Abstract

This article begins by analysing the homily Quod frequenter conveniendum sit, in which John Chrysostom represents himself as Elijah, in a way shaped politically by his years in Constantinople and his amazing project of building a Christian/gospel-based politeia. His representation is marked by the idea of philanthropia and in competition with similar ideas found in Neo-Platonic contexts. The article suggests that this representation is replayed in a polemical key in John’s circles to represent the clash with Eudoxia. The use of the verb κωμῳδέω in the spurious In ss. Petrum et Heliam offers a window onto the strategy of the supporters of the deposed bishop of reworking this identification of John with Elijah; this shows that the image of himself as monk, martyr and also persecuted prophet, which Chrysostom had constructed of in his years of exile, was welcomed and adopted by others.