Liliana-Elena Boamfă, The Holy Scriptures – “The Word of eternal life”: chrysostomic horizons

This article discusses the exegetical work of St. John Chrysostom. Although in the present some authors are reluctant to acknowledge his absolute primacy in the patristic exegesis area, justifying their choice with the lack of theological depth seen in Origen or Gregory of Nyssa, probably due to their affiliation to the Antiochian exegetical school, St. John Chrysostom still remains an undeniable landmark in the hermeneutical approach of the sacred text. As a tireless preacher and interpreter of the Word of God, he used his homilies for scriptural exegesis, thus preaching and explaining entire books from the Holy Bible. His literary work has proven to be an extensive one, summing up a considerable number of treaties, letters, homilies and eulogies spoken either in Antioch or in Constantinople, occasionally or in specific circumstances. Of all his literary work, most of his writings were homilies, those speeches through which he tried to explain to the people he shepherded almost the entire Holy Scripture. To his listeners, he strongly recommended reading of the Holy Scripture as a way of improving their spiritual life.

Keywords: John Chrysostom, Holy Bible, exegesis, God’s Word, homily, reading

LILIANA-ELENA BOAMFĂ