Глава третья. Св. Иоанн Златоуст на престоле Константинопольском (398–404 гг.)

When St. John was finishing his pastoral work in Antioch; an important change took place in the political state of the world. In 396, Emperor Theodosius died, taking with him to his grave the last reflections of the greatness of the Roman Empire. He had two sons left - Arcadius and Honorius, and he, in order not to arouse hostility between them, and mainly not considering any of them capable of taking on the entire burden of governing a huge empire, which was clearly declining, divided the empire between them, giving Honorius the west, and Arcadia - its eastern half. Both of them were still young people and, moreover, not generously endowed by nature in order to carry out the difficult service entrusted to them with dignity and success. It is not surprising, therefore, that the real rulers of the state were not they, but those around them, among whom the leading place was occupied by: in the west, the famous commander Stilicho, and in the east, the no less famous courtier, the eunuch Eutropius. The latter, having emerged from a slave state thanks to various accidents and especially his natural mind, managed to earn the favor of the late Emperor Theodosius, who before his death entrusted important assignments to him, and after his death, of course, became the main guardian of the young Arkady and the actual ruler of the state. This eunuch was the instrument through which the Providence of God brought St. John to the see of Constantinople. When, after the death of Archbishop Nektarios, the question arose about his successor, it was not easy to resolve it. The position was very important, and therefore many claims were made on it. Arkady didn't know what to do or who to choose. Then Eutropius rescued him from his difficulty. As a person not alien to religiosity, he was interested in church affairs and during his time in Antioch he did not fail to listen to the famous Antioch preacher. John made a strong impression on him with his sermons, and now Eutropius suggested to the emperor how good it would be for the church of the capital city of his empire to have such a famous shepherd at its head. Arkady agreed, and immediately the governor of the east, Asterius, was given a secret order to take and bring John to the capital. The order was unexpected both for John and for the Antiochian people, and it was not easy to fulfill it. The Antiochians would never have agreed to voluntarily part with their beloved shepherd, and any violence would have led to rebellion. Therefore, the order was given to take John by cunning, which was done by Asterius, who, calling John out of the city as if for joint veneration of the relics of St. martyrs, ordered him to be taken into a chariot, which rushed to Constantinople. The humble shepherd, having learned about the real purpose of his call outside the city, of course, grieved, casting a farewell glance at his native Antioch, where he worked so hard for the good of his beloved people; but, obedient to the Providence of God, he completely reconciled himself with this circumstance and calmly approached the reigning city. The emperor graciously met the famous shepherd and, in order to add more solemnity and splendor to his consecration, summoned many bishops for this, who, led by Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria, ordained John on February 26, 398 to the rank of Archbishop of Constantinople. Now John was no longer a simple shepherd-preacher in a provincial town. He was the archbishop of the capital, the patriarch of the reigning city, and sat on the throne of the second Rome. His position was very high, but at the same time difficult. The Church of Constantinople, founded according to the legend of St. ap. Andrei, survived many vicissitudes and from the time of Byzantium’s elevation to the status of the capital of the Eastern Empire, it acquired great, pre-eminent importance in the East. In fact, it was the center of the church, religious and spiritual life of the entire East. But as a result of precisely this situation, she was most strongly overwhelmed by various trends. In the capital, all kinds of false teachings found shelter and support, which quickly took root among the frivolous, pleasure-loving population, and whose adherents knew how to gain access even to the imperial court. As a result, there were times when false teaching, especially Arianism, brazenly celebrated its victory in the capital, threatening to completely supplant Orthodoxy. This is exactly what happened recently, under Gregory the Theologian, who, having arrived in Constantinople, saw with regret that all the most important fourteen churches of the capital were in the hands of the Arians, and Orthodoxy huddled in only one house church, which, under his beneficial shepherd, became the source of the restoration, or resurrection, of Orthodoxy. But although Orthodoxy was restored, the influence of false teaching was so great that it was difficult for this great archbishop-theologian to shepherd a flock so dissolute both spiritually and morally, and therefore, soon after his elevation to the rank of archbishop, he renounced this high rank. Nektarios, one of the secular court dignitaries, was chosen as his successor. This hierarch was distinguished by his piety, but he was too weak for the capital see, and although his reign was smooth and calm, everyone clearly felt that a different shepherd was needed on the throne of the capital, who would have enough courage to not only plead, but also prohibit, and generally show the firmness of church authority when circumstances required. Nektarios did not have such courage, and therefore after him the capital’s church remained in a rather unsettled state. The people, completely devoted to pleasures and passions, did not respect their shepherds, and the latter, not excluding the bishops, also led a completely worldly life. All this deeply struck and saddened John. If in Antioch he saw so many shortcomings and vices, with which he waged an irreconcilable struggle, then there these were the shortcomings of the unreasonable flock, which needed admonition from the shepherds; and here the shepherds themselves demanded no less admonition and punishment. And St. John immediately realized what a difficult and responsible place he had been placed in by Providence. Even in his youth, he was aware of the height and severity of episcopal service, and that is why he evaded it, hiding from his friend Vasily. Now, against his will, having found himself in the pulpit of the leading church, he could be even more convinced of this. But now he no longer avoided the burden of his ministry. On the contrary, placed in such a high and difficult position, he, as a true shepherd of the church, decided to show himself worthy of his title and courageously entered into the exercise of his arduous ministry. His first task was to show himself to his new flock as a pastor-teacher. This was what the people expected most of all from him, knowing about his brilliant eloquence and anticipating the great pleasure of listening to the famous preacher. And indeed, the first conversations of St. John in Constantinople, countless numbers of people gathered, and the archpastor could rejoice at the zeal of his flock to listen to the word of God. With divinely inspired power, golden words of edification and interpretation of the word of God flowed from his lips, the listeners came into indescribable delight, and the vaults of the church resounded with noisy, often frantic applause and all kinds of signs of approval. John condemned such signs of approval back in Antioch, seeing in them a manifestation of human vanity; I couldn’t sympathize with them even now. But his grief became all the stronger as he became convinced that these noisy approvals here were even less a sign of the penetration of words of edification into the souls of the listeners than among the Antiochian people, and, on the contrary, it was only proof of the extreme vanity of his new flock, which did not distinguish the church from the theater. The listeners obviously liked the brilliance of the preacher's eloquence, and not the edifying power of his words. Therefore, he decided to act even more energetically than in Antioch to combat such licentiousness and in his conversations repeatedly begged his listeners to abandon this habit and listen to edification in quiet silence and contrition of heart. “Listen to me calmly,” he said repeatedly, “I beg you to do this, and, if you like, let’s make it a rule today that none of the listeners allow themselves to interrupt the preacher... Do as I ask you, and you will find here a source of good and a school of wisdom. When even pagan philosophers reasoned in front of their students, the latter listened to them without interrupting with applause. The apostles also preached, and we do not read anywhere that they were interrupted by noisy applause. Jesus Christ talked with the people on the mountain, and when He spoke, no shouts were heard. There is nothing more decent for the church than silence and modesty. Noise and clicks are appropriate for a theater, baths, public square, and social ceremonies. The presentation of our dogmas requires calm, concentration, that quiet haven for protection from storms. Think about this, I ask you, I beg you... Establish such a rule and you will do everything only for the glory of God” 20. But the bad habit was so strong among the capital’s population that it was difficult to overcome, and St. John, not limiting himself to teaching, decided to show an example of severity in himself in front of this dissolute flock. The more dissolute the flock, the stricter the shepherd should be, and St. John, zealous for the salvation of the souls entrusted to his care, devoted himself to pastoral activity to the point of complete self-sacrifice and oblivion of himself. The very position of the Archbishop of Constantinople required from him a wide public, rich hospitality and constant participation in feasts at the invitation of the nobility. Such