Kontakion in the First Tone The holy and august Church is mystically gladdened today on the translation of thy holy relics. And though she had kept them hid in concealment like precious gold, by thine intercessions she unceasingly granteth, unto them that praise thee, the divine grace of healing, O Father John Chrysostom.

Removal of the Relics of John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

This event took place on this day in the year 438, when Saint
Theodosius the Younger had been Emperor for thirty years; he was the son of
Arcadius, and Eudoxia, who had exiled Saint John. The Archbishop of
Constantinople at that time was Proclus, who had been the Saint's disciple (see
Nov. 13 and Nov. 20).

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
The grace of your words illuminated the universe like a shining
beacon. It amassed treasures of munificence in the world. It
demonstrated the greatness of humility, teaching us by your own words;
therefore, O Father John Chrysostom, intercede to Christ the Logos for the
salvation of our souls.

Kontakion in the Third Tone O Glorious One, you dispelled the complexities of orators with the words of your theology. You have adorned the Church with the vesture of Orthodoxy woven from on high. Clothed in this, the Church now cries out to your children, with us, "Hail Father, the consummate theological mind."

Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

This great Father and Teacher of the Church was born in 329 in
Arianzus, a village of the second district of Cappadocia, not far from
Nazianzus. His father, who later became Bishop of Nazianzus, was named
Gregory (commemorated Jan. 1), and his mother was named Nonna (Aug. 5);
both are among the Saints, and so are his brother Caesarius (Mar. 9)
and his sister Gorgona (Feb. 23). At first he studied in Caesarea of
Palestine, then in Alexandria, and finally in Athens. As he was sailing from
Alexandria to Athens, a violent sea storm put in peril not only his life but
also his salvation, since he had not yet been baptized. With tears and
fervour he besought God to spare him, vowing to dedicate his whole self
to Him, and the tempest gave way to calm. At Athens Saint Gregory
was later joined by Saint Basil the Great, whom he already knew; but
now their acquaintanceship grew into a lifelong brotherly love.
Another fellow student of theirs in Athens was the young Prince Julian,
who later as Emperor was called the Apostate because he denied Christ
and did all in his power to restore paganism. Even in Athens, before
Julian had thrown off the mask of piety; Saint Gregory saw what an
unsettled mind he had, and said, "What an evil the Roman State is
nourishing" (Orat. V, 24, PG 35:693).

After their studies at Athens, Gregory became Basil's fellow ascetic,
living the monastic life together with him for a time in the hermitages
of Pontus. His father ordained him presbyter of the Church of
Nazianzus, and Saint Basil consecrated him Bishop of Sasima (or Zansima),
which was in the archdiocese of Caesarea. This consecration was a
source of great sorrow to Gregory, and a cause of misunderstanding
between him and Basil; but his love for Basil remained unchanged, as can
be plainly seen from his Funeral Oration on Saint Basil (Orat.
XLIII).

About the Year 379, Saint Gregory came to the assistance of the Church
of Constantinople, which had already been troubled for forty years
by the Arians; by his supremely wise words and many labours he freed
it from the corruption of heresy, and was elected Archbishop of that
city by the Second Ecumenical Council, which assembled there in 381,
and condemned Macedonius, Archbishop of Constantinople, the enemy of
the Holy Spirit. When Saint Gregory came to Constantinople, the
Arians had taken all the churches and he was forced to serve in a house
chapel dedicated to Saint Anastasia the Martyr. From there he began to
preach his famous five sermons on the Trinity, called the Triadica. When
he left Constantinople two years later, the Arians did not have one
church left to them in the city. Saint Meletius of Antioch (see Feb.
12), who was presiding over the Second Ecumenical Council, died in the
course of it, and Saint Gregory was chosen in his stead; there he
distinguished himself in his expositions of dogmatic theology.

Having governed the Church until 382, he delivered his farewell speech -
the Syntacterion, in which he demonstrated the Divinity of the Son -
before 150 bishops and the Emperor Theodosius the Great; in this speech
he requested, and received from all, permission to retire from the
see of Constantinople. He returned to Nazianzus, where he lived to
the end of his life, and reposed in the Lord in 391, having lived
some sixty-two years.

His extant writings, both prose and poems in every type of metre,
demonstrate his lofty eloquence and his wondrous breadth of learning. In the
beauty of his writings, he is considered to have surpassed the Greek
writers of antiquity, and because of his God-inspired theological
thought, he received the surname "Theologian." Although he is sometimes
called Gregory of Nazianzus, this title belongs properly to his father;
he himself is known by the Church only as Gregory the Theologian. He
is especially called "Trinitarian Theologian," since in virtually
every homily he refers to the Trinity and the one essence and nature of
the Godhead. Hence, Alexius Anthorus dedicated the following verses
to him:

Like an unwandering star beaming with splendour,
Thou bringest
us by mystic teachings, O Father,
To the Trinity's sunlike
illumination,
O mouth breathing with fire, Gregory most mighty.

Apolytikion in the First Tone
The pastoral flute of your theology conquered the trumpets of
orators. For it called upon the depths of the Spirit and you were
enriched with the beauty of words. Intercede to Christ our God, O Father
Gregory, that our souls may be saved.

Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

Saint Proclus lived during the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger. A
disciple and scribe of Saint John Chrysostom, he was ordained Bishop of
Cyzicus about the year 426, but because the people there unlawfully
elected another bishop before his arrival, he remained in Constantinople.
In 429, Nestorius, who had been Archbishop of Constantinople for
about a year, and had already begun his blasphemous teaching that it is
wrong to call the holy Virgin "Theotokos," invited Bishop Proclus to
give a sermon on one of the feasts of our Lady, which he did, openly
defending in Nestorius' presence the name "Theotokos," that is, "Mother of
God." Saint Proclus was elevated to the throne of Archbishop of
Constantinople in 434. It was he who persuaded Emperor Theodosius the Younger
and his holy sister Pulcheria to have the most sacred relics of his
godly teacher Saint John Chrysostom brought back from Comana, and
triumphantly received them upon their return to the imperial city (see Jan. 27
and Nov. 13). He reposed in peace in 447.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
On this day, thy ven'rable departure from us, O wise Proclus blest
of God, is celebrated fittingly with joy by her that in very truth
is the most honoured of cities in all the world.

John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

This greatest and most beloved of all Christian orators was born in
Antioch the Great in the year 344 or 347; his pious parents were called
Secundus and Anthusa. After his mother was widowed at the age of twenty,
she devoted herself to bringing up John and his elder sister in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. John received his literary training
under Anthragathius the philosopher, and Libanius the sophist, who was
the greatest Greek scholar and rhetorician of his day. Libanius was a
pagan, and when asked before his death whom he wished to have for his
successor, he said, "John, had not the Christians stolen him from us." With
such a training, and with such gifts as he had by nature, John had
before him a brilliant career as a rhetorician. But through the good
example of his godly mother Anthusa and of the holy Bishop Meletius of
Antioch (see Feb. 12), by whom he was ordained reader about the year 370,
he chose instead to dedicate himself to God. From the years 374 to
381 he lived the monastic life in the hermitages that were near
Antioch. His extreme asceticism undermined his health, compelling him to
return to Antioch, where Saint Meletius ordained him deacon about the
year 381. Saint Meletius was called to Constantinople later that year
to preside over the Second Ecumenical Council, during which he fell
asleep in the Lord. In 386 Bishop Flavian ordained John presbyter of the
Church of Antioch. Upon his elevation to the priesthood his career as a
public preacher began, and his exceptional oratorical gifts were made
manifest through his many sermons and commentaries. They are distinguished
by their eloquence and the remarkable ease with which rich imagery
and scriptural allusions are multiplied; by their depth of insight
into the meaning of Scripture and the workings of God's providence;
and, not least of all, by their earnestness and moral force, which
issue from the heart of a blameless and guileless man who lived first
what he preached to others. Because of his fame, he was chosen to
succeed Saint Nectarius as Patriarch of Constantinople. He was taken away
by stealth, to avoid the opposition of the people, and consecrated
Patriarch of Constantinople on February 28, 398, by Theophilus, Patriarch
of Alexandria, who was to prove his mortal enemy.

At that time the Emperor of the East was Arcadius, who had had Saint
Arsenius the Great as his tutor (see May 8); Arcadius was a man of weak
character, and much under the influence of his wife Eudoxia. The zealous and
upright Chrysostom's unsparing censures of the lax morals in the imperial
city stung the vain Eudoxia; through Theophilus' plottings and her
collaboration, Saint John was banished to Pontus in 403. The people were in an
uproar, and the following night an earthquake shook the city; this so
frightened the Empress Eudoxia that she begged Arcadius to call Chrysostom
back. While his return was triumphant, his reconciliation with the
Empress did not last long. When she had a silver statue of herself
erected in the forum before the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Saint Sophia)
in September of 403, and had it dedicated with much unseemly
revelry, Saint John thundered against her, and she could not forgive him.
In June of 404 he was exiled to Cucusus, on the borders of Cilicia
and Armenia. From here he exchanged letters with Pope Innocent of
Rome, who sent bishops and priests to Constantinople requesting that a
council be held. Saint John's enemies, dreading his return, prevailed
upon the Emperor to see an insult in this, and had John taken to a
more remote place of banishment called Pityus near the Caucasus. The
journey was filled with bitter sufferings for the aged bishop, both
because of the harshness of the elements and the cruelty of one of his
310 guards. He did not reach Pityus, but gave up his soul to the Lord
near Comana in Pontus, at the chapel of the Martyr Basiliscus (see May
22), who had appeared to him shortly before, foretelling the day of
his death, which came to pass on September 14, 407. His last words
were "Glory be to God for all things." His holy relics were brought
from Comana to Constantinople thirty-one years later by the Emperor
Theodosius the Younger and Saint Pulcheria his sister, the children of
Arcadius and Eudoxia, with fervent supplications that the sin of their
parents against him be forgiven; this return of his holy relics is
celebrated on January 27.

Saint John was surnamed Chrysostom ("Golden-mouth") because of his
eloquence. He made exhaustive commentaries on the divine Scriptures and was
the author of more works than any other Church Father, leaving us
complete commentaries on the Book of Genesis, the Gospels of Saints
Matthew and John, the Acts, and all the Epistles of Saint Paul. His
extant works are 1,447 sermons and 240 epistles. Twenty-two teachers of
the Church have written homilies of praise in his honour. Besides his
feasts today and on January 27, he is celebrated as one of the Three
Hierarchs on January 30, together with Saint Basil the Great and Saint
Gregory the Theologian.

It should be noted that, because September 14 is the Exaltation of
the Cross, the Saint's memory has been transferred to this day.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
The grace of your words illuminated the universe like a shining
beacon. It amassed treasures of munificence in the world. It
demonstrated the greatness of humility, teaching us by your own words;
therefore, O Father John Chrysostom, intercede to Christ the Logos for the
salvation of our souls.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Second Tone
You received divine grace from Heaven, and by your own lips taught
all to worship the One God in Trinity. All-blessed, venerable John
Chrysostom, deservedly, we praise you for you are a teacher clearly revealing
things divine.