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Learn Wireshark
Second Edition

A definitive guide to expertly analyzing protocols and

troubleshooting networks using Wireshark

Lisa Bock

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI
Learn Wireshark
Second Edition
Copyright © 2022 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher,
except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty,
either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors,
will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by
this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies
and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing
cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Group Product Manager: Vijin Boricha

Publishing Product Manager: Prachi Sawant
Content Development Editor: Romy Dias
Technical Editor: Rajat Sharma
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First Published: August 2019

Second Edition: June 2022

Production reference: 1010722

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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Birmingham
B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-80323-167-9
www.packt.com
To all dreamers, know that there isn't always a clear path to achieving your dream.
In addition to celebrating and rejoicing each milestone, there will be times of
great sorrow and despair along the way. Nonetheless, keep moving toward your
dream while being authentic, harmonious, and true to yourself. One day you'll
see a sign, and you'll say to yourself with a smile, "I have arrived."
 Contributors
About the author
Lisa Bock is an experienced author with a demonstrated history of working in the
e-learning industry. She is a security ambassador with a broad range of IT skills and
knowledge, including Cisco security, CyberOps, Wireshark, biometrics, ethical hacking,
and the IoT. Lisa is an author for LinkedIn Learning and an award-winning speaker who
has presented at several national conferences. She holds an MS in computer information
systems/information assurance from UMGC. Lisa was an associate professor in the IT
department at Pennsylvania College of Technology (Williamsport, PA) from 2003 until
her retirement in 2020. She is involved with various volunteer activities, and she and her
husband, Mike, enjoy bike riding, watching movies, and traveling.

I want to thank my friends and family for their ongoing support. I am

also grateful to the entire Packt team, who work very hard to create an
exceptional product. Finally, I'd like to thank my students, who push me to
deliver the very best educational content.
About the reviewer
Nick Parlow is a Fujitsu Fellow and Distinguished Engineer, and has been an escalation
engineer for Fujitsu in the UK for nearly 20 years, specializing in messaging technologies
and networks. He has fixed stuff for central government, the Ministry of Defence, and
his local school. He has master's degrees in network engineering from Sheffield Hallam
University and software engineering from the University of Northumbria.
Nick is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and holds many other credentials, but is most proud
of being a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator and Code Club volunteer. When he's not
working, writing books, reviewing books, soldering things, or taking blurry photos of the
night sky, he likes to play with chainsaws.

I'd like to thank the author, Lisa Bock, and the team at Packt for giving me
the opportunity to do something that has been wholly enjoyable – reviewing
this great book. Most thanks, however, go to my long-suffering family and
colleagues for giving me the time and support to do so. Thank you, Chris,
Bryn, Jon, Caroline, Craig, and everybody else. You're brilliant.
 Table of Contents
Preface

Part 1 Traffic Capture Overview

1
Appreciating Traffic Analysis
Reviewing packet analysis 4 Identifying where to
Exploring early packet sniffers  5 use packet analysis 17
Evaluating devices that Analyzing traffic on a LAN 17
use packet analysis 6
Capturing network traffic 7 Outlining when to
use packet analysis 19
Recognizing who benefits Troubleshooting latency issues 19
from using packet analysis 8 Testing IoT devices 20
Assisting developers 8 Monitoring for threats 20
Helping network administrators Baselining the network 21
monitor the network 9
Educating students on protocols 12 Getting to know Wireshark 22
Alerting security analysts to threats 13 Summary  23
Arming hackers with information 14 Questions24

2
Using Wireshark
Examining the Finding information 34
Wireshark interface 28
Understanding the phases of
Streamlining the interface 28
packet analysis 34
Discovering keyboard shortcuts 31
Gathering network traffic 34
Recognizing the Wireshark authors  32
Decoding the raw bits 37
viii Table of Contents

Displaying the captured data 38 Dissecting protocols 44

Analyzing the packet capture 41
Summary 45
Using CLI tools with Wireshark 42 Questions46
Exploring tshark 42

3
Installing Wireshark
Discovering support for Beginning the installation 58
different OSes 50 Choosing components 58
Using Wireshark on Windows 50 Creating shortcuts and selecting
Running Wireshark on Unix  50 an install location 62
Installing Wireshark on macOS 51 Capturing packets and completing
the installation 63
Deploying Wireshark on Linux 51
Working with Wireshark Reviewing available resources 65
on other systems 52
Viewing news and help topics 65
Comparing different Evaluating download options 67
capture engines 54
Summary69
Understanding libpcap 54
Questions69
Examining WinPcap 54
Grasping Npcap 55 Further reading 71

Performing a standard
Windows installation 58

4
Exploring the Wireshark Interface
Opening the Wireshark Printing packets and closing Wireshark 82
welcome screen 74
Discovering the Edit menu 84
Selecting a file 74
Copying items and finding packets 84
Capturing traffic 75
Marking or ignoring packets 88
Exploring the File menu 76 Setting a time reference 89
Opening a file, closing, and saving 77 Personalizing your work area 90
Exporting packets, bytes, and objects 78
Exploring the View menu 91
 Table of Contents ix

Enhancing the interface 91 Refreshing the view 98

Formatting time and name resolution 93
Modifying the display 96
Summary101
Questions101

