Abstract

Ministers of the Church, whose characters were well defined in the second half of the fourth century, were more and more identified as the perfect believers. In the texts of John Chrysostom several models of “spiritual man” emerge on the basis of his personal experience and the evolution of his works: the monk, the presbyter, and the bishop. One notes that the relation of the Church to secular institutions is of greater importance in the works of Chrysostom, paying as he does particular attention to the autonomy of the Church. In an original way he refrains from criticizing political institutions, preferring to express a balanced view. He holds that a coexistence with political authorities is possible, and he urges a moral conver-gence with them. Ecclesial ministries find a more solid basis in the Chrysostom’s complex and sometimes pained statements, both in their ideal expressions and in their concrete effects on the society of the fourth century.