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St. John Chrysostom and His Message of Social Justice Today College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses School of Theology and Seminary 2010 St. John Chrysostom and His Message of Social Justice Today Joel Cassady College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers Part of the Ethics in Religion Commons, and the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Cassady, Joel, "St. John Chrysostom and His Message of Social Justice Today" (2010). School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses. 742. https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers/742 This Graduate Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Theology and Seminary at DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM AND HIS MESSAGE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE TODAY by JOEL CASSADY 6371 Beech Ct. Arvada, CO USA A Paper Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology • Seminary of Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Church History SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY • SEMINARY Saint John’s University Collegeville, Minnesota 18 May 2010 2 This paper was written under the direction of ______________________________________________________ Suzanne Hequet, Ph. D. 18 May 2010 3 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM AND HIS MESSAGE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE TODAY Description: Since its beginning, Christianity has challenged its members to stand up for the rights of the poor and to serve them. As early Christians faced issues of poverty, so do Christians today. Then, as now, Christians were called upon to change the very structures that took advantage of the poor or kept them in poverty. St. John Chrysostom firmly believed that in order to call oneself Christian, one must be mindful of one’s neighbor, and care for him and his needs. This paper will take a closer look at some of Chrysostom’s sermons in order to explore Chrysostom’s perspective on social justice issues, and see how his call to action is applicable for Christians today. This paper may be duplicated. ___________________________________________________ Joel Cassady 18 May 2010 4 Since the beginning of Christianity, Christ’s followers have been challenged to stand up for the rights of the poor and to serve them. Indeed, Christ tells his disciples, “You always have the poor with you.”1 Early Christians, like Christians today, were challenged by many issues of poverty. Then, as now, Christians were called upon by religious leaders to change the very structures that took advantage of the poor or kept them in poverty. One such voice was John Chrysostom. Chrysostom firmly believed that in order to call oneself Christian, one must be mindful of one’s neighbor and care for them and their needs. Chrysostom’s strong words moved the people of his time into action on behalf of the poor, and those same words can inspire Christians today. The intent of this paper is to focus on Chrysostom’s sermons for the poor, and to allow his words to challenge Christians today to act on their behalf. Sources put Chrysostom’s birth between 345 and 347 CE, in Antioch, Syria, which at that time had become one of the prominent cities in the Roman Empire. His father, Secundus, was magister militum of the Syrian imperial army.2 His mother, Anthusa, was an intelligent and religious woman who was widowed at the age of 20, not long after Chrysostom’s birth. As she never remarried, she raised by herself John and his elder sister, who died while still a child.3 Chrysostom was very close to his mother, and his religious and moral upbringing can be attributed to her. Despite the difficult circumstances in which he grew up, Chrysostom received a fine education. His most notable teacher was the famous orator Libanius, who, at the time, was also 1 Jn 12:8 NAB 2 Donald Attwater, St. John Chrysostom: The Voice of Gold. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1939, 9. 3 Baur, Chrysostom. St. John Chrysostom. Vol. VIII, in The Catholic Encyclopedia , edited by Charles G. Herbermann, 452 - 457. New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1913. As found online at www. http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=John_Chrysostom%2C_Saint” accessed Dec. 2008, 452. 5 one of the most “tenacious adherents of the declining paganism.” 4 Chrysostom was one of Libanius’ best pupils, and took an initial interest in law, no doubt looking towards a path of wealth and high public office. 5 He would have likely had a successful career. Libanius himself, when asked on his deathbed to name a successor, commented, “It would have been John, had not the Christians stolen him from us.” 6 Due to both the urgings of a close friend he studied with and also his meeting the Bishop Meletius of Antioch, Chrysostom began to withdraw from his study of law and pursued an ascetic and religious life. 7 He was baptized in about 369 by Meletius, and ordained a lector soon afterward. Above all, Chrysostom desired to become a monk, and live the full ascetic life. However, at his mother’s request, he waited until her death before he retreated to the hills outside of Antioch, spending four years within a monastic community, and two more as an anchorite in a cave. 8 Palladius, his fifth century biographer, says of those two years that Chrysostom, “Never relaxed…not in the days nor at night, and his gastric organs became lifeless and the proper functions of the kidneys were impaired by the cold.” 9 As a result, Chrysostom was forced to leave, and, according to Palladius, “This is proof of the Savior’s providence that he was taken away from the ascetic life…forcing him to leave his caves for the benefit of the Church.”10 Chrysostom returned to Antioch, where he was ordained a deacon by Meletius in about 381. In 4 Baur, St. John Chrysostom , 453. 5 Attwater, St. John Chrysostom: The Voice of Gold , 13. 6 Ibid. 7 Baur, St. John Chrysostom , 453. 8 Ibid. 453 9 Palladius, Dialogue on the Life of St. John Chrysostom. Edited by Robert T. Meyer. Translated by Robert T. Meyer. New York: Newman Press, 1985, 35. 10 Ibid. 6 386, he was ordained a priest by Meletius’ successor, Flavian, and spent the next twelve years in Antioch as a priest. Palladius says that as a priest in Antioch, Chrysostom, “Shed great glory on the priesthood…by the strictness of his lifestyle…it was all smooth sailing with Christ as pilot.”11 As a priest, Chrysostom immediately put his skills of oration to work from the pulpit, so much so, that in 553, almost 150 years after his death, Pope Vigilius gave him the surname “Chrysostom,” or “golden-mouthed,” and the appropriate title has stuck ever since. 12 Though his theological and exegetical contributions are overshadowed in the West by one of his contemporaries, St. Augustine of Hippo, Chrysostom is a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church and highly revered to this day in the Eastern Church as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, the other two being Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus. He was well known during his time for his theological and exegetical work, receiving the title vir illustris from St. Jerome. 13 But while he was theologically and doctrinally sound, Chrysostom is best remembered for his sermons. Chrysostom’s sermons typically consisted of taking a biblical passage and progressively exploring it, letting it speak to him and through him to his audience. 14 His method of exegesis, the “grammatico-historical,” was common to Antioch, and differed from the allegorical and mystical methods of exegesis common to Alexandria.15 Chrysostom Baur considers John 11 Ibid, 36. 12 Baur, St. John Chrysostom , 452. 13 Attwater, St. John Chrysostom: The Voice of Gold , p. 47 14 Stephen Neill, Chrysostom and his Message: A Selection from the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom of Antioch and Constantinople. Edited by Stephen Neill. Translated by Stephen Neill. London: Lutterworth Press, 1962, 17. 15 Baur, St. John Chrysostom , 456. 7 Chrysostom, “The chief and almost the only successful representative of the exegetical principles of the School of Antioch.” 16 His sermons were eloquent and extraordinary, even among the Greeks. 17 He was quick to improvise, and would not hesitate to divert his message when appropriate. According to Baur, with “Whole-hearted earnestness and conviction, he delivered the message…which he felt had been given to him.” 18 The people loved hearing him, and frequently responded to his sermons with applause, for which he would admonish them: When you applaud me as I speak, I feel at the moment as it is natural for a man to feel….I am delighted and overjoyed. And when I go home and reflect that the people who have been applauding me have received no benefit…I feel as though I had spoken altogether in vain…And I have often thought of laying down a rule prohibiting all applause, and urging you to listen in silence. 19 Chrysostom’s skills from the pulpit were put to task early in his career as a priest. During Lent of 387, the Emperor Theodosius, in order to pay for war and for an upcoming celebration the following year, raised taxes within the wealthy cities of the Eastern Empire, one of which was Antioch. The people, enraged at the news, formed a mob and stormed through the city.
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