John Chrysostom on the Roman-Persian Wars

Abstract

The writings of St. John Chrysostom include numerous information about Persia and the Persians. Some of them relate to military history and reflect the military and military-political realities of Roman-Persian relations in the John Chrysostom’s period. The main part of the information reported by John Chrysostom about the Roman-Persian wars is connected with the Persian expedition of the emperor Julian the Apostate in 363 AD. The Saint explains the unsuccessful outcome of the campaign of 363 for the Romans by the fact that Julian organized anti-Christian persecutions. So, the death of Julian during the campaign is interpreted by John Chrysostom as a Divine punishment. The saint leaves the question of the death of the emperor open, not leaning towards any of the versions that circulated at that time. The description by John Chrysostom of the invasion of the Roman army into Persia in many details coincides with the information of our main source - the “Res Gestae” by Ammianus Marcellinus, who was not only a contemporary of the saint, but also the participant of the events of 363 AD. This indicates a high degree of reliability of the information reported by John Chrysostom. At the same time, the saint demonstrates an ambivalent attitude towards the Persians, considering them, on the one hand, barbarians and opponents of Rome, and, on the other hand, a people demonstrating high moral qualities (in particular, humanity towards the Romans). In addition, John Chrysostom reports some information about the activities of the Persian military intelligence.