SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2008
Sorrow,
Glory, Peace
Most glorious John Chrysostom, the church of
Constantinople greatly rejoiced, receiving the gift of your holy relics; keeping them as a
treasure of great price! Through your
intercession, they bring the grace of healing to those who praise you in hymns!
--Kontakion for the Translation of the Relics of St. John Chrysostom
Saint
John Chrysostom This great ecumenical teacher and hierarch died in the city of Comana in
the year 407 on his way to a place of exile. He had been condemned by the intrigues of the
empress Eudoxia because of his daring denunciation of the vices ruling over
Constantinople. The transfer of his venerable relics was made in the year 438, thirty
years after the death of the saint during the reign of Eudoxia's son emperor Theodosius II
(408-450).
St John Chrysostom had the warm love and deep respect of the people, and grief over his
untimely death lived on in the hearts of Christians. St John's disciple, St Proclus,
Patriarch of Constantinople (434-447), during services in the Church of Hagia Sophia,
preached a sermon praising St John. He said, "O John, your life was filled with
sorrow, but your death was glorious. Your grave is blessed and reward is great, by the
grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus ChriSt O graced one, having conquered the bounds of time
and place! Love has conquered space, unforgetting memory has annihilated the limits, and
place does not hinder the miracles of the saint."
Those who were present in church, deeply touched by the words of St Proclus, did not allow
him even to finish his sermon. With one accord they began to entreat the Patriarch to
intercede with the emperor, so that the relics of St John might be brought back to
Constantinople.
The emperor, overwhelmed by St Proclus, gave his consent and gave the order to transfer
the relics of St John. But those he sent were unable to lift the holy relics until the
emperor realized that he had sent men to take the saint's relics from Comana with an
edict, instead of with a prayer. He wrote a letter to St John, humbly asking him to
forgive his audacity, and to return to Constantinople. After the message was read at the
grave of St John, they easily took up the relics, carried them onto a ship and arrived at
Constantinople.
The coffin with the relics was placed in the Church of Holy Peace (Hagia Eirene). When
Patriarch Proclus opened the coffin, the body of St John was found to be incorrupt. The
emperor approached the coffin with tears, asking forgiveness for his mother, who had
banished St John. All day and night people did not leave the coffin.
In the morning the coffin was brought to the Church of the Holy Apostles. The people cried
out, "Father, take up your throne." Then Patriarch Proclus and the clergy
standing by the relics saw St John open his mouth and say, "Peace be to all."
Many of the sick were healed at his tomb.
The celebration of the transfer of the relics of St John Chrysostom was established in the
ninth century.
--From
OCA Feasts & Saints
"The peace of God, it is no peace,
But strife closed in the sod.
Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing—The marvelous peace of God."
--William Alexander Percy