a life, of course, took up a lot of time, which could have been spent on pastoral service, and therefore St. John found it necessary to immediately put himself differently and, refusing all invitations, led the life of a hermit who did not attach any importance to his own needs, took the merest food and, moreover, always alone, and began to use all the savings remaining from his income for works of mercy and charity. The doors of his house were always open - but not for those idle ambitious people who only gratified their vanity by inviting the archbishop to their feasts or encroaching on his hospitality, but for those toiling and burdened people who really needed both spiritual and physical help. Being a friend and trustee of the poor in Antioch, St. John remained as such on the throne of Constantinople. The capital, resplendent with the rich splendor of its chambers and palaces, in reality contained even more glaring misery than Antioch, and the archpastor wanted to help these distressed members of his flock. The archbishop's see had very significant funds, and these funds, having further increased them with his extremely modest life, St. John began to donate to charities. Before him, for the entire capital’s population there were only four charitable institutions, which, moreover, were poorly maintained and poorly maintained. St. John, prompted by his pastoral care, having put the previous institutions in order and improvement, began to establish new ones, and around the Church of God, as the fruits of Christian love for mankind, all kinds of godly institutions quickly began to arise, where all the sick and infirm, all the outcasts, doomed by human cruelty to disasters and death, could find shelter and refuge. And all the activities of St. Joanna focused mainly on maintaining these charitable institutions. In his conversations, he continually appealed to his listeners for donations for charity, and from his golden lips came divinely inspired speeches in which alms were praised as the greatest virtue, as one that, more than any other, opens access to Heaven and its heavenly joys. His words did not remain fruitless. Charity became very active in Constantinople, and there were quite a few rich people, especially widows, who, donating all their wealth to charitable causes, themselves entered charitable institutions and served the sick and infirm brethren. Such success greatly pleased the great shepherd, and he even dreamed of that glorious time when all misfortune would cease in his flock and everyone would live in that happy fraternal intercourse in which the leading Christians lived in Jerusalem 21 . But charity was only one side of the pastoral activity of St. John Chrysostom. Even more than physical needs, spiritual and moral needs required the care of the archpastor, without the satisfaction of which charity itself could not bring proper benefit. Like Antioch, and even more so Constantinople, was a city in which the population was extremely mixed. Although Christians predominated in numbers, paganism still made itself felt strongly in everyday life, manifesting itself in all sorts of superstitions. Jews also lived next to the pagans, who continued to wage, if not open, then underground struggle against the church, and, finally, in the church itself there was constant unrest caused by various heresies and schisms. This whole mixture of tribes and beliefs made the work of the shepherd extremely difficult, and to this were added other, purely social ulcers. The imperial court was far from being the embodiment of the virtues that, according to legend, people in the provinces were accustomed to expect from it. Instead of being a model of both family and social virtues, he was rather a source of all moral decay, which had a contagious effect on the entire surrounding society. The insane luxury of the court forced the surrounding dignitaries to imitate it, who therefore indulged in the most shameless predation, which placed a heavy burden on the people. John, wholly devoted to caring for the poor, was deeply outraged by such unreason and loudly cried out against it in his conversations. “Such insane luxury,” he said, “is obscene for Christians. Why, tell me, do you wear silk clothes, ride golden-brown horses and decorated mules? The hinny is decorated from below; gold also lies on his coverlet; dumb mules wear jewelry and have a golden bridle; dumb mules are decorated, and the poor, tormented by hunger, stands at your door, and Christ is tormented by hunger! Oh, extreme madness! What justification, what forgiveness will you receive? Christ stands before your doors in the form of a poor man, and you are not moved?” 22. Finally, both rich and poor were all infected with a passion for theaters and public entertainment, and it got to the point that in the event of any extraordinary performances, the churches were empty, and the theaters were filled with insanely jubilant crowds. The saint bitterly mourned such a hobby, strictly denounced the foolish, and found great consolation in the fact that his conversations often made a stunning impression, so that the people repented of their crazy hobbies before him. If the great saint was saddened by the sins and moral shortcomings of the people, then even more so he grieved at the sight of the moral decline among those very people who laid claim to the dignity of the elected members of the church. Even if some bishops, as mentioned above, led a life more decent for secular persons than for clergy, then this was all the more noticeable among the lower clergy. It was devoted to the world and all its delights, and sometimes in such forms that could not but outrage moral feelings. The saint was particularly indignant at the widespread custom of cohabitation between clergy and virgins at that time. This custom stemmed from a good purpose. Among the clergy of that time, the belief began to spread that a celibate life was more suitable for pastors, giving them more freedom from worldly concerns for pastoral work, and indeed many of the priests and other members of the clergy lived celibate, mainly in the monastic order. In the form of idolatry, many took poor orphans into their home for education, who subsequently also took a vow of virginity. Since there were still very few properly organized convents, these pupils, even when they came of age, continued to live with their teachers, and this custom little by little led to the fact that, in addition to educational purposes, virgins and virgins cohabited under the same roof, like brothers and sisters. In a strictly moral mood, such cohabitation could not seem particularly reprehensible, although it was already the subject of discussion at councils and was prohibited as obscene; but it is easy to imagine what an ugly phenomenon this custom could degenerate into in the capital with its temptations and moral decay. And indeed, such cohabitation was an extremely obscene phenomenon, casting a very unflattering light on the entire clergy. It was necessary to eradicate it in order to raise the very dignity and influence of the pastorate, and the saint began to mercilessly persecute this illegal cohabitation and wrote two large books against it, in which he depicted with extraordinary vividness both the custom itself and the obscenities into which it plunges those cohabiting 23 . Evil had already taken deep root, and it was difficult to eradicate it immediately; but the saint spared no effort, and he succeeded to a large extent in clearing his church of this vile phenomenon. In order to give an example of true monastic life in the world, he at the same time cared about the elevation and improvement of women's monasteries. Monasteries existed before him, but they were not so much a place of prayer and salvation as simply a refuge for people who were bored with the bustle of worldly life and were looking for a pleasant rest there - without breaking ties with the world. St. John subjected the monasteries to a radical transformation. He personally questioned all the nuns living there, and when he became convinced that some of them were not there to save their souls, but, following the example of their secular friends, continued to think more “about baths, incense and attire than about fasting and prayer,” he advised them to better return to the world, since monasteries should be exclusively a place of prayer, fasting and repentance. This severity led to the fact that the monasteries were truly cleansed of their unworthy members and filled with people who sincerely longed to find peace for their souls from the surrounding worldly vanity and to devote themselves entirely to serving God and their neighbors. Joy of St. John was even greater when truly holy, chosen souls began to enter the monasteries he had purified and transformed. At the voice of the saint, even noble and rich widows began to flock to them, devoting both their lives and all their wealth to the service of the weak brethren. In order to be more able to minister to the toiling and burdened members of the Christian brotherhood, these noble widows most often entered the office of deaconesses, whose duties included, in addition, giving instruction to female catechumens, preparing them for baptism, guiding their first steps in the regenerate life, and also carrying out various duties and ministries in the church, especially in relation to the female sex and children. The service was very difficult, and all the more honor to those pious women who, neglecting all the difficulties, accepted the ministry and carried it valiantly until the end of their lives. Many of the deaconesses became famous for their selflessness, and in the time of Chrysostom, the most famous of them were: Nikareta, a very noble maiden from Nicomedia, who devoted herself to serving God from her very youth, Silvina, a noble branch of the Moorish kings, Pentadia, the widow of the famous but unfortunate commander Timasius, and especially the noble Olympias, who, having been widowed at an early age, spent her entire life and devoted all her enormous fortune (to