c. 350–407

John Chrysostom: from Antioch to the See of Constantinople and Exile

John was a native of Antioch and a student of the rhetorician Libanius. After his baptism he lived as a hermit. Then he was ordained deacon by Meletius in 381 and presbyter by Flavian in 386.

A disciple of Diodore of Tarsus, he adopted the literal method of the Antiochene school. He became famous for preaching directed at practical life, including homilies occasioned by the Antioch riot of 387.

In 397/398 the emperor summoned him to the capital. To avoid unrest, he was secretly taken out of Antioch and consecrated bishop of Constantinople. There he put church finances in order, sold sacred vessels to help the starving, and denounced the luxury of the nobility. But the deposition of six bishops at Ephesus and his defense of the "Tall Brothers," persecuted by Theophilus of Alexandria, turned the court and Theophilus himself against him.

At the "Synod of the Oak" in 403 he was condemned and exiled, but soon recalled. After a new clash with Empress Eudoxia in 404, he was finally exiled to Cucusus and then toward the Black Sea. He died in 407 on the way to his exile.