John Chrysostom's series of sermons against Jadaizing (386AD) is quoted in the book "Not Ashamed - the story of Jews for Jesus" p51. The author goes on to assert that Chrysom was arguing against those who were in the church and practicing circumcision.
Such parts of Chrystom's sermons as I have found online show he was arguing against circumcision practiced by the Jews, he does not give direct evidence of it occurring in the church.
Can anyone provide a full text (online) or confirm that circumcision is inferred (by the author) without direct evidence.?
J. N. D. Kelly has written what I think is the best modern biography on Chrysostom, titled,
Golden Mouth, The Story of John Chrysostom, Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop, and it is published by Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. This biography is very well documented.
It was during his first year as a preacher (still a priest, not yet a bishop) that he preached some eight addresses,
Discourses against Judaizing Christians (Adversus Judaeos), which are found translated into English in Vol. 68 of the
Fathers of the Church series published by the Catholic University of America Press.
While commenting on these addresses, Kelly says on p. 63 of his biography that "He (Chrysostom)...exerted himself, in this first homily and in a second preached several days later (aimed particularly at people who practised circumcision), to give a stern warning to such backsliders." Kelly does not distinguish whether Chrysostom was objecting to circumcision *as practiced by the Jews*, or Christians who practiced it. It seems to me, from my reading of Kelly, that Chrysostom simply took it for granted that any practice of circumcision was a "carry-over" from Judaism. The fact is that there was a sizeable Jewish population living in Antioch (though they were a minority) where Chrysostom preached. Many of the Christians to whom he preached flocked to the Jewish autumn feasts and fasts, and held the Jews in respect and regard for their way of life. Some of these Christians, when sick, were even seeking Jewish cures that involved such things as amulets, magical incantations, etc. Of course, Chrysostom objected to Christians behaving in this manner toward the Jews living in Antioch; he regarded them (i.e., these Christians) as "Judaizers." Thus Chrysostom was disposed (sadly) to decry anything that appeared "Jewish" to him.
Kelly goes on to make this rather interesting comment on Chrysostom's tirades against the Jews..."After all the abuse he (Chrysostom) heaped upon them, it is ironical that many years later, when his own career lay in ruins, John was to acknowledge that the Jews of Constantinople counted among his sympathisers" (p. 66).
DTK
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