John Chrysostom (Иоанн Златоуст; c. 347–407) was a Church Father and Archbishop of Constantinople, known for his sermons. The name means “golden-mouthed”.
In A Confession
A Confession (Исповедь, 1879–82) names him once, among the readings in which Tolstoy found the meaning of life after he drew near to the people: “There were the lives of Makarius the Great, the story of Buddha, there were the words of St. John Chrysostom” (XIV.7).1
The PSS commentary places these readings in the Prologue (Пролог), a book of saints’ lives and sermons, where “the words of John Chrysostom are scattered in great number through the whole book”. Tolstoy read the Prologue in the 1875–76 edition; his copy, with many of his marks, is in the library at Yasnaya Polyana, and its bookmarks suggest he last read it in June 1880.2 See also Buddha, whose story as Prince Joasaph is in the same book.
Open questions
- Which of Chrysostom’s sermons Tolstoy marked in his copy of the Prologue is not shown by these sources.
- His dates and the first sentence are general knowledge. His Tolstoy Digital person entry (id 5792) is referenced in the TEI text but missing from our copy of the person list.
- He is also named twice in The Kingdom of God Is Within You (chapters III and IV); that dive has not been drawn on here.
Dive provenance
- 1879-1882-a-confession — the text of A Confession (PSS 23:1–59) and its commentary (PSS 23:515–537); Johan’s reader notes of 10 October 2026 asked for this page.
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«Там были жития Макария Великого, Иоасафа царевича (история Будды), там были слова Иоанна Златоуста» (PSS 23:52, ch. XIV). English: Maude. ↩
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«„Слова Иоанна Златоуста“ рассеяны в большом количестве на протяжении всей книги. Толстой читал „Пролог“ в издании 1875—1876 гг. Читанный им экземпляр, испещренный многочисленными его пометками, сохраняется в яснополянской библиотеке. Судя по закладкам, Толстой в последний раз читал „Пролог“ в июне 1880 г.» (PSS 23:535, commentary, note 37). English: ours. ↩