Primary source · Koine Greek
On the Priesthood (De Sacerdotio)
John Chrysostom · c. AD 386–390
What this text is
Six books in dialogue form — the young deacon's apologia for dodging ordination by a ruse, turned into antiquity's most searching meditation on the weight of pastoral office.
Public-domain translations
W. R. W. Stephens (NPNF, 1889)
The priestly office is discharged upon earth, but ranks among heavenly ordinances… The priest must be sober and clear-sighted, and possess a thousand eyes in every direction, as one who lives not for himself alone but for so great a multitude.
Manuscript witnesses
Byzantine tradition (very numerous)
9th c. onwardThe dialogue with Basil on the dread of ordination — a clerical classic from the start.
Provenance
Antioch, c. AD 390 — the six books On the Priesthood
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Jean Chrysostome: Sur le sacerdoce (SC 272)Anne-Marie Malingrey, 1980The critical edition with French translation.
- Six Books on the Priesthood (Popular Patristics 1)Graham Neville, 1964Standard faithful English.