy,
-too, might have tolerated his condemnation of the grosser
-offences, such as simony or concubinage, but they resented
-his restraint of their indulgence in the pleasures of society,
-and of their propensity to frequent the entertainments of the
-noble and wealthy. He was, as Palladius expresses it, “like
-a lamp burning before sore eyes,” for what he bade others
-be, that he was pre-eminently himself.<a name="FNanchor_517_517" id="FNanchor_517_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517_517" class="fnanchor">517</a> None could say that
-he was one man in the pulpit and another out of it. To set
-an example to his worldly clergy, and to avoid contamination,
-he gave up his episcopal income, save what sufficed to
-supply his simple daily wants. He resolutely abstained from
-mingling in general society, and ate his frugal meals in the
-seclusion of his own apartment. Thus, with the exception
-of a few deeply attached friends, who measured practical
-Christianity by the same standard as himself, he became
-deeply unpopular among the upper ranks of society. With
-the poor it was otherwise; they regarded him as a kind of
-champion, because he denounced the oppressions and extortions
-of the rich, and the tyranny of masters over slaves,
-and because he was ever inculcating the duty of almsgiving.
-In the eyes of his friends he was the saint, pure in life, severe
-in discipline, sublime in doctrine; in the eyes of his enemies
-he was the sacerdotal tyrant, odious to the clergy as an
-inexorable enforcer of a rule of life intolerably rigid, odious
-to clergy and laity as an inhospitable, if not haughty recluse;
-a vigilant and merciless censor who rode roughshod over
-established customs. Individuals at last, among clergy and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span>laity, who conceived that they themselves, or at any rate
-the section of society to which they belonged, were the butts
-at which more especially the Archbishop aimed his shafts,
-began to discuss their grievances, till their conferences
-gradually assumed the shape of positive organised hostility
-against the disturber of their peace. But before entering on
-the troublous history of his enemies’ machinations, it may
-be well to take a glance at the most conspicuous of Chrysostom’s
-friends.</p>
-
-<p>The list of those who are known to us by more than their
-mere names is soon exhausted. Among the clergy may be
-reckoned Heracleides, made Bishop of Ephesus in the place
-of Antoninus; Proclus, afterwards (in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 434) Patriarch
-of Constantinople, at present the receiver of those who
-demanded audiences with the Patriarch; Cassianus, founder
-of the Monastery of St. Victor at Marseilles, and his friend
-and companion Germanus; Helladius, the priest of the
-palace, probably equivalent to private chaplain; Serapion,
-the deacon<a name="FNanchor_518_518" id="FNanchor_518_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518_518" class="fnanchor">518</a> or archdeacon,<a name="FNanchor_519_519" id="FNanchor_519_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519_519" class="fnanchor">519</a> afterwards made Bishop of
-Heraclea in Thrace, from which see he was expelled in the
-persecution which befell Chrysostom’s followers. With
-most of these men he maintained a constant and affectionate
-intercourse or correspondence during his exile to the close
-of his life. With such intimate companions and friends the
-austerity and reserve of manner which he assumed towards
-those outside this circle vanished. All the natural amiability
-and playful humour of his disposition shone out when he
-was in their company; he called some of them by nicknames
-of his own invention, especially those who practised such
-ascetic exercises as he specially approved.<a name="FNanchor_520_520" id="FNanchor_520_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520_520" class="fnanchor">520</a></p>
-
-<p>Three ladies are distinguished as among his most faithful
-friends. Salvina was the daughter of the African rebel
-Gildo, and had been married by Theodosius to Nebridius,
-nephew of his Empress, in the hope—a vain one as it proved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span>—that
-this tie would attach Gildo to the Empire. Her
-husband died young; she vowed perpetual widowhood, and
-became the patroness and protectress at the court of Arcadius
-of oriental churches and ecclesiastics.</p>
-
-<p>Pentadia was wife of the consul Timasius; and when her
-husband was banished by Eutropius to the Oasis of Egypt,
-she had been persecuted by the merciless tyrant, and fled
-for refuge to the Church, where she was protected in
-sanctuary by the Archbishop in spite of the opposition of
-her persecutor.</p>
-
-<p>But by far the most eminent of Chrysostom’s female
-friends was the deaconess Olympias. She sprang from a
-noble but Pagan family. Her grandfather, Ablavius, was a
-prætorian prefect, highly esteemed and trusted by Constantine
-the Great, and her father, Seleucus, had attained the
-rank of count. She was early left an orphan, endowed with
-great personal beauty, and heiress to a vast fortune. Her
-uncle and guardian, Procopius, was a man of probity and
-piety, a friend and correspondent of Gregory Nazianzenus.
-Her instructress also, Theodosia, sister of St. Amphilocius,
-was a woman of piety; one whom Gregory recommended
-Olympias to imitate as a very model of excellence in speech
-and conduct. Under this happy training, the girl grew
-up to emulate and surpass her preceptress in goodness.
-Gregory delighted to call her “his own Olympias,” and to
-be called “father” by her.<a name="FNanchor_521_521" id="FNanchor_521_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_521_521" class="fnanchor">521</a> There could be no difficulty in
-finding a suitor for a lady possessed of every attraction.
-The anxiety of Procopius was to secure a worthy one.
-Nebridius was selected; a young man, but high in official
-rank; Count or Intendant of the Domain in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 382, Prefect
-of Constantinople in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 386. They were wedded in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-384. Many bishops assisted at the ceremony, but Gregory
-was prevented from attending by the state of his health.
-He wrote a letter to Procopius, saying that in spirit, never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span>theless,
-he would join their hands to one another and to
-God. Part of the letter is written in a vein of sprightly
-humour. “It would have been very unbecoming for a gouty
-old fellow like himself to be seen hobbling about among the
-dancers and merry-makers at the nuptials.”<a name="FNanchor_522_522" id="FNanchor_522_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522_522" class="fnanchor">522</a> He also
-addressed a poem to Olympias, in which he gives her advice
-how she ought to conduct herself as a married woman. She
-did not long need his counsel. Nebridius died about two
-years after their marriage. Olympias regarded this early
-dissolution of the marriage-bond as an intimation of the
-Divine will that she should henceforth live free from the
-worldly entanglements and cares incident to married life.
-The Emperor Theodosius desired to unite her to a Spaniard
-named Elpidius, a kinsman of his own, but she steadfastly
-refused. The Emperor acted in that despotic manner which
-occasionally marred his usually generous character. He
-ordered the property of Olympias to be confiscated till she
-should be thirty years of age; she was even denied freedom
-of intercourse with her episcopal friends, and of access to
-the Church. But she only thanked the Emperor for those
-deprivations, which were intended to make her hanker after
-worldly life. “You have exercised towards your humble
-handmaiden a virtue becoming a monarch and suitable even
-to a bishop; you have directed what was to me a heavy
-burden, and the distribution of it an anxiety, to be kept in
-safe custody. You could not have conferred a greater
-blessing upon me, unless you had ordered it to be bestowed
-upon the churches and the poor.” The Emperor was softened;
-at any rate he perceived the uselessness, if not the injustice,
-of his treatment. He cancelled the order for the confiscation
-of her property, and left her in the undisturbed enjoyment
-of single life and of her possessions. Henceforward her
-time and wealth were devoted to the interests of the Church.
-She was the friend, entertainer, adviser of many of the most
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span>eminent ecclesiastics of the day; the liberal patroness of
-their works in Greece, Asia, Syria, not only by donations of
-money but even of landed property. We may not admire
-what was regarded in those days as among the most admirable
-traits of saintliness, a total disregard to personal neatness
-and cleanliness; but we can admire her frugal living, and
-entire devotion of her time to ministering to the wants of
-the sick, the needy, and the ignorant. Her too indiscriminate
-liberality was restrained by Chrysostom, who represented to
-her that, as her wealth was a trust committed to her by God,
-she ought to be prudent in the distribution of it. This
-salutary advice procured for him the ill-will of many
-avaricious bishops and clergy, who had profited, or hoped
-to profit, by her wealth.<a name="FNanchor_523_523" id="FNanchor_523_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_523_523" class="fnanchor">523</a> She, on her side, repaid the Archbishop
-for his spiritual care by many little feminine attentions
-to his bodily wants, especially by seeing that he was
-supplied with wholesome food, and did not overstrain his
-feeble constitution by a too rigid abstinence.<a name="FNanchor_524_524" id="FNanchor_524_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524_524" class="fnanchor">524</a></p>
-
-<p>The leaders of the faction hostile to Chrysostom among
-the clergy were the two bishops already mentioned—Severian
-of Gabala and Antiochus of Ptolemais. To these was added
-a third in the person of Acacius, Bishop of Berœa. He had,
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 401 or <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 402, paid a visit to Constantinople, and,
-in a fit of rage at what he considered the mean lodging and
-inhospitable entertainment of the Archbishop, had coarsely
-exclaimed, in the hearing of some of the clergy, “I’ll season
-a dainty dish for him.”<a name="FNanchor_525_525" id="FNanchor_525_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_525_525" class="fnanchor">525</a> The ladies who acquired a melancholy
-pre-eminence among the enemies of the Archbishop
-were the intimate friends of the Empress, already mentioned—Marsa,
-widow of Promotus, the consul whom Rufinus
-murdered; Castricia, wife of the consul Saturninus; and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span>Eugraphia, a wealthy widow,—all rich women “who used
-<em>for</em> evil the wealth which their husbands had <em>through</em>
-evil obtained.” Proud, intriguing, licentious, they were all
-exasperated against the Archbishop for the censure which
-he had unsparingly pronounced upon their moral conduct, as
-well as their vain and extravagant display in dress. The
-house of Eugraphia became the rendezvous of all clergy
-and monks, as well as laity, who were disaffected to him.
-Among the clergy was Atticus, who was obtruded on the
-see as Archbishop after the banishment of Chrysostom.
-This worthy cabal collected, and disseminated with praiseworthy
-industry, whatever tales could damage the character
-and influence of the Archbishop. His real failings were
-exaggerated, others were invented, and his language misrepresented.
-He was irascible, inhospitable, uncourteous,
-parsimonious; he had unmercifully assailed Eutropius with
-harsh language when he fled for refuge to the Church; he
-had behaved disrespectfully to Gaïnas when he was “magister
-militum;” but, worse than all, he had audaciously attacked
-the Augusta herself, and had insulted her sacred majesty by
-indicating her under the name of Jezebel. This is scarcely
-credible in itself, and is distinctly contradicted by the most
-trustworthy authorities; but it is stated that he had reproved
-the Empress for appropriating with harshness, if not
-violence, a piece of land; and of course the blows which he
-directed against inordinate luxury, unseemly parade of dress
-and the like, fell heavily upon the most prominent leader in
-these follies. She was probably mortified also to find that
-her display of religious zeal, her pious attendance on the
-services of the Church, her pilgrimages, her really liberal
-donations to good works, did not protect her from censure in
-other things. Chrysostom was not one of those who would
-connive at evil for the benefit, as some might have represented
-it, of the Church. He would not sacrifice what he
-believed to be the interests of morality, for the supposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span>
-advantage either of himself or of the Church over which he
-ruled. Wrong was wrong and must be rebuked, though
-the actor was the Empress herself, though that Empress
-was inclined to be the benefactress and patroness of the
-Church, and though she might become, as she <em>did</em> become,
-his implacable foe.</p>
-
-<p>The clergy only needed an equally potent leader on their
-side, and then the organisation of the hostile forces would
-be complete. Such a chief was to be found in the Patriarch
-of Alexandria, Theophilus, who had already displayed a
-malignant spirit at the ordination of the Archbishop, though
-intimidated by Eutropius into submission. He was only
-waiting his opportunity for revenge, which a concurrence of
-circumstances now put into his hands.</p>
-
-<p>After making the most of such charges as gossip, aided
-by malice, could manufacture at Constantinople, the enemy
-employed one of the party, a despicable Syrian monk named
-Isaac, to make a scrutinising inquiry at Antioch into the
-previous life of Chrysostom. A youth passed in such a
-licentious and voluptuous city could not fail, they thought,
-to betray some stains if submitted to a rigorous inspection.
-But their malevolent expectations were disappointed, for
-their miserable spy could bring back nothing but unmixed
-praise of an immaculate youth and a pious manhood.<a name="FNanchor_526_526" id="FNanchor_526_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_526_526" class="fnanchor">526</a></p>
-
-<p>At this juncture the intriguers applied to Theophilus, and
-they could not have secured a more willing and able director
-of their plans. The character of this prelate, and his prominent
-position in the final events of Chrysostom’s career,
-demand some notice. Of his family and early life little is
-known. He had a sister who sympathised with him in his
-ambitious schemes; and Cyril, who succeeded him in the
-patriarchate, and too largely inherited his spirit, was his
-nephew. He spent a portion of his younger manhood as a
-recluse in the Nitrian desert, where he became familiar with
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span>the most eminent anchorites of that period, Elurion, Ammon,
-Isidore, and Macarius. He was secretary to Athanasius,
-and a presbyter of Alexandria under Peter, his successor;
-and, on the death of Timothy in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 385, who succeeded
-Peter, he was elevated to the see. All historians concur in
-admitting that he possessed great ability; that he was capable
-of conceiving great projects, and executing them with
-courage and address. Jerome has described him as deeply
-skilled in science, especially mathematics and astrology, and
-highly praises his eloquence.<a name="FNanchor_527_527" id="FNanchor_527_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527_527" class="fnanchor">527</a> He had a passion for building,
-and his episcopate was distinguished equally by the destruction
-of Pagan temples and the erection of Christian
-churches. The most splendid of these were the church of
-St. John the Baptist at Alexandria, and another at Canopus.
-But to gratify this expensive taste he was grasping of money,
-too often to the neglect of those indigent people who were
-dependent on the alms of the Church. He combined his
-efforts with Chrysostom’s, as has been already related, in
-healing the schism of Antioch in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 399, after which little
-is known of his history, till he becomes Chrysostom’s implacable
-and too successful foe.<a name="FNanchor_528_528" id="FNanchor_528_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_528_528" class="fnanchor">528</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED TO THE INTERFERENCE OF THEOPHILUS
-WITH THE AFFAIRS OF CHRYSOSTOM—CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE
-WRITINGS OF ORIGEN—PERSECUTION BY THEOPHILUS OF THE MONKS
-CALLED “THE TALL BRETHREN”—THEIR FLIGHT TO PALESTINE—TO
-CONSTANTINOPLE—THEIR RECEPTION BY CHRYSOSTOM—THEOPHILUS
-SUMMONED TO CONSTANTINOPLE. A.D. 395-403.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">In</span> tracing to its starting-point the interference of Theophilus
-with the affairs of Chrysostom, we have to unravel a
-curious and tangled skein of controversy. The doctrines of
-Origen were as much an occasion of strife a hundred and
-fifty years after his death, as he himself had been during his
-life. With one hand holding on to the philosophy of the
-past, and with the other firmly grasping the Christianity of
-the present, he was persecuted by Pagans, yet never universally
-accepted and cordially trusted by the Church.<a name="FNanchor_529_529" id="FNanchor_529_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_529_529" class="fnanchor">529</a> So
-with his system of doctrine; it became a sort of debatable
-ground for the possession of which contending parties
-strove. The prize was worth the struggle; for the genius
-of Origen could not be questioned, but the quantity of
-his writings being enormous,<a name="FNanchor_530_530" id="FNanchor_530_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_530_530" class="fnanchor">530</a> and the range of his doctrine
-wide and many-sided, narrow-minded partisans, grasping
-only a part of it, condemned or extolled him unfairly
-on a single issue. The mystical element in his teaching
-was carried by some of his admirers to extremes
-of fanciful, allegorical, interpretation of Scripture, such
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span>as he himself would never have devised or approved.
-To others of a more prosaic, material cast of thought
-this same mystical vein was repugnant, and was denounced
-by them with characteristic coarseness. Men of larger
-minds, who had patience to peruse his voluminous works,
-and ability to criticise them, admired his genius, recognised
-his great services to Christianity, heartily embraced much of
-his teaching, questioned some portions, and rejected others.
-Such were Gregory Nazianzenus, Basil, Chrysostom, and
-Jerome, who would never have been so great as writers, or
-commentators, had they not been students of Origen. As a
-general statement, it may be true to say that he was less
-acceptable to the colder, more practical, more realistic mind
-of the Western Church, than to the lively imagination and
-speculative spirit of Oriental churchmen. The most controverted
-points, indeed, in his system were of a kind with
-which the Western mind did not naturally concern itself.
-The pre-existence of souls; their entrance into human bodies
-after the fall as the punishment of sin; their emancipation
-from the flesh in the resurrection; the ultimate salvation of
-all spirits, including Satan himself,—these are questions
-singularly congenial to Oriental, singularly alien from
-Western, thought. The Origenistic controversy fell into
-abeyance before the engrossing interest and importance of
-the Arian contest; but when that wave had spent itself, it
-revived, and just at this period all the greatest names of the
-day became engaged on one side or the other. As usual,
-the real questions at issue were too often forgotten amidst
-the personal jealousies, intrigues, angry recriminations to
-which the discussion of them gave birth.</p>
-
-<p>In spite of his doubtful orthodoxy, the Egyptian Church
-could not fail to be proud of so distinguished a son as
-Origen, and Theophilus was at first his earnest defender.
-Some of the more illiterate Egyptian monks had recoiled
-from Origen’s highly spiritual conception of the Deity into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span>
-an opposite extreme. Interpreting literally those passages
-of Scripture where God is spoken of as if possessing human
-emotions and corporeal parts, they altogether humanised His
-nature; they conceived of Him as a Being <em>not</em> “without body,
-parts, or passions;” they obtained, in consequence, the
-designation of “Anthropomorphites.” Against this humanising,
-material conception Theophilus, in a paschal letter,
-directed argument and proof.<a name="FNanchor_531_531" id="FNanchor_531_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_531_531" class="fnanchor">531</a> It was received by many of
-the monks with dismay, sorrow, and resistance. Serapion,
-one of the most aged, burst into tears when informed that
-the mind of the Eastern Church concurred, on the whole,
-with the doctrine of Theophilus, and exclaimed, “My God
-is taken away, and I know not what to worship.”<a name="FNanchor_532_532" id="FNanchor_532_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_532_532" class="fnanchor">532</a></p>
-
-<p>Rufinus, a monk of Aquileia, and for a time the ardent
-friend of Jerome, was, during a visit to Egypt, initiated by
-Theophilus into the doctrines of Origen, conceived a warm
-admiration for them, extolled him as the light of the Gospel
-next to the Apostles, and imparted some of his own enthusiasm
-to John, bishop of Jerusalem, whom he soon afterwards
-visited. Jerome fully appreciated the merits of
-Origen, though his larger mind and more extensive knowledge
-were not blind to his defects.</p>
-
-<p>Such were the amicable relations between the leading
-churchmen of the East in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 395, when a visitor from the
-West threw among them the apple of discord. This was
-Aterbius, a pilgrim, who had a reputation as a subtle theologian,
-and appears, immediately on his arrival in Jerusalem,
-to have applied himself to the business of detecting heresy.
-He entered into friendly intercourse for a short time with
-the bishop and Rufinus, and then suddenly included Jerome
-with them both in a public denunciation as Origenists, and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span>declared the whole diocese of Jerusalem to be infected with
-that heresy. Jerome immediately and indignantly repudiated
-the charge; he declared that he was not an Origenist, for
-that he merely read the works of Origen with reservations,
-as he might those of a heretic.<a name="FNanchor_533_533" id="FNanchor_533_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_533_533" class="fnanchor">533</a> Rufinus would not condescend
-to make any defence, oral or written, but shut
-himself up in his cloister in sullen silence till Aterbius had
-quitted Jerusalem, fearing, so Jerome affirms, to condemn
-what he really approved, or to incur the reproach of heresy
-by an open resistance.<a name="FNanchor_534_534" id="FNanchor_534_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_534_534" class="fnanchor">534</a> John of Jerusalem was equally
-indignant at the accusation, but displeased with Jerome for
-publicly exculpating himself independently of his bishop.
-In fact, the episcopal pride of the Bishop of Jerusalem was
-severely wounded at this time, both by the pre-eminence of
-the metropolitan see of Cæsarea,<a name="FNanchor_535_535" id="FNanchor_535_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_535_535" class="fnanchor">535</a> and by the reputation
-of Jerome’s monastic establishment at Bethlehem, which
-attracted visitors from all parts of Christendom.</p>
-
-<p>When the minds of all were thus ruffled, a second and far
-more mischievous visitor arrived in the person of Epiphanius,
-the octogenarian Bishop of Constantia, Metropolitan of
-Cyprus. He was one of those men who, joining some
-erudition and a high reputation for rigid orthodoxy to a
-narrow mind and impulsive temper, figure prominently in
-theological warfare as the very personifications of discord.
-Shocked at the intelligence of the heretical tendency in
-Palestine, and vexed that it should have been detected by a
-stranger rather than by himself, who was a native of Palestine,
-and the visitor of a monastery between Jerusalem and
-Hebron, he lost not a moment in setting out for the Holy
-City. He accepted the hospitality of the Bishop John, and
-spent the evening in all amity with him, nor was the
-obnoxious subject of dispute mentioned between them.<a name="FNanchor_536_536" id="FNanchor_536_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_536_536" class="fnanchor">536</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span></p>
-
-<p>A strange scene took place on the following day.</p>
-
-<p>In the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the presence of
-a large congregation, Epiphanius fulminated a discourse
-against Origen, his doctrines, and all who favoured them.
-Bishop John and his clergy expressed their contempt by
-grimaces, sneers, and impatient scratchings of their heads.
-At last an archdeacon stepped forward, and required
-Epiphanius, in the name of the bishop, to desist from his
-discourse. The assembly was dissolved, but met again in
-the afternoon, largely augmented, in the church of the Holy
-Cross. This time Bishop John discoursed, and denounced
-the Anthropomorphites, or Humanisers, under which opprobrious
-name the partisans of Origen endeavoured to include
-all their opponents. Pale and trembling, and in a voice
-quivering with passion, the bishop directed his discourse,
-and turned his body, towards Epiphanius, who sat motionless
-in his chair. The invective being concluded, the aged
-Bishop of Constantia rose and pronounced these words with
-solemn deliberation: “All that John, my brother in the
-priesthood, my son in age, has just said against the heresy
-of the Anthropomorphites I thoroughly approve; and as we
-both condemn that absurd belief, it is only just that we
-should both denounce the errors of Origen.”<a name="FNanchor_537_537" id="FNanchor_537_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_537_537" class="fnanchor">537</a> A general
-laugh and acclamation on the part of the assembly proclaimed
-their sense of this speech as a successful hit. John
-made one more effort to right himself. He preached again
-in the church of the Holy Cross, this time on the chief
-verities of the faith, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement,
-the condition of souls before and after this life. It
-was intended to be a grand and convincing display of his
-orthodoxy, and at the moment Epiphanius expressed even
-approbation. On subsequent reflection, however, the aged
-critic thought he discovered that it teemed with error. He
-abruptly quitted Jerusalem, repaired to Bethlehem, resisted
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span>the solicitation of Jerome and his friends to be reconciled,
-and addressed a circular letter to all the monasteries of
-Palestine, requiring them to break off communion with the
-Bishop of Jerusalem.</p>
-
-<p>Rufinus ranged himself immediately on the side of Bishop
-John; but Jerome, though with somewhat balanced feelings,
-sided on the whole with Epiphanius. Then the pent-up
-jealousy of John towards the monasteries of Bethlehem burst
-forth; they were placed under interdict, and the church of
-the Holy Manger closed against them. They were in despair
-for want of a priest to celebrate the Eucharist; but Epiphanius
-provided one through a forcible ordination. The
-young Paulinian had always steadfastly declined holy orders,
-though considered eminently qualified by his learning and
-virtue. He was now on a visit to the monastery of Epiphanius,
-near Eleutheropolis. When Epiphanius was celebrating
-the Eucharist, the young man was seized by the
-deacons, dragged to the steps of the altar, and there made to
-kneel. Epiphanius approached, cut off some of his hair,
-ordained him deacon, and obliged him to assist in the celebration
-on the spot. At a fresh sign from the bishop he
-was a second time seized, gagged to prevent his adjuring the
-bishop in the name of Jesus Christ, and when he rose from
-his knees he was declared to be a priest.<a name="FNanchor_538_538" id="FNanchor_538_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_538_538" class="fnanchor">538</a> The joy which
-filled the monasteries of Bethlehem was only to be equalled
-by the indignation of their opponents at Jerusalem. John
-actually applied (not without money, it is said) to Rufinus
-at Constantinople, then Prætorian Prefect, and even procured
-a decree of banishment against Jerome;<a name="FNanchor_539_539" id="FNanchor_539_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_539_539" class="fnanchor">539</a> but, the
-murder of Rufinus taking place soon afterwards, the governor
-of Cæsarea evaded the execution of the decree. Jerome
-retaliated by one of those fierce, nervous philippics which
-exhibit more command of language than of temper. The
-governor of Palestine made a praiseworthy but ineffectual
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span>effort to bring about a reconciliation. John had determined
-to invite an arbitrator, from whom he expected a strong
-partiality for his own cause. He appealed to Theophilus,
-from whom Rufinus, the monk, had derived his first
-acquaintance with Origen. Jerome indignantly complained
-of this invocation of a foreign jurisdiction. Was not Cæsarea
-the metropolitan see of Palestine? why this contempt of
-ecclesiastical law?<a name="FNanchor_540_540" id="FNanchor_540_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_540_540" class="fnanchor">540</a> Theophilus, however, had no scruples in
-accepting the appeal. It was just one of those recognitions
-of pre-eminence which the Patriarch of Alexandria, like
-the Bishops of Rome, joyfully welcomed. The gratification
-of ambition was pleasantly disguised from others, and perhaps
-from themselves, under the semblance of peacemaking.
-Theophilus despatched Isidore as his legate to Palestine.
-His arrival was preceded by two letters, one intended for
-the Bishop of Jerusalem, the other for Vincentius, the presbyter
-and friend of Jerome at Bethlehem.</p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately the letter intended for the bishop was
-delivered to Vincentius, and he and Jerome read with indignation
-assurances of sympathy and friendship towards John,
-and expressions of contempt for Jerome and his party, the
-language, in short, of an accomplice rather than of an arbitrator.
-It set forth in flowery oriental terms the confidence
-of the legate in the success of his mission; “as smoke
-disperses in the air, as wax melts before the fire, so will
-these enemies, who always resist the faith, and seek to disturb
-it now, by means of simple ignorant men be dispersed
-on my arrival.”<a name="FNanchor_541_541" id="FNanchor_541_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_541_541" class="fnanchor">541</a> The legate took up his abode at Jerusalem,
-and spent his time in familiar intercourse with the bishop
-and Rufinus. To Bethlehem he paid occasional visits, where
-he conducted himself with dictatorial haughtiness. Jerome
-and the monks plainly perceived that the so-called arbitrator
-was committed to one side—which was not theirs.</p>
-
-<p>But on a sudden, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 398, the Patriarch wheeled
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span>round; he discovered that he had been in error. “The
-writings of Origen were fraught with danger to the unlearned,
-however profitable to philosophic minds.” Such
-was the reason alleged for this sudden revulsion of opinion.
-The real reasons appear to have been of a less calm and
-philosophic character. One of the most distinguished presbyters
-in Alexandria at this time was Isidore, an octogenarian.
-His youth had been spent in pious seclusion,
-among the monks of Scetis and Nitria, and his piety had
-attracted the notice of Athanasius, whom he accompanied to
-Rome in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 341, and by whom he was afterwards ordained
-priest. He became the Hospitaller of the Church in Alexandria,
-whose duty it was to attend to the reception of
-Christian visitors. In spite of great personal austerity, he
-was, as became his position, gentle and amiable to all men,
-even Pagans, when brought into contact with them. In
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 398, at the age of eighty, he had been employed to carry
-to Rome the recognition by Theophilus of Flavian as bishop
-of Antioch; and now, in the extremity of age, he was
-destined to become the first victim of a persecution by
-Theophilus, which, beginning with him, culminated in the
-deposition and exile of Chrysostom.<a name="FNanchor_542_542" id="FNanchor_542_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_542_542" class="fnanchor">542</a></p>
-
-<p>An opulent widow committed to Isidore a large sum of
-money to be expended on clothing for the poor of Alexandria,
-and adjured him by a solemn oath to conceal the trust from
-Theophilus, lest the Patriarch’s well-known cupidity should
-be tempted to appropriate the money to aid his grand
-operations in building. The precaution, however, was vain:
-nothing said or done in his diocese could escape the vigilance
-of informers in the employ of Theophilus. Isidore
-was questioned by the Patriarch concerning the charitable
-gift, and required to place the money at his disposal; but
-the hospitaller refused, and boldly maintained that it would
-be better bestowed on the bodies of the sick and poor, which
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span>were the temples of God, than on the erection of buildings.
-The Patriarch was astounded at the temerity of his disobedience,
-but dissembled for the moment the depth of
-his resentment. Two months later, in a convocation of the
-clergy, he produced a paper containing the charge of a
-horrible and unmentionable crime against Isidore, which the
-Patriarch said he had received eighteen years ago, but had
-been unable to prove from the absence of the principal
-witness. The whole charge turned out to be a baseless
-fabrication; but Isidore was ejected from the priesthood
-by the contrivance of Theophilus.<a name="FNanchor_543_543" id="FNanchor_543_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_543_543" class="fnanchor">543</a></p>
-
-<p>The aged hospitaller fled to the peaceful retreat of his
-earlier days, the desert of Nitria. The most distinguished
-of the monks in this seclusion were four brothers—Ammon,
-Dioscorus, Eusebius, and Euthymius—eminent alike for their
-piety and the height of their stature, whence they were
-known by the name of the “tall brethren.” They were venerated
-as the fathers of the Nitrian monks. Theophilus had
-in former times professed the highest admiration and respect
-for their virtues. He had made the eldest, Dioscorus, bishop
-of Hermopolis, and had persuaded, if not compelled, Eusebius
-and Euthymius, much against their will, to be presbyters in
-Alexandria.<a name="FNanchor_544_544" id="FNanchor_544_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_544_544" class="fnanchor">544</a> Their simple piety was so much shocked by
-the avarice and other failings of the Patriarch, that they
-implored him to release them from clerical duties and
-restore them to the freedom of the desert. When Theophilus
-discovered their real reason for requesting this permission he
-was furious, and tried to intimidate them into submission
-by fierce menaces, but in vain. They withdrew, and for a
-time the Patriarch was at a loss how to execute vengeance
-on men who had few possessions of any kind to be deprived
-of. But now the opportunity arrived. Isidore, the excommunicated
-hospitaller, had been sheltered in their friendly
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span>retreat. Theophilus devised a malignant plan for disturbing
-their peace. The “tall brethren” belonged to that more
-mystical order of monks which embraced Origen’s doctrine
-of a purely spiritual Deity, and were determined adversaries
-of the more sensuous and anthropomorphite school. Theophilus
-now scrupled not to declare himself in favour of the
-Anthropomorphites, whom he had formerly denounced. He
-encouraged the more coarse and ignorant to make violent
-and tumultuous assaults on the monastic retreat of Nitria,
-and, directed the bishops of the neighbourhood to eject
-several of the most distinguished monks, including Ammon.
-They repaired to Alexandria, sought an interview with
-Theophilus, requested to hear the cause of their ejection,
-and remonstrated on the treatment of Isidore. Theophilus
-burst into a violent rage, changed colour at every moment,
-glared on them with bloodshot eyes, dealt blows to Ammon
-on his face, and, while the blood trickled down, shouted,
-“Heretic, anathematise Origen.” One of the number was
-put in prison to intimidate the rest; but they all entered it
-voluntarily together, and refused to come out unless their
-companion also was released. This was at length permitted,
-but the design of persecution was followed up. The Patriarch’s
-paschal letter of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 401 is chiefly occupied with a
-condemnation of Origen and his disciples. He confesses,
-indeed, that he had himself at one time been cast into that
-fiery furnace of error, but, like the three children, he had
-come out unscathed; “not even his hair or garments had
-been singed.” He describes himself as having now returned
-from the land of captivity to the true Jerusalem; Origen
-and his doctrines are condemned with much heat; and a
-prominent place is assigned to him and all his disciples in
-the infernal regions.<a name="FNanchor_545_545" id="FNanchor_545_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_545_545" class="fnanchor">545</a></p>
-
-<p>But Theophilus was far from being contented to stop at
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span>this point. He convoked a synod of neighbouring bishops.
-The monks were not informed of it, nor invited to appear
-and make their defence. Three of the most eminent were
-excommunicated as heretics and magicians. It was in vain
-that the monks protested against the injustice of condemning
-Origen or his readers on the strength of a few passages
-only, and those, as they maintained, in many instances
-garbled or interpolated. A synodical letter was published,
-addressed to the Catholic world, reprobating the writings of
-Origen. It produced a profound sensation in Rome, where
-the Pope Anastasius anathematised Origen.<a name="FNanchor_546_546" id="FNanchor_546_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_546_546" class="fnanchor">546</a> But the humiliation
-of the Nitrian brethren was not yet complete. Five
-most insignificant monks, scarce worthy, according to Palladius,
-to discharge menial offices as lay brethren, were
-ordained by Theophilus, one to a bishopric, one to be priest,
-and the three others to be deacons. A small town was
-created a see, there being none vacant to receive the new
-bishop. With these tools the Patriarch could rapidly
-execute his designs. His creatures prepared, under his
-direction, a list of complaints and charges against the
-Nitrian monks, which they publicly presented to him in
-church. Armed with this, he had an interview with the
-governor of Egypt, and obtained from him an order for the
-forcible expulsion of insubordinate monks from the settlement
-at Nitria. With a troop of soldiers and a rabble of
-rascals, such as in all large towns are ready for the perpetration
-of any mischief, whom he had previously primed with
-drink, the Patriarch fell by night upon the monastic dwellings.
-Dioscorus was the first victim of his rage. He was
-one of the “tall brethren,” who had been compelled by
-Theophilus to become bishop of Hermopolis. He was now
-dragged before the Patriarch by some rude Ethiopian slaves,
-and told that he was deprived of his see. Diligent search
-was made for the three other brethren, but they were undis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span>coverably
-hidden in a well. The fury of the Patriarch
-expended itself principally upon inanimate objects; the
-dwellings of the monks were pillaged and burned, together
-with their valuable libraries, and, to the horror of the pious,
-even some of the Eucharistic elements<a name="FNanchor_547_547" id="FNanchor_547_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_547_547" class="fnanchor">547</a> were consumed in
-the general destruction.</p>
-
-<p>The havoc being completed, Theophilus returned to
-Alexandria. The terrified monks came out of their hiding-places,
-and, wrapping themselves in their sheepskins, their
-only remaining property, set out from their beloved solitudes
-to seek shelter and a new home elsewhere. Three hundred,
-following the “tall brethren,” took their journey towards
-Palestine; the rest dispersed in different directions. Not
-more than eighty arrived with the four brethren at Jerusalem,
-whence they shortly afterwards withdrew northwards
-to Scythopolis, a place eminently adapted to their wants by
-its situation in a well-watered valley rich in palm-trees, of
-which the leaves furnished materials for mats, baskets, and
-the other articles usually wrought by monkish labour.<a name="FNanchor_548_548" id="FNanchor_548_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_548_548" class="fnanchor">548</a> But
-distance did not diminish the malice of their persecutor.
-They were pursued by letters from Theophilus addressed to
-all the bishops of Palestine, who were admonished not to
-grant ecclesiastical communion or shelter to the heretical
-fugitives. Jerome mentions two commissioners who scoured
-Palestine, and left no hole or cave unexplored in the diligence
-of their search for the offenders.<a name="FNanchor_549_549" id="FNanchor_549_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_549_549" class="fnanchor">549</a> Thus hunted and
-harassed, the poor monks at length resolved to embark for
-Constantinople, throw themselves on the generosity of the
-Emperor and Archbishop, and submit their cause to their
-decision. They reached the capital, fifty in number; their
-foreign aspect, bare arms and knees, and primitive garb of
-white sheepskins, excited much curiosity and interest among
-the people of Constantinople. They repaired first of all
-to Chrysostom, in the hope that his authority would be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span>sufficient to procure them justice, without an application to
-the civil powers. The Archbishop received them with great
-kindness and respect, and shed tears of compassion when he
-heard the tale of their sufferings and wanderings. But he
-acted with caution; he consulted some Alexandrian clergy
-who were at this time in Constantinople engaged in distributing
-presents to conciliate, or, more properly speaking, to
-bribe, the favour of persons just appointed to civil offices in
-Egypt. They admitted the virtues and hard usage of the
-monks, but recommended him not to incur the displeasure
-of Theophilus by admitting them to communion. The monks
-were lodged in the precincts of the church of Anastasia;
-Olympias and other pious women attended to their wants,
-which were to some extent supplied by the produce of their
-own manual labour. They were admitted to prayer in the
-church, but excluded from the Eucharist until the merits of
-their cause should have been carefully sifted, and their
-excommunication revoked. Chrysostom, unsuspicious of
-others, in his own innocence, was sanguine of his power to
-obtain their restitution. He despatched a letter to Theophilus,
-in which he besought him in courteous and friendly
-terms to be reconciled with the fugitives, and thereby to
-confer a favour on himself, his spiritual son and brother.
-But no notice was taken of the request; and meanwhile the
-agents of Theophilus were busily employed at Constantinople
-in disseminating injurious tales about the monks—they were
-heretics, magicians, rebels.</p>
-
-<p>Throughout the rest of Christendom Theophilus pursued
-a different method. He toiled with diligence worthy of a
-better cause to obtain a wide condemnation of Origen and
-his works. Could he once secure such a general condemnation,
-and then prove Chrysostom and the monks to be at
-variance with it, he would possess a powerful engine in
-working the ruin of both. It is difficult to believe that
-even Theophilus would have pursued the monks with such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span>
-insatiable animosity had they not fled to the patriarch of
-that see which was regarded with peculiar jealousy by the
-bishops of Alexandria, and had not the present occupant
-of that see been elected in preference to the candidate put
-forward by himself. Thus he clutched at the opportunity
-of depressing his rival, and punishing his victims, the
-monks, at the same time.</p>
-
-<p>He found a faction hostile to the Archbishop already
-existing in Constantinople, and quite ready to submit the
-management of their interests to his skilful direction. The
-persecution of the monks was quickly dropped. Their supposed
-offence was only the handle by which to compass the
-destruction of a more formidable foe. Jerome contributed
-powerful aid to the designs of Theophilus by favourable
-notices of him in his letters, depreciating the conduct of the
-monks.<a name="FNanchor_550_550" id="FNanchor_550_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_550_550" class="fnanchor">550</a> But a more active auxiliary appeared in the
-Bishop of Constantia, whose advanced age seems never to
-have diminished the alacrity with which he entered the
-lists of controversy. Theophilus, in his Origenistic days,
-had attacked Epiphanius with some vehemence as an anthropomorphite;
-but he now wrote a letter to the bishop
-expressing regret for his former language, and his increasing
-conviction of the mischievous tendency of Origen’s doctrines.<a name="FNanchor_551_551" id="FNanchor_551_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_551_551" class="fnanchor">551</a>
-He implored his holy brother to convene a council of the
-bishops of Cyprus without delay, for the purpose of condemning
-the heretic, and of drawing up letters, announcing
-their decision, to be sent round to the principal sees, especially
-Constantinople, where the heretical and contumacious
-monks were harboured. Epiphanius flattered himself that
-he had converted the Patriarch, and was delighted to receive
-such a powerful accession to his side. The council was
-summoned, the condemnation carried, and the letters despatched.<a name="FNanchor_552_552" id="FNanchor_552_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_552_552" class="fnanchor">552</a>
-Theophilus himself, at the commencement of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span><span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 402, issued a paschal letter, which contained a subtle
-exposition and refutation of the Origenistic errors. The
-letter was translated, and highly commended, both for
-matter and expression, by Jerome.<a name="FNanchor_553_553" id="FNanchor_553_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_553_553" class="fnanchor">553</a></p>
-
-<p>To Chrysostom himself Theophilus wrote a sharp complaint
-of his protecting heretics, and violating the canon of
-Nice, which prohibited any bishop from exercising jurisdiction
-in matters relating to another see. The cause of the
-Nitrian monks, he asserted, could not be decided legally
-anywhere but in a council of Egyptian bishops. It will be
-borne in mind, however, that Chrysostom had carefully
-abstained from pronouncing any decision, through a council
-or otherwise, on the affair of the monks. They, indeed,
-became provoked with him that he did not espouse their
-cause more heartily. The agents of Theophilus were busily
-engaged in damaging their character; a little money easily
-persuaded the sailors and others employed in the Alexandrian
-corn trade to point at the monks in the streets as
-magicians and heretics. The monks declared to Chrysostom
-their resolution to appeal to the civil powers to obtain a formal
-prosecution of their accusers as base calumniators. Chrysostom
-remonstrated, and declined, if that step were taken, to
-mediate any more in their affair. Some of his enemies in
-Constantinople did not fail to represent this as a cruel
-desertion of those whom he had at first befriended.<a name="FNanchor_554_554" id="FNanchor_554_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_554_554" class="fnanchor">554</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus hostile forces were on all sides closing round the
-Archbishop, but he continued apparently unconscious of the
-snares which were being woven for him. The Origenistic
-controversy, into the vortex of which his enemies sought
-to drag him, possessed little interest for him. The more
-mystical, abstract speculations of Origen’s theology were
-alien from his practical sphere of work and practical habit
-of mind; and, in common with the other chief representatives
-of the Antiochene school, Diodorus and Theodore, he
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span>neither wholly embraced nor wholly rejected his system of
-doctrine. At any rate, he paid no attention to the letter
-from Cyprus, which requested him to join in the condemnation
-of Origen and his writings. This was precisely what
-his enemies wanted.</p>
-
-<p>The Nitrian monks, cast off by the Archbishop when
-they had announced their intention of appealing to secular
-authority, drew up documents filled with charges of the
-most flagrant crimes against their accusers and against
-Theophilus. They demanded that their calumniators in
-Constantinople should be immediately tried by the prefect,
-and that Theophilus should be summoned to defend his
-conduct before a council under the presidency of Chrysostom.
-One day, as the Empress was riding in her litter to
-worship in the church of St. John the Baptist at Hebdomon,
-she was accosted by some of those strange skin-clad beings
-of whom, and of whose wanderings and wrongs, she had
-heard much. She caused her litter to stop, bowed graciously
-to the monks, and implored the favour of their prayers for
-the Empire, the Emperor, herself, and her children. The
-monks presented their petition; Eudoxia courteously accepted
-it, and promised them that the council which they
-desired should be convened; that Theophilus should be
-summoned to attend it, and that the accusers now in Constantinople
-should either substantiate their charges, or suffer
-the penalties of calumnious defamation. This inquiry was
-immediately instituted; the poor culprits confessed that
-they had been paid agents of Theophilus, and that their
-accusations had been dictated by him. They therefore
-entreated that their trial might be deferred till his arrival.
-Meanwhile, however, they were put in prison, where one of
-them died; and as the arrival of Theophilus continued to
-be delayed, they were banished to Proconnesus for libel. An
-officer was despatched to Alexandria to serve Theophilus
-with a peremptory summons to appear at Constantinople,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span>
-and empowered to enforce his obedience, if he was reluctant.<a name="FNanchor_555_555" id="FNanchor_555_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_555_555" class="fnanchor">555</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus the preparations for a judicial investigation of the
-affair of the monks emanated not from Chrysostom, but
-from the throne, although he was represented by his enemies
-as the originator, and by Jerome he is styled a parricide
-for labouring to condemn Theophilus.<a name="FNanchor_556_556" id="FNanchor_556_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_556_556" class="fnanchor">556</a> Chrysostom seems,
-in fact, to have dismissed alike the business of the monks
-and the theological question of Origenism from his mind.
-Intent on edifying the Church, instead of agitating it by
-personal or polemical strife, he quietly pursued his daily
-routine of duties as chief pastor, feeding his flock with the
-wholesome food of the Word and of the bread of life.</p>
-
-<p>Theophilus was unable to evade obedience to the summons
-which commanded him to repair to Constantinople. His
-only hope now was to change his position from that of the
-accused into that of the accuser. The council which was
-called together for the purpose of investigating his conduct
-should, by his contrivance, be transferred into a council for
-arraigning Chrysostom of heresy and misdemeanour. The
-letters of Epiphanius and Theophilus having failed to obtain
-from Chrysostom that condemnation which they demanded
-of the writings of Origen, the Bishop of Constantia, at the
-urgent request of Theophilus, set forth at the beginning of
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 403 for Constantinople, bringing the decree of the
-Council of Cyprus for the signature of the Archbishop.
-Theophilus slowly proceeded overland from Egypt through
-Syria, Cilicia, and Asia Minor, in order to bring up as many
-bishops as possible to the council, who would be prepared
-to act under his direction. Epiphanius, having landed,
-halted at the church of St. John, outside Constantinople,
-held an assembly of clergy, and even, it is said, committed
-the irregularity of ordaining a deacon.<a name="FNanchor_557_557" id="FNanchor_557_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_557_557" class="fnanchor">557</a> Chrysostom, however,
-acted with all due courtesy and discretion. He sent
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span>out a large body of clergy to welcome the visitor by inviting
-and conducting him to the hospitable lodging prepared for
-him in the archiepiscopal palace. Epiphanius, acting on
-preconceived judgment of the two chief subjects in dispute,
-declined the offer unless the Archbishop would consent to
-expel the monks, and to sign the decree against Origen.
-Chrysostom justly replied that he could not anticipate
-the decision of a council which was being summoned for
-the very purpose of considering both these questions.
-Epiphanius, therefore, found a lodging elsewhere, and diligently
-strove to induce such bishops as he could collect to
-sign the decree.<a name="FNanchor_558_558" id="FNanchor_558_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_558_558" class="fnanchor">558</a> His reputation for learning, orthodoxy,
-and piety secured the consent of many, but on the part of
-many more there was determined opposition. Eminent
-among these was Theotimus, a Goth by birth, but educated
-in Greece, who had been made Bishop of Tomis and Metropolitan
-of Scythia. He was a man of genuine sanctity,
-ascetic habits, and courageous spirit. Tomis was a great
-central market of Gothic and Hunnish tribes, and the bishop
-used boldly to enter the motley concourse and try to win
-converts. He would invite savage Huns to partake of some
-hospitable entertainment in his house, and by gifts and little
-attentions, and courteous treatment, he sought to soften their
-ferocity, and effect an opening in their hearts for the reception
-of Christian teaching. He came to be regarded by them
-with a kind of superstitious reverence, and was commonly
-called by them “the god of the Christians.” Over his half-episcopal,
-half-barbarian costume flowed the long hair which
-betokened his Gothic origin. He lifted up his voice with
-boldness to denounce the present ill-considered condemnation
-of the works of Origen. It was unseemly and unjust, he
-maintained, to pass a coarse and sweeping sentence on the
-entire works of one whose genius had been acknowledged by
-the whole Church. He produced a volume of Origen, and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span>from it read some beautiful, powerful passages of irreproachable
-orthodoxy. Then, turning to Epiphanius, he asked
-him how he could attack a man to whom the Church owed
-a thousand similar, and even more beautiful, passages. “How
-call him a son of Satan? Place what is good in him on one
-side, and what is bad on the other, and then choose.”<a name="FNanchor_559_559" id="FNanchor_559_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_559_559" class="fnanchor">559</a></p>
-
-<p>This courageous protest, however, did not divert Epiphanius
-and his partisans from their course of action. In fact, they
-proceeded a step further. It was arranged that when a
-large congregation was collected in the Church of the
-Apostles, Epiphanius should enter and harangue the assembly,
-denouncing both the writings of Origen and his admirers,
-especially the “tall brethren,” and even Chrysostom himself
-as their protector. Chrysostom, however, received intimation
-of their design, and by his direction Serapion confronted
-Epiphanius at the entrance of the church, and told him that
-“he had already violated ecclesiastical law by ordaining a
-deacon in the diocese and church of another bishop, but to
-minister and preach without permission was a still grosser
-outrage; a popular tumult would probably ensue, and
-Epiphanius would be held responsible for any violence
-which might be committed.” Epiphanius, though not
-without angry remonstrances, desisted.<a name="FNanchor_560_560" id="FNanchor_560_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_560_560" class="fnanchor">560</a></p>
-
-<p>Eudoxia seems to have placed special faith in the intercessions
-of ecclesiastical visitors of distinction. As she had
-formerly asked the prayers of the “tall brethren,” so now,
-the young prince her son (afterwards Theodosius <span class="smcap">II.</span>), being
-attacked by an alarming illness, she implored the prayers
-of Epiphanius on his behalf. The bishop replied that her
-child’s recovery depended on her repudiation of the heretical
-refugees. The Empress, however, declared that she should
-prefer simply to resign her son’s life to the will of God
-who gave it without complying with the requisition of
-Epiphanius.<a name="FNanchor_561_561" id="FNanchor_561_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_561_561" class="fnanchor">561</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It may be that these incidents were beginning to tell
-upon the reason of the aged zealot, and open his eyes to the
-irregularity of his proceedings; at any rate, shortly after
-this, he granted an interview to Ammon and his brothers.
-The record of the conversation is instructive. “Allow me
-to ask, holy father,” said Ammon, “whether you have ever
-read any of our works or those of our disciples?” Epiphanius
-was obliged to confess that he had not even seen
-them, and that he had formed his judgment simply from
-general report. “How then,” replied Ammon, “can you
-venture to condemn us when you have no proof of our
-opinions? We have pursued a widely different course.
-We conversed with your disciples, we read your works,
-among others one entitled the ‘Anchor of Faith;’ and when
-we met with persons who ridiculed your opinions, and
-asserted that your writings were replete with heresy, we
-have defended you as our father. Is it just, on such slender
-ground as common report, to condemn those who have so
-zealously befriended you?” These bold and pungent remarks
-are said to have wrought compunction in the heart of the
-aged bishop. He began to perceive that he had been made
-the agent of a plot, and he lost no time in extricating himself
-from it by departing from Constantinople. His farewell
-words to some of the bishops who accompanied him to the
-ship were: “I leave to you the city, the palace, and this
-piece of acting.”<a name="FNanchor_562_562" id="FNanchor_562_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_562_562" class="fnanchor">562</a></p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">THEOPHILUS ARRIVES IN CONSTANTINOPLE—ORGANISES A CABAL AGAINST
-CHRYSOSTOM—THE SYNOD OF THE OAK—CHRYSOSTOM PRONOUNCED
-CONTUMACIOUS FOR NON-APPEARANCE AND EXPELLED FROM THE
-CITY—EARTHQUAKE—RECALL OF CHRYSOSTOM—OVATIONS ON HIS
-RETURN—FLIGHT OF THEOPHILUS. A.D. 403.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Regardless</span> of the forces which had been set in motion
-against him, Chrysostom pursued his usual course of work
-without any variation. The reins of discipline were held
-tightly as ever; the Word was preached, in season and out
-of season, with unabated diligence; the people were exhorted,
-admonished, rebuked with the same irrepressible earnestness.
-His enemies took advantage of a sermon, specially directed
-against the follies and vices of fashionable ladies, to represent
-it as an attack upon the Empress herself.<a name="FNanchor_563_563" id="FNanchor_563_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_563_563" class="fnanchor">563</a> Eudoxia, credulous
-and impulsive by nature, and probably irritated because
-the Archbishop did not pay her servile homage, complained
-to the Emperor of the insult which had been cast upon her,
-and was induced by the hostile party to expect the arrival
-of Theophilus as an opportunity for redressing her wrongs.
-That prelate was now rapidly approaching, with a large
-number of bishops collected from Egypt, Syria, and Asia
-Minor. Twenty-eight, on whose partisanship he could
-reckon, travelled by sea to Chalcedon. Many bishops had
-become disaffected to Chrysostom in Asia Minor, owing to
-the rigorous investigation recently made by him into the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span>state of the Church in that region, and they readily joined
-the camp of Theophilus. Prominent among them was
-Gerontius of Nicomedia, whom, as will be remembered, he
-had deposed. The whole force was at length (June 403)
-assembled at Chalcedon, and a council of war was held, to
-determine the plan of operations. None was more virulent
-in his denunciation of Chrysostom, as tyrannical, proud, and
-heretical, than Cyrinus, bishop of Chalcedon. He was an
-Egyptian by birth, and Theophilus reckoned on him as a
-valuable ally, but was deprived of his services by a curious
-incident. Maruthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, accidentally
-trod on the foot of Cyrinus: a wound ensued, the wound
-gangrened, the foot had to be amputated, but the mortification
-spread, and, after two years of lingering pain, put an
-end to his life.<a name="FNanchor_564_564" id="FNanchor_564_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_564_564" class="fnanchor">564</a></p>
-
-<p>Theophilus made his entrance into Constantinople about
-the middle of June. He had been summoned as a defendant,
-but, according to his design already indicated, he appeared
-surrounded by all the pomp and dignity of a judge. None
-of the bishops, indeed, or clergy of Constantinople came to
-greet him on landing, but the crews of the Alexandrian corn-fleet
-gave him a hearty welcome, and he was accompanied
-by a large retinue, not only of bishops and clergy, but of
-Alexandrian sailors, laden with some of the costliest produce
-of Egypt and the East, a very potent auxiliary in obtaining
-partisans. As on the arrival of Epiphanius, so now, Chrysostom
-did not fail to offer the customary hospitality due to
-a brother bishop; but Theophilus disdainfully declined it,
-passed by the palace and the metropolitan church, which
-episcopal visitors usually entered on their arrival, and proceeded
-to the suburb of Pera, where a lodging had been
-prepared for him in a house of the Emperor’s, called the
-Palace of Placidia.</p>
-
-<p>During the three weeks that he resided here, he refused to
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span>hold any communication with Chrysostom, or to enter his
-church; nor did he vouchsafe any reply to the frequent
-entreaties of the Archbishop that he would state his reasons
-for such conduct. His house became the resort of all the
-disaffected clergy or affronted ladies and gentlemen in the
-city, who were drawn thither, not only by a common hatred
-to Chrysostom, but also by the handsome gifts, the elegant
-and dainty repasts, and the winning flattery with which
-they were treated by Theophilus.<a name="FNanchor_565_565" id="FNanchor_565_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_565_565" class="fnanchor">565</a> These arts were the
-more necessary because Theophilus had a double part to
-play: to arrest the course of the accusation instituted against
-himself, as well as to organise a powerful cabal against
-Chrysostom. In the former he was helped by the scruples
-or peacefulness of Chrysostom himself. The Archbishop
-was directed by the Court to repair to Pera, and preside over
-an inquiry into the crimes of which Theophilus was accused.
-But he declined, on the plea that the ecclesiastical affairs of
-one province could not, according to the Canons of Nice, be
-judged in another; partly also, as he affirmed, out of respect
-for his brother Patriarch. The truth probably was, that he
-foresaw the vindictive and turbulent spirit of Theophilus
-would never submit to the decisions of a council under the
-presidency of his rival in that see of which Alexandria was
-especially jealous. Otherwise there is no doubt that a
-General Council at Constantinople would have been competent
-to judge the Patriarch of Alexandria; whereas a Provincial
-Council in Egypt could not have judged him, he being
-supreme there by virtue of his position as Patriarch.<a name="FNanchor_566_566" id="FNanchor_566_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_566_566" class="fnanchor">566</a>
-Chrysostom himself also might legally have been arraigned
-before a General Council; but, as will be seen, the synod
-composed by Theophilus was far from being entitled to that
-appellation.</p>
-
-<p>The obstacle of his own trial being thus disposed of, it
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span>only remained for Theophilus to prosecute his design against
-his rival with mingled subtlety and boldness. The first step
-was to secure a sufficient number of witnesses, and a list of
-accusations, which, being presented to the Emperor, would
-furnish a plausible reason for summoning a council. The
-next step would be to pack that council with bishops hostile
-to Chrysostom. Two despicable deacons, who had been
-expelled from their office by the Archbishop for homicide
-and adultery, were well content to draw up a list of charges
-on a promise from Theophilus that they should be restored
-to their former position. The accusations seem to have been
-of a puerile character; and if the source of them was known,
-it would seem inconceivable that the Court should have
-entertained them, did we not remember that the influence
-of the Empress, as well as of many of the most powerful
-courtiers, was now turned or rapidly turning against the
-Archbishop, and that the bribes of Theophilus were permeating
-the whole city.</p>
-
-<p>The attachment of the people, however, to Chrysostom
-was known to be so strong, that it was deemed prudent by
-the enemy to hold the synod at a safe distance from the city.
-A suburb of Chalcedon, called “The Oak,” where Rufinus,
-the late prefect, had built a palace, church, and monastery,
-was selected as a convenient place for the assembly.<a name="FNanchor_567_567" id="FNanchor_567_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_567_567" class="fnanchor">567</a> The
-bishops, after all the exertions of Theophilus, did not amount
-to more than thirty-six, of whom twenty-nine were
-Egyptians.<a name="FNanchor_568_568" id="FNanchor_568_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_568_568" class="fnanchor">568</a> Among the latter was Cyril, the successor of
-Theophilus. Chrysostom was summoned to appear before
-the synod. The scene in the archiepiscopal palace immediately
-preceding the summons has been described by
-Palladius, with the vivid and minute exactness of an eye-witness.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span></p>
-
-<p>“We were sitting, to the number of forty bishops, in the
-dining-hall of the palace, marvelling at the audacity with
-which one, who had been commanded to appear as a culprit
-at Constantinople, had arrived with a train of bishops, had
-altered the sentiments of nobles and magistrates, and perverted
-the majority even of the clergy. Whilst we were
-wondering, John, inspired by the Spirit of God, addressed
-to us all the following words: ‘Pray for me, my brethren,
-and, if ye love Christ, let no one for my sake desert his see,
-for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
-departure is at hand. Like him who spoke these words, I
-perceive that I am about to relinquish life, for I know the
-intrigues of Satan, that he will not endure any longer the
-burden of my words which are delivered against him. May
-ye obtain mercy, and in your prayers remember me.’ Seized
-with inexpressible sorrow, some of us began to weep, and
-others to leave the assembly, after kissing, amid tears and
-sobs, the sacred head and eyes, and eloquent mouth, of
-the Archbishop. He, however, exhorted them to return,
-and, as they hovered near, like bees humming round their
-hive, ‘Sit down, my brethren,’ he said, ‘and do not weep,
-unnerving me by your tears, for to me to live is Christ, to
-die is gain. Recall the words which I have so frequently
-spoken to you. Present life is a journey; both its good and
-painful things pass away. Present time is like a fair: we
-buy, we sell, and the assembly is dissolved. Are we better
-than the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles, that this life
-should remain to us for ever?’ Here one of the company
-uttering a cry exclaimed: ‘Nay, but what we lament is our
-own bereavement and the widowhood of the Church, the
-derangement of sacred laws, the ambition of those who fear
-not the Lord, and violently seize the highest positions; the
-destitution of the poor, and the loss of sound teaching.’
