"The Actual Remains of the Great Doctor Were Conveyed to the Imperial City" ~ January 27, Feast of the Translation of Relics of Saint John Chrysostom

The translation of the relics of Saint John Chyrsostom to the Church of the
Holy Apostles in Constantinople, taken from the 11th century work known
as the Menologion of Basil II, now contained in the Vatican Library.

On this date in AD 438, the remains of Saint John Chrysostom were returned to Constantinople to be re-buried following a pious procession and public honors granted by the Emperor Theodosius II and his sister, Saint Pulcheria.

Saint John had been exiled from Constantinople in AD 404 after getting on the bad side of the Empress Eudoxia and squabbling with political and religious factions in the capital. He eventually perished in exile in the city of Comana in eastern Asia Minor.

About thirty years later, one of John’s disciples became patriarch of Constantinople. This man was Saint Proclus who offered a moving homily praising his mentor. This speech, and the apparent sympathy it generated among the people, convinced Theodosius II to command that the relics of St. John be allowed to return from exile. By this act, Proclus and Theodosius II reconciled the Christian factions in Constantinople which had remained bitterly divided since John’s banishment.

Following is a contemporary account of the event from the 5th century historian Socrates Scholasticus:

Proclus the bishop brought back to the Church those who had separated themselves from it on account of Bishop John's deposition, he having soothed the irritation by a prudent expedient. What this was we must now recount. Having obtained the emperor's permission, he removed the body of John from Comana, where it was buried, to Constantinople, in the thirty-fifth year after his deposition. And when he had carried it in solemn procession through the city, he deposited it with much honor in the church termed The Apostles. By this means the admirers of that prelate were conciliated, and again associated in communion with the [catholic] Church. This happened on the 27th of January, in the sixteenth consulate of the Emperor Theodosius. [Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Book VII, Chapter 45]

More details of the actual translation of the relics, including how they were personally welcomed to the capital by Theodosius II and his sister, Saint Pulcheria, may be found in the 5th century Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret of Cyrrhus, as follows:

At a later time the actual remains of the great doctor were conveyed to the imperial city, and once again the faithful crowd turning the sea as it were into land by their close packed boats, covered the mouth of the Bosphorus towards the Propontis with their torches. The precious possession was brought into Constantinople by the present emperor, who received the name of his grandfather and preserved his piety undefiled. After first gazing upon the bier he laid his head against it, and prayed for his parents and for pardon on them who had ignorantly sinned, for his parents had long ago been dead, leaving him an orphan in extreme youth, but the God of his fathers and of his forefathers permitted him not to suffer trial from his orphanhood, but provided for his nurture in piety, protected his empire from the assaults of sedition, and bridled rebellious hearts. Ever mindful of these blessings he honors his benefactor with hymns of praise. Associated with him in this divine worship are his sisters [Pulcheria, Arcadia and Marina], who have maintained virginity throughout their lives, thinking the study of the divine oracles the greatest delight, and reckoning that riches beyond robbers' reach are to be found in ministering to the poor.[Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 36]

Later sources have claimed that when the coffin of St. John was opened, his body was found to be incorrupt. I have not been able to discover any ancient references to this miraculous event. However, there is an anonymous late medieval Russian source entitled Dialogue on the Shrines and Other Points of Interest in Constantinople, which says the following:

The tomb of St. John Chrysostom, however, is at the high altar in the sanctuary of Saint Sophia, and is covered with a slab worked in gold and precious stones. [His body] was still whole, and reposes there as if alive. There is nothing dismal about his vestments or hair, but to this day [the body] exudes a strong sweet fragrance. [Majeska: Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, pg. 134]

It is said that the incorrupt ear of St. John may be found at a monastery on Mount Athos. Also at Mount Athos is a relic purporting to be the incorrupt right hand of St. John as pictured below.

A relic believed to be the right hand of St. John Chrysostom.