In yesterday's saintly action, Ignatius of Loyola closed the door on Marina the Monk 60% to 40%, paving the way to the Elate Eight. He'll face the winner of Gobnait vs. Paula of Rome in the next round.
Today John Chrysostom squares off against Ephrem of Nisibis, as bishop meets deacon for a shot at the Elate Eight. Will the Golden Mouthed prevail over the Harp of the Holy Spirit? Well, that's up to you.
In case you missed yesterday's exciting episode of Monday Madness, you can watch it here. Tim and Scott dove headlong into the giant sack of viewer mail, plugged books, and reminded everyone on April Fools' Day, what it means to live as a Fool for Christ -- not by anything they actually said, mind you. Oh, and if you actually did neglect to watch Monday Madness, you should head on over to the virtual purple confessional.
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom, the “golden mouthed,” is remembered for his stirring oratory.
His sermons in many ways speak to a context similar to where we find ourselves today. Antioch was a prosperous city with a fantastic agora that gave people access to just about anything that one could desire. Those who were wealthy made ostentatious displays of their largesse. Philanthropy was a means to improve their social standing. John spoke boldly into that context encouraging his congregants to give particular attention to those who were poor and vulnerable.
He encouraged his listeners to be generous, often extolling the virtues of giving alms. At one point he was so bold as to say, “Almsgiving is an art and better than all arts.” Moreover, he would assert that our giving should have no boundaries: “When it comes to doing good, let every human be your neighbor.” Giving was not to be occasional but a habit, akin to the washing of one’s hands. He so frequently returned to the topic that at one point he pleaded with his audience, “Don’t consider my continual mention of this topic a cause for censure!”
In his sermons there is also a real sense of the gritty realities of economics. In one sermon he notes how “Countless poor people have to go hungry so that you can wear a single ruby.” In another sermon Chrysostom allows for the fact that sometimes wealth is ill-achieved. Such should not, he argues, preclude generosity: “Have you gained ill? Spend well. Have you gathered riches by unrighteousness? Scatter them abroad in righteousness.”
His sermons stress mutuality. In one sermon he boldly asserts, “The poor are the doctors of our soul, our benefactors and patrons.” In another he makes clear that those who are poor are not to be looked down upon but seen as Christ: “Let this then be your thought with regard to Christ also, when he is going about a wanderer, and a stranger, needing a roof to cover him; and you, neglecting to receive him, decorate a pavement, and walls and capitals of columns, and hang up lamps by means of silver chains, but himself bound in prison you will not even look upon?”
His concern for those who were poor and vulnerable was not limited to his sermonizing. When he was elevated to the Patriarch of Constantinople he cut the Bishop’s household budget and used the funds to support one of the hospitals. He also commissioned a leper colony to be constructed just outside the city. Nearly immediately after his exile, construction on the colony ceased.
Ephrem of Nisibis
Ephrem of Nisibis was known as “the Harp of the Spirit,” likely referring to the way he wrote religious poetry that conveyed the power and truth of the Christian message. This knack for writing and poetry can be seen in his Hymns against Heresies. In a time when the early Church was wrestling with what were the fundamentals of Christian truth (amid a swirling context of competing, often contradictory claims), the early councils of the Church were instrumental in discerning the foundational claims of the nascent Christian faith.
When Ephrem of Nisibis wrote Hymns against Heresies, he was kicking butt and taking names - quite literally. In the opening verses to hymn 22, Ephrem names Marcion, Valentinus, The Quqite, Bardaisan, and Mani among those who had erred from the path, describing them as “a bundle of thorns and thistles.” Lest we think that Ephrem’s tell-all hymn was about petty personal rivalry or the early 4th century version of our modern day “call out culture,” the following verses go into detail about the ways that the teachings of these heretics harm the faithful who comprise the church. His basic complaint that he repeats in verse after verse is the way the aforementioned heretics stole people away from the flock of Jesus Christ (and one another) in order to create their own communities. In one particularly stunning verse, Ephrem writes:
See, my brothers, how [with] the image of the king
Every coin is struck,
But a great general is unable
To stamp a penny with his image.
