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Abstract
This dissertation examines the fifty-five homilies of John Chrysostom on the book of Acts and looks at the way Chrysostom interpreted the book as the ancestral history of the Christian people. Chrysostom began to preach the series in Constantinople at Easter (c. 401), and thus the homilies may be understood in the context of baptism which took place at that time. Chrysostom related the initiatory event of baptism to the reception of the Holy Spirit by the apostles at the beginning of Acts. This allowed him to connect all Christians to the apostles as members of one family and citizens of the same politeia.
When the story of the first Christian community in Acts becomes for all baptized Christians the history of their nation's founders, it provides for them a new cultural identity and a model for reform. Chrysostom's exhortation to imitation of the ancestral models by their successors is consistent with the way history was read in late antiquity. Chrysostom describes the Church in cultural terms from the society in which he lives, and yet by so doing he distinguishes the Christian's world from the earthly empire. In delineating the figures in Acts as ancestral models, Chrysostom struggles against a popular view of the apostles as miracle workers, offering instead an image of citizenship in heaven that is marked by philosophic self-control, virtue, and charity.
Chrysostom uses certain metaphors to describe the apostles in his homilies and these metaphors help to illustrate how his interpretation of the history in Acts provided models for imitation. Chrysostom uses royal imagery for the apostles to illustrate their model behavior and positions of influence in the Christian politeia. He also describes the angelic nature of their conduct and community, portraying them as models of piety, virtue, and leadership for all citizens of the heavenly politeia. By using these images, Chrysostom borrows from the traditions of monastic discipline and piety for the whole Church and encourages moral reform of Christianity and ultimately all of society.
