plunder or
to imprison took refuge in churches, where debtors and others were then
considered to be safe, as it was not lawful to seize them in the holy
buildings. Eutropius persuaded the emperor to make a law by which this
right of shelter (or _asylum_, as it was called) was taken away from
churches. But soon after he himself fell into disgrace, and in his
terror he rushed to the cathedral, and laid hold of the altar for
protection. Some soldiers were sent to seize him; but Chrysostom would
not let them enter; and next day, when the church was crowded by a
multitude of people who had flocked to see what would become of
Eutropius, the bishop preached on the uncertainty of all earthly
greatness. While Eutropius lay crouching under the holy table,
Chrysostom turned to him and reminded him how he had tried to take away
that very privilege of churches from which he was now seeking
protection; and he desired the people to beg both God and the emperor to
pardon the fallen favourite. By all this he did not mean to insult the
wretched Eutropius, but to turn the rage of the multitude into pity. It
was said, however, by some that he had triumphed over his enemy's
misfortunes; and he also got into trouble for giving Eutropius shelter,
and was carried before the emperor to answer for doing so. But the
bishop boldly upheld the right of the Church to protect the defenceless,
and Eutropius was, for the time, allowed to go free.

PART III.

Thus there were many at Constantinople who were ready to take part
against Chrysostom, if an opportunity should offer; and it was not long
before they found one.

The bishop of Alexandria at this time was a bold and bad man, named
Theophilus. He was jealous of the see of Constantinople, because the
second general council had lately placed it above his own;[25] he
disliked the bishop because he had hoped to put one of his own clergy
into the place, and had seen enough of Chrysostom at his first meeting
to know that he could not make a tool of him; and although he had been
obliged by the emperor and Eutropius to consecrate Chrysostom as bishop,
it was with a very bad grace that he did so.

[25] See page 84.

There were then great quarrels as to the opinions of the famous Origen,
who had lived two hundred years before.[26] Some of his opinions were
really wrong, and others were very strange, if they were not wrong too.
But besides these, a number of things had been laid to his charge of
which