endeavouring by money to get possession of the vacant see. St. Chrysostom, seeing that the question was really the restoration of discipline throughout the whole diocese of Asia, where it had fallen into decay, as much through the want of pastors as their ignorance, resolved to undertake the journey, notwithstanding his ill health, and the severity of the winter. He left the Church of Constantinople to the care of Severian, Bishop of Gabala, in Syria, who had come to preach there, and in whom he placed full confidence; and took three bishops to accompany him, Paul, Syrian, and Palladius.

During his absence the faction which had been formed against him gained strength, and a correspondence had been established with Theophilus of Alexandria. An accusation had been lodged against Theophilus before Chrysostom, therefore he had a plea for coming to Canstantinople in addition to the imperial command. At length he came, bringing with him a great number of bishops, who came from Egypt, and even from India. He arrived on Thursday about noon, and was immediately received with loud acclamations by the Egyptian mariners, who had come with corn to Constantinople. Having landed, he passed by the church, without entering it as was usual, and lodged without the city in one of the Emperor's houses, called Placidiana. Chrysostom had provided lodgings for him and all his retinue, and earnestly pressed them to come to his house, all which they refused; and Theophilus would neither see him, speak to him, pray with him, nor give him any other mark of communion. Such was his behaviour during the three weeks he stayed at Constantinople. He never came near the church, though St. Chrysostom continually pressed him to go there, to see him, or at least to let him know the reason why he had thus declared war against him, from the very moment of his entrance into the city, and thus caused so much scandal to the people. Theophilus, however, would never return him any answer.

His accusers, that is, the monks whom he had driven out of Egypt, urged St. Chrysostom to do them justice; and the Emperor, having sent for him, ordered him to cross the bay, on the other side of which Theophilus lodged, and hear his cause. He was accused of violence, murder, and several other crimes. refused to take cognizance of it, to Theophilus, but more out of which forbade Bishops to judge any cause beyond the limits of their own province, and upon which Theophilus himself insisted in the letters, which St. Chrysostom kept by him.

But St. Chrysostom partly out of regard respect to the canons,

In the mean time, Theophilus laboured day and night for the means of driving St. Chrysostom from his see. He found many persons at Constantinople full of resentment against him. Acacius, Bishop of Berrhæa, who had arrived there some time before, being dissatisfied with the lodging prepared for him, regarded it as a slight put upon him by St. Chrysostom; and transported with rage, said to some of the clergy of St. Chrysostom: "I will dress him a dainty dish." He entered into a strict friendship with Severian of Gabala, Antiochus of Ptolemais, and a Syrian Abbot called Isaac, who made a practice of travelling from place to place, and calumniating the Bishops. The first thing they did was to send to Antioch, to enquire into the behaviour of St. Chrysostom in his youth; and finding nothing for their purpose, they sent to Alexandria to Theophilus, who from that time carefully sought some pretence for accusing him.

In the city of Constantinople itself, Theophilus met with several who were enemies to St. Chrysostom, namely, such of his clergy as were unwilling to submit to the discipline he would have introduced among them; and in particular two priests and five deacons; two or three persons belonging to the Emperor's court, who procured soldiers for Theophilus, to assist him in any violent measures; and three widows of the first rank, Marsa, widow of

Promotus, Castricia, widow of Saturninus, both consular men, and Eugraphia, whose husband is not known. St. Chrysostom was in the habit of reproving them, because, though now grown old, they continued to adorn themselves, and wore artificial hair. The Bishops of Asia, who had been deposed, were not backward in their resentment. Theophilus was very careful to foment these animosities. He was profuse in distributing his money, entertained great numbers of guests, and caressed and flattered the ambition of the ecclesiastics, by promising them the highest dignities. He found two deacons whom St. Chrysostom had expelled the Church for their crimes; one for murder, and the other for adultery. He promised to restore them to their former station; which he accordingly did after the banishment of St. Chrysostom. On this assurance he prevailed on them to present petitions to him, which he had drawn up himself, and were false in every article except one, which was this: they accused the Bishop, St. Chrysostom, of advising every body to take, after the Communion, some water and some pastils, lest they should cast out with their spittle some part of the elements, and of doing so himself. Theophilus, having received this petition, went to the house of Eugraphia with Severian, Antiochus, Acacius, and the rest of the enemies of Chrysostom. Being all assembled, they considered how they should begin to proceed against him. One of them proposed the presentation of a petition to the Emperor, to oblige St. Chrysostom to come to their assembly. This advice was put into execution, and money was not wanting to remove the difficulties that attended it. It is even said that the Empress Eudoxia was personally offended with Chrysostom, who, on hearing that she had incensed St. Epiphanius against him, had, following the natural heat of his temper, delivered a discourse against women in general, which the people applied to the Empress. She, being informed of it by some ill-disposed persons, had complained to the Emperor, and had urged

