Icon of John Chrysostom

Although beckoned to the monastic life, John Chrysostom unwillingly became a priest and eventually Bishop of Constantinople. He was an expositor and preacher of great power, as the appellation "John the Golden-mouthed" indicates. As an expositor he was skilled at plumbing the spiritual depths of texts while at the same time applying them directly to the circumstances of his hearers. His preaching was noted for its catechetical content and moral rigor. Chrysostom's sermons were such that they aroused the ire of his ecclesiastical rivals and of the Empress Eudoxia. His foes arranged to have him exiled from his see. He died as a result of ill health induced by the rigorous conditions of his exile.