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Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statues

John Chrysostom · translated by W. R. W. Stephens and others · 1889

On the Priesthood — the classic on pastoral ministry — with the Homilies on the Statues and select letters from exile.

Edition: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 9 · www.ccel.org

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From the opening: Chapters II–III

Chapter II — Chrysostom's Youth and Training, a.d. 347-370

"Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto Thee; and doest promise, that when two or three are gathered together in Thy name Thou wilt grant their requests: fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting, Amen."

This beautiful and comprehensive prayer, which is translated from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, has made his name a household word wherever the Anglican Liturgy is known and used.

John, surnamed Chrysostom ('Io?nnes Chrusostomos) is the greatest pulpit orator and commentator of the Greek Church, and still deservedly enjoys the highest honor in the whole Christian world. No one of the Oriental Fathers has left a more spotless reputation; no one is so much read and so often quoted by modern preachers and commentators. An admiring posterity, since the close of the fifth century, has given him the surname Chrysostom (the Golden Mouth), which has entirely superseded his personal name John, and which best expresses the general estimate of his merits.

His life may be divided into five periods: (1) His youth and training till his conversion and baptism, A.D. 347-370. (2) His ascetic and monastic life, 370-381. (3) His public life as priest and preacher at Antioch, 381-398. (4) His episcopate at Constantinople, 398-404. (5) His exile to his death, 404-407.

John (the name by which alone he is known among contemporary writers and his first biographers) was born in 347, at Antioch, the capital of Syria, and the home of the mother church of Gentile Christianity, where the disciples of Jesus were first called "Christians."

His father, Secundus, was a distinguished military officer (magister militum) in the imperial army of Syria, and died during the infancy of John, without professing Christianity, as far as we know. His mother, Anthusa, was a rare woman. Left a widow at the age of twenty, she refused all offers of marriage, and devoted herself exclusively to the education of her only son and his older sister. She was probably from principle averse to a second marriage, according to a prevailing view of the Fathers. She shines, with Nonna and Monica, among the most pious mothers of the fourth century, who prove the ennobling influence of Christianity on the…

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Contents (86 sections)

  1. About this edition
  2. Post-Nicene Fathers
  3. Preface
  4. Chapters II–III
  5. Chapters IV–V
  6. Chapter VI — Chrysostom as Deacon, Priest and Preacher at Antioch. a.d. 381-398
  7. Chapters VII–VIII
  8. Chapters IX–X
  9. Chapters XI–XIII
  10. Chapter XIV — Chrysostom as a Preacher
  11. Introduction to the Treatise on the Priesthood
  12. Book I
  13. Book II
  14. Book III
  15. Book III (continued)
  16. Book IV
  17. Book IV (continued)
  18. Book V
  19. Book VI
  20. Book VI (continued)
  21. Introduction to the Letters to Theodore
  22. Letter I
  23. Letter I (continued)
  24. Letter I (continued)
  25. Letter II
  26. Introduction to the Letter to a Young Widow
  27. Introduction to the Homilies on S. Ignatius and S. Babylas
  28. Introduction to the Homilies on S. Ignatius and S. Babylas (continued)
  29. Homily concerning lowliness of mind; and commentary on philippians I. 18
  30. Homily
  31. Introduction
  32. Introduction (continued)
  33. Introduction (continued)
  34. Homily i
  35. Homily I
  36. Homily II
  37. Homily III
  38. Homily
  39. Homily
  40. Homily (continued)
  41. Homily
  42. Homily (continued)
  43. Homily
  44. Homily
  45. Introduction to the Two Homilies on Eutropius
  46. Homily I
  47. Homily II
  48. Homily II (continued)
  49. Introduction to the Treatise That No One Can Harm the Man Who Does Not Injure Himself
  50. To Prove That No One Can Harm the Man Who Does Not Injure Himself
  51. To Prove That No One Can Harm the Man Who Does Not Injure Himself (continued)
  52. Introduction to the Letters to Olympias
  53. Introduction to the Letters to Olympias (continued)
  54. Introduction to the Correspondence of St. Chrysostom, and the Church at Constantinople…
  55. Preface to the Benedictine Edition
  56. Homily I
  57. Homily I (continued)
  58. Homily II
  59. Homily II (continued)
  60. Homily III
  61. Homily III (continued)
  62. Homily IV
  63. Homily V
  64. Homily V (continued)
  65. Homily VI
  66. Homily VII
  67. Homily VIII
  68. Homily IX
  69. Homily X
  70. Homily XI
  71. Homily XII
  72. Homily XIII
  73. Homily XIV
  74. Homily XV
  75. Homily XVI
  76. Homily XVII
  77. Homily XVIII
  78. Homily XIX
  79. Homily XX
  80. Homily XX (continued)
  81. Homily XXI
  82. Indexes of Subjects
  83. (Exclusive of Homilies on the Statues.)
  84. Homilies on the Statues
  85. Letter of the monks to Theodosius, 454
  86. Letter of the monks to Theodosius, 454 (continued)

How to cite it

Chicago
John Chrysostom. Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statues. Translated by W. R. W. Stephens and others. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 9, 1889. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf109
MLA
John Chrysostom. Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statues. Translated by W. R. W. Stephens and others, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 9, 1889. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf109
APA
John Chrysostom (1889). Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statues (W. R. W. Stephens and others, Trans.). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 9. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf109

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