Part 2 Getting Started with Wireshark

5
Tapping into the Data Stream
Reviewing network Comparing conversations and
architectures108 endpoints119
Comparing different types of networks 108
Realizing the importance
Exploring various types of media 110 of baselining 123
Learning various Planning the baseline 123
capture methods 113 Capturing traffic 123
Providing input 114 Analyzing the captured traffic 124
Directing output 114 Saving the baselines 125
Selecting options 116
Summary126
Tapping into the stream 118 Questions 127

6
Personalizing the Interface
Personalizing the layout  130 Adding, editing, and deleting columns 141
Altering the appearance 130 Refining the font and colors 145
Changing the layout 132
Adding comments 148
Creating a tailored Attaching comments to files 148
configuration profile 136 Entering packet comments 148
Customizing a profile 136 Viewing and saving comments 149
Crafting buttons 139
Summary 150
Adjusting columns, Questions 151
font, and colors 141
x Table of Contents

7
Using Display and Capture Filters
Filtering network traffic 154 Understanding the
Analyzing traffic 154 expression builder 168
Comparing the filters' files 156 Building an expression 170

Comprehending display filters 159 Discovering shortcuts

Editing display filters 160 and handy filters 172
Using bookmarks 161 Embracing filter shortcuts 172
Applying useful filters 175
Creating capture filters 162
Modifying capture filters 164 Summary 177
Bookmarking a filter 168 Questions 177
Further reading 179

8
Outlining the OSI Model
An overview of the OSI model 182 Traveling over the Physical layer 197
Developing the framework 182
Exploring the
Using the framework 183
encapsulation process 198
Discovering the purpose Viewing the data 199
of each layer, the protocols, Identifying the segment 199
and the PDUs 183 Characterizing the packet 200
Evaluating the Application layer 185 Forming the frame 200
Dissecting the Presentation layer 186
Demonstrating frame
Learning about the Session layer 188
formation in Wireshark 201
Appreciating the Transport layer 190
Examining the network bindings 202
Explaining the Network layer 193
Examining the Data Link layer 196 Summary203
Questions203
 Table of Contents xi

Part 3 The Internet Suite TCP/IP

9
Decoding TCP and UDP
Reviewing the transport layer 210 Dissecting the window size 229
Describing TCP 211 Viewing additional header values 232

Establishing and maintaining a Understanding UDP 234

connection211
Studying a single UDP frame 235
Exploring a single TCP frame 214
Discovering the four-field
Examining the 11-field TCP
UDP header 236
header219
Analyzing the UDP header fields 236
Exploring TCP ports 220
Sequencing bytes 222 Summary 237
Acknowledging data 225 Questions238
Following the flags 228
Further reading 239

10
Managing TCP Connections
Dissecting the Permitting SACK 257
three-way handshake 242 Using timestamps 259
Isolating a single stream 243
Understanding TCP
Identifying the handshake packets 248
protocol preferences 260
Learning TCP options 252 Modifying TCP preferences 262
Grasping the EOL option 254
Tearing down a connection 264
Using NOP 254
Defining the MSS 255
Summary266
Scaling the WS 256 Questions266
Further reading 268
xii Table of Contents

11
Analyzing IPv4 and IPv6
Reviewing the network layer 270 Editing protocol preferences 287
Understanding the purpose of IP 271 Reviewing IPv4 preferences 287
Adjusting preferences for IPv6 290
Outlining IPv4 272
Dissecting the IPv4 header 273 Discovering tunneling protocols291
Modifying options for IPv4 282 Summary292
Exploring IPv6 282 Questions293
Navigating the IPv6 header fields 283 Further reading 295

12
Discovering ICMP
Understanding the purpose of Providing information using ICMPv6 312
ICMP298
Evaluating type and code values315
Understanding the ICMP header 299
Reviewing ICMP type and code values 315
Investigating the data payload 302
Defining ICMPv6 type and code values 317
Dissecting ICMP and ICMPv6 305
Configuring firewall rules 318
Reviewing ICMP 305
Acting maliciously 318
Outlining ICMPv6 306
Allowing only necessary types 323
Sending ICMP messages 307
Summary324
Reporting errors on the network 308
Issuing query messages 311
Questions324
Further reading 326

Part 4 Deep Packet Analysis of

Common Protocols
13
Diving into DNS
Recognizing the Mapping an IP address 330
purpose of DNS  330 Types of DNS servers 333
 Table of Contents xiii

Transporting DNS 335 Evaluating queries and

responses 345
Comparing types
Caching a response 346
and classes of RRs 336
Calculating response times 347
Breaking down DNS types  336
Testing using nslookup 351
Examining the RR structure 337
Securing DNS 353
Reviewing the DNS packet 338 Summary 354
Examining the header  339
Questions 354
Dissecting the packet structure 343
Outlining the query section 344
Further reading 356

14
Examining DHCP
Recognizing the purpose of Understanding DHCP messages 375
DHCP  360 Comparing DHCP options 376
Configuring the client's IP address 361
Following a DHCP example  377
Using a DHCP relay agent 361
Releasing an IP address 377
Working with IPv6 addresses 363
Broadcasting a discover packet 379
Addressing security issues 365
Delivering an offer  380
Stepping through Requesting an IP address 382
the DORA process 366 Acknowledging the offer 383
Moving through DHCP states 366
Summary384
Obtaining an IP address 367
Leasing an IP address 370 Questions 385
Further reading 387
Dissecting a DHCP header 372
Examining DHCP field values 373

