Feast: September 13 (traditional Roman calendar)
Early Life
John was born in Antioch, around the year 347. His father, Secundus, was a military officer who died while John was still an infant. His mother, Anthusa, only twenty years old at his birth, became renowned for her Christian virtue and widowed fidelity. She gave her son a pious upbringing, steeped in the Scriptures.
Gifted with intelligence, John studied under the famous pagan orator Libanius, mastering rhetoric and philosophy. Libanius himself is said to have remarked, when asked who should succeed him as his best pupil: “John, if the Christians had not stolen him from us.”
Monastic Zeal
At around age 20, John was baptized and soon gave himself entirely to the service of Christ. He studied theology under Diodorus of Tarsus and then withdrew to a life of asceticism among the hermits near Antioch. For nearly six years he lived in extreme austerity, memorizing Scripture and practicing perpetual prayer. Ill health eventually forced him to return to the city, but his love of poverty and detachment never left him.
Priesthood and Preaching
Ordained a priest by Bishop Meletius, John began his extraordinary preaching in Antioch. His homilies attracted immense crowds, for he explained Scripture with clarity, defended Catholic doctrine with precision, and exhorted the faithful to holiness with fiery eloquence. It was for this reason he was later called Chrysostom—“the Golden-Mouthed.”
He denounced sins boldly, especially the vanity and excesses of the wealthy, and consoled the poor and oppressed. His sermons on the Gospel of Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles of St. Paul remain masterpieces of patristic theology.
Patriarch of Constantinople
In 398, John was made Patriarch of Constantinople, the imperial capital. There he set himself to reforming the clergy, restoring dignity to the sacred liturgy, and curbing the extravagance of the court. His fearless denunciation of corruption, even among the powerful, earned him many enemies—especially the Empress Eudoxia, who resented his rebukes of her vanity.
Exile and Death
Through the intrigues of the court and the jealousy of other bishops, John was twice exiled. In his second banishment, he was sent on a grueling journey to the distant mountains of Armenia. Worn down by fatigue, hunger, and illness, he died on September 14, 407 at Comana in Pontus, uttering as his last words:
“Glory be to God for all things.”
Veneration
His relics were later brought back in triumph to Constantinople, and in the Middle Ages they were transferred to Rome, where they are venerated in St. Peter’s Basilica. He is honored as one of the four great Doctors of the Greek Church (with St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Athanasius).