14

BECOMES READER.

in cells on the hills near the city; from
among such venerable persons those young men
sought for spiritual guides. A contemplation of
the severe, abstemious, and simple life of these
monks made a stronger impression, when con-
trasted with the licentious and corrupt habits
of the city; and it often happened, that worldly
men, who in thoughtless mood had ascended
the hills, returned with altered feelings;
for they were greatly affected by the un-
usual sight of persons, who free from the
manifold desires and restless passions of the
world, and independent of external circum-
stances, had found in the intercourse with their
God an inexhaustible source of happiness.
Ashamed of themselves-conscious of their own
deficiency, and with feelings, hitherto unknown,
of longing for a better life, they departed from
the monks. Many of these holy men
really deserving of the general esteem, for they
not only led in their retirement a life devoted to
God, and gave their advice and admonition to
all who sought them, but in periods of heavy
misfortune were ever ready to assist the city
by the influence of their venerable appear-
ance and by their fearless words, which had
the greater weight, as they were seldom heard.
Chrysostom warmly participated in the general
feelings of veneration for their mode of life, and
had he been in a situation to follow freely his
own inclination, he would have immediately
connected himself with them; but many things
contributed to withhold him. Meletius, de-
sirous to gain him for the active duties of the
church, consecrated him to the office of public
reader of the scriptures,' usually entrusted to

1 ἀναγνώστης.

were

DWELLS WITH HIS MOTHER.

young persons, who were preparing for holy orders. His mother, dreading to be separated from her son, endeavoured to retain him in her house, and without consulting him, provided for all his personal wants, that he might follow the bent of his mind the more undisturbed. On the other hand his friend Basilius, the companion of his youthful studies, having chosen a path of life different from his own, and having joined the monks, exerted himself in every way to bring over Chrysostom to his views. This, however, his mother strove to prevent, representing to him, that he was the only comfort of her old age, and that there was no sacrifice she had not made for his sake; and without doubt he was influenced by these representations.

In this retirement he was zealously occupied by the study of the Bible. His spiritual father, Meletius, could no longer be his guide and instructor; he had been exiled P. c. 370, by the emperor Valens, who persecuted many of the opponents of Arianism, and he passed several years in banishment. His place was supplied by the presbyters Evagrius and Diodorus, the latter of whom was afterwards known as Bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia, and who obtained great esteem by his learning and persevering zeal in the defence of divine truth against heathens and heretics. He wandered unwearied through the old town of Antioch on the further side of the Orontes, where the congregation of Meletius had fixed their seat, to confirm men in the true faith. He would not accept any settled income with his office; but he was received first in one house and then in another,

1 Vide p. 9.

15

16

THE PRESBYTER DIODORUS.

and was content to have his daily need relieved by the love of those, for whose salvation he laboured amid so many perils. He also conferred a great benefit upon the church of this district, by assembling around him, as the presbyters Dorotheus and Lucianus had done at the latter end of the third century, a circle of young men, whose religious education he superintended. In this union Chrysostom and Theodorus were alike conspicuous, the latter of

2

1 Chrysostom represents it thus, and appeals to the testimony of his congregation, in his panegyric upon Diodorus when bishop. § 4. T. iii. opp.

2 We here withdraw our assumption in the first edition of this work, that Diodorus first became the teacher of Chrysostom, after Chrysostom had retired to live among the monks at Antioch. For it is very doubtful whether Diodorus ever left the active service of the church, and became the head of any particular monastic society. In the discourse alluded to, Chrysostom represents him only as an active teacher of the church. Since he does his utmost in this discourse to compare him with John the Baptist, he would scarcely, bad there been any truth in it, have overlooked the point, that Diodorus, like John the Baptist, had withdrawn to the wilderness. We will therefore rather suppose, that Diodorus as presbyter, was engaged in preparing for the church young men at this same period, who formed a free society around him, as was afterwards the practice of Theodorus, also a presbyter of the same church. Vid. the epistle of Bishop Mel. of M. in the Syn. ep. 152. opp. Theodoret, Vol. V. p. 833. This was probably the same Theodorus, whom Gennadius mentions as a presbyter of Antioch, c. 12. Socrates and Sozomen indeed admit, that Chrysostom, when monk, was a pupil of Diodorus and Carterius, who were at that time superintendants of an άσкητηρiv, gymnasium. But, after what has been said, this can only be understood as regards Diodorus, in as far as he directed the spiritual education of young men at Antioch. Socrates and Sozomenus, who had no accurate knowledge of the Antiochian church, and heard Diodorus praised both as a rigid ascetic and spiritual teacher, might,-not knowing how to separate the different relations,-easily conclude, that Diodorus was an abbot in the common way. They were perhaps more in the right with regard to Carterius.

THE PRESBYTER THEODORUS.

whom subsequently distinguished himself as the successor of Diodorus, both in this and in the episcopal office. We may suppose that the influence exercised by Diodorus over Chrysostom must have been great, when we remember that Diodorus above all others contributed to form that Antiochian school so remarkably distinguished by the character of its theology, and which was perfected by Theodorus. In this school Chrysostom acquired that simple, sound, grammatic and historical mode of interpreting the Bible, in which he suffered himself to be guided and determined by its spirit, rather than by that capricious system of allegory adopted by others, which gave to the inspired volume a sense foreign to it, and substituted for its simplicity far-fetched and specious meanings, supposed to lie concealed within it. Thus from the simple word did Chrysostom derive the rich treasures which are to be met with in his Homilies; and thus was formed the sober, practical Christianity which afterwards rendered him so eminent, and which is always to be found with those, who in singleness of heart seek from the fountain source a knowledge of divine truth.

We have before observed the influence which Diodorus exercised over the theological education both of Chrysostom and his friend Theodorus; and it is remarkable in how different a manner the characters of these two great men were unfolded under the same spiritual guidance. Theodorus was distinguished for knowledge and acuteness of judgment; Chrysostom for practice

1 The fragments of the writings of Diodorus, which have been preserved to us, discover all those fundamental principles of the Antiochian doctrine of faith, which were further worked out by Theodorus.

C

17

18

EARLY EDUCATION OF CHRYSOSTOM.

and fervour of heart. Both became lights of the church; the one in learning and science; the other as a guide for Christian conduct. In the theology of Theodorus, rather than in that of Chrysostom, we recognize the influence of Diodorus. The doctrine of faith, as it had been set forth by Diodorus, was systematically matured by his disciple Theodorus. Chrysostom was not so well qualified to advance a system, and his doctrine of faith less dependent upon that influence, discovered itself in his own Christian life. On that account many ideas belonging to the school of Diodorus, assumed in Chrysostom a different form, and he became a connecting link between the Antiochian school and the rest of the Eastern church.

1

It may be supposed, that during the time which the young men first passed together, great difference of disposition disclosed itself. Theodorus was the younger of the two, scarcely twenty years of age. Like Chrysostom, he was a pupil of Libanius, and enthusiastically attached to the study of ancient literature; but the devotion of Chrysostom to an ascetic life, abstracted from worldly affairs, and solely dedicated to the contemplation of heavenly concerns, operated so powerfully upon the mind of his young friend, that he forsook the school of Libanius to join a society of youthful ascetics, which had been formed at Antioch under the guidance of Diodorus; exchanged his researches in ancient literature for the study of the Bible, and abandoned a career of worldly splendour,

1 The different ages of the two young men occasion some difficulty as to their having been fellow pupils of Libanius, as Socrates and Sozomen report; but these writers are not sufficiently accurate on such points, that we should have great scruple in departing from their authority.