15
Decoding HTTP
Describing HTTP 390 Keeping track of the connection394
Dissecting a web page 390 Evaluating connection types  395
Understanding HTTP versions 393 Maintaining state with cookies  396
Recognizing HTTP methods 394
Comparing request and
response messages  398
xiv Table of Contents

Viewing an HTTP request 398 Responding to the client 407

Responding to the client 400 Ending the conversation 412

Following an HTTP stream 402 Summary  412

Beginning the conversation 405 Questions413
Requesting data  406 Further reading 414

16
Understanding ARP
Understanding the role and Reversing ARP 427
purpose of ARP 418 Evaluating InARP 428
Resolving MAC addresses 419 Issuing a gratuitous ARP 430
Investigating an ARP cache 421 Working on behalf of ARP 430
Replacing ARP with NDP in IPv6 423
Comparing ARP attacks and
Exploring ARP headers defense methods 432
and fields 423 Comparing ARP attacks and tools 432
Identifying a standard ARP Defending against ARP attacks 435
request/reply  423
Summary436
Breaking down the ARP header fields 425
Questions 437
Examining different types Further reading 438
of ARP 427

Part 5 Working with Packet Captures

17
Determining Network Latency Issues
Analyzing latency issues 442 Common transmission errors 450
Grasping latency, throughput, and
Discovering expert information 454
packet loss 442
Viewing the column headers 456
Learning the importance of time values446
Assessing the severity 457
Understanding coloring rules 447 Organizing the information 458
Exploring the
Summary461
Intelligent Scrollbar 449
Questions462
 Table of Contents xv

18
Subsetting, Saving, and Exporting Captures
Discovering ways Recognizing ways to
to subset traffic 466 export components 477
Dissecting by an IP address 467 Selecting specified packets 478
Narrowing down by conversations 470 Exporting various objects 480
Minimizing by port number 471
Breaking down by protocol 472
Identifying why and how
to add comments 482
Subsetting by stream 473
Providing file and packet comments 482
Understanding options Saving and viewing comments 484
to save a file 474
Using Save as 476
Summary 487
Questions 487

19
Discovering I/O and Stream Graphs
Discovering the Statistics menu 492 Comparing TCP stream graphs 506
Viewing general information 493 Using time sequence graphs  506
Assessing protocol effectiveness 494 Determining throughput  512
Graphing capture issues 497 Assessing Round Trip Time 514
Evaluating window scaling  515
Creating I/O graphs 499
Examining errors 500 Summary 517
Graphing duplicate ACKs 501 Questions 517
Modifying the settings 502
Exploring other options 504

