Eudoxia’s Silver Statue and John’s Second Exile

At this time a silver statue of the empress Eudoxia, clothed in a long robe, was set up on a column of porphyry standing on a tall base. It stood neither near the church called Sophia nor far from it; half the width of the street separated them. Public games used to be held at this statue. John regarded them as an insult to the church, and having regained his usual freedom and sharpness of tongue, he turned his tongue against those who allowed them. Now, although it would have been proper to persuade the authorities by a humble petition to stop the games, he did not do this. Instead he used abusive language and ridiculed those who had ordered such practices. The empress once again applied his words to herself, as showing open contempt for her own person, and so she tried to have another council of bishops called against him. When John learned of this, he delivered in the church that famous sermon which begins with these words: “Again Herodias rages; again she is troubled; again she dances; and again she wants to receive John’s head on a platter.” This, of course, made the empress angrier still. [a]

Not long afterward the following bishops arrived: Leontius, bishop of Ancyra in Asia; Ammonius of Laodicea in Pisidia; Briso of Philippi in Thrace; Acacius of Beroea in Syria; and some others. John presented himself before them fearlessly and demanded an investigation of the charges made against him. But when the anniversary of our Savior’s birth came round, the emperor would not attend church as usual. Instead he sent Chrysostom a message that John should not take communion with him until he had cleared himself of the crimes he was charged with. Now, as John kept a bold and spirited bearing and his accusers seemed to lose heart, the bishops present set all other matters aside. They said they would confine themselves to this one charge: that after his deposition he had taken his seat in the bishop’s chair again on his own responsibility, without the authority of a church council. John pleaded that sixty-five bishops who were in communion with him had restored him, but Leontius’s party objected: “A larger number voted against you, John, in the synod.” John then argued that the rule they were using was a canon of the Arians, not of the catholic church, and so had no force against him; for it had been framed at the council held at Antioch against Athanasius, to overthrow the doctrine that the Son is of one substance with the Father. But the bishops would not listen to his defense. They condemned him at once, without considering that in using this canon they were approving the deposition of Athanasius himself.

This sentence was pronounced shortly before Easter. So the emperor sent word to John that he could not go to the church, since two synods had condemned him. Chrysostom was therefore silenced and went no more to the church. But those of his party celebrated Easter in the public baths called Constantianae, and from then on they left the church. Among them were many bishops and presbyters, and others of the clergy, who from that time held their assemblies separately in various places and were called Johannites after him. For two months John kept from appearing in public. After that a decree of the emperor sent him into exile. So he was taken away into exile by force. On the very day of his departure some of the Johannites set fire to the church, and the fire, driven by a strong east wind, spread to the senate house. This fire happened on the twentieth of June, in the sixth consulship of Honorius, which he held together with Aristaenetus. As for the cruelties that Optatus, the prefect of Constantinople, a pagan in religion and a hater of Christians, inflicted on John’s friends, and how he put many of them to death because of this act of arson, I believe I ought to pass them over in silence.