which Emperor Theodosius unsuccessfully laid claim) to the service of the church. These pious wife-deaconesses formed the main support of the great saint in his pastoral care for the spiritual and material well-being of his flock. Struggling with the moral sentiments of his church, St. At the same time, John had to stand guard over Orthodoxy from the attacks of schism and heresy. In his time, the conscience of the people was greatly disturbed by the Novatians, who transferred their teachings from the West to the East and found refuge in Constantinople. They impudently claimed that only they preserved the true teaching and pure life, and considered themselves exclusively the true church, as not tolerating unclean members. This impudent self-praise deeply outraged the saint, and he refuted them with fiery indignation. “What pride,” he said, “what madness! Do you, being human beings, pretend to be sinless? Rather, it can be argued that the sea can be without waves; but just as the waves do not stop moving on the sea, so sins do not cease to act in us” 24. John was even more puzzled by another evil - Arianism. Although at this time it no longer had the same power as in the time of Gregory the Theologian, when all the churches of the capital were in the hands of the Arians, however, on the outskirts of the capital the Arians were still strong and did not miss an opportunity to declare their existence. They especially caused confusion with their solemn religious processions, accompanied by loud singing of blasphemous Arian hymns. Out of curiosity or ignorance, many Orthodox Christians also took part in these processions, thus becoming participants in Arian impiety. This could not but concern the great saint, and in order to distract the Orthodox from participating in Arian gatherings, he found it necessary to organize similar processions with sacred chants for the Orthodox people. Even Empress Eudoxia took part in these Orthodox processions, supplying the people with candles at her own expense. Unfortunately, these processions led to riots. Having collided, the Orthodox and Arian processions could not help but arouse mutual irritation, the Arians boldly threw stones at the Orthodox, so that in the ensuing confusion many people were wounded and even killed on both sides, and one of the empress’s courtiers, the eunuch Vrison, had his head pierced with a stone. This sad circumstance forced the government to ban such processions through the streets. But the saint, who attached high religious and moral importance to spiritual singing, as one of the best means for introducing Christianity into the lives of Christians, began to organize liturgical meetings for this purpose more often, and he especially liked all-night vigils, which took place like the Christian meetings of the first centuries. “The night,” he says, “was not created to spend it all in sleep and peace: artisans, traders and merchants serve as proof of this. The Church of God rises at midnight. Rise, you too, and contemplate the choir of stars, this deep silence, this boundless silence. Bow before the Providence of your Lord. During the night the soul is purer, lighter, it rises higher with less effort; the very darkness and this majestic silence dispose her to contemplation... What was the Savior’s purpose when He spent the nights on the mountain, if not to give us an example to follow? At night the plants pour out their fragrances, and your soul is more receptive to the heavenly dew. What is burned by the sun during the day is refreshed and revived at night” 25. Such edifications were a complete success, and the people became accustomed to the night liturgical vigils and fell in love with them. True, the capital's population was pampered and could not endure particularly long services, and the most gracious saint did not fail to show paternal condescension to his weak flock and composed a special liturgy, which from that time became the best property of the entire Orthodox world and is still celebrated in the Orthodox Church, bearing the name of its great compiler 26. Having improved the external and internal life of the Church of Constantinople, Saint John then directed his efforts to spreading the truth of the faith of Christ among those who were still sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Although paganism was essentially broken and with the death of Julian the Apostate lost its last support, the spark of life in it still glimmered and at times even flared up with an ominous flame... The followers of Julian and the students of various pagan sophists - like Livanius - did not want to part with their dream of restoring paganism, and to what extent this dream was tenacious is shown by the remarkable phenomenon that among the pagans it was widespread a conviction according to which the old gods were soon to revive and triumph over Christ. Pagan oracles allegedly spread among the people an ancient prediction that all the successes of Christianity, as occurring as a result of the magic of St. Peter, the chief deceiver of the world, should end with the fourth century, and the 400th year should be marked by the shameful fall of Christianity and the complete triumph of paganism 27 . The dark masses, prone to everything mysterious, awaited the end of the century, not without excitement. Fortunately, the sons of Theodosius were animated by religious zeal, and especially in the West, Honorius, with his energetic measures to suppress and eradicate paganism, largely dispelled the absurd dreams of its adherents. In the East, paganism enjoyed greater freedom, and in Syria even voluptuous and Mayum festivals, named after a pagan temple near Gaza, continued to be celebrated unhindered. These festivals, a legacy of the ancient cults of Baal and Ashtoreth, have been banned more than once. They were banned by Constantine the Great, but Julian reinstated them; Theodosius again imposed a ban, but his weak son Arkady, fearing the murmuring of the Syrians, again allowed them, and these seductive celebrations began to be celebrated again with ugly frankness. St. John Chrysostom rebelled against them while still a presbyter in Antioch; but now, as archbishop of the capital, he did not hesitate to strike a decisive blow to this abomination, and under his undoubted influence the Maiyum festivities were prohibited. This incident gave the archbishop a reason to pay special attention to Phenicia, which continued to remain one of the main strongholds of paganism. It was sad to see that almost at the very foot of the famous thrones of Antioch and Alexandria, and, moreover, within the Promised Land, paganism, which had already been eliminated in other places, huddled mainly. And the saint equipped a special mission to eradicate paganism there and did not cease to be deeply interested in this matter until his very death. But the saint’s gaze spread even much further and wider. With his deeply insightful mind, he understood that, although paganism continued to cling to the wilds of Phenicia, its days were numbered, like the days of the ancient people who inhabited it. This population was dying out, and on the borders of the then known civilized world, vast numbers of new barbarian peoples were already moving, who would play a further role in history. Therefore, it was necessary to pay attention to these young nations and bring them under the yoke of Christ. These peoples were barbaric, did not yet know the benefits of a settled life, and their dwellings were mobile wagons, with which they either stopped in camps, then, breaking up, moved again in whole hordes, threatening the border regions and cities. Among this chaotic mass of barbarians wandered those forces from which a new world was to be formed - to replace the old Greco-Roman one. Others looked with horror at these savage hordes, seeing in them a terrible scourge of humanity; but St. John Chrysostom saw in them children of nature who needed to be made sons of God. His special attention was paid to the Scythians, these harsh sons of the North, lived mainly along the banks of the Danube and further to the northeast, within the borders of present-day Russia. These were semi-wild nomads, whom Chrysostom therefore calls “amaksovii”, that is, living in tents, and they really at that time stood at the lowest level of social life, they were barbarians of barbarians. But fierce in appearance and barbaric in life and customs, they were kind in heart, and when the gospel of Christ reached them, it touched their virgin hearts, and they discovered a desire to accept Christianity. Having learned about this, St. John quickly sent a mission to them, especially since one could fear that Arianism, which had spread widely among the Gothic tribes, would not even touch the hearts of this simple-minded people, untouched by artificiality. To his great joy, the mission was a blessed success, and thus, as Patriarch Photius testifies, it was St. John Chrysostom who was the first to erect altars to the true God among these barbarians who had previously drunk human blood. The people, whose stern warriors almost never dismounted, now began to bow before the cross of the crucified Christ. If historians’ assumption is correct that the Scythians were one of the ancestors of the Russian people, then what happiness it is to believe that the Russian people owed the first seeds of the faith of Christ to the great saint, their beloved Chrysostom, whose divinely inspired creations forever became for him an inexhaustible source of spiritual edification and enlightenment. The saint also paid pastoral attention to other foreigners, for example, the Goths; many of them lived in Constantinople itself, which, like Rome, often resorted to the military assistance of these semi-barbarians. Most of them were still pagans, while others were Arians, and Saint John cared about the salvation of both. Since the Goths did not know the Greek language, he found an opportunity to remove this obstacle to preaching. From among the Goths themselves, choosing more worthy persons, he ordained them to the rank of priests and