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The Chronology of Saint John Chrysostom's Early Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Robert E. Carter
Robert E. Carter*
Affiliation:
Woodstock College
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Extract

The establishment of a chronology of Saint John Chrysostom's early life is beset with difficulties arising not from a lack of sources, but from a relative abundance of incomplete accounts, which sometimes contradict one another and which are of uncertain reliability. The fifth chapter of Palladius’ Dialogue is generally considered to be our most valuable source. Yet even in the use of this document some caution is advisable. Palladius knew Chrysostom during the last years of the latter's life; consequently his account of the events in Constantinople is of great value. But what were his sources for the saint's early life? Two in particular have been proposed: Chrysostom himself, and his aunt, the deaconess Sabiniana. Our own experience of human nature should warn us that a man in his late fifties or early sixties does not always remember accurately the details of his youth, and that the testimony of elderly aunts about the early years of their famous nephews is never entirely above question. Moreover, it should be remembered that Palladius’ Dialogue had an apologetic purpose.

Type
Miscellany
Information
Traditio , Volume 18 , 1962 , pp. 357 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © 1962 New York, Fordham University Press 

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References

1 PG 47.18-19. Cf. for Palladius’ reliability, P. R. Coleman-Norton, Palladii dialogus de vita s. Joannis Chrysostomi (Cambridge 1928) xi, xxx, lx-lxiv; C. Baur, ‘Wann ist der hl. Chrysostomus geboren?’ Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 52 (1928) 401-406; J. Du- mortier, ‘La valeur historique de Palladius et la chronologie de S. Jean Chrysostome,’ Mélanges de science religieuse 8 (1951) 51-56.Google Scholar

2 Coleman-Norton, loc. cit.Google Scholar

3 Dumortier, art. cit. 51. 4 PG 67.665-669.Google Scholar

4 PG 67.665-669.Google Scholar

5 It is clear from Gregory of Nazianzus' Panegyric on. Basil (PG 36.493-605) that the great St. Basil never studied in Antioch. Palladius says explicitly that Flavian ordained Chrysostom to the priesthood, and he implies that Meletius ordained him lector.Google Scholar

6 PG 67.1513-1517.Google Scholar

7 Baur gives a bibliography of the dispute from 1820 to 1917 in ‘Chrysostomus, De sacer- dotio,’ Theologie und (ilaube 18 (1920) 569-576. In answer to Baur's position cf. F. P. Karn- thaler, ‘Die Einleitung zu Ioannes Chrysostomos “Über das Priestertum,” eine comparatio,’ liyzantinisch Neugriechische Jahrbücher 9 (1930–1932) 36-38. T. Sinko's position is vitiated by his having overlooked the passage in Jerome's De viris inlustribus (PL 23.754) which mentions the De sacerdolio; cf. T. Sinko, ‘De inventione, tempore, consilio librorum de sacerdotio s. Joannis Ghrysostomi, ‘ in Mélanges Henri Grégoire I (Brussels 1949) 544.Google Scholar

8 PG 48.605.Google Scholar

9 PG 48.601.Google Scholar

10 PG 60.274-275. For an enumeration and critique of the other ancient and Byzantine sources for Chrysostom's life, which are irrelevant to our present purpose, cf. Baur's work (Eng. transi.) cited n. 11 infra, pp. xix, xlv.Google Scholar

11 C. Baur, Der heilige Johannes Chrysostomus und seine Zeit (Munich 1929–1930). The need to correct Baur's work has become more pressing since the publication of the second German edition, which is substantially the same as the first, and the first volume of the English translation of the second German edition: Saint John Chrysostom and His Time I: Antioch. Translated by Sr. M. Gonzaga, H.S.M. (Westminster, Maryland 1959). In the following notes references are to this English translation. Two recent examples of the continuing influence of the chronology proposed by Baur and bv H. Lietzmann, ‘Johannes Chrysostomus,’ RE 9 (1916) 1812, are found in Ivo auf der Maur, Mönchtum und Glaubens- verkündigung in den Schriften des hl. Johannes Chrysostomus (Paradosis: Beiträge zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur und Theologie 14; Freiburg 1959) and A. J. Festugière, Antioche païenne et chrétienne: Libanius, Chrysostome et les moines de Syrie (Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 194; Paris 1959).Google Scholar

