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My blog posts revolve around my interests and vocation as a historian: the intersection of history and contemporary church life, the intersection of history and contemporary politics, serendipitous discoveries in archives or on research trips, publications and research projects, upcoming conferences, and speaking engagements.
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 St. John Chrysostom (347-407) was an Archbishop of Constantinople who became one of the most famous preachers in the early centuries of the church. Chrysostom means “golden mouth” – an indication of his rhetoric prowess. (This is part one of my focus on St. John Chrysostom. For part two, see here.) Like many in his era he started his quest to serve Jesus by becoming a monk. And, like many in his era, those who served as monks were often selected by the church to lead it (sometimes even against the will of the monk!).
Chrysostom was not much liked by the powerful, for his incessant attacks on their opulence and love of rule made for few allies in high places. He was perhaps unwise and too harsh at times towards the wealthy and powerful. He also said unkind things toward the Jewish community. His jeremiad’s against the civil and religious authorities eventually led to his arrest, exile, and relatively quick death. Perhaps his greatest legacy is the church liturgy he developed, a liturgy still widely used by millions over sixteen hundred years later. Chrysostom was a prolific author. One of my favorite early church writings is his Six Books of the Priesthood, a relatively small collection of reflections on the church and its leadership. I discovered it in my first year of doctorial work and have been drawn back to it a number of times. I recently read it again and thought I would share some of his commentary on certain issues that relate in some way to our current context. Six Books of the Priesthood is mostly structured as a discourse between himself and someone named Basil. And in much of the conversation it is Chrysostom providing reasons why he did not seek after being a priest. Along with that apology it contains a host of wisdom on the dynamics of church life, leadership, and so on. Rather than me describe his thoughts, I think it is best to provide some of his pithy quotes so that people see Chrysostom without a Gord-filter. Since there are so many quotes, I have divided this blog into two parts.
“He who allows sheep to perish either through the ravages of wolves or the attacks of robbers might meet perhaps with some measure of pardon.... But he who is entrusted with men, the reasonable flock of Christ, incurs the loss not of money but of his own soul through the destruction of the sheep.” (95)
"It is impossible to treat men with the same authority as the shepherd treats a sheep. In that case he has power to bind it and to restrict its diet and to apply cautery and the knife; but the power to receive the physician’s cure depends not on him who administers the medicine so much as on the patient." (103) “For Christians, above all men, are not allowed violently to correct the stumblings of the sinful…. We neither have had authority granted to us by law to restrain sinners, nor, had they given it to us, should we have known for what end to use it, since God crowns not those who are forcibly kept from evil, but those who deliberately refrain from it.” (104-105 “What then can be done? For if you apply too mild a treatment to one who needs severe measures, and do not make a deep incision in one who requires it, you cut away part of the wound but leave the rest. But if you cut as deep as is required, often the patient, in despair at his sufferings, heedlessly rejects everything, medicine and bandage alike, and casts himself recklessly down. a precipice, breaking the yoke and bursting the bond.” 108-109 “On this account the shepherd needs great wisdom and a thousand eyes, so as to examine the soul’s condition from every side. As there are many men who become arrogant, and then despair of their own salvation because they cannot endure severe remedies, so there are some, who, because they do not receive a punishment of equal magnitude with their offences, are led to think lightly of them, and become far worse, and are led on to commit greater sin. The priest must therefore overlook none of these considerations but examine them all with care, and use all his remedies in a manner suitable to each case lest his zeal be wasted.” 113-115.