20
Using CloudShark for Packet Analysis
Discovering CloudShark 522 Outlining the various
Modifying the preferences 523 filters and graphs 532
Uploading captures 525 Displaying data using filters 533
Working with capture files 526 Viewing data using graphs 534
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
eagerly expecting a visit from them when he wrote (about the end
of October probably) to Elpidius, bishop of Laodicea,648 in Syria, a
prelate venerable in years and eminent in piety, who had as a priest
accompanied Meletius to the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381,
and was his counterpart in the moderation and gentleness of his
disposition. Chrysostom wrote to thank him for his zeal in
endeavouring to retain the bishops, not only in his own region, but
in all parts of the world, in loyal fidelity to the exiled Patriarch.
Elpidius proved the sincerity of his own attachment to his friend by
suffering deposition from his see, and imprisonment for three years
in his own house. Alexander, the successor of the usurper Porphyry
in the see of Antioch, restored Elpidius to his see about a.d. 414—a
recognition of his merits which received the high approbation of
Pope Innocent.649
Thus by letters did the exile maintain his influence over all
varieties of people in distant and opposite quarters of the Empire.
Exhortation and reproof, consolation and encouragement, or the
mere expression of affectionate goodwill, are the main chords
struck, as circumstances require. But there is one tone which
pervades all alike—the unshakable Christian faith of the writer. His
deep belief that all suffering was sent for a remedial chastening
purpose, and that, if resignedly borne, it enhanced the glory of the
reward reserved for those who should suffer for righteousness’ sake;
that sin is the only real evil, that expatriation and persecution, and
even death, since they touch only the external and temporal, are to
be regarded as mere shadows, cobwebs, and dreams; that distance
and material obstacles cannot impede the wings of affection and
prayer, and that the cause of right and truth, although long
depressed, will eventually triumph—these are convictions firmly
rooted, which he never tires of repeating, and on the strength of
which he lived cheerful and contented.
The wide range of his influence, and the nobility of his Christian
resignation and fortitude, maintained during his exile, have elicited
the admiration of a historian not lavish of his compliments to
Christian saints. “Every tongue,” says Gibbon, “repeated the praises
of his genius and virtue; and the respectful attention of the Christian
world was fixed on a desert spot among the mountains of
Taurus.”650
 CHAPTER XXII.
CHRYSOSTOM’S SUFFERINGS FROM THE WINTER COLD—DEPREDATIONS OF
THE ISAURIANS—THE MISSION IN PHŒNICIA—LETTERS TO INNOCENT AND
THE ITALIAN BISHOPS—CHRYSOSTOM’S ENEMIES OBTAIN AN ORDER FOR
HIS REMOVAL TO PITYUS—HE DIES AT COMANA, A.D. 407—RECEPTION OF
HIS RELIQUES AT CONSTANTINOPLE, A.D. 438.
Thus the autumn of a.d. 404 wore away. The time of the exile was
occupied, not unpleasantly, by sending and receiving letters, and his
spirits were cheered by occasional visits from friends. The destitute
in the neighbourhood of Cucusus were relieved by his alms; the
mourners comforted by his affectionate sympathy; some persons
taken captive by the Isaurians obtained a release through his
intercession or ransom. But the winter, always severe in that
elevated region, set in this year with unusual rigour: all
communication with the outer world was cut off by the impassable
condition of the roads, and the cold told cruelly on the delicate
constitution of the poor exile. In a letter to Olympias, written just on
the return of spring a.d. 405, he draws a pitiable picture of his winter
sufferings. For days together he lay in bed; but, in spite of being
wrapped under a very pile of blankets, with a fire constantly burning
in his room, he could not keep out the cold. He suffered from
constant sleeplessness, headache, sickness and aversion from all
food; but, with the return of milder weather in spring, “he was
brought up again from the gates of death;” and he compares the
softness of the climate at that season to the amenity of the air of
Antioch. His spirits also were raised by the arrival of messengers
from Constantinople, bringing letters from Olympias and other
friends.651
But the blessings of restoration to health and warm weather
were counterbalanced by the misery of constant disturbance from
the Isaurian bandits, who commenced their marauding campaigns as
soon as the break-up of winter made the country practicable for
their operations. They swarmed over the whole neighbourhood, and
the roads which had been impassable from snow were now
impassable from robbers, who mingled much merciless bloodshed
with their plunder. When the full blaze also of summer heat came,
Chrysostom found it almost as injurious to his health as the
excessive cold; but he kept up his correspondence with his friends
with unabated assiduity.652
The mission in Phœnicia occupied a great deal of his attention
during this year. He had written, as already related, from Nice to
Constantius, the superintendent of the mission, exhorting him not to
allow the work to flag, owing to his own deposition and banishment,
but rather to carry it on with additional energy. The efforts of the
missionaries had begun to provoke a rather fierce opposition on the
part of the Pagans, and attempts were made to deprive them of the
bare necessaries of life. But Chrysostom’s confidence and zeal never
failed for a moment. The missionaries were to keep him informed of
their wants, for, through the liberality of his friends, he could supply
them with all that they required. He was ably seconded by Nicolaus,
a priest, who, though living at a distance, supplied the mission not
only with money but with men. Gerontius, a presbyter whom
Chrysostom had persuaded to abandon a solitary ascetic way of life
for missionary work, was anxious to visit Cucusus on his way to
Phœnicia; but Chrysostom begs him not to delay, as the work was
urgent and winter was approaching. He represents the greater
advantages of the active life Gerontius was now embracing. There
would be nothing to prevent him observing his fasts, vigils, and
other ascetic practices, as before, for the good of his own soul, and
at the same time, by his missionary labours, he would reap the
reward of those who save the souls of others.653
The Pagan resistance assumed more alarming proportions as
time went on. A letter written to the missionaries seems to imply, by
its tone of mingled warning and exhortation, that their courage was
beginning to fail. Chrysostom had recourse to his favourite
comparisons of the pilot and the physician, who exert twofold
energy as the violence of the storm and the disease increase.
Rufinus, a presbyter, seems to have been sent into Phœnicia as a
