Disempowering John Chrysostom: Bodily, Emotional, and Gender Vulnerability in the Letters to Women

This paper examines John Chrysostom’s exile letters to women as a source for investigating how power – political, ecclesiastical, and patriarchal – handled vulnerability in Late Antiquity. When Emperor Arcadius removed him from the episcopal see of Constantinople (404 CE), John found his position of power compromised. Effectively, he lost any control over Church affairs and contact with the court, being relegated to a desolate, inhospitable spot between Cappadocia and Armenia – Cucusus. John’s letters from that period, and especially those addressed to women, depict the exiled bishop as vulnerable to physical and psychological ailments. In his correspondence with the deaconess Olympias and in that with the noblewoman Theodora (e.g., Epp. 4, 6, 13, 120 Migne), for instance, Chrysostom insistently complains about the illnesses contracted while in exile (including fevers, vomiting, and insomnia), in addition to the distress over the local marauders’ attacks. Overall, John describes his own (old) body as worn-out. Alternatively, a sort of ‘emotional’ vulnerability emerges from some letters to other women (e.g., Epp. 33, 98, 185), where the author expresses his grief due to loneliness (ἐρημία), but also the despondency (ἀθυμία) caused by his addressees’ poor health. Furthermore, as far as gender roles are concerned, John’s talking about his vulnerable (male) body to a markedly female audience undermines his performance of the masculine ideals that were expected in antiquity (like physical fitness and strength). Yet, John’s dealing with his exile sufferings does not comply with the tenets of new Christian masculinity either (such as Job- and, of course, Christ-like endurance, or monks’ bodily mortification). Based on the insights briefly outlined here, my paper will focus on three topics: (a) John’s vulnerability to physical infirmities; (b) John’s vulnerability to bad moods; (c) the implications of John’s bodily or emotional frailties on the (re)shaping of his own masculinity.