Review of the Empress and the Bishop

The Triumphs and Tragedy of John Chrysostom

This is now the fourth book in a series on the Early Church Fathers and their era by Patrick Whitworth. Known for their candid, faithful and contextual setting of these seminal figures in the early Church, this latest volume does not disappoint.  Born and ordained in Antioch in the late fourth century, John Chrysostom (Golden Mouth) soon became the voice of the church though still a Presbyter in the city, amidst exposition of Scripture he called for repentance by the citizens of Antioch who had toppled the statutes of the Emperor Theodosius and his wife in protest at raised taxes.   Translated to the imperial centre at Constantinople in 397AD, John’s stringent life, fierce but informal preaching and his disciplining of lax clergy and monks soon made him enemies. The gathering storm burst when he challenged the Patriarch of Alexandria and the mercurial and beautiful Empress Eudoxia when he espoused the cause of the Tall Brothers and criticised the Empress’s extravagance.  Amidst it all, he kept up his golden preaching, started night prayer vigils and a new Liturgy, later set to music by Rachmaninoff.  In the end he was exiled by a jumped-up Court amidst popular fury, leading to a fire and deaths in Hagia Sophia.  John died in exile in Armenia but his body was eventually repatriated and welcomed by a repentant Theodosius II until it was removed to St Peter’s Rome during the infamous Fourth Crusade.  Cranmer included a prayer of Chrysostom’s in Anglican Morning Prayer. Of Whitworth’s book, the present Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholmew, wrote in his Foreword, “This seminal biography offers a fresh perspective on John Chrysostom’s remarkable life.”