John Chrysostom

   John the "Golden Mouth" (Chrysostomos), eloquent bishop of Constantinople (qq.v.) from 398-404, whose previous fame as a preacher in Antioch (q.v.) attracted the notice of the emperor Arkadios (qq.v.). Once in the capital, he spoke his mind against the Gothic general Gainas (q.v.), and against the powerful court favorite Eutropios (q.v.). He also attempted to reform the morals of the clergy and court, which gained the ire of the empress Eudoxia (qq.v.). She took personally his insults about the dress and adornment of women. John's reference to her as "Jezebel" earned him his first banishment (403), something engineered as much by Eudoxia as by Theophilos, bishop of Alexandria (q.v.), and the Syrian bishop Severianos (q.v.), both adversaries of John. In 407 John died in Pontos (q.v.) during his second period of exile, while being moved to a remote location, despite pleas of exhaustion. However, his fame was such that 31 years after his death his body was returned to Constantinople, where it was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles (q.v.).