kind of special agent to restore peace, and is stimulated to his work
by an animated letter. “I hear that the rage of the Greeks in
Phœnicia has burst forth again, that several monks have been
wounded, and some even killed. Wherefore I urge you the more
earnestly to set out upon your journey with great speed, and take
up your position.”... “If you saw a house in a blaze you would not
retreat, but advance upon it as quickly as possible, so as to
anticipate the flames. When all is tranquillity it is within the compass
of almost any one to make converts, but when Satan is raging and
the devils are in arms, then, to make a gallant stand and rescue
those who are falling into the hands of the enemy, is the work of a
noble, vigilant spirit, a work which befits an alert and lofty mind like
yours, an apostolic achievement worthy of crowns innumerable and
rewards which defy description.” He entreats Rufinus to write to him
from every halting-place on his journey, and to keep him constantly
informed of all which might take place after his arrival. He would
send, if necessary, ten thousand times to Constantinople, in order to
provide Rufinus with all things necessary to facilitate his journey and
procure his ultimate success. The letter closes with a passage which
remarkably illustrates the importance attached to reliques. “With
regard to the reliques of the holy martyrs, feel no anxiety, for I
immediately despatched the most religious presbyter, my Lord
Terentius, to my Lord Oneius, the most religious Bishop of Arabissus,
who possesses many reliques indisputably genuine, which in a few
days we will forward to you into Phœnicia.”... “Use diligence to get
the churches which are yet unroofed completed before the
winter.”654
There is no further record of the future progress or ultimate issue
of this mission, in which the heart of the exile was so deeply
wrapped up. Theodoret (v. 29) merely says that through the energy
of Chrysostom the extirpation of idolatry in Phœnicia, and the
destruction of Pagan temples, were successfully carried on. But
there are instances of the existence of Paganism mentioned in the
middle of the fifth century;655 and it is only too certain that, under
the feeble and degenerate successors of Chrysostom, the work
would not receive any powerful impulse. Partly from the absence of
a great central organising force like the Papacy, partly from the
irregular and unpractical temperament of the Eastern nature,
missionary enterprises have not proceeded in great number from the
Eastern Church. The preaching of Ulphilas to the Goths, the missions
organised by Chrysostom among the Goths and in Phœnicia, and the
missionary labours of the Nestorians in Asia, are but the rare
exceptions which prove the rule.
The misery and desolation caused in the neighbourhood of
Cucusus by the Isaurians seem to have culminated in the winter of
a.d. 405-406 and the ensuing spring. The inhabitants of the villages
fled from their homes at the approach of these formidable robbers,
and sought a precarious refuge in woods and caves. Many perished
from cold in these wild retreats, and many more at the hands of the
ruffian robbers, who showed no mercy even to the aged, the women
and children. Chrysostom himself was, like others, frequently moving
from place to place, now in this village, now in that, sometimes in
the woods or secluded places. The only spot in which the poor
harassed people seem to have found tolerable security was in the
strong fortress of Arabissus, a neighbouring town. Yet even here
they ran considerable risks. A body of 300 Isaurians attacked and
very nearly captured it in the middle of the night; and the discomfort
was extreme at all times, for the castle was crowded like a prison;
the difficulty of obtaining food was often very great, and the
difficulty of corresponding with friends still greater. Privation, anxiety,
and frequent hurried movements in cold weather brought severe
illness on Chrysostom again. Physicians attended him with great
kindness, but the impossibility of procuring comforts and wholesome
food rendered their services almost nugatory. His greatest grief,
however, seems to have been the difficulty of maintaining regular
correspondence with friends. The bearer of a letter from Olympias
actually fell into the hands of the robbers, but was released; in
consequence of which Chrysostom entreats her not to send any
more special messengers, but only to avail herself of such persons
as were obliged by business to pass through his place of exile. He
would not add to his present sufferings the distress of knowing that
any life had been lost on his account.656
To the year a.d. 406 belong those letters of affectionate gratitude,
written to the bishops of the West, for their zeal in supporting his
cause, especially those who had undertaken a long and perilous
voyage to Constantinople to intercede in his behalf. These letters
were sent by the hands of Evethius, the presbyter, who had for some
time been his companion in exile. One letter may be quoted as an
example: “I had already been amazed at your zeal, on behalf of the
reformation of the Church, displayed for a long time; but most of all
am I now astonished at your great earnestness, in having
undertaken so long a journey by sea, full of labour and toil, on
behalf of the interests of the Church. I have longed continually to
write to you, and offer you the salutation due to your piety; but
since that is not possible, living as I now am in a region almost
inaccessible, I take advantage of a most honourable and reverend
presbyter to send you greeting, and to beseech you to persevere to
the end in harmony with such a noble beginning. For ye know how
great will be the reward of your patience, how vast the return from a
benevolent God to those who labour for the common peace, and
undergo so great a conflict.”657
To Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, he writes thus: “The loud-
voiced trumpet of your warm and genuine affection has sounded
forth even as far as to me, a clear and far-reaching blast indeed,
extending to the very extremities of the world. Distant as we are, we
know, not less than those present with thee, thy exceeding and
burning love; wherefore we long extremely to enjoy a meeting with
thee face to face. But, since the wilderness in which we are
imprisoned precludes this, we fulfil our desire, as well as we can, by
writing to you through our most honourable and reverend presbyter,
expressing our great gratitude for the zeal which you have for so
long a time displayed in our behalf; and we beg you, when he
returns, or by the hands of chance messengers who may visit this
desolate spot, to send tidings of your health, for you know how
much pleasure it will afford us to hear frequently of the welfare of
those who are so warmly disposed towards us.”658
The letter written by Chrysostom in a.d. 406 to Innocent is full of