-But John replied, striking, as was his custom when cogitating,
-the palm of his left hand with the forefinger of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span>
-right: ‘Enough, my brother—no more; only, as I was
-saying, do not abandon your churches, for neither did the
-office of teaching begin with me, nor in me has it ended.
-Did not Moses die, and was not Joshua found to succeed
-him? Did not Samuel die, but was not David anointed?
-Jeremy departed this life, but Baruch was left; Elijah was
-taken up, but Elisha prophesied in his place; Paul was
-beheaded, but did he not leave Timothy, Titus, Apollos, and a
-host of others to work after him?’ To these words Eulysius,
-bishop of Apamea, in Bithynia, observed: ‘If we retain our
-sees, it will become necessary for us to hold communion with
-the authors of your deposition, and to subscribe to your condemnation.’<a name="FNanchor_569_569" id="FNanchor_569_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_569_569" class="fnanchor">569</a>
-To which the holy John replied: ‘Communicate
-by all means, so as to avoid rending the unity of the
-Church; but abstain from subscribing, for I am not conscious
-of having done anything to deserve deposition.’”</p>
-
-<p>At this point in the conference it was announced that
-certain emissaries from the “Synod of the Oak” had arrived.
-Chrysostom gave orders that they should be admitted,
-inquired, when they entered, to what rank in the hierarchy
-they belonged, and, on being informed that they were
-bishops, requested them to be seated, and to declare the
-purpose of their coming. The two bishops, young men
-recently raised to the episcopate in Libya, replied, “We are
-merely the bearers of a document which we request that you
-will command to be read.” Chrysostom gave the order, and
-a servant of Theophilus read the missive. “The holy Synod
-assembled at the Oak to John” (thus did his enemies deprive
-him of all his titles). “We have received a list containing
-an infinite number of charges against you. Present yourself,
-therefore, before us, bringing with you the priests Serapion
-and Tigrius, for their presence is necessary.” The bishops
-who were with Chrysostom were very indignant at the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span>insolent tenor of the message. A reply to the following
-effect was drawn up, addressed to Theophilus, and despatched
-by the hand of three bishops and two priests: “Subvert
-not nor rend the Church for which God became incarnate;
-but if, in contempt of the canons framed by 318 bishops at
-Nice, you choose to judge a cause beyond the boundaries of
-your jurisdiction, cross the straits into our city, which is at
-least strictly governed by law, and do not, after the example
-of Cain, call Abel out into the open field. For we have
-charges of palpable crimes against you, drawn up under
-more than sixty heads; our synod, also, is more numerous
-than yours, and is assembled, by the grace of God, after a
-peaceful manner, not for the disruption of the Church. For
-you are but thirty-six in number, collected out of a single
-province;<a name="FNanchor_570_570" id="FNanchor_570_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_570_570" class="fnanchor">570</a> but we are forty, from several provinces, and
-seven are metropolitans. It is only reasonable that the less
-should be judged, according to the canons, by the greater.”</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom approved of this answer of the bishops, but
-sent a separate letter on his own behalf: “Hitherto I am
-wholly ignorant whether any one has anything to say against
-me; but if any one has assailed me, and you wish me to
-appear before you, eject from your assembly my declared
-enemies. I raise no question respecting the place where I
-ought to be tried, although the most proper place is the
-city.” He proceeds to say that he objected to his declared
-and implacable enemies, Theophilus, Acacius, Severian, and
-Antiochus, being allowed to sit on the council at all. “He
-could convict Theophilus of having said in Alexandria and
-Lycia, ‘I am setting out for the capital to depose John;’
-which, indeed, is true, for, since he set foot in Constantinople,
-he has refused to meet or communicate with me.
-What, then, will one do, after the trial, who has acted as my
-enemy before it?” When these men should have been
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span>eliminated from the synod, or legally constituted as his
-accusers, he would appear before a council, even if composed
-of members from all Christendom; but till this condition
-was complied with, he would refuse to present himself
-though summoned ten thousand times over.<a name="FNanchor_571_571" id="FNanchor_571_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_571_571" class="fnanchor">571</a></p>
-
-<p>He demanded, in short, to be tried by an œcumenical
-synod, as the only tribunal which could legally exact obedience
-from him. The Synod of the Oak, composed as it was
-mainly of Egyptians and of declared enemies, could not
-possibly pretend to that character. If the Imperial Court had
-been upright and courageous, not susceptible of flattery and
-bribes, not induced by personal animosity against the Archbishop
-to favour or connive at the proceedings of his
-enemies, such a synod could not have been held. That it
-was held, and succeeded in the purpose for which it met,
-will ever be a stain upon the Church and the Empire of the
-East.</p>
-
-<p>But although viciously constituted and, indeed, all the
-more on that very account, the synod made much display of
-complying in formalities with the established order of an
-ecclesiastical court of judicature. The prosecution was to be
-carried on in the name of a plaintiff who was to be present,
-and to submit his charge in writing. The defendant was to
-be cited to appear and defend himself; and if he failed to
-appear after three or four citations, he would be pronounced
-contumacious, and as such be punishable by the synod with
-excommunication and deposition. The further penalties of
-imprisonment, exile, or death could not be inflicted by any
-but the secular power.</p>
-
-<p>Theophilus was president of the synod, and the prosecution
-was conducted in the name of John, Archdeacon of
-Constantinople, who cherished malice against Chrysostom
-because he had once been suspended by him for ill-treating
-a slave, though afterwards restored. The charges were
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span>drawn up under twenty-nine heads. The evidence of most
-worthless witnesses was accepted, or, more properly speaking,
-invited. A strange medley of monstrous and incredible
-offences was included in the list of charges prepared by the
-Archdeacon John—acts of personal violence, as well as
-violations of ecclesiastical discipline. “He had struck people
-on the face, had calumniated many of his clergy, had called
-one Epiphanius fool and demoniac, had imprisoned others,
-had accused his archdeacons of robbing his pallium for an
-unlawful purpose; he had despotically and illegally deposed
-bishops in Asia, and had ordained others without sufficient
-inquiry into their qualifications, mental or moral; he had
-alienated the property and sold the ornaments of the Church;
-he held private interviews with women, he dined on Cyclopian
-fare, he ate a small cake after holy communion, he had
-administered both sacraments, after he himself or the recipients
-had eaten.”<a name="FNanchor_572_572" id="FNanchor_572_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_572_572" class="fnanchor">572</a> The crowning charge was that of
-treasonable language against the Empress—“he had called
-her Jezebel.” This was the trump card of the cabal. If
-the Emperor’s Court could be persuaded to believe him
-guilty on this point, exile at least, and probably death,
-would be the inevitable consequence.</p>
-
-<p>Such were the principal charges in the list presented by
-the Archdeacon John. A second list, presented by Isaac
-the monk, accused him of extending sympathy and hospitality
-to Origenists, of instigating the people to sedition, of using
-unseemly expressions in his sermons, such as “I exult, I am
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span>beside myself with joy,” or language which gave a dangerous
-encouragement to sinners; for example, “as often as you sin
-come to me and I will heal you.”</p>
-
-<p>By artfully making slight alterations in expressions actually
-used, and tearing them from their context, it was easy
-to represent them as mischievous or blasphemous. It is not
-surprising then that Chrysostom steadfastly refused to answer
-in person such a list of partly monstrous, partly puerile, accusations
-before such a synod. He pursued the only dignified
-course possible under the circumstances. When a notary
-from the Emperor came to him with a rescript, and showed
-him the petition inserted in it from the synod, that the
-Emperor would compel the attendance of the Archbishop;
-and when, presently, a second deputation from the synod,
-consisting of a renegade priest of his own clergy, and Isaac
-the monk, brought a peremptory summons from the synod,
-he inflexibly maintained the same attitude. “I will not
-attend a synod which is composed of my enemies, and to
-which I am summoned by my own clergy. I appeal to a
-lawfully constituted General Council.” The citations were
-rapidly repeated three or four times, and always met by
-the same response. The cabal expended their fury on
-the messengers of the Archbishop; they beat one bishop,
-tore the clothes of another, and placed on the neck of a
-third the chains which they had designed for the person
-of Chrysostom himself, their intention having been to put
-him secretly on board ship, and send him off to some remote
-part of the Empire. Some of the clergy were so much
-intimidated by these violent proceedings that they dared not
-return to Constantinople. Demetrius, however, Bishop of
-Pessina, denounced the conduct of the synod, quitted it, and
-returned to the Archbishop. After several more ineffectual
-citations, the synod, at its twelfth session, declared that it
-would proceed to judgment against Chrysostom as contumacious.
-Either by a happy coincidence, or by the contrivance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span>
-of Theophilus, a message arrived from the Court on the same
-day, urging the bishops to decide the cause as speedily as
-possible. With much alacrity the request was obeyed.
-They drew up a despatch to the Emperor—a formal statement:
-“Whereas John, being accused of crimes, has declined
-to appear before us, and that in such cases ecclesiastical law
-pronounces deposition, we have hereby deposed him; but as
-the indictment against him contains charges of treason as
-well as ecclesiastical offences, we leave these to be dealt
-with by you, since it belongs not to us to take cognisance of
-them.” The synod waited for the Imperial ratification of
-their verdict, and meanwhile issued a circular to the clergy
-of Constantinople, informing them of the deposition of their
-spiritual father.<a name="FNanchor_573_573" id="FNanchor_573_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_573_573" class="fnanchor">573</a></p>
-
-<p>Having attained, as he believed, the object of his intrigue,
-Theophilus went through the form of reconciliation with the
-“tall brethren” in the presence of the synod. The facility
-with which they were restored to favour on a simple request
-for pardon is in strange contrast to the relentless animosity
-with which they had been hitherto pursued, and indicates
-that their persecution had been maintained simply as the
-means to securing a more important victim.</p>
-
-<p>Both Dioscorus and Ammon had recently died, the latter
-predicting with his dying lips that the Church was about to
-be distressed by a furious persecution, and torn by a deplorable
-schism. He was buried in that church of the Apostles,
-in the suburb of The Oak, where, nine years before, he had
-baptized the founder, the Prefect Rufinus. The monks of
-the foundation celebrated his obsequies with great pomp;
-and Theophilus, his bitter persecutor, condescended to weep
-over his death, and publicly declare that he had never known
-a monk of more exalted saintliness.<a name="FNanchor_574_574" id="FNanchor_574_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_574_574" class="fnanchor">574</a></p>
-
-<p>The triumph of the synod seemed to be completed by the
-receipt of an Imperial rescript, ratifying the sentence of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span>deposition, and announcing that the Archbishop would be
-banished. Many members of the synod were probably disappointed
-at the mildness of the penalty; but the people of
-Constantinople were enraged, and impeded the execution of
-the sentence. It was evening when the impending degradation
-of their Archbishop became known. During the whole
-of the night, crowds of people watched outside the Archbishop’s
-palace and the cathedral to guard against his forcible
-abduction. Early in the morning they thronged the church,
-loudly protested against the injustice of the sentence, and
-demanded with shouts the submission of his cause to a
-General Council. For three days and nights the flock incessantly
-guarded their beloved pastor. Under their protection
-he passed to and from the palace and the church. On the
-second day he delivered a discourse to them in the cathedral.
-The first portion of it is in all respects worthy of Chrysostom;
-the conclusion, involved and rugged, seems to have
-been added by another hand, and extracts will not be made
-from it here.<a name="FNanchor_575_575" id="FNanchor_575_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_575_575" class="fnanchor">575</a></p>
-
-<p>“Many are the billows, and terrible the storms, which
-threaten us; but we fear not to be overwhelmed, for we
-stand upon the rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot dissolve
-the rock; let the billows rise, they cannot sink the vessel
-of Jesus Christ. Tell me, what is it we fear? death?—‘To
-me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Or exile?—‘The
-earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.’ Or confiscation
-of goods?—‘We brought nothing into this world, and it is
-certain we can carry nothing out.’”... “I fear not poverty,
-I desire not wealth; I dread not death, I do not pray for
-life, save for the sake of your advancement. I beseech you
-be of good courage; no man will be able to separate us, for
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span>‘that which God hath joined together no man can put
-asunder.’ If man cannot dissolve marriage, how much less
-the Church of God! Thou, oh my enemy! only renderest
-me more illustrious, and wastest thine own strength, ‘for it
-is hard to kick against the pricks.’ Waves do not break the
-rock, but are themselves dispersed into foam against it.
-Nothing, oh man! is stronger than the Church, ... it is
-stronger even than Heaven, ‘for Heaven and earth shall
-pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’ What words?
-‘Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,
-and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ If thou
-disbelievest the words, yet believe the facts. How many
-tyrants have attempted to overcome the Church; how often
-have wild beasts, and the sword, and the furnace, and the
-boiling caldron, been employed against it, yet have they not
-prevailed. Where are those who made war upon it? They
-have been silenced and consigned to oblivion. Where is the
-Church? It shines above the brightness of the sun. Let
-none of the things that have been done disturb you. Grant
-me one favour only,—unwavering faith. Was not St. Peter
-on the point of sinking, not because of the uncontrollable
-onset of the waves, but because of the weakness of his faith?
-Did man’s votes bring me here, that man should put me
-down? I say not this in a spirit of boastfulness—God
-forbid—but in the desire to settle your agitated minds.”...
-“Let no one trouble you; give heed to your prayers.
-This disturbance is the devil’s work, that he might destroy
-your zeal in the sacred Litanies; but he does not succeed.
-We find you even more earnest than before. To-morrow I
-shall go out with you in the Litany, for where you are, there
-I am. Though locally separated, we are in spirit united;
-we are one body, the body is not separated from its head;
-even death cannot separate us.”... “For your sakes I am
-ready to be slaughtered ten thousand times over, since death
-is to me the warrant of immortality. These intrigues are to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span>
-me but the occasion of security. I say these things to listening
-ears; so many days have you watched, and nothing has
-moved you from your purpose. Neither length of time nor
-threats have enervated you; you have done what I have
-always been desiring, despised the things of this world,
-bidden farewell to earth, released yourselves from the fetters
-of the body: this is my crown, my consolation, my anointing;
-this the suggestion to me of immortality.”</p>
-
-<p>Another discourse<a name="FNanchor_576_576" id="FNanchor_576_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_576_576" class="fnanchor">576</a> contains much to the same effect, and
-a declaration of his belief that the real cause of his deposition
-was his sturdy opposition to the corrupt manners and
-morals of the age. “You know,” he says, “why they are
-going to depose me—because I spread no fine carpets, and
-wear no silken robes; because I have not pampered their
-gluttony, or made presents in gold and silver.” He would
-comfort and encourage himself with the prospect of being
-reckoned among those who had suffered for righteousness’
-sake. The cruel and capricious woman, who one day called
-him “a thirteenth apostle,” and the next “a Judas,” would
-receive a just retribution for her conduct.</p>
-
-<p>The attachment of the people to the Archbishop, and
-their sense of the injustice with which he was treated, were
-so strong that, with his powers of swaying their feelings, he
-might easily have raised a formidable sedition, and defied,
-for an indefinite time, the sentence of the synod and the
-edict of the Emperor. But his sentiments were too loyal,
-too Christian, too peaceful, for any such desperate and
-violent measures. He might have continued to demand the
-reference of his cause to a General Council; but, had this
-been granted, there was the extreme probability that his
-enemies would refuse, and persuade many more to refuse,
-a recognition of its decision. Then would follow one of those
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span>melancholy schisms, of which the Church already knew too
-well the misery. He determined to bow to the storm. On
-the third day after his deposition by the council, and about
-noon, when the people were not guarding the approaches to
-the church quite so vigilantly, he passed out, unperceived,
-by one of the side entrances, and surrendered himself to
-some of the Court officials, who conducted him at nightfall
-to the harbour. In spite of the darkness, he was recognised
-by some of the people, who followed him with loud cries of
-distress. He besought them to abstain from the commission
-of violence, commended them to the care of Jesus Christ,
-cited the example of Job blessing and thanking God in the
-midst of trouble, and declared that he patiently waited for
-the decision of an Œcumenical Council. The vessel in which
-he embarked conveyed him the same night to Hieron,<a name="FNanchor_577_577" id="FNanchor_577_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_577_577" class="fnanchor">577</a> on
-the Bithynian coast, at the mouth of the Euxine. Perhaps
-owing to the dangerous proximity of this place to Chalcedon,
-the headquarters of his enemies, he removed (being apparently
-uncontrolled in his movements) to a country-house
-belonging to a friend, near Prænetum, on the Astacene gulf
-opposite Nicomedia.</p>
-
-<p>When the departure of the Archbishop became generally
-known on the succeeding day, the indignation of the people
-burst into a blaze. The places of public resort were thronged
-with clamorous crowds denouncing the synod and demanding
-a General Council. They flocked into the churches to pour
-forth their lamentations, and to invoke the Divine intervention
-on behalf of their injured Patriarch. A revulsion of
-feeling in his favour took place among many of the clergy
-who had hitherto been opposed to him. The arrival of
-Theophilus with a large retinue was not calculated to allay
-the agitation. Force was employed to dislodge the people
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span>from the churches; the struggle occasioned bloodshed, and
-even some loss of life, chiefly among monks. The worthless
-clergy who had been deposed by Chrysostom, some of them
-for flagrant crimes, were restored by Theophilus. Severian
-of Gabala mounted a pulpit in one of the churches, and
-extolled the act of deposition. “Even were the Patriarch,”
-he said, “guiltless of other offences, the penalty was due to
-his arrogance, for ‘God resisteth the proud,’ even if He forgave
-other sins.” The people were furious at this barefaced
-attempt to justify injustice. They thronged the approaches
-to the Imperial palace itself, and with loud shouts demanded
-the restoration of the Patriarch.<a name="FNanchor_578_578" id="FNanchor_578_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_578_578" class="fnanchor">578</a></p>
-
-<p>A natural phenomenon, not rare in Constantinople, but
-regarded under the circumstances as a Divine visitation,
-opportunely concurred with this demand. The city, the
-palace, but more especially the bedchamber of the Empress,
-were agitated by a severe shock of earthquake. The friends
-of Chrysostom rejoiced at this manifestation of the wrath of
-Heaven; his enemies were alarmed. The terrified Empress
-eagerly promoted the demand of the people for the restoration
-of the exile. Messengers were sent across the Bosporus
-to seek him, for the exact place of his retreat appears to have
-been unknown. Briso, the Empress’s chamberlain, a man
-of Christian piety and a personal friend of Chrysostom, discovered
-him at Prænetum. He was the bearer of a humble,
-we might say abject, letter of self-exculpation from the
-Empress. “Let not your holiness (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἡ ἁγιωσύνη</span>) imagine that
-I was cognisant of what has been done. I am guiltless of
-thy blood. Wicked and corrupt men have contrived this
-plot. I remember the baptism of my children by thy
-hands. God whom I serve is witness of my tears.” She
-informs him how she had fallen at the feet of the
-Emperor, and had represented to him that there was no
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span>hope for the Empire except through the restoration of the
-Archbishop.<a name="FNanchor_579_579" id="FNanchor_579_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_579_579" class="fnanchor">579</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom yielded to the solicitation so far as to embark
-and cross the Bosporus, but he declined at first to advance
-nearer Constantinople than the suburb of Mariamna, two
-leagues from the capital by sea. He declared that he would
-not enter the city until he had been acquitted by a General
-Council. But the impetuosity of the people would brook
-no delay. Tidings of his approach had preceded him. The
-Bosporus was studded with boats crowded with his friends,
-bearing torches and chanting psalms of welcome. The halt
-at Mariamna was suspected to be a contrivance of the enemy,
-who wished to deprive the Patriarch of the honours awaiting
-him. Their denunciations of the Emperor and Empress
-grew loud and menacing. An Imperial secretary arrived at
-Mariamna, urging Chrysostom to enter the city without loss
-of time. The Archbishop consented, and, attended by about
-thirty bishops, amidst the acclamations of the populace, was
-conducted to the Church of the Apostles. Again he remonstrated,
-and expressed scruples at entering till the sentence
-of deposition should have been revoked by a legitimate
-council. But the eagerness of the people was irrepressible.
-He was borne into the church, and compelled to take his seat
-on the episcopal throne and pronounce a benediction upon
-the assembly. When he had complied with their request,
-they would not be satisfied till he had addressed them in an
-extempore discourse. The address exists only in a Latin
-translation. Its brevity, and the abrupt style of the opening
-sentences, indicate the extemporaneous character of it.<a name="FNanchor_580_580" id="FNanchor_580_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_580_580" class="fnanchor">580</a></p>
-
-<p>“What shall I say, or how shall I speak? ‘Blessed be
-God.’ So spoke I when I departed, and I utter the same
-again: yea, even in my exile I did not cease to say these
-words. Ye remember how I quoted Job, and said, ‘Blessed
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span>be the name of the Lord for ever.’ Such was the pledge I
-left with you when I set forth; such is the thanksgiving I
-repeat on my return. ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord for
-ever.’ Our lot varies, but our manner of giving glory is one.
-I gave thanks when I was expelled, I give thanks when I
-return. The conditions of summer and winter are different,
-but the end is one—the prosperity of the field. Blessed be
-God who permitted the storm, blessed be God who has dispersed
-it and wrought a calm. These things I say, that I
-may prepare you to bless God at all times. Have good
-things happened to you? Bless God, and the good remains;
-have evil things occurred? bless God still, and the evil is
-removed.”... “Behold what great results have been
-wrought by the stratagems of my enemies. They have
-augmented your zeal, inflamed your affectionate longing for
-me, and procured me lovers in hundreds. Formerly I was
-beloved by my own people only; now even the Jews pay
-me respect. My enemies hoped to sever me from my own
-friends; and, instead, they have brought even aliens into
-our ranks.”... “To-day the Circensian games take place,
-but no one is present there; all have poured like a torrent
-into the church, and your voices are as streams which flow
-to Heaven and declare your affection towards your father.”
-He congratulates them on putting the enemy to flight.
-“Many are the sheep, yet nowhere is the wolf seen; the
-devouring beasts are overwhelmed, the wolves have fled.
-Who has pursued them? Not I the shepherd, but ye the
-sheep. O noble flock! in the absence of the shepherd ye
-have routed the wolves. O beauty and chastity of the wife!
-how hast thou repulsed the adulterer, because thou lovedst
-thy husband!”... “Where are our enemies? in ignominy;—where
-are we? in triumph.”<a name="FNanchor_581_581" id="FNanchor_581_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_581_581" class="fnanchor">581</a></p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span></p>
-<p>On the following day the Archbishop delivered another
-address, pitched in the same strain, but amplified and more
-ornate. It opens with a singular comparison between the
-meditated seduction of Abraham’s wife by Pharaoh, and the
-plot of Theophilus to corrupt the chastity of the Church of
-Constantinople. The courage and faith of the flock in
-resisting the wolf during the absence of their shepherd, their
-enthusiastic welcome of his return, when the sea, as he
-expresses it, became a city (alluding to the crowds who had
-gone out to meet him on the Bosporus), and the market-place
-was converted into one vast church—these are again
-the topics on which he dilates with thankful joy. He
-applies to himself the verse: “They that sow in tears shall
-reap in joy; he that now goeth on his way weeping, and
-beareth forth good seed, shall doubtless come again with joy,
-and bring his sheaves with him.” The Empress is extolled
-in language which to any but oriental ears must sound
-painfully fulsome and adulatory. She had sent a message
-to him on the previous evening, saying, “My prayer is fulfilled,
-my object accomplished. I have obtained a crown
-better than the diadem itself. I have received back the
-priest, I have restored the head to the body, the pilot to the
-ship, the shepherd to the flock, the husband to the home.”
-In return for this complimentary greeting (complimentary,
-it must be confessed, to herself as much as to the Archbishop)
-she is styled by him “most devout Queen, mother
-of the churches, nurse of monks, protectress of saints, staff
-of the poor.” The people were so much delighted with
-these laudations of the Empress, that the address was constantly
-interrupted by their acclamations.<a name="FNanchor_582_582" id="FNanchor_582_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_582_582" class="fnanchor">582</a></p>
-
-<p>When the object of the Synod at the Oak had eventually
-failed through the recall of Chrysostom, many of the members
-lost no time in returning to their several sees. Theophilus
-and a few of his most resolute partisans appear to have
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span>lurked in the city, waiting a possible opportunity for resuming
-their intrigues. This they attempted, according to two
-historians,<a name="FNanchor_583_583" id="FNanchor_583_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_583_583" class="fnanchor">583</a> by instigating accusations against Heracleides,
-who had been consecrated Bishop of Ephesus by Chrysostom.
-The friends of Heracleides and of the Archbishop protested
-against the illegality of such proceedings in the absence of
-the defendant. The question was taken up by the populace.
-Fierce and sanguinary frays were fought in the streets
-between the citizens and the Alexandrian followers of
-Theophilus. At length he and his followers consulted their
-safety by a precipitate flight. This account is not incompatible
-with the assertion of Chrysostom himself in his letter
-to Innocent, that after his recall he incessantly demanded
-the convocation of a General Council to absolve him from
-the verdict of the false synod, and to reinstate him in possession
-of his see; that the Emperor consented, and that, as
-soon as the imperial summonses were issued in all directions,
-Theophilus, dreading the scrutiny of his conduct,
-embarked in the dead of night, and sailed in haste for Alexandria.<a name="FNanchor_584_584" id="FNanchor_584_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_584_584" class="fnanchor">584</a>
-The citation of the council, and the hostility of the
-people, may well have concurred to hasten his departure.
-The General Council seems never to have regularly assembled.
-Theophilus was cited to attend it after he had
-returned to Alexandria, but excused himself on the plea
-that the Alexandrians were so deeply attached to him, he
-feared a sedition would take place if he were again to absent
-himself. No less than sixty bishops, however, who had
-congregated in Constantinople, though not apparently convened
-in synodal form, solemnly declared their sense of the
-illegality and injustice of the late proceedings at the Synod
-of the Oak, and confirmed Chrysostom in the resumption of
-his see.</p>
-
-<hr />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">AN IMAGE OF EUDOXIA PLACED IN FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL—CHRYSOSTOM
-DENOUNCES IT—ANGER OF THE EMPRESS—THE ENEMY
-RETURNS TO THE CHARGE—ANOTHER COUNCIL FORMED—CHRYSOSTOM
-CONFINED TO HIS PALACE—VIOLENT SCENE IN THE CATHEDRAL
-AND OTHER PLACES—CHRYSOSTOM AGAIN EXPELLED. A.D. 403, 404.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> storm had passed over for the moment, and the atmosphere
-seemed serene: but in reality it was charged with all
-the old elements of disturbance. The Archbishop owed his
-restoration to a mere superstitious impulse on the part of the
-Empress, seconded by the enthusiastic devotion of the common
-people to his person and his cause. But as the revulsion
-of feeling which had led to his recall died away, and
-he himself resumed with unabated zeal his former work
-of moral and ecclesiastical reformation, the irritation and
-animosity of the more corrupt portion of the clergy and
-laity revived. In two months after his return an occasion
-arose which brought him into serious collision with the
-Court. This was the signal for the reappearance of his
-enemies; they flocked from far and near—Egypt, Syria,
-Asia, as well as his own more immediate diocese—and
-swooped down upon their prey with the avidity of vultures.</p>
-
-<p>The pride and ambition of Eudoxia were not satisfied by
-the enjoyment of a power really greater than her husband’s,
-and of respect outwardly equal; she was determined to
-receive that half-idolatrous kind of homage which custom,
-handed down from Pagan times, still paid to the Emperor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span>
-but to him alone. The smaller forum of Constantinople
-was a great square,<a name="FNanchor_585_585" id="FNanchor_585_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_585_585" class="fnanchor">585</a> on one side of which stood the grand
-curia or senate-house, which Constantine had enriched with
-the sumptuous spoils of many Pagan temples, and especially
-with the statues of the Muses brought from the grove of
-Helicon; opposite to it was the entrance of St. Sophia, and
-the remaining sides of the forum were bounded by handsome
-public and a few private buildings all faced with
-colonnades. In the centre was a stone platform paved with
-various marbles, from which speeches were delivered on
-great public occasions. On this platform the Empress
-determined to gratify her vanity by the erection of a lofty
-column of porphyry surmounted by a silvern image of
-herself. This design was accomplished in September a.d.
-403, and the erection of the statue was celebrated by all
-the Pagan ceremonies and festivities, including music and
-dancing, with which the adoration of the Emperor’s image
-was usually attended. These rites had been retained by
-the Christian Emperors because they were supposed to be
-useful in maintaining a loyal spirit among the people,
-but the Pagan elements were afterwards suppressed by
-Theodosius <span class="smcap">II</span>.<a name="FNanchor_586_586" id="FNanchor_586_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_586_586" class="fnanchor">586</a></p>
-
-<p>The position of Eudoxia’s column in front of the vestibule
-of St. Sophia, and the disturbance caused to the sacred
-services within by the noisy, tumultuous proceedings outside,
-were regarded by the Patriarch as a disgrace to an
-Empress calling herself Christian, an outrage and insult
-flung in the very face of the Church. He denounced the
-heathenish ceremony with his usual vehemence before the
-people, and complained of it to the prefect of the city. The
-prefect was a Manichæan, and no friend to Chrysostom.
-Instead of endeavouring to conciliate both parties, he reported
-to the Empress, probably with some exaggeration, the con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span>demnation
-pronounced by the Patriarch on the indulgence
-of her pride. The resentment of Eudoxia was fierce. She
-rallied the enemies of Chrysostom around her to devise
-means for crushing the audacious prelate. Acacius, Severian,
-and others of the old troop were soon upon the scene, and
-conferring with their old confederates, the Marsas and
-Castriccias, the rich worldly dames, and the dandy young
-clergy of Constantinople. There was no diminution meanwhile
-in the tide of invective poured forth from the golden
-mouth, and the pungency of his sarcasms did not lose force
-in the reports of them which were carried to the royal
-ears.<a name="FNanchor_587_587" id="FNanchor_587_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_587_587" class="fnanchor">587</a></p>
-
-<p>Once more the faction applied to the Patriarch of Alexandria,
-inviting him to come and conduct their operations.
-But he was too wary to involve himself personally in another
-campaign, to terminate perhaps in a second ignominious
-flight. His influence, however, even at a distance, was
-potent. The stratagem adopted this time was to counterfeit
-that General Council which had been constantly demanded
-by Chrysostom; packing it with hostile bishops who were
-ostensibly convened to revise, but in reality to confirm, the
-decision issued by the Synod of the Oak. Theophilus, then,
-having excused attendance at Constantinople in person, sent
-three “pitiful bishops” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐλεείνους ἐπισκόπους</span>), creatures of
-his own on whom he could rely, to execute his designs.<a name="FNanchor_588_588" id="FNanchor_588_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_588_588" class="fnanchor">588</a>
-They were armed with the 12th Canon of the Council of
-Antioch held in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 341, which declared that any bishop
-who, after deposition, appealed to the secular power for
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span>restoration, should, for that very act, be regarded by the
-Church as permanently and irrevocably deposed. The
-Council of Antioch had been swayed by Arian influence, and
-this same canon had been aimed against Athanasius, who
-had returned from exile to Alexandria under the Imperial
-sanction. It had been repudiated by the Western bishops,
-and some of the Eastern, at the Council of Sardica, and
-indeed by all who maintained communion with Athanasius.
-Theophilus, however, proposed to base the present proceedings
-against Chrysostom on this foundation; to turn, in fact,
-against the greatest luminary of Constantinople the engine
-which had been originally constructed against the greatest
-ornament of the Alexandrian see. The instrument would
-work well if proper hands could be procured to work it.
-Syria, Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, were once more ransacked
-to supply the council with disaffected prelates. To
-the old names of Acacius of Berœa, Severian of Gabala,
-Antiochus and Cyrinus, may be added, as leaders of the
-malignants, Leontius, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, Brison of
-Philippopolis in Thrace, Ammon of Laodicea in Pisidia;
-among those honourably distinguished as friendly to the
-Patriarch were Theodore of Tyana, Elpidius of Laodicea,
-Tranquillus (see unknown), and Alexander of Basilinopolis
-in Bithynia. Theodore, however, perceiving the malevolent
-intention with which the council was convoked, quitted
-Constantinople soon after his arrival.</p>
-
-<p>The council met about the close of the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 403. It
-was customary for the Emperor to attend Divine service in
-state on Christmas Day, but he was induced by the enemies
-of Chrysostom to refuse on this occasion, alleging that it was
-impossible to be present where the Patriarch officiated till
-he had been cleared of the serious charges brought against
-him. It was proposed at first to affect to meet the demand
-of Chrysostom for an equitable trial, and to hear all the
-charges which had been preferred at the Synod of the Oak.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span>
-But, the witnesses were so backward to appear, and the
-attitude of the defendant betokened such confidence in his
-cause, that it was deemed more prudent by his enemies to
-stake the whole issue on the canon of the Council of
-Antioch. If that was once admitted, there would be an end
-of the whole matter. The Archbishop, having been deposed
-already once for all, was not competent to appear and plead
-his cause before a council. Chrysostom and his friends
-opposed the adoption of such a course with two powerful
-arguments. They represented that the Council of Antioch
-had been managed by an Arian bishop and influenced by an
-Arian emperor, and the object of it had been to harass the
-great Athanasius. In the next place, the Synod of the
-Oak had been illegally constituted; sixty-five bishops had
-repudiated its decision; Chrysostom, therefore, was not
-legally deposed, and the canon of Antioch was in consequence
-not applicable to his case. This last objection was
-not permitted by his enemies. Leontius boldly declared,
-what appears to have been a palpable lie, that a larger
-number of bishops than sixty-five had voted against Chrysostom
-in the Synod.<a name="FNanchor_589_589" id="FNanchor_589_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_589_589" class="fnanchor">589</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus the question as to the validity of the Council of
-Antioch became the knot of the whole affair. It was
-debated with such vehemence on both sides, that at length
-the adversaries of the Patriarch proposed that a deputation
-from the two contending parties should plead the case before
-the Emperor, and submit the decision to him. It may be
-presumed from their making the proposal that they felt
-secure of a verdict favourable to their side, and, at the same
-time, by this step a semblance of impartiality would be
-imparted to the proceedings. The deputies met in the
-royal presence. When the heat which marked the beginning
-of the discussion had cooled down a little, Elpidius of
-Laodicea with much gentleness of manner made an astute
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span>proposal. He was an old man, eminent for stainlessness of
-character, as well as for learning in ecclesiastical lore. “Let
-us not,” he said, “weary the clemency of your Majesty any
-longer; only let our brethren, Acacius and Antiochus, subscribe
-a declaration that they are of the same faith with
-those who promulgated these canons, which they maintain
-to be the production of orthodox men, and the controversy
-will be at an end.” The Emperor perceived the adroitness
-of the proposal, and observed with a smile to Antiochus,
-that the plan struck him as the most expedient which could
-be devised. Antiochus and his colleagues turned livid with
-perplexity and rage, but, being fairly caught in the dilemma,
-were forced to dissemble their feelings, and simulated a
-willing consent to sign the proposed declaration. The
-promise was made, but never executed. The deputies retired,
-and the adversaries of the Patriarch laboured with redoubled
-energy to procure his final condemnation; but we have no
-record of any formal session or formally declared sentence.
-Chrysostom continued to preach and discharge his other
-functions with, if possible, increased diligence, and still
-acted as president over the floating synod of more than forty
-bishops who constantly adhered to his cause. His enemies,
-on the other hand, acted as if the sentence of condemnation
-had been passed, and continually requested the Emperor to
-put it into execution.<a name="FNanchor_590_590" id="FNanchor_590_590"></a><a href="#Footnote_590_590" class="fnanchor">590</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404. As Easter approached, they became more importunate
-in their demand. They dreaded the demonstrations
-which might be made in favour of their victim by the
-large congregations which on Holy Saturday and Easter Day
-were wont to assemble in the churches. They succeeded in
-prevailing on the Emperor to prohibit the Patriarch, as
-having been deposed and excommunicated by two councils,
-from entering or officiating in the church at Easter-tide.
-Chrysostom had always expressed an earnest desire to be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">332</a></span>tried before a lawful council, and to abide by its decision.
-This request had been systematically evaded even when
-ostensibly complied with. His whole soul rebelled with
-honest indignation against these insidious and persistent
-attempts to misrepresent his conduct, and he determined
-now to resist them by taking his stand on the lofty ground
-of his Divine mission. “I received this church from God
-my Saviour, and am charged with the care of the salvation of
-this flock, nor am I at liberty to abandon it. Expel me by
-force if you will, since the city belongs to you, that I may
-have your authority as an excuse for deserting my post.”<a name="FNanchor_591_591" id="FNanchor_591_591"></a><a href="#Footnote_591_591" class="fnanchor">591</a></p>
-
-<p>The Emperor, though with some shame, sent officials who
-removed the Archbishop from the church to his palace, with
-a strict injunction that he should not attempt to leave it.
-This was a cautious preliminary to final expulsion, suggested
-by superstitious dread of any earthquake or other manifestation
-of Divine displeasure. Should any such occur again,
-the Archbishop could be released in a moment; if not, they
-might proceed to further measures.</p>
-
-<p>Easter Eve arrived, the greatest day in the year for the
-baptism of converts. Three thousand were to be “initiated”
-this year. Chrysostom was again commanded to abstain
-from entering the church, but answered according to the
-tenor of his former reply, that he would not desist from
-officiating unless compelled by actual force. The feeble
-Arcadius was alarmed, and hesitated how to act. He
-scrupled to use force on so sacred a day, and dreaded an
-insurrection of the populace. As usual, he tried to shift
-responsibility from his own shoulders. He sent for Acacius
-and Antiochus, and requested their advice in the present
-emergency. They were too far committed now to draw back,
-and promptly replied that they would take on their heads
-the deposition of the Archbishop.</p>
-
-<p>One more effort was made to avert the impending cala<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">333</a></span>mity.
-The forty bishops who maintained a close friendship
-with Chrysostom accosted the Emperor and Empress as they
-were visiting, according to their custom at this season, some
-of the martyr chapels outside the city. They entreated
-their majesties with tears to spare the Church her chief
-pastor, especially on account of the season, and for the
-sake of those who were about to be baptized. But Arcadius
-and Eudoxia turned a deaf ear to their piteous appeal. The
-bishops retired, grief-stricken, to mourn over the wrongs of
-their Church and Patriarch; but not before one of them,
-Paul, bishop of Crateia, had lifted up his voice in bold and
-solemn warning:—“Take heed, Eudoxia; fear God; have
-pity on your children. Do not outrage by bloodshed the
-sacred and solemn festival of Jesus Christ.”<a name="FNanchor_592_592" id="FNanchor_592_592"></a><a href="#Footnote_592_592" class="fnanchor">592</a></p>
-
-<p>The church of St. Sophia became the scene, on the night
-of that Easter Eve, of shocking tumult. A vast congregation
-from the city and surrounding towns, including many
-of the catechumens, was keeping vigil to greet the dawn of
-the Resurrection morning. Suddenly a body of soldiers
-burst in with noise and violence, and took possession of the
-choir. The confusion may be imagined. Women and children
-fled shrieking in wild disorder. Many of the female
-catechumens, only half-dressed, in preparation for the reception
-of baptism, were hurriedly driven out of the baptistry
-with the deaconesses who attended them. Some were even
-wounded, and the sacred fonts stained with blood. Some of
-the soldiers, unbaptized men, penetrated even to the chamber
-where the Eucharistic elements were kept, and profaned
-them with their gaze and touch. The clergy were forcibly
-ejected in their vestments, and several were wounded. The
-pitiable spectacle of the mingled troop of men, women,
-children, and clergy, violently chased along the streets by
-the brutal soldiery, moved even Jews and Gentiles to com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span>passion.
-The clergy, however, rallied the scattered flock in
-the Baths of Constantine, the largest public baths in the
-city. Here they proceeded with the Easter services in due
-order; some reading the Scriptures, others baptizing. The
-churches of Constantinople were deserted, which the adversary
-wished to force the people to attend in the absence of
-the Archbishop, in the hope that the Court might thus
-suppose him to be unpopular.</p>
-
-<p>Such is the description of these violent scenes as drawn
-by the pen of Chrysostom himself, in a letter<a name="FNanchor_593_593" id="FNanchor_593_593"></a><a href="#Footnote_593_593" class="fnanchor">593</a> written soon
-after the occurrences, and addressed to Innocent I., bishop
-of Rome, Venerius, bishop of Milan, and Chromatius, bishop
-of Aquileia. “You may imagine the rest,” he concludes;
-“great as these calamities are, there is no prospect of their
-immediate termination; on the contrary, the evil extends
-every day. The spirit of insubordination is rapidly spreading
-from the capital to the provinces, from the head to the
-members. Clergy rebel against their bishop, and one bishop
-assails another. People are, or soon will be, split into
-factions. All places are racked by the throes of coming
-trouble, and the confusion is universal. Having been informed
-of all these things, then, my most reverend and
-prudent lords, display, I pray you, the courage and zeal
-which becomes you in restraining this lawlessness which has
-crept into the churches. For if it were to become a prevailing
-and allowable custom, for any at their pleasure to pass
-into foreign and distant dioceses, and to expel whomsoever
-any one may choose, and act as they like on their own private
-authority, be sure that all discipline will go to pieces, and a
-kind of implacable warfare will pervade the world, all expelling
-or being themselves expelled. Wherefore, to prevent
-the subjection of the world to such confusion, I beseech you
-to enjoin that these acts so illegally performed in my absence,
-when I had not declined fair judgment, may be reckoned
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span>invalid, as indeed in the nature of things they are, and that
-those who have been detected taking part in these iniquitous
-proceedings may be subjected to the penalty of ecclesiastical
-law; while we who have not been proved guilty may continue
-to enjoy your correspondence and friendship as aforetime.”
-He closes his letter by affirming that he was still
-prepared to prove his innocence and the guilt of his accusers
-before a legally constituted council.</p>
-
-<p>This letter is interesting not only in itself, but because it
-illustrates remarkably the growing tendency of Christendom
-to appeal to the arbitration of the Western Church, and
-especially of the Bishop of Rome, in matters of ecclesiastical
-discipline. The law-making, law-protecting spirit of the
-West is invoked to restrain the turbulence and licentiousness
-of the East. The Patriarch of the Eastern Rome appeals to
-the great bishops of the West, as the champions of an
-ecclesiastical discipline which he confesses himself unable to
-enforce, or to see any prospect of establishing. No jealousy
-is entertained of the Patriarch of the old Rome by the
-Patriarch of the new. The interference of Innocent is
-courted, a certain primacy is accorded him, but at the same
-time he is not addressed as a supreme arbitrator; assistance
-and sympathy are solicited from him as from an elder
-brother, and two other prelates of Italy are joint recipients
-with him of the appeal. The effect of this letter will
-shortly be related; for the present, the course of events at
-Constantinople must be followed.</p>
-
-<p>It did not suit the purpose of Acacius and his party to
-allow the congregation which had been hunted out of St.
-Sophia to proceed with their service in the baths unmolested.
-If the Emperor entered the church in the morning and found
-it deserted, the vacancy on so great a day would reveal too
-plainly the intense devotion of the people to their bishop.
-The aim of the conspirators was to force the people to attend
-the services, which were to be marked by the absence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span>
-Chrysostom alone. They accordingly applied to Anthemius,
-Master of the Offices, to disperse the congregation, if necessary
-by force. Anthemius, however, was a moderate, prudent
-man, and kindly disposed towards the Patriarch. He
-refused to interfere, pleading the advanced hour of the night,
-the vastness of the assembly, and the risk of serious tumult.
-He yielded, however, to their persevering and urgent demands
-so far as to direct Lucius, a subordinate officer, commander
-of a Thracian corps called the Scutarii, to present
-himself with his troops at the entrance of the baths, and
-exhort the people to return to the church, as the more
-proper place for conducting the services. He was strictly
-charged to abstain from violence. He acted on his instructions,
-and harangued the congregation, but without effect.
-The chanting of the Psalms and the administration of
-baptism to crowds of catechumens were proceeded with.
-Lucius returned and reported his errand ineffectual. Acacius
-and his colleagues urged him with all their eloquence, and
-with promises of rich reward, probably more effective than
-their golden words, to make another effort, and to use force
-if persuasion were not regarded. They gave him some
-ecclesiastics to accompany him and, as it were, sanction
-their proceedings. Whether they began by exhortation is
-not recorded; at any rate, if it was given, no attention was
-paid to it, and it was quickly seconded by barbarian
-violence. Lucius himself pushed his way to the place of
-baptism, and laid about him with a truncheon upon candidates,
-deacons, and priests, some of them aged men, and
-dispersed them in all directions. The soldiers seized and
-plundered the women of their ornaments, the clergy of their
-vestments, and the sacred vessels belonging to the Church;
-they beat the fugitives and dragged them off to the prisons.
-The natural solitude and silence of the streets, in the hour
-immediately preceding dawn, were disturbed by the cries of
-the captives and the shouts of their brutal captors.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In the morning the street walls were covered with proclamations,
-menacing with severe punishment any who
-persisted in maintaining intercourse with the Patriarch.<a name="FNanchor_594_594" id="FNanchor_594_594"></a><a href="#Footnote_594_594" class="fnanchor">594</a></p>
-
-<p>The baths were effectually emptied of the congregation;
-but to fill the churches could not so easily be accomplished; in
-fact, they were entirely deserted. Large numbers of the dispersed
-congregation who had escaped the hands of the soldiers
-fled outside the walls of Constantinople, and, with indefatigable
-zeal, sought to complete the celebration of the Paschal rites
-as best they could in the secure recesses of woods or valleys.
-A large number assembled in a field called Pempton, because
-five miles from the Forum of Constantine, an open space
-surrounded by wood and intended to be used as a Hippodrome.
-In the course of the day—Easter Day—the Emperor
-and his retinue happened to ride, or perhaps were maliciously
-conducted, near the spot. The eye of Arcadius was attracted
-by the sight of a large body of people, many of them clothed
-in white, crowded together outside the Hippodrome. Unhappily,
-the Emperor was attended by courtiers inimical to
-the Archbishop. They replied to his inquiries respecting
-the nature of the concourse, that it was a body of heretics
-who had met to worship there in order to escape interference.
-Arcadius was weak enough to allow, without further inquiry,
-a number of soldiers who formed part of his escort to ride in
-upon the assembly and seize the most conspicuous leaders.
-A number of priests were captured, and several rich and
-noble ladies, whom the soldiers despoiled of their head-dresses
-and earrings with great barbarity, in one instance
-even tearing away with the appendage a portion of the ear
-itself.</p>
-
-<p>One more attempt was made to assemble in a wooden
-hippodrome, built by Constantine, called the Xulodrome;
-but once more they were driven out, and hunted from place
-to place with relentless diligence. These repeated assaults
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span>broke up the flock of Chrysostom; the prisons were filled
-with the Johnites, as they were called after the name of
-their bishop, and the churches were empty. The prison
-walls echoed to the sound of the chants and hymns of the
-martyrs, but the churches to the noise of scourge and fierce
-threats administered to those who ventured to enter. This
-was done in the hope that they might be coerced by torture
-to anathematise the Archbishop.<a name="FNanchor_595_595" id="FNanchor_595_595"></a><a href="#Footnote_595_595" class="fnanchor">595</a></p>
-
-<p>He himself, however, meanwhile continued to reside two
-months in his palace, though not without risk. Twice, as it
-was believed, attempts were made to assassinate him, but
-frustrated. Suspicion fell first on a man who affected demoniacal
-possession, and hovered much about the precincts
-of the palace. A dagger was found upon his person; the
-people seized him and dragged him before the prefect; but
-Chrysostom procured his release through the intercession of
-some bishops, just as he was about to be examined by torture.
-A second attempt was supposed to be intended by a slave,
-who ran at full speed towards the entrance of the palace, and
-plunged a dagger, in some instances with fatal effect, into
-several passers-by who endeavoured to stop him. He was
-at last surrounded and captured by the people, when he
-confessed that he had been bribed by his master, a priest
-named Elpidius, to try and assassinate the Archbishop.
-The fury of the people was appeased by the imprisonment
-of the man; but they now resolved to take the protection of
-their Archbishop into their own hands. They divided themselves
-into companies, which kept watch by turns, night
-and day, over the episcopal palace. The hostile party,
-dreading any further impediments to the execution of their
-iniquitous sentence, now hurried matters to their conclusion.
-Five days after Pentecost, four bishops—Acacius, Antiochus,
-Severian, and Cyrinus—obtained an interview with the
-Emperor. They represented that the city never would be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">339</a></span>tranquil till the removal of the Archbishop had been effected,
-and that his remaining in the palace after his condemnation
-was a gross violation of ecclesiastical law. They avowed
-themselves willing to take the responsibility of his deposition
-on their own heads, and besought the Emperor
-not to be more lenient and concessive than were bishops
-and priests.<a name="FNanchor_596_596" id="FNanchor_596_596"></a><a href="#Footnote_596_596" class="fnanchor">596</a></p>
-
-<p>June, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404. The long-hoped-for mandate was at
-length issued. It was conveyed to the Archbishop by the
-notary Patricius, and informed him that Acacius and three
-other bishops having charged themselves with the responsibility
-of his deposition, he must commend himself to God,
-and quit the church and the palace without delay. The
-martyr received the cruel order with meek submission, and
-prepared to act upon it with prompt obedience. He passed
-from his palace to his church, saying to the bishops who
-accompanied him, “Come, let us pray and say farewell to
-the Angel of the Church. At my own fate I can rejoice,
-I only grieve for the sorrow of the people.” One of his
-friends, a nobleman, conveyed a warning to him to avoid
-by a secret departure the risk of exciting popular tumult.
-He informed him that Lucius was waiting with troops in
-one of the public baths to compel his removal in the event of
-any delay or resistance, and that the consequences of any
-attempt at a rescue by the populace might be serious.</p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom acted on his advice. He entered the choir
-with his friendly bishops, bestowed on them a farewell kiss
-and farewell words; then bidding them wait for him there
-while he went to repose, he entered the baptistry, and sent for
-the deaconesses, Olympias, Pentadia, Procla, and Salvina.
-“Come hither, my daughters,” he said, “and hearken to me:
-my career, I perceive, is coming to an end; I have finished
-my course, and perchance ye will see my face no more.
-Now I exhort you to this: let not any of you break off her
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">340</a></span>accustomed benevolence towards the Church. If any man
-is appointed my successor without having canvassed the
-office, and against his own will, but by the common consent
-of all, submit to his authority as if he were Chrysostom
-himself; so may ye obtain mercy. Remember me in your
-prayers.” The women threw themselves at his feet dissolved
-in tears. The Archbishop made a sign to one of the priests
-to remove the women, lest, as he said, their wailing should
-attract the attention of the people outside. He directed
-that the mule on which he was accustomed to ride should
-be saddled and taken to the western gate of the cathedral;
-and while the people’s attention was diverted by this feint,
-he passed out, unobserved, by a small door near the east
-end, and surrendered himself to some soldiers who were at
-hand to convey him to the port. So he departed from the
-church, the scene of his indefatigable labours, whose walls
-were never again to resound to his eloquence. He went
-out, and, in the emphatic words of the historian to whose
-narrative we are indebted for the minute picture of these
-occurrences, “the Angel of the Church went out with him.”
-Two bishops, Cyriacus of Synnada in Phrygia, and Eulysius
-of Apamea in Bithynia, accompanied him on board the vessel
-which conveyed him across the straits to the Bithynian
-coast.<a name="FNanchor_597_597" id="FNanchor_597_597"></a><a href="#Footnote_597_597" class="fnanchor">597</a></p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">341</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">FURY OF THE PEOPLE AT THE REMOVAL OF CHRYSOSTOM—DESTRUCTION
-OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH AND SENATE-HOUSE BY FIRE—PERSECUTION
-OF CHRYSOSTOM’S FOLLOWERS—FUGITIVES TO ROME—LETTERS
-OF INNOCENT TO THEOPHILUS—TO THE CLERGY OF CONSTANTINOPLE—TO
-CHRYSOSTOM—DEPUTATION OF WESTERN BISHOPS TO CONSTANTINOPLE
-REPULSED—SUFFERINGS OF THE EASTERN CHURCH—TRIUMPH
-OF THE CABAL. A.D. 404, 405.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> people, meanwhile, both within the church and outside,
-were not long in discovering that the Archbishop had disappeared
-from the building and its precincts. They became
-furiously agitated: some rushed to the harbour, but too late
-to obstruct the embarkation. The doors of the cathedral,
-which had been locked by some of the cabal, who anticipated
-a rush of the people as soon as the departure of Chrysostom
-should have been discovered, were fiercely battered by the
-crowd on both sides. Jews and Pagans looked on, and jeered
-derisively at the tumult. The horror of this scene of wild
-confusion was suddenly increased by the apparition of fire
-bursting forth from the building. How kindled, by accident
-or design, it is impossible to determine. Each party fiercely
-charged the other with the guilt of the catastrophe, and some
-attributed it to miraculous interference of heavenly powers.
-The conflagration broke out in or near the throne of the
-Archbishop, which it consumed, and then spread to the roof.
-In three hours the edifice, whose erection and embellishment
-had been the work of many years, was reduced to a heap of
-cinders. The only portion not destroyed was the treasury<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">342</a></span>
-which contained the sacred vessels of silver and gold, as if
-expressly to confute one of the charges made against the
-Archbishop, that he had sold all the most valuable ornaments
-belonging to the church. Germanus and Cassian, the
-custodians of the treasury, when they fled to Rome, carried
-with them a copy of the inventory of all these articles,
-which, when they surrendered their office, had been handed
-over to the prefect and some of the other chief functionaries
-of the city.</p>
-
-<p>The conflagration, however, did not confine itself to the
-cathedral. A violent north wind carried the flames across
-the Forum, and ignited the great curia or senate-house; not,
-however, that side of it which faced the cathedral, but the
-further side, which looked into the little forum where the
-royal palace was situated. The whole senate-house was
-destroyed. The statues of the Muses which Constantine
-had brought from Helicon were consumed, and all the
-other principal adornments. The images of Zeus and Athene
-alone were found intact, beneath a heap of ruins and of
-masses of molten lead which had dropped upon them from
-the burning roof.<a name="FNanchor_598_598" id="FNanchor_598_598"></a><a href="#Footnote_598_598" class="fnanchor">598</a></p>
-
-<p>The real or affected suspicion that the Archbishop and his
-flock were the incendiaries was quite a sufficient pretext for
-treating them with rigour. He himself, with Cyriacus and
-Eulysius, was detained in chains under a strict guard in
-Bithynia. These two companions were taken from him and
-conveyed bound to Chalcedon, but after examination were
-dismissed as innocent. But at Constantinople the persecution
-was enforced with merciless severity under the auspices
-of Optatus, a Pagan, now prefect in the place of Studius.
-All the followers of the Archbishop, clerical and lay, high
-and low, were subjected, if caught, to rigorous inquisition,
-and most of them to severe punishment. Chrysostom wrote
-a letter from Bithynia to the Emperor, imploring that he
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">343</a></span>might at least be allowed to appear and defend himself and
-his clergy from the atrocious charge of incendiarism, but the
-letter received no attention; and as the poor exile continued
-his journey to Nice, his sufferings were enhanced by pitiable
-intelligence of the persecution inflicted on bishops, priests,
-and deacons who refused to anathematise him or recognise the
-validity of his deposition. But the spirit of the exile was
-not only brave to support his own troubles, but could spare
-some of its energy to encourage those, who were suffering in
-his cause, to patience, fortitude, resignation, and even joy.<a name="FNanchor_599_599" id="FNanchor_599_599"></a><a href="#Footnote_599_599" class="fnanchor">599</a></p>
-
-<p>In times of religious persecution, the language of the New
-Testament, about the blessedness of tribulation as a pledge
-of future happiness and a means of preparation for it, comes
-home to men’s hearts with a reality and force which seem to
-exceed our present application of it to the troubles and
-sorrows of ordinary life. Those who were firmly persuaded
-that their cause was the cause of truth and of Jesus Christ
-read the words, “Blessed are ye when ye are persecuted for
-righteousness’ sake,” or, “Happy are ye when men revile you
-and persecute you,” as if spoken directly to themselves; and
-they really did “rejoice in that day, and leap for joy.” Such
-are the texts which Chrysostom cites for the consolation
-of his suffering friends. He speaks of their exposure to
-intimidation by threats, imprisonment, frequent appearance
-in judges’ courts, torture at the hands of the executioner,
-shameless false evidence, coarse ribaldry, and scurrilous jests;
-but “blessed were they, yea, thrice blessed, and more than
-that, to endure imprisonment and chains, for not only was
-their fortitude the subject of admiration everywhere, but
-their present sufferings were the measure of their future
-happiness, and their names had been inscribed in the Book
-of Life.”<a name="FNanchor_600_600" id="FNanchor_600_600"></a><a href="#Footnote_600_600" class="fnanchor">600</a></p>
-
-<p>The destruction of the church and senate-house was the
-first pretext for instituting persecution against the adherents
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">344</a></span>of Chrysostom; the second was, their refusal to recognise
-his successor. One week after his deposition, Arsacius,
-brother of Nectarius the predecessor of Chrysostom, was,
-apparently by the simple exercise of Imperial authority,
-elevated to the see. He was eighty years old, and is
-quaintly described by Palladius as “muter than a fish, and
-more incapable than a frog.”<a name="FNanchor_601_601" id="FNanchor_601_601"></a><a href="#Footnote_601_601" class="fnanchor">601</a> The probable aim of the
-Empress was to secure a man whose servility might be
-depended on. His brother, Nectarius, had once desired
-to make him Bishop of Tarsus; and, on his declining to
-accept the promotion, had taunted him with ambitiously
-reserving himself for the see of Constantinople; whereupon
-Arsacius had taken an oath that he never would accept any
-bishopric. But ambition and Imperial authority overcame
-his scruples. He is described by the historians as a man of
-pious disposition and mild conduct; with one exception:
-that he persecuted with relentless vigour the contumacious
-adherents of his predecessor. By Chrysostom he is
-denounced as a wolf, and in a figurative sense as an
-adulterer, on account of his usurpation of the see during
-the lifetime of its legitimate occupant.<a name="FNanchor_602_602" id="FNanchor_602_602"></a><a href="#Footnote_602_602" class="fnanchor">602</a> Arsacius applied
-to the civil powers for assistance to compel the Johnites to
-attend the churches where he and his clergy officiated. A
-tribune was directed to attack a body of them who had
-assembled for worship in some remote part of the city. The
-soldiers dispersed the assembly, took several of the most
-eminent persons prisoners, and, as usual, stripped the women
-of their golden girdles, jewels, and earrings. The only consequence
-of this was, that the Johnites became more attached
-to the cause and memory of their late Archbishop. Some of
-them fled the city, and many more refrained as much as
-possible from appearing in public places, such as the Forum
-and the baths. Meetings of some kind for worship were
-not discontinued, or were soon resumed, for we find Chryso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">345</a></span>stom,
-in one of his letters written during his exile, reproving
-two priests, Theophilus and Salustius, for slackness in attending
-such assemblies.<a name="FNanchor_603_603" id="FNanchor_603_603"></a><a href="#Footnote_603_603" class="fnanchor">603</a> But worshippers ran great risks.
