Today we're going to talk about one of the greatest heroes of early Christianity. Centuries and centuries on, his influence continues to be felt across the Church. We are going to introduce to you our father among the saints, John Chrysostom. Saint John Chrysostom lived in the 4th century. The name 'Chrysostom' was a title given to him because of his incredible eloquence. Saint John had a gift for distilling deep theological truths into simple presentation; of being able to speak complex theology in a way that could be applied to everyday life. Amongst his friends and acquaintances were some of the greatest heroes of Christianity. His commentaries on Scripture, his letters, and his sermons (known as homilies) make him one of the most quotable of all the Early Church Fathers. One year, at Easter, he delivered a sermon that is known commonly as the "Paschal Homily". It is widely regarded as one of the greatest sermons ever delivered in Christian history! This one sermon continues to be read across the Orthodox world every single year. Theological schools give entire courses just on segments of his work. He is one of the most loved, most recognised, and most researched figures in the Early Church. So, if you want to dissect, debate, or discuss John Chrysostom's life and works, this isn't the video to do that. We can only introduce him to you. We're going to talk a little bit about his life, and his impact on our Church. With all of this said about him, and with all of these accomplishments that he made, it might be easy to think he was very well respected, in his life, widely loved, and had a very simple straightforward existence. You would be wrong if you thought that. John Chrysostom, like most of our great saints, had a very difficult task ahead of him. He was called by God to a job, and that job was met with opposition. John was born in the city of Antioch in Asia Minor. His father was a military man that died when John was only a very small boy, and his mother raised him on her own. Antioch as we've said in other episodes was a massive melting pot of different cultures and different religions, and during John's time there it was one of the main centres of Christianity in the world. And he was born into an age where Christianity had only recently found public freedom. When John was old enough, he began to study under the greatest pagan philosophers of the city, and soon discovered Christianity through some of the other philosophers that were now living there. At a young age, he converted to the Christian faith. He was soon made a priest in Antioch, and became widely known and loved for his excellent sermons. He was able to teach his listeners how to know Christ, how to live with Christ. Many pagans of Antioch became Christians after listening to John Chrysostom. He lived a very, very simple life. He loved to give away whatever money came in. It is said that during his time in Antioch, thousands of people were fed meals every single day, as well as thousands of the sick being cared for for free thanks to the work of St John. As John Chrysostom's fame reached new heights, he was invited to a new job. He was invited to go to Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, one of the biggest cities of his age, and become the bishop there. This was a colossal job, and one very different from what he had been doing. He traveled to Constantinople and began his job as the bishop there with some zeal. And this zeal upset the people who thought they were getting the popular priest from Antioch, and instead got a bishop who really cared about the state of the Church. There was a lot of wealth and luxury associated with the position of Bishop of Constantinople in those days, and John was not impressed with any of it. He quickly redirected everything to the poor and the sick of Constantinople, he continued to live a very simple life. He was active in pointing out corruption in high places, he was active in stamping out heresy and problematic bishops and priests, and he was active in his sermons and his teaching which brought him new love amongst the residents of his new city. The residents loved him, the ruling parties did not. And his speaking out against their problems, their vices (their public vices!) and their corruption was to come back and hurt him later on. John did many things in his life and in his time in Constantinople. He sent missionaries to pagan areas to convert them to Christianity. He sent emissaries to break away splinter groups of Christians to bring them back into unity with the One True Church. He wrote many prayers that are still prayed by Orthodox Christians today, and he wrote The Divine Liturgy. A liturgy is a service. The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom is used by Christians around the world almost every single Sunday, of every single year, for the last 1500 years. John's liturgy isn't the only one used by the Orthodox Church, and it isn't the first one ever written. It was based off of older worship practices going back into the Old Testament, and off of the Liturgy written in the first century by Saint James. It is however the most used liturgy of the Orthodox Church. It is a beautiful work and if you are an Orthodox Christian, and you know nothing about the life of St John Chrysostom, you have probably still heard of him because his name is mentioned at the end of the service every single Sunday. Today, if you pick up a book to follow along with the service in church, you will find John Chrysostom's name there in the front page as the author of the work. And now we come back to some of the problems John Chrysostom caused by being so good. He had spoken out against corrupt public officials, he had spoken out against heretics, and he wasn't quiet about any of it. Several of these figures banded together including the empress herself, who hated John deeply, and they managed to get John arrested and brought into a court and condemned to death. The people rioted! There were protests in the street and the death sentence was quickly changed to a lifetime banishment. That very night, when the court case concluded, there was a disaster in the palace. Now it's not exactly clear what this was, some say it was a minor earthquake that hit there. Whatever it was, it was a big enough deal for the empress to say, "oh maybe we shouldn't get rid of him". And they let him off with a warning, and said, "you can stay on in Constantinople, just be careful". And of course John Chrysostom was not going to be careful, he was not going to hide the truth, and of course the people that he had spoken out against were going to keep on sinning. And they did. So his return to the state of the bishop of Constantinople, a banishment that had lasted less than a day, he remained Bishop there for only two more months, before the banishment was brought back into effect and this time John Chrysostom was actually sent out of Constantinople for good. The results of this on the city were not good. The empress herself only lived a few more months before dying suddenly. And disasters, and problems, struck Constantinople regularly so regularly in fact it is said that even the pagans of the city started realising that an injustice had been done to a very good man. In his exile, John continued being John Chrysostom. He kept writing to the churches around the world to try and encourage them in their faith, to show true teaching. And he continued from a distance to annoy the rich and powerful. Another attempt was made to get rid of him, this time it was an even further exile, to a place from which it would be even harder to hear from him. It was the middle of winter when they came for John the final time. John was not in good health. He had struggled with health problems his entire life. And he never made it to his final destination. He died on the journey there, in the company of guards. It is quite possible that he died thinking his work would be forgotten, that no one would remember him. He was hated by the very people that should have preserved his memory and loved him. But it is said that his last words before his death were "Glory to God for all things." This from a man who died miles away from anyone that knew and loved him. I doubt he could have possibly imagined the impact that his works would have for hundreds and hundreds of years. That over one and a half thousand years later, we would still remember him with love. John didn't suffer at the hands of pagans or enemies of the Church. He suffered at the hands of family really, his own fellow Christians. And yet for all of the corrupt bishops, for all of the corrupt leaders that claimed to be Christian, none of them in his eyes were big enough to eclipse the beauty of Christ. None of them were bigger than Jesus, and none of them could overshadow the need that he saw to love, serve, and protect, the Church. There is such a wealth of truth that we can learn from John Chrysostom through his homilies, through his writings, and through his own life and his own example. We might be struck with evil around us. We might be struck with corrupt behaviour even in the Church. But like Saint John, we cannot allow that to stand in the way of Christ, to overshadow the beauty of Christ, and to overshadow the beauty of His Holy Church. We too can live a life like Saint John, focused on Jesus Christ, focused on how it is to love Him and serve the Church. We too can live a life that will end with the words, "Glory to God for all things". Thank you for watching that episode on one of my nearest and dearest saintly friends. Every Orthodox Christian loves St John Chrysostom, he's just amazing. So because it's an episode on St John of the Golden Tongue, we are drinking something called haldi doodh. It is a turmeric drink, it's very creamy, and although you can't see it because I've drunk it all, it is a very bright gold colour. We will put a recipe for this in the description below, because it is absolutely delicious, and it's healthy for you