Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/574

 562 CHRYSOSTOM nowned Libanius, then teaching at Antioch. <Libanius, who had formerly had among his pupils the great Basil of Csesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his bosom friend Greg- ory Nazianzen, had also been the master of the emperor Julian, and his most ardent auxiliary in his endeavor to put down Christianity and restore the worship of the old gods. He wel- comed John, soon discovered his genius, la- bored to develop it, and predicted the preemi- nence which his favorite pupil afterward at- tained. At the age of 18 he was practising at the bar, where even then more than one great success laid the foundation of his fame. This, as well as his social position and the virtues of his mother, drew on him the eyes of Mele- tius, bishop of Antioch, who wished to secure as a member of his clergy one so full of prom- ise. He instructed and baptized him, gave him his first lessons in ecclesiastical science, ordained him lector or reader, and assigned him a residence beneath his own roof. This was not what his mother had designed for him ; she had set her heart on seeing him foremost in the race for worldly honors, and resisted with all her might his entrance on a career so different. She represented to him that for love of him she had in youth renounced all earthly joys, and that he must not think of forsaking her now when old age and its in- firmities were fast approaching. It was all in vain. The same wave of ascetic fervor which was carrying away into solitude and the aus- terities of monastic life the very 61ite of Chris- tian youth, bore John into the mountains which surrounded his native city. For six years, two of which were spent in a hermitage, he gave himself up to a life divided between the study of the Scriptures and prayer, mortifying his body meanwhile with such rigor that his limbs were nearly paralyzed. The urgent so- licitations of his friends at length drew him back to Antioch, where the pallor of his coun- tenance and his extreme emaciation touched all beholders with pity or veneration. Several years passed before ho was ordained deacon. In 381 Meletius died. A rival Christian fac- tion, with Paulinus as its bishop, had divided the church at Antioch. John, while yet a deacon, strove in vain to heal the schism. Fla- vian, successor to Meletius, appreciated his learning, eloquence, and disinterestedness. So great, indeed, was the esteem in which he was held throughout Asia Minor, that even before his elevation to the priesthood the neighboring bishops sought to raise him to the episcopal office. He shrank from the honor and respon- sibility, but induced his friend Basil to accept the proffered rank. In 386 John became & priest, and commenced his course as a preacher. He was justly considered even then as the shining light of the eastern church. In 397 the see of Constantinople became vacant by the death of Nectarius. For three months ri- val candidates and contending factions sought to no purpose to fill the coveted see. The eunuch Eutropius, then all-powerful at court, and who had heard John's preaching, submitted his name to the emperor Arcadius. The latter approved of the choice ; and forthwith a mes- senger was sent to Asterius, prefect of the East, who resided at Antioch, bidding him to secure by some stratagem the person of the presbyter John, and send him to Constanti- nople. John was invited by Asterius to ac- company him on a visit to a new church just erected outside of Antioch, and his chariot was driven amid an armed escort toward the Bos- porus. After the first emotion of surprise and anger, John thought he saw in all this the hand of an overruling Providence, and sub- mitted passively. The episcopal chair of Con- stantinople, in which John now found himself, had a few years before been adorned by Greg- ory Nazianzen. Nectarius, whom Theodosius chose as his successor, had not even been bap- tized when, to his dismay, he, in the midst of the second general council, saw himself raised to such an exalted rank. But he discharged his episcopal functions with a careful piety, charm- ing Theodosius and his court by his majestic presence and graceful manners, and dispensing in the patriarchal residence a princely hospital- ity to the many churchmen whom business drew to the capital. Chrysostom brought a new spirit to these halls. He resolved to make his house- hold a model for every household of church- man and layman within his jurisdiction, and his own life a mirror in which every bishop and priest should see what they must be them- selves in order to be true shepherds in Christ's flock. Ho made a monastic frugality preside over his table and all his domestic expenses. The rich furniture of his predecessors and their abundant wardrobe of silks and cloth of gold were sold at auction, and the proceeds given to the poor. Nectarius had purposed erecting a magnificent basilica, and collected a large quantity of precious marbles and other rare building material. John did not hesitate to sell them for the benefit of the needy classes. The very sacred vessels which he judged too costly for the altar were similarly disposed of. This displeased the clergy, while the people were taught to attribute these reforms to par- simony or avarice. But when the poorly clad archbishop appeared in the pulpit of St. Sophia, his hearers forgot everything but that they possessed a man of God in their midst. It is impossible to study his works without being impressed with his deep devotion to the people. Hence, in Constantinople as at Antioch, when- ever he preached the largest edifices could not contain the crowds who flocked to hear him. They surrounded him in the streets, pouring blessings on his head as he passed along; and when his liberty or his life w:is threatened at a later period, they watched night and day around his dwelling. " I love you," he one day exclaimed to the worshipping throng "I love you as you love me. What should I be without you ? You are to me fa-