“COPIED FROM A FRONTISPIECE TO THE EDITION BY FRONTO DUCÆUS, A.D.1636, OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM’S WORKS (IN THE CATHEDRAL LIBRARY, CHICHESTER).THE ORIGINAL IS STATED TO HAVE BEEN ENGRAVED FROM AN EIKON OF GREATANTIQUITY, AT CONSTANTINOPLE, AND AGREES WITH THE NOTICES OF CHRYSOSTOM’SAPPEARANCE BY GREEK WRITERS, WHO DESCRIBE HIM AS SHORT, WITH ALARGE HEAD, AMPLE, WRINKLED FOREHEAD, EYES DEEP-SET BUT PLEASING,HOLLOW CHEEKS, AND A SCANTY GREY BEARD.”
SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
HIS LIFE AND TIMES
A SKETCH OF THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE IN
THE FOURTH CENTURY.
By W. R W. STEPHENS, M.A.
PREBENDARY OF CHICHESTER AND RECTOR OF WOOLBEDING; AUTHOR OF “LIFE AND LETTERS OF
WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D.,” “CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM,” ETC.
With Portrait.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1880.
The right of translation is reserved.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The present edition of this Essay is substantiallya reproduction of the first. It is possible, indeed,and I hope probable, that the fruits of nine years’more experience and study would have manifestedthemselves in some marked improvements upon theformer work had I rewritten or recast the wholeof it. But after mature consideration it did notseem to me that the defects of my original attemptwere sufficient to warrant such an expenditure oftime and toil.
I have therefore contented myself with carefullyrevising the text and references, and making hereand there a few slight alterations in the way eitherof addition or omission.
Woolbeding Rectory,
xxxxxxFeby. 20, 1880.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The considerations which induced me to undertake thismonograph are mentioned in the introductory chapter.How far the design there indicated has been satisfactorilyfulfilled, it is for others to decide. I am of course consciousof defects, for every workman’s ideal aim should be higherthan what he can actually accomplish. The work hasincurred a certain risk from having been once or twicesuspended for a considerable period; but I have alwaysreturned to it with increased interest and pleasure, nor canI charge myself with having wittingly bestowed less painson one part than another. I have endeavoured to make ita trustworthy narrative by drawing from the most originalsources to which I could gain access; and where, as inthose portions which touch on secular history, the lead ofgeneral historians, such as Gibbon or De Broglie has beenfollowed, I have, as far as possible, consulted the authoritiesto which they refer. To modern authors from whom I havederived valuable assistance for special parts of the work,such as M. Amédée Thierry and Dr. Foerster, my obligationsare acknowledged in their proper place.
Neander’s Life of St. Chrysostom has, of course, throughoutbeen frequently consulted. It is marked by the customaryviiimerits and defects of that historian. It is full of research,information, thought, and refined religious sentiment; buthe fails to bring out strongly the personality of his subject.We have abundance of Chrysostom’s sayings and opinions,but somehow too little of Chryso