-The prefect Optatus, who succeeded Studius, probably
-because the latter was considered too lenient, appears to have
-entertained all the animosity of a thorough Pagan against
-Christians, and to have rejoiced in the present opportunity
-of inflicting sufferings upon them. He combined the two
-charges of incendiarism and contumacy in his prosecution of
-the Johnites, and endeavoured to extort confessions of guilt
-from his victims with merciless barbarity.</p>
-
-<p>A few instances are recorded, and they are quite enough
-to sicken us of the tale of such horrors. Eutropius, a reader,
-was commanded to name the persons who had set fire to the
-church. He refused. He was young and delicate, and it
-was thought a confession might be wrung from him under
-the agony of torture. He was lashed with a scourge, his
-cheeks were scraped, and his sides lacerated with iron teeth,
-after which lighted torches were applied to the wounded
-parts. No information could be extorted from him: he was
-therefore conveyed to prison, and thrown into a dungeon,
-where he expired. Some priests, adherents of Arsacius,
-buried him by night, that his mangled body might not be
-seen by any eyes but those of his enemies. Celestial music
-was said to have been heard at the time of his interment.</p>
-
-<p>Tigrius, the priest, whose presence with Serapion had
-been demanded at the Synod of the Oak, was another victim.
-He was stripped, scourged on his back, and then stretched
-on the rack till his bones were dislocated. He survived the
-torture, and was banished to Mesopotamia. Serapion himself,
-now bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, was seized, tried on several
-calumnious charges, barbarously scourged, and sent into exile.</p>
-
-<p>Those ladies also who were most distinguished for their
-friendship with the deposed Archbishop, and for the dedica<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">346</a></span>tion
-of their time and money to the Church, were marked
-objects of persecution. They were brought before the prefect,
-and admonished by him to acknowledge Arsacius, and
-so save themselves from future annoyance. A few from
-timidity complied; but Olympias, who was subjected to a
-severer examination, confronted it with a dauntless spirit.
-She was bluntly asked why she had set fire to the “Great
-Church.” “My manner of life,” replied the accused, “is a
-sufficient refutation of such a charge; a person who has
-expended large sums of money to restore and embellish the
-churches of God is not likely to burn and demolish them.”
-“I know your past course of life well,” cried the prefect.
-“If you know aught against it, then descend from your place
-there as judge, and come forward as my accuser,” replied the
-undaunted Olympias. Perceiving that she was not to be
-browbeaten, Optatus proposed the same course to her which
-had been adopted by some other women as a means of
-exemption from further persecution, namely, communion
-with Arsacius; but she scornfully rejected the base compromise.
-“I have been publicly calumniated by a charge
-which cannot be proven, and I will not accede to any terms
-till I have been cleared from this accusation. Even if you
-resort to force, I will not hold communion with those from
-whom I ought to secede, nor do anything contrary to the
-principles of my holy religion.” She made a request, which
-was granted, that she might be allowed a few days to consult
-with lawyers on the proper means of legally refuting the
-libellous accusation. The prefect, however (on what pretence
-is not stated), sent for her again, and exacted a heavy
-fine, in the hope that she would be induced to yield. The
-fine was paid without any reluctance, but her refusal to
-acknowledge the usurper was inflexible; and to avoid, if
-possible, further pressure and persecution, she retired to
-Cyzicus, on the other side of the straits.<a name="FNanchor_604_604" id="FNanchor_604_604"></a><a href="#Footnote_604_604" class="fnanchor">604</a></p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">347</a></span></p>
-<p>The tidings of her fortitude and loyalty were conveyed to
-the exiled Chrysostom, and so cheered his spirit in the
-midst of depression and sickness that his sufferings seemed
-to him as nothing. “When many men and women, old and
-young, highly reputed for their virtue, had turned their backs
-on the enemy almost before the conflict had begun, she,
-on the other hand, after many encounters, so far from being
-enervated, was even invigorated; she spread forth the sails
-of patience, and floated securely as on a calm sea; so far
-from being overwhelmed by the storm, she was scarcely
-sprinkled by the spray. In the seclusion of her little house
-she was able to inspire courage into the hearts of others,
-and had been to them a haven of comfort and a tower of
-strength.”<a name="FNanchor_605_605" id="FNanchor_605_605"></a><a href="#Footnote_605_605" class="fnanchor">605</a></p>
-
-<p>The deaconess Pentadia, widow of the consul Timasius,
-was another victim. She led the life of a recluse, never
-going beyond the walls of her house except to church. She
-was now dragged from her retreat through the Forum to the
-prefect’s tribunal, and thence to prison, charged with being
-an accomplice in the late fire. Several persons were put to
-the torture before her eyes, in order to intimidate her into a
-confession; but in vain. Her firm demeanour, courageous
-answers, and powerful demonstrations of her innocence, confounded
-and silenced her adversaries, and elicited the admiration
-of the public. Beyond imprisonment, no indignities
-seem to have been inflicted on her; and when desirous to
-quit the capital, she was persuaded by Chrysostom to remain,
-who represented the great value of her presence and example
-in animating others to undergo their present afflictions. She
-had apparently intended to try and join him in his place of
-exile, when he had been removed to Cucusus, on the confines
-of Lesser Armenia, for he dwells on the great risk to
-her delicate health from a journey in winter, and the danger
-of being plundered by the Isaurian robbers, who were just
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">348</a></span>then, he says, in a powerful condition. He, therefore, on all
-grounds, begs her to remain where she is, but to relieve his
-mind from anxiety about her affairs and health by constantly
-writing to him.<a name="FNanchor_606_606" id="FNanchor_606_606"></a><a href="#Footnote_606_606" class="fnanchor">606</a></p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, the injured Church of Constantinople did not
-cease through letters and emissaries to solicit the interference
-of the Western Church. The first intimation of the
-calamities we have been describing which reached the ears
-of Rome was through a messenger despatched by Theophilus.
-The letter which he brought was inscribed “From Pope
-Theophilus to Pope Innocent,” and stated in the barest
-manner, without assigning his reasons or mentioning any
-assessors in his judgment, that he had deposed Chrysostom,
-and that it behoved Innocent to break off communion with
-him. The Pope was displeased by the cool and curt character
-of the letter, and somewhat perplexed how to notice or
-reply to so inexplicit a despatch. Eusebius, a deacon from
-Constantinople, who was in Rome at the time on some
-ecclesiastical business, obtained an interview with Innocent,
-and entreated him not to act till information should be
-received from Constantinople, which, he added (on what
-grounds does not appear), he had good reason to expect
-would arrive in a short time. Three days afterwards four
-bishops did arrive, bearing the letter from Chrysostom to
-Innocent which contained that pathetic and perspicuous
-narrative of the recent occurrences, from which extracts have
-been made in the preceding chapter. They brought two
-other letters, one from the forty friendly bishops, another
-from the clergy of Constantinople.</p>
-
-<p>Innocent no longer hesitated to pronounce an opinion.
-His letter to Theophilus is brief, decisive, almost peremptory
-in tone. “The See of Rome,” he said, “would maintain
-communion with Alexandria and Constantinople to avoid
-rending the unity of the Church; but he annulled (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀθέτησας</span>)
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span>the deposition of John apparently made by Theophilus. It
-was impossible to recognise the validity of a sentence pronounced
-by such an irregular synod as that lately convened
-at Chalcedon. If Theophilus had confidence in the justice
-of that sentence, he must appear in person to prove it before
-a General Council called together and regulated according to
-the Canons of Nice.” A few days after the despatch of this
-letter, Peter, an Alexandrian priest, arrived with a deacon
-from Constantinople, bearing another letter from Theophilus,
-and certain minutes, so called, of the acts of the Synod of
-the Oak. Innocent, having perused the minutes, was indignant
-at the mingled monstrosity and levity of the charges
-brought against Chrysostom, and at the condemnation
-having been pronounced in the absence of the defendant.
-He ordered special prayers and fasts to be observed by
-the Church for the restoration of concord, and addressed
-to Theophilus a sharp letter of reproof.<a name="FNanchor_607_607" id="FNanchor_607_607"></a><a href="#Footnote_607_607" class="fnanchor">607</a></p>
-
-<p>It is not easy to make out precisely how many communications
-passed each way between the Churches of Rome and
-Constantinople, or the exact date of each; but several letters
-are distinctly mentioned. Theotecnus, a priest from Constantinople,
-brought a letter from twenty-five of the forty
-bishops who had constantly adhered to Chrysostom, in
-which they described the expulsion of the Patriarch and the
-conflagration of the church. Innocent replied by a letter of
-condolence, and exhortation to bear their trial with Christian
-fortitude and patience, for at present he confessed, with deep
-regret, that he saw small prospect of rendering much effectual
-aid, “owing to the opposition of certain persons powerful for
-evil,” alluding probably to the jealousies between the Courts
-of the two brothers, Honorius and Arcadius. The cabal also
-sent a letter to Innocent, containing their version of the
-late transactions. Their emissary was Paternus, who called
-himself a priest of Constantinople; “an ugly little fellow,”
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">350</a></span>says Palladius, “and very unintelligible.” The letter was
-written in the names of Arsacius, Paulus, Antiochus, Cyrinus,
-Severian, and some others; and, among other opprobrious
-charges, distinctly accused Chrysostom of setting fire to the
-church. Innocent treated the letter with much disdain, and
-would not condescend to answer it. Some days afterwards,
-Cyriacus, bishop of Synnada, arrived in Rome as a fugitive,
-in consequence of an Imperial edict, which directed the
-deposition of any bishop who refused to communicate with
-Arsacius and Theophilus, and the confiscation of his property,
-if he had any. After Cyriacus arrived Eulysius,
-bishop of Apamea in Bithynia, bringing a letter from fifteen
-of the forty friendly bishops, which described all the past
-and present distress of the Church caused by Chrysostom’s
-enemies, and in all respects confirmed the oral account of
-Cyriacus. In the course of another month, Palladius, bishop
-of Hellenopolis, fled to Rome from the intolerable harshness
-of magisterial decrees, which now subjected to confiscation
-the house of any one who should be found to have harboured
-bishop, priest, or even layman, who communicated with
-Chrysostom. From a letter of Chrysostom<a name="FNanchor_608_608" id="FNanchor_608_608"></a><a href="#Footnote_608_608" class="fnanchor">608</a> it appears that
-Palladius and many others lived for some time in concealment
-at Constantinople, in the hope of escaping persecution.
-They were courteously lodged in Rome by one Pinianus and
-his wife, by Juliana, Proba, and other Roman ladies, whom
-Chrysostom warmly thanks for their kindness in letters
-written by him from Cucusus.<a name="FNanchor_609_609" id="FNanchor_609_609"></a><a href="#Footnote_609_609" class="fnanchor">609</a> Germanus the priest, and
-Cassian the deacon, custodians of the Church treasury at
-Constantinople, also came to Rome, bringing a letter from
-the whole body of the clergy who adhered to Chrysostom,
-describing the violent deposition and expulsion of the Archbishop,
-and the tyranny of their adversaries under which
-they were now suffering.<a name="FNanchor_610_610" id="FNanchor_610_610"></a><a href="#Footnote_610_610" class="fnanchor">610</a></p>
-
-<p>The reply of Innocent to this letter from the clergy of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">351</a></span>Constantinople is dignified as well as sympathetic. He
-exhorts, as usual, to patience, and to the derivation of comfort
-from the remembrance of the sufferings of all God’s
-saints in past times. But he deeply deplores their wrongs,
-and again expresses his reprobation in the strongest terms
-of the illegality of the late proceedings. “The canon which
-prohibited the ordination of a successor during the lifetime
-of the reigning bishop had been grossly violated. The
-Canons of Antioch, on which the synod had relied, were
-invalid, having been composed by heretics, and they had
-been rejected by the Council of Sardica. The Canons of
-Nice alone were entitled to the obedience of the Church;
-but adversaries and heretics were always attempting to subvert
-them.”... “What steps, then, should be taken in the
-existing crisis? Plainly a General Council must be convoked:
-that was the only means of appeasing the fury of
-the tempest. He was watching an opportunity to accomplish
-this: meanwhile, they must wait in patience, and trust
-the goodness of God for the restoration of tranquillity and
-good order.”</p>
-
-<p>To Chrysostom Innocent wrote, as friend to friend, as a
-bishop to a brother bishop, a letter of Christian consolation
-and encouragement, not entering into the legal questions of
-the case, and not pledging himself to decisive action of any
-kind. It was not necessary to remind one, who was himself
-the teacher and pastor of a great people, that God often tried
-the best of men, and put their patience to the severest tests,
-and that they are firmly supported under the greatest calamities
-by the approving voice of conscience.... A good man
-may be severely tried, but cannot be overcome, since he is
-preserved and guarded by the truth of Holy Scripture.
-Holy Scripture supplied abundant examples of suffering
-saints who did not receive their crowns until they had undergone
-the heaviest trials with patience. “Take courage, then,
-honoured brother, from the testimony of conscience. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">352</a></span>
-you have been purified by affliction, you will enter into the
-haven of peace in the presence of Christ our Lord.”<a name="FNanchor_611_611" id="FNanchor_611_611"></a><a href="#Footnote_611_611" class="fnanchor">611</a></p>
-
-<p>Innocent, however, not only wrote commonplace letters
-of condolence, but exerted himself to obtain the council
-which he had recommended to the Church of Constantinople
-as the only means of redressing her wrongs. He wrote a
-letter to Honorius, then at Ravenna, representing the
-lamentable condition of the Church of Constantinople, which
-elicited from the Emperor an order for the convention of an
-Italian synod. This synod, after a due consideration of all
-the circumstances, was to submit its decision and suggestions
-to himself. The result of the deliberations of the Italian
-bishops, swayed no doubt by Innocent, was to request the
-Emperor to write to his brother Arcadius, urging the convocation
-of a General Council to be held in Thessalonica,
-which would be a convenient meeting-point for the prelates
-of East and West. Honorius complied, and the letter was
-despatched under the care of a deputation from the Italian
-Church, consisting of five bishops, two priests, and a deacon.
-The Emperor calls it the third letter<a name="FNanchor_612_612" id="FNanchor_612_612"></a><a href="#Footnote_612_612" class="fnanchor">612</a> which he had written
-relative to the affairs of Constantinople. He professes
-great solicitude for the peace of the Church, “on which,” he
-observes, “the peace of our Empire depends;” and with a
-view to this object, he urges the convocation of a council at
-Thessalonica, and specially entreats that the attendance of
-Theophilus, who was, he is informed, author of all these
-disturbances, should be insisted upon. He commends the
-deputation to the honourable care of Arcadius; and that he
-may know the sentiments of the Italian Church on the
-present state of affairs, he sends him two letters as samples
-of many, one from the Bishop of Rome, the other from the
-Bishop of Aquileia.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">353</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The only bishop on the deputation whose see is mentioned
-was Æmilius, bishop of Beneventum. The Oriental
-refugees, Cyriacus, Demetrius, Palladius, and Eulysius,
-accompanied the Italians. They were the bearers not only
-of letters from Honorius, Innocent, and the bishops Chromatius
-of Aquileia and Venerius of Milan, but also of a
-memorial from the Italian synod, which recommended that
-Chrysostom should be reinstated in his see before he was
-required to take his trial before a council. He would then,
-it was observed, have no reasonable excuse for declining to
-attend it. The deputation was absent four months. On
-their return the members had a pitiful tale to tell of failure
-in their errand, and of personal suffering from maltreatment.
-They touched at Athens on their voyage out, whence they
-had intended to proceed to Thessalonica, and lay the letters
-first of all before Anysius, bishop of that place; but at
-Athens they were arrested by a military officer, who placed
-them on board two vessels under charge of a centurion, to
-be conveyed to Constantinople. A furious southerly gale
-sprang up soon after their departure, and, after a voyage of
-some danger, they arrived, late on the third day, at the
-suburb of Constantinople called Victor. But, instead of
-being allowed to proceed to the city, they were shut up in a
-fortress named Athyra, on the coast—the Romans in a single
-chamber, the Orientals in separate apartments. No servant
-even was permitted to attend them. They were commanded
-to deliver up the letters which they had brought, but refused,
-as being ambassadors, to surrender them to any but to the
-Emperor himself. Secretaries and messengers were sent in
-succession, but the ambassadors steadfastly adhered to their
-refusal. The letters were at length wrested from their
-possession by sheer violence: one bishop’s thumb was
-broken in the struggle. On the following day a large bribe
-was offered them if they would recognise Atticus (the aged
-Arsacius was now dead) as Patriarch, and say no more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">354</a></span>
-about the trial of Chrysostom. This base proposal was
-firmly resisted; and, seeing the utter hopelessness of their
-mission, they requested to be released as soon as possible,
-and suffered to return to their dioceses in safety. The
-Italians saw no more of their companions from the East.
-They themselves were thrust into a miserable vessel, with
-twenty soldiers of various grades, and conveyed to Lampsacus,
-on the Asiatic coast, where they embarked in another
-vessel, and, after a tedious voyage of twenty days, arrived at
-Hydruntum, in Calabria.<a name="FNanchor_613_613" id="FNanchor_613_613"></a><a href="#Footnote_613_613" class="fnanchor">613</a></p>
-
-<p>Neither the Papacy nor the Empire of the West was
-sufficiently powerful at this time to insist further upon
-justice being done to the Patriarch, in the face of the
-determined animosity of the ruling powers at Constantinople;
-but the friends of the martyr deemed that they
-read unequivocal signs of the Divine displeasure in the misfortunes
-which befell some of Chrysostom’s greatest personal
-enemies. Thrace and Illyria were ravaged by an incursion
-of Huns, and the Isaurians, a predatory barbarian race,
-which inhabited the fastnesses of Mount Taurus, committed
-fearful havoc in Syria and Asia Minor. Cyrinus, bishop of
-Chalcedon, one of the four who had taken on them the
-responsibility of Chrysostom’s condemnation, died in great
-agony from the wound in his foot, originally caused when his
-foot had been trodden upon by Bishop Maruthas, more than
-a year ago, just before the Synod of the Oak. At the end
-of September, Constantinople was visited by a destructive
-fall of hailstones of extraordinary size; and on October 6,
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404, died the Empress Eudoxia. Nilus, one of the most
-eminent anchorites of the day, once prefect of Constantinople,
-who had abandoned wealth, family, and position for
-the solitudes of Mount Sinai, addressed two letters of reproof
-and warning to Arcadius on the iniquitous banishment of
-Chrysostom and inhuman persecution of his followers.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">355</a></span>
-“How can you expect to see Constantinople delivered from
-visitations of earthquake and fire from Heaven, after the
-enormities which have there been perpetrated; after crime
-has been established there by the authority of laws; after
-the thrice-blessed John, the pillar of the Church, the lamp
-of truth, the trumpet of Jesus Christ, has been driven from
-the city? How can I grant my prayers (Arcadius had
-apparently begged the intercession of the saint to remove
-the national troubles) to a city stricken by the wrath of
-God, whose thunder is every moment ready to fall upon
-her?”<a name="FNanchor_614_614" id="FNanchor_614_614"></a><a href="#Footnote_614_614" class="fnanchor">614</a></p>
-
-<p>But human and divine warnings were alike wasted; the
-enemies of the Patriarch had complete sway over the Court,
-and suffered it not to swerve from the path of persecution.
-The Western bishops and presbyters, after the disastrous
-termination of their embassy to Constantinople, returned
-home, without honour indeed, but unmolested. Their
-Eastern colleagues did not escape so easily. They were
-conveyed to places of exile in the most distant and opposite
-quarters of the Empire. Cyriacus was confined in a Persian
-fortress beyond Emessa; Eulysius in Arabia; Palladius on
-the confines of Ethiopia; Demetrius was to have been confined
-in one of the Egyptian oases, but died of the harsh
-treatment to which he was subjected on the journey. The
-exiles suffered such brutal insults and indignities from the
-soldiers who conducted them to these places, that the desire
-of life was extinguished. The little money which they had
-collected for the expenses of their journey was taken from
-them by their guards, who divided it among themselves.
-They were forced to perform in one day the distance of two
-days’ journey. They were not permitted to enter any
-churches on their route, but forced into Jewish or Samaritan
-synagogues, and lodged at night in low inns, where their
-ears were shocked by the filthy conversation of abandoned
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">356</a></span>characters of both sexes. Yet even some of these degraded
-people were won to a more respectful behaviour, if not
-actually converted, by the Christian exhortations and instruction
-of the captives. The “Word of God was not
-bound.” Some of the bishops friendly to Theophilus bribed
-the soldiers to hurry the exiles out of their dioceses as
-quickly as possible. Distinguished among these malignants
-were the bishops of Tarsus, Antioch, Ancyra, and of Cæsarea
-in Palestine. Most of the bishops of Cappadocia, on the
-other hand, especially Theodorus of Tyana, and Bosporius
-of Colonia, accorded them a compassionate and courteous
-reception.<a name="FNanchor_615_615" id="FNanchor_615_615"></a><a href="#Footnote_615_615" class="fnanchor">615</a></p>
-
-<p>Arsacius died in November <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404. Out of many ambitious
-candidates for the vacant throne, Atticus, a presbyter,
-who had taken an active part in the persecution of Chrysostom,
-a native of Sebaste in Armenia, was appointed. He was a
-man of moderate abilities and generally mild disposition,
-but relentless in his determination to crush out the party of
-the exiled Patriarch. By his influence an Imperial rescript
-was obtained, which decreed that “any bishop who did not
-communicate with Theophilus, Porphyry of Antioch, and
-Atticus, should be ejected from the Church, and his property
-confiscated.” The wealthy, for the most part, bowed to the
-storm; the poor sought peace of body and of conscience in
-flight either to Rome or monasteries. This rescript, aimed
-at the bishops, was followed up by another directed against
-the laity. Any layman who refused to recognise the above-mentioned
-prelates was, if a civilian, to be deprived of any
-office which he might hold; if a soldier, of his military girdle;
-if an artisan, to be heavily fined or banished. Bishops and
-presbyters were dispersed as fugitives into all parts of the
-Empire. Some sought retirement in some secluded little
-country property of their own, and obtained a precarious
-livelihood by manual labour, farming, or fishing.<a name="FNanchor_616_616" id="FNanchor_616_616"></a><a href="#Footnote_616_616" class="fnanchor">616</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">357</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But, in spite of all the various means of coercion at Constantinople,
-in spite of trials, torture, imprisonment, banishment,
-the bulk of the people could not be brought to attend
-the ministration of Atticus and his clergy. Their churches
-were comparatively empty, while the persecuted adherents
-of the exile persistently held their services in some sequestered
-valley, or on some lonely hillside. In fact, persecution, as
-has always been the case, only intensified the attachment of
-many to the person and the cause which it was intended to
-crush, and so far defeated its own object. Chrysostom
-himself observes,<a name="FNanchor_617_617" id="FNanchor_617_617"></a><a href="#Footnote_617_617" class="fnanchor">617</a> that many of those who had enjoyed a
-high reputation for piety were the first to fall away when
-brought to the test of persecution; whereas others, who had
-formerly been abandoned to frivolity and vice, now renounced
-the theatre and circus, hastened into the desert to attend the
-assembly of the Catholics at worship, and displayed the
-greatest fortitude before the judge when brought to trial, in
-the face of torture, and with the prospect of imprisonment
-or exile.</p>
-
-<p>The party now in power could not convert the hearts of
-clergy or people to their side, but they could, and did, change
-the outward aspect of the Church. The men of probity and
-piety with whom Chrysostom had replaced the six simoniacal
-bishops deposed in Asia were expelled, and the delinquents
-restored. The Church in that region was reduced to a
-disgraceful state. Ordinations were conducted, not amidst
-prayer and fasting, but feasting, drunkenness, and gross
-bribery. The see of Heracleides, the good bishop of
-Ephesus, appointed by Chrysostom, was occupied by a
-eunuch, a monster of iniquity. The people in disgust
-deserted the churches.</p>
-
-<p>The death of Flavian, bishop of Antioch, nearly coincided
-with the banishment of Chrysostom. The people of Antioch
-were much attached to a priest named Constantius, a man
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">358</a></span>described by Palladius as a faithful and incorruptible servant
-of the Church from his earliest youth, first as a messenger
-who carried ecclesiastical despatches, then as reader, deacon,
-priest. He had won the love and admiration of the people
-by his gentle, amiable disposition, his intelligence, strict
-integrity, and exemplary piety. There was a general desire
-to make him bishop, but an ambitious priest named Porphyry
-frustrated the design. By bribery, and calumnious stories
-conveyed to the Court at Constantinople, he procured an
-Imperial rescript condemning Constantius to be banished to
-one of the oases as a disturber of the people. With the
-assistance of his friends Constantius escaped to Cyprus.
-Porphyry meanwhile imprisoned several of the clergy of
-Antioch, and seized the opportunity of the Olympian festival
-(when most of the inhabitants had poured out to the celebrated
-suburb of Daphne) to enter the church with a few
-bishops and clergy; and then, with doors fast closed, he was
-hurriedly ordained, so hurriedly that some portions of the
-service were omitted. Acacius, Severian, and Antiochus,
-who had officiated, immediately fled. The people were enraged
-when they discovered the trick, surrounded Porphyry’s
-house, and threatened to burn it to the ground. He applied
-for protection to the prefect, who lent him a body of troops,
-with which he forcibly took possession of the church. He
-contrived to get an unscrupulous and cruel man sent from
-Constantinople to be captain of the city guards, terror of
-whom drove the people to attend the churches, though they
-did so with disgust, and earnestly prayed for retribution from
-Heaven on the authors of this wickedness.<a name="FNanchor_618_618" id="FNanchor_618_618"></a><a href="#Footnote_618_618" class="fnanchor">618</a></p>
-
-<p>Innocent remained inflexibly attached to the cause of
-Chrysostom. The Church of Rome and the Italian bishops
-broke off all communion with Theophilus and Atticus, and
-ceased not to demand the convocation of a General Council,
-as the only tribunal by which the Patriarch could be lawfully
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">359</a></span>acquitted or condemned.<a name="FNanchor_619_619" id="FNanchor_619_619"></a><a href="#Footnote_619_619" class="fnanchor">619</a> But the Court of Ravenna was
-not in a position to support these demands by intimidation
-or actual force. All the skill of Stilicho and all the resources
-at his command were barely sufficient to repel the persevering
-efforts of Alaric and Rhadagaisus to take the great prize
-which they so eagerly coveted, the capital of the Roman
-Empire. The inevitable fall of Rome was averted only for a
-little while.</p>
-
-<p>Thus the spirit of lawlessness and selfishness took advantage
-of the impotence of the secular power both in
-Rome and Constantinople to work its will upon the Church.
-It dealt a blow to Christian morality and ecclesiastical discipline
-from which the Church at Constantinople never
-recovered, and which caused a throb of pain from one end of
-Christendom to the other; for, in spite of all differences and
-divisions, Christendom was one then, so that, if one member
-suffered, all the members suffered with it; and what was
-done and said, and thought and felt, in the Church of Alexandria,
-or Antioch, or Constantinople, was not unknown or
-unregarded by the Churches of Rome or Milan, and through
-them made its impress on the Churches even of Gaul and
-Spain.</p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">360</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">CHRYSOSTOM ORDERED TO BE REMOVED TO CUCUSUS—PERILS ENCOUNTERED
-AT CÆSAREA—HARDSHIPS OF THE JOURNEY—REACHES
-CUCUSUS—LETTERS WRITTEN THERE TO OLYMPIAS AND OTHER
-FRIENDS. A.D. 404.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">It</span> now only remains to follow the illustrious exile along his
-painful journey to its melancholy or, if we regard him as
-the Christian martyr, its glorious termination.</p>
-
-<p>He was removed, as has been already seen, from Constantinople
-on June 20, and conveyed, in the course of a
-few days, to Nicæa. Here he remained till July 4, and
-several of his letters to Olympias were written from this
-place. The soft yet fresh sea air revived his health, which
-had suffered from the feverish and harassing scenes that he
-had gone through at Constantinople, and from the journey
-begun in the very middle of the summer heat. Nothing
-could exceed the kindness of the soldiers under whose
-custody he travelled, who discharged towards him all the
-duties of servants as well as of guards.<a name="FNanchor_620_620" id="FNanchor_620_620"></a><a href="#Footnote_620_620" class="fnanchor">620</a> His ultimate
-destination was not known for some time by himself or his
-friends. Common report sent him to Scythia,<a name="FNanchor_621_621" id="FNanchor_621_621"></a><a href="#Footnote_621_621" class="fnanchor">621</a> but the
-intention of his enemies appears to have changed from time
-to time. Sebaste in Armenia had been first proposed, but
-finally Cucusus, a village in the Tauric range on the edge of
-Cilicia and the Lesser Armenia, was fixed upon. It was a
-remote and desolate spot, subject to frequent attacks from
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">361</a></span>the marauding Isaurians; and at first Chrysostom earnestly
-entreated his friends in Constantinople to try and procure a
-more agreeable place of exile, a favour frequently granted to
-criminals. Olympias, Bishop Cyriacus, Briso the chamberlain,
-and a lady named Theodora, repeatedly interceded on
-his behalf; but their efforts were ineffectual.<a name="FNanchor_622_622" id="FNanchor_622_622"></a><a href="#Footnote_622_622" class="fnanchor">622</a> The Empress
-herself, it would appear, selected Cucusus, and was inexorable
-in her decision.<a name="FNanchor_623_623" id="FNanchor_623_623"></a><a href="#Footnote_623_623" class="fnanchor">623</a></p>
-
-<p>From beginning to end of his exile Chrysostom’s mind
-was occupied with organising such work as yet remained
-possible to him. It has been seen with what zeal he had
-planted a missionary settlement in Phœnicia. This project
-continued to the close of his life to be an object of his most
-solicitous interest. On July 3, the eve of his departure
-from Nicæa, he addressed a letter to a priest named Constantius,<a name="FNanchor_624_624" id="FNanchor_624_624"></a><a href="#Footnote_624_624" class="fnanchor">624</a>
-apparently the superintendent of the missionary
-work in Phœnicia and the surrounding countries. He implores
-him to prosecute his labours for the extirpation of
-Paganism with zeal undiminished, and undismayed by the
-present afflicted state of the bishop and the see, to whom the
-mission owed its origin. “The pilot and the physician, far
-from relaxing their efforts when the ship and the patient are
-in peril, redouble their efforts to save them.” He begs Constantius
-to inform him year by year how many temples are
-destroyed, how many churches built, how many good Christians
-immigrate into Phœnicia. He had himself persuaded a
-recluse, whom he found at Nicæa, to go and place himself
-under the direction of Constantius in the missionary work.
-He had, he says, happily concluded, just about the time of
-his deposition, arrangements for the suppression of Marcionism,
-which was very prevalent at Salamis, in Cyprus.
-He begs Constantius to write to his friend Bishop Cyriacus,
-if still in Constantinople, and request him to carry these
-plans into effect. Finally, he implores the prayers of Con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">362</a></span>stantius
-and all faithful people for the cessation of the
-present calamities of the Church, especially of the intolerable
-evils which had befallen it in Asia; alluding no doubt
-to the restoration of the simoniacal bishops.</p>
-
-<p>On July 4 or 5 the exile started from Nicæa on his toilsome
-and perilous journey in the midsummer heat, across
-the scorching plains of Galatia and Cappadocia. He describes
-himself<a name="FNanchor_625_625" id="FNanchor_625_625"></a><a href="#Footnote_625_625" class="fnanchor">625</a> as an object of great compassion to travellers
-whom he met coming from Armenia and the East, who
-stopped to weep and wail over his distress. His route lay
-in a diagonal line across the centre of Asia Minor, ascending
-first of all near the stream of the river Sangarius, which in
-its upper course winds through vast plains of black bituminous
-soil, scantily cultivated, but supplying pasture to great
-herds of cattle. Chrysostom had always been an ascetic
-liver, but he had not a robust frame, and he had been accustomed
-to wholesome food and the frequent use of the bath.
-Continuous travelling by night as well as day, the scorching
-sun, hot dust, hard bread, brackish water, and deprivation of
-the bath, threw him into a fever; but either from fear of the
-Isaurians, or of Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, in Galatia, one
-of his most virulent enemies, the journey was pursued
-without intermission till he arrived, more dead than alive,
-at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia.</p>
-
-<p>He has left us a detailed account of the perils which
-befell him here, and a melancholy picture indeed it is
-of the ferocity and cunning of which bishops and monks
-were capable under the influence of fanatical partisanship.<a name="FNanchor_626_626" id="FNanchor_626_626"></a><a href="#Footnote_626_626" class="fnanchor">626</a>
-Having escaped, he says, from the Galatian (probably
-meaning Leontius), he was met, as he approached
-Cæsarea, by several persons, who informed him that Pharetrius
-the bishop was eagerly expecting him, and preparing
-to welcome him with affectionate hospitality. He
-confesses that he himself mistrusted these specious offers,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">363</a></span>but he kept his suspicions to himself. On his arrival at
-Cæsarea, in a state of extreme exhaustion, Pharetrius did
-not appear, but he was enthusiastically received by the
-people as well as some monks and nuns. The extreme
-kindness and skill of physicians (one of whom declared his
-intention of accompanying him to the end of his journey),
-wholesome food, and the use of the bath, so much renovated
-his strength and diminished his fever, that he became anxious
-in a day or two to resume his journey. But just at this
-juncture the city was thrown into consternation by tidings
-that a large body of Isaurians was ravaging the neighbourhood,
-and had already burned a town with much slaughter.
-All the available troops in Cæsarea were marched out, and
-the whole male population, including old men, turned out
-to man the walls. During this time of suspense, the house
-in which Chrysostom lodged was besieged by a large body
-of monks, who with furious cries and gestures demanded
-his surrender. The prætorians who guarded him were terrified
-by the fierce behaviour of these fanatics, and declared
-that they would rather face the Isaurians than fall into the
-hands of these “wild beasts.” The governor of the city
-succeeded in protecting the person of Chrysostom, but not
-in quelling the fury of the monks, who renewed their assault
-still more hotly on the following day. The Bishop Pharetrius
-was very generally suspected to be the instigator of
-these attacks, and an appeal was made to him to interpose
-his authority, that the Archbishop might at least enjoy a
-few days’ repose, which the state of his health greatly needed.
-But the envy of Pharetrius was embittered by the popularity
-of Chrysostom, and the great kindness and compassion
-which his hardships had elicited from clergy and people.
-He refused to interfere; but Chrysostom’s friends took
-advantage of a brief lull in the hostile visits of the monks
-to convey him in a litter outside the town, amidst the
-lamentations of the attendant people, and imprecations on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">364</a></span>
-the author of the malevolent assaults. When he was once
-outside the town several of the clergy joined him, and besought
-him not to think of trusting himself to Pharetrius;
-it would be worse, they declared, than falling into the hands
-of the Isaurians: “only escape from our hands, and wherever
-you fall you will fall safely.”</p>
-
-<p>At this crisis a lady named Seleucia, the wife of Rufinus,
-a man of rank and a friend of Chrysostom, entreated him to
-accept a lodging at her country house, about five miles out
-of the city. He accepted the offer; but, unknown to him,
-Pharetrius, whose rage was inflamed by the rescue of his
-prey, visited the house, and threatened to take vengeance on
-the mistress if her guest was not surrendered. This demand
-was refused, and the lady gave orders to her steward, in the
-event of any attack by monks, to collect all the labourers on
-the estate and repel the assault by force. But her courage
-at last gave way under the pressure of incessant menaces
-from Pharetrius, and it was resolved to remove the Archbishop,
-not less for his own safety than for that of the
-person whose roof had afforded him shelter. In the dead of
-night, when Chrysostom was sleeping, unconscious of impending
-danger, he was roused by a companion, the priest
-Evethius, who told him that he must instantly prepare for
-flight. It was midnight, and the sky murky and moonless;
-but they dared not light torches for fear of attracting the
-observation of their enemies. The road was rugged and
-rocky; the mule which carried the Archbishop’s litter fell,
-and he was thrown out. Evethius took him by the hand
-and led, or rather dragged, him along. In such a pitiable
-plight, faint with fatigue and fever-stricken, did the bishop
-of the second see in Christendom stumble and totter in
-the darkness along the Cappadocian mountain path. “Were
-not these calamities,” he writes to Olympias, “sufficient to
-blot out many sins, and suggest to me a hope of future
-glory?”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">365</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Of the remainder of his journey to Cucusus we possess no
-detailed narrative. He only speaks in general terms of his
-sufferings for thirty days from fever, aggravated by the want
-of a bath, and by deficient accommodation of every kind in
-a journey made along a rough road, through a desolate mountainous
-country, liable to an attack at any moment from
-Isaurian bandits.<a name="FNanchor_627_627" id="FNanchor_627_627"></a><a href="#Footnote_627_627" class="fnanchor">627</a> Desolate though the region was, however,
-he speaks of monks and nuns occasionally meeting
-him in large numbers, and loudly bewailing his calamities,
-exclaiming that it “had been better the sun should have
-hidden his rays, than that the mouth of Chrysostom should
-have been closed.”<a name="FNanchor_628_628" id="FNanchor_628_628"></a><a href="#Footnote_628_628" class="fnanchor">628</a> About seventy days<a name="FNanchor_629_629" id="FNanchor_629_629"></a><a href="#Footnote_629_629" class="fnanchor">629</a> after his departure
-from Constantinople, that is, about the end of August or
-beginning of September, Cucusus was reached. After the
-fatigues and dangers of his journey, it was a haven of rest
-to the exhausted exile, though he describes it as in itself the
-most desolate place in the world; a mere village high up
-in the eastern range of Taurus, on the confines of Lesser
-Armenia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia.<a name="FNanchor_630_630" id="FNanchor_630_630"></a><a href="#Footnote_630_630" class="fnanchor">630</a> But it was protected
-from the Isaurians by a strong garrison, and it contained
-many warm-hearted friends of the Archbishop, who emulated
-one another in showing him attention. Several had
-sent invitations to him, before he left Cæsarea, to accept a
-lodging at their houses, but more especially one whom he
-calls “my Lord Diodorus,” who had known him in Constantinople.
-This generous personage not only placed his whole
-house at the disposal of Chrysostom, betaking himself to a
-country villa to make room for his guest, but furnished it
-with every possible defence against the cold of the approaching
-winter, in that altitude very severe. The Bishop of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">366</a></span>Cucusus not only received him with great civility, but was
-even desirous that his own throne should be occupied by
-the illustrious exile, that his flock might profit by the
-eloquence of the greatest teacher and preacher of the day;
-but Chrysostom thought it prudent to decline the honour.<a name="FNanchor_631_631" id="FNanchor_631_631"></a><a href="#Footnote_631_631" class="fnanchor">631</a></p>
-
-<p>Many of his friends in Constantinople and other places,
-who owned property near Cucusus, directed their stewards
-to provide in various ways for the comfort of the exile, and
-some of his friends actually came to share his fortunes in
-person. The aged deaconess, Sabiniana, arrived from Constantinople
-with the fixed determination of accompanying
-him to his final place of exile, whatever that might be.
-Constantius, the presbyter of Antioch, whom the people had
-wished to make bishop, also took up his abode at Cucusus,
-as well to escape from the persecution of Porphyry as from
-his zealous attachment to Chrysostom.<a name="FNanchor_632_632" id="FNanchor_632_632"></a><a href="#Footnote_632_632" class="fnanchor">632</a> Thus the natural
-disadvantages of the place, the want of good physicians and
-of a plentiful market, the severity of the heat in summer
-and cold in winter, were largely compensated by the enjoyment
-of freedom, rest, and the kind attention of friends.
-He warns his supporters in Constantinople, who were
-endeavouring to procure a change of destination for him,
-to be careful that he was not removed to a place worse than
-Cucusus, where he possessed all substantial necessaries and
-comforts of life. If, however, they thought there was a
-chance of obtaining Cyzicus or Nicomedia, they were not to
-desist from their efforts; but he was convinced that another
-long and fatiguing journey to a spot as remote and desolate
-as Cucusus would kill him.<a name="FNanchor_633_633" id="FNanchor_633_633"></a><a href="#Footnote_633_633" class="fnanchor">633</a></p>
-
-<p>The leisure of the exile was profitably employed in writing
-letters to every variety of friends—men of rank, ladies,
-deaconesses in Constantinople, bishops, clergy, missionary
-monks, and his kind acquaintances in Cæsarea, especially
-the physician Hymnetius, who had attended him there with
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">367</a></span>affectionate care. As might be expected, none of his letters
-describe his condition so minutely or pour forth so unrestrainedly
-his fears and hopes, his causes of distress or
-joy, as those written to Olympias. The style in which she
-is usually addressed is at once respectful, affectionate, and
-paternal: “To my lady, the most reverend and religious
-deaconess Olympias, Bishop John sends you greeting in the
-Lord.” They are seventeen in number, written at different
-stages of his exile; nor is it possible to determine precisely
-the date of each. The first three seem to have been written
-from Cucusus, and are mainly devoted to the aim of consoling
-her under the present calamities of the Church; to
-dissipating, as he expresses it, that cloud of sorrow which
-surrounded her.<a name="FNanchor_634_634" id="FNanchor_634_634"></a><a href="#Footnote_634_634" class="fnanchor">634</a> “Come now, let me soften the wound of
-your sadness, and disperse the sad cogitations which compose
-this gloomy cloud of care. What is it which upsets
-your mind, and occasions your grief and despondency? Is
-it the fierce and lowering storm which has overtaken the
-Churches and enveloped all with the darkness of a moonless
-night, which is growing to a head every day, and has already
-wrought many lamentable shipwrecks? All this I know;
-it shall not be gainsaid: and, if you like, I can form an
-image of the things now being done so as to represent the
-tragedy more distinctly to thee. We behold a sea heaved up
-from its lowest depths, some sailors floating dead, others
-struggling in the waves, the planks of the vessel breaking up,
-the masts sprung, the canvas torn, the oars dashed out of the
-sailors’ hands, the pilots, seated on the deck, clasping their
-knees with their hands, and crying aloud at the hopelessness
-of their situation; neither sky nor sea clearly visible, but all
-one impenetrable gloom, and monsters of the deep attacking
-the shipwrecked crew on every side. But why attempt
-further to describe the indescribable? Yet, when I see all
-this, I do not despair, when I consider who is the Disposer
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">368</a></span>of this whole universe—One who masters the storm, not by
-the contrivance of art, but can calm it by His nod alone.
-He does not always destroy what is terrible in its beginning,
-but waits till it has come to its consummation; and then,
-when most men are in despair, He works marvels and does
-things beyond all expectation, displaying a power which
-belongs to Him alone. Wherefore, faint not, for there is only
-one thing, Olympias, which is really terrible, there is only
-one real trial—and that is sin. All things else, whether
-they be insidious assaults of foes, or hatred, or calumny, or
-abuse, or confiscation of goods, or exile, or the sharpened
-sword, and war raging throughout the world, are but as a
-tale; they endure but for a season, they are perishable, and
-have their sphere in a mortal body, and do no injury to the
-vigilant soul.”... “Why, then, do you fear temporal
-things, which flow away like the stream of a river?”...
-“Let none of these things which happen vex you; cease
-to entreat the help of this person or that, but continually
-beseech Jesus Christ, whom you serve, merely to bow the
-head, and all these troubles will be dissolved; if not in an
-instant of time, that is because He is waiting till wickedness
-has grown to a height, and then he will suddenly change the
-storm into a calm....”</p>
-
-<p>He enters into an eloquent review of the sufferings and
-persecution to which our blessed Lord was subjected from
-His birth to His death, in order to prove that apparent failure
-is a fallacious test of the truth and real value of man’s
-character and work.</p>
-
-<p>“Why are you troubled because one man has been
-expelled and another introduced into his place? Christ
-was crucified, and the life of Barabbas, the robber, was
-asked. How many must have been shocked and repelled
-by this ignominious termination to a life of miracles! But
-in every stage of His life there was much to surprise and
-offend and try the faith. His birth was the cause of death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">369</a></span>
-to many innocent children in Bethlehem; poverty, danger,
-exile, marked His infancy. He was misunderstood and
-suspected throughout His ministry. ‘Thou art a Samaritan,
-and hast a devil;’ ‘He deceiveth the people;’ ‘He casteth
-out devils through the chief of the devils;’ ‘He was a
-gluttonous man and winebibber, a friend of publicans and
-sinners.’ His discernment of purity and goodness was
-questioned, because He permitted the sinful woman to
-approach Him; ‘neither did His brethren believe on Him.’
-You speak of many having been frightened out of the
-straight path by the present calamities. How many of
-Christ’s disciples stumbled at the time of His crucifixion!
-One betrayed Him, another denied Him, the others fled, and
-He was led to trial bound and alone. How many, think
-you, were offended when they beheld Him, who a little while
-ago was raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, expelling
-devils, multiplying loaves, now bound, forlorn, surrounded
-by coarse soldiers, followed by a crowd of tumultuous
-priests? How many when He was being scourged, and
-they saw Him torn by the lash, and standing with bleeding
-body before the governor’s tribunal? How many, again,
-when He was mocked, now with a crown of thorns, now
-with a purple robe, now with a reed in His hand? How
-many when He was smitten on the cheek, and they cried,
-‘Prophesy, who is he that smote Thee?’ and dragged Him
-hither and thither, consuming a whole day in jesting and
-revilement in the midst of the throng of Jewish spectators?
-How many when He was led to the cross with the marks of
-the scourge upon His back? How many when the soldiers
-divided His raiment among themselves? How many when
-fastened to the cross and crucified?” And, after our Lord’s
-Ascension, what had been the lot of the early Church?
-Calamity, persecution, discomfiture, weakness, the offence of
-many and the defection of many. Yet the truth of Jesus
-Christ’s Gospel had not been obscured; it had shone more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">370</a></span>
-and more brightly: God had wrought out the triumph of
-His Church.</p>
-
-<p>The above is a much-condensed rendering of passages
-which can hardly be too much admired for the spirit as well
-as style in which they are written. The union of a Christian
-philosophy and a Christian faith, a philosophy which traces
-a principle in God’s modes of operation, and a faith which
-contentedly accepts whatever happens, in the firm belief
-that, be it pleasant or painful, it is part of some purpose of
-God; a philosophy which traces in every suffering of Christ’s
-servants for the cause of truth a reflection of the Master’s
-sufferings, and a faith which enables the sufferer not only
-to be cheerful himself, but to cheer others, form, indeed, a
-noble object of contemplation. In a letter written to
-Olympias, just after his hardships and perils at Cæsarea, he
-begs her to rejoice, as he declares he can himself rejoice, in
-suffering as a pledge of future glory. He never had
-desisted, and never would desist, from declaring that the
-only real calamity to a man’s self was sin; all other evils
-were as dust and smoke. Spoliation of goods was freedom;
-banishment was but a change of abode; death was but the
-discharge of nature’s debt, which all must eventually pay.
-So much has been at all times, and is still, uttered by
-Christian writers and preachers about patience and joy in
-affliction, that we may be disposed to pass over language of
-this kind sometimes as a hackneyed commonplace; but it
-must be remembered that, in Chrysostom’s case, the speaker
-was an actual sufferer. His words were not the sentimental
-utterances of a rhetorical preacher addressing an admiring
-audience, but convictions deliberately expressed by a persecuted
-sufferer, who was really living by the principles
-which he was accustomed to preach.</p>
-
-<p>The rapturous and lavish praise which in some of his
-letters he bestows upon the virtues of Olympias would by a
-lady of piety in modern times be distrusted as flattery, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">371</a></span>
-distasteful as a dangerous encouragement to self-righteousness
-and conceit; but the language of ornate compliment,
-which would be offensive to Western taste, seems natural to
-Orientals: and it may therefore be supposed that its effect
-in elating the mind of the recipient is faint in proportion.
-Chrysostom begins his second letter by recommending
-Olympias to divert her mind from those calamities and sins,
-for which she was no way responsible, by directing it to the
-final judgment. The awe with which she must contemplate
-that scene, in which she, together with all others, is individually
-concerned and interested, will expel the useless
-grief which mourns over iniquity wrought by others. But
-he breaks off suddenly from such a line of argument, as
-inapplicable to the case of so angelic a being as Olympias.
-“To me, indeed, and those who, like me, have been plunged
-beneath a sea of sins, such discourse is necessary, for it
-excites and alarms; but you, who abound in goodness, and
-who have already touched the very vault of Heaven, cannot
-even be pricked by such language; wherefore, in addressing
-you, I will chant another strain and strike another string.”
-He does indeed; he invites her to count over her own perfections,
-and to dwell with complacent satisfaction on the
-heavenly rewards which are surely in store for her....
-“It would fill a volume to relate the history of her patience,
-tried in such a variety of ways from her youth. She had
-laid such vigorous siege to her body, though naturally delicate
-and nurtured in the lap of luxury, that it might truly be
-called dead; and these austerities had raised for her such a
-swarm of maladies as defied the skill of physicians, and
-involved her in continual suffering. To speak, indeed, of
-patience and self-control, in reference to her fasts and vigils,
-would be inaccurate, because those expressions implied a
-conquest over oppugnant passions. But she had no desires
-to conquer: they were not merely subdued but extinguished.
-It was as easy and natural to her to fast as it was to others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">372</a></span>
-to eat, as natural to her to pass the night in vigil as to others
-to sleep.” With an admiring comment on her squalid and
-neglected attire he closes this singular enumeration of her
-perfections, lest, as he expresses it, he should lose himself in
-an illimitable sea if he attempted to wade further; his
-object being, not to make an exhaustive catalogue of her
-virtues, but only such as might be sufficient to lift her out
-of her present state of depression.</p>
-
-<p>It is worth making such extracts as these, because they
-enable us to see how widely remote Chrysostom was from
-the mind and taste of our own times in some points, although
-in others he seems so nearly congenial. There is another
-vein of thought in this letter which is still more alien. “If,”
-he says, “in addition to the rewards of her chastity, her fasts,
-her vigils, her prayers, her boundless hospitality, she wishes
-to enjoy the sight of her adversaries, those iniquitous and
-blood-stained men undergoing punishment for their crimes,
-that pleasure also shall be hers. Lazarus saw Dives tormented
-in flames. This you will experience. For if he,
-who neglected but one man, suffered such punishment, if it
-was expedient for the man who should offend one little one
-to be hanged or cast into the sea, what penalty will be
-exacted of men who have offended so large a part of the
-world, upset so many churches, and surpassed the ferocity
-of barbarians and robbers? You will see them fast bound,
-tormented in flames, gnashing their teeth, overwhelmed with
-useless sorrow and vain remorse; and they, in their turn,
-will behold you wearing a crown in the blessed mansions,
-exulting with angels, reigning with Christ; and they will
-cry aloud and groan, repenting of the contumely which they
-fastened upon thee, supplicating, but in vain, thy pity and
-compassion.”<a name="FNanchor_635_635" id="FNanchor_635_635"></a><a href="#Footnote_635_635" class="fnanchor">635</a></p>
-
-<p>To our ears of course such language is extraordinarily
-shocking; but it is valuable as a warning, in estimating the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">373</a></span>character of Chrysostom, not to judge him or any individual
-by words or deeds, which are not so much the offspring of
-the man as of the age and circumstances in which he lived.
-Chrysostom had exercised as well as taught meekness, forbearance,
-and charity towards all men, enemies as well as
-friends; but he lived when the minds of Christians had
-for generations been inured to scenes of persecution, and to
-such a rigorous system and barbarous execution of criminal
-law as are hardly conceivable by us. Fierce opposition of
-party against party, violence and bloodshed put down, if at
-all, by the stern hand of force, hardened public feeling,
-and the individual, however amiable and gentle by nature,
-inevitably becomes infected by the prevailing mode of
-thought; he must look at things and judge of things more
-or less from the same point of view as the generality of
-men amongst whom he lives. What would seem revoltingly
-cruel to a humane man now, appeared to a man
-who lived some hundreds of years ago, though perhaps
-equally humane by nature, and in private life amiable, a
-merely natural and just retribution.</p>
-
-<p>The letters of Chrysostom to those bishops<a name="FNanchor_636_636" id="FNanchor_636_636"></a><a href="#Footnote_636_636" class="fnanchor">636</a> who remained
-loyal to his cause are full of asseverations that his affection
-for them cannot be diminished by separation or distance.
-He exhorts them to continue their labours with unabated
-zeal, and carefully to abstain from all communion with the
-adverse party. Small though their numbers were, yet their
-fortitude under persecution would so much encourage others
-that their conduct might be the salvation of the Church.
-Several of his letters to laymen in Constantinople are models
-of wise Christian counsel. He is never less than the pastor,
-while he is always the friend. He writes to one Gemellus,<a name="FNanchor_637_637" id="FNanchor_637_637"></a><a href="#Footnote_637_637" class="fnanchor">637</a>
-on his promotion to some high magisterial office, that,
-“while others congratulated him merely on his new honours,
-<em>he</em> would rather dwell with thankfulness on the abundant
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">374</a></span>opportunities Gemellus would now possess of exercising
-wisdom and gentleness on a large scale. He doubted not
-Gemellus would prove to those who were attached to the
-vain glories of this earth, that the true dignity of the
-magistrate consisted not in the robe or the girdle of office,
-or in the voice of the herald, but in reforming what was
-evil, and repairing what was falling to pieces, in punishing
-injustice, and preventing the right from being oppressed by
-might. He knew the boldness of Gemellus, his freedom of
-speech, his magnanimity, his contempt for the things of
-this world, his mildness, his benevolence; and he was
-persuaded that he would be as a haven to the shipwrecked,
-as a staff to the fallen, a tower of defence to those who were
-oppressed by tyranny.” Gemellus appears to have been on
-the point of receiving baptism, and perhaps on that account
-to have been exposed to a rather trying degree of persecution.
