St John Chrysostom, the golden trumpet of Orthodoxy.

Commemorated January 27 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

The Church celebrates the memory of this saint on November 13th and January 30th, but on this day is celebrated the translation of his honoured relics from the Armenian village of Comana, where he died in exile in 407, to Constantinople where earlier, as Patriarch, he had governed the Church. Thirty years after his death, Patriarch Proclus made a speech in memory of his spiritual father and mentor, and by this speech so roused the love of the people and the Emperor, Theodosius the Younger, towards the great saint that they all wanted the relics of Chrysostom to be translated to Constantinople. It is related that the coffin containing the relics could not be shifted from its place until the Emperor wrote a letter to Chrysostom, begging his forgiveness (for Theodosius's mother, Eudoxia, was guilty of having persecuted the saint) and appealing to him to return to Constantinople, his former residence. When this repentant letter was placed on the coffin, the latter became light in weight. Before the translation, many of the sick, on touching the coffin, were healed. When the relics arrived at the capital, the Emperor again begged forgiveness over them in his mother's name, as though it were she herself speaking: 'While I lived in this temporal life, I acted in malice towards thee; but now that thou livest in eternal life, be thou of help to my soul. My glory passes and there is nought to help me; help me, Father, in thy glory; help me before I come to be condemned before the judgement of Christ.' When the saint was carried into the Church of the Holy Apostles and placed on the patriarchal throne, the assembled throng heard these words from his mouth: 'Peace be with you all!' The translation of the relics of St John Chrysostom was carried out in the year 438.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK