VATICAN - Benedict XVI at his general audience continues his teaching on Saint John Chrysostom: “Despite his sufferings, Chrysostom reaffirmed the discovery that God loves each of us with infinite love, and therefore wishes all to be saved ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - During his general audience on Wednesday 26 September, continuing his cycle of catechesis on the Apostolic Fathers, Pope Benedict XVI dwelt on the figure of St John Chrysostom, and in particular, on the second part of his life. Appointed Bishop of Constantinople, the capital city of the Roman Empire of the East, in the year 397, from the beginning John Chrysostom planned to reform his Church: “the austerity of the Bishop's residence was to be an example for all… a careful administrator, he succeeded in creating highly appreciated charity institutes… as a true Shepherd, his attitude towards everyone was cordial and paternal. He spoke especially kindly to women and showed great support for marriage and the family. He urged the faithful to take part in liturgical life which he rendered splendid and enthralling with genial creativity”.
The Holy Father then recalled that for John Chrysostom, “despite his kind heart, life was not easy”, and he “often found himself involved in political questions and intrigues”. False accusations, defamation and calumny led to his being deposed during a Synod organised by Patriarch Theophilus in 403, and a consequent first brief period of exile. “When he returned, hostility towards him, triggered by a protest against festivities in honour of the empress - which the Bishop considered luxurious pagan festivals -, and the sending away of priests charged with performing Baptisms during the Easter Vigil of 404, marked the beginning of persecution of John Chrysostom and his followers” the Holy Father recalled.
In the year 406 he was exiled again to Armenia. Pope Innocent I was convinced of his innocence but was powerless to help him. “His condemnation to exile was a condemnation to death” said Pope Benedict XVI recalling the numerous letters written in exile, “in which John expressed his pastoral concern with sentiments of participation and suffering for his persecuted followers”. John died in Comana in Ponto, on 14 September 407, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. He was rehabilitated in 438 under Theodosius II. Blessed John XXIII proclaimed him the patron saint of Vatican II.
John Chrysostom is referred to as “a second Paul, a doctor of the Universe”, in him “there exists substantial unity of thought and action” the Pope said. Meditating on God's work of creation, “Chrysostom wishes to draw the faithful from creation back to the Creator… He shows us the beauty of creation and how God shines through his creation, which becomes almost like a ladder to ascend to God, to know him”. But since we are feeble in our ‘ascent’, “God becomes the God of condescendence, who sends fallen and estranged man a letter, Sacred Scripture, so creation and Scripture complement one another. In the light of Scripture, the letter God has given to us, we are able to decipher creation… God not only sends us a letter: in the end, he himself descends, he takes on human flesh and becomes truly ‘God with us, our brother, even to death on the Cross. And to these three steps … a fourth is added. Within the life and deeds of the Christian, the vital and dynamic principle is the Holy Spirit (Pneuma), who transforms the reality of the world. God enters our very being through the Holy Spirit and transforms us from the depths of our heart.”
In his comment on the Acts of the Apostles, John proposes the example of the early Church to “give the city a Christian soul and a face”. “The old idea of the Greek ‘polis’ is replaced by a new idea of the city inspired by the Christian faith. Chrysostom like Paul sustained the primate of the individual Christian, the person as such, including the slave and the poor man”. At the end of his life, from exile in a remote part of Armenia, John - the Holy Father recalled - John returned to a theme he held dear, the plan that God pursues for humanity: “Although we cannot decipher the details of personal and collective history, we know that God's plan is always inspired by his love. Thus, despite his sufferings, Chrysostom reaffirmed the discovery that God loves each of us with infinite love, and therefore wishes all to be saved. For his part, never sparing himself all through his life the holy Bishop cooperated generously for this salvation”. Greeting visitors in Italian the Pope mentioned student priest from mission lands in Rome for further studies and resident at the Pontifical Colleges of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and he said he wished their studies would be “happy and profitable”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 27/9/2007 - righe 52, parole 737)