St John Chrysostom

Raised in Antioch by his widowed mother Anthusa and trained in rhetoric under the pagan master Libanius, he tried the hermit's life until his health broke, then poured his asceticism into preaching. His verse-by-verse homilies on Matthew, John, Romans, and Genesis — plain, practical, relentless about wealth and the poor — earned him the name Chrysostomos, 'golden mouth.' Taken to Constantinople as archbishop in 398, he cut the episcopal budget, fed the hungry, and preached against luxury at court, making an enemy of the empress Eudoxia. Deposed at the rigged Synod of the Oak and exiled twice, he died on a forced march at Comana in 407 with the words 'Glory to God for all things.' The Liturgy most often served in Orthodox churches bears his name; his relics were returned to Constantinople in triumph in 438.

St John Chrysostom is also one of the Church Fathers — read their biography, works, and verse-by-verse commentary.