deacons, and, having set aside for them a special church in the name of the Apostle of the Gentiles Paul, he ordered them to perform divine services for their fellow tribesmen in their native language. The saint was so concerned about converting these people to the path of truth that he was often present at their services and even personally taught them instructions with the help of skillful translators. All these archpastoral works of Saint John produced an extremely beneficial effect. The capital began to become comfortable in church, religious and moral terms. However, the evil of the mood penetrated so deeply that edification alone was not enough; Punishing blows of God's truth were necessary in order to bring to reason a people devoted to the world and its delights. Such blows indeed befell Constantinople more than once. Particularly terrible was the disaster caused by the earthquake that occurred in the first years of the saint’s reign. Cities generally suffered a lot from earthquakes in the 4th century, and the chronicles of contemporary writers are filled with news about them. But this earthquake was especially terrible, the likes of which had never happened in Constantinople. The soil shook like the sea, and houses cracked and disintegrated, burying the unfortunate residents under their ruins. In addition to this, the Bosphorus overflowed its banks, and the attackers carried out arson in order to hide the traces of their robbery and predation. Everyone was horrified. The imperial family fled, and unimaginable chaos arose. Amid this general confusion and horror, one archpastor of the church remained unshakable, replacing the disappeared and confused authorities with his authority. He restored order in the troubled capital, encouraged those stricken with horror, and when the population gradually returned to the city and calmed down, he resumed his conversations, in which he depicted in fiery colors both the disaster itself and the wickedness that had brought it. To further encourage the people, St. John performed the solemn transfer of the relics of St. martyrs to a church specially built for them on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus, nine miles from the capital. The transfer took place at night, and this solemn procession of numerous people with lighted candles, competing in their brightness with the heavenly bodies, and these enthusiastic chants, heard in the silence of the night, produced a deeply stunning and at the same time touching spectacle. The Empress Eudoxia herself participated in the procession, to whom Chrysostom, in his enthusiastic sermon, paid full tribute to honor, praising her religious zeal and piety. Subsequent events showed that this piety was by no means deep and did not flow from the inner needs of a truly religious heart; but now St. John sincerely rejoiced at this outward manifestation of the queen’s piety, the example of which could have a beneficial effect on all the women of the capital. As a zealot for the glory of the Church of God, St. John Chrysostom considered it his duty to strictly protect the rights and advantages that belonged to her. Only by possessing such rights, St. the church could successfully carry out its educational and saving work in the world. Meanwhile, the civil government already then repeatedly made claims to violate or limit these rights and advantages, and moreover, most often for reasons not so much of the state as of personal ones. Since ancient times, one of the most important advantages of the church was its right of refuge. This right, which originated from the Old Testament church, was extremely important in those times when, under the reign of arbitrariness and brute force, people could often find refuge from human violence only at the throne of God, in the church. And Saint John, as an unyielding defender of the weak and oppressed, attached great importance to the right of asylum. Meanwhile, this right was increasingly subject to restrictions, and the main culprit for this was the all-powerful eunuch Eutropius at that time. Intoxicated by the omnipotence he had achieved, the arrogant eunuch already boldly dreamed of eventually seizing the throne itself and mercilessly exterminating everyone whom he could consider his opponents and enemies. Since many sought salvation from his rage in the church, Eutropius decided to put an end to this institution. In vain St. John Chrysostom rebelled against this encroachment on the sacred right of the church - to shelter people defenseless from the evil rage; The eunuch, considering Saint John as his protege, who owed him his very elevation to the throne of the Church of Constantinople, insisted on his own, and the right of asylum was indeed abolished. Soon, however, an event occurred that showed how fragile human greatness is and how necessary it is for people to have a protector in the person of the church. Eutropius, with his intrigues and daring antics, brought upon himself the disfavor of the emperor, and his position was shaken. And when he, having forgotten himself to the extreme, insulted even the Empress Eudoxia, who, with tears in her eyes and with her crying babies in her arms, appeared to the emperor, asking him for protection from the insults of the daring courtier, then his fate was decided: he was deprived of all his posts, and he was threatened with the death penalty. Hitherto an all-powerful courtier, Eutropius now turned out to be the most pitiful and helpless person. There was not a person in the whole world who would lend him a helping hand and feel sorry for him. On the contrary, everyone rejoiced at the fall of the arrogant eunuch, and the news of his fall quickly spread throughout the city. Taking advantage of his helplessness, many were ready, even before legal justice was carried out, to take revenge on him for all the injustices and violence he had caused, and he was in a desperate situation. Then, suppressing his pride, Eutropius turned to his only defense - St. Church and, despite the abolition of the right of asylum that took place at his own insistence, he sought salvation at the throne of God, and he was not mistaken. There the great saint, who had so recently been upset by this same Eutropius, met him and gave him refuge from which no force could take him. The Empress, burning with vengeance, ordered to immediately seize the eunuch who had insulted her and subject him to well-deserved punishment; but when the messengers came to the church in order to fulfill this command, then, despite their demand, as well as the cries of the angry crowd, who also demanded the head of the hated Eutropius, Saint John fearlessly and with the consciousness of his power refused to fulfill this demand. “You will kill Eutropius,” he said in response to the cries and demands of the soldiers and the crowd, “not before killing me.” Then he himself went to the emperor and there petitioned for pardon for the ill-fated proud man, whose fate represented striking proof of the precariousness of human greatness and the formidability of God's justice. All this happened at night, and the next morning St. John Chrysostom, having saved the unfortunate courtier from the death that threatened him, delivered before a large crowd the famous sermon “on Eutropius the eunuch” 28, in which all human vanity was depicted in fiery colors. Eutropius was exiled, and although he was subsequently executed, at the very moment of his fall he was saved from the punishment of the law and the wrath of the people precisely by the forgiving generosity of Chrysostom. This extraordinary event showed in all its splendor the spiritual authority that the great saint of Constantinople possessed. The glory of his name and pastoral zeal spread far beyond the borders of his diocese, and many began to turn to him for spiritual help even from other dioceses. As a result of constant unrest, church life in many dioceses, especially in Asia Minor, was subject to extreme disorder. The churches were mostly headed by unworthy shepherds, and the departments were occupied by people who bribed them - obviously, for far from pastoral purposes. When complaints about these flagrant abuses reached John, he, having improved matters in his own church, decided to equip neighboring churches as well. To this end, in 401 he himself went to Asia Minor and, having become convinced on the spot of the extreme disorder of church affairs, took strict measures, and several bishops, convicted of obvious simony and unworthiness, were deposed. For three months the saint was engaged in the improvement of the churches of Asia Minor and, only having achieved the desired fruits, he returned to his capital, where his devoted people had long been waiting for him, thirsty for edification and teachings from their golden-talented teacher. Meanwhile, during his absence, disappointing events took place in the capital itself. Taking advantage of the absence of the archbishop, the Arians raised their heads, their insolence was all the stronger because the famous Gothic commander Gaina became their leader. Feeling how much the empire depended on his military prowess, he began to make extremely immoderate demands on the emperor and, among other things, demanded that the Arians be given possession of one of the churches in the capital itself. The emperor, knowing the indomitable temper of the barbarian, was afraid to refuse him, but he was rescued from his difficulty by Saint John, who boldly opposed the arrogant Goth, convinced him of the injustice of his demand and influenced him so much with his arguments that he temporarily abandoned his intention. Soon, however, his treacherous nature could not stand it, and he, rebelling against the imperial power, began to carry out robberies and devastation, threatening Constantinople itself. The king lost heart and did not know what to do. None of his courtiers dared to go to Gaina for negotiations and admonitions. Then Chrysostom stood up again and, disregarding any personal danger, fearlessly went to the rebel camp. Everyone feared for the life of the saint, but the