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Golden Mouth:

The Story of John Chrysostom-Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop
Front Cover
5 Reviews
Cornell University Press, Nov 5, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 310 pages
John Chrysostom, or "Golden Mouth," was a famous ascetic and preacher of the fourth/fifth century, a controversial bishop of Constantinople, and a brilliant orator - hence the epithet. This is the first comprehensive study of him in the English language in over a century. In the early chapters John Kelly highlights Chrysostom's youthful experiments with asceticism at Antioch in Syria, his six years as a monk and then a recluse in the nearby mountains, and his influential role as Antioch's leading preacher. The central section of the book shows him as a fearlessly outspoken populist bishop of the capital. Kelly focuses on his authoritarian style, his interventions in political crises, and his clashes with the Empress Eudoxia, as well as his efforts to promote the primacy of the see of Constantinople in the east. The final chapters reconstruct the plots that led to Chrysostom's downfall, the drama of his trial, and his exile and death.
  

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Review: Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop

User Review  - Peter - Goodreads

Best biography I have read. Very good language and style of writing. Also very professional and unbiasedly written, however sympathy for St. John Chrysostom is felt nevertheless. Read full review

Review: Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop

User Review  - Michael Taouk - Goodreads

Reading this book was like accompanying John Chrysostom through his life from Antioch to Constantinople into exile in Armenia. By the end of it John and I became good friends. I now know why he is known as "Golden Mouth". Kelly writes history at its best. Read full review

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Contents

The Early Years
1
The Young Ascetic
14
Retreat to the Mountains
24
Deacon and Pamphleteer
36
Preachers First Year
55
An Anxious Lent
72
Decade of Development
83
Unexpected Promotion
104
The Affair of the Long Brothers
191
Epiphanios to the Rescue
205
The Oak
211
Between Two Exiles
228
Final Exile
250
Last Journey
272
Triumphal Return
286
Appendix A Some Ancient Sources
291

Diplomat and Rough Reformer
115
The Bishop at Work
128
Crises in the Capital
145
Intervention in Asia
163
Dispute with Severian
181
Appendix B The Chronology of Johns Earlier Life
296
Charges Brought against John at The Oak
299
Town Plans of Constantinople and Antioch
302
Index
304
Copyright

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About the author (1998)

J.N.D. Kelly is Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, England. He is acknowledged internationally as an authority on patristic Christian thought. Dr. Kelly is also the author of "Jerome, "which "Library Journal ""highly recommended for every serious religious collection.

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