Greek-speaking Antiochene Church Father (c. 347-407) and the most renowned preacher of the ancient church. Born at Antioch in Syria; trained in classical rhetoric under the famous pagan rhetorician Libanius; entered monastic life in his twenties; ordained deacon at Antioch (381) and presbyter (386); served as preacher at Antioch for twelve years (386-398), producing the great body of homilies that earned him the posthumous title Chrysostom (golden-mouthed). Reluctantly elevated to the archbishopric of Constantinople in 398; served there from 398 to 404 with substantial reform-and-discipline labor that earned him the hostility of the imperial court (especially the Empress Eudoxia) and of certain monastic and clerical factions. Deposed at the so-called Synod of the Oak (403, orchestrated by Theophilus of Alexandria); briefly restored; deposed again 404 and sent into exile; died on the forced march into further exile at Comana in Pontus (407). Chrysostom's homiletical corpus is one of the largest in the patristic period: hundreds of homilies on Matthew, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, Genesis, the Psalms, Isaiah; addresses on the priesthood (De Sacerdotio); homilies on the statues (a famous series at Antioch following the riot of 387). Chrysostom's exegetical method is the Antiochene historical-grammatical approach (against the more allegorical Alexandrian school of Origen and Cyril); his preaching combines substantial doctrinal exposition with rigorous moral application; his pastoral concern for the poor and his confrontation of imperial-court corruption are well-documented. The patriarchal-Reformed reader receives Chrysostom as the great patristic preacher whose homilies remain a foundational resource for biblical exposition.