A POOR MAN: POSITIVE RETHINKING OF NEGATIVE IDENTITY IN THE CHRISTIAN DISCOURSE OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Abstract

The article shows how the famous Christian thinker Saint John Chrysostom rethinks the notion of poverty. Most often poverty is perceived in everyday consciousness as a negative phenomenon. Identity of poor people also usually follows this dominating discourse. John Chrysostom does not consider poverty to be a mischief. It even can do good both for people and a society. For this reason a poor man does not have to feel defective and people surrounding him must not perceive him like this.