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John was a native of Antioch in Syria-Coele, son of Secundus and
Anthusa, and scion of a noble family in that country. He studied
rhetoric under Libanius the sophist, and philosophy under
Andragathius the philosopher. Being on the point of entering the
practice of civil law, and reflecting on the restless and unjust course
of those who devote themselves to the practice of the forensic courts,
he was turned to the more tranquil mode of life, which he adopted,
following the example of Evagrius. Evagrius himself had been educated
under the same masters, and had some time before retired to a private
mode of life. Accordingly he laid aside his legal habit, and applied
his mind to the reading of the sacred scriptures, frequenting the
church with great assiduity. He moreover induced Theodore and
Maximus, who had been his fellow-students under Libanius the
sophist, to forsake a profession whose primary object was gain, and
embrace a life of greater simplicity. Of these two persons, Theodore
afterwards became bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia, and Maximus of
Seleucia in Isauria. At that time being ardent aspirants after
perfection, they entered upon the ascetic life, under the guidance of
Diodorus and Carterius, who then presided over a monastic
institution. The former of these was subsequently elevated to the
bishopric of Tarsus, and wrote many treatises, in which he limited
his attention to the literal sense of scripture, avoiding that which
was mystical. But enough respecting these persons. Now John was
then living on the most intimate terms with Basil, at that time
constituted a deacon by Meletius, but afterwards ordained bishop of
Caesarea in Cappadocia. Accordingly Zeno the bishop on his return
from Jerusalem, appointed him a reader in the church at Antioch.
While he continued in the capacity of a reader he composed the book
Against the Jews. Meletius having not long after conferred on him
the rank of deacon, he produced his work On the Priesthood, and
those Against Stagirius; and moreover those also On the
Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature, and On the Women who
lived with the Ecclesiastics. Afterwards, upon the death of
Meletius at Constantinople,--for there he had gone on account of
Gregory Nazianzen's ordination,John separated himself from the
Meletians, without entering into communion with Paulinus, and spent
three whole years in retirement. Later, when Paulinus was dead, he
was ordained a presbyter by Evagrius the successor of Paulinus. Such
is a brief outline of John's career previous to his call to the
episcopal office. It is said that on account of his zeal for
temperance he was stem and severe; and one of his early friends has
said 'that in his youth he manifested a proneness to irritability,
rather than to modesty.' Because of the rectitude of his life, he
was free from anxiety about the future, and his simplicity of character
rendered him open and ingenuous; nevertheless the liberty of speech he
allowed himself was offensive to very many. In public teaching he was
powerful in reforming the morals of his auditors; but in private
conversation he was frequently thought haughty and assuming by those who
did not know him.
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