spiritual force turned out to be more powerful than the military. Having recognized the famous Archbishop of Constantinople in the person of the royal envoy, Gaina resigned himself and even showed him unusual honors. Soon Gaina ended his rebellious life, and the empire got rid of one of its most dangerous enemies. But, zealously advocating everywhere for truth and combating evil, Saint John thereby prepared for himself many sorrows, which, according to the immutable word of Christ the Savior, constitute an inevitable earthly reward for all His true disciples and followers. As was natural to expect, his strict measures to eradicate church, moral and social disorders and evils should have caused irritation and hostility against him on the part of those who were especially affected by these measures. And first of all, those bishops who, as illegally occupying their sees, were deprived of them were dissatisfied, of course. With the extreme bitterness of which people caught in lies and abuses are only capable, they began to wage hostile agitation against the Archbishop of Constantinople, accusing him of illegally invading other dioceses and of various cruelties. They were also pestered by other bishops who were simply jealous of Chrysostom and his enormous influence on the people. One of them, Severian of Gaval, having abused the trust of Chrysostom, who, during his absence in the capital on the matter of the churches of Asia Minor, even entrusted him with the temporary management of his church, tried to play the role of a second Chrysostom in the capital, pronouncing pompous and artificially intertwined speeches, which, of course, resembled the conversations of St. John no more than a cymbal clanking on a living and reasonable word, but, however, they were liked by many because in them All hints of the sins and abuses of the powerful were skillfully avoided. Severian, with the help of his friends, even managed to penetrate the court and found favor with the empress, who liked the sweet speeches of this bishop more than the denunciations of Chrysostom. Upon his return to the capital, St. John immediately realized the baseness and treachery of this bishop and wanted to remove him from the capital, but Eudoxia begged him not to do this, and thus, one of the most dangerous enemies of the great saint remained at the throne itself. The other bishops also did not like John, mainly because, contrary to established custom, he did not entertain them with luxurious dinners during their stay in the capital, but, completely occupied with important matters of church and religious improvement, greeted them simply and, as it seemed to them, dryly and arrogantly. One of the bishops, namely Akaki of Verean, was so dissatisfied with this reception that he directly threatened the saint with vengeance. If the bishops were dissatisfied, then even less could the metropolitan clergy be content. Having become accustomed to complete ease in life under the previous archbishop, it began to be decidedly indignant when St. John, who himself had gone through all the degrees of sacred church service and had the highest understanding of the duties of shepherds, began to remind him of the duty of service and to eradicate among him various disorders and abuses - such as the shameful custom of cohabitation with virgins. Discontent among the clergy turned into complete indignation when the archdeacon devoted to Chrysostom, straightforward, but not restrained in his expressions, Serapion, knowing the capital's clergy and seeing their opposition to the saint, at one church meeting told him: “You cannot, Vladyka, correct them if you do not drive them all with one rod.” This expression was quickly taken up by the dissatisfied, who began diligently spreading various blasphemies and slander against the saint throughout the city, accusing him of cruelty and misanthropy. The clergy were especially dissatisfied with the order of St. John Chrysostom, so that benefactors, especially rich widows like Olympias, would not waste their estates too much, distributing them to clergy who were prone to abuse them. This order was directed against one of the most flagrant evils, and it undoubtedly caused material damage to those who were accustomed to derive significant income from it. The dissatisfied did not fail to interpret this order in the sense that the archbishop, out of greed, wanted to direct all the donations exclusively to himself. Many monks were also angry, not those true ascetics, of course, who, having renounced the world, created their salvation in the desert, mourning the sins of themselves and their neighbors, but those hypocrites who, under the guise of monasticism, only wanted to more conveniently achieve their far from angelic goals and lived idly in the cities and in the capital itself. Such false monks reviled the archbishop in every possible way, calling him heavy and proud, cruel and arrogant. The slander did not take long to degenerate into slander, and the dissatisfied began to spread throughout the city various absurdities offensive to the archbishop, claiming that if he always dines alone and never accepts invitations to dinner from others, as the former archbishops of Constantinople did, then this all stems from his unsociability and various vices. The hundred-year-old rumor did not disdain to spread this slander, although everyone knew that St. John withdrew from public feasts simply due to the weakness of his stomach, upset by his once harsh asceticism in the desert. If the clergy treated the saint this way, then all the more, of course, should they have been echoed by the noble, corrupt classes of the capital’s population, who were most exposed to denunciations by the saint, who never ceased thundering against them from the church pulpit with the mercilessness of an incorruptible judge. They even accused him of inciting the lower classes of the people against the higher, the poor against the rich, and in any case they did not at all like the archbishop, who, instead of feasting with the rich, preferred the company of the poor and the sick, the toiling and the burdened. But most of all, the ladies of the highest metropolitan society were dissatisfied with him, whose exquisite outfits found an inexorable accuser in John, and these were the most dangerous enemies. Any word that is unpleasant to them is St. They exaggerated and inflated John with a purely feminine ability, and when he denounced them, for example, of insane luxury, for the satisfaction of which their husbands had to ruin and rob the people, reproached them for distorting the image of God, blushing like Jezebel and lining their eyes with antimony like Egyptian idols, then this was more than they could tolerate, and a malicious rumor spread between them that in this The saint did not even aim at them, these noble ladies, but much higher - at the august Empress Eudoxia herself, to whose attention they did not fail to bring everything they heard in an exaggerated form. Such slander and slander could not help but little by little cool the empress herself towards Saint John, especially since she herself - with her extreme licentiousness, greed and vanity - could not help but feel that truly the archbishop’s speeches sometimes very closely exposed her herself, since she in reality was the source and contagious example of that destructive passion for insane luxury with all its sad consequences, which suffered from all the highest Constantinople society. And so, little by little, clouds of malice, hatred and slander accumulated around the great saint, which sooner or later were bound to break out over his sacred head. John knew about this, but out of his kindness, trusting entirely in God’s Providence, he did not pay any attention to the machinations of his enemies. Meanwhile, they did not sleep, and among them, unfortunately, there was such an influential hierarch as Theophilus of Alexandria. By his position, he was one of the most influential and wealthy hierarchs in the entire Christian world, but he was extremely proud and ambitious and cast envious glances at the throne of the capital. When, after the death of Nektarios, the throne of Constantinople became vacant, he was not a stranger to the desire to take it himself; but, since this was unseemly, he wanted at least to occupy him with one of his assistants or subordinates, so that through him he could have full control in the capital. Therefore, he rebelled against the election of St. John and did not even want to participate in his consecration. Only forced to do so by the government, he agreed to John’s consecration, but from that time on he became his sworn enemy and from Alexandria watched with malicious attentiveness what was happening in Constantinople. The brilliant successes of St. Of course, he did not like John in the matter of governing the church and its improvement; but he was very pleased when he noticed that discontent against John began to rise more and more in the capital and his relationship with the court was deteriorating. With his cunning and insightful mind, Theophilus understood that this relationship must sooner or later lead to disaster, and he was looking forward to it, being sure that the matter would not happen without his intervention. Things really soon developed in such a way that Theophilus had an opportunity to pour out all his hidden anger on his innocent rival. The reason for this was the unfortunate fate of some pious monks of the Nitrian desert, which, since the founding of monasticism, had always been a favorite place of hermitage and many monks lived in it, laboring in prayer and work. Among these monks, four brothers were especially famous for their piety and even learning, who, due to their extraordinary height, were nicknamed “long brothers.” At first, Theophilus himself treated them with respect and even forced two of them to accept the priesthood to serve in Alexandria itself. But when the brothers, with purely hermitic frankness, told him that they could not serve in a city desecrated by the vices of the archbishop himself, Theophilus