ST.

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: CHRIST’S POWER PROVED BY THE DESTRUCTION OF PAGAN ALTARS AND THEIR
SACRIFICES, AND THE RISE OF CATHOLIC ALTARS FOR THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE

Many Church Fathers consistently defended the Catholic Faith by pointing to the reality of the Catholic
Church—a universal society united by faith, worship, and government—that had both supplanted
Levitical worship in Jerusalem, and destroyed paganism around the world.

Put another way, they consistently pointed to the facts of history as an apologetic, arguing that the Old
Testament prophecies and Christ’s promises to His Church were being fulfilled in real time.

Below is an example of this from St. John Chrysostom, in which he argues—based on Old Testament
prophecy and Christ’s words to Peter—that the rise of Christ’s altars, and the destruction of paganism,
were a proof of Christ’s divinity and the indestructibility of the Church.

I read and continue to read words like these from the Church Fathers, and I realized while still a
protestant that we had no part in this apologetic, because from the beginning we abandoned the
sacrifice of the Eucharist (denied by even Anglicans and Lutherans, despite their continued use of
“altars”). We abandoned the altars, and the priesthood that ministered at them. In the vast majority of
protestant congregations to this day, there is not even a pretense of an altar.

But this was precisely what so many Church Fathers pointed to as the fulfillment of biblical prophecies
against paganism, rabbinic Judaism, and many heresies: the rise of Catholic altars from one end of the
earth to the other.

Here are St. John Chrysostom’s words:

“(§3) Do you not see that this prediction [of Christ] came true? Do you not see the strength of its
fulfillment? Do you not see the words shining forth as proved in the light of the facts? Do you not see his
invincible power which does all things with ease?

Because the words are few—‘I will build my Church’—do not simply pass over them. Ponder them in
your mind.

Think how great a thing it is to fill every land under the sun with so many churches in so sort a time.

Think what it means to have converted so many nations, to have won over so many peoples, to have
destroyed ancestral customs, to have torn out deep-rooted habits, to have driven out, like dust before
the wind, the tyrannous rule of pleasure and the power and strength of evil.

People have destroyed their accursed festivals and made the unclean savor of victims disappear like
smoke.

(§4) They have raised up new altars [of Christ] everywhere, not only in the territory of the Romans but in
the lands of the Persians, the Scythians, the Mauritanians, and the Indians. They have even raised up
altars beyond the world we live in. The British Isles, which lie beyond this sea and are situated in the
ocean itself, have felt the power of these words. For even there churches and altars have been built. That
word which Christ spoke in his own day has been planted in the souls of all men and is found on the lips
of all. It is just as if land that was filled with thorns has been cleansed and become a cleared field. And
this field has received the seeds of godliness.

(§5) This is a great thing, truly a great thing. Rather, it surpasses greatness and provides a proof of his
divine power.”

St. John Chrysostom, “Demonstration Against the Pagans” (Ch. 12, §§3-5)