![]() John preached that withholding your wealth from the poor, regardless of what they might do with that money or how they became poor in the first place, is theft. Basil, who convinced him to take on the ministry of the priesthood. In his monastic service, he eschewed material belongings. ![]() Though he grew up in relative privilege and even received a rigorous education, he traded his life as an up-and-coming philosopher for the life of a hermit. In fact, John came from an ascetic order of Egyptian monks. ![]() John, however, earned the name “Chrysostom” not for his wealth but for his aureate homilies, sermons that left his audience both inspired and convicted. Even the city’s cathedral was called the “Golden House.” It would eventually seat a Patriarch, John, nicknamed “Chrysostom” or “Golden Mouth.” ![]() They demonstrated their wealth by plating their walls and rooftops with gold. Well-to-do citizens decorated their marble halls with colorful frescoes and statues. Various emperors and wealthy patrons donated money to build a colonnaded street through the middle of town. The city of Antioch - in modern-day Turkey - was beautiful and bustling in the fourth century. ![]()
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