grateful acknowledgments for all the efforts which he had made, and
was still making, on his behalf. “Though separated by so vast a
length of journey, yet are we near your Holiness, beholding with the
eye of the soul your courage, your genuine, inflexible firmness, and
we derive constant and abiding consolation from you. For the higher
the waves are lifted up, the more numerous the rocks and reefs, the
more does your untiring vigilance increase.... This is now the third
year of my exile, spent in the midst of famine, pestilence, continual
sieges, an indescribable wilderness, and the pillage of the Isaurians.
In the midst of these distresses and dangers, your constant and firm
affection is no ordinary solace to me.”659
There is a letter also addressed to Aurelius,660 bishop of
Carthage, thanking him for bold and persevering intercession in his
behalf. The Church of Africa appears to have adhered to what was at
first the resolution of the Roman Church, to maintain communion
with both Chrysostom and Theophilus. St. Augustine has bestowed a
high eulogium on Chrysostom,661 and an African council, in a.d. 407,
passed a resolution to address a letter to Innocent, praying that the
intercourse between the Churches of Rome and Alexandria might be
resumed.
The health of the exile appears to have suffered less than usual,
in the winter of a.d. 406-7, from the effects of the cold. By carefully
remaining in the house, and for the most part in bed, wrapped up in
blankets in an apartment where a fire was kept constantly burning,
and by use of a medicine sent him by a lady, his attacks of headache
and of sickness were averted or alleviated. He had become inured to
the want of exercise, the deprivation of the bath, and the smokiness
of the room; and even the natives were astonished at the firmness
with which so feeble and “spidery” (ἀραχνώδης) a frame endured
the severity of the climate. He began to feel a persuasion that God
would not have preserved him so miraculously through such various
perils, if it were not His purpose to restore him to his former
position, that he might accomplish some work for the Church.662
But the chief work which he was destined to accomplish was to
exhibit to the close of his life, now rapidly approaching, a noble
spectacle of Christian fortitude and patience, of one continuing to
the last to hope in God, to put his trust in God, and still to give Him
thanks. The malicious envy of his enemies was augmented by the
admiration and affection which pursued their victim from all parts of
Christendom, and the correspondence which was maintained with
him even in the mountain fortress which they had selected for his
prison. The only remedy was to remove him yet further, to a more
remote and still more inaccessible region. They worked upon the
Emperor and the Court, whose jealousy had been already excited by
the interference of the West; and, in the middle of June, a.d. 407, an
order was obtained by them for the removal of the exile to Pityus, on
the eastern coast of the Euxine, near the very frontier of the Empire,
in the most desolate country, inhabited by savage, barbarous people.
The two prætorian soldiers charged with conveying him thither were
instructed to push on the journey with the most inexorable haste,
and encouraged to hope for promotion should their prisoner die on
the road. One of the two had some sparks of humanity, and furtively
showed some little kindness to the sufferer; but the other followed
out the cruel directions given him with merciless fidelity. Chrysostom
had, some time ago, expressed his conviction that he could not
survive the fatigue of another long and laborious journey, yet for
three months his fragile frame endured the strain till he reached
Comana in Pontus. A former bishop of that place, Basiliscus, had
suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Maximinus, together with
Lucian of Antioch. Chrysostom was lodged in the precincts of the
church erected in honour of Basiliscus, above five miles outside the
town. Here, so runs the story, the martyred bishop appeared to him
in the night, stood beside him, and said, “Be of good cheer, for by
to-morrow we shall be together.” A similar vision was vouchsafed to
one of the presbyters of the church. He was bidden “to prepare a
place for our brother John.” In the morning, Chrysostom entreated
his guards to allow him to stay where he was till eleven o’clock; but
they were inflexible, and the weary march was resumed. When,
however, they had proceeded about thirty stadia, he became so ill
that they were compelled to return to the martyry. Here he asked for
white garments, and having been clothed in them, he distributed his
own raiment among the clergy who were present. The Eucharist was
administered to him, he spoke a few farewell words to the
ecclesiastics who stood around him, and with the words “Glory be to
God for all things, Amen,” on his lips, the weary exile breathed his
last.
 “Rest comes at length; though life be long and dreary,
The day must dawn, and darksome night be past;
All journeys end in welcomes to the weary,
And heaven, the heart’s true home, will come at last.”
The promise of Basiliscus was literally fulfilled—he was buried in
the same grave with the martyr, in the presence of a large concourse
of monks and nuns.663
The enemies of Chrysostom thus succeeded in wreaking their
vengeance to the full upon the person of their victim—“Non missura
cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo;” but they were powerless to
obliterate his memory. A sense of the cruelty and injustice with
which he had been treated grew throughout Christendom, and he
was more honoured and admired after his death than he had been
during his life. His followers in Constantinople, under the appellation
of Johnites, persisted in refusing to hold any communion with
Atticus; and in the course of ten years, Atticus himself was
constrained, by the solicitations of the Court and people, by the
example of other prelates, especially Alexander of Antioch, and by a
natural desire to maintain communion with the Western Church, to
admit the name of Chrysostom into the diptychs of the Church of
Constantinople. Cyril, the nephew and successor of Theophilus, who
inherited in too many points his uncle’s spirit as well as his see,
yielded a more tardy and reluctant consent to the recognition of his
uncle’s foe.664
But a still higher honour was yet to be paid to his memory by the
Church from which he had been so violently expelled. In a.d. 434,
Proclus, formerly a disciple of Chrysostom, was elevated to the see
of Constantinople. He conceived that the only effectual means of
doing justice to the injured saint, and reconciling the Johnites to the
Church, would be to transport his remains to the city. The consent of
the Emperor Theodosius II. was obtained. On January 27,665 a.d.
438, the reliques of the banished Archbishop were brought to the
