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St. John Chrysostom
St. John Chrystostom, a fourth century Bishop of Constantinople, was greatly
beloved in his time and received the name Chrysostom (KRIS-us-tum) due to
his eloquent speaking voice and powerful delivery. In Greek, Chrysostom
means "Golden Tongue".
St. John Chrysostom gave generously of his private means and founded hospitals for the poor. A social as well as religious activist, he spoke out fearlessly against the custom of bowing before statues of the Byzantine empress. For this defiance of authority he was banned into exile. He died in a place of refuge on the slopes of the Taurus Mountains in 407 A.D. In his Epistle Matt. Hom 34, n.1: - Breviary, June 11th, Lesson IX, Chrysostom wrote: That they may now understand that this is a new kind of warfare and
not the usual custom of joining in battle, when He sent them with nothing He
said: "And so, marching on, show forth the meekness of lambs, although
youare to go to wolves... for so will I best show my power, when the wolves
are conquered by the lambs"... For certainly it is a greater work and much
more marvelous to change the minds of opponents and to bring about a change
of soul than to kill them... We ought to be ashamed, therefore, who act far
differently when as wolves we rush upon our adversaries. For as long as we
are lambs we conquer; even when a thousand wolves stand about, we overcome
and are victors. but if we act like wolves we are conquered, for then the
aid of the Good Shepherd departs from us, for He does not foster wolves but
sheep.
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