Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/185

Rh was attacked by a body of fanatical monks, probably the tools of Pharetrius, who threatened to burn it over his head unless he instantly quitted it. Driven out by their fury, Chrysostom, suffering from a fresh attack of fever, found refuge in the country house of a wealthy lady near, named Seleucia. But the threats of Pharetrius prevailed on Seleucia to turn Chrysostom out of doors in the middle of the night, on the pretext that the barbarians were at hand, and that he must seek safety by flight. The dangers of that terrible night, when the fugitives' torches were extinguished for fear of the Isaurians and, his mule having fallen under the weight of his litter, he was taken up for dead and had to be dragged or rather carried along the precipitous mountain tracks, are graphically described in his letters to Olympias (Epp. 12, 14). He reached Cucusus towards the end of August. His reception was of a nature to compensate for the fatigues of the way and to mitigate the trials of exile (Ep. 14, § 1). He found agreeable occupation in writing and receiving letters, and in social intercourse with congenial friends. Never even as bp. of Constantinople did he exert a wider and more powerful influence. The East was almost governed from a mountain village of Armenia. His advice was sought from all quarters. No important ecclesiastical measure was undertaken without consulting him. In the words of Gibbon, "the three years spent at Cucusus were the most glorious of his life. From that solitude Chrysostom, whose active mind was invigorated by misfortunes, maintained a strict and frequent correspondence with the most distant provinces; exhorted the separate congregations of his faithful adherents to persevere in their allegiance; urged the destruction of the temples of Phoenicia, and the extirpation of heresy in the isle of Cyprus; extended his pastoral care to the missions of Persia and Scythia, and negotiated by his ambassadors with the Roman pontiff and the emperor Honorius." His voluminous correspondence, which all belongs to this period, shews how close a connexion he kept up with the clergy and laity of his former diocese, and how unremitting was his oversight of the interests of his church (Soz. H. E. viii. 27). His chief cause of suffering was the variable climate and the length and severity of the winter. In the winter of 405 the intelligence that the Isaurian brigands were intending a coup de main on Cucusus drove nearly the whole of the inhabitants from the town. Chrysostom joined the fugitives. The feeble old man with a few faithful companions, including the presbyter Evethius and the aged deaconess Sabiniana, wandered from place to place, often passing the night in forests or ravines, pursued by the terror of the Isaurians, until they reached the mountain fort of Arabissus, some 60 miles from Cucusus, in the castle of which place, "more a prison than a home," he spent a winter of intense suffering, harassed by the fear of famine and pestilence, unable to procure his usual medicines, and deprived of the comfort of his friends' letters, the roads being blocked with snow and beset by the Isaurians who ravaged the whole district with fire and sword (Epp. 15, 61, 69, 70, 127, 131). Once he narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the marauders, who made a nocturnal attack, and all but took the town (Ep. 135). With the return of spring the Isaurians retired, and Chrysostom was able to descend to Cucusus early in 406. After Arabissus this desolate little town seemed a paradise. His greatest joy was in being nearer his friends and receiving their letters more regularly (Epp. 126, 127, 128). A third winter brought its usual hardships, but Chrysostom was now somewhat acclimatized and endured them without a recurrence of illness (Epp. 4, 142). His wonderful preservation from dangers hitherto, and the manner in which his feeble health, instead of sinking under the accumulated trials of his banishment, became invigorated, awoke sanguine anticipations, and he now confidently anticipated his return from banishment and his resumption of the care of his diocese (Epp. 1, 2, 4). But this was not to be. The unhappy Eudoxia had preceded the victim of her hatred to the grave, but left other equally relentless enemies behind. Stung with disappointment that the rigours of Cucusus had failed to kill him, and that from his mountain banishment he exercised a daily growing influence, they obtained a rescript from Arcadius transferring him first to Arabissus (Pallad. p. 96), and then to the small town of Pityus at the roots of Caucasus on the bleak N.E. shores of the Euxine. This was chosen as the most ungenial and inhospitable spot in the whole empire, and therefore the most certain to rid them quickly of his hated existence, even if, as proved to be the case, the long and toilsome journey had not previously quenched the feeble spark of life. This murderous purpose was plainly evidenced by the selection of two specially ferocious and brutal praetorian guards to convey him there, with instructions to push forward with the most merciless haste, regardless of weather or the health of their prisoner, a hint being privately given that they might expect promotion if he died on the road (ib. p. 98). The journey was to be made on foot. Towns where he might enjoy any approach to comfort and have the refreshment of a warm bath were to be avoided. The necessary halts, as few and brief as possible, were to be at squalid villages or in the unsheltered country. All letters were forbidden, the least communication with passers-by punished with brutal blows. In spite of some approach to consideration on the part of one of his guards, the three months' journey between Cucusus and Comana must have been one long slow martyrdom to the fever-stricken old man. His body was almost calcined by the sun, and, to adopt Palladius's forcible image, resembled a ripe apple ready to fall from the tree (ib. p. 99). On reaching Comana it was evident that Chrysostom was entirely worn out. But his pitiless guard hurried him through the town without a moment's halt. Five or six miles outside stood a chapel over the tomb of the martyred bishop, Basiliscus. Here they halted for the night. In the morning Chrysostom begged for a brief respite in vain; but he had gone scarcely four miles when a violent attack of fever compelled them to return to the chapel. Chrysostom was supported to the altar, and, clothed in white baptismal robes, he distributed his own clothes to the bystanders, 