“If it suffices simply to be called pastor and to administer the work haphazard, and there is no danger, then let him who will charge me with vain glory. But if one who undertakes this care needs much wisdom and, before wisdom, much grace of God, and uprightness of character, and purity of life, and superhuman virtue, do not refuse to pardon me because I was unwilling to perish in vain and without reason. If any one were to bring a merchant-vessel of large tonnage, filled with rowers, and weighed down with a costly freight, and were to seat me at the rudder and command me to cross the Aegean or Etruscan Sea, I should have recoiled at his first words. If anyone had asked me my reason, I should have replied ‘lest I should sink the ship.’” (207-208)
“What wild beasts are these? Anger, gloom, envy, strife, slanders, accusations, falsehood, hypocrisy, intrigue, imprecations against those who have done no harm, delight at unseemly behaviour of fellow-priests, sorrow at their successes, desire for praise, yearning for honour (which more than anything else hurls the human soul to destruction), teaching intended to please, paying sordid court, ignoble flattery, contempt for the poor, fawning on the rich, bestowing unreasonable honours and harmful favours which are dangerous alike to those who give and who receive them, servile fear befitting only the meanest of slaves, loss of freedom of speech, a great affectation of humility, the destruction of truth, the suppression of convictions and reproof, or rather an excessive exercise of it against the humble, while no one dares so much as to open his lips against those who wield power.” (213)
“Tell me, what is the source from which you suppose all the disorder arises in the Churches? I think the only source is the careless and random way in which the prelates are chosen. For the head should be the strongest member, in order that it may be able to control the evil exhalations which proceed from the rest of the body below, and regulate them properly; but when it happens to be weak in itself, it is unable to repel those attacks that engender disease and is rendered weaker than it is by nature, and destroys the rest of the body along with itself.” (221-222)
“There are many other qualities, Basil, in addition to those I have enumerated, which a Priest ought to have and which I lack, and before all these is this: his soul should be clear on every side from the ambition for office. For if he has a natural inclination for this dignity, when he attains it he kindles the flame more strongly, and being seized violently, he undergoes countless evils, in order to secure his hold upon it, to the extent of using flattery or submitting to ignoble and unseemly treatment, or expending large sums of money. I pass over for the present the fact that some men have filled churches with streams of blood, and overturned cities in contending for this dignity, lest some should think my words incredible. The right course, I think, is to be so careful about the task as to avoid so grave a responsibility at the outset. But when once you are placed in office, do not wait for the judgment of others if you should happen to have been guilty of a sin that calls for deposition, but anticipate this and resign your office.” (224-227)
"A priest must be sober and clear-sighted and possess a thousand eyes in every direction, for he lives, not for himself alone, but for a great multitude. But I am sluggish and remiss, and scarcely sufficient for my own salvation, as even you would admit, who are most eager to hide all my faults by reason of your love to me. Do not now speak to me of fasting and vigils, and sleeping on the ground, and other bodily discipline. You know how far I come short in all this. But even if these exercises had been carefully regulated by me, they would have been unable with my present sluggishness to benefit me at all with a view to this post of authority. Such practices might be of great benefit to a man shut up in a cell and concerned only about his own soul. But when a man is divided among so great a multitude, and inherits all the private cares of those who are under his rule, what appreciable help can he give towards their improvement unless he be endowed with a robust and vigorous soul?” (241-244)
“We must keep such men as these outside the precincts of the priesthood. For if a prelate should neither stubbornly refuse food, nor go barefooted, he would do no injury to the well being of the Church; but a furious temper causes great disaster both to its possessor and to his neighbours. There is no threat from God against those who fail to do the things mentioned; but they who are angry without a cause are threatened with hell and hell fire. As then the lover of vainglory adds fresh fuel to the fire when he assumes the government of numbers, so he who cannot control his temper while alone or in the company of friends, but is easily carried away by it, should he be entrusted with the rule of an entire congregation, is like a wild beast goaded by thousands on every side and cannot abide in peace himself, while he spreads innumerable evils among the people committed to his charge.” (248-250) “Nothing bedims the purity of the mind and clearness of vision so much as undisciplined, and impetuous anger. ‘This,’ says a writer, ‘destroys even the prudent.’” (251)