-Chrysostom begs him not to delay baptism in the hope
-of receiving it from his hands, because the grace of the
-sacrament would be equally effectual by whatever hands
-administered, and his own joy would be none the less.<a name="FNanchor_638_638" id="FNanchor_638_638"></a><a href="#Footnote_638_638" class="fnanchor">638</a></p>
-
-<p>So again, in his letter to Anthemius, who had recently
-been made prefect and consul:—“Nothing has been really
-added to you; it is not the prefect or the consul whom I
-love, but my most dear and gentle Lord Anthemius, full of
-philosophy and understanding. I do not felicitate thee
-because thou hast climbed to this throne, but because thou
-hast gained a grander sphere wherein to exercise thy benevolence
-and wisdom.”<a name="FNanchor_639_639" id="FNanchor_639_639"></a><a href="#Footnote_639_639" class="fnanchor">639</a></p>
-
-<p>He was less distant from Antioch than Constantinople,
-and was cheered by visits from not a few of his old friends
-in his native city, and maintained a correspondence by letter
-with many more; but intercourse of either kind was much
-impeded by the dangers and difficulties of the roads, and at
-times by the severity of the climate.<a name="FNanchor_640_640" id="FNanchor_640_640"></a><a href="#Footnote_640_640" class="fnanchor">640</a> The illegal seizure of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">375</a></span>the see of Antioch by Porphyry, and the harsh treatment to
-which the orthodox were subjected under his administration,
-caused them to turn to Chrysostom, not only with sympathy
-as a fellow-sufferer, but also for guidance, comfort, and some
-kind of episcopal superintendence. Their presents to him
-were so numerous that he felt compelled sometimes to
-decline them, or to request permission that they might be
-transferred to the aid of the missionary work in Phœnicia.<a name="FNanchor_641_641" id="FNanchor_641_641"></a><a href="#Footnote_641_641" class="fnanchor">641</a></p>
-
-<p>Much of his thought and correspondence was concerned
-in providing for the welfare of the Church in Persia, Phœnicia,
-and among the Goths. In his fourteenth letter to
-Olympias he begs her to use her best endeavours to detach
-Maruthas, bishop of Martyropolis in Persia, from the influence
-of the hostile party; “to lift him out of the slough”
-is his expression, for he greatly needed his assistance on
-account of affairs in Persia; and he was very anxious to
-know what Maruthas had accomplished there, and whether
-he had received two letters recently sent by himself. From
-this it would seem as if Maruthas, who had been present at
-the Synod of the Oak (when he caused the fatal injury to
-the foot of Cyrinus), had returned to Persia and again visited
-Constantinople, and that Chrysostom had hopes of working
-in connexion with him for the good of the Church in Persia.<a name="FNanchor_642_642" id="FNanchor_642_642"></a><a href="#Footnote_642_642" class="fnanchor">642</a>
-In the same epistle he expresses his sorrow at having heard,
-through some Gothic monks with whom Serapion had
-sought shelter, that the Gothic bishop Unilas, whom he
-had recently consecrated, was dead, after a short but active
-career, and that the Gothic king had written to request that
-a new bishop should be sent out. Chrysostom was fearful
-lest Atticus and his party should appoint one; and he urges
-that everything should be done to delay the appointment if
-possible till winter came, when the season would prevent
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">376</a></span>any one being sent till the following spring. Meanwhile,
-Moduarius, the deacon who had brought the letter from the
-Gothic prince, was to repair secretly and quietly to Cucusus,
-and there confer with Chrysostom on this important matter,
-to avert if possible the appointment of an improper person
-to so difficult a charge.</p>
-
-<p>But of course the exile’s interest was pre-eminently
-centred on that city of which he could not but consider
-himself still the chief pastor, although deprived of his
-external authority over it. Banishment, imprisonment, and
-intimidation had thinned the ranks of the orthodox; and
-among the remaining pastors there were some whose neglect
-of duty, the result of indolence or faint-heartedness, called
-forth severe rebukes from their former chief. “He had
-heard with concern, and was vexed that the information had
-not come direct from the clergy themselves, that a priest,
-Salustius, had preached only five times between the end
-of June and October, and that he and Theophilus, another
-priest, rarely attended Divine service at all.”<a name="FNanchor_643_643" id="FNanchor_643_643"></a><a href="#Footnote_643_643" class="fnanchor">643</a> To Theophilus
-he writes a letter of mingled sorrow and reproof,
-expressing a hope that the report may be incorrect, and
-begging him to refute it, or to amend his conduct. He
-reminds him of the dreadful punishment which was inflicted
-on the servant who buried the talent which he ought to
-have used, and of the fearful responsibility of neglecting
-that most beautiful flock, which, by the grace of God, was
-being strengthened in goodness, though now agitated by so
-terrible a tempest.<a name="FNanchor_644_644" id="FNanchor_644_644"></a><a href="#Footnote_644_644" class="fnanchor">644</a> Several of his clergy and friends are
-upbraided with more or less of affectionate expostulation for
-slackness in writing to him; others are praised for their
-unshakable fortitude, patience, and zeal under affliction. He
-had learned with much concern from Domitianus, to whom
-the care of the widows and virgins of the Church was confided,
-that they were reduced to extreme indigence, and he
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">377</a></span>entreats his friend Valentinus to sustain his well-known
-character for benevolence by relieving their necessities.<a name="FNanchor_645_645" id="FNanchor_645_645"></a><a href="#Footnote_645_645" class="fnanchor">645</a></p>
-
-<p>Peanius, a man of rank and position in Constantinople, is
-thanked and praised for the unremitting zeal, yet tempered
-with moderation, with which he had resisted the usurping
-party, had stood inflexible in loyalty when others had fled,
-and had exerted himself for the welfare of the Church, not
-only in Constantinople, but also in Phœnicia, Palestine, and
-Cilicia. Chrysostom observes in the same letter that the
-members of the Church in those regions had, with very few
-exceptions, refused to recognise Arsacius.<a name="FNanchor_646_646" id="FNanchor_646_646"></a><a href="#Footnote_646_646" class="fnanchor">646</a></p>
-
-<p>Those clergy and other persons who had been imprisoned
-on the charge of incendiarism were released in the beginning
-of September;<a name="FNanchor_647_647" id="FNanchor_647_647"></a><a href="#Footnote_647_647" class="fnanchor">647</a> and Chrysostom, having heard of their
-liberation, was eagerly expecting a visit from them when
-he wrote (about the end of October probably) to Elpidius,
-bishop of Laodicea,<a name="FNanchor_648_648" id="FNanchor_648_648"></a><a href="#Footnote_648_648" class="fnanchor">648</a> in Syria, a prelate venerable in years
-and eminent in piety, who had as a priest accompanied
-Meletius to the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381, and
-was his counterpart in the moderation and gentleness of his
-disposition. Chrysostom wrote to thank him for his zeal
-in endeavouring to retain the bishops, not only in his own
-region, but in all parts of the world, in loyal fidelity to the
-exiled Patriarch. Elpidius proved the sincerity of his own
-attachment to his friend by suffering deposition from his
-see, and imprisonment for three years in his own house.
-Alexander, the successor of the usurper Porphyry in the see
-of Antioch, restored Elpidius to his see about <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 414—a
-recognition of his merits which received the high approbation
-of Pope Innocent.<a name="FNanchor_649_649" id="FNanchor_649_649"></a><a href="#Footnote_649_649" class="fnanchor">649</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus by letters did the exile maintain his influence over
-all varieties of people in distant and opposite quarters of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">378</a></span>the Empire. Exhortation and reproof, consolation and encouragement,
-or the mere expression of affectionate goodwill,
-are the main chords struck, as circumstances require. But
-there is one tone which pervades all alike—the unshakable
-Christian faith of the writer. His deep belief that all
-suffering was sent for a remedial chastening purpose, and
-that, if resignedly borne, it enhanced the glory of the reward
-reserved for those who should suffer for righteousness’ sake;
-that sin is the only real evil, that expatriation and persecution,
-and even death, since they touch only the external and
-temporal, are to be regarded as mere shadows, cobwebs, and
-dreams; that distance and material obstacles cannot impede
-the wings of affection and prayer, and that the cause of right
-and truth, although long depressed, will eventually triumph—these
-are convictions firmly rooted, which he never tires
-of repeating, and on the strength of which he lived cheerful
-and contented.</p>
-
-<p>The wide range of his influence, and the nobility of his
-Christian resignation and fortitude, maintained during his
-exile, have elicited the admiration of a historian not lavish
-of his compliments to Christian saints. “Every tongue,” says
-Gibbon, “repeated the praises of his genius and virtue; and
-the respectful attention of the Christian world was fixed on
-a desert spot among the mountains of Taurus.”<a name="FNanchor_650_650" id="FNanchor_650_650"></a><a href="#Footnote_650_650" class="fnanchor">650</a></p>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">379</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">CHRYSOSTOM’S SUFFERINGS FROM THE WINTER COLD—DEPREDATIONS
-OF THE ISAURIANS—THE MISSION IN PHŒNICIA—LETTERS TO INNOCENT
-AND THE ITALIAN BISHOPS—CHRYSOSTOM’S ENEMIES OBTAIN
-AN ORDER FOR HIS REMOVAL TO PITYUS—HE DIES AT COMANA,
-A.D. 407—RECEPTION OF HIS RELIQUES AT CONSTANTINOPLE, A.D. 438.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Thus</span> the autumn of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 404 wore away. The time of the
-exile was occupied, not unpleasantly, by sending and receiving
-letters, and his spirits were cheered by occasional visits
-from friends. The destitute in the neighbourhood of Cucusus
-were relieved by his alms; the mourners comforted by his
-affectionate sympathy; some persons taken captive by the
-Isaurians obtained a release through his intercession or
-ransom. But the winter, always severe in that elevated
-region, set in this year with unusual rigour: all communication
-with the outer world was cut off by the impassable
-condition of the roads, and the cold told cruelly on the
-delicate constitution of the poor exile. In a letter to
-Olympias, written just on the return of spring <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 405, he
-draws a pitiable picture of his winter sufferings. For days
-together he lay in bed; but, in spite of being wrapped under
-a very pile of blankets, with a fire constantly burning in his
-room, he could not keep out the cold. He suffered from
-constant sleeplessness, headache, sickness and aversion from
-all food; but, with the return of milder weather in spring,
-“he was brought up again from the gates of death;” and he
-compares the softness of the climate at that season to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">380</a></span>
-amenity of the air of Antioch. His spirits also were raised
-by the arrival of messengers from Constantinople, bringing
-letters from Olympias and other friends.<a name="FNanchor_651_651" id="FNanchor_651_651"></a><a href="#Footnote_651_651" class="fnanchor">651</a></p>
-
-<p>But the blessings of restoration to health and warm
-weather were counterbalanced by the misery of constant
-disturbance from the Isaurian bandits, who commenced
-their marauding campaigns as soon as the break-up of
-winter made the country practicable for their operations.
-They swarmed over the whole neighbourhood, and the roads
-which had been impassable from snow were now impassable
-from robbers, who mingled much merciless bloodshed with
-their plunder. When the full blaze also of summer heat
-came, Chrysostom found it almost as injurious to his health
-as the excessive cold; but he kept up his correspondence
-with his friends with unabated assiduity.<a name="FNanchor_652_652" id="FNanchor_652_652"></a><a href="#Footnote_652_652" class="fnanchor">652</a></p>
-
-<p>The mission in Phœnicia occupied a great deal of his
-attention during this year. He had written, as already
-related, from Nice to Constantius, the superintendent of the
-mission, exhorting him not to allow the work to flag, owing
-to his own deposition and banishment, but rather to carry it
-on with additional energy. The efforts of the missionaries
-had begun to provoke a rather fierce opposition on the part
-of the Pagans, and attempts were made to deprive them of
-the bare necessaries of life. But Chrysostom’s confidence
-and zeal never failed for a moment. The missionaries were
-to keep him informed of their wants, for, through the
-liberality of his friends, he could supply them with all that
-they required. He was ably seconded by Nicolaus, a priest,
-who, though living at a distance, supplied the mission not
-only with money but with men. Gerontius, a presbyter whom
-Chrysostom had persuaded to abandon a solitary ascetic way
-of life for missionary work, was anxious to visit Cucusus
-on his way to Phœnicia; but Chrysostom begs him not to
-delay, as the work was urgent and winter was approaching.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">381</a></span>
-He represents the greater advantages of the active life
-Gerontius was now embracing. There would be nothing to
-prevent him observing his fasts, vigils, and other ascetic
-practices, as before, for the good of his own soul, and at the
-same time, by his missionary labours, he would reap the
-reward of those who save the souls of others.<a name="FNanchor_653_653" id="FNanchor_653_653"></a><a href="#Footnote_653_653" class="fnanchor">653</a></p>
-
-<p>The Pagan resistance assumed more alarming proportions
-as time went on. A letter written to the missionaries seems
-to imply, by its tone of mingled warning and exhortation,
-that their courage was beginning to fail. Chrysostom had
-recourse to his favourite comparisons of the pilot and the
-physician, who exert twofold energy as the violence of
-the storm and the disease increase. Rufinus, a presbyter,
-seems to have been sent into Phœnicia as a kind of special
-agent to restore peace, and is stimulated to his work by an
-animated letter. “I hear that the rage of the Greeks in
-Phœnicia has burst forth again, that several monks have
-been wounded, and some even killed. Wherefore I urge
-you the more earnestly to set out upon your journey with
-great speed, and take up your position.”... “If you saw
-a house in a blaze you would not retreat, but advance upon
-it as quickly as possible, so as to anticipate the flames.
-When all is tranquillity it is within the compass of almost
-any one to make converts, but when Satan is raging and the
-devils are in arms, then, to make a gallant stand and rescue
-those who are falling into the hands of the enemy, is the
-work of a noble, vigilant spirit, a work which befits an
-alert and lofty mind like yours, an apostolic achievement
-worthy of crowns innumerable and rewards which defy
-description.” He entreats Rufinus to write to him from
-every halting-place on his journey, and to keep him constantly
-informed of all which might take place after his arrival.
-He would send, if necessary, ten thousand times to Constantinople,
-in order to provide Rufinus with all things
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">382</a></span>necessary to facilitate his journey and procure his ultimate
-success. The letter closes with a passage which remarkably
-illustrates the importance attached to reliques. “With
-regard to the reliques of the holy martyrs, feel no anxiety,
-for I immediately despatched the most religious presbyter,
-my Lord Terentius, to my Lord Oneius, the most religious
-Bishop of Arabissus, who possesses many reliques indisputably
-genuine, which in a few days we will forward to
-you into Phœnicia.”... “Use diligence to get the churches
-which are yet unroofed completed before the winter.”<a name="FNanchor_654_654" id="FNanchor_654_654"></a><a href="#Footnote_654_654" class="fnanchor">654</a></p>
-
-<p>There is no further record of the future progress or
-ultimate issue of this mission, in which the heart of the
-exile was so deeply wrapped up. Theodoret (v. 29) merely
-says that through the energy of Chrysostom the extirpation
-of idolatry in Phœnicia, and the destruction of Pagan
-temples, were successfully carried on. But there are instances
-of the existence of Paganism mentioned in the
-middle of the fifth century;<a name="FNanchor_655_655" id="FNanchor_655_655"></a><a href="#Footnote_655_655" class="fnanchor">655</a> and it is only too certain that,
-under the feeble and degenerate successors of Chrysostom,
-the work would not receive any powerful impulse. Partly
-from the absence of a great central organising force like
-the Papacy, partly from the irregular and unpractical temperament
-of the Eastern nature, missionary enterprises have
-not proceeded in great number from the Eastern Church.
-The preaching of Ulphilas to the Goths, the missions
-organised by Chrysostom among the Goths and in Phœnicia,
-and the missionary labours of the Nestorians in Asia, are
-but the rare exceptions which prove the rule.</p>
-
-<p>The misery and desolation caused in the neighbourhood
-of Cucusus by the Isaurians seem to have culminated in
-the winter of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 405-406 and the ensuing spring. The
-inhabitants of the villages fled from their homes at the
-approach of these formidable robbers, and sought a precarious
-refuge in woods and caves. Many perished from
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">383</a></span>cold in these wild retreats, and many more at the hands of
-the ruffian robbers, who showed no mercy even to the aged,
-the women and children. Chrysostom himself was, like
-others, frequently moving from place to place, now in this
-village, now in that, sometimes in the woods or secluded
-places. The only spot in which the poor harassed people
-seem to have found tolerable security was in the strong
-fortress of Arabissus, a neighbouring town. Yet even here
-they ran considerable risks. A body of 300 Isaurians
-attacked and very nearly captured it in the middle of the
-night; and the discomfort was extreme at all times, for the
-castle was crowded like a prison; the difficulty of obtaining
-food was often very great, and the difficulty of corresponding
-with friends still greater. Privation, anxiety, and frequent
-hurried movements in cold weather brought severe illness
-on Chrysostom again. Physicians attended him with great
-kindness, but the impossibility of procuring comforts and
-wholesome food rendered their services almost nugatory.
-His greatest grief, however, seems to have been the difficulty
-of maintaining regular correspondence with friends.
-The bearer of a letter from Olympias actually fell into the
-hands of the robbers, but was released; in consequence of
-which Chrysostom entreats her not to send any more special
-messengers, but only to avail herself of such persons as
-were obliged by business to pass through his place of exile.
-He would not add to his present sufferings the distress of
-knowing that any life had been lost on his account.<a name="FNanchor_656_656" id="FNanchor_656_656"></a><a href="#Footnote_656_656" class="fnanchor">656</a></p>
-
-<p>To the year <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 406 belong those letters of affectionate
-gratitude, written to the bishops of the West, for their zeal
-in supporting his cause, especially those who had undertaken
-a long and perilous voyage to Constantinople to intercede
-in his behalf. These letters were sent by the hands
-of Evethius, the presbyter, who had for some time been
-his companion in exile. One letter may be quoted as an
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">384</a></span>example: “I had already been amazed at your zeal, on
-behalf of the reformation of the Church, displayed for a
-long time; but most of all am I now astonished at your
-great earnestness, in having undertaken so long a journey
-by sea, full of labour and toil, on behalf of the interests of
-the Church. I have longed continually to write to you,
-and offer you the salutation due to your piety; but since
-that is not possible, living as I now am in a region almost
-inaccessible, I take advantage of a most honourable and
-reverend presbyter to send you greeting, and to beseech
-you to persevere to the end in harmony with such a noble
-beginning. For ye know how great will be the reward of
-your patience, how vast the return from a benevolent God
-to those who labour for the common peace, and undergo so
-great a conflict.”<a name="FNanchor_657_657" id="FNanchor_657_657"></a><a href="#Footnote_657_657" class="fnanchor">657</a></p>
-
-<p>To Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, he writes thus: “The
-loud-voiced trumpet of your warm and genuine affection
-has sounded forth even as far as to me, a clear and far-reaching
-blast indeed, extending to the very extremities of
-the world. Distant as we are, we know, not less than those
-present with thee, thy exceeding and burning love; wherefore
-we long extremely to enjoy a meeting with thee face
-to face. But, since the wilderness in which we are imprisoned
-precludes this, we fulfil our desire, as well as we
-can, by writing to you through our most honourable and
-reverend presbyter, expressing our great gratitude for the
-zeal which you have for so long a time displayed in our
-behalf; and we beg you, when he returns, or by the hands
-of chance messengers who may visit this desolate spot, to
-send tidings of your health, for you know how much pleasure
-it will afford us to hear frequently of the welfare of those
-who are so warmly disposed towards us.”<a name="FNanchor_658_658" id="FNanchor_658_658"></a><a href="#Footnote_658_658" class="fnanchor">658</a></p>
-
-<p>The letter written by Chrysostom in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 406 to Innocent
-is full of grateful acknowledgments for all the efforts which
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">385</a></span>he had made, and was still making, on his behalf. “Though
-separated by so vast a length of journey, yet are we near
-your Holiness, beholding with the eye of the soul your
-courage, your genuine, inflexible firmness, and we derive
-constant and abiding consolation from you. For the higher
-the waves are lifted up, the more numerous the rocks and
-reefs, the more does your untiring vigilance increase....
-This is now the third year of my exile, spent in the midst
-of famine, pestilence, continual sieges, an indescribable
-wilderness, and the pillage of the Isaurians. In the midst
-of these distresses and dangers, your constant and firm
-affection is no ordinary solace to me.”<a name="FNanchor_659_659" id="FNanchor_659_659"></a><a href="#Footnote_659_659" class="fnanchor">659</a></p>
-
-<p>There is a letter also addressed to Aurelius,<a name="FNanchor_660_660" id="FNanchor_660_660"></a><a href="#Footnote_660_660" class="fnanchor">660</a> bishop of
-Carthage, thanking him for bold and persevering intercession
-in his behalf. The Church of Africa appears to have
-adhered to what was at first the resolution of the Roman
-Church, to maintain communion with both Chrysostom and
-Theophilus. St. Augustine has bestowed a high eulogium
-on Chrysostom,<a name="FNanchor_661_661" id="FNanchor_661_661"></a><a href="#Footnote_661_661" class="fnanchor">661</a> and an African council, in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 407, passed
-a resolution to address a letter to Innocent, praying that the
-intercourse between the Churches of Rome and Alexandria
-might be resumed.</p>
-
-<p>The health of the exile appears to have suffered less
-than usual, in the winter of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 406-7, from the effects of
-the cold. By carefully remaining in the house, and for
-the most part in bed, wrapped up in blankets in an apartment
-where a fire was kept constantly burning, and by
-use of a medicine sent him by a lady, his attacks of headache
-and of sickness were averted or alleviated. He had
-become inured to the want of exercise, the deprivation of
-the bath, and the smokiness of the room; and even the
-natives were astonished at the firmness with which so feeble
-and “spidery” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀραχνώδης</span>) a frame endured the severity
-of the climate. He began to feel a persuasion that God
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">386</a></span>would not have preserved him so miraculously through such
-various perils, if it were not His purpose to restore him to
-his former position, that he might accomplish some work
-for the Church.<a name="FNanchor_662_662" id="FNanchor_662_662"></a><a href="#Footnote_662_662" class="fnanchor">662</a></p>
-
-<p>But the chief work which he was destined to accomplish
-was to exhibit to the close of his life, now rapidly approaching,
-a noble spectacle of Christian fortitude and patience, of
-one continuing to the last to hope in God, to put his trust
-in God, and still to give Him thanks. The malicious envy
-of his enemies was augmented by the admiration and affection
-which pursued their victim from all parts of Christendom,
-and the correspondence which was maintained with
-him even in the mountain fortress which they had selected
-for his prison. The only remedy was to remove him yet
-further, to a more remote and still more inaccessible region.
-They worked upon the Emperor and the Court, whose
-jealousy had been already excited by the interference of the
-West; and, in the middle of June, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 407, an order was
-obtained by them for the removal of the exile to Pityus, on
-the eastern coast of the Euxine, near the very frontier of
-the Empire, in the most desolate country, inhabited by
-savage, barbarous people. The two prætorian soldiers
-charged with conveying him thither were instructed to
-push on the journey with the most inexorable haste, and
-encouraged to hope for promotion should their prisoner die
-on the road. One of the two had some sparks of humanity,
-and furtively showed some little kindness to the sufferer;
-but the other followed out the cruel directions given him
-with merciless fidelity. Chrysostom had, some time ago,
-expressed his conviction that he could not survive the
-fatigue of another long and laborious journey, yet for three
-months his fragile frame endured the strain till he reached
-Comana in Pontus. A former bishop of that place, Basiliscus,
-had suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Maxi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">387</a></span>minus,
-together with Lucian of Antioch. Chrysostom was
-lodged in the precincts of the church erected in honour of
-Basiliscus, above five miles outside the town. Here, so runs
-the story, the martyred bishop appeared to him in the
-night, stood beside him, and said, “Be of good cheer, for by
-to-morrow we shall be together.” A similar vision was
-vouchsafed to one of the presbyters of the church. He was
-bidden “to prepare a place for our brother John.” In the
-morning, Chrysostom entreated his guards to allow him to
-stay where he was till eleven o’clock; but they were inflexible,
-and the weary march was resumed. When, however,
-they had proceeded about thirty stadia, he became
-so ill that they were compelled to return to the martyry.
-Here he asked for white garments, and having been clothed
-in them, he distributed his own raiment among the clergy
-who were present. The Eucharist was administered to him,
-he spoke a few farewell words to the ecclesiastics who
-stood around him, and with the words “Glory be to God
-for all things, Amen,” on his lips, the weary exile breathed
-his last.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line i05">“Rest comes at length; though life be long and dreary,</div>
-<div class="line i1">The day must dawn, and darksome night be past;</div>
-<div class="line">All journeys end in welcomes to the weary,</div>
-<div class="line i1">And heaven, the heart’s true home, will come at last.”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>The promise of Basiliscus was literally fulfilled—he was
-buried in the same grave with the martyr, in the presence
-of a large concourse of monks and nuns.<a name="FNanchor_663_663" id="FNanchor_663_663"></a><a href="#Footnote_663_663" class="fnanchor">663</a></p>
-
-<p>The enemies of Chrysostom thus succeeded in wreaking
-their vengeance to the full upon the person of their victim—“Non
-missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo;” but
-they were powerless to obliterate his memory. A sense
-of the cruelty and injustice with which he had been treated
-grew throughout Christendom, and he was more honoured
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">388</a></span>and admired after his death than he had been during his
-life. His followers in Constantinople, under the appellation
-of Johnites, persisted in refusing to hold any communion
-with Atticus; and in the course of ten years, Atticus himself
-was constrained, by the solicitations of the Court and people,
-by the example of other prelates, especially Alexander of
-Antioch, and by a natural desire to maintain communion
-with the Western Church, to admit the name of Chrysostom
-into the diptychs of the Church of Constantinople.
-Cyril, the nephew and successor of Theophilus, who inherited
-in too many points his uncle’s spirit as well as
-his see, yielded a more tardy and reluctant consent to the
-recognition of his uncle’s foe.<a name="FNanchor_664_664" id="FNanchor_664_664"></a><a href="#Footnote_664_664" class="fnanchor">664</a></p>
-
-<p>But a still higher honour was yet to be paid to his
-memory by the Church from which he had been so violently
-expelled. In <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 434, Proclus, formerly a disciple of
-Chrysostom, was elevated to the see of Constantinople.
-He conceived that the only effectual means of doing justice
-to the injured saint, and reconciling the Johnites to the
-Church, would be to transport his remains to the city. The
-consent of the Emperor Theodosius <span class="smcap">II.</span> was obtained. On
-January 27,<a name="FNanchor_665_665" id="FNanchor_665_665"></a><a href="#Footnote_665_665" class="fnanchor">665</a> <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 438, the reliques of the banished Archbishop
-were brought to the shores of the Bosporus. As
-once before in his lifetime, to greet him on his return from
-exile, so now, and in still greater numbers, the people,
-bearing torches, crowded the waters of the strait with their
-boats to welcome the return of all which remained of their
-beloved and much-wronged spiritual father. The young
-Emperor, stooping down, laid his face on the reliquary, and
-implored forgiveness of the injuries which his parents had
-inflicted on the saint whose ashes it contained. That
-reliquary was then deposited near the altar of the Church
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">389</a></span>of the Apostles.<a name="FNanchor_666_666" id="FNanchor_666_666"></a><a href="#Footnote_666_666" class="fnanchor">666</a> It is the sad story, so often repeated in
-history, of goodness and greatness, unrecognised, slighted,
-injured, cut short in a career of usefulness by one generation,
-abundantly, but too late, acknowledged in the next;
-when posterity, paying to the memory and the tomb the
-honours which should have been bestowed on the living
-man, can only utter the remorseful prayer—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line i05">“His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani</div>
-<div class="line">Munere....”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">390</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="indent f08">SURVEY OF CHRYSOSTOM’S THEOLOGICAL TEACHING—PRACTICAL TONE OF
-HIS WORKS—REASON OF THIS—DOCTRINE OF MAN’S NATURE—ORIGINAL
-SIN—GRACE—FREE-WILL—HOW FAR CHRYSOSTOM PELAGIAN—LANGUAGE
-ON THE TRINITY—ATONEMENT—JUSTIFICATION—THE TWO
-SACRAMENTS—NO TRACE OF CONFESSION, PURGATORY, OR MARIOLATRY—RELATIONS
-TOWARDS THE POPE—LITURGY OF CHRYSOSTOM—HIS
-CHARACTER AS A COMMENTATOR—VIEWS ON INSPIRATION—HIS
-PREACHING—PERSONAL APPEARANCE—REFERENCES TO GREEK CLASSICAL
-AUTHORS—COMPARISON WITH ST. AUGUSTINE.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> main characteristics of Chrysostom as a theologian and
-interpreter of Scripture, as well as a pastor and preacher,
-have, it is hoped, been already indicated in the course of
-the preceding narrative; but it may be desirable to supplement,
-by a fuller and more methodical survey, notices
-which were necessarily sometimes brief and incidental in
-the biographical chapters.<a name="FNanchor_667_667" id="FNanchor_667_667"></a><a href="#Footnote_667_667" class="fnanchor">667</a></p>
-
-<p>Some evidence, therefore, of his theological teaching and
-method of interpretation will first of all be collected from
-his writings, and arranged under different heads. Two
-difficulties in the way of executing this task faithfully
-should be borne in mind: first, the voluminous bulk of
-Chrysostom’s works (as Suidas observed, that it belonged to
-God rather than man to know them all), which renders a
-successful search for the selection of what are really the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">391</a></span>most telling passages in illustration of each point far from
-easy; secondly, that Chrysostom, being a preacher rather
-than a writer, was of course liable to slip into inexact or
-exaggerated language, under the influence of excitement, or
-a desire to make an impression on the feelings of his hearers.
-An attentive perusal, however, of his writings leads the
-reader to the conclusion that he was very seldom carried
-away by the impulse of the moment into merely vague or
-rhetorical expressions, and that he was especially preserved
-from this failing by his habit of combining the expository
-with the practical and hortatory line of preaching. His
-discourses are careful commentaries as well as practical
-addresses. Week after week it was his custom to go
-through some book of Holy Scripture, verse by verse, clause
-by clause, almost word by word; endeavouring with all
-diligence and patience to ascertain the exact meaning of the
-passage before him, to place it clearly before his audience,
-and to base his practical exhortation upon it.</p>
-
-<p>The remark has been so often repeated, as to have
-become almost a truism, that the theology of the East is
-distinguished from the theology of the West by its more
-speculative, metaphysical character. It deals more especially
-with the most profound and abstract mysteries—the
-being and nature of the Godhead, of angels, of the whole
-spiritual realm. It might, therefore, occasion some surprise
-to find the homilies of Chrysostom marked by such an
-eminently practical tone. But the apparent contradiction
-is easily explained. It is precisely because Greek philosophy
-and theology were chiefly concerned with the most
-abstract questions, that the Greek preacher, speaking on
-matters not abstract, but practical, relating to moral conduct,
-is especially free in his language from philosophical or
-technical terms. On the other hand, in the Western Church
-exactly the reverse occurs. The best intellectual powers of
-the Roman having been mainly exercised on jurisprudence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">392</a></span>
-the mind of Roman theologians naturally turned most
-powerfully towards practical questions which had most
-affinity to that science with which they were chiefly conversant—such
-as the relation of man to God, the nature of
-sin, the means of discharging the debt owed by man, the
-problem of the free-will of man, and providence of God.
-Western theology is coloured by the language of Roman
-law, as Eastern theology is coloured by the language of
-Greek philosophy. “Merit,” “satisfaction,” “decrees,” “forensic
-justification,” “imputed righteousness,” are terms which
-do not occur in the writings of the Greek theologian, because
-they are the expressions of ideas in which he felt no interest.
-They are the offspring of the Roman mind, in which legal
-ideas were dominant. Hence the Western theologian is
-most technical and scientific in the region of practical questions;
-the Greek, on the other hand, is more entirely free
-from the influence of philosophy in that region than in any
-other.</p>
-
-<p>In accordance with this distinction, we find that Chrysostom,
-in treating of those practical questions with which,
-as a preacher and pastor, he was mainly concerned—the
-nature and the work of Jesus Christ, providence, grace,
-the nature of man, sin, faith, repentance, good works, and
-the like—casts his thoughts into the most free, natural,
-untechnical, and therefore forcible language possible.</p>
-
-<p>To consider first of all his exposition of man’s nature.
-The majority of the Oriental fathers made a triple division,
-into body, soul, and spirit—the soul (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ψυχή</span>) being equivalent
-to the animal life, the spirit (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">πνεῦμα or ψυχὴ λογική</span>) to the
-reason. Chrysostom makes a twofold division only, into
-body and soul, and reserves the word “spirit” to designate the
-Holy Spirit.<a name="FNanchor_668_668" id="FNanchor_668_668"></a><a href="#Footnote_668_668" class="fnanchor">668</a> Man, when first created, came like a pure
-golden statue fresh out of the artist’s hands, destined, if he
-had not fallen, to enjoy a yet higher and nobler dignity than
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">393</a></span>he then possessed.<a name="FNanchor_669_669" id="FNanchor_669_669"></a><a href="#Footnote_669_669" class="fnanchor">669</a> His being made “in the image of God”
-Chrysostom interprets to signify that dominance over the
-lower animals which God Himself exercises over the whole
-creation, and the peculiar superiority of man’s nature to
-theirs consists in his reasoning power, as well as in his
-endowment with the gift of immortality.<a name="FNanchor_670_670" id="FNanchor_670_670"></a><a href="#Footnote_670_670" class="fnanchor">670</a> Man fell through
-his own weakness and indolent negligence (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ῥᾳθυμία</span>), and
-then became deprived of that immortality and divine wisdom
-with which he had been previously gifted; but his nature
-was not essentially <em>changed</em>, it was only weakened.<a name="FNanchor_671_671" id="FNanchor_671_671"></a><a href="#Footnote_671_671" class="fnanchor">671</a> Evil is
-not an integral part of man; it is not an inherent substantial
-force (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">δύναμις ἐνυπόστατος</span>):<a name="FNanchor_672_672" id="FNanchor_672_672"></a><a href="#Footnote_672_672" class="fnanchor">672</a> it is the moral purpose (προαίρεσις)
-which is perverted when men sin. If evil was a part
-of our nature, it would be no more reprehensible than
-natural appetites and affections. If man’s will was not
-unfettered, there would be no merit in goodness and no
-blame in evil. There is no constraint either to holiness or
-to sin; neither does God compel to the one, nor do the
-fleshly appetites compel to the other.<a name="FNanchor_673_673" id="FNanchor_673_673"></a><a href="#Footnote_673_673" class="fnanchor">673</a> The body was not,
-as the Manichæans erroneously maintained, the seat of sin;
-it was the creation of God equally with the soul; the
-whole burden, therefore, of responsibility in sin must be
-thrown on the “moral purpose.” Here was the root of all
-evil; the conception of necessity and immutability is bound
-up with the idea of nature. We do not try to alter that
-which is by nature (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">φύσει</span>): sin therefore is not by nature,
-because by means of education, laws, and punishments we
-do seek to alter that.<a name="FNanchor_674_674" id="FNanchor_674_674"></a><a href="#Footnote_674_674" class="fnanchor">674</a> Sin is through the moral purpose
-which is susceptible of change, and till the moral purpose
-has come into activity sin cannot properly be said to exist:
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">394</a></span>infants, therefore, and very young children, are free from sin.<a name="FNanchor_675_675" id="FNanchor_675_675"></a><a href="#Footnote_675_675" class="fnanchor">675</a>
-Our first parents fell through moral negligence (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ῥᾳθυμία</span>);
-and this is the principal cause of sin now. They marked
-out a path which has been trodden ever since; they yielded
-to appetite, and the force of the will has been weakened
-thereby in all their posterity, who have become subject to
-the punishment of death; so that though sin is not a part
-of man’s nature, yet his nature is readily inclined to evil
-(<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ὀξυῤῥεπὴς πρὸς κακίαν</span>): but this tendency will be controlled
-by the moral purpose if that is in a healthy condition.<a name="FNanchor_676_676" id="FNanchor_676_676"></a><a href="#Footnote_676_676" class="fnanchor">676</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom would thus readily allow the expressions
-“hereditary tendency to sin,” “hereditary liability to the
-punishment of death,” but he shrinks from the expression
-“hereditary sin.” His anxiety to insist on the complete
-freedom of the human will was very natural in the earnest
-Christian preacher of holiness, who lived in an age when men
-were frequently encountered who, in the midst of wickedness,
-complained that they were abandoned to the dominion of
-devils or to the irresistible course of fate. They transferred
-all guilt from themselves to the powers of evil, all responsibility
-to the Creator Himself, who had withdrawn from
-them, as they maintained, the protection of His good providence.
-To counteract the disastrous effects of such philosophy,
-which surrendered the will to the current of the
-passions, like an unballasted ship cast adrift before the
-storm, it was indeed necessary to maintain very resolutely
-and boldly the essential freedom of the will, to insist on
-man’s moral responsibility, and the duty of vigilant, strenuous
-exertion. Chrysostom frequently exposes the absurdity as
-well as the moral evil of a doctrine of necessity. If human
-actions are necessary and preordained results of circumstances,
-then teaching and government become mere pieces
-of acting, destitute of any practical influence; they are also
-unjust, since you have no right to punish a person who has
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">395</a></span>acted under compulsion. Such a theory ought, also, logically
-to paralyse human industry. If a plentiful harvest is predetermined
-by the decrees of fate, you may spare yourself
-the trouble of ploughing, sowing, and other laborious operations;
-or, if Clotho has turned her distaff in the other direction,
-all your exertions will fail to produce an abundant
-crop. Such a doctrine is repugnant to our natural sense,
-and contradicts our own consciousness and inward experience.
-We feel that we are free, and all human action
-proceeds on the principle of supposing man to be free. We
-teach and we punish. The plea of necessity would be
-rejected in a court of law as an impudent and futile excuse
-for crime. Such a theory is utterly at variance also with
-God’s mode of addressing man, which always implies freedom
-of volition; as, for instance, “If <em>ye will</em> hearken unto me,
-ye shall eat the fat of the land; but if <em>ye will not</em> hearken,
-the sword shall devour you.”<a name="FNanchor_677_677" id="FNanchor_677_677"></a><a href="#Footnote_677_677" class="fnanchor">677</a></p>
-
-<p>Profoundly convinced, therefore, of a universal tendency
-to sin on the one hand, but of an essential freedom of the
-will on the other, Chrysostom sounds alternately the note
-of warning and of encouragement—warning against that
-weakness, indolence, languor of the moral purpose which
-occasions a fall; encouragement to the full use of those
-powers with which all men are gifted, and to avoid that
-despondency which will prevent a man from rising again
-when he has fallen. St. Paul repented, and, not despairing,
-became equal to angels; Judas repenting, but despairing,
-was hurried into self-inflicted death. Despair was the
-devil’s most powerful instrument for working the destruction
-of man.<a name="FNanchor_678_678" id="FNanchor_678_678"></a><a href="#Footnote_678_678" class="fnanchor">678</a> Chrysostom therefore earnestly combated any
-view of Christian life which daunted and discouraged man’s
-efforts, by winding them too high, or placing before them
-an unattainable standard. Men sometimes said we cannot
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">396</a></span>be like St. Peter and St. Paul, because we are not gifted
-with their miraculous power. But, he replies, you may
-emulate their Christian graces: these are within the reach
-of all, and these are, by our Lord’s own declaration, the most
-important. “<em>By this</em> shall all men know that ye are my
-disciples, if ye have love one to another;” the moral works
-of the Apostles, works of love, mercy, and faith, were far
-more instrumental in the conversion of the world than their
-merely miraculous powers.<a name="FNanchor_679_679" id="FNanchor_679_679"></a><a href="#Footnote_679_679" class="fnanchor">679</a></p>
-
-<p>Urgently, however, as Chrysostom, in his desire to stimulate
-exertion and strengthen the moral life, insists on the
-absolute freedom of the will, he maintains no less clearly
-the insufficiency of man’s nature to accomplish good without
-the Divine assistance. No one has described in more forcible
-language the powerful hold of sin upon human nature. Sin
-is like a terrible pit, containing fierce monsters, and full of
-darkness.<a name="FNanchor_680_680" id="FNanchor_680_680"></a><a href="#Footnote_680_680" class="fnanchor">680</a> It is more terrible than a demon,<a name="FNanchor_681_681" id="FNanchor_681_681"></a><a href="#Footnote_681_681" class="fnanchor">681</a> it is a great
-demon;<a name="FNanchor_682_682" id="FNanchor_682_682"></a><a href="#Footnote_682_682" class="fnanchor">682</a> it is like fire; when once it has got a hold on the
-thoughts of the heart, if it is not quenched it spreads further
-and further, and becomes increasingly difficult to subdue;<a name="FNanchor_683_683" id="FNanchor_683_683"></a><a href="#Footnote_683_683" class="fnanchor">683</a> it
-is a heavy burden, more oppressive than lead.<a name="FNanchor_684_684" id="FNanchor_684_684"></a><a href="#Footnote_684_684" class="fnanchor">684</a> Christ saw
-us lying cast away upon the ground, perishing under the
-tyranny of sin, and He took compassion on us.<a name="FNanchor_685_685" id="FNanchor_685_685"></a><a href="#Footnote_685_685" class="fnanchor">685</a> In the
-infant weakness and liability to sin are inherent, though not
-sin itself. The moral nature of the infant is like a plant,
-which will grow healthily by a process of natural development,
-unless exposed to injurious influences; but it requires
-the protection of grace, “therefore we baptize infants to
-impart holiness and goodness, as well as to establish a
-relationship with God.” This passage is quoted by St.
-Augustine in his earnest vindication of Chrysostom from
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">397</a></span>Pelagianism.<a name="FNanchor_686_686" id="FNanchor_686_686"></a><a href="#Footnote_686_686" class="fnanchor">686</a> But the passages on which Augustine mainly
-depends to prove Chrysostom’s adherence to the tenet of
-original sin are in his exposition of Romans v. 12-14:—“Death
-reigned from Adam to Moses. How reigned? In
-likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of
-One to come. How a figure? Because, as he became a
-cause of death to those who were born from him, although
-they had not eaten of the tree, even so Christ has become
-to His posterity the procurer of righteousness, though they
-have not done righteousness, which He has bestowed upon
-us all through His cross.” Augustine quotes also his observation
-on Christ’s tears over the grave of Lazarus:—“He
-wept to think that men, who were capable of immortality,
-had been made mortal by the devil;” and his remarks on
-Genesis i. 28, about the subjection of the lower animals to
-man: “that man’s present dread of wild beasts was entirely
-owing to the Fall, and had not existed previous to that: it
-was inherited by all Adam’s posterity, because they inherited
-his degradation through the Fall.” All these passages, however,
-do not amount to more than the doctrine of a universally
-inherited tendency to sin, and therefore liability to its
-punishment, death. In his interpretation of the passage,
-“the free gift is of many offences unto justification,” this
-last word is plainly taken by him in the sense of making
-man righteous, not accounting him as such.<a name="FNanchor_687_687" id="FNanchor_687_687"></a><a href="#Footnote_687_687" class="fnanchor">687</a></p>
-
-<p>His conception of the relation between the will and
-power of God on the one hand, and man’s freedom on the
-other, appears to be this:—All men, without exception,
-are through Christ called to salvation; predestination
-means no more than God’s original design, conceived prior
-to the Fall, of bringing all men to salvation. So, after the
-Fall, His redemptive plan or purpose embraces all men; but,
-on the other hand, it constrains no one. According to His
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">398</a></span>absolute will all men are to be saved; but the accomplishment
-of His purpose is limited by the freedom of choice
-which He has Himself bestowed on man, whereby man may
-either accept the proffered favour and be eternally blessed,
-or reject it and be eternally condemned. God’s election of
-those who are called is not compulsory, but persuasive;<a name="FNanchor_688_688" id="FNanchor_688_688"></a><a href="#Footnote_688_688" class="fnanchor">688</a>
-hence, many of those who have been called perish through
-their rejection of grace: they, and not God, are the authors
-of their own condemnation. God knows beforehand what
-each man will be, good or bad; but He does not constrain
-him to be one or the other.<a name="FNanchor_689_689" id="FNanchor_689_689"></a><a href="#Footnote_689_689" class="fnanchor">689</a> The illustration of the potter
-in Romans ix. 20 must not be pressed too closely; St.
-Paul’s object simply is to enforce the duty of unconditional
-obedience. A vessel of wrath is one who obdurately resists
-God’s grace; he was never <em>intended</em> by God to be a vessel
-of wrath. “The vessels of mercy are said to have been prepared
-afore by God unto glory,” but the vessels of wrath to
-be fitted (not by God—He is not mentioned—but by sin)
-unto destruction.<a name="FNanchor_690_690" id="FNanchor_690_690"></a><a href="#Footnote_690_690" class="fnanchor">690</a> So again, he acutely observes that, in the
-account of the final judgment (St. Matt. xxv.), the destiny
-of the <em>good</em> only is referred to God. “Come, ye blessed <em>of
-my Father</em>, inherit the kingdom prepared <em>for you</em>;” but,
-“Depart, ye cursed” (not “of my Father”), “into everlasting
-fire, prepared” (not for you, but) “for the devil and his
-angels.”</p>
-
-<p>On St. John vi. 44, he remarks, it is perfectly true that
-only they who are drawn and taught by the Father can
-come to Christ; but away with the paltry pretence that
-those who are not thus drawn and taught are emancipated
-from blame; for this very thing, the being led and instructed,
-depends on their own moral choice. Two factors, therefore,
-Divine grace which presents, and human will which appro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">399</a></span>priates,
-are co-efficients in the work of man’s salvation;
-God’s love and man’s faith must work hand in hand. God
-provides opportunities, encourages by promises, arouses by
-calls; and the moment these are responded to, the moment
-man begins to will and to do what is right, he is abundantly
-assisted by grace. But Chrysostom recognises nothing
-approaching the doctrine of final perseverance. St. Paul
-might have relapsed, Judas might have been saved (De
-Laud. Ap. Pauli, Hom. ii. 4). In his commentary on
-Phil. ii. 12-13, “It is God which worketh in us both to will
-and to do of his good pleasure,” the spontaneity of man’s
-will is carefully maintained. It may be said, if God works
-the will in us, why does the apostle exhort us to work? for
-if God wrought the wish, it is vain to speak of obedience;
-the whole work is God’s from the beginning. No! Chrysostom
-says, what St. Paul means is, that if your will works,
-God will augment your will, and quicken it into activity and
-zeal. Hast thou given alms? you are the more prompted
-to give; hast thou abstained from giving? negligence will
-increase upon you. The histories of Abraham, Job, Elijah,
-St. Paul, and other saints, are frequently cited to prove his
-central principle, that God in the moral and spiritual sense
-helps those only who help themselves. “When He, who
-knows the secrets of our hearts, sees us eagerly prepare for
-the contest of virtue, He instantly supplies us with His
-assistance, lightening our labours, and strengthening the
-weakness of our nature. In the Olympian contests the
-trainer stands by as a spectator merely, awaiting the issue,
-and unable to contribute anything to the efforts of the contender;
-whereas our Master accompanies us, extends His
-hand to us, all but subdues our antagonist, arranges everything
-to enable us to prevail, that He may place the amaranthine
-wreath upon our brows.”<a name="FNanchor_691_691" id="FNanchor_691_691"></a><a href="#Footnote_691_691" class="fnanchor">691</a> God does not anticipate
-(<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">φθάνει</span>) man’s own volitions (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">βουλήσεις</span>), but when these
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">400</a></span>are once bent in the right direction, God’s grace powerfully
-promotes them; and without this divine co-operation holiness
-is unattainable.<a name="FNanchor_692_692" id="FNanchor_692_692"></a><a href="#Footnote_692_692" class="fnanchor">692</a> But as, according to Chrysostom’s
-conceptions, the first movement towards good moral practice
-comes from the man himself, he often speaks of a man’s
-salvation depending on his own moral choice. He is not,
-therefore, in harmony with the mind of our Church as
-expressed in the Article, that “we have no power to do good
-works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of
-God <em>preventing</em> us, that we may have a good will;” but his
-language thoroughly concurs with the subsequent clause,
-“and working with us when we have that good will.” In
-the technical language of theology, he recognises assisting,
-but not prevenient, grace.</p>
-
-<p>It has been well remarked by Mr. Alexander Knox
-(“Remains,” vol. iii. 79), that “the advocates for efficient
-grace have been too generally antiperfectionists, and the
-perfectionists, on the other hand, too little aware that we
-are not sufficient so much as to think anything as of ourselves,
-but that it is God which worketh in us both to will
-and to do of His good pleasure.” The perfect conception of
-the true Christian standard of character could only be found,
-he thought, in a union of the systems of St. Chrysostom
-and St. Augustine. It must not be imagined, however, that
-Chrysostom regarded Divine grace as merely accessory or
-subsidiary to man’s own will and purpose. He fails not to
-represent it as indispensable to every human soul, however
-powerfully inclined of itself to good. The human will,
-weakened and depraved by evil, is not for a moment to rank
-as co-ordinate in its action with the work of the Holy
-Spirit: the real efficient force in the work of sanctification
-is the Holy Spirit. The beginnings, indeed (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀρχαί</span>), are our
-own, and we must contribute what we can, small and cheap
-though it be, because, unless we do our part, we shall not
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">401</a></span>obtain the Divine assistance; but though the initiatory step
-is ours, the accomplishment of the work is altogether God’s,
-and, since the major part is His, we commonly say that the
-whole is His.<a name="FNanchor_693_693" id="FNanchor_693_693"></a><a href="#Footnote_693_693" class="fnanchor">693</a></p>
-
-<p>He invariably speaks of the Old Dispensation as a period
-when Divine grace was given in less measure than under
-the Gospel, because then sin had not been blotted out, nor
-death vanquished. The achievements of holy men like
-Abraham and Job in this period were therefore deserving
-of peculiar praise, and their faults, on the other hand, were
-entitled to more indulgent judgment, because they laboured
-under disadvantages. When the Lamb which taketh away
-the sins of the world had been slain, and the reconciliation
-between man and God had been effected, then spiritual gifts
-of a higher order were imparted as a sign and a pledge that
-the old hostility had ceased.<a name="FNanchor_694_694" id="FNanchor_694_694"></a><a href="#Footnote_694_694" class="fnanchor">694</a></p>
-
-<p>Turning now to theology, strictly so called, to the being
-and nature of the Godhead, we find comparatively little said
-by Chrysostom, except incidentally, on a subject more congenial
-to the theologian and student than to the earnest,
-practical preacher. In opposition to the rationalistic doctrine
-of the Arians, who affected to comprehend the Divine
-Nature, he strenuously maintained, as we have seen,<a name="FNanchor_695_695" id="FNanchor_695_695"></a><a href="#Footnote_695_695" class="fnanchor">695</a> its
-inscrutability, and denounced any curious investigation of it
-as at once foolish and profane. God has condescended to
-appear to us in a form which is intelligible, and it is presumption
-to attempt to penetrate beyond the limits which
-He has placed to a knowledge of Himself. Chrysostom
-takes the dogma of the one substance (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ὁμοουσία</span>), established
-at Nice, as the basis of his position against the Arians, and
-seeks to prove it, not by speculative argument, after the
-manner of the Alexandrian school, but by reference to Holy
-Scripture. He uses the word “substance” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">οὐσία</span>) to
-designate the essential nature and “person” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ὑπόστασις</span>),
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">402</a></span>the personality of the Godhead, and points out that words
-which relate to the <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">οὐσία</span>, as Lord and God, are applied to
-all the Persons; whereas the other terms—Father, Son,
-Holy Spirit—indicating distinction of personality, are each
-applied to one Person only in the Godhead. Yet the
-Persons are not related to the substance as parts to the
-whole: God the Son is to God the Father as a beam of the
-sun, inseparable from Him, identical with Him in substance,
-yet retaining His own personality.<a name="FNanchor_696_696" id="FNanchor_696_696"></a><a href="#Footnote_696_696" class="fnanchor">696</a> He is equally
-careful to guard the divinity of Christ against the rationalising
-school of Paul of Samosata, and the distinctness of
-His personality as against the Sabellians. St. Paul, he
-observes, does not dwell too much upon the abasement of
-Christ, lest Paul of Samosata should take advantage;
-neither does he dwell exclusively upon the exaltation, lest
-Sabellius should spring upon him.<a name="FNanchor_697_697" id="FNanchor_697_697"></a><a href="#Footnote_697_697" class="fnanchor">697</a></p>
-
-<p>The equal divinity and distinct personality of the Holy
-Ghost are no less clearly and forcibly demonstrated by a
-collection and comparison of passages. St. Paul, for
-instance, in 1 Cor. xii. 6, speaks of God as “working all in
-all;” in verse 11 of the same chapter, he uses the same
-language of the Holy Spirit. Into any metaphysical,
-abstract discussion of the nature of the Godhead Chrysostom
-does not enter. He simply endeavours to guard the faith
-of the Church by a careful exposition of Holy Scripture,
-on which that faith was based, and by an exposure of the
-one-sided, or perverted, interpretations on which the current
-forms of heresy depended.</p>
-
-<p>The union of the two natures in the person of our blessed
-Lord was, as is well known, a subject of constant speculation
-and of prolific error in the first five centuries. Here, again,
-the good sense of Chrysostom, united to his careful study of
-Holy Scripture, enabled him to hold the balance between
-two divergent methods—one which attended too exclusively
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">403</a></span>to the humanitarian point of view, the other which brought
-out the divinity, but at the expense of the manhood. He
-earnestly maintains the veritable assumption of humanity
-by the Word. Our nature could not have been elevated to
-the divine if the Saviour had not <em>really</em> partaken of it;
-neither could He have brought help to our race if He had
-appeared in the unveiled glory of His Godhead, for sun and
-moon, earth and sea, and even man himself, would have
-perished at the brightness of His presence. Therefore He
-veiled his Godhead in flesh, and came not as the Lord in
-outward semblance, but in lowliness and abasement.<a name="FNanchor_698_698" id="FNanchor_698_698"></a><a href="#Footnote_698_698" class="fnanchor">698</a> And
-this very condescension enhanced His dignity and extended
-His dominion: before the Incarnation He was adored by
-angels only, but afterwards by the whole race of redeemed
-man.<a name="FNanchor_699_699" id="FNanchor_699_699"></a><a href="#Footnote_699_699" class="fnanchor">699</a> He assumed our nature, even in its liability to death,
-but not as contaminated by sin.<a name="FNanchor_700_700" id="FNanchor_700_700"></a><a href="#Footnote_700_700" class="fnanchor">700</a> There were in Him three
-elements—body and soul making up the human nature, and
-the Logos or Word making up the divine. These two
-natures were <em>united</em> but not <em>fused</em>. “We, indeed, are body
-and soul, but He is God and soul and body; remaining what
-He was, He took that which He was not, and having become
-flesh, He remained God, being the Word. The one He
-became He assumed; the other He was. Let us not then
-confound, neither let us divide; one God, one Christ the
-Son of God; and when I say one, I speak of union, not
-fusion” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἕνωσιν λέγω οὐ σύγχυσιν</span>).<a name="FNanchor_701_701" id="FNanchor_701_701"></a><a href="#Footnote_701_701" class="fnanchor">701</a> Jesus Christ was
-subject to death, susceptible of pain and all those emotions
-and sensations which belong to the human body, otherwise
-His would not have been a real body, but the weakness pertaining
-to human nature was entirely overruled by the
-constant operation of the Logos. If He is said to have been
-lowered or exalted, this was only as man, since the Godhead
-was incapable of either, being absolutely perfect. When the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">404</a></span>
-Holy Ghost is said to have descended upon Him at His
-baptism, this must be considered to refer to His human
-nature only; the manhood, not the Godhead, is anointed.
-Or when we read that He walked not in Judæa, because the
-Jews sought to kill Him, and then, just afterwards, that He
-passed through the midst of His enemies unscathed, we
-have a direct manifestation, in close correspondence, of the
-Godhead and the manhood.<a name="FNanchor_702_702" id="FNanchor_702_702"></a><a href="#Footnote_702_702" class="fnanchor">702</a></p>
-
-<p>In speaking of the redemptive work of our blessed Lord,
-Chrysostom’s language is too rapturously eloquent to be very
-precise. There are in him several traces of the idea which
-began with Irenæus, and was developed by Origen, that the
-devil through the Fall acquired an actual right over man,
-and that a kind of pious fraud was practised upon him to
-deprive him of this right through the Incarnation and death
-of Jesus. By the noiseless, unostentatious manner in which
-our Saviour assumed humanity, veiling His Godhead under
-it, He, as it were, stole unawares upon the devil, who
-was not fully conscious of the majesty and might of his
-adversary. The devil assaulted Christ as if Christ had been
-merely man, and he was disappointed in his expectation.