12 Baur, art. cit. (η. 1 supra) 403, and op. cit. (n. 11 supra) 3. 85, 138, 180. Even if one supposes with Baur that Palladius intended to give a lückenloses curriculum vitae, in view of Palladius’ indirect knowledge of the events many years after their occurrence, one may question the statement: ‘Darum setzt [Palladius] auch zu jeder Lebensetappe die genaue Dauer derselben. Es ist daher äusserst unwahrscheinlich, dass er irgend einen nennenswerten Lebensabschnitt unerwähnt bzw. ohne Zeitangabe liess.’ Art. cit. (η. 1 supra) 403.Google Scholar

13 Baur, art. cit. (η. 1 supra) 402-403.Google Scholar

14 Moulard, A., Saint Jean Chrysostome: sa vie, son oeuvre (Paris, n. d. [1(J41]) 411, and Dumortier, art. cit. 56. Although the passages cited from Palladius by Baur in support of his interpretation do not to my mind establish it, they do show that his interpretation is at least possible, something which Moulard and Dumortier seem unwilling to admit.Google Scholar

15 Dumortier, art. cit. 56. In support of this interpretation I would point out that when Palladius indicates in this same passage a continuous period of time, he uses multiplication: όΐς δυο ετη, τρις οκτώ μήνας. Google Scholar

16 PG 48. 605.Google Scholar

17 Ettlinger, G., ‘Some Historical Evidence for the Date of St. John Chrysostom's Birth in the Treatise “Ad viduam iuniorem,”’ Traditio 16 (1960) 373–380. Cf. for a different and less convincing treatment of the same material, G. Brunner, ‘Die Zeit der Abfassung der Schrift Ad viduam iuniorem des hl. Chrysostomus, Johannes, ‘ Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 65 (1941) 32-35. Brunner's interpretation presupposes the Baur-Liet/rnann chronology.Google Scholar

18 Ensslin, W., ‘Meletius,’ RE 15 (1931) 502.Google Scholar

19 Schiwietz, S., Das morgenländische Mönchtum III (Mödling, n. d. [1938]) 272.Google Scholar

20 Ibid. 266ff.Google Scholar

21 Festugière, op. cit. 413. Google Scholar

22 Ibid. 187 n. 4.Google Scholar

23 Baur, art. cit. (η. 1 supra) 404 n. 5. Google Scholar

24 “ Moulard, op. cit. 411.Google Scholar

25 Dumortier, art. cit. 56.Google Scholar

26 PG 48.868.Google Scholar

27 Baur, op. cit. (η. 11 supra) 81.Google Scholar

28 Dumortier, art. cit. 52-53.Google Scholar

29 Cf. η. 23 supra. Google Scholar

30 For the evidence cf. Baur, op. cit. (η. 11 supra) 180.Google Scholar

31 PG 47.18 : τΗρχε δε το κατ’ εκείνο καιρόν της κατά Άντιόχειαν Εκκλησίας ό μακάριος Μελέτιος. Google Scholar

32 The two months of summer vacation for Lihanius’ students wrere probably August and September according to Festugière, op. cit. 135.Google Scholar

33 PG 47.18.Google Scholar

34 Ibid.: Ννττόμενος ôè νηό τον σννειόότος μι) άρκεισθαι τοις εν τί] ηόλει ττόνοις … καταλαμβάνει τά πλησίον ootj. Google Scholar

35 Festugière. op. cit. 187 η. 4.Google Scholar

36 For three very different views cf. Baur, op. cit. (η. 11 supra) chap. 10; L. Meyer, Saint Jean Chrysostome, maître de perfection chrétienne (Paris 1933) 16-26; and R. Leconte, ‘L'Asce- terium de Diodore,’ in Mélanges bibliques André Robert (Paris n. d. [1957]) 531-536.Google Scholar

37 PG 48.624-625.Google Scholar

38 PG 82.1060C.Google Scholar

39 ‘Beneath the rank … of subdeacon and lector, or rather outside the hierarchy properly so called, the Eastern Churches recognized other categories, some common to all Churches, the others varying according to the localities and their special needs — confessors, virgins, widows, psalmists, doorkeepers, interpreters, copiatae, parabolani, etc.’ L. Duchesne, Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution (4th English ed. London 1912) 344 n. 2.Google Scholar

40 Festugière, op. cit. 414.Google Scholar

41 PG 60.274-275.Google Scholar

42 A. Xagl, ‘Valens,’ RE 7A (1948) 2111–2113.Google Scholar

43 Baur, art. cit. (η. 1 supra) 404 η. 5.Google Scholar

44 PG 48.694.Google Scholar