“The reason is that they do not all regard purity of character as the one qualification at which they ought to look, but there are other considerations which favour appointment to the office, for example: ‘Let this man be chosen,’ says one, ‘because he belongs to a distinguished family.’ ‘ Let that candidate be selected, because he possesses great riches and would not need to be sustained out of the Church's revenues.’ ‘Let this man be chosen, because he is a convert from the other side.’ And one is anxious to single out a friend for honour, another a kinsman, another his flatterer; but none will look for the suitable man, or make character any test.” (273) “Again we will not, out of simple respect for his age, elevate a man to the higher office who has spent all his life in the lower orders of the ministry and has reached extreme old age. What if, after that life of his, he should still be unsuited to the work? And I do not say this out of disrespect for grey hairs, nor do I lay down a rule that we should exclude from this office those who come from the monastic circle; for it has happened that many from that body have shed lustre upon this office. But I am anxious to show that, if neither piety by itself nor old age are sufficient to prove a man worthy of the office of Bishop, the reasons mentioned above are hardly likely to do so. (276-277) “Others add reasons which are stranger still. Some are singled out for election in order that they may not join the enemy's ranks; others because of their bad character, to prevent them doing great harm if they are overlooked. Could any worse violation of right take place than when men of bad character, who are filled with innumerable faults, are courted for the very reasons for which they should be punished, and are elevated to the rank of Bishop for reasons for which they should be forbidden to cross the threshold of the Church?" (278-279)
“Be gentle and accessible to the needy.” (304) “Now if one should not indeed take the goods of the widows, but should cover them with reproaches, and insult them and be angered against them, so far is he from relieving the sadness of their poverty by his gift that he makes the evil greater by his abuse. For though they are compelled by the force of hunger to be very unabashed, they are nevertheless grieved by this compulsion. Now since they are forced to beg by the fear of hunger, and are forced to lose their sense of shame by their begging, and again are insulted because of this loss, the power of sadness which assails their soul is manifold and brings a great shadow upon them. He who has care of them should be so longsuffering that he will not only not increase their sorrow by his indignation but rather allay it by his consolation.” (306-307)
“But the virgin has prepared herself for a greater struggle and emulates the highest philosophy, and professes to exhibit on earth the life of angels, and while yet in this flesh she professes to do deeds which belong to incorporeal powers.” (315) “Therefore she needs the most minute guard and the greater assistance. For the enemy of holiness is ever attacking these persons and laying wait for them with especial care, ready to swallow them up should one ever stumble and fall; and there are many men plotting against them, and in addition to all this there is the passion of their nature; and they have to arm themselves against a twofold conflict, one attacking them from without and one troubling them from within.” (316)
“Why, the fault is all the greater because they promoted one whom they knew not; and that which seems to be an excuse increases the sin. Is it not strange that, when men wish to purchase a slave, they show him to physicians, and demand sureties for the purchase, and make inquiries of neighbours, and after all this they still feel insecure and demand a long time for trial; yet when they are about to select a man for this great ministry, they make a careless and random choice without further examination, according as some casual person sees fit to testify for or against other people?” (373-374) “Then shall we use such foresight when the penalty is trifling, and refuse to yield to compulsion; but where the penalty is everlasting to those who do not know how to administer the Bishop’s office, shall we lightly and thoughtlessly incur so great a danger, and shelter ourselves behind the persuasion of others? Nay, He Who then judges us will not suffer it. We ought to have used far greater precaution over spiritual than over worldly matters; yet in reality we are found to employ less. Tell me; if we believed that a man was a good craftsman who was no craftsman, and were to ask him to complete some work and he followed us, and when he had laid his hands on the material of the builder’s trade were to ruin the wood and ruin the masonry, and build the house in such wise that it should forthwith fall asunder, would it be enough excuse for him that he was compelled by others to undertake the work and did not come on his own invitation? Surely not; and it is reasonable and just, for he ought to have refused the work though invited to it by others. Shall we say then that he who ruins wood and masonry shall have no forgiveness; but he who destroys souls and builds them up carelessly may be forgiven by pleading that he was persuaded by others to undertake the work? Is this not foolish?” (381-384) “If those who are eager for the condition of body befitting an athlete need physicians and trainers, and careful diet and continual exercise, and innumerable other attentions (for the neglect of a trifle in these matters overthrows and destroys all their hopes), how shall they who have received the task of attending to this Body which has to contend not against flesh and blood, but against the unseen powers, be able to guard it spotless and sound, unless they far exceed human wisdom and understand all treatment needful for the soul?” (391)
“Wherefore we must show great zeal that the word of Christ may dwell richly in us. Our preparation for battle is not against a single attack. This warfare assumes manifold forms and is composed of divers enemies; for all do not use the same arms, nor have they trained themselves to attack us in one manner. And he who is undertaking to engage in warfare with all, must know the arts of all; he must be at the same time an archer and slinger; cavalry officer and infantry officer; private soldier and general; foot-soldier and horse-soldier; marine and engineer. In ordinary battles each man takes the work assigned to him and so repels the attacks of the enemy. In our warfare this is not so, but unless he who is to win the victory understands all the forms of the art, the devil knows how to introduce his own agents at each spot which is neglected, and to plunder the sheep; but he is baffled when he sees the shepherd well equipped with knowledge, and able to meet his plots.” (399-401) “Why need I enumerate the heresies of the devil? Unless the shepherd has skill enough to banish them all, the wolf can enter by any one of them and devour most of the sheep.” (402)
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