-He was vanquished by his own weapons, his tyranny was
-destroyed by means of those very things which were his
-strength; the curse of sin and of death were his most
-trusted pieces: Christ submitted Himself to be bruised by
-them, and yet crushed them by His submission.<a name="FNanchor_703_703" id="FNanchor_703_703"></a><a href="#Footnote_703_703" class="fnanchor">703</a></p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, we find also in Chrysostom the customary
-conception of a debt discharged, a ransom paid, a
-sacrifice offered once for all. “Adam sinned and died;
-Christ sinned not and yet died. Wherefore? that he who
-sinned and died might be able, through Him who died but
-sinned not, to throw off the grasp of death. This is what
-takes place also in money transactions. Often some one
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">405</a></span>who is a debtor, not being able to pay, is detained in bonds;
-another, who owes nothing but is able to lay down the sum,
-pays it and releases the responsible person. Thus has it
-been in the case of man. Man was the debtor, was detained
-by the devil, and could not pay; Christ owed nothing, nor
-was He holden by the devil, but He was able to pay the
-debt. He came and He paid down death on behalf of him
-who was detained in bondage.<a name="FNanchor_704_704" id="FNanchor_704_704"></a><a href="#Footnote_704_704" class="fnanchor">704</a></p>
-
-<p>From this point of view the person to whom the debt is
-due and is discharged is the devil; from another, the satisfaction
-is regarded as due to God, owing to the violation of
-man’s obedience, and is paid to Him through the sacrifice
-of a sinless life. “It was right that all men should fulfil
-the righteousness of God; but, since no one did this, Christ
-came and completely fulfilled it.”<a name="FNanchor_705_705" id="FNanchor_705_705"></a><a href="#Footnote_705_705" class="fnanchor">705</a> He was Himself both
-the sacrificer and the victim; the cross being the altar. He
-suffered outside the city that the prophecy, “He was
-numbered with the transgressors,” might be fulfilled, and
-also that the <em>universality</em> of the sacrifice might be proclaimed.<a name="FNanchor_706_706" id="FNanchor_706_706"></a><a href="#Footnote_706_706" class="fnanchor">706</a>
-Chrysostom is not careful to distinguish between
-the alienation of man from God, and of God from man
-through the Fall. He represents the hostility as in some
-sort existing on both sides. Christ did the work of a
-mediator by interposing Himself between the two parties,
-and reconciling each to the other. The references to such a
-fundamental verity are of course numerous, often full of
-beauty of expression and tenderness of feeling, and glowing
-earnestness. What he specially delights to dwell upon, as
-might be expected from his warm, affectionate disposition,
-is the exceeding love of Christ to man, and the hearty return
-which gratitude for such a benefit ought to draw forth from
-us. Like St. Paul, he often will break forth, in the midst
-of some argument or practical address, into a burst of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">406</a></span>rapturous and adoring praise. “What reward shall I give
-unto the Lord for all the benefits which He hath done unto
-me? Who shall express the noble acts of the Lord, or show
-forth all His praise? He abased Himself that He might
-exalt thee; He died to make thee immortal; He became a
-curse that thou mightest obtain a blessing.... When
-the world lay in darkness, the light of the Cross was held
-up like a torch shining in a dark place, and the light at the
-top of it was the Sun of Righteousness Himself.”<a name="FNanchor_707_707" id="FNanchor_707_707"></a><a href="#Footnote_707_707" class="fnanchor">707</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom’s doctrine of justification is naturally coloured
-by his ethics. Maintaining, as he did, that the corruption
-of man’s nature consisted in a weakness of the moral purpose,
-a crooked tendency of the will, rather than in any inherent
-indelible stain in that nature itself, his exhortations are
-directed rather to inculcate energetic action, a gradual
-process of improvement of the will with the Divine help,
-than that entire dependence through faith on the mercy of
-God which springs out of a deep conviction of the sinner’s
-own insufficiency. The logical tendency of the Augustinian
-view of the intense and radical depravity of man’s nature is
-to induce a total repudiation of the efficacy of personal
-effort, a total disavowal of all personal merit. Hence
-justification comes to be regarded as purely an act of
-acquittal on God’s part, a boon which the despairing sinner
-by an act of faith thankfully accepts. Such is not the
-position of Chrysostom, or of those who, like the Cambridge
-Divines of the seventeenth century, have trodden in his
-footsteps. With him the condition of a pardoned sinner
-consists rather in that renovation of the spiritual and moral
-life which is the result of long and laborious effort, aided of
-course by Divine grace, a succession of moral acts eventually
-producing “a new creature.” Faith is not so much regarded
-merely as the instrument or hand held out, by which God’s
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">407</a></span>gift is appropriated, as the first in a row of good works, a
-fruitful source of all good action. “Abraham,” he says,
-“believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
-Why? To prove that belief itself, in the first instance, and
-obedience to the call of God, come from our own good
-judgment (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">εὐγνωμοσύνη</span>); but as soon as the foundation
-of faith is laid, we require the alliance of the Holy Spirit,
-that it may remain constantly unshakable and inflexible.”<a name="FNanchor_708_708" id="FNanchor_708_708"></a><a href="#Footnote_708_708" class="fnanchor">708</a>
-“Faith is the mother of all good, the sure staff of man’s
-tottering footsteps, the anchor of his tempest-tossed soul,
-without which he would be like a ship cast adrift on the
-sea to the mercy of winds and waves.”<a name="FNanchor_709_709" id="FNanchor_709_709"></a><a href="#Footnote_709_709" class="fnanchor">709</a> “It is more stable
-and secure than reason, for it carries its own proof with it;
-the conclusions of reason may be diverted by counter-arguments,
-but faith stands above argument, and is not
-distracted by it.”<a name="FNanchor_710_710" id="FNanchor_710_710"></a><a href="#Footnote_710_710" class="fnanchor">710</a></p>
-
-<p>He does not, indeed, shrink from a bold declaration of
-the value of good works, but he is far from teaching men to
-depend on them as efficient causes of salvation. They are
-to be stored up as a kind of viaticum for our journey to the
-other world. “As those who are in a foreign country, when
-they wish to return to their own land, take pains, a long
-time beforehand, to collect means sufficient for their journey,
-so surely ought we, who are but strangers and settlers on
-this earth, to lay up a store of provisions through spiritual
-virtue, that when our Master shall command our return into
-our native country, we may be prepared and may carry part
-of our store with us, having sent the other in advance.”<a name="FNanchor_711_711" id="FNanchor_711_711"></a><a href="#Footnote_711_711" class="fnanchor">711</a>
-On the other hand, he constantly insists that it is the favour
-and mercy of God alone which, in the end, bestows salvation
-on us. Faith and good works are necessary conditions, but
-not efficient causes of salvation. God has graciously willed
-that they who have faith and good works shall be saved:
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">408</a></span>let no man therefore boast. We could not do good works
-without God’s assisting grace, nor could they in the end and
-at the best save us if it were not His merciful and gracious
-will.<a name="FNanchor_712_712" id="FNanchor_712_712"></a><a href="#Footnote_712_712" class="fnanchor">712</a> Therefore, let no one pride himself on his good works;
-above all things, let him cultivate a spirit of humility and
-modesty: St. Paul, after all his labours, confessed that he
-was not meet to be called an apostle, but was what he was
-by the grace of God.<a name="FNanchor_713_713" id="FNanchor_713_713"></a><a href="#Footnote_713_713" class="fnanchor">713</a> “What is impossible with men is
-possible with God.” “Tell me not I have sinned much, and
-how can I be saved? <em>Thou</em> art not able, but thy Master is
-able so to blot out thy sins that no trace even of them shall
-remain. In the natural body, indeed, though the wound
-may be healed, yet the scar remains; but God does not suffer
-the scar even to remain, but, together with release from
-punishment, grants righteousness also, and makes the sinner
-to be equal to him who has not sinned. He makes the sin
-neither to be nor to have been.... Sin is drowned in the
-ocean of God’s mercy, just as a spark is extinguished in a
-flood of water.”<a name="FNanchor_714_714" id="FNanchor_714_714"></a><a href="#Footnote_714_714" class="fnanchor">714</a></p>
-
-<p>It was, no doubt, the trustful dependence of Chrysostom
-on Divine grace, coupled with his firm conviction of the free
-capacity of man to turn to what is good, which enabled him
-to pitch all his exhortations to Christian holiness in such a
-singularly cheerful, hopeful tone. To his sanguine temperament
-it seemed as if man’s natural capacities for good, aided
-by grace obtained through prayer, could accomplish anything.
-“The effect of prayer on the heart is like that of the rising
-sun upon the natural world; as the wild beasts come forth
-by night to prowl and prey, but the sun ariseth, and they
-get them away together and lay them down in their dens,
-so, when the soul is illuminated by prayer, the irrational and
-brutal passions are put to flight, anger is calmed, lust is
-extinguished, envy is expelled; prayer is the treasure of the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">409</a></span>poor, the security of the rich; the poorest of all men is rich
-if he can pray, and the rich man who cannot pray is miserably
-poor. Ahab without prayer was impotent amidst his
-splendour; Elijah with prayer was mighty in his coarse
-garment of sheepskin.”<a name="FNanchor_715_715" id="FNanchor_715_715"></a><a href="#Footnote_715_715" class="fnanchor">715</a> “It is impossible, impossible that
-a man who calls constantly on God with proper zeal should
-ever sin; his spirit is proof against temptation so long as the
-effect of his praying lasts, and when it begins to fail, then he
-must pray again. And this may be done anywhere, in the
-market or in the shop, since prayer demands the outstretched
-soul rather than the extended hands.”<a name="FNanchor_716_716" id="FNanchor_716_716"></a><a href="#Footnote_716_716" class="fnanchor">716</a> Long prayers were
-to be avoided; they gave great opportunities to Satan to
-distract the attention, which could not easily bear a lengthened
-strain. Prayers should be frequent and short; thus
-we should best comply with the direction of St. Paul to pray
-without ceasing.<a name="FNanchor_717_717" id="FNanchor_717_717"></a><a href="#Footnote_717_717" class="fnanchor">717</a></p>
-
-<p>It remains to collect some notices of Chrysostom’s teaching
-with reference to the two Sacraments.</p>
-
-<p>The number of those who, as Christian children of decidedly
-Christian parents, were baptized in infancy appears
-to have been small at this period, compared with those who,
-like Chrysostom himself, joined the ranks of the Church at
-a later epoch of life. There were many whose parents, or
-who themselves, hovered not so much between Christianity
-and any definite form of paganism, as between Christianity
-and worldliness. The sermons addressed by Chrysostom
-and his contemporaries to catechumens, and the frequent
-allusions to them, the minute directions respecting their
-instruction, their division into classes, the custom of calling
-the first part of the service to which they were admitted the
-Missa Catechumenorum, prove that numerous they must
-have been. I have failed to find any passages in which
-Chrysostom urgently inculcates infant baptism, and, considering
-his views respecting original sin, this is not surpris<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">410</a></span>ing;
-but he earnestly denounces a custom of deferring
-baptism, prevalent among those who were already believers,
-or professing to be such. Often it was delayed till men
-believed themselves to be at the point of death—a practice
-which he especially deprecates, because at such a time
-“the recipient was often in a restless, suffering state of
-mind and body, most unfit to receive that holy sacrament;
-the entrance of the priest was regarded by the sorrowful
-attendants as a certain evidence of the approaching end;
-and when the sick man could not recognise those who were
-present, or hear a voice, or answer in those words by which
-he was to enter into a blessed covenant with our Lord, but
-lay like a log or a stone, what possible advantage could
-there be in the reception of the sacrament?”<a name="FNanchor_718_718" id="FNanchor_718_718"></a><a href="#Footnote_718_718" class="fnanchor">718</a> Again, it
-was often delayed till a man conceived that he had received
-a distinct call and intimation that it was the will of God.
-This Chrysostom regarded as being too often a mere cloak
-for moral indolence, a reluctance of men to bind themselves
-under the high responsibilities of the Christian vocation.<a name="FNanchor_719_719" id="FNanchor_719_719"></a><a href="#Footnote_719_719" class="fnanchor">719</a></p>
-
-<p>He certainly considered baptism as being not merely a
-solemn initiation into the Christian covenant, and instrument
-of remission of sin, but also of moral renovation.
-This, however, is represented as a blessing naturally derivable
-from the entrance into the new and holy federal
-relation with God. In his comment on the passage, “and
-such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are
-sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of our Lord
-Jesus Christ,” he observes that such words signify that they
-were not only purified from past uncleanness, but had
-become holy and righteous. “For such is the benevolence
-of the Divine gift; if an imperial letter consisting of a few
-lines discharges men from liability to punishment for any
-number of offences, and advances others to great honour,
-much more will the Holy Spirit of God, which can do all
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">411</a></span>things, release us from all wickedness, bestow on us
-abundant righteousness, and fill us with much confidence.”
-The nature of the baptized was, therefore, like a vessel
-which had not only been cleansed from past defilements, but
-recast in the furnace so as to come out in a new shape.<a name="FNanchor_720_720" id="FNanchor_720_720"></a><a href="#Footnote_720_720" class="fnanchor">720</a>
-He is far, however, from regarding such a change as final.
-The virtue of baptism is effectual at the time, but the grace
-then given is as a trust to be carefully guarded; a talent
-to be traded with, a seed of righteousness to be diligently
-cultivated, the dawning of a light to shine more and more
-unto the perfect day. As Christ becomes at that time the
-clothing, the food, the habitation of the Christian, the recipient
-of these favours has to take care that he does not
-wrong this intimate relationship. Therefore he is ordered to
-say at baptism, “I renounce thee, Satan;” that is the
-declaration of a covenant with his Master. A firm determination
-to abandon past sin and eradicate evil habits—in
-a word, repentance—should take place previous to baptism.
-“Just as the painter freely alters the lineaments of his
-picture, when it is sketched in outline, by rubbing out or
-putting in, but when once he has added the colour, he is no
-longer at liberty to make alterations; in like manner erase
-evil habits before baptism, before the true colouring of the
-Holy Spirit has been thrown over the soul: take care
-when this has been received, and the royal image shines
-forth clearly, that you do not blot it out any more, and
-inflict wounds and scars on the beauty given thee by
-God.”<a name="FNanchor_721_721" id="FNanchor_721_721"></a><a href="#Footnote_721_721" class="fnanchor">721</a></p>
-
-<p>In another place he contrasts the baptism of the Jews, of
-John the Baptist, and of Jesus Christ. “The first was only
-a cleansing of the body from ceremonial defilements, the
-second was a means of enforcing an exhortation to repentance,
-the third was accompanied by remission of sins: it
-releases and purges the soul from sin, and gives a supply
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">412</a></span>of the Holy Spirit.”<a name="FNanchor_722_722" id="FNanchor_722_722"></a><a href="#Footnote_722_722" class="fnanchor">722</a> “When the merciful God saw the
-extremity of our weakness, and the incurable nature of our
-sickness, requiring a great work of healing, He conferred
-upon us that renovation which comes through the laver of
-regeneration, in order that, being divested of the old man,
-that is, of evil works, and having put on the new, we might
-go forward in the path of virtue.”<a name="FNanchor_723_723" id="FNanchor_723_723"></a><a href="#Footnote_723_723" class="fnanchor">723</a></p>
-
-<p>In considering those passages which relate to the Holy
-Eucharist, it must be carefully borne in mind that Chrysostom
-lived in an age when that Sacrament had not become
-a battle-field of controversy. He was under no constraint
-in his language, because he did not feel that every word he
-used was liable to be criticised, or misunderstood, or torn to
-pieces in the strife of contending parties. He enjoyed
-because he disputed not. Filled with thankfulness and joy
-to overflowing for the unspeakable benefits derived from that
-Sacrament, he is not cautious or scrupulously precise in his
-expressions, but gives the freest rein to the enthusiasm of
-his feelings; his object being not to support any rigidly
-defined theory or system, but to infuse a certain spirit, to
-encourage a proper moral tone and temper in reference to
-the whole subject.</p>
-
-<p>Three ideas, however, are apparent as dominant in his
-mind—a sacrifice, a presence of Christ, a reception of Christ.
-In several of the passages about to be presented, all the three
-points will appear in similar and simultaneous force. In
-one homily,<a name="FNanchor_724_724" id="FNanchor_724_724"></a><a href="#Footnote_724_724" class="fnanchor">724</a> where he severely censures the too prevalent
-custom of attending the Eucharist on great festivals only,
-and then behaving in a disorderly manner, the worshippers
-hustling and trampling on one another in their tumultuous
-haste to approach the holy table, and then hurrying out of
-church immediately after the reception, without waiting for
-the conclusion of the service—“What,” he exclaims, “O
-man, art thou doing? When Christ is present, and the
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">413</a></span>angels are standing by, and the awe-inspiring table is spread
-before thee, dost thou withdraw?... If you are invited
-to a feast and are filled before the other guests, you do not
-dare to withdraw while the rest of your friends are still
-reclining at the table; and here, when the mysteries of
-Christ are being celebrated, and the holy feast is still going
-on, dost thou retreat in the middle?” Again: “Since, then,
-we are about to see this evening, as a lamb slain and sacrificed,
-Him who was crucified, let us approach, I pray you, with
-trembling awe. The angels, who surpass our nature, stood
-beside His empty tomb with great reverence; and shall we,
-who are about to stand beside, not an empty sepulchre, but
-the very table which bears the Lamb, shall we approach
-with noise and confusion?”<a name="FNanchor_725_725" id="FNanchor_725_725"></a><a href="#Footnote_725_725" class="fnanchor">725</a> Again: “It is now time to
-draw near the awe-inspiring table.... Christ is present,
-and He who arranged that first table, even He arranges this
-present one. For it is not man who makes the things which
-are set before us become the body and blood of Christ, but
-it is Christ Himself, who was crucified for us. The priest
-stands fulfilling his part (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">σχῆμα</span>) by uttering the appointed
-words, but the power and the grace are of God. ‘This is
-my body,’ He says. This expression changes the character
-(<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">μεταῤῥυθμίζει</span>) of the elements, and as that sentence, ‘increase
-and multiply,’ once spoken, extends through all time,
-enabling the procreative power of our nature, even so that
-expression, ‘this is my body,’ once uttered, does at every
-table in the churches from that time to the present day,
-and even till Christ’s coming, make the sacrifice perfect.”<a name="FNanchor_726_726" id="FNanchor_726_726"></a><a href="#Footnote_726_726" class="fnanchor">726</a>
-Speaking of the sacrifice of Isaac, he observes that it was
-perfect so far as Abraham was concerned, because his <em>intention</em>
-did not fail, though the knife was not actually drawn
-across his son’s throat; “for a sacrifice is possible even
-without blood—the initiated (<i>i.e.</i> the baptized) know what
-I mean: on this account, also, that sacrifice was made
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">414</a></span>without blood, since it was destined to be a figure of this
-sacrifice of ours.”<a name="FNanchor_727_727" id="FNanchor_727_727"></a><a href="#Footnote_727_727" class="fnanchor">727</a></p>
-
-<p>Perhaps the most significant passage with reference to the
-sacrificial idea is one where, after contrasting the many
-and ineffective sacrifices of the Jews with the one perfect,
-efficacious sacrifice of Christ, he proceeds: “What then? do
-we not offer every day? We do offer certainly, but making
-a memorial of His death; and this memorial is one, not
-many. How one, not many? Because the sacrifice was
-offered once for all, as that great sacrifice was in the Holy
-of Holies. This is a figure of that great sacrifice as that
-was of this; for we do not offer one victim to-day and
-another to-morrow, but always the same: wherefore the
-sacrifice is one. Well, on this ground, because He is offered
-in many places, are there many Christs? Nay, by no means,
-but one Christ everywhere, complete both in this world and
-in the other; one body. As then, though offered in many
-places, He is but one body, so is there but one sacrifice.
-Our High Priest is He who offers the sacrifice which cleanses
-us. We offer that now which was offered then; which is
-indeed inconsumable. This takes place now for a memorial
-of what took place then: ‘Do this,’ said He, ‘for my memorial.’
-We do not then offer a different sacrifice as the
-high priest formerly did, but always the same; <em>or, rather, we
-celebrate a memorial of a Sacrifice</em>.”<a name="FNanchor_728_728" id="FNanchor_728_728"></a><a href="#Footnote_728_728" class="fnanchor">728</a></p>
-
-<p>There are other passages in which the idea, no less prominently
-set forth, is that of a holy feast. Elijah bequeathed
-his mantle and a double portion of his spirit to Elisha, “but
-the Son of God, when He ascended, left us His own flesh....
-He who did not decline to shed His blood for all, and
-imparts to us again His flesh and blood, what will He refuse
-to do for our salvation?”<a name="FNanchor_729_729" id="FNanchor_729_729"></a><a href="#Footnote_729_729" class="fnanchor">729</a> Again: “Consider, O man, what
-kind of sacrifice thou art about to touch, what kind of table
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">415</a></span>to approach; reflect that thou who art but dust and ashes
-receivest the body and blood of Christ.”<a name="FNanchor_730_730" id="FNanchor_730_730"></a><a href="#Footnote_730_730" class="fnanchor">730</a> The sedulous care
-with which he urges the duty of moral cleansing before
-venturing to approach the holy table proceeds chiefly from
-regarding it as a holy feast. “How shall we behold the
-sacred passover? How shall we receive the sacred feast?
-How partake of the adorable mysteries with that tongue
-whereby we trampled on the Law of God and defiled our
-soul? for if one would not touch a royal robe with defiled
-hands, how shall we receive the Lord’s body with an unclean
-tongue?”<a name="FNanchor_731_731" id="FNanchor_731_731"></a><a href="#Footnote_731_731" class="fnanchor">731</a></p>
-
-<p>These passages, which are but a few specimens extracted
-from a large number on the same subject, are yet sufficient
-to show how easy it would be for the partisans of contending
-schools to press the language of Chrysostom into support
-of their own system. The truth is, that in the case of this,
-as of other subjects, we find in Chrysostom and his contemporaries
-the raw material, which has been wrought out by
-the toil and strife of later times into definite sharply chiselled
-dogmas. Nothing, therefore, can really be more unfair than
-to regard, as a direct friend or opponent, one who lived and
-wrote long before controversy had arisen on the subjects of
-which he treated. He might innocently employ expressions
-which we should deem it incautious to use, because we
-know the interpretation of which they are susceptible, or
-because we see in them incipient symptoms of an idea which
-in process of time grew into a mischievous error. It is
-instructive also to notice how harmless doctrines which
-afterwards became mischievous were when they were not
-pushed to an extremity, not made integral parts of a system
-of belief. It does not occur to us, for instance, for a moment
-to suppose that such invocation of saints as was manifestly
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">416</a></span>approved by Chrysostom was the least detrimental to that
-free intercourse which ought to exist between the soul
-of man and God Himself. As Dr. Pusey has observed:
-“Through volumes of St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom there
-is no mention of any reliance except on Christ alone.”<a name="FNanchor_732_732" id="FNanchor_732_732"></a><a href="#Footnote_732_732" class="fnanchor">732</a>
-There is not the least approach to that system of stepping-stones
-or halting-places between God and man, which the
-Roman Church established by means of confession, saint-worship,
-and, above all, Mariolatry.</p>
-
-<p>There is no trace in Chrysostom of priestly confession as
-an ordinance of the Church. When he speaks of the misery
-which ensues on the commission of sin, he urges the sinner
-to relieve his conscience by a free confession with repentance
-and tears. “And why are you ashamed to do so?” he proceeds,
-“for to whom do you confess? Is it to a man or a
-fellow-servant who might reproach or expose you? Nay, it
-is to the Lord, tender and merciful: it is to the physician
-that you show your wound.”<a name="FNanchor_733_733" id="FNanchor_733_733"></a><a href="#Footnote_733_733" class="fnanchor">733</a> Again, in speaking of prayer,
-he contrasts the freedom of access to God with the difficulties
-and impediments which encounter the delivery of a petition
-to some great man. “This last could be reached only through
-porters, flatterers, parasites; whereas God is invoked without
-the intervention of any one, without money, without expense
-of any kind.”<a name="FNanchor_734_734" id="FNanchor_734_734"></a><a href="#Footnote_734_734" class="fnanchor">734</a> This reads like a prophetical sarcasm on a
-Church which ultimately made a traffic of dispensing what
-cannot really be dispensed by man, because it is the free gift
-of God.</p>
-
-<p>Nor is there any symptom in Chrysostom of a tendency
-to the theory of Purgatory. The condition of man after
-death is always represented by him as final and irrevocable.
-His tone, when exhorting to repentance, is always in harmony
-with the following passage: “For the day will come
-when the theatre of this world will be dissolved, and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">417</a></span>then it is not possible to contend any longer: this is the
-season of repentance, that of judgment; this of contest, that
-of crowning; this of labour, that of repose.”<a name="FNanchor_735_735" id="FNanchor_735_735"></a><a href="#Footnote_735_735" class="fnanchor">735</a></p>
-
-<p>But of all medieval additions to the purer faith of primitive
-times, Mariolatry has grown to the most extraordinary
-dimensions.<a name="FNanchor_736_736" id="FNanchor_736_736"></a><a href="#Footnote_736_736" class="fnanchor">736</a> Of any tendency to this error there is in
-Chrysostom a remarkable absence. In fact, his notices of
-the Blessed Virgin, not very frequent, are on the whole, we
-might almost say, unnecessarily disparaging. In his commentary
-on the Marriage Feast at Cana, he suggests that the
-Virgin, in mentioning the failure of wine to our Lord, may
-have been anxious to draw out His miraculous powers,
-partly to place the guests under an obligation to Him,
-partly to enhance her own dignity through the display of
-her Son’s divine powers. He considers that the appeal
-sprang from the same feeling which prompted His brethren
-to say, “Show Thyself to the world;” and he proceeds to
-observe that our Lord, while never failing to manifest dutiful
-reverence and affectionate care towards His mother, has
-taught us, by His conduct and language to her, that the tie
-of mere earthly kindred entitled her not to higher privileges,
-and placed her in no more intimate spiritual relationship
-with Himself than any one might through love and obedience
-enjoy. “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?
-and looking round about on His disciples, He said, Behold
-my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will
-of my Father, the same is my brother, and my sister, and
-mother.” “Heavens!” Chrysostom exclaims, “what honour!
-what reward! to what a pinnacle does He exalt those who
-follow Him! How many women have blessed the Holy
-Virgin and her womb, and have longed to be such mothers!
-What then prevents it? Behold, he opens a broad way for
-us: not women only, but men also are permitted to be
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">418</a></span>placed in the same rank.” “The demand to see Him was
-made by His mother in an ambitious spirit: she wished to
-show to the people how much authority she possessed over
-Him; at any rate, the request was unreasonable and unseasonable.
-If she and His brethren desired to speak with
-Him on matters of doctrine, they might have done so in the
-presence of the others; but if on private matters, it was
-an ill-timed interruption to His discourse on weightier subjects.”<a name="FNanchor_737_737" id="FNanchor_737_737"></a><a href="#Footnote_737_737" class="fnanchor">737</a>
-Again: “When a woman in the company cried
-out, ‘Blessed is the womb that bare Thee!’ He instantly
-corrected her: ‘Yea, <em>rather</em> blessed are they that hear the
-word of God and keep it.’” It is possible that the general
-sentiment of the age may have regarded the Virgin with
-more veneration, but Chrysostom could not have ventured
-to use such language had the cultus been in any but its
-very earliest stage, if then. She is called holy by him; she
-intercedes<a name="FNanchor_738_738" id="FNanchor_738_738"></a><a href="#Footnote_738_738" class="fnanchor">738</a> for Eve, who is a type of herself, but of worship
-paid to her there is not the slightest evidence.<a name="FNanchor_739_739" id="FNanchor_739_739"></a><a href="#Footnote_739_739" class="fnanchor">739</a></p>
-
-<p>It is almost superfluous to observe that Chrysostom knew
-and acknowledged nothing of papal supremacy, in the sense
-which those words conveyed to the minds of later generations.
-In common with the rest of Christendom, he paid
-great deference and respect to the metropolitan at Rome,
-and he was quite free from those feelings of jealousy which
-were entertained by the patriarchs of Constantinople, as
-time went on, owing to the increasing pretensions and exactions
-of the Roman See. If he respects Innocent, as occupying
-the chair of St. Peter, he equally respects Flavian,
-bishop of Antioch (who was not in communion with Rome),
-for the same reason; he calls him “our common father and
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">419</a></span>teacher, who has inherited St. Peter’s virtue and his chair.”
-The letter written to Innocent during exile was addressed
-also to the Bishops of Milan and Aquileia. In his commentary
-on Galatians ii. he proves the equality of St. Paul
-with St. Peter. No doubt he assigns an eminent rank to St.
-Peter, speaking of him as “leader of the band” (κορυφαῖος)
-of apostles, and as intrusted with the “presidency” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">προστασίαν</span>)
-of the brethren: but these words do not imply
-absolute authority, and the same appellations are applied
-to St. Paul also.</p>
-
-<p>Scattered up and down the discourses of Chrysostom there
-are abundant references to the liturgical forms, and manner
-of using them, which were in vogue in his time. If we had
-no other authority, we could learn from him alone that
-the service consisted of two parts—the first, called Missa
-Catechumenorum, because the catechumens were permitted
-to be present at it, which included an opening salutation of
-“Peace be with you,” with the response, “And with thy
-spirit;” psalms sung antiphonally; appointed lessons according
-to the season or the day (as Genesis was read during
-Lent, the Acts of the Apostles in Pentecost, that is, during
-the fifty days between Easter and Whitsun Day); the sermon,
-frequently in Chrysostom’s case on the lesson for the day,
-the preacher usually sitting, and the people standing; then
-prayers, announced by the deacon, for the catechumens, the
-“possessed,” and the penitents; the benediction by the
-bishop, and dismissal by the deacon, who bade them “depart
-in peace.” The second part of the service then began, called
-Missa Fidelium, because the baptized only were permitted
-to be present. Chrysostom strongly denounces an increasing
-tendency on the part of many to remain during this second
-and more sacred portion without participating. He plainly
-declares that all those who were baptized should communicate,
-and tells them, if they were not worthy to receive the
-Eucharist, neither could they be worthy to join in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">420</a></span>
-prayers which preceded the reception, and therefore they
-ought to quit the church, with the catechumens and penitents,
-when the deacon commanded all unbaptized, ungodly,
-and unbelieving persons to depart.<a name="FNanchor_740_740" id="FNanchor_740_740"></a><a href="#Footnote_740_740" class="fnanchor">740</a> The usual order of the
-Missa Fidelium was “the silent prayer” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">εὐχὴ διὰ σιωπῆς</span>),
-on part of the priest and people (which the latter too often
-abused, Chrysostom feared, to imprecate vengeance on their
-enemies<a name="FNanchor_741_741" id="FNanchor_741_741"></a><a href="#Footnote_741_741" class="fnanchor">741</a>); then a prayer somewhat equivalent to our bidding
-prayer in form, and to our prayer for the Church Militant in
-substance, the deacon bidding or proclaiming the forms, and
-the people responding; then a prayer of invocation made by
-the bishop, which was also called “collecta,” because in it
-the prayers of the people were considered to be gathered
-or summed up; the oblations of the people presented by the
-deacons; the kiss of peace, the reading of the diptychs, the
-ablution of the priest’s hands, the bringing of the elements
-to the bishop at the altar, while the priests stood on each
-side, and deacons held large fans to drive away the flies; a
-secret prayer offered by the bishop; the benediction, “The
-grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” etc., to which the people
-responded “And with thy spirit;” followed by “Lift up
-your hearts”—“We lift them up unto the Lord;” “Let us
-give thanks to our Lord God”—“It is meet and right so to
-do;” a long thanksgiving, terminating with the Ter Sanctus,
-in which the people joined; the consecration prayer, including
-the words of our Lord at the time of institution, and an
-invocation of the Holy Spirit to make the elements become
-the body and blood of Christ; a prayer for all members of
-the Church, living and dead; the doxology, the Creed;
-a prayer of the bishop for sanctification; the words pronounced
-by him, “Holy things for holy people” (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">τὰ ἅγια
-τοῖς ἁγίοις</span>); the reception by the clergy and laity in both
-kinds, taking the elements into their hands; concluding
-prayers, and dismissal by the deacon proclaiming, “Go in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">421</a></span>peace.” Nearly all of the forms indicated in this sketch are
-more or less clearly referred to or quoted in Chrysostom’s
-works, and from these, with the aid of other contemporary
-writers and documents, we might construct a liturgy which
-would more nearly resemble that actually used by him than
-the liturgy called by his name resembles it.<a name="FNanchor_742_742" id="FNanchor_742_742"></a><a href="#Footnote_742_742" class="fnanchor">742</a> For in this,
-as in the so-called liturgy of Basil, it is impossible now to
-determine how much was actually composed by the Father
-who gave his name to it. It cannot be proved that Chrysostom
-actually corrected or improved at all the liturgy
-which he found in use at Constantinople. It may only have
-come to be called after him as being the greatest luminary
-who ever occupied the see. The statement, however, made
-in a tract ascribed to Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople in
-the fifth century, is not in itself improbable, that Chrysostom
-found the existing liturgy so long that many of the congregation,
-being men of business, and pressed for time, left
-before the service was concluded, or came in after it had
-begun, and therefore he abridged and otherwise altered it.
-In any case, many alterations were made by different
-churches and bishops in the course of time, as in other
-liturgies, so also in those which bear the name of Basil and
-Chrysostom; and hence, as Montfaucon, Savile, Cave, and
-others have remarked, you cannot find any two copies which
-are exactly alike.</p>
-
-<p>A critical estimate of Chrysostom’s value as a commentator
-hardly falls within the scope of an essay on his life, but a
-few general observations on this head may not be deemed
-out of place here. The same fact was the cause in him of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">422</a></span>much excellence and some defect in this department. He
-was a preacher whose primary object was to convert souls.
-This earnest, practical aim, of which he never lost sight,
-helped to protect him from lapsing into idle, fanciful, mystical
-interpretations of Scripture; but, on the other hand, it
-hindered his entering so fully into all the historical, grammatical,
-or even doctrinal questions which might be raised
-about a passage as he would have done had he been exclusively
-a commentator. His dominant aim being to affect
-the heart and the moral practice of his hearers, he is content
-when he has elicited from the passage all that will be most
-useful for that purpose, and the continuity of the commentary
-is frequently marred by sudden digressions. His ignorance
-of Hebrew was of course fatal to his being an accurate
-interpreter of the Old Testament, since he was entirely
-dependent on the Septuagint translation. And even in
-Greek, though few would deny him the merit of fine scholarship
-on the whole, though his command of the language as
-an orator is masterly, his style luminous, his diction copious
-and rich without being offensively ornate or redundant, yet
-his hold upon the language for critical purposes is neither
-that of a man who spoke it when it was in its purest stage,
-nor that of a scholar who, living in a later age and speaking
-a different tongue, has made a careful, laborious study of it
-as a dead language.</p>
-
-<p>But two invaluable qualifications for an interpreter Chrysostom
-did possess—a thorough love for the Sacred Book,
-and a thorough familiarity with every part of it. There is
-no topic on which he dwells more frequently and earnestly
-than on the duty of every Christian man and woman to study
-the Bible; and what he bade others do, that he did pre-eminently
-himself. He rebukes the silly vanity of rich
-people who prided themselves on possessing finely written
-and handsomely bound copies of the Bible, but who knew
-little about the contents. Study of the Bible was more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">423</a></span>
-necessary for the layman than the monk, because he was
-exposed to more constant and formidable temptations. The
-Christian without a knowledge of his Bible was like a
-workman without his tools. Like the tree planted by the
-water-side, the soul of the diligent reader would be continually
-nourished and refreshed. There were no difficulties
-which would not yield to a patient study of it. Neither
-earthly grandeur, nor friends, nor indeed any human thing,
-could afford in suffering such comfort as the reading of Holy
-Scripture, for this was the companionship of God.<a name="FNanchor_743_743" id="FNanchor_743_743"></a><a href="#Footnote_743_743" class="fnanchor">743</a></p>
-
-<p>The honest, straightforward common sense which marks
-his practical exhortations was a useful quality to him also
-as an interpreter. One of his principles is, that sound doctrine
-could not be extracted from Holy Scripture but by a
-careful comparison of many passages not isolated from their
-context.<a name="FNanchor_744_744" id="FNanchor_744_744"></a><a href="#Footnote_744_744" class="fnanchor">744</a> Allegorical interpretations were by no means to
-be rejected, but to be used with caution; men too often made
-the mistake of dictating what Scripture should mean instead
-of submitting to be taught by it: they <em>introduced</em> a meaning
-instead of <em>eliciting</em> it.<a name="FNanchor_745_745" id="FNanchor_745_745"></a><a href="#Footnote_745_745" class="fnanchor">745</a> Thus, though he often accepts
-popular types—as Boaz and Ruth are figures of Christ and
-His bride the Church; and Noah, Joseph, Joshua, are all in
-different ways representative of our Lord; though sometimes
-particular expressions in Messianic prophecies are forced,
-for instance, in Isaiah’s description of Immanuel, the “butter
-and honey” there spoken of he supposes to be intended to
-indicate the reality of our Lord’s humanity<a name="FNanchor_746_746" id="FNanchor_746_746"></a><a href="#Footnote_746_746" class="fnanchor">746</a>—yet his customary
-aim is to discover the literal sense and direct historical
-bearing of the passage. At the same time he fully recognises
-a general foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, and the complete
-fulfilment in Him ultimately of prophecies which immediately
-refer to persons and events nearly, if not quite, contemporaneous
-with the utterance. He fails not also to point
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">424</a></span>out the moral aspect of prophecy as a system of teaching
-rather than prediction, as preparatory to the advent of Jesus
-Christ in the flesh, not only by informing men’s minds, but
-disciplining their hearts to receive Him.<a name="FNanchor_747_747" id="FNanchor_747_747"></a><a href="#Footnote_747_747" class="fnanchor">747</a> Hence the holy
-men who lived, under the Old Dispensation, in faith on
-God’s promises, knew Christ as it were by anticipation, and
-were to be reckoned as members of the one body.<a name="FNanchor_748_748" id="FNanchor_748_748"></a><a href="#Footnote_748_748" class="fnanchor">748</a></p>
-
-<p>He had a clear conception of the essential coherence
-between the Old and New Testament. He observes that
-the very words “old” and “new” are relative terms: <em>new</em>
-implies an antecedent <em>old</em>, preparatory to it. The condition
-of the recipients, the circumstances and age in which they
-lived, being different, necessitated a difference in the treatment.
-A physician treated the same patient at different
-times by directly contrary methods; sometimes administering
-sweet, sometimes bitter medicines, sometimes using the
-lancet, sometimes cautery, but always with the same ultimate
-end in view—the health of his patient. So the Old and
-New Testaments were different, but not, as the Manichæans
-maintained, antagonistic. The commandment, “Thou shalt
-not kill,” attacked the fruit and consequence of vice; the
-precept, “Whosoever is angry with his brother without a
-cause,” etc., struck at the root. This was an illustration in
-a small instance of the general truth that the New Dispensation
-was only a completion and expansion of the Old.
-Those, therefore, who rejected the Old Testament dishonoured
-the New, which was based upon it, and presupposes it.<a name="FNanchor_749_749" id="FNanchor_749_749"></a><a href="#Footnote_749_749" class="fnanchor">749</a></p>
-
-<p>He is equally rational in his manner of accounting for
-the variations in the Gospel narratives. That they differ
-in details, but agree in essential matters, he regards as a
-powerful evidence of veracity. Exact and verbal coincidence
-in every particular would have excited in the minds of
-opponents a suspicion of concerted agreement.<a name="FNanchor_750_750" id="FNanchor_750_750"></a><a href="#Footnote_750_750" class="fnanchor">750</a> Authors
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">425</a></span>might write variously without being at variance; if there
-had been ten thousand evangelists, yet the Gospel itself
-would have been but one.<a name="FNanchor_751_751" id="FNanchor_751_751"></a><a href="#Footnote_751_751" class="fnanchor">751</a> Each evangelist tells substantially
-the same tale, but varied according to the readers for
-whom he wrote, and the special object which he had in
-view. So St. Matthew wrote in Hebrew for the Jews, St.
-Mark for the disciples in Egypt, St. John to set forth the
-divine aspect of our Lord’s life. Thus we have variety in
-unity, and unity in variety.<a name="FNanchor_752_752" id="FNanchor_752_752"></a><a href="#Footnote_752_752" class="fnanchor">752</a></p>
-
-<p>In his commentaries on the Epistles he is careful to consider
-each as a connected whole; and, in order to impress
-this on his hearers, he frequently recapitulates at the
-beginning of a homily all the steps by which the part under
-consideration has been reached. In his introductions to
-each letter he generally makes useful observations on the
-author, the time, place, and style of composition, the
-readers for whom it was intended, the general character
-and arrangement of its contents. He regarded the Bible
-as in such a sense written under the inspiration of God, that
-no passage, no word even, was to be despised;<a name="FNanchor_753_753" id="FNanchor_753_753"></a><a href="#Footnote_753_753" class="fnanchor">753</a> that men
-wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, but not to
-the total deprivation of their own human understanding
-and personal character. The prophet was not like the seer
-who spoke under constraint, not knowing what he said; he
-retained his own faculties and style; only all his powers
-were quickened, energised by the Spirit to the utterance of
-words which unassisted he could not have uttered.<a name="FNanchor_754_754" id="FNanchor_754_754"></a><a href="#Footnote_754_754" class="fnanchor">754</a></p>
-
-<p>Chrysostom’s influence as a preacher was not aided by
-any external advantages of person. Like so many men who
-have possessed great powers of command over the minds of
-others—like St. Paul, Athanasius, John Wesley—he was
-little of stature; his frame was attenuated by the austerities
-of his youth and his habitually ascetic mode of life; his
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">426</a></span>cheeks were pale and hollow; his eyes deeply set, but bright
-and piercing; his broad and lofty forehead was furrowed by
-wrinkles; his head was bald. He frequently delivered his
-discourses sitting in the ambo, or high reading-desk, just
-inside the nave, in order to be near his hearers and well
-raised above them. But these physical disadvantages were
-more than compensated by other more important qualities.
-A power of exposition which unfolded in lucid order, passage
-by passage, the meaning of the book in hand; a rapid transition
-from clear exposition, or keen logical argument, to
-fervid exhortation, or pathetic appeal, or indignant denunciation;
-the versatile ease with which he could lay hold of
-any little incident of the moment, such as the lighting of
-the lamps in the church, and use it to illustrate his discourse;
-the mixture of plain common-sense, simple boldness,
-and tender affection, with which he would strike home to
-the hearts and consciences of his hearers—all these are not
-only general characteristics of the man, but are usually to
-be found manifested more or less in the compass of each
-discourse. It is this rare union of powers which constitutes
-his superiority to almost all the other Christian preachers
-with whom he might be, or has been, compared. Savonarola
-had all, and more than all, his fire and vehemence, but
-untempered by his sober, calm good sense, and wanting his
-rational method of interpretation. Chrysostom was eager
-and impetuous at times in speech as well as in action, but
-never fanatical. Jeremy Taylor combines, like Chrysostom,
-real earnestness of purpose with rhetorical forms of expression
-and florid imagery; but, on the whole, his style is far
-more artificial, and is overlaid with a multifarious learning
-from which Chrysostom’s was entirely free. Wesley is
-almost his match in simple, straightforward, practical
-exhortation, but does not rise into flights of eloquence like
-his. The great French preachers, again, resemble him in
-his more ornate and declamatory vein, but they lack that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">427</a></span>
-simpler common-sense style of address which equally distinguished
-him. Whether the sobriquet of Chrysostomos,
-“the golden mouth,” was given to him in his lifetime is
-extremely doubtful; at any rate, it seems not to have been
-commonly used till afterwards. John is the only name by
-which he is mentioned in the writings of historians who
-were most nearly contemporaneous, but the other was a well-known
-appellation before the end of the fifth century.<a name="FNanchor_755_755" id="FNanchor_755_755"></a><a href="#Footnote_755_755" class="fnanchor">755</a></p>
-
-<p>The preservation of Chrysostom’s discourses we owe
-mainly to the custom, prevalent in the Eastern Church at
-that time, of having the sermons of famous preachers taken
-down by shorthand writers as they were spoken; but some
-of them Chrysostom published himself.<a name="FNanchor_756_756" id="FNanchor_756_756"></a><a href="#Footnote_756_756" class="fnanchor">756</a> To what extent
-they may have been written before preaching it is impossible
-to say. The expository parts were evidently the result of
-previous study and preparation; the actual diction of the
-practical portions he may have left to the suggestion of the
-moment, though the main subjects of his address had been
-always decided upon beforehand. Extempore remarks were
-frequently called forth by the behaviour of the congregation,
-or some passing incident. The discourse delivered after
-his return from exile we also know to have been purely
-impromptu; and Suidas observes that he “had a tongue
-which exceeded the cataracts of the Nile in fluency, so
-that he delivered many of his panegyrics on the martyrs
-extempore without the least hesitation.”<a name="FNanchor_757_757" id="FNanchor_757_757"></a><a href="#Footnote_757_757" class="fnanchor">757</a> His hearers were
-sometimes rapt in such profound attention that pickpockets
-took advantage of it:<a name="FNanchor_758_758" id="FNanchor_758_758"></a><a href="#Footnote_758_758" class="fnanchor">758</a> sometimes they were melted to tears,
-or beat their breasts and faces, and uttered groans and cries
-to Heaven for mercy; at other times they clapped their
-hands or shouted—marks of approbation frequently paid at
-that time to eloquent preachers, but always sternly reproved
-by Chrysostom.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">428</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Although his style is generally exuberantly rich, yet it is
-seldom offensively redundant, for every word is usually
-telling; and at times he is epigrammatically terse. A few
-instances will suffice:—“The fire of sin is large, but it is
-quenched by a few tears;” “Pain was given on account of
-sin, yet through pain sin is dissolved;” “Riches are called
-possessions (<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">κτήματα</span>) that we may possess them, not be
-possessed by them;” “You are master of much wealth, do
-not be a slave to that whereof God has made you master;”
-“Scripture relates the sins of saints, that we may fear; the
-conversion of sinners, that we may hope.” He refers to a
-visitation of Antioch by an earthquake, as God “shaking
-the city, but establishing your minds; making the city
-crumble, but consolidating your judgment.”</p>
-
-<p>His familiarity with classical Greek authors is apparent
-sometimes in direct references. He speaks of “the smoothness
-of Isocrates, the weight of Demosthenes, the dignity
-of Thucydides, the sublimity of Plato.”<a name="FNanchor_759_759" id="FNanchor_759_759"></a><a href="#Footnote_759_759" class="fnanchor">759</a> He quotes the
-beginning of the “Apology,” to show that if Socrates did
-not put a high value on mere fine talking, how much less
-should the Christian.<a name="FNanchor_760_760" id="FNanchor_760_760"></a><a href="#Footnote_760_760" class="fnanchor">760</a> He illustrates the readiness of men
-to supply the wants of the monk by a passage from Plato,
-where Crito says that his money, and that of Cebes and
-many others, is at the disposal of Socrates; and, go where
-he will, he may rely on finding friends.<a name="FNanchor_761_761" id="FNanchor_761_761"></a><a href="#Footnote_761_761" class="fnanchor">761</a> Sometimes we
-detect a thought derived, it may have been unconsciously,
-from classical sources. When he compares the crowd of the
-congregation before him to the sea, and the play upon the
-surface of that sea of heads to the effect of a strong west
-wind stirring and bending the ears of corn,<a name="FNanchor_762_762" id="FNanchor_762_762"></a><a href="#Footnote_762_762" class="fnanchor">762</a> it is impossible
-not to think that the idea was suggested by the well-known
-simile in Homer (Il. ii. 147). Again, when, in speaking of
-David’s sin, he compares the body to a chariot and the soul
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">429</a></span>to the charioteer, and says that, when the soul is intoxicated
-by passion, the chariot is dragged along at random, it can
-hardly be fanciful to see a reflection of Plato’s celebrated
-image of the charioteer and horses in the “Phædrus.”<a name="FNanchor_763_763" id="FNanchor_763_763"></a><a href="#Footnote_763_763" class="fnanchor">763</a></p>
-
-<p>But whatever admiration Chrysostom may have retained
-of those authors whom he had studied in his youth, it was
-confined to their language, for with their ideas and modes
-of thought he had, so far as we can judge, abandoned all
-sympathy. Nor was this unnatural. Christianity existed in
-such close contact with Pagan corruption, and it had suffered
-so much from Pagan persecution, that the revulsion of earnest
-Christians from all things Pagan was total and indiscriminating.
-“The old order changeth, yielding place to new;”
-and the new, having fought a hard struggle with the old, is
-for a long time incapable of recognising merit in anything
-belonging to it. There are several allusions in Chrysostom
-to the “Republic” of Plato, but they are always depreciative.
-He fastens on a few points, such as the regulations about
-marriage and female work, and condemns it on these as
-absurd and childish, quite failing to consider the idea in its
-grandeur as a whole.<a name="FNanchor_764_764" id="FNanchor_764_764"></a><a href="#Footnote_764_764" class="fnanchor">764</a> Yet it is instructive to notice that
-he never hesitates to assign to Plato the first place among
-the heathen philosophers, dignifying him with the title of
-Coryphæus.<a name="FNanchor_765_765" id="FNanchor_765_765"></a><a href="#Footnote_765_765" class="fnanchor">765</a> He often compares the failure of Plato’s
-teaching to regenerate men in every rank with the successful
-labours of St. Paul and the other apostles; but while he
-rejoices that the writings and doctrine of the philosopher
-were eclipsed by the tentmaker and fisherman, and well-nigh
-forgotten, he evidently regarded it as the most signal triumph
-which Christianity had achieved.<a name="FNanchor_766_766" id="FNanchor_766_766"></a><a href="#Footnote_766_766" class="fnanchor">766</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">430</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Unquestionable as the intellectual genius of Chrysostom
-was, yet it is rather in the purity of his moral character, his
-single-minded boldness of purpose, and the glowing piety
-which burns through all his writings, that we find the secret
-of his influence. If it was rather the mission of Augustine
-to mould the minds of men so as to take a firm grasp of
-certain great doctrines, it was the mission of Chrysostom to
-inflame the whole heart with a fervent love of God. Rightly
-has he been called the great teacher of consummate holiness,
-as Augustine was the great teacher of efficient grace;<a name="FNanchor_767_767" id="FNanchor_767_767"></a><a href="#Footnote_767_767" class="fnanchor">767</a>
-rightly has it been remarked that, like Fénélon, he is to be
-ranked among those who may be termed disciples of St. John,
-men who seem to have been pious without intermission from
-their childhood upwards, and of whose piety the leading
-characteristics are ease, cheerfulness, and elevation; while
-Augustine belongs to the disciples of St. Paul, those who
-have been converted from error to truth, or from sin to
-holiness, and whose characteristics are gravity, earnestness,
-depth.<a name="FNanchor_768_768" id="FNanchor_768_768"></a><a href="#Footnote_768_768" class="fnanchor">768</a> If Augustine has done more valuable service in
-building up the Church at large, Chrysostom is the more
-loveable to the individual, and speaks out of a heart overflowing
-with love to God and man, unconstrained by the
-fetters of a severe and rigid system. Yet it is precisely on this
-account that he has not been so generally appreciated as he
-deserves. His tone is too catholic for the Romanist, or for
-the sectarian partisan of any denomination. “It would be
-easy to produce abundant instances of his oratorical abilities;
-I wish it were in my power to record as many of his evangelical
-excellencies.” Such is the verdict of a narrow-minded
-historian,<a name="FNanchor_769_769" id="FNanchor_769_769"></a><a href="#Footnote_769_769" class="fnanchor">769</a> and the comparative estimation in which he held
-St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom may be inferred from the
-number of pages in his History given to each: St. Augustine
-is favoured with 187, Chrysostom with 20. But he whose
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">431</a></span>judgment is not cramped by the shackles of some harsh and
-stiff theory of Gospel truth will surely allow that Chrysostom
-not only preached the Gospel but lived it. To the last
-moment of his life he exhibited that calm, cheerful faith,
-that patient resignation under affliction, and untiring perseverance
-for the good of others, which are pre-eminently
-the marks of a Christian saint. The cause for which he
-fought and died in a corrupt age was the cause of Christian
-holiness; and, therefore, by the great medieval poet of
-Christendom he is rightly placed in Paradise between two
-men who, widely different indeed in character and circumstances
-from him and from one another, yet resembled him
-in this, that they freely and courageously spoke of God’s
-“testimonies even before kings, and were not ashamed”—Nathan
-the Seer, and Anselm the Primate of all England:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line i05">“Natan profeta, e’l metropolitano</div>
-<div class="line i1">Crisostomo, ed Anselmo....”<a name="FNanchor_770_770" id="FNanchor_770_770"></a><a href="#Footnote_770_770" class="fnanchor">770</a></div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">432-433</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>APPENDIX.</h2>
-
-<p class="center f06">[<i>Vide ante</i>, p. 415 note.]<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p class="center f08">ON THE LETTER TO CÆSARIUS (<span class="smcap">Chrys. Op.</span> vol. iii. p. 755).</p>
-
-<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> history of this letter, and the controversy connected with
-it, are curious and interesting. Peter Martyr transcribed a
-Latin translation of it, which he found in a manuscript at
-Florence, carried it with him to England, and deposited it in
-the library of Archbishop Cranmer. After Cranmer’s death,
-and the dispersion of his library, the letter disappeared. Peter
-Martyr had not stated the source from which he had derived it,
-and, therefore, when the assailants of the doctrine of Transubstantiation
-wished to make use of it, their opponents always
-maintained that it did not exist. In 1680, however, Emericus
-Bigotius discovered a copy in the library of St. Mark’s Convent,
-at Florence, probably the same which Peter Martyr, himself
-a Florentine, had transcribed. Emericus appended it to
-his edition of Palladius’s “Life of Chrysostom,” and in his preface
-endeavoured to vindicate its authenticity; but the Doctors
-of the Sorbonne suppressed the letter, and such portions of the
-preface as related to it. Emericus, however, had retained in
-his own possession some of the entire copies after they were
-printed, before they came into the licenser’s hands. The translation
-was published by Stephanus Le Moyne in 1685, by
-Jacob Basnage in 1687, and in 1689 by Harduin, a Jesuit,
-who strenuously maintained the Roman Catholic interpretation
-of the passage on the Eucharist. Montfaucon adopted Harduin’s
-version of it, annexing a few fragments in the Greek, picked
-out of Anastasius and John Damascene.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">434</a></span></p>
-
-<p>John Damascene, Anastasius, and Nicephorus refer to the
-letter as authentic, nor does Harduin venture to dispute it;
-but there are several points of evidence which seem to mark it
-as belonging to a later age than that of Chrysostom. It is not
-quoted before Leontius, in the latter part of the sixth century,
-although it might usefully have been employed against the
-Eutychians. There are expressions in it which were not in
-common use till after Cyril of Alexandria had employed them
-against Nestorius. The language generally is that of one who
-had lived in the midst of the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies,
-and the style of the Greek fragments, as well as the
-tone of the Latin translation, are extremely unlike Chrysostom’s
-manner: the sentences are abrupt and rugged, and a kind
-of scholastic, dogmatic tone pervades the whole composition.
-The general scope of the letter is clear: it is to maintain the
-doctrine of the two natures under one person in Jesus Christ,
-against the heresy of the Apollinarians; or, if we accept the
-theory of Montfaucon, the intention of the author, living in the
-time of the Eutychian heresy, was to strike a blow at that by
-forging a letter supposed to be addressed by Chrysostom to a
-friend, warning him against Apollinarian errors, which had
-much in common with the Eutychian. The passage in which
-the writer illustrates his position by a reference to the Holy
-Eucharist has been construed by Roman Catholics and Protestants
-in a sense agreeable to their own views on the subject.
-The writer has been labouring to prove that there were two
-distinct natures in the one person of God the Son Incarnate,
-and he proceeds as follows:—“Just as the bread before consecration
-is called bread, but when the Divine grace sanctifies it
-through the agency of the priest it is liberated from the appellation
-of bread, and is regarded as worthy of the appellation of
-the Lord’s body, although the nature of bread remains in it,
-and we speak not of two bodies, but one body of the Son; so
-here, the Divine nature being seated in the human body, the
-two together make up but one Son, one Person.”</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">435</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES:</a></h2>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">1</span></a> In the case of Savonarola such a
-want has now been fairly well supplied
-by Villari and other writers.
-For a good portrait of Erasmus, see
-“Erasmus, his Life and Character,”
-by Robert Blackley Drummond, B.A.
-2 vols., 1873.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">2</span></a> “That godly clerk and great preacher” is the description of him in the
-English Homilies, Hom. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">3</span></a> “Remains,” vol. iii. Letters to Dr. Woodward and Mrs. Hannah More.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">4</span></a> Wall, on <em>Infant Baptism</em>, endeavours
-to prove that she was a Pagan,
-in order to account for the delay in
-Chrysostom’s baptism, but his reasons
-are far from convincing.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">5</span></a> De Sacerdot. lib. i. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">6</span></a> Julian: Misopogon, p. 363.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">7</span></a> Epist. 1057.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">8</span></a> Epist. ad viduam jun., vol. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">9</span></a> Ibid. p. 601.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">10</span></a> Adv. Oppug. Vit. Monast. lib. iii. c. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">11</span></a> Liban. de fortuna sua, pp. 13-137.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">12</span></a> See concluding Chapter.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">13</span></a> See concluding Chapter.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">14</span></a> Quoted by Isidore of Pelusium,
-lib. ii. ep. 42.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">15</span></a> Sozomen, viii. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">16</span></a> Isidore Pel., lib. ii. ep. 42; De
-Sacerdot. i. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">17</span></a> Gibbon, iii. 52, note; Milman’s
-edition.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">18</span></a> Gibbon, iii. 53; for an account of
-the character of lawyers at this period
-see Amm. Marcellinus, lxxx. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">19</span></a> As Socrates, book vi. chap. 3, has
-done.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">20</span></a> De Sacerdot. lib. i. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">21</span></a> De Sacerdot. c. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">22</span></a> See references in Bingham, vol. iii. b. xi. Wall, vol. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">23</span></a> Basil: Exhort. ad Baptismum;
-Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 40 de Bapt.;
-Nyssen, de Bapt.; Chrysost. in Acta
-Apost. vol. ix. hom. i. <i>in fine</i>, and
-in Illumin. Catechesis, vol. ii. p.
-223.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">24</span></a> Philostorgius, ii. 7; Socrates, i. 23;
-Theod. i. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">25</span></a> Socr. i. 24; Theod. i. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">26</span></a> Athanas. Hist. Arian. 20, 21;
-Theod. ii. 9, 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">27</span></a> Socr. ii. 26; he had been deposed
-from the rank of presbyter because he
-was a eunuch, in accordance with the
-provision of the Council of Nice, c. i.
-Labbe, i. p. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">28</span></a> Sozom. iii. 20; Theod. ii. 24.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">29</span></a> Sozom. iv. 12-16; Theod. ii. 26.
-In consequence of an earthquake at
-Nice, it was removed to Seleucia in
-Isauria.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">30</span></a> Rufin. i. 21; Socr. ii. 36, 37;
-Sozom. iv. 19; Jerome c. Lucif. 18,
-19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">31</span></a> Socr. ii. 42, 43.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">32</span></a> Sozom. iv. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">33</span></a> Theod. ii. 31; Sozom. iv. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">34</span></a> Socr. ii. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">35</span></a> The Arian Bishop George having
-been murdered by the Pagan population,
-Socr. iii. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">36</span></a> Rufin. i. 27; Socr. iii. 6; Sozom.
-v. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">37</span></a> Chrysost. Hom. in Matt. 85, vol.
-vii. p. 762.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">38</span></a> Chrysost. Hom. in Melet.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">39</span></a> Tillemont, viii. 374.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">40</span></a> Greg. Nazian., Orat. de Bapt. 40; Chrysost. Ep. 132, ad Gemellum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">41</span></a> Tertullian is the first who mentions
-it; de Prescript. c. 41.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">42</span></a> Just. Nov. cxxiii. c. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">43</span></a> Quoted in Bingham, vol. i. p. 378.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">44</span></a> Conc. Carth. iv. c. 8; Labbe,
-vol. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">45</span></a> <i>Vide</i> quotations in Suicer, Thesaur. <i>sub verbo</i> φιλοσοφία.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">46</span></a> De Sacerdot. i. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">47</span></a> Ibid. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">48</span></a> Ibid. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">49</span></a> For the oppressive manner in which taxes were collected see Gibbon, iii. 78
-<i>et seq.</i>, Milman’s edit.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">50</span></a> De Sacerdot. i. c. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">51</span></a> Ibid. vi. c. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">52</span></a> Socr. vi. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">53</span></a> Ibid. vi. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">54</span></a> In Facund. Hermiana, Pro Def.
-trium capit., lib. iv. c. 2, in Gall. and
-bibl. patr. xi. p. 706.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">55</span></a> Chrysost. Hom. in Diodor., vol.
-iii. p. 761.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">56</span></a> Socr. vi. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">57</span></a> Niceph. <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">σειρά</span>, vol. i. pp. 524 and
-436.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">58</span></a> Ibid. vol. i. p. 80.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">59</span></a> Leont. Byzant. contra Nestor., et
-Eutych. lib. iii., in Basnage, Thesaur.
-monum. i. 592.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">60</span></a> C. 2-5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">61</span></a> I. c. 8, 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">62</span></a> C. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">63</span></a> C. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">64</span></a> Theod. i. c. 11, <i>in initio</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">65</span></a> C. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">66</span></a> C. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">67</span></a> C. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">68</span></a> C. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">69</span></a> C. 16 and 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">70</span></a> C. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">71</span></a> C. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">72</span></a> C. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">73</span></a> Tillemont maintains that the
-Theodore to whom the first letter is
-addressed must have been a different
-person from the fellow-student of
-Chrysostom and eventual Bishop of
-Mopsuestia, but he stands alone in
-this opinion, and his reasons for it
-seem inadequate.—Till. xi. note vi.
