JOHN was born in 347 and was trained as a classical orator. He became a Christian to the disappointment of the leader of the school, who hoped that John would succeed him in that position. John then lived a strict ascetic life until the extremity of his discipline severely damaged his health, and then served as a priest at Antioch and then bishop at Constantinople, the capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire. After ecclesiastical and political conflict, he was exiled and died.

As the bishop of the capital city of the empire, he preached at the great church to the people. His sermons were copied by a stenographer, edited by John, and then published. So we have a collection of 800 sermons, expounding books of scripture and setting out his understanding of the life of virtue, with practical and down-to-earth comment and advice, as he preaches on the Christian life to his congregation. While his letters and treatises have also been preserved, it was his preaching that earned him the name Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth.

For our author, Chrysostom was more than a bishop and a preacher. He has become a conversation partner, an adviser, and a friend. She invites us to share this friendship.

She shows that several themes recur though his homilies. As bishop, he seeks to build up the community of faith. He encourages his congregation to maintain ascetic disciplines and to give generously to those in need. Then, while Christ’s work on the cross has brought salvation, we need to make moral choices and practise a virtuous life. Some of his attitudes — for example, to women, whom he sees as weak and worldly; and to Jews who rejected Christ — cause problems for a reader today, but this should remind us that we are all influenced by the attitudes of our own age and should all be ready to change and grow.

Chrysostom’s systematic exposition of scripture and his attention to the practical challenges of living the Christian life give his message an immediate and personal message to us today as much as to his congregation then.

The Revd Dr John Binns is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge.

John Chrysostom: An introduction to his life and thought
Samantha L. Miller
Cascade Books £18
(978-1-6667-7033-9)
Church Times Bookshop £16.20