Book · 7 chapters · 3 hr 43 min read · Moderate

On the Priesthood

Six Books on the Pastoral Office

Other titles: De Sacerdotio · Περὶ Ἱερωσύνης · Six Books on the Priesthood · A Treatise on the Priesthood

John Chrysostom · 347–407

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About this book

Chrysostom wrote this defence of himself after tricking his closest friend into accepting a bishopric that he had fled from. Cast as a conversation between the two men, it asks what the pastoral office actually demands, and answers that the work is so weighty, and the soul of the man who does it so exposed, that running from it may be the sanest response. It remains the most searching book on ministry the early church produced.

1. I had many genuine and true friends, men who understood the laws of friendship, and faithfully observed them; but out of this large number there was one who excelled all the rest in his attachment to me, striving to outstrip them as much as they themselves outstripped ordinary acquaintance.
From Book I
  1. 1 Introduction 10 min
  2. 2 Book I 25 min
  3. 3 Book II 26 min
  4. 4 Book III 62 min
  5. 5 Book IV 41 min
  6. 6 Book V 17 min
  7. 7 Book VI 43 min