By Fr. George Dorbarakis
If gold is one of the most precious metals that never loses its value, then correspondingly Saint John Chrysostom, according to his Hymnographer, is considered perhaps the most precious of all people, because gold flows from both his soul and his body. And not only that, but he also gilds everything with his words, like that Midas of old, who turned everything he touched into gold. “Golden in both soul and body, you gild all things with your words.” It is understood, of course, that this gold, which the Hymnographer speaks of, is considered from a spiritual perspective, in order for him to emphasize the spiritual height of the Saint and the power of his words, while giving him the opportunity to express himself in such a poetic way the very epithet of the Saint: Chrysostom. What specifically does the ecclesiastical poet want to emphasize? Finding himself unable to properly praise Saint John – “To the Maker of all I bow my knee, to the eternal Word I stretch out my hands, seeking a gift of speech, that I may hymn the venerable one” – he understands that he is dealing with a man who, beyond his most holy life, expressed with absolute clarity the word of God and the dogmas of the Church: “Rejoice (John)…the precision of high theology; the clarity of the Scriptures of the Spirit.” And this because “he learned the wisdom from on high and the grace of words from God,” which means he lived as a “vessel of God,” “always living in His light.”
One cannot speak of Saint John without not only noting, but also exclaiming the passion and love he had for the Holy Scriptures of our Church. He was that Saint who literally breathed day and night with the word of God, which he interpreted in its entirety and in a truly unique way, so that he can also be characterized as “the interpreter” of the Church, as “the meadow of the words of the divinely inspired Scriptures,” whose “jaws are full, like bottles of divine perfumes.” He especially loved the Holy Apostle Paul, whose epistles he delved into so deeply that it is considered that the Apostle himself guided him in their interpretation, something that is also evident from the most beautiful icon of him, which depicts him writing, while he has Saint Paul next to his ear dictating to him the correct meanings of his words. And yet! Saint Theophanes, the Hymnographer of the Canon of Saint John Chrysostom, does not focus on this. He hymns the Saint's love for the Holy Scriptures, but does not refer to his special relationship with the Apostle Paul, except for one verse of his, which refers to the great Apostle: "You were enriched with the mind of Christ," he writes. Saint John Chrysostom richly acquired the mind of Christ, just as the Apostle Paul confesses that he too has the “mind of Christ.”
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saint John Chrysostom, with his unceasing study of the Holy Scriptures, a study that was combined with the act of application – he is the one who emphasizes that we should not proceed with the reading of the words of the Scriptures, without asking each time the question of whether we have kept them – became the most fervent preacher of the love of God, which calls man to repentance. It is not possible for a man who studies the Scriptures, in a correct way, that is, in the light of ecclesiastical tradition and in practice, not to preach what the Scripture proclaims: the love of God, incarnate and crucified in the person of Christ, which when accepted man changes his way of life. Saint John Chrysostom, to the point of exaggeration, is presented precisely as “the divine preacher of repentance” and “the guarantor of sinners.” “You preached the compassion of God, setting forth the ways of repentance.” And elsewhere: “You appeared to guarantee salvation to those who repent fervently, for you are initiated into the abyss of the goodness and compassion of God.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
