John Chrysostom in Flight

In this chapter I turn to John Chrysostom (c. 349–407), who was exiled twice from Constantinople and died during his second expulsion. But John was not a man of any one city. First as an influential presbyter of Antioch and then as the bishop of Constantinople, he is often noted more for his skills as an orator — his “golden mouth” — than for his particular location. In many ways, this wandering man embodies the transient nature of the late ancient bishop. And it is this identity that John used to interpret his identity as an exile. Unlike Athanasius of Alexandria or Gregory of Nazianzus, John does not turn only to fleeing saints in the desert or to martyrs of imperial persecution as his literary guides. He also appeals to Classical models of exile to create his own exilic discourse. It is a discourse that evolves as his identity as an exile appears to become a permanent one.