The Piety of Arcadius and the Ordination of John Chrysostom

When Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople, died there, Arcadius, who had succeeded to the empire of the East, summoned John, the great light of the world. He had heard that John was counted among the presbyters, and he now gave orders to the assembled bishops to confer the divine grace on him and appoint him shepherd of that mighty city. [a] This alone is enough to show the emperor’s care for divine things. At that same time the see of Antioch was held by Flavian, and that of Laodicea by Elpidius. Elpidius had once been the companion of the great Meletius, and he bore the stamp of Meletius’s way of life more plainly than wax bears the impression of a signet ring. [b] Elpidius had succeeded the great Pelagius. The divine Marcellus was followed by the illustrious Agapetus, whom I have already described as outstanding in the high virtue of the ascetic life. In the time of the storm of heresy, Maximus, the companion of the great John, was bishop of Seleucia by the Taurus, and Theodore was bishop of Mopsuestia, both of them famous teachers. Outstanding too in wisdom and character was the holy Acacius, bishop of Beroea. [c] Leontius, a shining example of many virtues, tended the flock of the Galatians. [e]