When [someone] stamps the image of the king,
One who stamps it in secret,
He is either burned or cut off.
How indeed he has dared, the one who
Stamped the image of himself instead of [that of] our Lord!
Response: Blessed is the one who stamps us with his name!
For Ephrem, the Church and its members were stamped with the image of Christ and any competing claim was an attempt to decenter the divine in order to center the human. It was nothing less than idolatry. He goes further in the next verse to suggest,
Our savior stamps his beauty.
Who[ever] has believed in the name of God
Receives the stamp of God,
But if he has called himself by the name of a human being,
Then he receives a human stamp,
Because he despises the living name.
For Ephrem, to be stamped with the image of Christ was a “beautiful” thing. He might have a lot to say about a complicated denominational structure that prompts us to refer to ourselves as Episcopalians, or Lutherans, or Baptists before we refer to ourselves as Christians.
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101 comments on “John Chrysostom vs. Ephrem of Nisibis”
Just thanking our Bloggers. What an amazing job you do of telling the stories of our saints! These two summaries were extra-well done and informative, I felt.
Neither of these two would be in my Hal of Fame. But John's acts of charity ring loud for me in these era of political cruelty toward the poor. In spite of some of his rantings against Jews, he actions were honorable and instructive for us.
Come on, nobody likes a snitch. St. John Chrysostom for the win.
My bracket for this sector is a bust. I voted for Ephrem because he needed it more.
Is anyone noticing that the first blog tends to be the winner? Asking for an underdog.
P.S. Don't yell at me. I am not really being snarky; I studied sociology and that kind of statistical gizmo amuses me.
Could be it. I also think the more "famous" saint, the more modern, or the more relatable saint tends to be the winner--as when Francis of Assisi won a few years ago. Who doesn't love St. Francis? But he was up against some amazing people, and I, for one, was disappointed. Obviously, I was in the minority!
I too was disappointed. I did buy the St Francis Golden Halo mug. You're welcome, Tim and Scott. But I now yearn for Julian of Norwich to win the Halo. And I might even be ready to take a "possibly apocryphal but much loved by medieval people" fictional figure into the winner's circle. Not ready for St Guinefort. Yet.
Bigot! 😀
"That saint was a real dog." (I can't post the joke that also came to mind.)
Has Elizabeth of Hungary been up yet? Even if so, she deserves another shot. Her story is all over the Wartburg castle, right along with Luther’s.
As a poet myself, I had to cast my vote for Ephrem and the power of language.
I do not belive either will get the halo. Both were came from wealth and chose to help the poor and sick. But they neglected there own health something I do nor believe follows the teachings of Christ.
Also there is not enough information on either to truly get a good picture.
"Sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own forever", has been a mighty comfort to me from first I heard it. The wounds of my adult son's death have been reopened in recent months by two untimely deaths of my family members adult children. Their pain and enormous loss is palpable. As I read and pondered the lives of these two saints it began to feel like I had to decide between two TV evangelists. Eventually it struck me. "For Ephrem, to be stamped with the image of Christ was a “beautiful” thing. I received a totally unexpected blessing today with a reminder that my son was marked and sealed as Christ's own forever. Thank you, Marcus Halley and LM.
This is a touching reflection, Judy. I am grateful for your sharing it. It helped me to think differently about this.
Judy, thank you for sharing your thoughts, not just about the voting but about your (and your family's) grief and the comfort you received today. You made me realize that I can keep this in mind as I think of the people I love who have died, whose absences I still feel so deeply.
I hold a grudge against the Golden-tongued Antisemite for vanquishing my favorite Margherita di Cortona and have voted accordingly, but in vain. Wait till next round, John ChrysoSTOM; Santa Claus is coming to clean your clock!
I hated to vote against a deacon, but in these descriptions, Chrysostom seems the more diaconal.