became furious, burst into streams of abuse against them and began to accuse them of adhering to the harmful teachings of Origen. These teachings, widespread at that time, indeed required great vigilance on the part of the archpastors, and many zealots of Orthodoxy fought fiercely against them, such as St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, who deliberately traveled to Palestine to suppress this heresy there. But Theophilus was not at all such a strict zealot; he himself had previously adhered to Origen, and if he now began to persecute Origenism, it was only because this persecution gave him one extra weapon to deal with all his opponents and enemies, of whom he acquired many with his lawless life. Not content with this reprisal against the “long brothers,” he even convened a council of his proteges and assistant bishops, and at it the “long brothers” were condemned as heretics and sorcerers who had infected the entire desert with their heresy. Moreover, in order to destroy, so to speak, the bold nest of the heresy he hated, he ordered the destruction of the Nitrian monasteries, and during this defeat many monks were subjected to severe beatings and mutilations, and the buildings were destroyed and burned. The “Long Brothers” barely escaped to the inaccessible places of the desert, where, together with other survivors of the defeat, they could only see with tears the smoke smoking over the ruins of their native abodes. After this, finding themselves in an extremely helpless position, the ruined monks did not know what to do. They could not remain under the rule of Theophilus any longer, and therefore they went as a party first to Jerusalem, and then reached the capital, thinking to find protection for themselves there with the great, famous for his mercy to all the oppressed and persecuted, Archbishop of Constantinople, and through him with the king himself. St. John Chrysostom indeed received them with his characteristic kindness and promised to intercede for them before Theophilus, but at the same time, observing the canonical rules that prohibited one bishop from intruding into the area of ​​jurisdiction of another, he acted cautiously, especially since the matter concerned accusations of Origen’s heresy. Before taking the side of the persecuted monks, it was necessary to clarify this side of the matter. Therefore, he wrote a fraternal letter to Theophilus, in which he asked him to somehow settle the matter with the upset monks. The arrogant Theophilus even considered this letter an insult to himself and responded to it “cruelly.” Meanwhile, the “long brothers,” seeing the indecisiveness of St. John, themselves turned to the emperor with a complaint against the Alexandrian patriarch and in their complaint set out a whole series of terrible accusations against Theophilus, as a person of the highest degree cruel and criminal. Things were taking a very unpleasant turn for him. He was threatened with trial, and if St. John agreed to become the head of this court, then Theophilus would not have escaped the punishment of justice. But he, fearing unrest and schism in the church, avoided this trial, although a formal demand had already been sent to Theophilus to appear to answer. The Patriarch of Alexandria quickly understood the situation and, having previously hated St. with all his soul. John, now decided to pour out his anger on him and overthrow him, so that, by putting one of his henchmen in his place, he would forever eliminate the very possibility of repeating demands for a judicial response that were so offensive to him. And he quickly came up with a plan of action. If John took under his protection the “long brothers”, these damned heretics, followers of Origen, condemned by the church, then he himself is an Origenist and, as a follower of a heretic, is not worthy to occupy the throne of the capital! And this intriguer, “who knew how to craft lies,” began to act in this direction with amazing dexterity. Through his agents, strengthening the ranks of John's enemies in the capital, he even managed to raise against him such a famous and respected saint as St. Epiphanius of Cyprus. Knowing all the Orthodox zeal of this saint, who tirelessly fought against the errors of Origen, Theophilus insidiously inspired him that Orthodoxy was in dire danger, since the harmful heresy of Origen had penetrated into the very heart of the church and sat on the throne of Constantinople - in the person of Archbishop John! The simple-hearted elder saint was horrified and, despite his advanced age, considered it his duty to go to Constantinople to eradicate heresy. Unfortunately, he did not even consider it necessary to subject the matter to a thorough investigation through a fraternal interview with John, and directly considering him infected with heresy, although he did not enter into usual communication with him, he served the liturgy in one of the churches located near the capital and even ordained a deacon, without asking the permission of the local bishop, as required by canonical rules. Received with extraordinary honors at court by the empress, Epiphanius settled in a private house and, without communicating with John, decided immediately during a solemn service in the cathedral church of the archbishop to carry out a great excommunication against all followers of Origen, including secretly John himself. Seeing all this, St. John grieved in soul and tried in every possible way to calm the elder, explaining to him how unwise it was to carry out such a great deed as excommunication without subjecting a thorough council examination to the very validity of the accusation. Epiphanius really hesitated, especially since from very many he began to hear completely different reviews about John, as a man of deep faith, great virtue and immaculate life, and wondered what all this meant. Then the empress herself appeared on the stage and again turned Epiphanius against John, who was unpleasant to her. Even earlier, dissatisfied with the archbishop for his merciless denunciations of secular emptiness, depravity and greed of the upper classes of the capital, just at that time she was especially irritated against him on the occasion of a failed attempt to rob a defenseless widow. Envying her vineyard, Eudoxia, like the wicked Jezebel, decided to take possession of it and, indeed, had already laid her hand on it; but the widow with tears turned to the protection of the archbishop, and he, like Elijah, fearlessly opposed the greed of the queen, personally appeared in the palace with a petition for the offended widow, and when the empress, not heeding his petition, even ordered him to be rudely removed from the chamber, Saint John forbade her access to the church, and he himself delivered a conversation about Elijah and Jezebel. This conversation made a huge impression on the people, who did not fail to interpret it in the sense that Jezebel meant none other than Queen Eudoxia, and when the informers hastened to bring this to the attention of the empress, her rage knew no bounds. She decided to destroy John, whom she hated. Having called Epiphanius to her, she began to convince him with flattery and threats to take some measures to condemn John as a heretic and therefore unworthy to occupy the archbishop's throne. When Epiphanius began to object to her that she should not give vent to her anger and needed to first investigate the matter, Eudoxia, beside herself with rage and irritation, even began to threaten that if he prevented the expulsion of John, then she herself would renounce Christianity, open all pagan temples, seduce many and cause all kinds of disasters to the church. Epiphanius marveled at the queen’s wickedness and, fearing that she would really cause trouble, considered it best to avoid this matter and, without further investigation of the subject, went to his diocese, on the way to which he died. Theophilus of Alexandria closely followed all these events, and his agents, through bribery and slander, strengthened and fanned the hostility against John. With particular triumph, he saw that at the head of this enmity was the empress herself, who did not neglect any means to achieve her goals. Her palace became open to all enemies and slanderers of the saint, and in her chambers gathered all those high-society Jezebels who considered themselves offended by John, who had so mercilessly exposed their base hypocrisy, impudent rapacity, insane luxury and moral debauchery, and in their secret conferences intrigues were built against the saint and the most offensive slander and dirty stories were composed. slander. Emperor Arkady knew about all this. Personally, he respected and loved the great saint, and in his soul he grieved over the anger that rose up against him. But he was weak and indecisive, and, knowing the evil, indomitable temper of the queen, he preferred to remain silent, as if he knew nothing. All this was in Theophilus’s favor, and he, finally convinced that the ground was prepared, decided to go to Constantinople, but not as a defendant, but as a judge who had decided one way or another to destroy the archbishop he hated. He was finally confirmed in this conviction when he received a letter from Eudoxia herself, in which she asked him to immediately arrive in Constantinople and not be afraid of anything. “I,” she wrote, “will ask the king for you, and stop the mouths of all your opponents, just come immediately, gather as many bishops as possible in order to expel my enemy John.” Now Theophilus could already be quite calm about the success of his business, and he went to the capital with a whole flotilla loaded with various jewels: Indian aromas, magnificent fruits and vegetables, expensive Egyptian materials - silk and gold-woven - and all this in order to show off his wealth in the capital and bribe as many influential persons as possible in his favor with gifts. With his flotilla, Theophilus arrived in Constantinople in August 403 and was enthusiastically greeted at the pier by a large pack of his agents and various street rabble bribed by