-p. 550.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">74</span></a> Possid. Vit. August. c. iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">75</span></a> Sulp. Sever. Vit. St. Martin. lib. i.
-p. 224. The affectation of reluctance
-to be consecrated became a fashion in
-the Coptic Church. The patriarch-designate
-of Alexandria is at this day
-brought to Cairo, loaded with chains,
-as if to prevent his escape.—Stanley,
-Eastern Church, lect. vii. p. 226.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">76</span></a> C. 5. This word may refer to the
-bishops or the people. Ambrose calls
-the people his “parentes,” because
-they had elected him bishop.—Comment.
-in Luc. l. viii. c. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">77</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">μειράκια</span>; <i>vide</i> note at end of Chapter.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">78</span></a> I. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">79</span></a> C. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">80</span></a> C. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">81</span></a> C. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">82</span></a> C. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">83</span></a> The words <em>priest</em> and <em>bishop</em> are
-employed, in the following translations
-and paraphrases, to correspond with
-<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἱερεὺς and ἐπίσκοπος</span>, which are used in
-the original without much apparent
-distinction. Chrysostom is speaking
-of the <em>priesthood generally</em>, and it is
-not easy to say which Order he has in
-his mind at any given moment.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">84</span></a> II. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">85</span></a> III. c. 1, 2, 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">86</span></a> III. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">87</span></a> III. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">88</span></a> III. 9, 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">89</span></a> Lamprid. Vita Alex. Sev. c. 45. Paris edit.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">90</span></a> Cyprian, Epis. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">91</span></a> Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxvii. c. 3.
-Socrat. lib. iv. c. 29. See a multitude
-of evidence carefully collected on this
-subject in Bingham, vol. i. b. iv. ch. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">92</span></a> III. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">93</span></a> Comp. in Act. Apost. Hom. iii. 5.
-“Men now aim at a bishopric like
-any secular office. To win glory and
-honour among men we peril our salvation....
-Consuls and prefects do
-not enjoy such honour as he who presides
-over the Church. Go to court,
-or to the houses of lords and ladies,
-and whom do you find foremost there?
-no one is put before the bishop.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">94</span></a> III. c. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">95</span></a> III. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">96</span></a> III. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">97</span></a> IV. c. 3-5 and c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">98</span></a> V. c. 1-4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">99</span></a> V. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">100</span></a> V. c. 6, 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">101</span></a> V. c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">102</span></a> VI. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">103</span></a> VI. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">104</span></a> VI. c. 6-8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">105</span></a> VI. c. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">106</span></a> VI. c. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">107</span></a> Which is the date assigned by
-Socrates, vi. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">108</span></a> As stated by Palladius, at least in
-the Latin translation by Ambrose
-Camaldulensis.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">109</span></a> Zosimus, lib. iv. 13-15. Ammian.
-Marcell. xxix. c. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">110</span></a> In Act. Apost. Hom. 38, <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">111</span></a> Cyril. Catech. x. n. 19. Athanas. Synopsis.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">112</span></a> Euseb. lib. vi. c. 11. Clemens
-Alex., Hom., Quis Dives salvetur?</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">113</span></a> Vide Epiphan. 69. Hæres. n. i.,
-whence it appears that Laura, or Labra,
-was the name of an ecclesiastical district
-in Alexandria.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">114</span></a> Theod. Lector. <span class="smcap">II.</span> l. c. col. 102-104.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">115</span></a> Jerome, Ep. 77, 5; Ambrose, de
-Virgin. i. 10, 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">116</span></a> Baron. 398, 49-52; Giesel. <span class="smcap">I.</span>
-251.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">117</span></a> Sozom. iii. 14; Sulp. Severus.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">118</span></a> At Stridon, on the frontiers of
-Pannonia and Dalmatia.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">119</span></a> Sozom. iii. 14. Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca, 38.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">120</span></a> In Matt. Hom. 8, p. 87.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">121</span></a> The custom of one monk reading
-the Scriptures aloud during dinner
-was first adopted, according to Cassian,
-in the Cappadocian monasteries.—Cass.
-lib. iv. c. 17; Sozom. iii. 14;
-Jerome’s translation of the rule.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">122</span></a> But sometimes later.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">123</span></a> Hom. in Matt. 55, vol. vii. p. 545.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">124</span></a> Sozom. iii. 14, 15; Cassian., de Cœnob. Instit. iv. x. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">125</span></a> Cod. Theod. ix. 40. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">126</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Müller de Antiq. Antioch.
-c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">127</span></a> Chrysost. in Matt. Hom. 69, vol.
-vii. p. 652.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">128</span></a> In Matt. Hom. 68, c. 3. When
-they received the Eucharist, which
-they did twice a week, on Sundays
-and Saturdays, they threw off their
-coats of skin, and loosened their
-girdles.—Sozom. iii. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">129</span></a> In Matt. Hom. 68, c. 3; 69, c. 3;
-in 1 Tim. Hom. 14, c. 4, 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">130</span></a> In Matt. Hom. 72, vol. vii. p. 671.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">131</span></a> In 1 Tim. Hom. 14, c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">132</span></a> In Joh. Hom. 44, c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">133</span></a> De Compunct. i. c. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">134</span></a> De Compunct. i. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">135</span></a> C. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">136</span></a> C. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">137</span></a> C. 4, 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">138</span></a> C. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">139</span></a> C. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">140</span></a> C. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">141</span></a> De Compunct. ii. 1-3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">142</span></a> C. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">143</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἔχθρα ἀκήρυκτος</span>, lib. i. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">144</span></a> Lib. i. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">145</span></a> The word in the decree is “militare,”
-but this term appears to be
-applied to civil duties as well as
-military. <i>Vide</i> Suicer, <i>sub v.</i> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">στρατεύειν</span>.
-The Egyptian monks, however,
-do seem to have been specially
-forced into the army. De Broglie, v.
-303; Gibbon, iv.; Milman, History
-of Christianity, iii. 47.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">146</span></a> Adv. Oppug. Vitæ Mon., lib. i. c. 1-3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">147</span></a> C. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">148</span></a> C. 5-7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">149</span></a> C. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">150</span></a> Lib. ii. c. 1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">151</span></a> C. 2-5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">152</span></a> C. 6-10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">153</span></a> Lib. iii. c. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">154</span></a> Compare similar remarks by Thucydides,
-book iii., in his account of
-the Corcyræan sedition, on the misapplication
-of names to vices.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">155</span></a> Lib. iii. c. 6, 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">156</span></a> C. 8, 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">157</span></a> Lib. iii. c. 14, 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">158</span></a> C. 18, 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">159</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. v.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">160</span></a> Ad Stag. a Dæm. vex., vol. i. lib. i. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">161</span></a> Ibid. lib. ii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">162</span></a> Ad Stag., vol. i. lib. ii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">163</span></a> Ibid. c. 5-9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">164</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, Chapter II.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">165</span></a> See preface to his Orat. xliii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">166</span></a> The bishops of Egypt and the
-West generally adhered to Paulinus,
-Sozom. vii. 11, till by the united
-efforts of Chrysostom and Theophilus
-the universal acknowledgment of
-Flavian was obtained in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 398.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">167</span></a> So Jerome, Ep. xxvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">168</span></a> Conc. Nic., can. 18. (Hefele,
-p. 426.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">169</span></a> Tertull. de Bapt. cxvii. Jerome
-Dial. contr. Lucif.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">170</span></a> Chrysost. Hom. ii. in 2 Cor.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">171</span></a> Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">172</span></a> Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57.
-Chrysost. Hom. xxiv. in Act.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">173</span></a> Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 31, 32.
-Cyprian, Ep. xlix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">174</span></a> Conc. Nic., can. 18. (Hefele, p. 426.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">175</span></a> Jerome, Epist. lxxxv. ad Evang.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">176</span></a> Chrysost. vol. ii. p. 591.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">177</span></a> Ibid. vol. vii. p. 762.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">178</span></a> Ibid. p. 629.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">179</span></a> Euseb. Vita Const. iii. 50. Chrysost.
-vol. iii. p. 160 and vol. xi. p. 78.
-<i>Vide</i> also Müller de Antiq. Antioch.,
-p. 103.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">180</span></a> This description of Antioch is
-mainly collected from Müller’s admirable
-and exhaustive work on the
-Antiquities of Antioch, or from the
-authorities referred to therein.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">181</span></a> See Socrates vi. 1, and Montfaucon’s preface to “De Sacerdotio.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">182</span></a> Ad vid. jun. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">183</span></a> C. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">184</span></a> Ad vid. jun., c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">185</span></a> C. 4. Executed in 371 in the
-reign of Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian;
-Ammian. Marcell. xxix. 1, who
-calls him a Gaul, not, as Chrysostom,
-a Sicilian.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">186</span></a> Constans by Magnentius.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">187</span></a> Constantine the younger.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">188</span></a> Jovian.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">189</span></a> Gallus Cæsar by Constantius.
-The two who died natural deaths
-were Constantine the Great and his
-son Constantius.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">190</span></a> The widow of Jovian, whose son
-Varronian was deprived of an eye.
-See Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 222.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">191</span></a> Doubtful; possibly first wife of
-Valentinian <span class="smcap">I</span>., divorced from him and
-sent into exile.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">192</span></a> Constantia, wife of Gratian.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">193</span></a> Flacilla, wife of Theodosius. Compare
-this mournful list of tragic deaths
-of sovereigns with the splendid passage
-in Shakespeare’s Richard <span class="smcap">II.</span>:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line i05">“For Heaven’s sake let’s sit upon the ground,</div>
-<div class="line">And tell sad stories of the death of kings,” etc.</div>
-</div></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">194</span></a> De Virginitate, c. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">195</span></a> C. 14-22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">196</span></a> De Virginitate, c. 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">197</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">τὴν μάλιστα πάντων ἀγαπωμένην</span>, c. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">198</span></a> De Virginitate, c. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">199</span></a> C. 62, 63.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">200</span></a> C. 66, 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">201</span></a> De Virginitate, c. 83.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">202</span></a> Gibbon, iv. p. 111.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">203</span></a> Strabo, p. 750.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">204</span></a> As Verus, Pescennius Niger, Macrinus, and Severus Alexander.—Herodian,
-ii. 7, 8, v. 2, vi. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">205</span></a> De S. Babyla, c. 14-16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">206</span></a> Hom. in Matt. vol. vii. p. 762.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">207</span></a> To the establishment of parochial
-divisions with separate pastors in Alexandria
-we have the direct testimony
-of Epiphanius, Hæres. 69; Arian. c. 1.
-In Rome, however, and Constantinople,
-though the churches were
-numerous, the clergy seem to have
-been more or less connected with the
-mother Church.—<i>Vide</i> Bingham, chap.
-viii. 5, book ix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">208</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">μειρακίσκος εὐτελὴς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος</span>—applied
-by rather a strong rhetorical
-licence to a man forty years
-old.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">209</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">μηδέπω πρότερον</span>. This seems to
-prove that he had not preached during
-his diaconate.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">210</span></a> Ecclus. xv. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">211</span></a> Hom. xi. in Act. Apost. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">212</span></a> Vol. ii. p. 515.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">213</span></a> C. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">214</span></a> See the Monitum to these Homilies,
-vol. i. p. 699.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">215</span></a> See Newman’s Arians, chap. i.
-sect. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">216</span></a> Arius, in a letter to Eusebius,
-addresses him as <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">συλλουκιανιστά</span>,
-“fellow Lucianist,” Theod. i. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">217</span></a> I. c. 6, 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">218</span></a> C. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">219</span></a> I. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">220</span></a> II. c. 3, 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">221</span></a> II. c. 4, 5; III. 3, 4, 5, 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">222</span></a> IV. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">223</span></a> V. 2, 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">224</span></a> VII. c. 3, 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">225</span></a> VII. c. 6, 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">226</span></a> III. c. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">227</span></a> III. c. 6, <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">228</span></a> IV. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">229</span></a> The colours represented the seasons,
-and according as one or other
-was victorious a plentiful harvest or
-prosperous navigation was indicated.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">230</span></a> Contra Anom. vii. c. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">231</span></a> De Laz. vii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">232</span></a> De Anna, iv. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">233</span></a> De Laz. vii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">234</span></a> It is a treatise, because too long
-for a homily, though mutilated of its
-proper conclusion. It must belong to
-the first two years of his priesthood,
-because it promises a more ample
-discussion of several points, which
-promise we find redeemed in the homilies
-against the Jews, and these homilies,
-again, can be proved, by internal
-evidence, to have been delivered not
-later than <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 387. See Montfaucon’s
-Monitum, vol. i. pp. 811 and 839.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">235</span></a> C. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">236</span></a> See a singular parallel to this
-thought in the Emperor Napoleon <span class="smcap">I.</span>’s
-remarks on Christianity: “Table
-Talk and Opinions of Napoleon <span class="smcap">I.</span>”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">237</span></a> C. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">238</span></a> C. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">239</span></a> C. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">240</span></a> C. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">241</span></a> C. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">242</span></a> C. 2-5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">243</span></a> C. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">244</span></a> C. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">245</span></a> C. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">246</span></a> See Perowne, vol. i. <i>in loco</i>; Ps. lxxii. 6; and Delitzsch in Isa. lx. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">247</span></a> Milman’s History of the Jews, vol. ii. book xix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">248</span></a> Basnage’s Hist. des Juifs, vi. 41.
-Newman’s Arians, ch. i. sect. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">249</span></a> V. <i>in fine</i>; robbers may possibly
-be used in a figurative sense.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">250</span></a> I. c. 7. They seem early to have
-claimed medical skill. When Simon
-Ben Jochai went to Rome as ambassador,
-in the reign of Antoninus Pius,
-to obtain the abrogation of persecuting
-edicts, he won the favour of the
-Emperor by curing his sick daughter—Milman,
-ii. 443.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">251</span></a> II. 3; vii. <i>in initio</i>; i. c. 3, 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">252</span></a> I. c. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">253</span></a> i. c. 7. So the idle youth of
-Rome turned for amusement into the
-Synagogue. Horace, Sat. ix. 69.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">254</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐπιγινώσκετε ἀλλήλους</span>. i. 4.
-This admonition “Discern one another”
-was uttered just at the close
-of the Missa Catechumenorum, when
-all but the baptized had to depart.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">255</span></a> Newman’s Arians, ch. i. p. 16. Hefele, pp. 305, 306.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">256</span></a> In Jud. iii. c. 6, iv. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">257</span></a> According to Theod. iii. 20, the
-Jews had ceased to offer sacrifices by
-the reign of Julian, and when he inquired
-the reason, said, because it was
-unlawful except on the site of the
-Temple; and this was one chief reason
-why Julian commanded the Temple to
-be restored.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">258</span></a> In Jud. v. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">259</span></a> Ibid. c. 4-7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">260</span></a> He punished the captives by
-cutting off their ears. It is singular
-that there is no record of this rebellion
-in history.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">261</span></a> For a full relation of this singular
-event, see Milman’s Jews, book xx.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">262</span></a> Hom. viii. 4, and <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">263</span></a> Hom. de Anathemate, delivered soon after the discourses against the
-Anomœans. See Monitum, vol. i. 944.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">264</span></a> The former chiefly in the Hom.
-de Philog. vol. i. 752; the latter in
-the Hom. in Nat. Diem Christi, vol. ii.
-p. 552.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">265</span></a> De Beato Philog. vol. i. p. 753.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">266</span></a> In Nat. Christi, vol. ii. p. 560.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">267</span></a> De Bapt. Christi, c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">268</span></a> In Kalend. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">269</span></a> In Ephes. Hom. vi. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">270</span></a> Perhaps that convulsive twitching
-which we call “quick blood.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">271</span></a> In Ephes. Hom. xii. c. 3. In Hom.
-viii. and xii. on 1 Cor. he rebukes the
-heathenish ceremonies performed at
-the birth of a child. One was, to give
-it that name which was attached to
-the candle that burned longest out of
-a row of candles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">272</span></a> He was executed at Carthage in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 376.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">273</span></a> See Gibbon, c. xxvi. xxvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">274</span></a> Cod. Theod. xvi. 1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">275</span></a> Sozom. vii. c. 12; Gibbon, c. xxvii.; De Broglie, “L’Église et l’Empire,”
-vi. p. 93.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">276</span></a> Cod. Theod. xvi. v. 7, lib. 1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">277</span></a> Cod. Theod. xvi. v. 10, lib. 7, 9.
-Sozomen informs us (vii. 22) that
-Eugenius, the usurper, after the death
-of Valentinian <span class="smcap">II.</span>, was persuaded by
-divinations to take up arms.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">278</span></a> Sozomen, vii. 15. Theod. v. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">279</span></a> The most distinguished scholar,
-and orator, and one of the most upright
-statesmen of his time—quæstor,
-prætor, and proconsul of Africa.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">280</span></a> Fragments of his speeches preserved
-in Mai’s collection, vol. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">281</span></a> Ambrose, Op. vol. ii. Ep. 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">282</span></a> Libanius: Pro templis non exscind. The oration was certainly not spoken
-before the Emperor, and probably not even sent to him.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">283</span></a> Cod. Theod. xii. 104-115.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">284</span></a> Theodor. v. 19. A funeral oration
-on her and the infant was pronounced
-by Gregory Nyssen, Op. vol.
-iii. pp. 515, 527, 533.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">285</span></a> Libanius, Or. 12, pp. 391-395.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">286</span></a> Probably the prætorium built in
-the reign of Constantine for the Count
-of the East, who from that time resided
-in Antioch; <i>vide</i> Müller, Antiq.
-Antioch., ii. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">287</span></a> Liban. Or. 12, p. 395, and 21, p. 527. Theod. vii. 20. Sozom. vii. 23. Zos. iv. 41.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">288</span></a> Chrys. Hom. de Stat. iii. 1;
-xxi. 1. Zosimus (iv. 41) sends Libanius
-also to Constantinople, but
-this is a palpable error. There is no
-trace of his having gone, either in his
-own Orations or in any other historian.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">289</span></a> Socrat. vi. 5. The most common practice was for the preacher to sit, the
-people to stand.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">290</span></a> Hom. ii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">291</span></a> iii. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">292</span></a> iii. 1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">293</span></a> ii. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">294</span></a> iii. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">295</span></a> iii. 4, 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">296</span></a> xvi. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">297</span></a> iii. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">298</span></a> xiv. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">299</span></a> v. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">300</span></a> xx. 9. A passage in another
-homily on this subject is curious, as
-proving that just the same jugglers’
-feats were performed in Antioch in
-the fourth century as at the fairs and
-races of the present day:—“Persons
-pretended it was next to impossible
-to conquer an inveterate habit: this
-was a paltry excuse, perseverance
-could conquer any difficulty. To unlearn
-a habit of swearing could not be
-more impossible than to acquire the
-art of throwing up swords, and catching
-them by the handle, or balancing
-a pole on the forehead with two boys
-at the top of it, or dancing on a tightrope.”—Hom.
-in Dom. Serv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">301</span></a> iv. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">302</span></a> iv. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">303</span></a> v. 3. <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">τὸ σῶμα τῇ ψυχῇ περίκειται
-καθάπερ ἰμάτιον.</span> Comp. Shakespeare:
-“When we have shuffled off this mortal
-coil.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">304</span></a> v. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">305</span></a> ix. 3, 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">306</span></a> x. 2, 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">307</span></a> xiii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">308</span></a> xii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">309</span></a> x. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">310</span></a> xii. 2-4; xiii. 3. Comp. Aristotle’s
-distinction between natural and
-conventional law or justice, Eth. v. 7.1:
-<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">φυσικόν and νομικόν δίκαιον</span>. Compare
-also his description of προαίρεσις
-as the <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀρχἠ κινήσεως</span> in b. iii., and
-of <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">φρόνησις</span> (nearly = Butler’s “Conscience”)
-in b. vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">311</span></a> Comp. again what Aristotle says
-of the necessity of <em>training</em> to improve
-the <em>natural</em> gifts, b. x. 9, and of the
-formation of <em>habits</em> by repeated <em>acts</em>.
-Comp. Chrys. Hom. xiii. 3, with Arist.
-Eth. ii. 4, 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">312</span></a> xiii. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">313</span></a> xvi. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">314</span></a> Liban. Or. 21, in Helleb. and 20, 517.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">315</span></a> Theodor. v. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">316</span></a> xvii. 1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">317</span></a> Liban. Orat. 20. De Broglie, vi.
-150, 151. Chrys. Hom. xvii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">318</span></a> xvii. 2. The colonnades, especially
-of the great street which ran
-through the city from east to west;
-the <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">περιπάτους</span> or promenades were
-lined by colonnades with seats.—<i>Vide</i>
-Müller, Antiq. Ant. ii. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">319</span></a> xvii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">320</span></a> xx. 5, and xviii. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">321</span></a> Liban. Or. 21, p. 536.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">322</span></a> xxi. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">323</span></a> It was the custom to signalise the
-great festivals by acts of mercy. “The
-oil of mercy glistens on the Festivals
-of the Church,” says Ambrose, Serm.
-14, on Ps. cxviii. 7. Leo the Great
-also, Serm. 39, alludes to the custom.
-But, to prevent any abuse of the
-practice, it was enacted by Theodosius
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 384-385, that it should apply
-only to those accused of petty offences:
-the grosser crimes of robbery, adultery,
-magic, murder, sacrilege, were to be
-excepted from claims to this indulgence.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">324</span></a> xxi. 1-4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">325</span></a> xxi. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">326</span></a> Hom. i. de Anna, vol. iv. c. 1,
-where he recapitulates the arguments
-which he had used in the Homilies on
-the Statues.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">327</span></a> Hom. de Anna, i. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">328</span></a> Called <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">κυριακὴ τῆς ἐπισωζομένης</span>,
-this last word being the name of
-Ascension Day among the Cappadocians,
-possibly because Christ’s work
-on earth for man’s redemption was
-completed by his return into heaven.
-(<i>Vide</i> Leo Allatius, quoted in Suicer,
-Thesaur., <i>sub verbo</i> “Episozomene,”
-and Bingham, Antiq. b. xx. sect. 5.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">329</span></a> Hom. de Stat. xix. 1, vol. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">330</span></a> Euseb. de Vita Constant. lib. iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">331</span></a> Chrys. Hom. xl. in Juvent.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">332</span></a> Hom. de Cæmet. et Cruce, vol. ii.
-c. i. in Ascens. Christi, vol. ii., and de
-Sanct. Martyr. vol. ii. p. 705. The
-Sunday corresponding to the present
-Trinity Sunday was kept as a kind of
-All Saints’ Day. See Bingham, b. xx.
-c. 7, sect. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">333</span></a> Aug. Hom. xxvi. Gelas. Decret.
-in Grabe, vol. i. The word “legend”
-is perhaps derived from these Acts of
-the Saints, which were to be read—“legenda.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">334</span></a> Adv. Judæos viii. c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">335</span></a> Hom. in Juvent. et Maxim. vol. ii.
-p. 576.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">336</span></a> De Bern. et Prosd. vol. ii. p. 640.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">337</span></a> See the letter in Euseb. lib. iv.
-c. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">338</span></a> Aug. de Vera Relig. c. 55.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">339</span></a> Aug. contra Faustum, lib. xx. c. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">340</span></a> De Droside, vol. ii. p. 685.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">341</span></a> Flavian caused the remains of
-some much-revered saints who were
-buried beneath the pavement of the
-church to be taken up, and placed in
-another separate grave, because the
-people were distressed that the reliques
-of such venerated personages
-should repose in the same vaults with
-the remains of less saintly, if not heretical,
-characters.—Hom. in Ascen.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">342</span></a> De S. Babyla, c. 12. De Stat.
-i. 2, and viii. 2. Quod Christus sit
-Deus, c. 7. De Stat. v. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">343</span></a> In S. Ignat. Mart. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">344</span></a> In Juvent. et Maxim. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">345</span></a> Hom. in Martyres, vol. ii. p. 663.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">346</span></a> In Sanct. Jul. vol. ii. p. 673.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">347</span></a> Aug. cont. Faustum, lib. xx. c. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">348</span></a> Aug. Confess. lib. vi. 2. Epist.
-64, ad Aurel. Conc. Carth. iii. c.
-30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">349</span></a> Basil. Regul. Major., quæst. 40.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">350</span></a> See Dr. Hessey’s Bampton Lectures, “on Sunday.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">351</span></a> Whether it was a regular custom
-for the rustic population to visit Antioch
-on this day, or whether it was
-the first great influx for trade and
-legal business after the recent suspension
-of all business, does not appear.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">352</span></a> Ambr. Ep. xx.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">353</span></a> Ambr. Ep. xx. p. 854.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">354</span></a> Sozomen, vii. 13. Ruf. ii. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">355</span></a> Ambr. Ep. xxi. Sermo contra
-Aux. p. 868.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">356</span></a> Ignatius is said to have first introduced
-antiphonal singing at Antioch,
-Flavian and Diodorus to have established
-it there; Socr. v. 8; Theod.
-ii. 19. Basil refers to it as a common
-practice, but Ambrose is generally
-allowed to have introduced it to the
-Western Church, and on this occasion.
-<i>Vide</i> Suicer.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">357</span></a> Aug. Conf. ix. 7, and preceding
-books.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">358</span></a> Ambr. Ep. xxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">359</span></a> Ambr. Ep. xxii. Aug. Conf. ix. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">360</span></a> Ambr. Ep. xl. and xli.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">361</span></a> Cod. Theod. iv. v. 4, lib. 2. De Broglie, vi. 257.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">362</span></a> Sozom. vii. 25. Theod. v. 17. Ambr. Ep. li. De Broglie, vi. 302, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">363</span></a> Theod. v. 18. De Broglie, vi. 302 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">364</span></a> Sozom. vii. 15. Socr. v. 15. Ambr. Ep. lvi. Theod. v. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">365</span></a> Ambr. de ob. Val.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">366</span></a> Theod. v. 24. Socr. v. 25. Sozom. vii. 24. De Broglie, vi. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">367</span></a> Ambr. Ep. lxi. lxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">368</span></a> Socr. v. 26. Sozom. vii. 29. Ambrosii
-Vita a Paul. scripta, de obit.
-Theod.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">369</span></a> Of course I do not forget that the
-idea and name of Roman Emperor
-and Roman Empire lived on for centuries
-more, but the elevation of
-Charles the Great was a revolt against
-the old order of things. He can
-hardly be regarded as a successor of
-Theodosius so truly as Theodosius was
-a successor of Augustus.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">370</span></a> Claud. de Bello Gild. 293.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">371</span></a> Claud. in Ruf. i. v. 137.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">372</span></a> Philostorg. xi. 3. For much assistance
-in his notices of Rufinus and
-Eutropius, the writer must pay his
-acknowledgments to the admirable
-work by Amédée Thierry: “Les
-trois ministres des fils de Théodose”—Rufin,
-Eutrope, Stilicon.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">373</span></a> Gibbon, iii. 67. Zosim. iv. 51.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">374</span></a> Claud. in Ruf. i. v. 220.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">375</span></a> See references in Thierry, p. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">376</span></a> De Laud. Stil. ii. v. 379.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">377</span></a> “Noster Scipiades Stilicho.” De Consulat. Stilic. præf. v. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">378</span></a> Claud. de Nupt. Honor. et Mariæ.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">379</span></a> Zosim. v. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">380</span></a> Symmach. Ep. iv. 15 and 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">381</span></a> Possibly alluded to by Chrysostom
-in Hom. iv. de Penitentia, c. 2, where
-he mentions “incursions of enemies”
-among other recent calamities. These
-homilies were probably delivered in
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 395.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">382</span></a> Thierry, pp. 35-78. Claud. in Ruf. lib. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">383</span></a> In Eutrop. i. v. 104, 105.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">384</span></a> “Contemptu jam liber erat.”—Claud. in Eutrop. i. v. 132.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">385</span></a> Claud. in Eutrop. i. v. 148, 149.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">386</span></a> Sozom. vii. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">387</span></a> Philostorg. xi. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">388</span></a> Claud. in Eutrop. i. 427, etc.; ii.
-97, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">389</span></a> Thierry, pp. 97-126. Zosim. v. 5.
-Claud. in Eutrop. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">390</span></a> Zosim. v. 8, 9, 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">391</span></a> Sozom. viii. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">392</span></a> Claud. in Eutrop. i. 235, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">393</span></a> Synes. de Regno, p. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">394</span></a> Claud. in Eutrop. ii. 95. Thierry, p. 162, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">395</span></a> Socr. vi. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">396</span></a> See Chrysostom’s own remarks in
-De Sacerdotio, lib. iii., cited above
-in Ch. iv., and in Act. Apost. Hom.
-iii. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">397</span></a> Epist. xxi. ad Valerium.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">398</span></a> Socrat. vi. 2. Sozom. viii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">399</span></a> Lib. iii. c. 15, 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">400</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">401</span></a> Socr. vi. 2. Sozom. viii. 2. Pallad.
-Dial.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">402</span></a> Socr. vi. 2. Sozom. viii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">403</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">404</span></a> Sozom. viii. 2. Pallad. Dial. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">405</span></a> Socr. vi. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">406</span></a> Bingham, b. ii. c. 11, sec. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">407</span></a> The title Patriarch is occasionally
-used in the following pages, although
-it does not appear to have been a formally
-recognised title till fifty years
-later. Socrates (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 440 about) uses
-it (<i>vide</i> c. 8), but the first occurrence
-of it in any public document is in the
-acts of the Council of Chalcedon, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>
-451, where it is applied especially to
-Leo i. of Rome.—Can. 28. Labbé,
-vol. iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">408</span></a> Hom. xi. in Anom. vol. i. p. 795.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_409_409" id="Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">409</span></a> De Sacerd. lib. vi. c. 6-8, quoted
-above, p. 53.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_410_410" id="Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">410</span></a> Soc. vi. 3. Sozom. viii. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_411_411" id="Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">411</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. v. p. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_412_412" id="Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">412</span></a> Lib. xxvii. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_413_413" id="Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">413</span></a> Epist. ii. ad Nepotianum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_414_414" id="Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">414</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. v. and xii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_415_415" id="Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">415</span></a> See Hefele, p. 131, and on the date
-of this synod.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_416_416" id="Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">416</span></a> Stanley, Eastern Church, lecture v.
-Socr. i. 11. Sozom. i. 23. The truth
-of the story has been disputed, but
-apparently on insufficient grounds.
-<i>Vide</i> Hefele, p. 436.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_417_417" id="Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">417</span></a> Can. 3. Hefele, p. 379.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_418_418" id="Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">418</span></a> Jerome, Ep. xxii. ad Eustoch.
-Epiphan. Hær. 63.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_419_419" id="Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">419</span></a> See references in Bingham, b. vi.
-c. ii. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_420_420" id="Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">420</span></a> Contra eos, etc., vol. i. p. 495.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_421_421" id="Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">421</span></a> Ibid. c. 3, 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_422_422" id="Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">422</span></a> Ibid. c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_423_423" id="Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">423</span></a> Contra eos, etc., c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_424_424" id="Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">424</span></a> Ibid. c. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_425_425" id="Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">425</span></a> Ibid. c. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_426_426" id="Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">426</span></a> Socr. vi. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_427_427" id="Footnote_427_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427_427"><span class="label">427</span></a> Vol. xii. p. 468.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_428_428" id="Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">428</span></a> Vol. xii. p. 485.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_429_429" id="Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">429</span></a> Contra Lud. et Theat. vol. vi. p. 269, <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_430_430" id="Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">430</span></a> Ibid. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_431_431" id="Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">431</span></a> Contra Lud. et Theat. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_432_432" id="Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">432</span></a> From this and what follows it
-would appear that communicants went
-within the rails to receive, and close
-to the altar. This was the most primitive
-custom. Sometimes the recipients
-stood; <i>vide</i> passages cited in
-Bingham, b. viii. ch. 6, sec. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_433_433" id="Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">433</span></a> Vol. xii. Hom. ix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_434_434" id="Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">434</span></a> In Coloss. Hom. vii., vol. xi. p. 350.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_435_435" id="Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">435</span></a> Hom. xviii. in Genes., vol. iv. p. 150.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_436_436" id="Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">436</span></a> The use of silk seems from its
-first introduction into the Empire to
-have been regarded as the <i>ne plus
-ultra</i> of luxury. It was condemned by
-Pliny, vi. 20, xi. 21. Elagabalus was
-the first <em>man</em> as well as the first Emperor
-who ventured to wear a material
-hitherto confined to female dress. See
-Gibbon, vol. vii. c. 40, and his interesting
-account of the introduction
-of silk-worms from China to Constantinople
-by some Persian monks in the
-reign of Justinian.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_437_437" id="Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">437</span></a> In Matt. Hom. xlix., vol. vii. p.
-501</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_438_438" id="Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">438</span></a> In Psalm. xlviii., vol. v. p. 514.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_439_439" id="Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">439</span></a> Hom. i. de Lazaro, c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_440_440" id="Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">440</span></a> In Gen. Hom. xli., p. 382.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_441_441" id="Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">441</span></a> In Joan. Hom. lxii., p. 340, and Hom. lxix., p. 380.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_442_442" id="Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">442</span></a> In Act. Apost. p. 147 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_443_443" id="Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">443</span></a> Hom. xx. in Act. Apost. p. 162.
-This set of fifty-five Homilies on the
-Acts of the Apostles, of which much
-use is made in this chapter, was delivered
-in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 400, between Easter
-and Whitsuntide, in which interval it
-was customary to read through the
-Acts in the Lessons for the day: <i>vide</i>
-Bingham, vol. iv. These homilies are
-among the least polished of Chrysostom’s
-productions. Erasmus, who
-translated them into Latin, was thoroughly
-disappointed and out of humour
-with them, and even doubts
-their authenticity. In a letter to
-Tonstal, Bp. of Durham, he declares
-that he could have written better
-matter himself even when “ebrius ac
-stertens.” But most persons familiar
-with Chrysostom’s productions will
-agree with Montfaucon and Savile that
-these homilies could have flowed only
-from that golden vein, though the ore
-is not so much refined as usual, and
-that some passages are in his very
-best style. None of his homilies,
-except those on the Statues and St.
-Matthew, contain more curious revelations
-of the manners and customs
-of the age.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_444_444" id="Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">444</span></a> In Act. Apost. pp. 74 and 98.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_445_445" id="Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">445</span></a> In Act. Apost. p. 256.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_446_446" id="Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">446</span></a> See Villari’s Life of Savonarola, b. i. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_447_447" id="Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">447</span></a> In Act. Apost. p. 191.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_448_448" id="Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">448</span></a> Hom. in Inscrip. Altaris, i. <i>in initio</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_449_449" id="Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">449</span></a> In Act. Apost. pp. 189, 190.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_450_450" id="Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">450</span></a> Vol. xii. Hom. vi. adv. Cath. pp.
-143 and 491.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_451_451" id="Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">451</span></a> Vol. xii. Hom. i., “Quod frequenter,”
-etc. Socrates, vi. 22. If we
-may estimate the man from the account
-by Socrates, his admirer, who
-relates a number of his so-called witticisms,
-the book is no great loss.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_452_452" id="Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">452</span></a> Greg. de Vita sua, pp. 585-1097.
-Orat. xxii., xxvii., xxxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_453_453" id="Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">453</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Gibbon, v. p. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_454_454" id="Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">454</span></a> Socrates, vi. 8. <i>Vide</i> Dean Stanley,
-Eastern Church, pp. 131, 132, for
-specimens of these Thalia; <i>e.g.</i> one
-commences, “Where are those who say
-that the Three are but one power?”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_455_455" id="Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">455</span></a> Sozom. viii. 3. Socrat. v. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_456_456" id="Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">456</span></a> Epist. xiv. vol. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_457_457" id="Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">457</span></a> Vol. xii. Hom. viii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_458_458" id="Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">458</span></a> Theod. v. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_459_459" id="Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">459</span></a> Epist. xiv. and ccvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_460_460" id="Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">460</span></a> Theod. v. 29. Tillemont, xi. p. 155.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_461_461" id="Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">461</span></a> Marc. Diac. ap. Baron, an. 401, 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_462_462" id="Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">462</span></a> Vol. xii. 471. The titles “mother
-of churches,” “nurse of monks,” “staff
-of the poor,” etc., were not bestowed
-till after his return from his first
-exile, vol. iii. p. 446. M. Thierry
-has erroneously introduced them into
-this earlier stage of his life.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_463_463" id="Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">463</span></a> Claud. in Eutrop. lib. i. The
-pathetic appeal is by Claudian put
-into the mouth of an allegorical impersonation
-of the city. Claudian
-was the intimate friend and companion
-of Stilicho, and may not improbably
-have assisted at this audience.
-He is a valuable guide to the
-history of this period, and especially
-as an indicator of public opinion on
-the great events of his day.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_464_464" id="Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">464</span></a> Gibbon, vol. v. p. 361. Claudian, De Consul. Mall. Theod.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_465_465" id="Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">465</span></a> In Eutrop. ii. 39, 136.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_466_466" id="Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">466</span></a> Claud. in Eutrop. ii. 187 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_467_467" id="Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">467</span></a> In Eutrop. ii. 377.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_468_468" id="Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">468</span></a> The above account is taken from Zosimus, lib. v.; Claudian in Eutrop. ii.
-Thierry, “Trois Ministres; Eutrope.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_469_469" id="Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">469</span></a> Zosim. v. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_470_470" id="Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">470</span></a> Claud. in Eutr. ii. 474 and 534, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_471_471" id="Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">471</span></a> Philostorg. xi. 6. Zosim. v. 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_472_472" id="Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">472</span></a> Stanley, (Appendix,) “Memorials of Westminster.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_473_473" id="Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">473</span></a> Cod. Theod. lib. ix. tit. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_474_474" id="Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">474</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_475_475" id="Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">475</span></a> The altar was sometimes called <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἄσυλος τράπεζα</span> (Synesius, Ep. lviii.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_476_476" id="Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">476</span></a> Claud. Prolog. in Eutrop. ii. 25. Chrysost. in Eutrop., c. 3. vol. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_477_477" id="Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">477</span></a> Chrysost. in Eutrop. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_478_478" id="Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">478</span></a> De Capto Eutrop. vol. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_479_479" id="Footnote_479_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479_479"><span class="label">479</span></a> In Eutrop. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_480_480" id="Footnote_480_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480_480"><span class="label">480</span></a> De Capto Eutrop. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_481_481" id="Footnote_481_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481_481"><span class="label">481</span></a> In Eutrop. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_482_482" id="Footnote_482_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482_482"><span class="label">482</span></a> Socrat. vi. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_483_483" id="Footnote_483_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483_483"><span class="label">483</span></a> In Eutrop. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_484_484" id="Footnote_484_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484_484"><span class="label">484</span></a> In Eutrop. c. 2-4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_485_485" id="Footnote_485_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485_485"><span class="label">485</span></a> Zosimus, v. 18, <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐξαρπάσαντες</span>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_486_486" id="Footnote_486_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486_486"><span class="label">486</span></a> De Capto Eutrop. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_487_487" id="Footnote_487_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487_487"><span class="label">487</span></a> Zosim. v. 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_488_488" id="Footnote_488_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488_488"><span class="label">488</span></a> Zosim. v. 18. Cod. Theod. ix. 40, 17. Philostorg. xi. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_489_489" id="Footnote_489_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489_489"><span class="label">489</span></a> Zosim. v. 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_490_490" id="Footnote_490_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490_490"><span class="label">490</span></a> Zosim. v. 18. Socrat. vi. 6. Sozom. viii. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_491_491" id="Footnote_491_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491_491"><span class="label">491</span></a> Hom. cum Saturn. et Aurel. vol. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_492_492" id="Footnote_492_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492_492"><span class="label">492</span></a> Socr. vi. 6. Sozom. viii. 4. Theod. v. 31.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_493_493" id="Footnote_493_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493_493"><span class="label">493</span></a> Sozom. viii. 4. Theod. v. 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_494_494" id="Footnote_494_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494_494"><span class="label">494</span></a> Nili Mon. Epist. i. 70, 79, 114,
-116, 205, 206, 286.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_495_495" id="Footnote_495_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495_495"><span class="label">495</span></a> Sozom. viii. 4. Socr. vi. 6. Theod.
-v. 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_496_496" id="Footnote_496_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496_496"><span class="label">496</span></a> Sozom. viii. 4. Socr. vi. 6. Zosim. v. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_497_497" id="Footnote_497_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497_497"><span class="label">497</span></a> Eunap. Sard. Fragm. 60. Sozom. viii. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_498_498" id="Footnote_498_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498_498"><span class="label">498</span></a> <i>Vide</i> c. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_499_499" id="Footnote_499_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499_499"><span class="label">499</span></a> Sozom. viii. 4. Socr. vi. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_500_500" id="Footnote_500_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500_500"><span class="label">500</span></a> The Alexandrian Chronicle is precise
-in fixing Dec. 23, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 400, as the
-date of his defeat on the Hellespont,
-and Jan. 3, <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 401, as the day on
-which his head was brought into Constantinople.
-This certainly leaves a
-very insufficient interval for the events
-recorded in Zosimus.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_501_501" id="Footnote_501_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501_501"><span class="label">501</span></a> <i>Vide</i> c. 33.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_502_502" id="Footnote_502_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502_502"><span class="label">502</span></a> Palladius, author of the Dialogue
-prefixed to Migne’s edition of Chrysostom’s
-works. On the debated
-question whether this Palladius was
-the same Bishop of Hellenopolis who
-wrote the Lausiaca, <i>vide</i> Tillemont, xi.
-“Vie de Pallade.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_503_503" id="Footnote_503_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503_503"><span class="label">503</span></a> There was in fact what might be
-called a floating synod of this kind
-always in existence in Constantinople;
-the Patriarch being <i>ex officio</i> President.—Tillemont,
-xv. 703, 704.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_504_504" id="Footnote_504_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504_504"><span class="label">504</span></a> We are in the summer of <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 400, and the capture and death of Gaïnas
-occurred in Jan. <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 401.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_505_505" id="Footnote_505_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505_505"><span class="label">505</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">σοῦ τὴν τιμιότητα;</span> sometimes we have <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ὁσιότητα</span>, “your Holiness.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_506_506" id="Footnote_506_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506_506"><span class="label">506</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 14 and 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_507_507" id="Footnote_507_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507_507"><span class="label">507</span></a> See, on this whole subject, Bingham,
-viii. 13. 6; and Robertson, i. pp.
-187 and 318, and the authorities there
-cited.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_508_508" id="Footnote_508_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508_508"><span class="label">508</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 14, 15. Sozomen
-(viii. 6) says that Chrysostom deposed
-thirteen bishops of Asia, Lycia, and
-Phrygia. This is possible, as the
-synod may have inquired into other
-simoniacal cases beyond the original
-six.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_509_509" id="Footnote_509_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509_509"><span class="label">509</span></a> Sozom. viii. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_510_510" id="Footnote_510_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510_510"><span class="label">510</span></a> Tillemont, xi. p. 170.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_511_511" id="Footnote_511_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511_511"><span class="label">511</span></a> Labbé, ii. p. 947. It must always
-be borne in mind that Diocese was
-the name of the largest <em>civil</em> division of
-the Roman Empire. Each diocese contained
-several provinces, <i>e.g.</i> Thrace,
-six; Asia, ten; Pontus, eleven. The
-whole Empire was divided into thirteen
-dioceses, and about one hundred
-and twenty provinces. The Ecclesiastical
-divisions followed more or less
-the plan of the civil. An archbishop
-was bishop of the metropolis of a
-Province, a Patriarch of one or more
-<em>Dioceses</em>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_512_512" id="Footnote_512_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512_512"><span class="label">512</span></a> Can. xxviii.; and Can. ix. Chalced.
-in Labbé, iv. pp. 769 and 798.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_513_513" id="Footnote_513_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513_513"><span class="label">513</span></a> Comp. Keble, Christian Year, for Easter Day:—
-</p>
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line i05">“Sundays by thee more glorious break,</div>
-<div class="line">An Easter Day in every week.”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_514_514" id="Footnote_514_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514_514"><span class="label">514</span></a> Vol. iii. p. 421.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_515_515" id="Footnote_515_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515_515"><span class="label">515</span></a> Socrat. vi. 11. Sozom. viii. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_516_516" id="Footnote_516_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516_516"><span class="label">516</span></a> Vol. iii. p. 424 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_517_517" id="Footnote_517_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517_517"><span class="label">517</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 18, pp. 62 and 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_518_518" id="Footnote_518_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518_518"><span class="label">518</span></a> Socrat. vi. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_519_519" id="Footnote_519_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519_519"><span class="label">519</span></a> Sozom. viii. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_520_520" id="Footnote_520_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520_520"><span class="label">520</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_521_521" id="Footnote_521_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521_521"><span class="label">521</span></a> Greg. Naz. Epp. lvii. lviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_522_522" id="Footnote_522_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522_522"><span class="label">522</span></a> Greg. Naz. Ep. lvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_523_523" id="Footnote_523_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523_523"><span class="label">523</span></a> Theophilus is said to have fallen
-down before her and kissed her knees,
-an obeisance prompted by avaricious
-hopes on his part, and repelled by
-genuine humility on hers.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_524_524" id="Footnote_524_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524_524"><span class="label">524</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 16, 17. Sozom.
-viii. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_525_525" id="Footnote_525_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525_525"><span class="label">525</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 6. Tillemont xiv.
-p. 219 <i>seq.</i>: <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἐγὼ αὐτῷ ἀρτύω χύτραν</span>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_526_526" id="Footnote_526_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526_526"><span class="label">526</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 5, 6, 18, 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_527_527" id="Footnote_527_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527_527"><span class="label">527</span></a> Jerome in Ruf. lib. ii. c. 5. Ep. xxxi. p. 203.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_528_528" id="Footnote_528_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_528_528"><span class="label">528</span></a> Tillemont, xi.: Vie de Theophile.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_529_529" id="Footnote_529_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_529_529"><span class="label">529</span></a> Euseb. Hist. vi. 3, 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_530_530" id="Footnote_530_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_530_530"><span class="label">530</span></a> Jerome declared that Origen had
-composed more books than most men
-would find time to copy.—Epist. xxix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_531_531" id="Footnote_531_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_531_531"><span class="label">531</span></a> The Paschal Letter was a circular
-addressed to clergy and monks
-throughout the diocese soon after the
-Epiphany; the primary object was to
-announce the date of the first day of
-Lent and of Easter Day, whence the
-name; but other matters were, as in
-the present instance, frequently introduced.
-See Tillemont, xi. 462.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_532_532" id="Footnote_532_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_532_532"><span class="label">532</span></a> Socrat. vi. 7. Sozom. viii. 11, 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_533_533" id="Footnote_533_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_533_533"><span class="label">533</span></a> Jerome in Ruf. iii.; and Ep. lxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_534_534" id="Footnote_534_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_534_534"><span class="label">534</span></a> In Ruf. iii. 33.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_535_535" id="Footnote_535_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_535_535"><span class="label">535</span></a> The contest for precedence was
-eventually decided in favour of Jerusalem.
-The see was made a Patriarchate
-in the reign of Theodosius <span class="smcap">II.</span>,
-and its jurisdiction fixed to the three
-Palestines by the Council of Chalcedon,
-<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 451.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_536_536" id="Footnote_536_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_536_536"><span class="label">536</span></a> Jerome, Ep. xxxviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_537_537" id="Footnote_537_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_537_537"><span class="label">537</span></a> Jerome, Ep. xxxviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_538_538" id="Footnote_538_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_538_538"><span class="label">538</span></a> Jerome, Ep. cx.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_539_539" id="Footnote_539_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_539_539"><span class="label">539</span></a> Ibid. Ep. xxxviii. and xxxix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_540_540" id="Footnote_540_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_540_540"><span class="label">540</span></a> Jerome, Ep. xxxviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_541_541" id="Footnote_541_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_541_541"><span class="label">541</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_542_542" id="Footnote_542_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_542_542"><span class="label">542</span></a> Pallad. Lausiaca, p. 901. Tillemont, vol. xi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_543_543" id="Footnote_543_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_543_543"><span class="label">543</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 6. Other causes
-of the enmity of Theophilus are mentioned
-by Socrates, vi. 9, and Sozomen,
-viii. 12, but not incompatible with the
-account of Palladius.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_544_544" id="Footnote_544_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_544_544"><span class="label">544</span></a> Socrat. vi. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_545_545" id="Footnote_545_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_545_545"><span class="label">545</span></a> Pasch. Epist. of Theoph. quoted in Tillemont, xi. p. 470. Pallad. Dial. 6.
-Sozom. viii. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_546_546" id="Footnote_546_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_546_546"><span class="label">546</span></a> Sulpic. Sever. lib. i. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_547_547" id="Footnote_547_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_547_547"><span class="label">547</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_548_548" id="Footnote_548_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_548_548"><span class="label">548</span></a> Sozom. viii. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_549_549" id="Footnote_549_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_549_549"><span class="label">549</span></a> Jer. Ep. lxx.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_550_550" id="Footnote_550_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_550_550"><span class="label">550</span></a> Jer. Ep. lxxviii. in Ruf. Epp. lxvii.
-lxxiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_551_551" id="Footnote_551_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_551_551"><span class="label">551</span></a> Socrat. vi. 9. Sozom. viii. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_552_552" id="Footnote_552_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_552_552"><span class="label">552</span></a> Socrat. (vi. c. 13) says that the
-writings only of Origen, not the man
-himself, were condemned.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_553_553" id="Footnote_553_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_553_553"><span class="label">553</span></a> Ep. lxxviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_554_554" id="Footnote_554_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_554_554"><span class="label">554</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_555_555" id="Footnote_555_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_555_555"><span class="label">555</span></a> Sozom. viii. 13. Pallad. Dial. c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_556_556" id="Footnote_556_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_556_556"><span class="label">556</span></a> Ep. xvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_557_557" id="Footnote_557_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_557_557"><span class="label">557</span></a> Socrat. vi. c. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_558_558" id="Footnote_558_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_558_558"><span class="label">558</span></a> Socrat. vi 12. Sozom. viii. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_559_559" id="Footnote_559_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_559_559"><span class="label">559</span></a> Sozom. viii. 14 and 26.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_560_560" id="Footnote_560_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_560_560"><span class="label">560</span></a> Socrat. vi. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_561_561" id="Footnote_561_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_561_561"><span class="label">561</span></a> Sozom. viii. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_562_562" id="Footnote_562_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_562_562"><span class="label">562</span></a> Sozom. c. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_563_563" id="Footnote_563_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_563_563"><span class="label">563</span></a> Socrat. vi. 15. Sozom. viii. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_564_564" id="Footnote_564_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_564_564"><span class="label">564</span></a> Socrat. vi. 15. Sozom. viii. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_565_565" id="Footnote_565_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_565_565"><span class="label">565</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 2 (Epist. of Chrys. to Innocent), and c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_566_566" id="Footnote_566_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_566_566"><span class="label">566</span></a> See Tillemont, vol. xi. ch. 71.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_567_567" id="Footnote_567_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_567_567"><span class="label">567</span></a> <i>Vide</i> ante, Ch. <span class="smcap">XIII</span>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_568_568" id="Footnote_568_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_568_568"><span class="label">568</span></a> So Palladius, c. 8, on the whole
-the most trustworthy authority.
-Photius, Biblioth. (c. 59), says there
-were forty-five.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_569_569" id="Footnote_569_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_569_569"><span class="label">569</span></a> The language is not very clear in this passage, but such is, I conceive, the
-drift of it.—c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_570_570" id="Footnote_570_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_570_570"><span class="label">570</span></a> This must have been a slight exaggeration, but the members do seem to have
-been mainly Egyptian.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_571_571" id="Footnote_571_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_571_571"><span class="label">571</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_572_572" id="Footnote_572_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_572_572"><span class="label">572</span></a> Phot. c. 59. Chrys. Ep. 125 ad
-Cyr., where he indignantly repels the
-charge:—“had he done so, might his
-name be blotted out from the roll of
-bishops;” but at the same time he
-deprecates the treatment of such an
-offence (had it been committed) with
-extreme severity: for had not our Lord
-Himself instituted that holy feast, and
-had not St. Paul baptized without previously
-fasting? Chrysostom shrinks
-in horror from the supposition of such
-a gross violation of ecclesiastical rule
-as the act in his case would have
-been, but refuses to place it on the
-same footing with the commission of
-a flagrant moral crime, or direct disobedience
-to any command of Christ.
-There are, however, some doubts
-whether this letter is genuine. See
-<i>infra</i>, p. 317, and note.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_573_573" id="Footnote_573_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_573_573"><span class="label">573</span></a> Pallad. Dial. 8. Socr. vi. 15. Soz. viii. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_574_574" id="Footnote_574_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_574_574"><span class="label">574</span></a> Tillemont, vol. xi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_575_575" id="Footnote_575_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_575_575"><span class="label">575</span></a> It contains the celebrated passage:
-“Herodias again dances and demands
-the head of John;” which recurs as
-the exordium of another and spurious
-homily (vol. viii. p. 485), and also an
-indignant repudiation of the offence
-of administering baptism after eating.—vol.
-iii. 427. Socrates, vi. 16.
