The School of Antioch In the fourth and fifth centuries a revival school arose in Antioch to challenge the Alexandrian insistence on allegorical interpretation. Scholars of this school dismissed allegorical meanings as so much nonsense and insisted on reading for the historical and grammatical meaning. What the text said was what it meant. It did I not convey some abstract philosophical concepts. In keeping with a historical focus, these scholars emphasized the humanity of Jesus. They examined chronology and sequence of events, which had little meaning to those who read everything as allegories, possibly because Antioch had a large and influential Jewish population, some of its Christian leaders emphasized the monotheism of Christianity...I.e, God understood as a Trinity of the Father, and a Holy Spirit was still one God. The most famous representative of the school of Antioch was John Chrysostom ( c.347-407 ), a beloved preacher in Antioch (right ). He was famous as a teacher of Orthodoxy. Chrysostom focused on the simple reading of a text rather than what he called a lofty meaning from philosophers. Many of his sermons have been preserved, and are still powerful today. After serving happily as a Pastor in Antioch for dozen of years chrysostom was elected Bishop or Patriarch of Constantinople against his will in 398 John was an ascetic man of enormous break and integrity who used his own wealth to help the poor. He also took seriously his responsibilities as a Bishop, and sought to reform the corruption of the Capital City and its church. He had no gift for flattery, tact, or Compromise, and he made enemies in the Church and at court, including the Empress, he was also resented by the Patriarch of Alexandria, who organized Chrysostoms enemies and got him deposed and sent into exile on trumped-up charges. ( the Bishop of Rome disapproved of this action, and broke off communion with Constantinople and Alexandria. ) The Empress called Chrysostom back from exile, but later she took offense at the bishops continued disapproval if the ways of the court and had him banished to distant Armenia. His admirers from Antioch made pilgrimages to hear him preach, so in 407 he was banished to a more remote district. He died of hardships on the way.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:02:02 +0000
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