13 September - John Chrysostome was born in Antioch between 344 and 349. His family, Christian, belonged to the Antiochian bourgeoisie. His father, an officer in the Syrian army, lost his life while John was still a child. He is then raised by his mother.
Towards the years 369-372, John, being more interested than anything else in Sacred Scripture, asked for baptism, after meeting Bishop Mélèce. Antioch was then an important theological center, and John became a pupil of Diodorus of Tarsus, the undisputed master of the time. It was with this great exegete that he became sensitive to the literal meaning of the sacred texts. These meditations awakened in him a certain taste for solitude and asceticism: he nevertheless renounced going to the desert so as not to sadden his mother. Ordained a reader by Milece, the bishop of Antioch, he devoted himself to theology. But the call of the desert ends up triumphing: in 374, John renounces the world he loved so much to venture, not without apprehension, into arid places.
After a few years, in 380, he returned to Antioch. During the winter of 380-381, he is ordained deacon by Larch. In 386, Flavian, successor of Larch, conferred the priesthood on him. John's main ministry then became preaching as well as spiritual direction.
In 397, Nectaire, Archbishop of Constantinople, lost his life. At the end of a fierce battle of succession, the emperor Arcadius chooses John. He rises then with a great force against the corruption of the morals and the licentious life of the large ones, which attracts him many violent hatreds. He imposes his authority on the surrounding dioceses of Asia Minor. Disgusted with his duties of representation, he took his meals alone and imposed a frugal and austere lifestyle on those around him. Although he initially enjoyed the favor of the imperial couple, he quickly won the enmity of the upper classes and the bishops with his severe criticism of their way of life which was not in conformity with the Gospel ideal.
In 402, John is involved in the affair of Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, publicly accused of tyranny and injustice by a group of monks. The monks appeal to John, who tries to recuse himself, but must finally agree to preside over a synod, convened by the emperor, before which Theophilus is supposed to appear. The case then turns against John. He is then deposed and condemned, condemnation ratified by Flavius Arcadius.
He is at once called back at the request of the empress. However, the charges take again against him. Finally, he is a second time condemned and exiled in Cucusus, in Armenia. However, his fame was growing. In front of the influx of the visitors who come to him, he is exiled in 407, on imperial order, in Pithyos. Weakened by the disease, Jean dies during the voyage near Comana in the Bridge. His last words were his customary doxology: "Glory to God for everything. Amen".
The Roman Church has always remained faithful to Bishop John. Pope Innocent I wrote to him in his exile to console him. He condemned the Council of the Oak Tree which had deposed him and recognized John as the only legitimate patriarch of Constantinople.
In 438, Emperor Theodosius II had John's remains repatriated to Constantinople; they were triumphantly deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles. First taken to Venice by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade (1204), then transferred to Rome, where they were venerated for nearly 800 years under the altar of a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome's Vatican City, They were finally returned on November 27, 2004 by Pope John Paul II to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, as a sign of reconciliation between Roman Catholics and Orthodox, and have since been preserved and venerated in the Church of St. George of the Phanar in Constantinople.
