St John Chrysostom

Wikipedia has the following to say about this Saint, this Doctor of the Church, who is one of the Three Holy Hierarchs:

"Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities. After his death in 407 (or, according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek epithet chrysostomos, meaning "golden mouthed", in English and Anglicized to Chrysostom.

The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches honor him as a saint and count him among the Three Holy Hierarchs, together with Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzus. He is recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church as a saint and as a Doctor of the Church."

In the icon above of the Three Holy Hierarchs, St. John Chrysostom (middle) is commonly shown balding, with dark hair and a small beard.

Links:

• Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St. John Chrysostom
• Wikipedia entry on St. John Chrysostom

Readings:

• Pope Benedict's first audience
• Pope Benedict's second audience

Optional Readings:

• Homily 21 on Ephesians 6:1-3, raising a child.

• St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions, No. 6, p. 93, addressed to the neophytes in criticism of those who have abandoned the religious service and have gone off to the chariot races and the theatres.

• Background on public amusements in Constantinople, including the importance of chariot races at the hippodrome, p. 161-164, in the book St. Chrysostom’s Picture of His Age.  Chrysostom’s actual treatise Contra Ludos, and others, are hard to find online.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Pope Benedict has the following to say about St. Basil's brother: 

Gregory of Nyssa had a very lofty concept of human dignity. Man's goal, the holy Bishop said, is to liken himself to God, and he reaches this goal first of all through the love, knowledge and practice of the virtues, "bright beams that shine from the divine nature" (De Beatitudinibus 6: PG 44, 1272c), in a perpetual movement of adherence to the good like a corridor outstretched before oneself. In this regard, Gregory uses an effective image already present in Paul's Letter to the Philippians: épekteinómenos (3: 13), that is, "I press on" towards what is greater, towards truth and love. This vivid expression portrays a profound reality: the perfection we desire to attain is not acquired once and for all; perfection means journeying on, it is continuous readiness to move ahead because we never attain a perfect likeness to God; we are always on our way (cf. Homilia in Canticum 12: PG 44, 1025d).




Readings

• Pope Benedict XVI first audience
• Pope Benedict XVI second audience
• On the Soul and Resurrection (optional)

St. Gregory Nazianzus

St. Gregory Nazianzus is venerated in both the Western (Catholic) and Eastern Orthodox Churches.  He is a Doctor of the Church in the Catholic Church.

In this Eastern Orthodox icon of the Three Holy Hierarchs, from the Lipie Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland, St. Gregory Nazianzus (right) is shown bearded with white hair.

The Eastern church calls him St. Gregory the New Theologian.

Readings:

• First Pope Benedict Audience
• Second Pope Benedict Audience
• Fifth Theological Oration (on the Holy Spirit) (optional)

St. Basil the Great

This icon shows "The Three Holy Hierarchs" of Sts. Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and St. John Chrysostom. which are venerated also in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Catholics consider each of these three these Saints Doctors of Church. St. Basil (left) is always depicted with dark hair and a long pointed beard.

The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St. Basil opens with the following synopsis:  Bishop of Caesarea, and one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church. Born probably 329; died 1 January, 379. He ranks after Athanasius as a defender of the Oriental Church against the heresies of the fourth century. With his friend Gregory of Nazianzus and his brother Gregory of Nyssa, he makes up the trio known as "The Three Cappadocians", far outclassing the other two in practical genius and actual achievement.





Readings:

• Pope Benedict XVI's first reflection on St. Basil
• Pope Benedict XVI's second reflection on St. Basil
• De Spiritu Sancto (Of the Holy Spirit) (optional)

St. Athanasius

The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St. Athanasius opens with the following synopsis:

Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of "Father of Orthodoxy", by which he has been distinguished every since. While the chronology of his career still remains for the most part a hopelessly involved problem, the fullest material for an account of the main achievements of his life will be found in his collected writings and in the contemporary records of his time.

Readings:

• Pope Benedict XVI's reflection on St. Athanasius 
• On the Incarnation -- New Advent  (optional)
• On the Incarnation -- Popular Patristics Series (optional)

"St Athanasius stood contra mundum for the Trinitarian doctrine 'whole and undefiled,' when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius, into one of those 'sensible' synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which then, as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. The glory of St Athanasius is that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, like all others, have passed away."

• Arianism as defined at New Advent
• Arianism as described by Hilaire Belloc
• Arianism and the Council of Nicea

St. Cyprian of Carthage

The Catholic Encyclopedia begins its discussion of St. Cyprian of Carthage with this synopsis:

Bishop and martyr. Of the date of the saint's birth and of his early life nothing is known. At the time of his conversion to Christianity he had, perhaps, passed middle life. He was famous as an orator and pleader, had considerable wealth, and held, no doubt, a great position in the metropolis of Africa. We learn from his deacon, St. Pontius, whose life of the saint is preserved, that his mien was dignified without severity, and cheerful without effusiveness. His gift of eloquence is evident in his writings. He was not a thinker, a philosopher, a theologian, but eminently a man of the world and an administrator, of vast energies, and of forcible and striking character.

Readings:

• Pope Benedict XVI's reflection on St. Cyprian
• Treatise IV: On the Lord's Prayer
• Treatise I: On the Unity of the Church (optional)
• Life and Passion of St. Cyprian, by Pontius the Deacon (optional)

Cyprian says:

Before all things, the Teacher of peace and the Master of unity would not have prayer to be made singly and individually, as for one who prays to pray for himself alone.  For we say not "My Father, which art in heaven," nor "Give me this day my daily bread"....  Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, but for the whole people, because we the whole people are one."

Origen of Alexandria

Note in the icon, that Origen has no 'halo'.  He has not yet been recognized by the Church as a Saint, although he is considered one of the most important writers in early Christianity.  Pope Benedict call his writings "crucial to the whole development of Christian thought".


According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Origen was...

Born in 185, Origen was barely seventeen when a bloody persecution of the Church ofAlexandrian broke out. His father Leonides, who admired his precocious genius and was charmed with his virtuous life, had given him an excellent literary education. When Leonides was cast into prison, Origen would fain have shared his lot, but being unable to carry out his resolution, as his mother had hidden his clothes, he wrote an ardent, enthusiastic letter to his father exhorting him to persevere courageously. When Leonides had won the martyr's crown and his fortune had been confiscated by the imperial authorities, the heroic child laboured to support himself, his mother, and his six younger brothers. This he successfully accomplished by becoming a teacher, selling his manuscripts, and by the generous aid of a certain rich lady, who admired his talents. He assumed, of his own accord, the direction of the catechetical school, on the withdrawal of Clement. Origen's school, which was frequented by pagans, soon became a nursery of neophytes, confessors, and martyrs. 

Readings:

• Pope Benedict's first reflection on Origen
• Pope Benedict's second reflection on Origen

Origen says:

"Study first of all the divine Scriptures.  Study them, I say.  For we need to study the divine writings deeply, lest we should speak of them faster than we think; and while you study these divine works with a believing and God-pleasing intention, knock at that which is closed in them and it shall be opened to you by the porter, of whom Jesus says, 'to him the porter opens.'  While you attend to this lectio divina, seek aright and with unwavering faith in God the hidden sense which is present in most passages of the divine Scriptures.  And do not be content with knocking and seeking, for what is absolutely necessary for understanding divine things is oratio, and in urging us to this the Saviour says not only 'knock and it will be opened to you' and 'seek and you will find,' but also 'ask and it will be given you.'"