On all but a few Sundays of the
year, we celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. This coming Wednesday, we will celebrate his
memory as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs together with Sts. Basil the Great
and Gregory the Theologian. And today we
remember the return of his relics to Constantinople in 438, thirty years after
his death in exile due to his prophetic criticism of the abuses of the Empress
Eudoxia.
St. John plays such a prominent role
in the history of the Church because his ministry combined bold preaching, faithful
biblical interpretation and doctrinal teaching, asceticism, rigorous oversight
of the clergy, liturgical reform, love for the poor, and fearless opposition to
evil in high places. A very popular
preacher in Antioch where he was not afraid to make clear the tension between
God’s requirements and popular forms of behavior, he was essentially forced to become
the Archbishop of Constantinople, the capital city. St. John tightened discipline in the church
there and continued to speak the word of the Lord without compromise, which is
a dangerous thing to do around powerful people.
He was first deposed and banished for offending the empress and certain
church leaders, but was then allowed to return after she took an earthquake to
be a sign from God. Nonetheless, St.
John denounced the celebrations surrounding the dedication of a silver statue
of the empress near his cathedral. She
exiled him again, and he died as a result of the very rough treatment he
received.
During the reign of the empress’ son
Theodosius the Younger, St. John’s relics were returned to Constantinople. St Proclus had
preached a sermon praising St John in which he said, "O John, your life
was filled with sorrow, but your death was glorious. Your grave is blessed and
reward is great, by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, O graced one,
having conquered the bounds of time and place!" At the request of the people, St. Proclus got
the approval of Emperor Theodosius to bring St. John’s relics back to Constantinople. But those sent to carry the coffin literally
could not move it until a letter of apology from the emperor was placed on
it.
When the coffin
was opened, his
remains were incorrupt, which in the experience of the Church is a sign of
holiness, for the bodies of the saints share already in Christ’s victory over
death and decay. (Recall that in the Old
Testament a dead man came back to life after contact with the bones of the
prophet Elisha.) The emperor spoke as
though he were his mother, begging St. John’s forgiveness and asking for his
intercessions for her soul. When St.
John’s body was placed on his episcopal throne, the people heard him say,
“Peace be with you all as he blessed them.”
It may be hard for us to process
such an astounding account, but we must remember that those who have died in
Christ are alive in Him. We are
surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and we look for the resurrection of
the dead and the life of the world to come.
Though it is completely beyond our rational understanding, we encounter
in these miraculous events a sign of our salvation, a foreshadowing of the
resurrection of the body, and a reminder that there is one Church in heaven and
on earth.
Think for a moment about what kind
of person God has magnified in these ways in the memory and experience of the
Church. St. John Chrysostom is not
someone who made it easy on himself or on others. He did not water down the faith so that it
would fit easily with a conventional life. He did not seek power, fame, or
wealth. He was not afraid to give his
own life for the sake of God’s kingdom or to go against the dominant trends of
his society. His homilies still speak to
us with clarity and challenge us to live a holy life in a world that really has
not changed that much morally and spiritually since his day.
Too often, we remember saints only
with a few minutes of chanting and reading or with a good meal. There’s nothing wrong with those sorts of
commemorations, but they should be just the beginning. For the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us
is not simply an interesting part of our religious calendar, but a vital
dimension of our life in Christ. We are
members of the same Body with them. We
benefit not only from the fine example that they set and their contributions in
theology, liturgy, and hymns, but also from their ongoing prayers on our
behalf. If you doubt that, read the book
of Revelation with its portraits of so many martyrs around the throne of God
who beseech Him on behalf of those suffering persecution.
Those whose lives have so clearly
manifested the holiness of God are not simply dead and gone, but alive in
Christ, worshiping Him constantly and praying that we will join them. Of course, we do not join them only after our
own death, but already now in the worship of the Church. The Divine Liturgy is our collective participation
in the Heavenly Banquet together with all the saints and the heavenly host, but
the Christian life does not end there. As
those who have entered into the worship of heaven and been nourished by the
Body and Blood of our Savior, every dimension of our lives should manifest the
holiness of God seven days a week. No,
we cannot all do everything and no two people are totally identical. But the even as St. John displayed
faithfulness in so many ways, we too are called to offer every bit of who we
are to the Lord. In other words, we
cannot pretend that holiness is for this part of our lives, but not for that
part. We cannot compartmentalize who we
are, for Christ came to bring us—body, soul, and spirit-- into His. The Lord wants us all to become incorrupt, to
be healed from the decay of sin and evil in all its forms.
When we proclaim belief in the
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, we surely want the
Lord to remember us as whole persons in His Kingdom, and that includes every
dimension of who we are. We cannot
understand it rationally, but eternal life encompasses the whole person and
even the whole creation. If we want an
example of how to participate already in that all-encompassing blessedness, we
should look to St. John Chrysostom. He
did not keep true Christianity confined to services, sermons, or what was
socially acceptable; instead, he lived out what he taught and believed with
integrity. He staked his life on
faithfulness to Jesus Christ, Who has magnified him in the memory of the
Church. Let us all follow his example of
obedience to the Savior in thought, word, and deed, for that is how we too may
become living icons of His salvation together with all the saints who have gone
before us.
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