Abstract

While bishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom organized psalm-singing processions that were to transform the city's civic spaces and colonnaded streets into "churches." By participating in these processions, which featured fiery torches and candles, John's followers transformed the material properties of the civic landscape through their deployment of light and sound. Their activities generated new meanings for Constantinople's imperial monuments and recast civic spaces as Christian sites inhabited by the Holy Spirit and angels. In such ways, John tried to make Constantinople into a "truly" Christian city and to succeed Constantine as its founder.

pdf

Share