them. The emperor, having learned of his arrival, did not want to accept him, looking at him as a defendant; but Eudoxia poured out signs of respect before him and, receiving him secretly in her chambers, hurried to get down to business as quickly as possible. At her insistence, Theophilus decided to convene a council for the trial of John, and since it was inconvenient and unsafe to carry out this lawless trial in the capital, Chalcedon, located on the other side of the strait, on the Asian shore, was chosen as its place, especially since the bishop of Chalcedon was a certain Kirin, an Egyptian, an accomplice and even a relative of Theophilus. Since Theophilus had ready the supply of bishops necessary for the cathedral, partly brought by him from Egypt, and partly captured along the way and seduced by gifts and, in any case, obedient and devoted to him, the cathedral was actually opened in a country house, on the outskirts of Chalcedon, known as “At the Oak.” The council was composed of 23 bishops, and this illegal gathering, which opened the doors to all slanderers and ill-wishers of John, began to carry out judgment against the most holy archbishop, the golden-talking teacher of the universe! After listening to the testimony of various scoundrels, dismissed deacons and defrocked monks, who poured out their anger on the saint who subjected them to well-deserved punishment, the council drew up a 29-point indictment and demanded that John appear to answer. John saw with bitterness that the malice of his enemies began to be crowned with success, and he innocently wondered how all this could happen and how Theophilus, himself summoned as an accused, managed to change the situation so quickly and himself acted as prosecutor and judge. Gathering around him the forty bishops devoted to him, he addressed them with a touching speech: “Pray to God for me, brothers,” he said, “and if you love Christ, do not leave your churches; For me, the time of troubles has already approached, and, having accepted many sorrows, I must depart from this life. I see that Satan, unable to bear my teaching, has already convened a council against me. But do not grieve for me, but remember me in your prayers.” This deeply moving speech horrified everyone and they began to cry. Having consoled them, John developed a plan of action and, full of consciousness of his rightness, decided not to recognize the legality and legal capacity of the Pridubsky council and, despite his repeated summons to this council as an accused, refused to appear at it. Enraged by this refusal, the members of the Pridub cathedral even beat the bishops and presbyters sent to them with an answer, throwing one of them into iron shackles, already prepared for John, and then, strengthening themselves with new false witnesses, they continued to judge the innocent and pure-hearted saint in absentia. And at the same time, sitting with his cathedral, with complete calm he looked into the face of the storm of disasters approaching him and, fully aware of his innocence, said: “Let the sea foam and rage, but it cannot crush a stone; let the waves rise, but they cannot sink the ship of Jesus. What should we be afraid of? Is it death? “But for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Should we be afraid of exile? – But the earth and its fulfillment are the Lord’s! Should we be afraid of taking away our estates? “But everyone knows that we brought nothing into the world with us, just as we cannot take anything with us.” I am not afraid of beggary, I do not desire wealth, I am not afraid of death; “I pray only one thing,” he concluded, “that you prosper in good things.” Such speeches could only flow from the heart of a righteous man, whose whole life was centered in Christ, and for whom all the machinations of enemies were fearless. Unable to summon John to trial, the illegal assembly decided to condemn him in absentia, and indeed, on the basis of all the slander and accusations heard, formalized in 32 points, John was declared worthy of overthrow, and the decision was sent for approval to the emperor. The faint-hearted emperor, now seeing before him not only the terrible temper of the gloating queen, but also the whole conciliar decision, and fearing that he was threatened with a lot of all sorts of troubles and troubles in case of resistance, decided it was better to sacrifice the saint and, having approved the resolution, gave the order to remove John. Soldiers had already been sent with orders to take him and send him into exile. But as soon as the rumor about this spread throughout the city, the people became agitated and moved en masse to defend their beloved archpastor. Bloodshed was brewing between the people and the army. Then the innocently condemned righteous man, wanting to avoid useless confusion and innocent victims of human passions, secretly left his house and gave himself into the hands of the soldiers, who immediately took him to the pier, put him on a ship and sent him to Prenet, near Nicomedia. All this happened under the cover of night, and when the next morning the people learned that their beloved saint, the fearless preacher of the truth, the defender of the orphans, the poor, the toiling and the burdened, the golden-talking John had already been removed and exiled, then terrible confusion began in the capital. Fights and riots broke out in the streets, during which many were maimed and even killed, and various disasters threatened the city. The people became agitated, like an angry sea, and everywhere - both in churches and in squares - all they could talk about was the blatant untruth of the trial that took place over John. There were even noisy voices among the crowd, demanding that the main culprit of this sad event - Theophilus of Alexandria - be stoned, and this, undoubtedly, would have happened if he, having learned about the danger threatening him, had not secretly left the capital. Then, unable to vent their rage on Theophilus, the people in a huge mass moved to the palace and there, with shouts and sobs, they asked that Saint John be returned to them. Hearing these threatening screams, Eudoxia became frightened; but she continued to insist on her own, hoping that the empty cries of the people would fly by and fall silent like the wind. Nevertheless, her heart trembled, and in the secret of her soul she already began to repent of everything that had happened. As she hesitated in this way, a terrible earthquake suddenly occurred, and a terribly menacing blow shook the chambers of the empress herself. She was seized by fear, and, confident that this was the wrath of God, punishing her for the insult inflicted on the great saint, she threw herself at the feet of the emperor and began to beg him to cancel his order and return John. Having received the emperor's consent, she immediately wrote a letter to John in her own hand, in which, urging him to return to the capital, she tried in every possible way to justify herself to him, assuring him that she personally had nothing against him and was misled by the cunning of worthless people. With this letter and the order of the emperor, the messengers galloped in all directions, but at first they did not know where to look for the saint. Finally, the courtier Vrison managed to find traces of his stay in Prenet, and he, having found him there, begged the saint to quickly return to the city and calm the extremely frightened queen. And the great saint, forgetting about all the insults inflicted on him and with the forgiveness of the righteous, returned to the city, where countless masses of people both on the shore of the strait, and on numerous boats and ships that covered the entire Bosporus, were preparing to meet their beloved archpastor. John at first did not want to enter the city itself, wanting a council of bishops to be convened first, which would cancel the condemnation of the Pridub cathedral that had taken place over him. But the people did not want to hear about these formalities and, almost by force, took John, in a solemn procession with all kinds of expressions of joy and delight, led him straight to the cathedral and placed him on the pulpit from which they were accustomed to enjoy his golden conversations and teachings, and although St. John was extremely tired and depressed by the feelings that worried him, but he made a short but strong speech, in which from the depths of his heart he thanked God, who benefits everyone, and the people for their devotion to their shepherd. The people rejoiced, and many cried with joy, and the dark pack of his enemies, seeing this uncontrollable outburst of popular joy, hastened to scatter and take cover. Saint John, by the grace of God, returned to his throne by the people's love and justified from the condemnation that took place over him by a new council of 65 bishops, began to continue to have the right to rule over the affairs of the Church of Christ, and from his lips again flowed conversations and teachings sweet to the ear and heart. Peace returned again, but, unfortunately, not for long. This was only a temporary calm before a new storm - even more violent. Although John’s enemies were subdued, in their hearts they harbored even more deadly enmity and malice against him and were waiting for the first opportunity to again attack the hated saint, who not only with his accusatory conversations, but even more with his righteous life, served as an intolerable reproach for all untruth, malice and depravity. And the first instigator of the storm was again Empress Eudoxia, who, having recovered from excitement and fear, again began to be hostile to the archbishop. Given the unbridled nature of the queen, who did not tolerate the slightest obstacle in her pursuit of insatiable vanity, the clash between her and the saint did not take long to arrive, and it occurred two months after Chrysostom returned to his throne on the following occasion. Feeling that it was she who was the head of state, and not the cowardly and insignificant Arkady, Eudoxia laid claim to an honor unprecedented for empresses - the construction of a special column topped with her silver image in the most important square of the capital - near the Church of St. Sofia. This unbridled ambition of Eudoxia even aroused indignation in the West, and Honorius considered it his duty to warn his brother Arcadius against such a violation of ancient customs. But Eudoxia did not want to know anything, and the column with her silver statue on top was erected with all kinds of celebrations and rejoicings. Due to the proximity of the column to the church, the noise of these obscene celebrations with pagan ceremonies and dances made the service itself impossible, and since they lasted for several days, the saint could not help but think all this was a clear and even deliberate insult to the shrine. At first he wanted to eliminate this blasphemy through the prefect; but when the prefect did not provide him with any assistance in this regard, he delivered a sharp accusatory conversation, which, according to historians, he began with the famous words: “Herodias is raging again, again he is agitated, again he applauds and dances, again he seeks the head of John.” The informers and enemies of John did not fail to bring this to the attention of the queen with gloating, interpreting these words in the sense that they compared her with Herodias, and Eudoxia flew into a complete frenzy, weepingly complaining to the king about the insult inflicted on her and demanding that a council be convened again to overthrow the hierarch intolerable to her. Letters from her flew to Theophilus, in which she begged him to come to Constantinople again and complete the overthrow of John. He, of course, would be glad to fulfill the queen’s request, which so coincided with his own desire; but the lesson he had received earlier, when he was almost stoned by the people, forced him to be more careful, and he, not wanting to expose himself to danger again, sent three deputy bishops in his place, providing them with the necessary instructions, and, among other things, canons on the basis of which John could be condemned. These canons were of Arian origin, once compiled by the Arians on Athanasius the Great, and, therefore, had no force for the Orthodox Church; but since they contained one decree that was very suitable in this case, namely, that a bishop, once overthrown by the council, cannot again occupy the throne without the repeal of the previous decree by another large council, Theophilus did not hesitate at all and insisted on applying this rule to John, who supposedly again took his throne simply by order of the king and the will of the people, without the correct conciliar determination. The council was indeed again composed of almost the same bishops who met “At the Oak Tree,” and, of course, pronounced a new condemnation on John, accusing him of violating the said canon. This condemnation was doubly illegal, because in this case the canon, compiled by heretics with the clearly malicious purpose of destroying the great champion of Orthodoxy, was inapplicable and because, in fact, John, upon returning from exile, was acquitted of his condemnation by the Pridub Council by a large council consisting of 66 bishops. But the anger of the enemies did not recognize any arguments, and John was declared deposed, and this decree was approved by the emperor. Thus, thunder broke out again over the head of the long-suffering John: he was again in disgrace and expelled from his dignity. Taught by the bitter experience of a previous incident, the emperor, however, was now afraid to resort to violence against the deposed saint and wanted to force him to retire voluntarily, trying in every case to prove to him that he was no longer an archbishop and was illegally occupying the throne. So, on the feast of the Nativity of Christ in 403, the emperor did not want to accept St. participles. Matters remained in such an uncertain situation until Easter. Finally, the king, prompted by Eudoxia, who did not give him peace while the hated saint remained on his throne, decided to completely remove John on the bright feast of Christ and sent him an order to leave the church. St. John, filled with the consciousness of his righteousness and pastoral duty, replied that he would not leave the church, which was entrusted to him by Christ the Savior, so as not to bear responsibility for his unauthorized abandonment. Let them drive him out by force, and then this guilt will not fall on him. The king hesitated at such steadfastness of the saint; but, seeing the inexorable tyranny of Eudoxia above him, he decided to end this difficult matter one way or another. The court dignitary Marinus was instructed to forcefully remove John from the church, where he was already preparing to perform the holy martyrdom. baptism over 3,000 catechumens. The dignitary carried out the order with police precision, and the bright holiday was overshadowed by ugly scenes of wild violence (April 16, 404). Having forced their way into the church, semi-barbarian warriors under the command of the pagan Lucius began to mercilessly destroy everything, indulging in all sorts of riots and robbery. Those who tried to defend the saint were beaten, the clergy were kicked out of the church, and even the half-naked catechumens, who had already prepared for baptism, were driven out into the street; the Eucharist is profaned and the sacred vessels are plundered. The abomination of desolation was installed in the holy place, and the deeply saddened saint was imprisoned in the patriarchal house, where he remained for another two months under house arrest. His situation became more and more difficult every day, and he found his only consolation in prayer and in the company of people close to him, among whom the pious deaconess Olympias was a true guardian angel for him. Seeking protection from the malice of his enemies, John at this time addressed letters to influential bishops of the West - Pope Innocent I and Archbishops Venerius of Mediolan and Chromatius of Aquileia. These hierarchs deeply sympathized with the saint of Constantinople, were horrified by the power of the malice of his enemies, but were unable to help. The slowness of the matter, meanwhile, increasingly embittered his mortal enemies, and suspicious and dark personalities began to appear around the patriarchal house, who directly attempted to kill the saint. At the gates of the patriarch's house, the people loyal to John were seized by the people loyal to John, who was allegedly possessed by a demon, and who turned out to have hidden a dagger, stored for a criminal purpose. Another time, a slave, who was suspiciously agitated and hastily making his way to the patriarch’s house, attracted attention. Suspecting him of malicious intent, someone detained him and asked him why he was in such a hurry, and he, without answering, struck him with a dagger. At the sight of this, another screamed in horror, and he struck him with a dagger, and then a third one who came to hand. Screams and screams arose, and the slave began to run, waving a bloody dagger and fighting off the people chasing him. In one place, a man who had just left a public bath wanted to take it over, but was fatally struck by a dagger. When this enraged beast was finally captured, he confessed that he had been bribed to kill John for fifty gold pieces. After this accident, the people began to relentlessly guard the house of their persecuted archpastor, and unrest began among them, which threatened terrible troubles and riots. Then, in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, the humble saint decided, as the first time, to voluntarily surrender himself into the hands of secular authorities. Having summoned all his associates for the last time, he convinced them to be firm in the Orthodox faith and gave them the last kiss. The farewell was deeply touching. Everyone cried bitter tears; The saint himself wept. And then, trusting in the Providence of God, without whose will a hair of his head would not fall, the saint left the house through small doors and quietly headed to the sea, where soldiers took him and, putting him in a boat, transported him to Bithynia. Having learned about this, all the enemies rejoiced, but their joy was darkened by terrible disasters. In the patriarchal church itself, for unknown reasons, a fire broke out: fanned by the wind, the fiery element rose high to the sky and, like a rainbow, bending its all-consuming gigantic tongue, set fire to the Senate chamber. The fire turned into a sea of ​​fire and destroyed many of the best buildings in the capital. Everyone was seized with horror and involuntarily saw in this disaster the terrible wrath of God and retribution for the suffering of the righteous. But even here the saint’s bitter enemies showed up and began to spread the rumor that the fire was the result of a malicious arson by like-minded people of John. Many of those close to him were therefore arrested by the mayor, who, as a pagan, cruelly tortured the alleged culprits, so that many even died under torture, although the cause of the fire remained unclear. Nektarios’s elderly brother Arsakios was elevated to the archbishop’s throne, and those who remained faithful to the true archpastor were branded with the nickname “Johnnites” and were subjected to all kinds of persecution, confiscation of estates and exile, until such cruelties suppressed everyone with fear, forcing them to submission and silence. On Acts, demon. XXX, paragraph 4. On ev. Matt. demon LXVI, 3 and 4. At 17 st. Psalm 48, demon. 1st, paragraph 6. For both of these books, see below in the first book of Volume I, pp. 247 and 272. Volume XII, p. 500 (conversation VI, Contra Catharos). On Acts demon. XXVI, 3 and 4. The liturgy itself, known as the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, is not a completely new work, but only an abbreviated presentation, in relation to the indicated need, of the liturgy of St. Basil the Great. Aug. De civitate Dei XVIII, 53. In volume III of Min's edition (and subsequently, the new Russian edition). You might be interested in: