Chrysostom

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

• 1884From the archives

  Chrysostom— “gold mouth”

  The Evangelist who was surnamed Mark, and Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward, both had received their names independently, and thus Joannes became a most universal baptismal name, given from the first in the East and at Rome. There were many noted bishops so called in the fourth century, the earliest time when men began to be baptized in memory of departed saints, rather than by the old Roman names. The first whose name is preserved is Joannes of Egypt, one of the hermits of…

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  The Evangelist who was surnamed Mark, and Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward, both had received their names independently, and thus Joannes became a most universal baptismal name, given from the first in the East and at Rome. There were many noted bishops so called in the fourth century, the earliest time when men began to be baptized in memory of departed saints, rather than by the old Roman names. The first whose name is preserved is Joannes of Egypt, one of the hermits of the Thebaïd; the next is the great deacon of Antioch, and patron of Constantinople, Joannes Chrysostomos (John of the golden mouth), whose Greek surname, given him for his eloquence, has caused him to be best known as St. Chrysostom, and has perpetuated in Italy, Grisostomo; in Spain, Crisostomo; whilst the Slavonian nations translate the name and make it Zlatoust.

  Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part I, Chapter III (Israelite Names), Section V (Names from Chaanach) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)