History And Facts about St. John Chrysostom
St. John
Chrysostom was born in Antioch around 344. Feast day is September 13th.
His father died when he was a baby. His mother chose not to re-marry again.
She gave all her attention to bringing up her son and
daughter. She made many sacrifices so that John could have the best teachers.
He was very intelligent and could have become a great man in the world. When he
gave speeches everyone loved to listen to him. In fact, his name, Chrysostom,
means "Golden-mouthed." Yet John wanted to give himself to God.
St. John Chrysostom
became a priest and later was made bishop of the great city of Constantinople.
St. John was a wonderful bishop. Although he was always sick, he accomplished a
tremendous amount of good.
He preached once or
twice every day, fed the poor and took care of orphans. He corrected sinful
customs and stopped bad plays from being performed. He loved everyone, but he
was not afraid to tell even the empress when she did wrong. Because he fought
sin, St. John had enemies. The empress herself was one. She had him sent away
from Constantinople. On the trip he suffered greatly from fever, from lack of
food and sleep. Yet, he was happy to suffer for Jesus. Just before he died, he
cried out, "Glory be to God!" St. John died in Turkey on September
14, 407.
A terrible hailstorm fell on Constantinople when he died.
Four days later, the evil empress died too. Her son honored St. John's body and
showed how sorry he was for what his mother had done. God sees us all the time.
If we do everything as well as we can for him then we do not have to be afraid
of what others say or do against us.
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