The Christian Tradition has many a heart rending tale to tell, but one of the most vivid and compelling dramas is the endearing relationship of John Chrysostom and Olympias (both leaders and visionaries of the highest calibre). Chrysostom (349-407) is well known within the Orthodox tradition as one of the most respected Biblical exegetes, theologians, public activists for justice and Archbishop. Constantinople was one of the primary urban centers of Christianity in the Classical world, and Chrysostom was consecrated bishop of Constantinople in 397. It did not take long for Bishop John Chrysostom, the eloquent and golden mouth social reformer, to locked horns with the indulgent and wealthy class of the city.
Olympias (360- 408) lost both her parents when she was young, and she married the prefect of Constantinople when she was 18 years of age. Gregory of Nazianzen sent her one of the earliest Christian poems, ‘Mirror for Women’, and her husband died within two years of their marriage. The emperor (Theodosuis) insisted Olympias remarry, but she refused to obey his command. Instead, she slowly built up, with her wealth, the largest convent in Constantinople. Olympias was consecrated a deaconess by Archbishop Nectarius (there were many women in the early church that played significant roles as leaders), and in her role as spiritual mother to a community of more than 200 women, she was active in works of charity, generous with her wealth to the marginalized and built a hospital and orphanage.
John Chrysostom, as I mentioned above, became bishop of Constantinople in 397. It did not take long for John and Olympias to meet and begin their journey together. Both were highly admired for their leadership abilities, prophetic like character and high moral dispositions. Many have suggested that Olympias had been inspired by yet another legendary spiritual mother and deaconess, Melania the Elder. Olympias and Chrysostom worked, as soul friends, side by side, on some of the most difficult and trying issues in Constantinople from 397-404. The spring and summer of their friendship had dark clouds on the horizon that took them into a turbulent storm and a rapid autumn from which the leaves of their life soon fell to the wintering soil.
I don’t think it can be questioned that with Chrysostom and Olympias being the leaders of the church in Constantinople the city had a dynamic prophet and prophetess at the helm. But, those in wealth and power, those who insist the church bow to imperial claims, those who are willing to thin out and compromise the gospel for peace and security and those given to pomp and circumstance without substance and meaning will, inevitably so, clash with the searing purity of the prophetic light bearers. It was just a matter of time before John and Olympias confronted the Emperor and Empress (and those who genuflected to them). The pot had been simmering for a few years, but by 404 Emperor and Empress could take no more even though they claimed to be faithful adherents of the time tried Orthodox way.
John was tried by the imperial court, and after many a questionable legal sitting, he was sent into exile in 404. The letters between Chrysostom-Olympias (404-407) are some of the most tender, insightful, encouraging and worthy letters to read in the history of Christendom. There are 17 extant letters, and there are those that think that other letters were lost or destroyed. Olympias was devastated by the verdict that sent John out of Constantinople, but he encouraged her to remain in the city and be faithful to the disappointed and deflated flock. Olympias was often depressed, and refused to honour the new bishop (Arsacius), but her faithful witness remained a thorn in his side. John, in exile, never suggested even though treated unjustly by those in the church and imperial power, that a new church should be started to replace the compromised church (as protestants often do). It was just a matter of time before Olympias’ faithful witness would create a reaction by the power elite. Attitus (the bishop that followed Arsacius) disbanded the thriving community that Olympias was the spiritual mother of, and she was sent into exile also. The letters that continued to reach John and Olympias (and the nature and tone of them) speak much about a relationship that knew the dark night of the soul but also knew, in an intimate and reassuring way, how a soul friend can offer comfort and a resting place in such a night.
John birthed two final homilies from the fire that he and Olympias were refined by as they lived through it: ‘No Man Can Be Harmed Save By Himself’ and ‘On God’s Providence’. These homilies are not for those addicted to a health and wealth gospel or a naïve triumphalism. Olympias and Chrysostom dared to enter the thick of the fray, and their endings were like their Master, Lover and Lord.
There can be little doubt that when Olympias and John left this fragile earth our island home that they left behind a life and lineage that can still speak to us across the troubled centuries of the journey of the church. We are still in desperate need of a good and solid book in English that reflects in a meaningful on the insightful and incisive, challenging and loving letters that passed between John and Olympias as they shared the pain of their separation and walked the extra mile to comfort one another in the suffering that knawed in the depths of their disappointed souls.
Saints Days: Olympias (December 17 & July 25) & John Chrysostom (September 13)
Further Reading: J.N.D. Kelly: Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom: Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. Philip Rousseau: ‘Learned Women and the Development of a Christian Culture in late Antiquity’, Symbole Osloenses (Vol 70: Issue 1, 1995, 116-147). Kevin Madigan/Caroly Osiek: Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History. Elizabeth Ann Clark: Women in the Early Church. John Anthony McGuckin: The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine and Spiritual Culture.
Ron Dart
Dear Ron,
Thanks for this remarkable bit of history. You've brought the beauty of these precious saints out where we can see the life of their relationship in Christ in full bloom.
These soul friendships have fascinated me for some time: the connection between Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, or more recently, Hans Von Balthasar and Adrienne Von Speyr. The interdependence of a theologian and mystic or a churchman and prophet is a powerful witness across callings.
But by far my favourite is the relationship of three great siblings: Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, and their precious sister and teacher, Macrina. In 379, Basil had passed away and Gregory went to see his sister, who he also found on her deathbed. In this incredibly tender exchange, the reader is privileged to overhear Macrina's final thoughts, esp. on death and the afterlife, as she expounds them to Gregory, her younger brother and disciple. He came to be known as the Father of the Fathers, the Flower of Orthodoxy, and the defender of the Nicene Creed. One can listen in to them by reading their discussion (probably in 380 AD) at the following link:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.x.iii.ii.html
Posted by: Brad Jersak | July 09, 2010 at 09:54 AM
Thank you, Ron.
Posted by: Brian Zahnd | July 08, 2010 at 05:19 PM