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The Life of Nikephoros i, patriarch of Constantinople, is a long and rhetorically elaborate text written by Ignatios the Deacon. This paper reconsiders the interpretation of the education excursus contextualizing the section within a longer textual segment. It shows that N. studied at a monastery on the Asian side of the Bosporos and that Ignatios was not underlining the fact that his curriculum comprised secular and sacred topics, but rather that it included both Jewish Classical tradition and Christian perspectives. I argue for this revised interpretation through close readings that reveal several significant intertexts, principally Themistius's Oration to the Nicomedians. I conclude that the education excursus was designed to portray the background of the future patriarch beyond the topics of his studies, delineating his lineage as a 'Nazarene', i.e. a person following traditional Jewish and Christian customs. More research is required in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Chrysostom's failure as bishop of Constantinople, following as it did on his successful Antiochene career, continues to puzzle scholars. Increasingly, accusations of Origenism emerge as one of the many factors that led to the bishop's down-fall, initiated at the Synod of the Oaks. But what did Origenism mean to those who accused Chrysostom? How was it defined? And, more importantly, how can we assess the attitudes of those in power, instrumental in toppling the bishop of the capital, who left no written record, namely the members of the imperial elite? This paper uses elite male fashion and display, including forms of display achieved through the public sponsoring of ascetics in and near the city, to address some of these questions. Here, the fact that John's alleged Origenism was linked, rhetorically, to Arianism and Eunomianism gains particular relevance, not least because some of the elites involved in the conflicts that led to Chrysostom's downfall, were themselves Gothic Arians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]