ABSTRACT
The Syrian priest and bishop John (c.350–407), who in the sixth century was honored with the epithet chrysostomos (“golden-mouth”), is one of the major saints of the Orthodox Christian world. The Byzantine liturgical rite that developed over the centuries in Constantinople, to which he initially contributed, has long been attributed to him (Taft 1975–2000) and so powerful was his preaching that more than 800 authentic homilies survive (Clavis Patrum Graecorum [CPG] 4317–99, 4406, 4409–42, 4456–72). An additional c.3,000 homilies not authored by him have been passed down under his name (Voicu 1996, 1997, 2008). When combined with the fourteen treatises he produced (CPG 4305–16, 4400–401, 4455) and c.240 letters (CPG 4402–5), the vast size and enduring influence of his works are rivaled only by those of his western contemporary, Augustine. His popularity, his role at the center of a schism that split the Mediterranean Christian world in the first decades of the fifth century, and the plethora of sources that recorded that event (listed by Baur 1959–60: xix–xliv; Kelly 1995: 291–95), the majority of which characterize him as a saint (Mayer 2008), have contributed to the enduring character of his memory.
