Bishop John Chrysostom Preaches

Saint John Chrysostom (the "Golden Mouth") was one of the most important figures of the early Byzantine church. He was a famous preacher, an agitator for social justice, and a political contender against the extravagance and corruption of his day. His sermons are still recited and read by devotees in the Orthodox Church. You can read more about him in this Wikipedia article. If you read it you will see that from our modern perspective, some of John's preaching would be considered distasteful or even terrible. But in those days, things were different. 

Bishop John, archbishop of Constantinople, fought it out with the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt as to who would be the leader of the Eastern Church. At the time I set my Byzantine tale, the conflict between these two had sent the city into riots and religious-political unrest. John appears briefly, to condemn our heroine for disobedience and even witchcraft. She barely gets away from Constantinople alive, rescued by Heliodorus the eunuch and the Philosopher.

Watercolor and ink on sketchbook page, 3 1/2" x 7 1/2", April 1975.