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This is an excerpt from a lecture given by Fr. Josiah Trenham at a Men’s Retreat in Victoria, Kansas on March 14, 2009.
HT: Orthodox News
St. John Chrysostom
St. John Chrysostom wrote a penetrating treatise entitled On the Providence of God while he himself was in the midst of a crucible of personal suffering. He had been uncanonically deposed by a corrupt synod of bishops, and unjustly banished from his see in Constantinople by a weak Emperor whose wife despised Chrysostom for his honesty and pastoral forthrightness. He was separated from his altar and the liturgical services upon which he sustained his ascetical life. He was removed from the company of his closest friends, who themselves were being viciously persecuted by the new bishop who had been installed as Chrysostom’s successor. He was being physically abused by the imperial soldiers. He was terribly ill, burning with a fever. He was in constant danger of barbarian attack. He was ceaselessly slandered by shameless ecclesiastical opponents. He was being driven to the extreme corner of the Empire, distant from all the urban amenities he was accustomed to, and death was at his door.
In this condition our Holy Father John Chrysostom wrote his treatise On the Providence of God to encourage his flock to trust in God, and without doubt to believe in His sovereign providence governing all events. He taught his flock that not only do the trials of this life not scandalize those who are believers and well-disposed spiritually, but are actually useful to them, writing: Continue reading