John Chrysostom’ preaching about charismata on the basis on the "Homily of The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians"

Abstract

Charismata in the ancient Catholic Church still generate avid interest and are at the heart of academic research. One of the Christian authors, who explains the meaning of charismata, is John Chrysostom († 407). The paper describes the preaching of this Church Father about charismata on the basis on the Homily on The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. The first part discusses the origin of charismata and their aim. The second section concentrates on terminology used by John Chrysostom to describe charismata: the gift of the Spirit, the Gift of God’s grace, the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Individual charismata, e.g. the gift of tongues, are presented in the third part. Finally, the author discusses love as the most important charism. According to John Chrysostom’s preaching, charismata comes from the Trinity and are gifts obtained by every Christian not for his own good, but for the good of all the community. This focus on community is an important criterion to distinguish between charismata. However, only love is a universal and absolute gift. According to the ancient preacher, love leads to all other charismata. Chrysostom’s preaching is still current, as these gifts of the Spirit are present in the Church today.