shores of the Bosporus. As once before in his lifetime, to greet him
on his return from exile, so now, and in still greater numbers, the
people, bearing torches, crowded the waters of the strait with their
boats to welcome the return of all which remained of their beloved
and much-wronged spiritual father. The young Emperor, stooping
down, laid his face on the reliquary, and implored forgiveness of the
injuries which his parents had inflicted on the saint whose ashes it
contained. That reliquary was then deposited near the altar of the
Church of the Apostles.666 It is the sad story, so often repeated in
history, of goodness and greatness, unrecognised, slighted, injured,
cut short in a career of usefulness by one generation, abundantly,
but too late, acknowledged in the next; when posterity, paying to
the memory and the tomb the honours which should have been
bestowed on the living man, can only utter the remorseful prayer—
“His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani
Munere....”
 CHAPTER XXIII.
SURVEY OF CHRYSOSTOM’S THEOLOGICAL TEACHING—PRACTICAL TONE OF HIS
WORKS—REASON OF THIS—DOCTRINE OF MAN’S NATURE—ORIGINAL SIN—
GRACE—FREE-WILL—HOW FAR CHRYSOSTOM PELAGIAN—LANGUAGE ON
THE TRINITY—ATONEMENT—JUSTIFICATION—THE TWO SACRAMENTS—NO
TRACE OF CONFESSION, PURGATORY, OR MARIOLATRY—RELATIONS
TOWARDS THE POPE—LITURGY OF CHRYSOSTOM—HIS CHARACTER AS A
COMMENTATOR—VIEWS ON INSPIRATION—HIS PREACHING—PERSONAL
APPEARANCE—REFERENCES TO GREEK CLASSICAL AUTHORS—COMPARISON
WITH ST. AUGUSTINE.
The main characteristics of Chrysostom as a theologian and
interpreter of Scripture, as well as a pastor and preacher, have, it is
hoped, been already indicated in the course of the preceding
narrative; but it may be desirable to supplement, by a fuller and
more methodical survey, notices which were necessarily sometimes
brief and incidental in the biographical chapters.667
Some evidence, therefore, of his theological teaching and
method of interpretation will first of all be collected from his
writings, and arranged under different heads. Two difficulties in the
way of executing this task faithfully should be borne in mind: first,
the voluminous bulk of Chrysostom’s works (as Suidas observed,
that it belonged to God rather than man to know them all), which
renders a successful search for the selection of what are really the
most telling passages in illustration of each point far from easy;
secondly, that Chrysostom, being a preacher rather than a writer,
was of course liable to slip into inexact or exaggerated language,
under the influence of excitement, or a desire to make an impression
on the feelings of his hearers. An attentive perusal, however, of his
writings leads the reader to the conclusion that he was very seldom
carried away by the impulse of the moment into merely vague or
rhetorical expressions, and that he was especially preserved from
this failing by his habit of combining the expository with the practical
and hortatory line of preaching. His discourses are careful
commentaries as well as practical addresses. Week after week it was
his custom to go through some book of Holy Scripture, verse by
verse, clause by clause, almost word by word; endeavouring with all
diligence and patience to ascertain the exact meaning of the
passage before him, to place it clearly before his audience, and to
base his practical exhortation upon it.
The remark has been so often repeated, as to have become
almost a truism, that the theology of the East is distinguished from
the theology of the West by its more speculative, metaphysical
character. It deals more especially with the most profound and
abstract mysteries—the being and nature of the Godhead, of angels,
of the whole spiritual realm. It might, therefore, occasion some
surprise to find the homilies of Chrysostom marked by such an
eminently practical tone. But the apparent contradiction is easily
explained. It is precisely because Greek philosophy and theology
were chiefly concerned with the most abstract questions, that the
Greek preacher, speaking on matters not abstract, but practical,
relating to moral conduct, is especially free in his language from
philosophical or technical terms. On the other hand, in the Western
Church exactly the reverse occurs. The best intellectual powers of
the Roman having been mainly exercised on jurisprudence, the mind
of Roman theologians naturally turned most powerfully towards
practical questions which had most affinity to that science with
which they were chiefly conversant—such as the relation of man to
God, the nature of sin, the means of discharging the debt owed by
man, the problem of the free-will of man, and providence of God.
Western theology is coloured by the language of Roman law, as
Eastern theology is coloured by the language of Greek philosophy.
“Merit,” “satisfaction,” “decrees,” “forensic justification,” “imputed
righteousness,” are terms which do not occur in the writings of the
Greek theologian, because they are the expressions of ideas in which
he felt no interest. They are the offspring of the Roman mind, in
which legal ideas were dominant. Hence the Western theologian is
most technical and scientific in the region of practical questions; the
Greek, on the other hand, is more entirely free from the influence of
philosophy in that region than in any other.
In accordance with this distinction, we find that Chrysostom, in
treating of those practical questions with which, as a preacher and
pastor, he was mainly concerned—the nature and the work of Jesus
Christ, providence, grace, the nature of man, sin, faith, repentance,
good works, and the like—casts his thoughts into the most free,
natural, untechnical, and therefore forcible language possible.
To consider first of all his exposition of man’s nature. The
majority of the Oriental fathers made a triple division, into body,
soul, and spirit—the soul (ψυχή) being equivalent to the animal life,
the spirit (πνεῦμα or ψυχὴ λογική) to the reason. Chrysostom makes
a twofold division only, into body and soul, and reserves the word
“spirit” to designate the Holy Spirit.668 Man, when first created,
came like a pure golden statue fresh out of the artist’s hands,
destined, if he had not fallen, to enjoy a yet higher and nobler
dignity than he then possessed.669 His being made “in the image of
God” Chrysostom interprets to signify that dominance over the lower
animals which God Himself exercises over the whole creation, and
the peculiar superiority of man’s nature to theirs consists in his
reasoning power, as well as in his endowment with the gift of
immortality.670 Man fell through his own weakness and indolent
negligence (ῥᾳθυμία), and then became deprived of that immortality
and divine wisdom with which he had been previously gifted; but his
nature was not essentially changed, it was only weakened.671 Evil is
