Patriarchates of the Church:

Developments Within the Church (4th Century):

Antioch, Rome, Constantinople:

Patriarchate - Archbishop or Patriarchial Bishop

Metropolia - Metropolitan Bishop

Dioceses - Diocesan Bishop

Provinces - Bishops & Priests

Eparchies - Priests

Alexandria:

Patriarchate - Archbishop or Patriarchial Bishop

Bishops & Priests

Developments Within the Church (4th Century): Canon Law

- 85 apostolic canons became foundation of Orthodox Tradition

- 2nd Ecumenical Council dealt with canon law in East

- canon law in East and West began to differentiate

- giving rise ultimately to subordination of state to Church in the West, while in the East the Church embraced the whole world and authority was in emperors and rulers, who should be guided by the Truth of the Church

Rivalry Predates Christological Debates:

Post-2nd Ecumenical Council ConflictBetween Antioch & Alexandria:

School of Alexandria School of Antioch

Allegorical view of Scripture Literal view of Scripture

Divine nature of Christ Human nature of Christ

diminishing importance versus Constantinople

Bp. Theophilus: The rise ofConstantinople is a threatto the Egyptian Church

Bp. Theodore ofMopsuestia: Christ wasinspired man? StudentsNestorius & Chrysostom

Saint John Chrysostom (349-407):

- born in Antioch; studied under pagan orator Libanius

- 367: met Bishop Meletius, became ascetic

- 370: baptized by Meletius & ordained lector, joined ascetics

- 374-376: lived as hermit in caves of Antioch, returned to city

- 381: ordained deacon by Meletius, began writing

- 386: ordained priest by Bishop Flavian

- 386-398: preached in Antioch & became known as theologian

- 398: secretly taken out of Antioch & consecrated Bishop of Constantinople by Theophilus of Alexandria

Saint John Chrysostom (349-407):

- reduced episcopal expenses & eliminated banquets for wealthy

- forbade female housekeepers in homes of priests & monks

- removed two deacons

- confined wandering monks to their monasteries

- established hospitals for the poor

- preached against extravagance & finery of dress: “Do you wish to honor the body of Christ? Do not ignore Him when he is naked. Do not pay Him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect Him outside where He is cold and ill-clad. He who said ‘this is my body, is the same who said ‘You saw me hungry and you gave me no food’ and ‘Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did to me’…What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.”

Saint John Chrysostom (349-407):

“It is not possible for one to be wealthy and just at the same time. Do you pay such honor to your excrements as to receive them into a silver chamber pot when another man made in the image of God is perishing in the cold?”

“Consider how Jesus Christ teaches us to be humble, by making us see that our virtue does not depend on our work alone but on grace from on high. For He did not say ‘Thy will be done in me or in us’ but ‘on earth’, the whole earth, so that error may be banished from it, truth take root in it, all vice be destroyed on it, virtue flourish on it, and earth no longer differ from heaven.”

- harmonized liturgical life of the Church by revising prayers and rubrics of our Divine Liturgy

- avoided allegory and images, preaching & writing practically

- prolific: 238 letters, 67 homilies on Genesis, 59 on Psalms, 90 on Matthew, 88 on John, 55 on Acts, 34 on Galatians, for example

“Unlike Tertullian and later Roman Catholic theologians,Chrysostom did not teach that one must give God worksof satisfaction, but that God will forgive upon repentance.Confession is like visiting a physician, not a courtroom!”

- Historian Archpriest John Morris