Chrysostom

(kre-sostom,) (ST. JOHN.) [From Gr. chrysostomos, golden-mouthed, so called from his unrivalled eloquence.] The most eloquent of the Fathers of the Greek Church, B. at Antioch, 347 A. D. He abandoned the study of the law for the teaching of Christian doctrine, and dwelt for 6 years in a state of rigorous seclusion amid the mountains. Ordained deacon in 381, and presbyter five years later, C. attained great renown by his preaching, particularly against iconoclasm. In 398, he was consecrated bishop of Constantinople, upon which he introduced such rigorous reforms within the church as to eventually cause a powerful opposition to be organized against him. Refusing to appear before a synod in 403, there to answer certain charges alleged against him, he was banished the state, and D. at Pityus, or Pontus, on the Euxine, in 407. The most valuable of his theological writings are the homilies on the New Testament and on the Psalms, which have been reproduced in the Oxford Library of the Fathers. In the Roman Catholic Church, his festival is commemorated on the 27th of January. [s. 186]