CHRYSTOSTOM, St JOHN, a celebrated patriarch of Constantinople, and one of the most admired fathers of the Christian church, was born of a noble family at Antioch about the year 344 of our era. He studied rhetoric under Libanius, and philosophy under Andragathus, after which he spent some time in solitude in the mountains near Antioch; but the austerities which he practised having impaired his health, he returned to Antioch, where he was ordained as deacon by Meletius. Flavian, successor of Meletius, raised him to the office of presbyter five years after this; when he distinguished himself so greatly by his eloquence, that he obtained the surname of Chrysostom or Golden Mouth. Nec-tarius, patriarch of Constantinople, having died in 397, Chrysostom, whose fame had spread throughout the whole empire, was chosen in his room by the unanimous consent of both the clergy and the people. The emperor Arcadius confirmed this election, and caused him to leave Antioch privately, where the people were very unwilling to part with him. He was ordained as bishop on the 26th of Feb-
ruary 398, when he obtained an order from the emperor against the Eunomians and Montanists; reformed the abuses which existed amongst his clergy; retrenched a great part of the expenses in which his predecessors had lived, in order to enable him to feed the poor and build hospitals; and preached with the utmost zeal against the pride, luxury, and avarice of the great. But his great freedom of speech procured him many powerful enemies. He differed with Theophilus of Alexandria, who caused him to be deposed and banished; but he was soon recalled. After this, having declaimed against the dedication of a statue erected to the empress, he was banished into Cucusus in Armenia, a barren and inhospitable place; and afterwards, whilst they were removing him from Pe-tyus, the soldiers treated him so roughly that he died by the way, in the year 407. The best edition of his works, which are chiefly composed of Homilies on a great variety of subjects, is that published at Paris in 1718 by Montfaucon. "Chrysostom," says Fénélon, "seeks no false ornaments: all tends to persuasion. Every topic is disposed with this view. He knows well the Holy Scriptures, and the manners of men. He enters into the heart, and renders every thing sensible. He has high and solid thoughts, and throughout he is a great orator." Dialog. sur l'Elog.