Theophilus to assemble immediately a council against John.

A suburb of Chalcedon called the Oak, of which Cyrinus was Bishop, was the place chosen for holding this council. Cyrinus was an Egyptian by birth, and an enemy of St. Chrysostom. When Theophilus with the Bishops in his retinue passed through Chalcedon in their way to Constantinople, Cyrinus expressed himself with great resentment against St. Chrysostom, calling him impious, insolent, and inexorable, at which the other Bishops were much pleased. He was, however, unable to go with them to Constantinople, because Maruthas, Bishop of Mesopotamia, had hurt him by accidentally treading on his foot. But as Theophilus believed Cyrinus' presence necessary in a council where St. Chrysostom was to be accused, he resolved to hold it in his city; as he was besides apprehensive of the people of Constantinople, who were much attached to their Bishop. The place, then, where the council assembled, was the suburb of the Oak, where Ruffinus had built a palace, together with a church dedicated to the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and a monastery.

The charges brought against St. Chrysostom were either so frivolous, or so notoriously false, that this single fact was sufficient to shew that the members of the council only sought a pretext for pronouncing sentence upon one already condemned. Among other charges brought against him, one was that he had ordained priests in his own domestic chapel instead of the cathedral; another that he had given the Holy Communion to persons who were not fasting. It would be neither edifying nor interesting to give in detail the history of these proceedings. It will be sufficient to state that St. Chrysostom refused to obey the summons of the council, until his avowed enemies ceased to act as his judges; and that he was therefore sentenced to exile for contumacy and a contempt of the Emperor's authority.

The next question was, how to put the sentence into

execution, a revolt being anticipated on the part of the people if they saw their Bishop, the fearless protector of the people's rights, and the redresser of their wrongs going into exile. His persecutors therefore endeavoured to put him on board a vessel, ready to receive him, by night; but not all their precautions could prevent the intelligence from spreading through the city, and carrying grief and consternation along with it. The people ran down to the beach, demanding with cries his restoration to them, some exclaiming with all the enthusiasm of the Greek character: Rather let the sun be blotted from the firmament than the mouth of John (Chrysostom) be silenced! others, with tears, entreating his parting benediction. The lamenting crowd was like a long funeral train, or some dismal ceremony of expiatory penance. In proportion as the people were conscious of their degradation as a people, they had attached themselves to this great man, as the defender of their natural rights: his austere and simple mode of life made him appear sacred in their eyes; and in the sincerity of his language, which applied its censures with still more rigour to the rich than to the poor, they found a security for the firmness of his character, alike inaccessible to flattery or to fear.

Two or three days after the departure of Chrysostom from Constantinople, the shock of an earthquake was felt throughout the city. The people, not yet recovered from their grief at his loss, loudly proclaimed that it was a sign of the displeasure of Heaven against them, for having suffered him to be taken from them. The clamours increased. Arcadius shook with fear; the Empress, more courageous and quick-sighted, said to him, "We shall no longer retain the empire, if we do not recall John." She wrote the same night to Chrysostom, inviting him, in the most courteous terms, to return, and throwing all the blame of his departure upon his enemies, whose machinations she now affected to see through and deplore. The Bosphorus was covered with vessels to welcome him back again.

As soon as he landed, he requested to be allowed