Letters to Saint Olympia (Popular Patristics Series)
Overview
In these letters—available in English in their entirety for the first time—St John Chrysostom guides, comforts, and instructs his spiritual daughter, St Olympia. Written at the end of Chrysostom’s life, while he was in his final exile, we see in these pages the unshaken faith of a saint who triumphed over persecution. We also find the words of a concerned spiritual father, who gives St Olympia the tools to overcome her temptation to despondency and despair. Chrysostom’s Letters to St Olympia are an indispensable resource for those who are interested in the final days of his life, and they continue to be a source of consolation and edification for readers who seek instruction from St John’s “golden mouth.”
Top Highlights
“However, even when I see such things, I do not give up an even firmer hope, as I consider the Pilot governing everything, who prevails over storms, who calms the raging gale, not through skill and artfulness, but with a single nod. It is not at their beginning—not immediately, when they first arise—that he customarily obliterates evils, but when they increase, when they come to their furthest point [telos], when most men fall into despair, then he does wondrous things beyond all expectation, demonstrating his own power, and training the patience of those who have fallen.” (Page 46)
“For if, concerning our own sins, for which we are about to be held accountable, it is not necessary or safe, but rather it is greatly ruinous and hurtful, to grieve with much excessiveness, much more is it exaggerated and vain to grieve excessively concerning the sins of others—which leave us enfeebled and bruised. This is something satanic, ruinous for the soul.” (Page 58)
“But that I might not distress your mind by dwelling upon more of those difficulties, we are now delivered from all these things. For as soon as spring approached, bringing a certain small change in the air, everything vanished on its own. But I still need to take many precautions regarding my diet; therefore I only give my stomach light nourishment, which it can easily digest.” (Pages 131–132)
“However much we are stretched by our trials, by so much do our consolations increase, giving us firmer hopes for the future. For now everything is flowing along well for us, and we are sailing with fair winds. Who could have foreseen this? Who could have foretold? Reefs and shoals, whirlpools and hurricanes all threaten shipwreck—a moonless night, darkest gloom, precipices and crags. And yet through all this we are settled, sailing on such seas that we are no worse off than a ship rocking in a harbor.” (Page 31)
- Title: Letters to Saint Olympia
- Authors: David Ford, John Chrysostom
- Series: Popular Patristics Series
- Volume: 56
- Publisher: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: John Chrysostom, Saint, -407 › Correspondence; Olympias, Saint, approximately 368-408 › Correspondence; Christian women › Religious life
- ISBNs: 9780881415582, 9780881415599, 15555755, 0881415588, 0881415596
- Resource ID: LLS:LTTRSSNTCHRYSTM
- Resource Type: text.monograph.letters
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:17:53Z