-Sozom. viii. 17, 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_576_576" id="Footnote_576_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_576_576"><span class="label">576</span></a> The authenticity of which has
-been questioned. The style is perhaps
-not quite worthy of Chrysostom; but
-in one of his sermons after his return
-from exile he apparently alludes to
-some quotations from Job made in
-this discourse.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_577_577" id="Footnote_577_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_577_577"><span class="label">577</span></a> More strictly speaking, “the Hieron,”
-“the sacred spot” where the
-Argonauts were supposed to have
-offered sacrifice to Zeus on their return
-from Colchis.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_578_578" id="Footnote_578_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_578_578"><span class="label">578</span></a> Sozom. viii. 18, 19. Socrat. vi. 16, 17. Zosim. v. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_579_579" id="Footnote_579_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_579_579"><span class="label">579</span></a> Theod. v. 34. Chrys. vol. iii. p. 446.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_580_580" id="Footnote_580_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_580_580"><span class="label">580</span></a> Socr. vi. 16. Soz. viii. 18. Chrys. Ep. ad Innoc. in Dial. Pall. p. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_581_581" id="Footnote_581_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_581_581"><span class="label">581</span></a> It appears from subsequent events
-that Theophilus had not yet actually
-quitted Constantinople, but he and
-his partisans had retired for the time
-discomfited from the field of active
-opposition; and this would justify
-the language of Chrysostom, who is
-speaking under excitement.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_582_582" id="Footnote_582_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_582_582"><span class="label">582</span></a> Sermones 1 and 2, post red. ab exsil. vol. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_583_583" id="Footnote_583_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_583_583"><span class="label">583</span></a> Socrat. vi. 17. Sozom. viii. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_584_584" id="Footnote_584_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_584_584"><span class="label">584</span></a> Ep. ad Innoc. in Pallad. Dial. p. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_585_585" id="Footnote_585_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_585_585"><span class="label">585</span></a> As distinguished from the Forum of Constantine, which was elliptical in
-shape.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_586_586" id="Footnote_586_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_586_586"><span class="label">586</span></a> Cod. Theod. vi. 102.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_587_587" id="Footnote_587_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_587_587"><span class="label">587</span></a> The celebrated exordium of a
-homily supposed to be directed against
-Eudoxia—“Again Herodias rages, again
-she demands the head of John”—if
-actually spoken with reference to John
-the Baptist, may easily have been represented
-by the malevolent as aimed
-at the Empress. But the whole homily
-has been pronounced spurious by Savile
-and Montfaucon, and on perusal of it
-their verdict seems reasonable. The
-discourse is the production of a
-thorough misogynist, describing with
-much coarseness and acrimony the
-misery and trouble caused by the
-wickedness of women. Most will
-agree with Savile, that it is “scarcely
-worth reading, and quite unworthy
-emendation.”—Vol. viii. p. 485.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_588_588" id="Footnote_588_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_588_588"><span class="label">588</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_589_589" id="Footnote_589_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_589_589"><span class="label">589</span></a> Sozom. viii. 20. Socrat. vi. 18. Pallad. Dial. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_590_590" id="Footnote_590_590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_590_590"><span class="label">590</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_591_591" id="Footnote_591_591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_591_591"><span class="label">591</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_592_592" id="Footnote_592_592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_592_592"><span class="label">592</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 9. Chrysostom (Ep. ad Innoc. vol. iii.) speaks of more than
-forty friendly bishops.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_593_593" id="Footnote_593_593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_593_593"><span class="label">593</span></a> Vol. iii. p. 533.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_594_594" id="Footnote_594_594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_594_594"><span class="label">594</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_595_595" id="Footnote_595_595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_595_595"><span class="label">595</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 9. Sozom. viii. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_596_596" id="Footnote_596_596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_596_596"><span class="label">596</span></a> Pallad. Dial. 10. Sozom. viii. 21, 22. Socrat. vi. 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_597_597" id="Footnote_597_597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_597_597"><span class="label">597</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_598_598" id="Footnote_598_598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_598_598"><span class="label">598</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 10. Zosim. v. 24. Sozom. viii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_599_599" id="Footnote_599_599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_599_599"><span class="label">599</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_600_600" id="Footnote_600_600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_600_600"><span class="label">600</span></a> Ep. ad Episcop. vol. iii. pp. 541 and 673.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_601_601" id="Footnote_601_601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_601_601"><span class="label">601</span></a> C. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_602_602" id="Footnote_602_602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_602_602"><span class="label">602</span></a> Epist. cxxv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_603_603" id="Footnote_603_603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_603_603"><span class="label">603</span></a> Epist. ccxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_604_604" id="Footnote_604_604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_604_604"><span class="label">604</span></a> Sozom. viii. 24. Pallad. Dial. c. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_605_605" id="Footnote_605_605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_605_605"><span class="label">605</span></a> Epist. ad Olymp. vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_606_606" id="Footnote_606_606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_606_606"><span class="label">606</span></a> Epp. xciv. and civ.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_607_607" id="Footnote_607_607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_607_607"><span class="label">607</span></a> Pallad. Dial. cc. 1, 2, 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_608_608" id="Footnote_608_608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_608_608"><span class="label">608</span></a> Ep. cxiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_609_609" id="Footnote_609_609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_609_609"><span class="label">609</span></a> Epp. clxviii. clxix. <i>et aliæ</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_610_610" id="Footnote_610_610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_610_610"><span class="label">610</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_611_611" id="Footnote_611_611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_611_611"><span class="label">611</span></a> Sozom. viii. 26.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_612_612" id="Footnote_612_612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_612_612"><span class="label">612</span></a> One previous letter we possess in
-Chrys. vol. iii. p. 539, in which he expresses
-his horror at the late outrages
-in the Church of St. Sophia, and at
-the gross violation of justice and law
-in the recent so-called trial of Chrysostom.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_613_613" id="Footnote_613_613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_613_613"><span class="label">613</span></a> Pallad. Dial. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_614_614" id="Footnote_614_614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_614_614"><span class="label">614</span></a> Nilus, 2 Epp. cclxv. and cclxxix. Sozom. viii. 25.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_615_615" id="Footnote_615_615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_615_615"><span class="label">615</span></a> Pallad. Dial. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_616_616" id="Footnote_616_616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_616_616"><span class="label">616</span></a> Sozom. viii. 27. Pallad. Dial. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_617_617" id="Footnote_617_617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_617_617"><span class="label">617</span></a> Ep. ad eos qui scandalizati sunt, c. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_618_618" id="Footnote_618_618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_618_618"><span class="label">618</span></a> Pallad. Dial. cc. 15 and 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_619_619" id="Footnote_619_619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_619_619"><span class="label">619</span></a> Theod. v. 34.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_620_620" id="Footnote_620_620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_620_620"><span class="label">620</span></a> Epp. x. xi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_621_621" id="Footnote_621_621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_621_621"><span class="label">621</span></a> Ep. xiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_622_622" id="Footnote_622_622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_622_622"><span class="label">622</span></a> Epp. cxx. cxxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_623_623" id="Footnote_623_623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_623_623"><span class="label">623</span></a> Ep. cxxv. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_624_624" id="Footnote_624_624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_624_624"><span class="label">624</span></a> Ep. ccxxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_625_625" id="Footnote_625_625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_625_625"><span class="label">625</span></a> Ep. viii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_626_626" id="Footnote_626_626"></a><a href="#FNanchor_626_626"><span class="label">626</span></a> Ep. xiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_627_627" id="Footnote_627_627"></a><a href="#FNanchor_627_627"><span class="label">627</span></a> Epp. xiii. lxxxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_628_628" id="Footnote_628_628"></a><a href="#FNanchor_628_628"><span class="label">628</span></a> Ep. cxxv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_629_629" id="Footnote_629_629"></a><a href="#FNanchor_629_629"><span class="label">629</span></a> Ep. ccxxxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_630_630" id="Footnote_630_630"></a><a href="#FNanchor_630_630"><span class="label">630</span></a> Epp. ccxxxiv. ccxxxvi. It is not
-mentioned in Pliny or Ptolemy, but
-appears in the Itinerary of Antonine
-as Cocusus (pp. 10, 13). It stood at
-the confluence of several roads, but
-apparently not high-roads, one of
-which connected Antioch with Asia
-Minor.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_631_631" id="Footnote_631_631"></a><a href="#FNanchor_631_631"><span class="label">631</span></a> Ep. cxxv. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_632_632" id="Footnote_632_632"></a><a href="#FNanchor_632_632"><span class="label">632</span></a> Ep. xiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_633_633" id="Footnote_633_633"></a><a href="#FNanchor_633_633"><span class="label">633</span></a> Epp. xiii. xiv. ccxxxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_634_634" id="Footnote_634_634"></a><a href="#FNanchor_634_634"><span class="label">634</span></a> Vol. iii. p. 549 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_635_635" id="Footnote_635_635"></a><a href="#FNanchor_635_635"><span class="label">635</span></a> Ep. ii. c. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_636_636" id="Footnote_636_636"></a><a href="#FNanchor_636_636"><span class="label">636</span></a> <i>e.g.</i> Epp. lxxxviii. lxxxix. <i>et aliæ</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_637_637" id="Footnote_637_637"></a><a href="#FNanchor_637_637"><span class="label">637</span></a> Ep. cxxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_638_638" id="Footnote_638_638"></a><a href="#FNanchor_638_638"><span class="label">638</span></a> Ep. cxxxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_639_639" id="Footnote_639_639"></a><a href="#FNanchor_639_639"><span class="label">639</span></a> Ep. cxlvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_640_640" id="Footnote_640_640"></a><a href="#FNanchor_640_640"><span class="label">640</span></a> Epp. cxxx. ccxxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_641_641" id="Footnote_641_641"></a><a href="#FNanchor_641_641"><span class="label">641</span></a> Epp. l. li. lxi. <i>et aliæ</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_642_642" id="Footnote_642_642"></a><a href="#FNanchor_642_642"><span class="label">642</span></a> There seems no doubt that Maruthas
-was an able and active missionary
-bishop. Socrates (vii. 8) tells strange
-stories of his skill in exposing some
-tricks of the magi, by which they
-attempted to prejudice the Persian
-king Isdigerdes against Christianity.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_643_643" id="Footnote_643_643"></a><a href="#FNanchor_643_643"><span class="label">643</span></a> Ep. ccx.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_644_644" id="Footnote_644_644"></a><a href="#FNanchor_644_644"><span class="label">644</span></a> Ep. ccxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_645_645" id="Footnote_645_645"></a><a href="#FNanchor_645_645"><span class="label">645</span></a> Ep. ccxvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_646_646" id="Footnote_646_646"></a><a href="#FNanchor_646_646"><span class="label">646</span></a> Ep. cciv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_647_647" id="Footnote_647_647"></a><a href="#FNanchor_647_647"><span class="label">647</span></a> As appears from an edict dated
-August 29, addressed to Studius, Prefect
-of Constantinople.—Cod. Theod.
-vol. ii. p. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_648_648" id="Footnote_648_648"></a><a href="#FNanchor_648_648"><span class="label">648</span></a> Ep. cxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_649_649" id="Footnote_649_649"></a><a href="#FNanchor_649_649"><span class="label">649</span></a> Tillemont, xi. 274.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_650_650" id="Footnote_650_650"></a><a href="#FNanchor_650_650"><span class="label">650</span></a> Vol. v. ch. xxxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_651_651" id="Footnote_651_651"></a><a href="#FNanchor_651_651"><span class="label">651</span></a> Ep. vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_652_652" id="Footnote_652_652"></a><a href="#FNanchor_652_652"><span class="label">652</span></a> Epp. cxl. cxlvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_653_653" id="Footnote_653_653"></a><a href="#FNanchor_653_653"><span class="label">653</span></a> Epp. liii. liv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_654_654" id="Footnote_654_654"></a><a href="#FNanchor_654_654"><span class="label">654</span></a> Epp. cxxiii. cxxvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_655_655" id="Footnote_655_655"></a><a href="#FNanchor_655_655"><span class="label">655</span></a> Photius, p. 1048.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_656_656" id="Footnote_656_656"></a><a href="#FNanchor_656_656"><span class="label">656</span></a> Epp. lxi. lxix. cxxvii. cxxxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_657_657" id="Footnote_657_657"></a><a href="#FNanchor_657_657"><span class="label">657</span></a> Ep. clvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_658_658" id="Footnote_658_658"></a><a href="#FNanchor_658_658"><span class="label">658</span></a> Ep. clv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_659_659" id="Footnote_659_659"></a><a href="#FNanchor_659_659"><span class="label">659</span></a> Vol. iii. p. 535.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_660_660" id="Footnote_660_660"></a><a href="#FNanchor_660_660"><span class="label">660</span></a> Ep. cxlix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_661_661" id="Footnote_661_661"></a><a href="#FNanchor_661_661"><span class="label">661</span></a> Aug. cont. Jul. p. 370.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_662_662" id="Footnote_662_662"></a><a href="#FNanchor_662_662"><span class="label">662</span></a> Ep. v.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_663_663" id="Footnote_663_663"></a><a href="#FNanchor_663_663"><span class="label">663</span></a> Pallad. Dial. pp. 38, 39, who says
-that they came out of Syria, Cilicia,
-and Armenia: but how could this
-be if it took three months to convey
-Chrysostom from Cucusus to
-Comana?</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_664_664" id="Footnote_664_664"></a><a href="#FNanchor_664_664"><span class="label">664</span></a> Tillemont, xi. 349.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_665_665" id="Footnote_665_665"></a><a href="#FNanchor_665_665"><span class="label">665</span></a> This is his day in the Calendar of the Eastern and Western Church.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_666_666" id="Footnote_666_666"></a><a href="#FNanchor_666_666"><span class="label">666</span></a> The Roman martyrology states
-that the remains of the saint were
-afterwards translated to St. Peter’s,
-Rome, but the statement is not supported
-by any trustworthy historical
-evidence.—Tillemont, xi. 352.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_667_667" id="Footnote_667_667"></a><a href="#FNanchor_667_667"><span class="label">667</span></a> I must acknowledge my obligations
-in the composition of this chapter to
-the very useful and instructive work
-of Dr. Th. Foerster, Berlin, entitled
-“Chrysostomus in seinem Verhältniss
-zur Antiochenischen Schule.”—Gotha,
-1869.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_668_668" id="Footnote_668_668"></a><a href="#FNanchor_668_668"><span class="label">668</span></a> In Rom. Hom. xiii. 2. 1 Cor. Hom. xiii. 3. In Phil. vii. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_669_669" id="Footnote_669_669"></a><a href="#FNanchor_669_669"><span class="label">669</span></a> Hom. de Stat. xi. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_670_670" id="Footnote_670_670"></a><a href="#FNanchor_670_670"><span class="label">670</span></a> In Genes. Hom. xxi. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_671_671" id="Footnote_671_671"></a><a href="#FNanchor_671_671"><span class="label">671</span></a> Ibid. xvi. and xvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_672_672" id="Footnote_672_672"></a><a href="#FNanchor_672_672"><span class="label">672</span></a> In Rom. Hom. xii. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_673_673" id="Footnote_673_673"></a><a href="#FNanchor_673_673"><span class="label">673</span></a> In Genes. Hom. xx. 3. In 1 Cor.
-Hom. ii. 2. In Matt. Hom. lix.
-1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_674_674" id="Footnote_674_674"></a><a href="#FNanchor_674_674"><span class="label">674</span></a> Comp. Jeremy Taylor, “On Original
-Sin,” ch. vi.: “A man is not
-naturally sinful as he is naturally
-heavy, or upright, naturally apt to
-weep and laugh; for these he is
-always and unavoidably.” Comp.
-also Aristot. Eth. ii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_675_675" id="Footnote_675_675"></a><a href="#FNanchor_675_675"><span class="label">675</span></a> In Matt. Hom. xxviii. 3, and lviii. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_676_676" id="Footnote_676_676"></a><a href="#FNanchor_676_676"><span class="label">676</span></a> In Heb. Hom. xii. 2 and 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_677_677" id="Footnote_677_677"></a><a href="#FNanchor_677_677"><span class="label">677</span></a> De Fato, Hom. iii.-vi. Comp. Jer.
-Taylor, Unum Necessar. ch. 6. sec. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_678_678" id="Footnote_678_678"></a><a href="#FNanchor_678_678"><span class="label">678</span></a> De Pœnit. Hom. i. 2; et ad Theod.
-lapsum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_679_679" id="Footnote_679_679"></a><a href="#FNanchor_679_679"><span class="label">679</span></a> In Inscrip. Act. ii. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_680_680" id="Footnote_680_680"></a><a href="#FNanchor_680_680"><span class="label">680</span></a> In Psalm. cxlii. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_681_681" id="Footnote_681_681"></a><a href="#FNanchor_681_681"><span class="label">681</span></a> In Act. Hom. xli. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_682_682" id="Footnote_682_682"></a><a href="#FNanchor_682_682"><span class="label">682</span></a> In Matt. xxxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_683_683" id="Footnote_683_683"></a><a href="#FNanchor_683_683"><span class="label">683</span></a> De Sanct. Babyla, vol. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_684_684" id="Footnote_684_684"></a><a href="#FNanchor_684_684"><span class="label">684</span></a> In Johan. vol. viii. p. 482.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_685_685" id="Footnote_685_685"></a><a href="#FNanchor_685_685"><span class="label">685</span></a> In Hebr. Hom. v. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_686_686" id="Footnote_686_686"></a><a href="#FNanchor_686_686"><span class="label">686</span></a> Contra Julianum, bk. i. ed. Bened. p. 630; but I have failed to find the
-passage in Chrysostom’s works.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_687_687" id="Footnote_687_687"></a><a href="#FNanchor_687_687"><span class="label">687</span></a> In Rom. Hom. x. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_688_688" id="Footnote_688_688"></a><a href="#FNanchor_688_688"><span class="label">688</span></a> <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">προτρεπτικὴ οὐ βιαστική</span> in Johan. Hom. xlvii. 4; <i>et</i> in Matt. H. lxxx. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_689_689" id="Footnote_689_689"></a><a href="#FNanchor_689_689"><span class="label">689</span></a> In 1 Cor. Hom. vii. 2. In Ephes. Hom. i. 2. In 1 Cor. Hom. ii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_690_690" id="Footnote_690_690"></a><a href="#FNanchor_690_690"><span class="label">690</span></a> In Rom. Hom. xvi. cc. 8, 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_691_691" id="Footnote_691_691"></a><a href="#FNanchor_691_691"><span class="label">691</span></a> In Genes. Hom. xlii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_692_692" id="Footnote_692_692"></a><a href="#FNanchor_692_692"><span class="label">692</span></a> In Johan. Hom. xviii. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_693_693" id="Footnote_693_693"></a><a href="#FNanchor_693_693"><span class="label">693</span></a> In Heb. Hom. xii. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_694_694" id="Footnote_694_694"></a><a href="#FNanchor_694_694"><span class="label">694</span></a> De Mac. i. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_695_695" id="Footnote_695_695"></a><a href="#FNanchor_695_695"><span class="label">695</span></a> Ch. <span class="smcap">VIII.</span></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_696_696" id="Footnote_696_696"></a><a href="#FNanchor_696_696"><span class="label">696</span></a> In Johan. Hom. iii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_697_697" id="Footnote_697_697"></a><a href="#FNanchor_697_697"><span class="label">697</span></a> In Heb. Hom. ii. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_698_698" id="Footnote_698_698"></a><a href="#FNanchor_698_698"><span class="label">698</span></a> In Psal. li. Expos.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_699_699" id="Footnote_699_699"></a><a href="#FNanchor_699_699"><span class="label">699</span></a> In Heb. Hom. iv. 2, 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_700_700" id="Footnote_700_700"></a><a href="#FNanchor_700_700"><span class="label">700</span></a> In Rom. Hom. xiii. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_701_701" id="Footnote_701_701"></a><a href="#FNanchor_701_701"><span class="label">701</span></a> In Phil. Hom. vii. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_702_702" id="Footnote_702_702"></a><a href="#FNanchor_702_702"><span class="label">702</span></a> In Heb. Hom. iii., Hom. iv. c. iii.
-In Philog. Beat. In Johan. Hom.
-xlviii. c. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_703_703" id="Footnote_703_703"></a><a href="#FNanchor_703_703"><span class="label">703</span></a> In Matt. Hom. iii.; Expos. in Ps.
-li.; in 1 Cor. Hom. xxiv. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_704_704" id="Footnote_704_704"></a><a href="#FNanchor_704_704"><span class="label">704</span></a> De Resur. J. Chr. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_705_705" id="Footnote_705_705"></a><a href="#FNanchor_705_705"><span class="label">705</span></a> De Bapt. Christi, c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_706_706" id="Footnote_706_706"></a><a href="#FNanchor_706_706"><span class="label">706</span></a> De Cœmet. et Cruce, i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_707_707" id="Footnote_707_707"></a><a href="#FNanchor_707_707"><span class="label">707</span></a> De Cœmet. et Cruce, 3. See also in Ephes. Hom. xx.; and esp. In Ascens.
-J. Chr. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_708_708" id="Footnote_708_708"></a><a href="#FNanchor_708_708"><span class="label">708</span></a> De Verb. Apost. vol. iii. p. 276.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_709_709" id="Footnote_709_709"></a><a href="#FNanchor_709_709"><span class="label">709</span></a> In Johan. Hom. xxxiii. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_710_710" id="Footnote_710_710"></a><a href="#FNanchor_710_710"><span class="label">710</span></a> In Rom. Hom. viii. c. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_711_711" id="Footnote_711_711"></a><a href="#FNanchor_711_711"><span class="label">711</span></a> In Gen. Hom. v. c. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_712_712" id="Footnote_712_712"></a><a href="#FNanchor_712_712"><span class="label">712</span></a> In Ephes. Hom. iv. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_713_713" id="Footnote_713_713"></a><a href="#FNanchor_713_713"><span class="label">713</span></a> In Gen. Hom. xxxi. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_714_714" id="Footnote_714_714"></a><a href="#FNanchor_714_714"><span class="label">714</span></a> De Pœnit. Hom. viii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_715_715" id="Footnote_715_715"></a><a href="#FNanchor_715_715"><span class="label">715</span></a> Cont. Anom. vii. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_716_716" id="Footnote_716_716"></a><a href="#FNanchor_716_716"><span class="label">716</span></a> De Anna, iv. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_717_717" id="Footnote_717_717"></a><a href="#FNanchor_717_717"><span class="label">717</span></a> Ibid. ii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_718_718" id="Footnote_718_718"></a><a href="#FNanchor_718_718"><span class="label">718</span></a> Ad illum. Catech. i. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_719_719" id="Footnote_719_719"></a><a href="#FNanchor_719_719"><span class="label">719</span></a> De Mut. Nom. iv. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_720_720" id="Footnote_720_720"></a><a href="#FNanchor_720_720"><span class="label">720</span></a> Ad ilium. Catech. i. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_721_721" id="Footnote_721_721"></a><a href="#FNanchor_721_721"><span class="label">721</span></a> Ibid. ii. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_722_722" id="Footnote_722_722"></a><a href="#FNanchor_722_722"><span class="label">722</span></a> De Bapt. Chr. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_723_723" id="Footnote_723_723"></a><a href="#FNanchor_723_723"><span class="label">723</span></a> In Gen. Hom. xl. c. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_724_724" id="Footnote_724_724"></a><a href="#FNanchor_724_724"><span class="label">724</span></a> De Bapt. J. Chr. c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_725_725" id="Footnote_725_725"></a><a href="#FNanchor_725_725"><span class="label">725</span></a> De Cœmet. et Cruce, <i>in fine</i>, vol. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_726_726" id="Footnote_726_726"></a><a href="#FNanchor_726_726"><span class="label">726</span></a> De Prod. Jud. vol. ii. Hom. i. c. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_727_727" id="Footnote_727_727"></a><a href="#FNanchor_727_727"><span class="label">727</span></a> In Eustath. Ant. vol. ii. p. 601.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_728_728" id="Footnote_728_728"></a><a href="#FNanchor_728_728"><span class="label">728</span></a> In Ep. ad. Hebr. Hom. xvii. c. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_729_729" id="Footnote_729_729"></a><a href="#FNanchor_729_729"><span class="label">729</span></a> Hom. ii. De Stat. c. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_730_730" id="Footnote_730_730"></a><a href="#FNanchor_730_730"><span class="label">730</span></a> De Nat. Christi, c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_731_731" id="Footnote_731_731"></a><a href="#FNanchor_731_731"><span class="label">731</span></a> De Stat. xi. c. 5. The authenticity
-of the letter to Cæsarius is so doubtful
-that I have not ventured to introduce
-here the celebrated passage which it
-contains on this subject. It will be
-found in the Appendix, where the
-curious history of this letter is related.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_732_732" id="Footnote_732_732"></a><a href="#FNanchor_732_732"><span class="label">732</span></a> Eirenikon, part i. p. 112.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_733_733" id="Footnote_733_733"></a><a href="#FNanchor_733_733"><span class="label">733</span></a> De Laz. Hom. iv. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_734_734" id="Footnote_734_734"></a><a href="#FNanchor_734_734"><span class="label">734</span></a> De Pœnit. Hom. iv. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_735_735" id="Footnote_735_735"></a><a href="#FNanchor_735_735"><span class="label">735</span></a> De Pœnit. Hom. ix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_736_736" id="Footnote_736_736"></a><a href="#FNanchor_736_736"><span class="label">736</span></a> See Dr. Pusey’s history of the
-cultus and its mischievous effects, in
-Parts i. and ii. of the “Eirenikon.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_737_737" id="Footnote_737_737"></a><a href="#FNanchor_737_737"><span class="label">737</span></a> In Johan. Hom. xxi. 2; and in
-Matt. Hom. xliv. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_738_738" id="Footnote_738_738"></a><a href="#FNanchor_738_738"><span class="label">738</span></a> De Mundi Creat. vi. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_739_739" id="Footnote_739_739"></a><a href="#FNanchor_739_739"><span class="label">739</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Dr. Pusey, Eiren. i. p. 113:
-“We could preach whole volumes of
-the sermons of St. Augustine or St.
-Chrysostom to our people, to their
-edification and without offence: were
-a Roman Catholic preacher to confine
-himself to their preaching, he would
-(as it has been said among themselves)
-be regarded as ‘indevout towards
-Mary.’”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_740_740" id="Footnote_740_740"></a><a href="#FNanchor_740_740"><span class="label">740</span></a> In Ephes. Hom. iii. <i>in fine</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_741_741" id="Footnote_741_741"></a><a href="#FNanchor_741_741"><span class="label">741</span></a> Vol. iii. p. 362.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_742_742" id="Footnote_742_742"></a><a href="#FNanchor_742_742"><span class="label">742</span></a> I have not thought it expedient to
-crowd the margin with references to
-Chrysostom’s works for every one of
-the liturgical forms above mentioned.
-They may nearly all be consulted in
-Bingham, book xv., who has collected
-them with great care. The fullest
-passages occur in vol. ii. p. 345; iii.
-p. 104; x. pp. 200 and 527; xi. p. 323.
-The so-called prayer of St. Chrysostom
-in our Prayer-Book is found in the
-Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom,
-but cannot certainly be traced
-to either of those fathers. It was inserted
-at the end of the Litany in 1544,
-and of the Daily Service in 1661.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_743_743" id="Footnote_743_743"></a><a href="#FNanchor_743_743"><span class="label">743</span></a> Vol. ii. pp. 17, 92, 522, <i>et passim</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_744_744" id="Footnote_744_744"></a><a href="#FNanchor_744_744"><span class="label">744</span></a> Vol vi. 157.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_745_745" id="Footnote_745_745"></a><a href="#FNanchor_745_745"><span class="label">745</span></a> In Isai. v. 3, and vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_746_746" id="Footnote_746_746"></a><a href="#FNanchor_746_746"><span class="label">746</span></a> Ibid. vii. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_747_747" id="Footnote_747_747"></a><a href="#FNanchor_747_747"><span class="label">747</span></a> In Is. vii. c. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_748_748" id="Footnote_748_748"></a><a href="#FNanchor_748_748"><span class="label">748</span></a> In Ephes. Hom. x. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_749_749" id="Footnote_749_749"></a><a href="#FNanchor_749_749"><span class="label">749</span></a> De Verb. Apost. vol. iii. p. 282.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_750_750" id="Footnote_750_750"></a><a href="#FNanchor_750_750"><span class="label">750</span></a> In Matt. Hom. i. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_751_751" id="Footnote_751_751"></a><a href="#FNanchor_751_751"><span class="label">751</span></a> In Galat. i. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_752_752" id="Footnote_752_752"></a><a href="#FNanchor_752_752"><span class="label">752</span></a> In Matt. i. <i>et</i> in Johan. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_753_753" id="Footnote_753_753"></a><a href="#FNanchor_753_753"><span class="label">753</span></a> In Rom. Hom. xxxi. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_754_754" id="Footnote_754_754"></a><a href="#FNanchor_754_754"><span class="label">754</span></a> In Psalm xliv.; in 1 Cor. Hom. xxix. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_755_755" id="Footnote_755_755"></a><a href="#FNanchor_755_755"><span class="label">755</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Tillemont, xi. p. 37.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_756_756" id="Footnote_756_756"></a><a href="#FNanchor_756_756"><span class="label">756</span></a> Socrat. vi. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_757_757" id="Footnote_757_757"></a><a href="#FNanchor_757_757"><span class="label">757</span></a> Suidas; <i>vide</i> verb. Johannes.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_758_758" id="Footnote_758_758"></a><a href="#FNanchor_758_758"><span class="label">758</span></a> Cont. Anom. Hom. iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_759_759" id="Footnote_759_759"></a><a href="#FNanchor_759_759"><span class="label">759</span></a> De Sacerdot. iv. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_760_760" id="Footnote_760_760"></a><a href="#FNanchor_760_760"><span class="label">760</span></a> Adv. Oppugn. Vit. Mon. iii. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_761_761" id="Footnote_761_761"></a><a href="#FNanchor_761_761"><span class="label">761</span></a> Adv. Oppugn. Vit. Mon. ii. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_762_762" id="Footnote_762_762"></a><a href="#FNanchor_762_762"><span class="label">762</span></a> De Pœnit. vi. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_763_763" id="Footnote_763_763"></a><a href="#FNanchor_763_763"><span class="label">763</span></a> De Pœnit. ii. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_764_764" id="Footnote_764_764"></a><a href="#FNanchor_764_764"><span class="label">764</span></a> In Johan. Hom. ii. 2, and vol.
-vii. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_765_765" id="Footnote_765_765"></a><a href="#FNanchor_765_765"><span class="label">765</span></a> Vol. xi. p. 694.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_766_766" id="Footnote_766_766"></a><a href="#FNanchor_766_766"><span class="label">766</span></a> Vol. ix. p. 407. Comp. Jerome:
-“Quotusquisque nunc Aristotelem
-legit? quanti Platonis vel libros novere,
-vel nomen? Vix in angulis
-otiosi eos senes recolunt; rusticanos
-vero et piscatores nostros totus orbis
-loquitur, universus mundus sonat.”—In
-Galat. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_767_767" id="Footnote_767_767"></a><a href="#FNanchor_767_767"><span class="label">767</span></a> Alex. Knox, “Remains,” vol. iii.
-pp. 75-77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_768_768" id="Footnote_768_768"></a><a href="#FNanchor_768_768"><span class="label">768</span></a> Jebb, “Pastoral Discourses,” ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_769_769" id="Footnote_769_769"></a><a href="#FNanchor_769_769"><span class="label">769</span></a> Milner, Hist. ii. p. 302.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_770_770" id="Footnote_770_770"></a><a href="#FNanchor_770_770"><span class="label">770</span></a> Dante, Parad. xii. 136.</p></div>
-<hr />
-<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX">INDEX.</a></h2>
-
-<ul class="IX"><li><span class="dropcap">A</span>BLAVIUS, the prefect, grandfather of Olympias, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li><li>
-Acacius, bishop of Berœa, carries a petition to Rome, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;<ul><li>
-a leader of the faction hostile to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li><li>
-plots against Chrysostom after his recall, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li><li>
-undertakes the responsibility, with Antiochus, of the archbishop’s deposition, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li><li>
-bribes Lucius to disperse the people at the Baths, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li><li>
-assists in ordaining Porphyry, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Acacius of Cæsarea preaches at Antioch, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li><li>
-Æmilius, a champion of Roman freedom, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li><li>
-Æmilius, bishop of Beneventum, one of the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li><li>
-Aëtius, an extreme Arian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li><li>
-Africa, Church of, maintains communion with Theophilus and Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li><li>
-African Council, resolution of, wishing for intercourse between Rome and Alexandria, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li><li>
-Alaric, a royal Visigoth, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<ul><li>
-descends into Thrace and ravages the country round Constantinople, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-mock interview with Rufinus, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-overruns Greece, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-spreads devastation over Peloponnesus, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li><li>
-made commander-in-chief of the forces of the East, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li><li>
-efforts to gain Rome, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Alexander, governor at Antioch, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li><li>
-Alexander of Basilinopolis, a friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li><li>
-Alexander Severus, Emperor, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li><li>
-Alexander succeeds Porphyry in the see of Antioch, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;<ul><li>
-pays honour to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Alexandria, vices of the Christian population of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<ul><li>
-tumults at, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li><li>
-products of monks shipped to, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li><li>
-religious riots at, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li><li>
-parochial divisions, <a href="#Page_103">103</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-sedition at, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li><li>
-order restored by Cynegius, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li><li>
-its mixed population, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-flight of Theophilus to, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Alexandrian school, allegorical interpretations of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li><li>
-Almsgiving, Chrysostom on the duty of, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li><li>
-Amantius, chamberlain of Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li><li>
-Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, <a href="#Page_41">41</a> <i>note</i>;<ul><li>
-a layman when consecrated, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li><li>
-converts multitudes of women to celibacy, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-sides with Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-reply to the appeal of Symmachus, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li><li>
-prohibits feasts in the churches, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li><li>
-his character, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li><li>
-before the royal council, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li><li>
-refuses to surrender the Portian Basilica, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li><li>
-will not recognise the edict, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li><li>
-served with an order of banishment, but refuses to depart, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li><li>
-declines the proposal of arbitration, and remains master of the field, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li><li>
-his triumph, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li><li>
-mission to Maximus, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li><li>
-letter to Theodosius on his commanding the bishop of Callinicum to restore the Jewish synagogue, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li><li>
-sermon at Milan on the same subject, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li><li>
-the Emperor succumbs, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li><li>
-mission to obtain clemency for the Thessalonians, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-withdraws from Milan into the country, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li><li>
-exhorts the Emperor to deep repentance, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li><li>
-refuses Theodosius admittance to the cathedral, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li><li>
-repulses Rufinus the minister, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li><li>
-prescribes penance to the Emperor, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li><li>
-testimony of Theodosius to his nobility of character, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li><li>
-strife with Flavian, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li><li>
-receives the Emperor after his defeat of Arbogastes, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-administers the Eucharist to Theodosius, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-urges Nectarius to depose Gerontius, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Ammianus Marcellinus on the luxury of bishops of great cities, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li><li>
-Ammon, bishop of Laodicea, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;<ul><li>
-a leader of Chrysostom’s enemies, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">436</a></span>
-Ammonius, a Nitrian monk, baptizes Rufinus, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;<ul><li>
-one of the “tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li><li>
-struck by Theophilus, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li><li>
-interview with Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-prediction of persecution to the Church, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-buried at “the Oak,” where he had baptized the minister Rufinus, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-Theophilus weeps over his death and eulogises him, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Anastasius, Pope, anathematises Origen, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li><li>
-Anathematising denounced by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li><li>
-Anchorites, the, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Ancyra in Phrygia, the summer retreat of Arcadius, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;<ul><li>
-spectacle of the Emperor’s departure to, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Anomœan doctrine, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom’s homilies against, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-117.</li></ul></li><li>
-Anthemius, master of the offices, appealed to, to disperse the congregation at the Baths, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;<ul><li>
-refuses to interfere, but directs Lucius to exhort the people to return to the churches, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s letter to, on his being made prefect and consul, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Anthropomorphites, or Humanisers, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;<ul><li>
-denounced by John, bishop of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li><li>
-Theophilus declares himself in their favour, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Anthusa, mother of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<ul><li>
-a widow at twenty, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li><li>
-great love for her son, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li><li>
-abstains from marrying again, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li><li>
-appeals to Chrysostom not to enter into retirement, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-27.</li></ul></li><li>
-Antioch, the birthplace of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<ul><li>
-vices of its Christian inhabitants, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom resident at, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li><li>
-persecutions at, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li><li>
-St. Jerome at Church of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-monasteries near, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li><li>
-monks in the mountainous heights near, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li><li>
-population of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li><li>
-description of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li><li>
-“the great church” at, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li><li>
-character of the inhabitants, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li><li>
-bishop’s relations to the city, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom appointed preacher at, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li><li>
-resides here ten years, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li><li>
-the cradle of Arianism, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li><li>
-passion of the people for chariot-races, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li><li>
-influence of the Jews, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li><li>
-character of its population, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li><li>
-its paganism, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li><li>
-sedition at, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li><li>
-proclamation of edict levying the tribute, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li><li>
-sedition at, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-153;</li><li>
-dejection of the people, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li><li>
-arrival of the commissioners from the Emperor, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li><li>
-the city degraded, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom remonstrates against the prevalent discontent, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li><li>
-the city is pardoned, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-joy of the people, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-excitable feelings of the populace, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s forcible removal from the city, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Antioch, Church of, vicissitudes in the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-22;<ul><li>
-the see in the hands of the Arians for some time, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li><li>
-its Arian bishops, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-20;</li><li>
-split into three parties, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li><li>
-its three rival bishops, Paulinus, Meletius, and Euzoius, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li><li>
-a fourth added by the Apollinarians, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li><li>
-the people favour Meletius, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-the schism finally healed by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-its three sections of Meletians, Eustathians, and Arians, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Antioch, Council of (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 341), Twelfth Canon of the, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;<ul><li>
-swayed by Arian influence, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li><li>
-its object the harassment of Athanasius, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s enemies stake their whole issue on its Twelfth Canon, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li><li>
-question as to its validity, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li><li>
-its Canons pronounced by Innocent invalid, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Antiochus, bishop of Ptolemais, discourses at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;<ul><li>
-a leader of the faction hostile to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li><li>
-plots against the archbishop after his recall, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li><li>
-rage at the proposal of Elpidius, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li><li>
-undertakes the responsibility, with Acacius, of Chrysostom’s deposition, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li><li>
-urges the Emperor to remove him from the city, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li><li>
-assists in ordaining Porphyry, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Antiochus Epiphanes, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li><li>
-Antiochus the Great, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li><li>
-Antiphonal singing, <a href="#Page_189">189</a> <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus, grave charges against, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;<ul><li>
-flatly denies the charges, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li><li>
-is alarmed when the archbishop proposes to visit Asia Minor, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li><li>
-his interest at court produces opposition to Chrysostom’s departure, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li><li>
-is reconciled to his accuser, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li><li>
-the farce of the inquiry, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Antonius, a reader, made bishop, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li><li>
-Antony, the Anchorite, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<ul><li>
-wholesome saying of, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Apollo, oracle of, at Daphne, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li><li>
-Apostolical constitutions, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li><li>
-Applause of the congregation, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;<ul><li>
-sternly repressed, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Arabianus, bishop, at the assembly at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</li><li>
-Arabissus, a fortified town near Cucusus, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;<ul><li>
-attacked and nearly captured by Isaurians, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Arbogastes, Valentinian’s general of the forces, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;<ul><li>
-his ambition and treachery, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">437</a></span>
-repulses the first attack of Theodosius, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-is overthrown, his army routed, and himself slain, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-his children pardoned and baptized, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Arcadius, son of Theodosius, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;<ul><li>
-Rufinus appointed his guardian, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li><li>
-does not oppose the ambition of Rufinus, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li><li>
-Eutropius gains complete mastery of his feeble mind after the death of Rufinus, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li><li>
-neglect of his empire, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li><li>
-becomes a mere puppet, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li><li>
-his palaces and pageants, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li><li>
-dismisses Eutropius, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li><li>
-promises Chrysostom to respect his minister’s retreat in the church, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li><li>
-entreats the troops to refrain from violence towards Eutropius, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li><li>
-misgivings as to beheading his late minister, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li><li>
-yields to the demands of Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li><li>
-ratifies the deposition of Chrysostom by the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-refuses to attend church on Christmas Day until the archbishop has cleared himself, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li><li>
-the patriarch’s case pleaded before him, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li><li>
-orders Chrysostom to be removed from the church to his palace, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li><li>
-his alarm, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li><li>
-sends for Acacius and Antiochus, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li><li>
-turns a deaf ear to the entreaty of the forty bishops, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</li><li>
-permits a concourse of Christians at Pempton to be dispersed, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Archelaus invited Socrates to court, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li><li>
-Arian controversy, the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-22.</li><li>
-Arianism, at Antioch, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom’s homilies against, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-117.</li></ul></li><li>
-Arians, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<ul><li>
-their danger to Christianity, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li><li>
-forbidden by Theodosius to hold assemblies, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-stronghold of, at Constantinople, in the time of Gregory of Nazianzus, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li><li>
-molest the peace in Chrysostom’s time, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Aristides, resistance of, to ambition, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li><li>
-Arius, probably instructed by Lucian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<ul><li>
-his Thalia, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Arsacius elevated to the see of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;<ul><li>
-his character, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li><li>
-persecution of the Johnites, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Ascension Day, Sunday before, <a href="#Page_177">177</a> <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Ascetic life, commencement of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<ul><li>
-relapse from, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Asceticism considered the highest form of life, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li><li>
-Ascetics, youthful association of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<ul><li>
-primitive, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li><li>
-called by Eusebius “earnest persons,” and by Clemens Alexandrinus “more elect than the elect,” <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Asia, Church of, disgraceful state of the, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>.</li><li>
-Asia Minor, Chrysostom desires to visit, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;<ul><li>
-three delegates appointed to visit, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li><li>
-the Church of, needs a healing hand, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom visits, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li><li>
-Theophilus travels through, seeking for disaffected bishops, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Asterius, count of the East, assists in removing Chrysostom from Antioch, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li><li>
-Aterbius, a pilgrim, applies himself to the detection of heresy at Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;<ul><li>
-denounces John the bishop, Jerome, and Rufinus as Origenists, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, obscurity of the early years of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<ul><li>
-return to Alexandria from exile, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li><li>
-consecrated at an early age, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li><li>
-accompanied to Rome by monks, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-the Twelfth Canon of the Council of Antioch aimed against, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Atticus, a presbyter, an opponent of Chrysostom, elected to the see of Constantinople during the archbishop’s banishment, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;<ul><li>
-obtains imperial rescripts against the clergy and laymen, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li><li>
-the Johnites refuse to hold communion with him, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</li><li>
-admits the name of Chrysostom into the diptychs of the Church at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Augustine, St., <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;<ul><li>
-permits sitting during the reading of the Acts of the Saints, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li><li>
-on the honour due to saints and martyrs, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li><li>
-prohibits feasts in the churches, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li><li>
-traits of earlier life and baptism, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li><li>
-on the discharge of episcopal duties, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li><li>
-eulogium on Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</li><li>
-comparison with Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Aurelian, prætorian prefect, presides over the suit instituted against Eutropius, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<ul><li>
-the Empress procures his elevation to the consulship, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li><li>
-his surrender demanded by Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li><li>
-insulted by Gaïnas, and afterwards delivered up, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;<ul><li>
-receives a letter from Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Auxentius, the Arian bishop, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li><li>
-Avarice, denunciations of, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">B</span>ABYLAS, the martyr, Chrysostom’s book on, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<ul><li>
-his remains taken to the grove of Daphne, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li><li>
-removed hence by Julian, but afterwards brought back, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Basil, bishop of Raphanea, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<ul><li>
-his friendship with Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li><li>
-his line of life the “true philosophy,” <i>i.e.</i> monasticism, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">438</a></span>
-project for a life of seclusion, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li><li>
-reluctance to be made a bishop, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-42;</li><li>
-remonstrates with Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li><li>
-parting from Chrysostom on his appointment to a bishopric, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Basil, bishop of Seleucia, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li><li>
-Basil (the Great), bishop of Cæsarea, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<ul><li>
-contends against the misconceptions of baptism, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li><li>
-sides with Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-reprobates trading near the “martyries,” <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li><li>
-qualified admiration of Origen’s teachings, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Basiliscus, bishop of Comana, suffered martyrdom, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>;<ul><li>
-story of his appearing to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Baths of Constantine, interrupted services carried on at, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;<ul><li>
-people refuse to leave, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li><li>
-scenes of violence at, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Bautho, father of Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li><li>
-Benedict, St., <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<ul><li>
-establishment of his monastery, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Benedictines of Camaldoli, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li><li>
-Bequests made by codicils renounced by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li><li>
-Bethlehem, Jerome’s monastic establishment at, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li><li>
-Bishops, mode of electing, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<ul><li>
-violence at elections of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li><li>
-age at which eligible for, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li><li>
-laymen consecrated, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li><li>
-their high social position, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li><li>
-canvassing and bribery at their elections, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li><li>
-luxurious style of living, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Bithynia, Chrysostom conveyed to, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</li><li>
-Bosporus, the, Chrysostom crosses, to intercede with Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;<ul><li>
-a messenger sent across to seek for Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-studded with boats on the patriarch’s return, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</li><li>
-“the sea became a city,” <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li><li>
-its waters crowded to welcome the reliques of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Botheric, governor of Thessalonica, imprisons a favourite charioteer, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;<ul><li>
-refuses to release him, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-is mortally wounded, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Briso, Eudoxia’s chamberlain, wounded in a street fray, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;<ul><li>
-the bearer to Chrysostom of a letter from the Empress, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-intercedes for Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Brison, bishop of Philippopolis, a leader of Chrysostom’s enemies, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li><li>
-British Isles, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;<ul><li>
-reached by Christianity, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li><li>
-evangelised, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">C</span>ÆSAREA, pre-eminence of the see of, over that of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom arrives at, on his exile, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</li><li>
-violent scenes at, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cæsarius, Chrysostom’s letter to, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>.</li><li>
-Cæsarius, commissioner to Antioch, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<ul><li>
-goes to the Emperor to intercede for the people, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li><li>
-his arrival at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-his errand anticipated, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cæsarius of Arles made reader at the age of seven, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li><li>
-Caligula, destruction of Antioch in the reign of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li><li>
-Callinicum, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;<ul><li>
-its people destroy a Jewish synagogue, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-the bishop commanded to restore the building, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li><li>
-Ambrose objects to this, and Theodosius gives way, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Camillus, a champion of Roman freedom, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li><li>
-Capua, council of Western bishops at, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li><li>
-Carterius superintends the studies of youthful ascetics, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li><li>
-Carthage, Fourth Council of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li><li>
-Cassianus, John, founder of a monastery at Marseilles, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<ul><li>
-his rules of the cloister, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-remains a friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li><li>
-custodian of the church treasury at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-flies to Rome, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Castricia, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;<ul><li>
-an enemy of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Catechumens, period of probation for, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li><li>
-Celibacy of the clergy, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<ul><li>
-canons of the Council of Nice upon, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li><li>
-“the ancient tradition of the Church” concerning, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chalcedon, Council of (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 451), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<ul><li>
-the title of “Patriarch” first appears in its Acts, <a href="#Page_216">216</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-extends the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li><li>
-grants him equal privileges with the Patriarch of Rome, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li><li>
-decides on the precedence of the see of Jerusalem over that of Cæsarea, <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chalcedon, “The Oak” a suburb of, where the synod hostile to Chrysostom was held, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;<ul><li>
-a church, monastery, and palace built here by Rufinus, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Character, Eastern and Western, compared, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li><li>
-Chariot-races censured, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-226.</li><li>
-Christian morals, Chrysostom on the state of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li><li>
-Christian responsibilities, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li><li>
-Christian wife, portrait of a, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li><li>
-Christianity, recognised position of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<ul><li>
-partially paganised, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li><li>
-“the philosophy” of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">439</a></span>
-imperilled by corruption of morals and faith, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li><li>
-its progress, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li><li>
-recognition by the empire, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li><li>
-its humanising influence in a heartless age, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Christmas, observance of, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li><li>
-Christmas Day, the Emperors attend divine service in state on, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li><li>
-Christ’s equality with the Father, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-116;<ul><li>
-zealous defence of His pure divinity, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, sends a letter by the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom’s letters to, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chrysostom, St. John: Probable date of his birth, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<ul><li>
-His birthplace Antioch in Syria, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li><li>
-His parents, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li><li>
-Father’s death, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li><li>
-Early training, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li><li>
-Destined for the legal profession, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li><li>
-Attendance at the lectures of Libanius, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li><li>
-Nascent powers of eloquence, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li><li>
-Appellation of Chrysostomos, or the “Golden Mouth,” <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li><li>
-Libanius praises his speech in honour of the Emperors, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li><li>
-Commences practice as a lawyer, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li><li>
-Disgust with a secular life, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li><li>
-Study of Holy Scripture, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li><li>
-Early friendship with Basil, bishop of Raphanea, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li><li>
-Forms acquaintance with Meletius, bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li><li>
-Delay in his baptism, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">alleged cause for the delay, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span></li><li>
-Baptized by Meletius, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li><li>
-Becomes for a time an enthusiastic ascetic, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li><li>
-His intense piety and love to God, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li><li>
-Ordained reader by Meletius, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li><li>
-Project for retiring into seclusion, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li><li>
-Frustrated by his mother’s entreaties, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-27.</li><li>
-Letters of exhortation to Theodore, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-39.</li><li>
-Reluctance to be consecrated a bishop, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li><li>
-His “pious fraud,” <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li><li>
-Dissension with Basil, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li><li>
-Books on the priesthood, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-55.</li><li>
-Reasons for declining a bishopric, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li><li>
-Narrow escape from persecution, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li><li>
-Retirement into a monastery, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li><li>
-Exults at the growth of monasticism in Egypt, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li><li>
-Description of the daily life of the monks, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li><li>
-Admiration for monastic communities, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li><li>
-Treatises composed during monastic life, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li><li>
-Epistle to Demetrius, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li><li>
-Epistle to Stelechius, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li><li>
-Treatise addressed “to the assailants of monastic life,” <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-80.</li><li>
-Becomes an ardent ascetic, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li><li>
-Enters a cave near Antioch, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li><li>
-Breakdown of health, and abandonment of monastic life, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li><li>
-Returns to his home at Antioch, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li><li>
-Epistle to Stagirius, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-85.</li><li>
-Ordained a deacon by Meletius, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li><li>
-Congenial duties of the diaconate, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li><li>
-Treatise “On Virginity,” <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li><li>
-Letter to a young widow, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-95.</li><li>
-Views on marriage and celibacy, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-100.</li><li>
-Treatise, “De S. Babyla contra Julianum et Gentiles,” <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-102.</li><li>
-Ordained to the priesthood by Flavian, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chrysostom, St. John, as preacher at Antioch: Inaugural discourse at Antioch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-106.<ul><li>
-Preaches at Antioch for ten years, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li><li>
-Sermon on bishop Meletius, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li><li>
-Homilies against Arians, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-115.</li><li>
-Profound acquaintance with Scripture, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li><li>
-All argument based upon Scripture, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li><li>
-Rebukes his hearers for their neglect of the celebration of the Eucharist, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">for applauding his words, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span></li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">and for their love of the circus, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-120.</span></li><li>
-Homilies against Pagans, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-124.</li><li>
-Occasional defects of interpretation of the Scriptures, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li><li>
-Homilies against Jews and Judaising Christians, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-133.</li><li>
-Homily against anathematising, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li><li>
-Sermon on Christmas Day, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li><li>
-Indignation at riotous festivity, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li><li>
-Homily on New Year’s Day, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li><li>
-Rebukes gross and senseless superstitions, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li><li>
-Agrees with the Emperor Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li><li>
-Immense efforts after the tumult at Antioch, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li><li>
-Encourages the people to hope for clemency, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">440</a></span>
-Chrysostom, St. John, as preacher at Antioch: Homilies on the statues, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-164.<ul><li>
-Exhortations to repentance, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on this world’s wealth, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span></li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on the method of keeping Lent, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span></li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on fasting, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span></li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">against rash oaths, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span></li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on death, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span></li><li>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">on the signs of a Creator, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</span></li><li>
-Similes from Nature, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li><li>
-Ethical doctrine, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li><li>
-Praise of the hermits for their courage, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li><li>
-Expostulates with the people on their discontent, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li><li>
-Thanksgiving for the pardon of Antioch, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li><li>
-Describes the interview between Flavian and the Emperor, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-174.</li><li>
-His illness, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li><li>
-Homilies on festivals of saints and martyrs, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-183.</li><li>
-Belief in the intercessory power of saints, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li><li>
-Exhorts the people to imitate the lives of the martyrs, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li><li>
-Homily on the Sunday before Ascension Day, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li><li>
-Praise of the peasant clergy, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li><li>
-Elected to the see of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li><li>
-Force and fraud employed to remove him from Antioch, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chrysostom, St. John, as archbishop of Constantinople: Arrival at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<ul><li>
-His consecration as archbishop, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li><li>
-The “sermo enthronisticus,” <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li><li>
-Too much the saint of the cloister for his new position, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li><li>
-His unpopular reforms, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li><li>
-Denounces “spiritual sisters,” and implores the clergy to liberate themselves from these disgraceful connections, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-221.</li><li>
-Exacts rigorous discipline from the clergy, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li><li>
-Conducts, with the Empress, a torch-light procession on the removal of some martyrs’ reliques, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li><li>
-Eulogium on the Empress, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li><li>
-Denunciations of avarice, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li><li>
-Censures the people for their attachment to chariot-races, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li><li>
-Denounces fashionable follies, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-228.</li><li>
-Portrays the character of a Christian wife, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li><li>
-Represents to property holders their duties, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li><li>
-Dilates on Christian responsibilities, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li><li>
-Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, <a href="#Page_231">231</a> <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Indignation at the practice of oath-taking, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li><li>
-Censures addiction to the pleasures of the table, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li><li>
-Character of his flock, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li><li>
-Combats the errors of the Novatians and Arians, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li><li>
-Labours to heal the schism at Antioch, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li><li>
-Missionary efforts in Scythia, Syria, and Palestine, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li><li>
-Assigns a church at Constantinople for the Scythians (or Goths), <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li><li>
-Endeavours to extirpate paganism, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li><li>
-Affords protection to Eutropius, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li><li>
-Maintains, when taken before the Emperor, the Church’s right of asylum, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li><li>
-Sermon on the degradation of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>-254.</li><li>
-Intercedes with Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li><li>
-Homily after returning from his intercession, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.</li><li>
-Contest with Gaïnas, who desired the law prohibiting Arian worship within the city to be abolished, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li><li>
-Proposes to visit Asia Minor to investigate the charges against Antoninus, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li><li>
-His visit opposed by the court, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li><li>
-Appoints delegates to proceed to Asia, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</li><li>
-Solicited by the clergy of Ephesus to come to them, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li><li>
-Proceeds to Ephesus, and is welcomed by the clergy and seventy bishops, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li><li>
-Proposes Heracleides as bishop of Ephesus, who is elected, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li><li>
-Holds a synod at Ephesus, and deprives six simoniacal bishops of their sees, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li><li>
-Returning through Bithynia, he deposes Gerontius, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</li><li>
-Extent of his jurisdiction as Patriarch of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.</li><li>
-Received with demonstrations of joy on his return, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.</li><li>
-Dismisses Severian from the city, but recalls him by command of the Empress, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li><li>
-Denounces crimes and follies, and becomes unpopular, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">441</a></span>
-His friends, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li><li>
-Leaders of the hostile faction, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li><li>
-Qualified admiration of Origen’s teaching, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li><li>
-Reception of the Nitrian monks, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li><li>
-Letter to Theophilus, beseeching him to be reconciled with the fugitives, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li><li>
-Refuses to join in the condemnation of Origen and his writings, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li><li>
-The plots of his enemies, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li><li>
-Farewell to Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li><li>
-Irritates the Empress by a sermon against the follies of fashionable ladies, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li><li>
-Theophilus refuses his hospitality, and declines all communication, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.</li><li>
-Directed by the court to preside at the inquiry at Pera into the conduct of Theophilus, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.</li><li>
-Declines to judge him out of his province, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.</li><li>
-Scene at the palace with his bishops, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li><li>
-Summoned to appear before the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li><li>
-Indignation of his bishops, and their reply to Theophilus, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.</li><li>
-Letter refusing to attend the synod until his declared enemies are ejected, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li><li>
-Charges laid against him by archdeacon John and Isaac the monk, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li><li>
-Steadfastly refuses to attend the synod, and appeals to a general council, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</li><li>
-Deposed by the synod, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</li><li>
-Deposition ratified by the Emperor, and sentenced to banishment, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>.</li><li>
-Sermon before departing, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li><li>
-Bows to the storm, and surrenders himself, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>.</li><li>
-Embarks, and is conveyed to Hieron, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>.</li><li>
-Removes to Prænetum, opposite Nicomedia, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>.</li><li>
-Receives an abject letter from the Empress, entreating him to return, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.</li><li>
-Crosses the Bosporus, and refuses at first to enter Constantinople until acquitted by a general council, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</li><li>
-Urged to enter the city, and consents, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</li><li>
-Halts before the Church of the Apostles, but is borne in by the people, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</li><li>
-Compelled to sit on the throne, and pronounce a benediction, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</li><li>
-An extempore address, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</li><li>
-Sermon after recall, in which he extols the Empress, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.</li><li>
-Denounces the ceremony at the erection of the image of Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.</li><li>
-Incurs the resentment of the Empress, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li><li>
-Further plots of his enemies, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li><li>
-Continues to discharge his duties, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</li><li>
-Will not cease to officiate unless compelled by force, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li><li>
-Removed from the church to his palace, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li><li>
-Letter to Innocent I. on the disturbances at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</li><li>
-His flock, after many trials, broken up, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li><li>
-Attempts made to assassinate him, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li><li>
-Receives the mandate of deposition, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li><li>
-Farewell to his bishops and deaconesses, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li><li>
-Departure from the Church—“the Angel of the Church went out with him,” <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chrysostom, St. John, in exile: Conveyed to the Bithynian coasts, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.<ul><li>
-Suspected of incendiarism, and loaded with chains, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li><li>
-Implores the Emperor to be allowed to defend himself and clergy against the atrocious charges, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.</li><li>
-Journeys to Nice, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.</li><li>
-Encourages his suffering friends, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.</li><li>
-Cheered by the fortitude and loyalty of Olympias, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li><li>
-Persuades Pentadia to remain at Constantinople, to support the afflicted, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li><li>
-Letter to Constantius, missionary priest, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>.</li><li>
-Travels from Nice to Cæsarea, where fanatical monks besiege the house in which he is lodged, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</li><li>
-Falls ill with fever, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</li><li>
-Is removed from Cæsarea to the house of Seleucia, who is menaced by Pharetrius, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li><li>
-Taken thence, and totters in darkness along the Cappadocian mountains, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li><li>
-Monks and nuns meet him on the road, and bewail his calamities, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.</li><li>
-Cucusus, the place of his exile, is reached, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.</li><li>
-Received with much consideration and kindness, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li><li>
-Letters to Olympias from Cucusus, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>.</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">442</a></span>
-Letters to friendly bishops and laymen, to Gemellus, and to Anthemius, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li><li>
-Receives old friends from Antioch, who come to him for guidance, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>.</li><li>
-Letters to clergy and others, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li><li>
-Influence over the empire in his exile, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li><li>
-Sufferings from the winter cold, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>.</li><li>
-Interest in the mission in Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>.</li><li>
-Letters to Gerontius and Rufinus the Presbyter, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>-382.</li><li>
-Privation, anxiety, and rapid removals, bring on illness, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li><li>
-Letters to the Italian bishops, to Chromatius, to Innocent, and to Aurelius, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>-385.</li><li>
-Suffers less, and thinks God will restore him to his position in the Church, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.</li><li>
-His enemies get him removed to Pityus, in a desolate country, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.</li><li>
-Arrives at Comana, in Pontus, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.</li><li>
-Story of the vision of the martyred Basiliscus, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li><li>
-Wishes to remain at the church, but is hurried on by his guards, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li><li>
-Is taken ill, and brought back to the martyry, where he dies after partaking of the Eucharist, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li><li>
-Honoured after his death, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li><li>
-His reliques brought to Constantinople, and deposited in the Church of the Apostles, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Chrysostom, St. John, theological teaching of: Survey of his theological teaching, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>.<ul><li>
-Practical character of his works, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>.</li><li>
-His natural and forcible language, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>.</li><li>
-On the nature of man, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li><li>
-Sin and necessity, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</li><li>
-Free-will and grace, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>-396.</li><li>
-God’s will and man’s freedom, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li><li>
-Co-operation of God’s will with man’s, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li><li>
-Divine grace, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</li><li>
-Nature of the Godhead, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li><li>
-Manhood and Godhead in Christ, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>-404.</li><li>
-The Redemption, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>-406.</li><li>
-Justification, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li><li>
-Faith and good works, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li><li>
-The efficacy of prayer, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>.</li><li>
-Baptism, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>-412.</li><li>
-The Holy Eucharist, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>-415.</li><li>
-No trace of confession, purgatory, or Mariolatry, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>-418.</li><li>
-No acknowledgment of papal supremacy, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>.</li><li>
-Liturgical forms, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>-421.</li><li>
-Character as a commentator, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-424.</li><li>
-The New Testament a completion of the Old, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>.</li><li>
-Variations in the Gospel narratives, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>.</li><li>
-Inspiration of the Bible, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>.</li><li>
-Characteristics as a preacher, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>.</li><li>
-Personal appearance, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>.</li><li>
-Preservation of his discourses, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li><li>
-Style of language, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</li><li>
-Allusions to Greek classical authors, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li><li>
-Depreciation of Pagan modes and ideas, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li><li>
-Compared with St. Augustine, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li><li>
-His fight in the cause of Christian holiness, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Church, the, Chrysostom does not rely on the tradition of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<ul><li>
-its power and progress, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li><li>
-claims pre-eminence over civil law, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li><li>
-tradition with regard to clerical celibacy, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li><li>
-custom concerning the preaching of strangers, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</li><li>
-its stability, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li><li>
-its degradation, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Claudian, his verses on Stilicho, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;<ul><li>
-his appeal against the consulship of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li><li>
-companion of Stilicho, <a href="#Page_242">242</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-sarcasm aimed at the adulation of the Byzantines, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li><li>
-dramatic account of Tribigild’s meeting with his wife, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li><li>
-his description of Leo, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Claudius, Antioch shattered in the reign of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li><li>
-Clemens Alexandrinus terms ascetics “more elect than the elect,” <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Clergy, the, treatment of, by Constantine and Theodosius, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;<ul><li>
-Jerome on their worldly hospitality, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li><li>
-exempted from curial office by Constantine, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li><li>
-those who were curiales forbidden to be ordained, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cœnobia, the, founded by Pachomius, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Comana, in Pontus, Chrysostom arrives at, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>;<ul><li>
-dies at the martyry outside the town, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Commodus, the Olympic games instituted in the time of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li><li>
-Communicants received within the rails and close to the altar, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> and <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Congregation rebuked by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<ul><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">443</a></span>its applause of Chrysostom’s words, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li><li>
-customary to stand while the preacher sat, <a href="#Page_154">154</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Conscience, the law of, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li><li>
-Constantia, sister of the Emperor, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li><li>
-Constantine favours the Arians, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<ul><li>
-deposes the Catholic bishops, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li><li>
-commences building “the great church” of Antioch, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li><li>
-statutes concerning the Jews, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li><li>
-exemptions of the clergy, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li><li>
-his forgiveness of an injury, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li><li>
-right of asylum transferred in his time from Pagan temples to Christian churches, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li><li>
-exempted the clergy from curial office, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Constantinople, vices of the Christian population of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<ul><li>
-Arian synod at, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li><li>
-tumults at, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li><li>
-St. Jerome at church of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-religious riots at, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li><li>
-division into districts, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li><li>
-passion of the people for chariot-races, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li><li>
-edict of Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-surrounding country ravaged by Alaric, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-competition for its see, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom appointed archbishop, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li><li>
-mixture of population, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li><li>
-its forms of error, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li><li>
-stronghold of Arianism in the time of Gregory of Nazianzus, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li><li>
-occupied by Gaïnas and the Goths, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li><li>
-circular to its clergy announcing Chrysostom’s deposition, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-the people, enraged at the sentence, guard him against abduction, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</li><li>
-the populace demand the restoration of the patriarch, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-visited by an earthquake, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-sanguinary frays in the streets, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-flight of Theophilus from, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-shocking tumult at St. Sophia on Easter Eve, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</li><li>
-its churches deserted during Chrysostom’s absence, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li><li>
-the interrupted services continued at the Baths, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li><li>
-fresh scenes of violence, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>-338;</li><li>
-fury of the people on discovering the removal of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</li><li>
-the cathedral-church and senate-house burnt down, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-visited by destructive hailstorms, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</li><li>
-coercion ineffectual in bringing the people to submit to Atticus and his clergy, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Constantinople, Council of (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<ul><li>
-presided over by Meletius, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li><li>
-project for a general council after, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-restricts the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li><li>
-gave him first rank after the bishop of Rome, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Constantius, a missionary in Phœnicia, receives a letter from Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>.</li><li>
-Constantius, a priest, described by Palladius, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;<ul><li>
-the people of Antioch desire to make him their bishop, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-Porphyry procures his banishment, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-escapes to Cyprus, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-follows Chrysostom into exile, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Constantius, Emperor, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<ul><li>
-deposes Stephen, bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li><li>
-summons a general council, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li><li>
-orders the creed of Rimini to be signed, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li><li>
-visits Antioch, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li><li>
-finishes “the great church” at Antioch, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li><li>
-statutes concerning the Jews, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cornelius, bishop of Rome, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li><li>
