In Praise of Saint Paul

Book excerpt: St. John Chrysotom has left us as many as two hundred and fifty homilies on the Epistles of St. Paul, which are generally considered to constitute the finest commentary ever written on the Epistles of the apostle of the Gentiles. The collection of sermons contained in this volume testify to his close knowledge of St. Paul's writings as well as to his deep admiration and attachment to Paul's many virtues. Reading them we can easily see what he meant in the introduction to his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans: "As often as I hear the Epistles of St. Paul read, twice a week, or often three or four times, I rejoice each time over this spiritual trumpet, and I exult and am kindled with holy desires, when I hear the voice which is to me so dear and familiar, and then I imagine that I see him before me, and that I hear him speak." The saint preached these sermons at Antioch sometime during his twelve-year stay there after his ordination.