“One noteworthy incident demonstrates the power of his preaching. During the Lenten season of 387 the people of Antioch rioted over new taxes imposed upon them by the emperor Theodosius and burned a number of statues of the emperor and his family. Theodosius threatened to destroy the city in his anger and sent troops into the city to quell the rioting and judges to try the instigators of the riot. John took the occasion to preach 20 sermons on the subject, “On the Statutes,” in which he reminded the people of their responsibilities to those whom God had put over them and reminded the emperor of the evils of undue cruelty. These sermons served to bring about a quietness in the city and an amnesty from the emperor. One writer of the time said of these sermons: “Though such a crowd had come together, the silence was as deep as though not a single person had been present.” One is reminded of Luther’s sermons which quelled the disorders in Wittenburg, brought on by the unruly Zwickau prophets.
Because of his great preaching powers, he was appointed by the agent of the emperor to be minister in Constantinople. He had to be escorted out of the city by troops because of the great devotion of his people in whose midst he had labored for twelve years.
The pulpit in Constantinople was the most prestigious in the entire Eastern Church, and perhaps in the entire church. It was, after the time of Constantine the Great, the capital of the empire. on the shores of the Bosporus in Greece, it was the most influential church of the time.
But it was not long before John was in trouble. Great preacher that he was, he feared no one and preached the Scriptures regardless whom he offended. Because Constantinople was the imperial city, it was filled with luxury and corruption, intrigue and depravity. Against all these sins John preached with vehemence and force; and his preaching earned him the undying hatred of the Empress Eudoxia. Conniving with the bishops of Alexandria, she secured his exile across the Bosporus, but it was to last only a short time. He returned in triumph to his pulpit and continued to condemn the evils in the city. He probably, from an earthly point of view, made his fatal mistake when he called Eudoxia another Herodias who would not rest till she had obtained the head of John.
His Martyrdom
This time John had gone too far. The emperor deposed him; John refused to obey the command to abdicate his pulpit. The emperor sent troops into the cathedral during a baptism ceremony and mixed the blood of the worshipers with the water used for baptism. John was exiled to Cucresus in the Taurus mountains of Armenia. he described his feelings upon being exiled in a letter.
When I was driven from the city, I felt no anxiety, but said to myself: If the empress wishes to banish me, let her do so; “the earth is the Lord’s.” If she wants to have me sawn asunder, I have Isaiah for an example. If she wants me to be drowned in the ocean, I think of Jonah. If I am to be thrown into the fire, the three men in the furnace suffered the same. If cast before wild beasts, I remember Daniel in the lions’ den. If she wants me to be stoned, I have before me Stephen, the first martyr. If she demands my head, let her do so; John the Baptist shines before me. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked shall I leave this world. Paul reminds me, “If I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ.”
In Exile
Even in exile his influence continued, for people from Antioch and other parts of the empire came to visit him, and he carried on correspondence with all parts of the empire—a total of 242 letters.
And so the empress had him banished to another place so far removed from the churches that he could have no influence at all: the remote northeast corner of the Black Sea called, Pitys. On the way, he was cruelly treated by the soldiers and died during the journey. The year was 407. He was buried in an obscure grave.
But the church honored him, and several years later exhumed his body and moved it to a grave in Constantinople. He died a martyr for the faith in a time when there was supposed to be no persecution.
“The personal appearance of the golden-mouthed orator was not imposing, but dignified and winning. He was of small stature (like David, Paul, Athanasius, Melanchton, and others). He had an emaciated frame, a large, bald head, a lofty, wrinkled forehead, deep-set, bright, piercing eyes, pallid, hollow cheeks, and a short, gray beard.”
He was a preacher who emphasized the moral aspects of the Christian faith. He himself described his work in this way: “My work is like that of a man who is trying to clean a piece of ground into which a muddy stream is constantly flowing.”
In keeping with his times, he held some views which were later considered erroneous by the church. Orthodox in all matters to which the church had addressed itself, he took a weak position on the depravity of man and the power of sin in man’s nature. But these issues were not to be defined until the work of the great church father, Augustine.
He has gone down in history as one of the church’s great preachers. Fearless, catering to no man, willing to suffer the consequences of his firm commitment to Scripture, he is an abiding testimony of the importance of the preaching in the church. May God give such preachers to the church today.