-Crates resists ambition, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li><li>
-Creator, signs of a, in the universe, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li><li>
-Crito, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li><li>
-Cross, honour paid to the, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li><li>
-Cucusus, a village in the Tauric range, subject to attacks from Isaurians, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;<ul><li>
-selected by Eudoxia as the place of Chrysostom’s exile, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li><li>
-arrival of the archbishop at, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</li><li>
-ravaged by the Isaurians, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cynegius, prefect of the East, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;<ul><li>
-enforces the law against informers, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li><li>
-quells the sedition at Alexandria, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cyprian on a legitimate ordination, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<ul><li>
-consecrated bishop when a layman, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cyprus, Council of, decree of the, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</li><li>
-Cyriacus, bishop of Synnada, accompanies Chrysostom on board the vessel, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;<ul><li>
-detained in chains at Bithynia, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-taken to Chalcedon, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-dismissed, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-a fugitive to Rome, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li><li>
-accompanies the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li><li>
-confined in a Persian fortress, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li><li>
-intercedes for Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Cyril, successor of Theophilus, reluctant to recognise Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li><li>
-Cyrinus, bishop of Chalcedon, joins Chrysostom at Bithynia, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;<ul><li>
-denounces the archbishop, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li><li>
-plots against him after his recall, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li><li>
-urges the Emperor to remove Chrysostom from Constantinople, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">D</span>AMASUS contests the see of Rome, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li><li>
-Damophilus exiled by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li><li>
-Dante, the position assigned in Paradise to Chrysostom by, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li><li>
-Daphne, grove of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<ul><li>
-description of, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li><li>
-destruction of its temple, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Deacons, called “Levites of the Christian Church,” <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;<ul><li>
-duties of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li><li>
-their peculiar office in the early Church, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">444</a></span>
-Death, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li><li>
-Decious, persecution of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Demetrius, bishop of Pessina, Chrysostom’s epistle to, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-71;<ul><li>
-denounces the “Synod of the Oak,” and returns to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li><li>
-accompanies the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li><li>
-dies of harsh treatment when being conveyed to one of the Egyptian oases, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-“De Sacerdotio,” Chrysostom’s, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-46.</li><li>
-Diocese, meaning of, <a href="#Page_274">274</a> <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Diodorus, influence of, upon Chrysostom and Theodore, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<ul><li>
-founder of a method of Biblical interpretation, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li><li>
-made bishop of Tarsus by Meletius, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li><li>
-attacked by Julian, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li><li>
-commentary on the Old and New Testaments, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li><li>
-his theology, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-31;</li><li>
-its rationalistic tendency, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li><li>
-writings condemned by the Fifth Œcumenical Council, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li><li>
-rational system of conducting monasteries, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Diogenes, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li><li>
-Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li><li>
-Dioscorus, a Nitrian monk, one of the “tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;<ul><li>
-made bishop of Hermopolis by Theophilus, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li><li>
-a victim of the rage of Theophilus, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Dispensations, teaching of the Old and New, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li><li>
-Divination, arts of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li><li>
-Domitianus, widows and virgins in the care of, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li><li>
-Domninus blinded to the preparations of Maximus, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li><li>
-Doxology, Arian form of the, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">E</span>ASTER DAY, vast crowds attend the church on, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</li><li>
-Easter Eve, a great day for the baptism of converts, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;<ul><li>
-the vigil on, interrupted at St. Sophia, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Easter kept according to Jewish calculation, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;<ul><li>
-this practice condemned by the Council of Nice, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li><li>
-and denounced by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eastern Church, the, acknowledges Meletius as bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<ul><li>
-the parent of asceticism, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li><li>
-the festival of Christmas in, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li><li>
-favourable to clerical celibacy, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li><li>
-finds the teaching of Origen congenial, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li><li>
-the “Synod of the Oak” a stain upon, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li><li>
-appeals to the Western Church, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li><li>
-not famed for missionary enterprise, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>;</li><li>
-desire to maintain communion with the West, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Education in monasteries, Chrysostom urges the advantage of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li><li>
-Elpidius, a priest, bribes a slave to assassinate Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li><li>
-Elpidius, bishop of Laodicea, friendly to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;<ul><li>
-his adroit proposal, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li><li>
-deposed and imprisoned for his attachment to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li><li>
-the archbishop writes thanking him for his zeal, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li><li>
-restored to his see by Alexander, bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Elvira, synod of, enjoins celibacy of the clergy, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li><li>
-Emperors, fate of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;<ul><li>
-half idolatrous homage paid to, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li><li>
-custom of attending church in state on Christmas Day, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Epaminondas not allured by ambition, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li><li>
-Ephesus, Chrysostom arrives at, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;<ul><li>
-election of a bishop to the see of, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li><li>
-synod at, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li><li>
-worship of Midas suppressed at, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li><li>
-its see occupied by a monster of iniquity, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia and Cyprus, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;<ul><li>
-visits Jerusalem, and accepts the hospitality of Bishop John, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li><li>
-preaches against the doctrines of Origen, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li><li>
-leaves Jerusalem, and breaks off communion with its bishop, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li><li>
-forcibly ordains Paulinian deacon and priest, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li><li>
-receives an apologetic letter from Theophilus, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li><li>
-goes to Constantinople, irregularly ordains a deacon, and refuses the hospitality of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li><li>
-his attempt to enter the church and denounce the writings of Origen prevented by Serapion, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li><li>
-his prayers implored by the Empress on her son’s behalf, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li><li>
-interview with Ammon and his brethren, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li><li>
-his compunction and departure from Constantinople, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Essenes, the, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li><li>
-Eucharist, congregation neglect the celebration of the, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom censures irreverent conduct at, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li><li>
-character of some of its partakers, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eucharistic elements burned at the pillage of the Nitrian monks, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;<ul><li>
-profaned by soldiers at St. Sophia, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;<ul><li>
-weds Arcadius, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li><li>
-baptized and educated in the Christian faith, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s eulogium of, at the removal of the remains of some martyrs, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li><li>
-aims at the fall of Eutropius, and makes an ally of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li><li>
-contributes to the support of the churches and the relief of the poor, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">445</a></span>
-profound jealousy of the power of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li><li>
-relates the minister’s insults to her to Arcadius, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li><li>
-remains mistress of the field after the death of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li><li>
-stands unrivalled in the management of the empire, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li><li>
-gives birth to a male heir to the throne, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li><li>
-proclaimed Empress under the title of Augusta, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li><li>
-commands Chrysostom to recall Severian and admit him to communion, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li><li>
-becomes the enemy of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</li><li>
-accosted by the Nitrian monks, and promises that the council they desire shall be convened, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li><li>
-implores the prayers of the monks, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li><li>
-asks the prayers of Epiphanius on her son’s behalf, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li><li>
-terrified by an earthquake, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-sends a humble letter to Chrysostom, entreating him to return, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-her image placed in front of the cathedral, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li><li>
-ceremony at its erection denounced by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li><li>
-her fierce resentment, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li><li>
-will not listen to the entreaty of the forty bishops, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</li><li>
-receives a solemn warning from Paul, bishop of Crateia, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</li><li>
-her death, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eudoxius, bishop of Germanicia, seizes the see of Antioch, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;<ul><li>
-made archbishop of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eugenius’s children pardoned and baptized, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li><li>
-Eugraphia, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;<ul><li>
-an enemy of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li><li>
-her house the rendezvous of the disaffected, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eulysius, bishop of Apamea, accompanies Chrysostom on board the vessel, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;<ul><li>
-detained in chains at Bithynia, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-taken to Chalcedon, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-dismissed, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-a fugitive to Rome, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li><li>
-accompanies the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li><li>
-imprisoned in Arabia, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eunomians forbidden by Theodosius to hold meetings, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li><li>
-Eunomius, an extreme Arian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<ul><li>
-founder of the Eunomian or Anomœan sect, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Euphronius, Arian bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li><li>
-Eusebius, a deacon, seeks an interview with Innocent <span class="smcap">I.</span>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</li><li>
-Eusebius, a Nitrian monk, one of the “tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;<ul><li>
-made presbyter by Theophilus, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, instructed by Lucian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li><li>
-Eusebius, bishop of Valentinopolis, presents grave charges against Antoninus, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;<ul><li>
-commits the crime he has denounced, and is reconciled to Antoninus, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li><li>
-postpones the production of witnesses, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li><li>
-departs for Constantinople, and affects illness, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li><li>
-is excommunicated, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li><li>
-requests to be readmitted to communion with his brethren, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, goes to Antioch to heal the division, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li><li>
-Eusebius, of Cæsarea, calls ascetics “earnest persons,” <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<ul><li>
-use of the word “martyry,” <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, deposed by Constantine, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li><li>
-Euthymius, a Nitrian monk, one of the “tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</li><li>
-Eutropius, a reader and Johnite, tortured to the death, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li><li>
-Eutropius, the chamberlain, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<ul><li>
-frustrates Rufinus’s scheme for marrying his daughter to Arcadius, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li><li>
-strange career and rise, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li><li>
-became the adviser of Arcadius, and virtually his master, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li><li>
-tyrannous conduct, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li><li>
-abolishes the right of asylum in the Church, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li><li>
-probably suggested Chrysostom’s election, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li><li>
-scheme for removing Chrysostom from Antioch, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li><li>
-threatens Theophilus for refusing to assist at Chrysostom’s ordination, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li><li>
-does not find Chrysostom a complaisant servant, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li><li>
-induces the Emperor to make him consul, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li><li>
-adulation of the Byzantines at his inauguration, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li><li>
-indignation in the West, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li><li>
-treats the rebellion of Tribigild as a petty insurrection, and offers him a bribe, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li><li>
-appoints Leo a commander of the legions, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li><li>
-his arrogance towards the Empress Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li><li>
-degraded by the Emperor, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li><li>
-seeks asylum in the Church, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li><li>
-protected by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li><li>
-the populace demand his death, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li><li>
-his degradation made the subject of a sermon by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>-254;</li><li>
-secretly quits the sanctuary, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li><li>
-banished to Cyprus, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li><li>
-accused of treason, recalled from Cyprus to Chalcedon, and there beheaded, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Euzoius, an associate of Arius, made bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li><li>
-Evagrius, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<ul><li>
-recognised by Ambrose as bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li><li>
-sudden death, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Evethius, a priest, companion of Chrysostom in his exile, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;<ul><li>
-takes letters to the Italian bishops from Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">446</a></span><br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">F</span>ASHIONABLE follies censured, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-229.</li><li>
-Fasting, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-159.</li><li>
-Flaccilla, daughter of Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li><li>
-Flacilla, the Empress, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<ul><li>
-her humility and gratitude, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li><li>
-influence upon Theodosius, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li><li>
-her death, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Flavian, bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<ul><li>
-elected by the Meletians, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li><li>
-accused of perjury, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li><li>
-ordains Chrysostom to the priesthood, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s encomium on, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li><li>
-besought by the people of Antioch to intercede for them after their rioting, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li><li>
-undertakes the mission of mercy, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom is hopeful of his mission, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li><li>
-arrives at Constantinople, and obtains pardon for Antioch, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-returns to Antioch in time for the Easter celebration, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-reception by the people, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-interview with the Emperor, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-174;</li><li>
-removes the remains of some saints, <a href="#Page_181">181</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-rivalry with Evagrius produces strife with Ambrose, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Fravitta, a loyal Goth, defeats Gaïnas in several engagements, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;<ul><li>
-pursuit of the enemy, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li><li>
-made consul, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">G</span>AÏNAS returns with Stilicho’s troops, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;<ul><li>
-is commanded to compass the death of Rufinus, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li><li>
-sympathises with his relative Tribigild, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li><li>
-is retained at Constantinople in command of the city troops, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li><li>
-despatched, after Leo’s defeat, to confront Tribigild, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li><li>
-believes the surrender of Eutropius would cause Tribigild to become loyal, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li><li>
-disdains to be directed by the Empress and her lady advisers, and joins his forces with those of Tribigild, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li><li>
-menaces Constantinople, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li><li>
-opens negotiations with the Emperor, and demands the surrender of three court favourites, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li><li>
-subjects them to insults and a grim practical jest, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li><li>
-interview with the Emperor, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li><li>
-demands to be made consul and commander-in-chief, to which the Emperor yields, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li><li>
-demands the abolition of the law forbidding Arian worship, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li><li>
-is opposed in this by Chrysostom, who debates the question with him, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</li><li>
-his rapacity, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</li><li>
-flight from the city, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li><li>
-declared by royal decree a public enemy, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</li><li>
-takes to a life of plunder, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li><li>
-defeated in several engagements by Fravitta, and a large portion of his army afterwards drowned in crossing the Hellespont, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li><li>
-retreat towards the Danube, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li><li>
-final defeat and death, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gallus Cæsar endeavours to reform the licentiousness of Daphne, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li><li>
-Gaudentius, Count, appointed to suppress paganism, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li><li>
-Gelasius, Pope, forbade reading the Acts of the Saints, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li><li>
-Gemellus, Chrysostom’s letter to, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>.</li><li>
-General Council, Chrysostom is willing to be judged by, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;<ul><li>
-demanded by the people of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</li><li>
-summonses issued, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-counterfeited, and packed with bishops hostile to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li><li>
-desired by Innocent, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li><li>
-suggested by Honorius to be held at Thessalonica, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-George of Laodicea discourses at Antioch, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li><li>
-Germanus, a priest, friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;<ul><li>
-custodian of the church treasury at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li><li>
-goes to Rome, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gerontius, archbishop of Nicomedia, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;<ul><li>
-skill in curing diseases, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</li><li>
-deposed by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</li><li>
-accompanies Theophilus to Constantinople to oppose Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gerontius, a presbyter, anxious to visit Cucusus, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;<ul><li>
-persuaded by Chrysostom to go direct to Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gervasius, the martyr, discovery of the remains of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li><li>
-Gibbon, his character as an historian, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;<ul><li>
-his admiration of Chrysostom in exile, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gluttony censured by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li><li>
-God, nature of: Chrysostom on the, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-112.</li><li>
-Godhead, Three Persons of the: Chrysostom on the, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-112.</li><li>
-Goths, the, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;<ul><li>
-menace the Danubian frontier, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li><li>
-hear the Bible read in their own tongue at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li><li>
-revolt under Tribigild, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li><li>
-defeat the army of Leo, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li><li>
-occupy Constantinople, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li><li>
-numbers perish after the flight of Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gratian, the Emperor of the West, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;<ul><li>
-his flight and assassination, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-succeeded by his brother Valentinian, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Grecian legend, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li><li>
-Greek theology, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>.</li><li>
-Gregories, the two, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li><li>
-Gregory of Nazianzus, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;<ul><li>
-made archbishop by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-elected to the see of Constantinople when it was</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">447</a></span>
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">a stronghold of Arianism, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span></li><li>
-subdued the Arian opposition, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li><li>
-letter on the marriage of Olympias, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li><li>
-sends a poem to Olympias on her duties, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</li><li>
-qualified admiration of Origen’s teachings, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Gregory of Nyssa, funeral oration of, on Meletius, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<ul><li>
-preaches the sermon at the baptism of Rufinus, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">H</span>ADRIAN, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li><li>
-Heaven and hell, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-36.</li><li>
-Helladius, bishop of Heraclea, consecrates Gerontius, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;<ul><li>
-a friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Hellebicus, commissioner to Antioch, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<ul><li>
-remains at Antioch to keep order, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li><li>
-receives the rescript of pardon for the city, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-received everywhere with ovation, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Heracleides, a deacon, elected to the see of Ephesus, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;<ul><li>
-friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li><li>
-accusations made against him by Theophilus and his partisans, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-his friends and Chrysostom protest against the illegality of such proceedings, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Heretics, edict of Theodosius against, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li><li>
-Hermione, Theodore wishes to marry, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom’s reference to, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li><li>
-abandoned by Theodore, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Hermits, intercession of, for the people of Antioch, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom’s joy at their courage, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li><li>
-their letter to Theodosius, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Hesychius, bishop of Parium, withdraws from his appointment as delegate to Asia, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</li><li>
-Hieron, Chrysostom is conveyed to, <a href="#Page_320">320</a> and <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Hilarius introduces Pachomian monasticism into Syria, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li><li>
-Hilary of Arles charged with ordaining bishops without the people’s consent, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li><li>
-Hippodrome, the, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-120.</li><li>
-Holy Saturday, vast crowds assemble in the churches on, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</li><li>
-Holy Scripture, Chrysostom’s intimate acquaintance with, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<ul><li>
-Arians do not deny its authority, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li><li>
-disputes as to its interpretation, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s occasional defects of interpretation, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Honorius accompanies his father Theodosius to Rome, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;<ul><li>
-is sent for to Milan by his father, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-Stilicho appointed his guardian, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li><li>
-receives a deputation of Romans on the consulship of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li><li>
-gives a favourable reply, and nominates Mallius Theodorus consul, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li><li>
-convenes an Italian synod to consider the state of the Church at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li><li>
-suggests to his brother Arcadius a general council to be held at Thessalonica, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Hymn of Pachomian monks, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">I</span>GNATIUS, effect of the death of, in confirming souls, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li><li>
-Illyria ravaged by Huns, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li><li>
-Illyrian provinces occupied by Alaric, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li><li>
-Infant baptism the ordinary practice of the early Church, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<ul><li>
-popular reasons for delaying, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li><li>
-the two Gregories, the great Basil, and Chrysostom contend against its misconceptions, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Innocent <span class="smcap">I.</span>, bishop of Rome, appealed to by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;<ul><li>
-is advised by Theophilus to cease communion with Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li><li>
-four bishops bring him Chrysostom’s letter, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li><li>
-decisive letter to Theophilus, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li><li>
-receives another letter from him, on the minutes of the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li><li>
-sends a second letter of reproof to Theophilus, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li><li>
-orders prayers and fasts for the restoration of concord, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li><li>
-letter of condolence to the clergy of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li><li>
-treats the letter of the cabal with disdain, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li><li>
-reply to the letter brought by Germanus, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</li><li>
-writes to Chrysostom a letter of encouragement and consolation, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li><li>
-intercedes with Honorius for the Church of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li><li>
-remains attached to Chrysostom’s cause, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-approves of the restoration of Elpidius to his see, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li><li>
-letter from Chrysostom in exile, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Isaac, a Syrian monk, sent to Antioch to inquire into Chrysostom’s early life, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;<ul><li>
-brings a list of charges against the archbishop at the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</li><li>
-comes to the archbishop with a peremptory message, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Isaurians ravage Syria and Asia Minor, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;<ul><li>
-Cucusus, the destination of Chrysostom, subject to attacks from, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li><li>
-ravage the neighbourhood of Cæsarea, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li><li>
-molest the roads round Cucusus, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</li><li>
-cause extreme misery to the inhabitants of Cucusus and the neighbourhood, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">448</a></span>
-Isidore, abbot of Pelusium, on the discharge of episcopal duties, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li><li>
-Isidore, presbyter of Alexandria, a candidate for the see of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;<ul><li>
-the depositary of an awkward secret of Theophilus’s, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li><li>
-carries a petition to Rome, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li><li>
-despatched to Palestine, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li><li>
-some account of his life, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li><li>
-accepts a charitable trust, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li><li>
-refuses to surrender the money to Theophilus, who charges him with a horrible crime, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li><li>
-is expelled from the priesthood, and flies to the desert of Nitria, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Italian deputation to Arcadius, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;<ul><li>
-maltreated, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li><li>
-failure of its mission, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</li><li>
-returns home, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Italian synod convened by Honorius, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;<ul><li>
-result of its deliberations, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li><li>
-memorialise Arcadius on the restoration of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">J</span>EALOUSY of wives and husbands, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<ul><li>
-Jeremy Taylor quoted, <a href="#Page_393">393</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-as a preacher, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Jerome quoted, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;<ul><li>
-promotes the advance of monasticism, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-sides with Theodosius, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-three years’ residence at Rome, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li><li>
-admonition on the worldly hospitality of the clergy, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li><li>
-description of Theophilus of Alexandria, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li><li>
-opinion of Origen’s merits, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li><li>
-repudiates Aterbius’s charge of being an Origenist, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li><li>
-sides with Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li><li>
-strife with John of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li><li>
-commendation of Theophilus’s letter on Origenistic errors, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li><li>
-styles Chrysostom a parricide, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Jerusalem the only lawful place for Jewish sacrifices, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;<ul><li>
-see of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li><li>
-made a patriarchate, its precedence over Cæsarea, <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Jews, Chrysostom’s opposition to, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<ul><li>
-danger to Christianity, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s method of argument against, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li><li>
-homilies against, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-128;</li><li>
-their character and influence at Antioch, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li><li>
-statutes concerning, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li><li>
-ranged on the Arian side in dissensions, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li><li>
-scenes at their festivals, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li><li>
-increasing influence in Antioch, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s vehemence against, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-131;</li><li>
-their sacrifices, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li><li>
-the four Captivities foretold, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li><li>
-revolts under Hadrian and Constantine, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li><li>
-jeer at the tumult at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-John, archdeacon of Constantinople, cherishes malice against Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;<ul><li>
-brings a list of charges against him at the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-John, bishop of Jerusalem, an admirer of Origen, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;<ul><li>
-indignation at the accusation of Aterbius, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li><li>
-his pride wounded, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li><li>
-preaches against the Anthropomorphites, and on the Christian verities, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li><li>
-places the monasteries of Bethlehem under an interdict, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li><li>
-strife with Jerome, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-John, Count, appointed Comptroller of the Royal Treasury, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;<ul><li>
-his surrender demanded by Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li><li>
-insulted by Gaïnas, and afterwards delivered up, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-John, hermit of the Thebaid, consulted by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li><li>
-Johnites, followers of Chrysostom, prisons filled with, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;<ul><li>
-persecuted by Arsacius and Optatus, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Jovinus, Count, commissioned to suppress paganism, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li><li>
-Judaising Christians, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-130.</li><li>
-Julian, Emperor: his efforts to resuscitate paganism, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<ul><li>
-friend of Libanius, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li><li>
-recalls all the exiled prelates, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li><li>
-consulted the oracle of Apollo at Daphne, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li><li>
-attempt to rebuild the Temple frustrated, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li><li>
-beheaded two soldiers for being Christians, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Jupiter, destruction of the temple of, at Apamea, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li><li>
-Justina, the queen-mother, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<ul><li>
-her flight to Thessalonica, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Justinian, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">K</span>EBLE, Rev. John, quoted, <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <i>note</i>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">L</span>AODICEA made the capital of Syria, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li><li>
-“Laura,” a, or street, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Law, the profession of, the avenue to distinction, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li><li>
-Lent, how to keep, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-159.</li><li>
-Leo appointed to the command of the troops sent against Tribigild, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;<ul><li>
-crosses the Bosporus and pursues the enemy to Pamphylia, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li><li>
-want of discipline in his army, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li><li>
-his camp attacked by night, the troops fleeing in disorder, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li><li>
-is drowned in mud, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Leontius, the eunuch, Arian bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<ul><li>
-tries to conciliate the Catholics, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li><li>
-instructed by Lucian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">449</a></span>
-Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, a leader of Chrysostom’s enemies, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;<ul><li>
-utters a palpable lie, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom escapes him when journeying into exile, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-“Let us pray,” in our Liturgy, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li><li>
-Letters to Olympius, remarks on the, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>.</li><li>
-Libanius the sophist, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<ul><li>
-an eloquent defender of paganism, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li><li>
-his lectures attended by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li><li>
-an opponent of Christianity on principle, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li><li>
-elegy over the shrine of Apollo, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li><li>
-apology for paganism, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li><li>
-attachment to antiquity, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li><li>
-invective against the monks, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li><li>
-regrets the destruction of the Pagan temples, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li><li>
-before the commissioners at Antioch, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li><li>
-orations in honour of Theodosius and the commissioners, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-“Love-feast,” <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li><li>
-Lucian, bishop of Antioch, held doctrines afterwards called Arian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<ul><li>
-presbyter of Antioch, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li><li>
-teacher of Eusebius, Leontius, and probably Arius, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li><li>
-suffered martyrdom, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Lucifer of Cagliari at Antioch, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<ul><li>
-consecrates Paulinus bishop, and increases the confusion, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Lucius directed by Anthemius to implore the people to return to the churches, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;<ul><li>
-harangues the congregation, but with no effect, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li><li>
-is bribed by Acacius, and commits scenes of violence at the Baths, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li><li>
-waiting with troops to compel Chrysostom’s departure, if need be, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">M</span>ACEDONIANS forbidden by Theodosius to hold assemblies, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li><li>
-Macedonius, archbishop of Constantinople, deposed, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li><li>
-Macedonius the hermit, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;<ul><li>
-his appeal for the people of Antioch, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Magical arts, decree of Valens against the practisers of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li><li>
-Mallius Theodorus nominated consul by Honorius, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.</li><li>
-Manes, error of, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li><li>
-Manichæans, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<ul><li>
-celibacy of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li><li>
-their danger to Christianity, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li><li>
-forbidden to hold assemblies, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Marcellina, the example of, converted many women to celibacy, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li><li>
-Marcellus, bishop, killed, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li><li>
-Marcia, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;<ul><li>
-an enemy of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Marcion, error of, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li><li>
-Marcionites, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<ul><li>
-their danger to Christianity, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Mariamna, Chrysostom arrives at, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</li><li>
-Marriage, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<ul><li>
-how arranged, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li><li>
-its trials and troubles, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-100.</li></ul></li><li>
-Martin, St., bishop of Tours, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;<ul><li>
-founder of religious houses, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-followed to his grave by two thousand brethren, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Martyries, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;<ul><li>
-trading near, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li><li>
-visited by Arcadius and Eudoxia at Easter-tide, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Martyrs, appeal for assistance to, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<ul><li>
-churches built to commemorate their death, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li><li>
-their numerous festivals, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s homilies on, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-183;</li><li>
-St. Augustine on the honour to be paid to them, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li><li>
-increasing veneration to them in the Church, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li><li>
-discovery of skeletons, and cures effected, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li><li>
-procession conducted by Chrysostom and the Empress, on the removal of some reliques, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Maruthas, bishop of Martyropolis, in Persia, an active missionary, <a href="#Page_375">375</a> and <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Maruthas, bishop of Mesopotamia, accidentally causes the death of Cyrinus, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.</li><li>
-Maximian, persecution of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li><li>
-Maximin, persecution of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Maximus, bishop of Seleucia, adopts a secluded life, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li><li>
-Maximus the usurper’s progress arrested by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;<ul><li>
-his disloyalty, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li><li>
-passage of the Alps, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-defeated by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-beheaded, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Meletius, bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<ul><li>
-translated from Sebaste in Armenia to Antioch, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li><li>
-preaches by command of Constantius on the text, “The Lord possessed me,” <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li><li>
-dissents from the Arians, and is banished to Melitene, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li><li>
-recalled by Julian, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li><li>
-banished again in <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 367, and afterwards by the Emperor Valens, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li><li>
-returns after the death of Valens (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 378), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-presided over the Council of Constantinople (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 381), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-died during its session, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-his funeral oration, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-one of his last acts, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s encomium, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li><li>
-invocation to, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Milan, astonishment of the people of, at Theodosius’s act of treachery, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li><li>
-Milman, Dean, quoted, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li><li>
-Moduarius, a deacon, a messenger to Chrysostom in exile, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.<br />
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">450</a></span><br />
-Monasteries of Bethlehem placed under an interdict by John of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li><li>
-Monasteries, tranquillity of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<ul><li>
-education at, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Monasticism, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;<ul><li>
-rise of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li><li>
-rule of Pachomius, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li><li>
-introduced into Syria by Hilarion, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li><li>
-promoted in the West by St. Jerome, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-Eastern and Western, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>-66;</li><li>
-St. Chrysostom’s admiration for, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li><li>
-contemplative form of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li><li>
-enemies of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li><li>
-its necessity, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li><li>
-called “the true philosophy,” <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li><li>
-Monk, calm life of the, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;<ul><li>
-powerful influence of the, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Monks, custom of reading aloud during dinner, <a href="#Page_63">63</a> <i>note</i>;<ul><li>
-interfere in political contests, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li><li>
-Eastern and Western monks, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li><li>
-daily life, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li><li>
-reception of the Eucharist, <a href="#Page_66">66</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-persecution of, by Valens, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li><li>
-exempt from love, avarice, etc., <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li><li>
-fanatical fury, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li><li>
-Libanius’s invective against, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Monks of Nitria, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;<ul><li>
-the “tall brethren,” persecuted by Theophilus, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>-297;</li><li>
-they fly to Palestine, and find a new home at Scythopolis, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li><li>
-the malice of their persecutor follows them here, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li><li>
-they embark for Constantinople, and reach that city fifty in number, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li><li>
-they appeal to Chrysostom, who receives them with kindness, but acts cautiously, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li><li>
-resolve to appeal to the civil powers, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li><li>
-draw up documents of charges against Theophilus and their accusers, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li><li>
-accost the Empress, who promises the council they desire shall be called, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li><li>
-interview with Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li><li>
-Theophilus reconciled with “the tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Monks, Pachomian, number of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;<ul><li>
-period of probation, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li><li>
-dress and habits, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li><li>
-division into classes, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">N</span>EBRIDIUS, prefect of Constantinople, husband of Olympias, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;<ul><li>
-his death two years after marriage, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Nebridius, husband of Salvina, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li><li>
-Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<ul><li>
-his subservience to the Emperor, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li><li>
-had desired to make Arsacius bishop of Tarsus, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Neocæsarea, Council of (about <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 320), <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li><li>
-Nestorius consecrated a bishop when a layman, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li><li>
-New Year’s Day a riotous festival, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li><li>
-Nice, Council of (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 325), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<ul><li>
-the custom of keeping Easter according to Jewish calculation condemned, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li><li>
-proposal of clerical celibacy defeated by Paphnutius, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li><li>
-prohibition as to unmarried clergy living with women other than mother, sister, or aunt, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li><li>
-canons of, on ecclesiastical affairs being judged in their own province, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Nicolaus, a priest, supplies money and men to the Phœnician mission, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>.</li><li>
-Nilus, an anchorite, addresses letters of warning to Arcadius, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li><li>
-Novatians, pretension of the, to purity of doctrine and life, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;<ul><li>
-refuse readmission of penitents, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li><li>
-incur Chrysostom’s indignation, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">O</span>ATHS, the taking of, excites Chrysostom’s indignation, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li><li>
-Œcumenical Council, the Fifth (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 553), <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li><li>
-Olympias, the deaconess, friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;<ul><li>
-early life, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li><li>
-married to Nebridius, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li><li>
-death of her husband, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</li><li>
-devotes herself to the interests of the Church, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</li><li>
-attends to the wants of the Nitrian monks, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s farewell to, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</li><li>
-accused of incendiarism, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li><li>
-conduct before Optatus, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li><li>
-refuses communion with Arsacius, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li><li>
-is fined, and retires to Cyzicus, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li><li>
-intercedes for Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li><li>
-the archbishop’s letters to her from Cucusus, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>-373.</li></ul></li><li>
-Olympic games instituted by Commodus at Antioch, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li><li>
-Optatus, a Pagan, succeeds Studius as prefect at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;<ul><li>
-persecutes Chrysostom’s followers, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li><li>
-fines Olympias, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Origen, allegorical interpretations of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<ul><li>
-his voluminous writings, and the controversy upon his teachings, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>-288;</li><li>
-the Egyptian Church proud of him, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Orontes, the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li><li>
-Ostrogoths, a colony of, established in Phrygia and Lydia, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">P</span>ACHOMIUS, the Benedict of the East, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<ul><li>
-his practice of asceticism, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">451</a></span>
-his rule acknowledged by three thousand monks during his lifetime, and fifty thousand after his death, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Pagan temples, edict for the destruction of, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li><li>
-Paganism, Chrysostom’s method of argument and homily against, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-124;<ul><li>
-Theodosius’s laws against, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li><li>
-its hold upon the people, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li><li>
-its apologists, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li><li>
-prevalent in Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li><li>
-not extirpated in the fifth century, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Pagans, conversion of, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li><li>
-Palladius, bishop of Hellenopolis, visits the Egyptian monasteries, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<ul><li>
-his narrative of events, <a href="#Page_265">265</a> and <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-a delegate on the affair of Antoninus, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li><li>
-joins Chrysostom at Bithynia, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li><li>
-on Chrysostom’s consistency, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li><li>
-account of Chrysostom and his bishops before being summoned to “the Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_309">309</a>-311;</li><li>
-description of Arsacius, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li><li>
-a fugitive to Rome, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li><li>
-accompanies the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li><li>
-imprisoned near Ethiopia, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li><li>
-description of Constantius the priest, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Pamphylia, Tribigild awaits Leo at, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</li><li>
-Pansophius, bishop of Pissida, desired to “offer the gifts,” <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</li><li>
-Pansophius elected to the see of Nicomedia, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</li><li>
-Paphnutius, an Egyptian monk, defeats the proposal of clerical celibacy at the Council of Nice, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li><li>
-Parents, worldliness of, reproved by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li><li>
-Paschal letter, the, <a href="#Page_288">288</a> <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Paternus, an emissary from the cabal to Innocent, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</li><li>
-Patriarch, the title, <a href="#Page_216">216</a> and <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Patricius, the notary, conveys to Chrysostom the mandate of his deposition, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li><li>
-Paul, bishop of Crateia, solemnly warns Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li><li>
-Paul, bishop of Heraclea, deputed to conciliate Eusebius, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;<ul><li>
-joins Chrysostom at Bithynia, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Paul, bishop of Tibur, interrupted while consecrating Ursicinus, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li><li>
-Paul of Samosata deposed from the see of Antioch, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<ul><li>
-his Sabellian doctrines, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li><li>
-originally a sophist, and unfitted to build up a system, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Paul the Anchorite retires to the Egyptian Thebaid during the persecution of Decius, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li><li>
-Paulinian forcibly ordained deacon and priest by Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</li><li>
-Paulinus consecrated bishop by Lucifer of Cagliari, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<ul><li>
-recognised by Ambrose as bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Peanius praised for his loyal zeal, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>.</li><li>
-Peasant clergy, Chrysostom’s praise of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;<ul><li>
-simplicity of their wives, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Pempton, congregation at, dispersed, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</li><li>
-Pentadia, wife of Timasius, friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;<ul><li>
-the archbishop’s farewell to, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li><li>
-imprisoned, and charged with incendiarism, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</li><li>
-protests her innocence and silences her enemies, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</li><li>
-is persuaded by Chrysostom to remain at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Persecution intensifies attachment to the Church, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.</li><li>
-Peter, a priest, the bearer of a letter from Theophilus to Innocent, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</li><li>
-Pharetrius, bishop of Cæsarea, does not greet Chrysostom on his journey, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;<ul><li>
-his envy of the exile, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li><li>
-menaces Seleucia, at whose house Chrysostom is lodged, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Philippopolis, Arian Council of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li><li>
-“Philosophers” of Antioch, cowardice of, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;<ul><li>
-peasant clergy more than a match for, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Phœnicia, mission in, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>-382;<ul><li>
-Pagan resistance to the mission, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Phrygia overrun by Tribigild, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</li><li>
-Pityus, on the Euxine, Chrysostom to be removed to, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.</li><li>
-Placidia, sister of Honorius, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li><li>
-Plato, dialogues of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;<ul><li>
-compared with Dionysius the Tyrant, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom on the teaching of, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Polycarp, bishop, removal of his remains, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li><li>
-Porphyry, a priest, procures the banishment of Constantius, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;<ul><li>
-imprisons some of the clergy of Antioch, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-enters the church, and with closed doors is hurriedly ordained bishop of Antioch by Acacius, Severian, and Antiochus, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-is threatened by the populace, and protected by troops, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Porphyry, bishop of Gaza, urges the destruction of Pagan temples, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li><li>
-Preaching, Chrysostom’s remarks on, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li><li>
-Priesthood, the, Chrysostom’s books on, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-55;<ul><li>
-probable date of writing, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li><li>
-age at which eligible for, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Priestly office, dignity, difficulty, and danger of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-45;<ul><li>
-qualifications for, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Priscillianists, the, ruthlessly persecuted, by Maximus, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li><li>
-Prisoners, custom of releasing, <a href="#Page_172">172</a> and <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">452</a></span>
-Procla, Chrysostom’s farewell to, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li><li>
-Proclus, friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;<ul><li>
-elevated to the see of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</li><li>
-gains the consent of the Emperor to transport Chrysostom’s remains to the city, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Procopius, uncle and guardian of Olympias, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li><li>
-Promotus assassinated by order of Rufinus, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li><li>
-Property holders, duties of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li><li>
-Protasius, discovery of the reliques of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li><li>
-Ptolemy Philadelphus deposits the Septuagint in the temple of Serapis, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li><li>
-Pulcheria, daughter of Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li><li>
-Pusey, Dr., quoted, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">R</span>AVENNA, Honorius at, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;<ul><li>
-court of, not powerful enough to enforce the convocation of a general council, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Reader in the Church, office of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<ul><li>
-ceremony of ordination to, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Reliques, importance attached to, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li><li>
-Remigius of Rheims made bishop at the age of twenty-two, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li><li>
-Repentance, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li><li>
-Rhadagaisus covets Rome, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li><li>
-Right of asylum in the Church abolished by Eutropius, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;<ul><li>
-transferred from Pagan temples, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li><li>
-sought by Eutropius, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li><li>
-maintained by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Rimini, the creed of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li><li>
-Roman Catholic countries, abuse of saints’ days in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li><li>
-Rome, bishop of, growing tendency of Christendom to appeal to, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;<ul><li>
-no jealousy entertained by Chrysostom of him, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Rome, contest for the see of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<ul><li>
-persecutions at, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li><li>
-St. Jerome at, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-division into districts, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li><li>
-love of the people for chariot-races, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li><li>
-triumphal entry of Theodosius, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li><li>
-its mixed population, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-deputation of the inhabitants to Stilicho and Honorius against the consulship of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li><li>
-arrival of fugitives from Constantinople, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li><li>
-efforts of Alaric to conquer, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Rufinus, a presbyter, sent to Phœnicia to restore peace, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom’s letter to, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Rufinus, minister of Theodosius, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<ul><li>
-his view of the sedition at Thessalonica, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-endeavours to console Theodosius, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li><li>
-seeks an interview with Ambrose, but is repulsed, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li><li>
-appointed guardian to Arcadius, and regent of the East, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li><li>
-some account of his life, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li><li>
-his “accursed thirst” for gain, and his extortions, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li><li>
-display of piety, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li><li>
-builds a monastery and church at “the Oak,” and is baptized therein, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li><li>
-surrounds himself with a powerful party, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li><li>
-jealousy of Stilicho, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li><li>
-scheme to marry his daughter to Arcadius frustrated, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li><li>
-villanous plot of overrunning the country with Huns, Goths, etc., <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-his death just when he had attained the height of his ambition, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Rufinus, monk of Aquileia, a warm admirer of Origen, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;<ul><li>
-is accused of being an Origenist by Aterbius, and refuses to defend himself, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li><li>
-sides with Bishop John of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">S</span>ABELLIANS, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<ul><li>
-their danger to Christianity, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Sabiniana, the deaconess, follows Chrysostom into exile, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li><li>
-Saints’ days, abuse of, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li><li>
-Saints, the Old Testament, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;<ul><li>
-growth of devotion to, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li><li>
-appeal for assistance to, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li><li>
-their festivals grow numerous, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li><li>
-special days of commemoration, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li><li>
-character of the festivals, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li><li>
-their Acts or Passions, <a href="#Page_178">178</a> and <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-Chrysostom’s belief in their intercessory power, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li><li>
-feeling in the Church in regard to their invocation, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li><li>
-popular faith in the miraculous power of their remains, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li><li>
-pilgrimages to their tombs, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li><li>
-relics removed by Flavian, <a href="#Page_181">181</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Salustius, a priest, rebuked by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li><li>
-Salvina, daughter of Gildo, friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;<ul><li>
-the archbishop’s farewell to, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Saracens, the nomadic, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li><li>
-Sardica, Council of (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 342), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<ul><li>
-(<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 343, 344), <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li><li>
-repudiates the Twelfth Canon of the Council of Antioch, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Saturninus, husband of Castricia: his surrender demanded by Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;<ul><li>
-insulted by Gaïnas, and afterwards delivered up, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Savile, Sir Henry: his edition of Chrysostom’s works, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li><li>
-Savonarola, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<ul><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">453</a></span>
-character of the people preached to by, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li><li>
-compared with Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Schism of Antioch, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li><li>
-Secundus, father of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<ul><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Seleucia lodges Chrysostom at her house, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;<ul><li>
-is threatened by Pharetrius, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Seleucus, Count, father of Olympias, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li><li>
-Septuagint, the, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li><li>
-Serapion, archdeacon, encourages Chrysostom in his severity towards the clergy, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;<ul><li>
-his dislike of and discourtesy to Severian, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li><li>
-remains Chrysostom’s friend, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li><li>
-exclamation on the teaching of Theophilus, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li><li>
-summoned before the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li><li>
-now bishop of Heraclea, scourged and exiled, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li><li>
-seeks shelter with Gothic monks, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Serapis, the temple of, Septuagint deposited at, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;<ul><li>
-silver image of, at Alexandria, destroyed, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Serena, wife of Stilicho, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li><li>
-Severian, bishop of Gabala, deputed to act for Chrysostom during his absence, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;<ul><li>
-endeavours to undermine the archbishop’s influence, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li><li>
-his efforts to win admiration, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li><li>
-irritation with Serapion’s discourtesy, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li><li>
-expelled from Constantinople by Chrysostom, but recalled by command of Eudoxia, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li><li>
-becomes a leader of the faction hostile to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li><li>
-extols the deposition of the patriarch, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-again plotting against him after his recall, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li><li>
-urges the Emperor to remove Chrysostom from the city, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li><li>
-assists in secretly ordaining Porphyry, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Severus, Emperor Alexander: his admiration of the mode of electing bishops, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li><li>
-Shakespeare quoted, <a href="#Page_95">95</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a> <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Sicinnius, the Novatian bishop, writes against Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;<ul><li>
-admired by Socrates, <a href="#Page_235">235</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Silk, the use of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> and <i>note</i>.</li><li>
-Simeon Stylites on his pillar, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<ul><li>
-a caricature of the anchorite, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Siricius, Pope, decree of, on celibacy of the clergy, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li><li>
-Socrates, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;<ul><li>
-invited by Archelaus to court, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li><li>
-resists the allurements of ambition, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Socrates, historian, terms dedicatory churches “martyries,” <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;<ul><li>
-says the treatises of Chrysostom on “spiritual sisters” were composed during his diaconate, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li><li>
-account of the pursuit of Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li><li>
-stories of Maruthas, <a href="#Page_375">375</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Sozomen on the dress of Pachomian monks, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;<ul><li>
-on their industries, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li><li>
-his account of the pursuit of Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Spiritual agency, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-84.</li><li>
-“Spiritual sisters” of priests, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li><li>
-Stagirius, excessive austerities of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;<ul><li>
-their effect, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li><li>
-consoled by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Stanley, Dean, quoted, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li><li>
-Stelechius, Chrysostom’s book addressed to, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li><li>
-Stephen, bishop of Antioch, president of the Arian Council of Philippopolis, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<ul><li>
-deposed by the Emperor Constantius, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Stilicho, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<ul><li>
-Theodosius commends to him Honorius and the West, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li><li>
-likened by Claudian to Scipio, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li><li>
-Honorius betrothed to his daughter, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li><li>
-advances against Alaric, but is prevented from attacking him by a message from Constantinople, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-sends back his troops under Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li><li>
-again hastens to attack Alaric, but hears that he is commander-in-chief of the forces of the East, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li><li>
-receives a deputation of Romans on the consulship of Eutropius, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li><li>
-rumours of his march to the East, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li><li>
-efforts to restrain Alaric and Rhadagaisus, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Strabo’s description of Daphne, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li><li>
-Superstitions, description of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;<ul><li>
-rebuked by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Swearing, admonition against, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li><li>
-Symmachus, his apology for paganism, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<ul><li>
-eloquent appeal for the retention of the statue of Victory, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li><li>
-his character, <a href="#Page_145">145</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-Ambrose’s reply to his appeal, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li><li>
-obtains a professorial chair for St. Augustine, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li><li>
-cordially received by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Syncletius, bishop of Trajanopolis, a delegate on the affair of Antoninus, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</li><li>
-“Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;<ul><li>
-Chrysostom summoned to the, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li><li>
-not an Œcumenical Council, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li><li>
-its display of formalities, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li><li>
-the archbishop refuses to attend, and is deposed, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-its sentence ratified by the Emperor, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</li><li>
-its proceedings declared illegal, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Syria: Antioch degraded, and Laodicea made its capital, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<ul><li>
-Theophilus travels through, bringing disaffected bishops to Constantinople, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li><li>
-overrun by Isaurians, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Syrus, an old ascetic, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">454</a></span>
-
-<span class="dropcap">“T</span>ALL brethren” persecuted by Theophilus, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;<ul><li>
-their dwellings pillaged, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li><li>
-fly to Palestine, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li><li>
-thence to Constantinople, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li><li>
-Theophilus is reconciled to them, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Temple, the only lawful place to offer sacrifices, <a href="#Page_131">131</a> <i>note</i>;<ul><li>
-Julian commands its restoration, <a href="#Page_131">131</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-failure to rebuild, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Tertullian, saying of, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li><li>
-Thalia, the, of Arius, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li><li>
-Thebaid, the Egyptian, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<ul><li>
-Pachomius, a native of the, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<ul><li>
-joins an ascetic brotherhood, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li><li>
-returns to a worldly life, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li><li>
-letters of lamentation from Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-39;</li><li>
-returns again to the brotherhood, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li><li>
-made bishop of Mopsuestia (<span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 394), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li><li>
-his character, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theodore of Tyana, friendly to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;<ul><li>
-quits Constantinople on seeing the unfair construction of the council, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theodoret’s story of the meeting of Gaïnas and Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;<ul><li>
-on the jurisdiction of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li><li>
-on idolatry in Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theodoras executed, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li><li>
-Theodosia, sister of Amphilocius, and instructress of Olympias, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li><li>
-Theodosius <span class="smcap">I.</span>, on amicable terms with Libanius, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<ul><li>
-his defeats of the Goths, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li><li>
-deservedly called “The Great,” <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li><li>
-his services against Scots and Saxons, Moors and Goths, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li><li>
-disgraced, and retires to Spain, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li><li>
-recalled, and made Emperor, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li><li>
-his character, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li><li>
-military achievements, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-a Christian, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-efforts to establish a uniform type of religion, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-his baptism, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-solemn declaration of faith, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-makes Gregory of Nazianzus bishop, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-project for a general council, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-edict against heretics, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li><li>
-forbids the practice of divination, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li><li>
-laws against Pagans, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li><li>
-his impartiality, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li><li>
-his wife Flacilla, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li><li>
-choleric temper, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li><li>
-pardons Antioch after the tumult, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li><li>
-interview with Flavian, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-174;</li><li>
-victory over Maximus, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-generosity to his enemies, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-commands the bishop of Callinicum to rebuild the Jewish synagogue, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-remonstrance of Ambrose, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li><li>
-the order annulled, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li><li>
-triumphal entry into Rome, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li><li>
-two popular enactments, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li><li>
-abstains from interfering in religious debates, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li><li>
-resentment at the sedition of Thessalonica, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-barbarous act of ferocity, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-confronted by Ambrose, and refused admittance to the cathedral, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li><li>
-exhorted to deep repentance, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li><li>
-his penance, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li><li>
-forbidden to sit with the clergy during the celebration, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li><li>
-collects a huge force, and solicits the favour of heaven, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-arrives near the scene of his former victory, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-assaults Arbogastes, but is repulsed, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-his vision, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-rallies his army, and completely defeats the enemy, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-received at Milan with transports of joy, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-free pardon granted to the Milanese who had revolted, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-his health gives way, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-receives the Eucharist at the hands of Ambrose, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-beseeches the Western bishops to acknowledge Flavian, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li><li>
-implores the Pagan Roman senators to become Christians, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li><li>
-last appearances in public, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li><li>
-his death, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li><li>
-his law on the right of asylum, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li><li>
-conduct towards Olympias, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theodosius <span class="smcap">II.</span>, attacked by an alarming illness, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;<ul><li>
-suppresses the Pagan homage paid to Emperors, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li><li>
-consents to Chrysostom’s reliques being brought to Constantinople, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</li><li>
-implores forgiveness for his parents’ wrongs to the saint, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theodosius the elder, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;<ul><li>
-executed at Carthage, <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-his statue destroyed by the mob at Antioch, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theophilus, a priest, rebuked by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li><li>
-Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, appointed arbitrator between Flavian and Evagrius, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;<ul><li>
-pushes the claims of Isidore for the see of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li><li>
-refuses to take part in Chrysostom’s ordination until threatened by Eutropius, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li><li>
-his opposition is silenced, and he assists in the consecration, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li><li>
-joins Chrysostom in urging the recognition of Flavian, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li><li>
-behaviour to Olympias, <a href="#Page_282">282</a> <i>note</i>;</li><li>
-becomes the chief of Chrysostom’s foes, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li><li>
-his character, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li><li>
-earnest defender of the teaching of Origen, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li><li>
-made arbitrator between Jerome and John of Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li><li>
-his letter intended for John is delivered to Vinctius, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li><li>
-changes sides, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li><li>
-brings a horrible charge against Isidore, who is ejected from the ministry, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li><li>
-persecutes the “tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_294">294</a>-297;</li><li>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">455</a></span>
-his malice follows the Nitrian monks to Palestine, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li><li>
-schemes for the overthrow of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li><li>
-apologetic letter to Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li><li>
-writes a sharp complaint to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li><li>
-summoned to Constantinople to defend his conduct towards the Nitrian monks, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li><li>
-arrival at the city with twenty-eight bishops, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li><li>
-declines the hospitality of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li><li>
-resides at Pera, in a house of the Emperor’s, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li><li>
-refuses all communication with the archbishop, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li><li>
-his house the resort of the disaffected, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li><li>
-bribes to the city, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li><li>
-draws up a list of accusations against Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li><li>
-holds a synod at “the Oak,” and summons the archbishop to appear, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li><li>
-after his object is attained, is reconciled to the “tall brethren,” <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li><li>
-arrives at Constantinople with a large retinue, and restores the worthless clergy, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li><li>
-remains in the city after the recall of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-his flight when summonses were issued for a general council, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-excuses himself from attending the council, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li><li>
-invited by Chrysostom’s enemies again to visit Constantinople, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li><li>
-declines, and sends three “pitiful bishops,” <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li><li>
-his letter to Pope Innocent received with displeasure, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</li><li>
-reproved by Innocent, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Theotecnus brings to Innocent a letter from twenty-five bishops, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</li><li>
-Theotimus, a Goth, bishop of Tomis, at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;<ul><li>
-a determined opponent of Epiphanius, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li><li>
-called by the Huns “the god of the Christians,” <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li><li>
-denounces the unseemly condemnation of the works of Origen, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Therapeutæ, the, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li><li>
-Therasius: Chrysostom addresses a letter to the widow of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li><li>
-Thermopylæ, pass of, violated by Alaric, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li><li>
-Thessalonica, sedition at, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;<ul><li>
-its Christian population, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-failure of the mission of Ambrose to obtain clemency, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li><li>
-barbarous massacre of 7000 inhabitants, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Thrace, Flacilla dies at, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<ul><li>
-overrun by Alaric, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li><li>
-ravaged by Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li><li>
-ravaged by Huns, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Tiberias, Patriarch of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li><li>
-Tiberius restricted the right of asylum, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li><li>
-Tigrius summoned before the “Synod of the Oak,” <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;<ul><li>
-scourged, and put on the rack, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li><li>
-survives, and is banished to Mesopotamia, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Tillemont’s opinion of Theodore, <a href="#Page_39">39</a> <i>note</i>;<ul><li>
-floating synod at Constantinople, <a href="#Page_266">266</a> <i>note</i>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Tomis, a market of Goths and Huns, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li><li>
-Tradition, Chrysostom’s arguments not based on, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li><li>
-Trajan, Antioch nearly destroyed in the reign of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li><li>
-Tranquillus, a friend of Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</li><li>
-Tribigild, the Ostrogoth, solicits promotion for himself and more pay for his soldiers, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;<ul><li>
-his suit coldly dismissed by the Emperor’s minister, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li><li>
-returns home, and resolves to cast off allegiance to the empire, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li><li>
-overruns Phrygia, and captures some fortified towns, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li><li>
-refuses to treat with Eutropius, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li><li>
-his army retreats to Pamphylia, where he awaits Leo, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li><li>
-swoops down upon his prey at night, scattering Leo’s army, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li><li>
-his forces joined with those of Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Trinity Sunday, <a href="#Page_178">178</a> <i>note</i>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">U</span>LDES, or Uldin, pursues Gaïnas and kills him, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li><li>
-Ulphilas, preaching of, to the Goths, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li><li>
-Unilas, a Gothic bishop, appointed by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;<ul><li>
-dies after a short but active career, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Ursicinus, consecration of, by Paul, bishop of Tibur, violently stopped by Damasus, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">V</span>ALENS, the Emperor, on amicable terms with Libanius, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<ul><li>
-favoured the Arians, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li><li>
-expelled bishop Meletius, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li><li>
-his decree against the practisers of magic, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li><li>
-persecution of the monks, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-75;</li><li>
-destruction by the Goths, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li><li>
-forbids the sacrifice of animals, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Valentinian, his decree against magicians, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<ul><li>
-his fate, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li><li>
-territory secured to him by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li><li>
-forbids the sacrifice of animals, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Valentinian <span class="smcap">II.</span>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<ul><li>
-flight to Thessalonica, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li><li>
-accompanies Theodosius to Rome, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li><li>
-in possession of his dominions, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li><li>
-treachery of his general of the forces, Arbogastes, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li><li>
-found strangled, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Valentinians, a church of, set fire to by fanatics, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br />
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">456</a></span><br />
-Valentinus, error of, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li><li>
-Valentinus, entreated to benevolence by Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>.</li><li>
-Venerius, bishop of Milan, Chrysostom’s letter to, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;<ul><li>
-sends a letter by the Italian deputation, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Vincentius, presbyter and friend of Jerome, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li><li>
-Victor Uticensis, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li><li>
-Victory, news of, proclaimed gratuitously by Theodosius, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li><li>
-Visigoths, a colony of, established in Thrace, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /><br /></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">W</span>EALTH, Chrysostom on, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li><li>
-Wesley, John, at Oxford, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<ul><li>
-as a preacher, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Western Church, the, acknowledges Paulinus as bishop of Antioch, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<ul><li>
-favourable to clerical celibacy, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li><li>
-does not fully accept Origen’s teachings, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li><li>
-appealed to by the Eastern Church, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</li><li>
-not able to insist on justice to Chrysostom, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li><li>
-breaks off communion with Theophilus and Atticus, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li><li>
-demands the convocation of a general council, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li></ul></li><li>
-Western theology, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>.</li><li>
-Westminster, sanctuary of, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li><li>
-Women, influence of, on early Christianity, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<ul><li>
-they baffle Julian and Governor Alexander at Antioch, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li><li>
-Libanius’s letter on, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li><li>
-interference in the election of bishops, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li><li>
-multitudes take vows of celibacy, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li><li>
-degraded position in the East, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul></li><li>
-
-<span class="dropcap">Z</span>OSIMUS, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> <i>note</i>;<ul><li>
-account of the pursuit of Gaïnas, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li></ul></li>
-</ul>
-
-<hr />
-<p class="center">Edinburgh University Press:<br />
-
-THOMAS AND ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY.</p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
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