ABSTRACT
For a figure of the importance of John Chrysostom, it is surprising that althoughwe know that he was born in Syrian Antioch (see Figure 45.1), on the Orontes, his birthdate is unknown, although it fell some time in the period 340-50 ce (Kelly 1995: 296-8). He was from a well-off family and in his youth studied philosophy, and probably learned rhetoric from the famous sophist Libanius. At the age of 18, however, he transferred his attentions for three years to Meletius the Confessor, an Armenian then in charge of one faction of the Nicene Antiochene church, who saw in him promise of great things to come. During this period he also began studying asceticism and theology. Hankering after a more extreme ascetic life, he then withdrew to the mountains outside Antioch and lived with an old hermit for four years, before spending two years of even more rigorous mortification in a cave, largely on his own (Palladius, Dialogue 5). He returned to Antioch and was ordained a deacon in 381 by Meletius and a priest in 386 by bishop Flavian. He held this second office from 386-97, in the process establishing a reputation as one of the greatest orators the church has ever known. For much of this period Theodosius I was emperor in Constantinople. Indeed, in 387, when the actions of a mob in mutilating the statues of the imperial family in Antioch had led Theodosius to consider destroying the city entirely, Chrysostom delivered a particularly magnificent series of homilies (De statuis) to strengthen the Antiochene faithful.
