John Chrysostom

"Chrysostom" means "golden mouth" in Greek. The epithet arose from the excellence of his preaching and came into wide use after his death. In English he is known as John Chrysostom, and the Korean Catholic Church renders his name as "Yohan Keuriseuseutomo." He is one of the Church Fathers, the leaders of the early church who laid the foundations of Christian doctrine and faith.

Life

He was born in Antioch, a city in what is now southern Turkey. According to tradition, he studied under the rhetorician Libanius. After a period of monastic life, he was ordained a deacon in 381 and a priest in 386, and over the following twelve years or so he gained renown as a preacher in Antioch. In 398 he became Archbishop of Constantinople, the imperial capital. He criticized the luxury of the clergy and the corruption of the court, which brought him into conflict with Empress Eudoxia and with Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria. Deposed at the Synod of the Oak in 403, he was briefly restored but was exiled again in 404. He died in 407 while being transferred to a more remote place of exile.

Ministry and Achievements

• Preaching: He left many series of expository sermons that work through books of the Bible in order, including Matthew, John, and Romans. He belongs to the interpretive tradition of the Antiochene school, which emphasized the literal and historical sense of Scripture, rather than to the Alexandrian approach, which read texts symbolically and allegorically.
• Commentary on the Pauline Epistles: His interpretation of Paul's letters greatly influenced later churches in both East and West. A frequently cited passage comes from his preaching on Romans 16:7, in which he understood Junia to be a woman and praised her as one "worthy of the title of apostle."
• Writings and liturgy: His On the Priesthood is read as a classic on the responsibilities of pastoral ministry. The liturgy most frequently celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church bears his name, though many scholars hold that its present form was not composed entirely by him.
• Concern for the poor: He is also known for sermons that stressed almsgiving and urged the sharing of wealth.

Influence on the Korean Church

In patristics and homiletics courses at Korean Protestant seminaries, he is presented as an early model of expository preaching. Because John Calvin is known to have held his commentaries in high regard, he is also frequently cited in the Reformed tradition. In recent years his interpretation of Junia has been invoked in debates over the ordination of women. Supporters of women's ordination regard it as evidence that the early church recognized female apostles, while opponents interpret the verse differently or take a different view of the nature of the office. A prayer bearing his name has long appeared in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer tradition.

Assessment

The Catholic Church honors him as a Doctor of the Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs. Protestants also generally esteem him as a Bible-centered preacher. On the other hand, his sermons Against the Jews (Adversus Judaeos), delivered in Antioch around 386–387, contain harsh denunciations of Jews. These sermons have been criticized because they were later used to support antisemitism. Some historians explain that the sermons were aimed at Christians who frequented Jewish synagogues at the time, but many scholars agree that his language was excessive.