“Chrysostom soon gained by his eloquent sermons the admiration of the people, of the weak Emperor Arcadius, and, at first, even of his wife Eudoxia, with whom he afterwards waged a deadly war. He extended his pastoral care to the Goths who were becoming numerous in Constantinople, had a part of the Bible translated for them, often preached to them himself through an interpreter, and sent missionaries to the Gothic and Scythian tribes on the Danube. He continued to direct by correspondence those missionary operations even during his exile. For a short time he enjoyed the height of power and popularity” (Schaff, The Life and Work of St. John Chrysostom, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1.9).
“It was perceived by John [Chrysostom] that the Scythians were involved in the Arian net; he therefore devised counter contrivances and discovered a means of winning them over. Appointing presbyters and deacons and readers of the divine oracles who spoke the Scythian tongue, he assigned a church to them, and by their means won many from their error. He used frequently himself to visit it and preach there, using an interpreter who was skilled in both languages, and he got other good speakers to do the same. This was his constant practice in the city, and many of those who had been deceived he rescued by pointing out to them the truth of the apostolic preaching. On learning that some of the Nomads encamped along the Danube were thirsty for salvation, but had none to bring them the stream, John sought out men who were filled with a love of labor like that which had distinguished the apostles, and gave them charge of the work. I have myself seen a letter written by him to Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, in which he described the conversion of the Scythians, and begged that fit men for their instruction might be sent” (Theodoret, Historia Ecclesiastica 5.30–31).
Further resources:
Stanfill, Jonathan Peter. Embracing the Barbarian: John Chrysostom’s Pastoral Care of the Goths. Fordham Research Commons, 2015,
Stanfill, Jonathan Peter. “John Chrysostom and the Rebirth of the Antiochene Mission in Late Antiquity,” Church History 88 (2019): 899-924.
Stanfill, Jonathan Peter. “John Chrysostom’s Gothic Parish and the Politics of Space.” Studia Patristica 67 (2013), 345–49.
Sterk, Andrea. “Bishops and Mission Beyond the Frontiers: From Gothia to Nubia.” In Episcopal Networks in Late Antiquity, ed. C. Cvetković and P. Gemeinhardt (Berlin: DeGruyter, 2019), 313-338.
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