The concerns expressed about Chrysostom's anti-Semitism notwithstanding, his concern for the poor and his personal example win my vote today.
Ephrem is also known as Ephrem the Syrian - I'm voting for him as a prayer for Syria.
When language may not reach,
music helps to teach!
A Harp in the Lentorium!
both of these choices are relevant to our current times. Whether as Chrysostom with his call to care for the poor and disenfranchised or as Ephrem speaking a warning to those who "coin" is stamped with human image rather than Christs, both are voices are sorely needed. Went with Ephrem as I enjoy good prophetic poetry as much as good preaching and I'd like to count myself with those whose coin is stamped with the image of Christ rather than Caesar (or his American counterparts)
Having come from a St. Vincent de Paul Conference this weekend, celebrating 150 years of caring for the poor and marginalized, John C's actions reverberated within me. (Not to say he had no flaws! Aren't most of us 'blind' to what some others see so readily? It's that old beam-in-the-eye syndrome! . . . and he WAS a product of his times. . . but he put his money where his mouth was and shone a golden light on the needs of the poor.) With all his unholy flaws that others usurped and glorified to justify their own prejudices, I still vote for John.
Doesn't a book launch include a tour and book signings? Morning Joe and Starbucks are missing their chance.
Not to mention Powells Books, the legendary independent bookstore, which is home to a World Cup Coffee location (which serves locally roasted fair trade coffee, btw).
I went back to Ephrem's first story in order to read more about him (I missed voting that day) and was pleasantly surprised to read that Ephrem of Nisibis is the same Ephrem listed in the Hymnal 1982
as Ephrem of Edessa. Our congregation was taught Hymn 443 several years ago by our rector at the time, and it has remained a favorite that we sing 3-4 times per year. Thus, as our parish musician, I had to vote for Ephrem.
For anyone who loves this hymn or any other poem of Ephrem, it is a real treat to take a look through the book "Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns" (Classics of Western Spirituality). His creativity, especially in the use of paradox, is mind-boggling.
In addition, I'd like to direct your attention to choral piece 'Thunder Entered Her" by the English composer Sir John Tavener (1944-2013), for which I have included the lyrics (by Ephrem) here:
Velichayem Tya. [We magnify you]
Thunder entered her
And made no sound
There entered the Shepherd of all,
And in her He became
The Lamb, bleating as He comes forth.
Ameen [sic].
— Nativity Hymn No. 11 by St Ephrem the Syrian (306–373)
Wow!
My husband died in 2017, and these words credited to St. John Chrysostom have helped me daily ever since ...
Those whom we loved and lost are no longer where they were before ...
They are now wherever we are
I can not believe Chrysostom (sewer mouth) is even in Lent Madness. With all the wonderful Christian saints (and even some wonderful saints of other faiths) from which to choose why is Hitler's godfather even here. Do you not know his sermons were translated into German and widely disseminated by the Nazis as a justification for the Holocaust. Read “Adversus Judaeos” (widely available on the web).
Compare, for example, Chrysostom’s statements- “that in accordance with the sentiments of the saints I hated both the synagogue and the Jews....demons dwell in the synagogue and also in the souls of the Jews, they are growing fit for slaughter....the Jews are always degenerate because of their odious assassination of Christ. For this, no expiation is possible, no indulgence, no pardon (John Chrysostom, Against the Jews) with Hilter’s “I believe that I am today acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew I am fighting for the work of the Lord” (Mein Kampf ).
Chrysostom’s fans attempt to justify him by comparing his antisemitism to Augustine,
Aquinas, Luther and Marx. However showing that other prominent people were also haters in no way justifies Chrysostom. It seems likely they were inspired by Chrysostom. We know the Nazis were.
I firmly believe that without Chrysostom (and others like him) there could be a close, firm and loving relationship between Christians and Jews resulting in incredible good. Both groups assert that most important commandments are “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
If we truly believe these help place Chrysostom back in the sewer from whence he came.