Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/186

168 partook of the blessed Eucharist, prayed a last prayer "for present needs," uttered his accustomed doxology, "Glory be to God for all things," and having sealed it with an "Amen," yielded up his soul to his Saviour, Sept. 14, 407, in the 60th year of his age and 10th of his episcopate, 3 years and a quarter of which he had spent in exile. He was buried in the martyry by the side of Basiliscus (ib. pp. 99‒101). Thirty-one years afterwards (Jan. 27, 438), when Theodosius II. was emperor, and Proclus, formerly a disciple of Chrysostom, was bp. of Constantinople, Chrysostom's body was taken from its grave near Comana and translated with great pomp to his own episcopal city, and deposited hard by the altar in the church of the Holy Apostles, the place of sepulture of the imperial family and of the bishops of Constantinople, the young emperor and his sister Pulcheria assisting at the ceremony, and asking the pardon of Heaven for the grievous wrong inflicted by their parents on the sainted bishop (Socr. H. E. vii. 45; Theod. H. E. v. 36; Evagr. H. E. iv. 31).

The personal appearance of Chrysostom, as described by contemporary writers, though dignified, was not imposing. His stature was diminutive (σωμάτιον); his limbs long, and so emaciated by early austerities and habitual self-denial that he compares himself to a spider (ἀραχνώδης, Ep. 4). His very lofty forehead, furrowed with wrinkles, expanded widely at the summit, his head was bald "like that of Elisha," his eyes deeply set, but keen and piercing; his cheeks pallid and withered; his chin pointed and covered with a short beard. His habits were of the simplest, his personal wants few and easily satisfied. The excessive austerities of his youth had ruined his digestive powers and he was unable to eat food except in the smallest quantities and of the plainest kind. Outward display in dress, equipage, or furniture was most distasteful to him. Enamoured of the cloister, the life of the bishop of the capital of the Eastern world, compelled by his position to associate with persons of the highest rank and magnificence of life, was intolerable. It is not surprising that he was thought morose and ungenial and was unpopular with the upper classes. His strength of will, manly independence, and dauntless courage were united with an inflexibility of purpose, a want of consideration for the weaknesses of others, and an impatience at their inability to accept his high standard, which rendered him harsh and unconciliatory. Intolerant of evil in himself, he had little tolerance for it in other men. His feebleness of stomach produced an irritability of temper, which sometimes led to violent outbursts of anger. He was accused of being arrogant and passionate. He was easily offended and too ready to credit evil of those whom he disliked. Not mixing with the world himself, he was too dependent on the reports of his friends, who, as in the case of Serapion, sometimes abused his confidence to their own purposes. But however austere and reserved to the worldly and luxurious, he was ever loving and genial to his chosen associates. In their company his natural playfulness and amiability was shewn, and perhaps few ever exercised a more powerful influence over the hearts and affections of the holiest and most exalted natures. His character is well summed up by Dr. Newman—"a bright, cheerful, gentle soul," his unrivalled charm "lying in his singleness of purpose, his fixed grasp of his aim, his noble earnestness; he was indeed a man to make both friends and enemies, to inspire affection and kindle resentment; but his friends loved him with a love 'stronger' than 'death,' and his enemies hated him with a hatred more burning than 'hell,' and it was well to be so hated, if he was so beloved."

Chrysostom's extant works are more voluminous than those of any other Father, filling 13 folios in the Benedictine ed. They may be roughly divided into—I. Treatises;  II. Expositions of Scripture, chiefly in the form of Homilies, but partly continuous Commentaries;  III. Homilies, (a) doctrinal, (b) occasional, (c) panegyrical, (d) general;  IV. Letters;  V. Liturgy.

I. Treatises.—The earliest works we have from his pen are his letters ad Theodorum Lapsum, i. ii. (see supra), written while Chrysostom was still resident at Antioch before A.D. 372. To his early monastic life we may assign the two books de Compunctione, addressed respectively to Demetrius and Stelechius. His three books in defence of the monastic life (adversus Oppugnatores Vitae Monasticae) were called forth by the decree of Valens enforcing military service and civil functions on monks, A.D. 373. His short treatise, Comparatio Regis et Monachi, belongs to the same period. The three books de Providentiâ, written to console his friend Stagirius, the subject of an hysterical seizure then identified with demoniacal possession, were probably composed after his return to Antioch, i.e. subsequently to 381. Before ordination to the priesthood he composed two letters on the superior happiness of a single life (ad Viduam Juniorem) and his treatise on celibacy (de Virginitate). His six books de Sacerdotio, justly ranked among his ablest, most instructive, and most eloquent writings, are among his earliest, and placed by Socrates (H.E. vi. 3) in the first days of his diaconate, c. 382. Its maturity of thought and sobriety of tone prevent our fixing this work at a much earlier period. The treatises denouncing the custom for the clergy to have "spiritual sisters" residing under the same roof with them (contra eos qui subintroductas habent; Regulares foeminae viris cohabitare non debent), incorrectly assigned by Socrates (ib.) to his diaconate, were written, Palladius tells us (p. 45), after he became bp. of Constantinople, c. 398. To his exile belong the Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso, and Ad eos qui scandalizati sunt ob adversitates.

II. Expositions of Scripture.—It is as an expositor of Scripture that Chrysostom is most deservedly celebrated. His method of dealing with the divine Word is characterized by the sound grammatical and historical principles and the healthy common sense, introduced by his tutor Diodorus, which mark the exegetical school of Antioch. He seeks to discover not what the passage before him may be made to mean, but what it was intended to mean; not what recondite lessons or truths may be forced from it by mystical or allegorical interpretations, but what it was intended to convey; 