Dialogue on the life of St. John Chrysostom

Palladius of Antioch (d. 390)

The subject of the Memoir

The teaching of the Dialogue

The author

The treatise

The present edition

INTRODUCTION

[by Herbert M OORE ]

I. The Subject of the Memoir

This treatise, obviously written by one who had full information, and was an eye-witness of many of the incidents which he narrates, is our best authority for the life of St. Chrysostom; we have other "lives," of no great value, by Theodore, Bishop of Trimithus (c. 680), George, Bishop of Alexandria (c. 620), " Leo the Emperor" (c. 900), and an anonymous writer; and accounts contained in the fifth-century Church Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret and Philostorgius, the theologian Photius (c. 850), and the pagan writer Zosimus, besides a few other references in ancient authors. From these various sources we are able to draw not only a record of Chrysostom's life, but also a picture of the man himself; and, incidentally, to gather light upon the life of the Church in his days, and information as to uses and observances, some of which have fallen into desuetude, while others are still practised among us.

See also

• More works by Palladius of Antioch

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