A Word from Bob: You’re reading Part 2 of a four-part blog mini-series on The Forgotten Church Mothers. When we ponder early church history, our minds naturally focus on the Church Fathers. Sadly, we normally fail even to consider the Church Mothers. In our modern Western Evangelical world, where the worth and role of women is often debated—and demeaned—it is helpful to learn from church history. These posts are taken from my book, Sacred Friendships: Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith. You can read Part 1 here: Mothers of the Church Fathers.
Anthusa: Lamenting Loss, Gripping Grace
Endeared as one of the four great doctors of the Church, John Chrysostom was born in 347 AD in Antioch, Syria and was prepared for a career in law under the renowned Libanius, who marveled at his pupil’s eloquence and foresaw a brilliant vocation for him as statesman and lawgiver.
But Chrysostom decided, after he had been baptized at the age of twenty-three, to abandon law in favor of service to Christ. In his renowned pulpit ministry, he emerged as “Golden Mouth,” a preacher whose oratorical excellence gained him a reputation throughout the Christian world.
Unfortunately, we know little about John’s upbringing and even less about his mother, Anthusa. What we do know should resonate with every woman who has ever been left bereft of a husband.
Anthusa repeats her story of widowhood to her son on the occasion of his plan to leave home at age twenty to share a residence with his best friend, Basil. John recounts the scene.
“But the continual lamentations of my mother hindered me from granting him the favor, or rather from receiving this boon at his hands. For when she perceived that I was meditating this step, she took me into her own private chamber, and, sitting near me on the bed where she had given birth to me, she shed torrents of tears, to which she added words yet more pitiable than her weeping, in the following lamentable strain.”[i]
Tempest-Tossed with Overwhelming Sorrow
Anthusa then shares and bares her soul.
“My child, it was not the will of Heaven that I should long enjoy the benefit of thy father’s virtue. For his death soon followed the pangs which I endured at thy birth, leaving thee an orphan and me a widow before my time to face all the horrors of widowhood, which only those who have experienced them can fairly understand. For no words are adequate to describe the tempest-tossed condition of a young woman who, having but lately left her paternal home . . . is suddenly racked by an overwhelming sorrow, and compelled to support a load of care too great for her age. . .”[ii]
Though distressing, hearing Anthusa’s candor is refreshing. Sometimes we have the false impression that the “saints of old” sailed through life’s sorrows without a single word of complaint or even a blip on their emotional EKG. Anthusa reminds us that this is fictitious. She also models for us the great biblical tradition of lamentation, which is so vital in the grief journey
Grace from Above
Anthusa offers insight into the healing process as she shares with her son how she survived and eventually thrived.
“None of these things, however, induced me to enter into a second marriage, or introduce a second husband into thy father’s house: but I held on as I was, in the midst of the storm and uproar, and did not shun the iron furnace of widowhood. My foremost help indeed was the grace from above.[iii]
In the midst of our storms, our foremost healing help is always grace from above.
When we listen to the silenced voices of the forgotten Church Mothers we lean over to hear a calm, quiet voice whispering, “Women are God-empowered.” Church Mothers like Anthusa saw themselves as God-called and God-empowered lights in the darkness. They reflected the light of hope coming from the Son of God as they journeyed gently, yet confidently, with other women and with men.
The Rest of the Story
Join us for Part 3 when we journey with Monica, mother of Augustine, who ministers to her famous son by Mingling Spiritual Friendship and Spiritual Direction.
Join the Conversation
Anthusa lamented loss (sustaining sorrow) and gripped grace (healing hope). Which do you need in your life? In your ministry to others?
Endnotes
[i]Saint Chrysostom, “Treatise on the Priesthood,” in Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, book 1, paragraph 5.
[ii]Ibid.
[iii]Ibid., emphasis added.
