John Crystotom, was a famous ascetic and preacher of the fourth/fifth century. This is the first comprehensive study of him in the English language in over a century. In the early chapters John Kelly highlights Chrystotom's youthful experiments with asceticism at Antioch in Syria, his six years as a monk and then a recluse in the nearby mountains. The central section of the book shows him as a fearlessly outspoken populist bishop of the capital. The final chapters reconstruct the plots that led to Chrystotom's downfall, the drama of his trial, and his exile and death.
