Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

John, called Chrysostom (“golden mouth”), was born around 347 at Antioch in Syria, the son of Secundus and Anthusa. His widowed mother raised him and sent him to study rhetoric with the teacher Libanius. After years of monastic life in the mountains near the city, he was ordained a deacon, and later a priest by Bishop Flavian, and became known for sermons preached in Antioch.

In 398 the emperor Arcadius made him archbishop of Constantinople. He preached against luxury and abuses at court and in the Church, and this made enemies of the empress Eudoxia and Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria. A council at the Oak deposed him in 403, and in 404 he was exiled to Armenia. Forced to march to a more distant place, he died on the way at Comana in Pontus on 14 September 407.