not an integral part of man; it is not an inherent substantial force
(δύναμις ἐνυπόστατος):672 it is the moral purpose (προαίρεσις)
which is perverted when men sin. If evil was a part of our nature, it
would be no more reprehensible than natural appetites and
affections. If man’s will was not unfettered, there would be no merit
in goodness and no blame in evil. There is no constraint either to
holiness or to sin; neither does God compel to the one, nor do the
fleshly appetites compel to the other.673 The body was not, as the
Manichæans erroneously maintained, the seat of sin; it was the
creation of God equally with the soul; the whole burden, therefore,
of responsibility in sin must be thrown on the “moral purpose.” Here
was the root of all evil; the conception of necessity and immutability
is bound up with the idea of nature. We do not try to alter that
which is by nature (φύσει): sin therefore is not by nature, because
by means of education, laws, and punishments we do seek to alter
that.674 Sin is through the moral purpose which is susceptible of
change, and till the moral purpose has come into activity sin cannot
properly be said to exist: infants, therefore, and very young children,
are free from sin.675 Our first parents fell through moral negligence
(ῥᾳθυμία); and this is the principal cause of sin now. They marked
out a path which has been trodden ever since; they yielded to
appetite, and the force of the will has been weakened thereby in all
their posterity, who have become subject to the punishment of
death; so that though sin is not a part of man’s nature, yet his
nature is readily inclined to evil (ὀξυῤῥεπὴς πρὸς κακίαν): but this
tendency will be controlled by the moral purpose if that is in a
healthy condition.676
Chrysostom would thus readily allow the expressions “hereditary
tendency to sin,” “hereditary liability to the punishment of death,”
but he shrinks from the expression “hereditary sin.” His anxiety to
insist on the complete freedom of the human will was very natural in
the earnest Christian preacher of holiness, who lived in an age when
men were frequently encountered who, in the midst of wickedness,
complained that they were abandoned to the dominion of devils or
to the irresistible course of fate. They transferred all guilt from
themselves to the powers of evil, all responsibility to the Creator
Himself, who had withdrawn from them, as they maintained, the
protection of His good providence. To counteract the disastrous
effects of such philosophy, which surrendered the will to the current
of the passions, like an unballasted ship cast adrift before the storm,
it was indeed necessary to maintain very resolutely and boldly the
essential freedom of the will, to insist on man’s moral responsibility,
and the duty of vigilant, strenuous exertion. Chrysostom frequently
exposes the absurdity as well as the moral evil of a doctrine of
necessity. If human actions are necessary and preordained results of
circumstances, then teaching and government become mere pieces
of acting, destitute of any practical influence; they are also unjust,
since you have no right to punish a person who has acted under
compulsion. Such a theory ought, also, logically to paralyse human
industry. If a plentiful harvest is predetermined by the decrees of
fate, you may spare yourself the trouble of ploughing, sowing, and
other laborious operations; or, if Clotho has turned her distaff in the
other direction, all your exertions will fail to produce an abundant
crop. Such a doctrine is repugnant to our natural sense, and
contradicts our own consciousness and inward experience. We feel
that we are free, and all human action proceeds on the principle of
supposing man to be free. We teach and we punish. The plea of
necessity would be rejected in a court of law as an impudent and
futile excuse for crime. Such a theory is utterly at variance also with
God’s mode of addressing man, which always implies freedom of
volition; as, for instance, “If ye will hearken unto me, ye shall eat
the fat of the land; but if ye will not hearken, the sword shall devour
you.”677
Profoundly convinced, therefore, of a universal tendency to sin
on the one hand, but of an essential freedom of the will on the
other, Chrysostom sounds alternately the note of warning and of
encouragement—warning against that weakness, indolence, languor
of the moral purpose which occasions a fall; encouragement to the
full use of those powers with which all men are gifted, and to avoid
that despondency which will prevent a man from rising again when
he has fallen. St. Paul repented, and, not despairing, became equal
to angels; Judas repenting, but despairing, was hurried into self-
inflicted death. Despair was the devil’s most powerful instrument for
working the destruction of man.678 Chrysostom therefore earnestly
combated any view of Christian life which daunted and discouraged
man’s efforts, by winding them too high, or placing before them an
unattainable standard. Men sometimes said we cannot be like St.
Peter and St. Paul, because we are not gifted with their miraculous
power. But, he replies, you may emulate their Christian graces: these
are within the reach of all, and these are, by our Lord’s own
declaration, the most important. “By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another;” the moral works of
the Apostles, works of love, mercy, and faith, were far more
instrumental in the conversion of the world than their merely
miraculous powers.679
Urgently, however, as Chrysostom, in his desire to stimulate
exertion and strengthen the moral life, insists on the absolute
freedom of the will, he maintains no less clearly the insufficiency of
man’s nature to accomplish good without the Divine assistance. No
one has described in more forcible language the powerful hold of sin
upon human nature. Sin is like a terrible pit, containing fierce
monsters, and full of darkness.680 It is more terrible than a
demon,681 it is a great demon;682 it is like fire; when once it has got
a hold on the thoughts of the heart, if it is not quenched it spreads
further and further, and becomes increasingly difficult to subdue;683
it is a heavy burden, more oppressive than lead.684 Christ saw us
lying cast away upon the ground, perishing under the tyranny of sin,
and He took compassion on us.685 In the infant weakness and
liability to sin are inherent, though not sin itself. The moral nature of
the infant is like a plant, which will grow healthily by a process of
natural development, unless exposed to injurious influences; but it
requires the protection of grace, “therefore we baptize infants to
impart holiness and goodness, as well as to establish a relationship
with God.” This passage is quoted by St. Augustine in his earnest
vindication of Chrysostom from Pelagianism.686 But the passages on
which Augustine mainly depends to prove Chrysostom’s adherence
to the tenet of original sin are in his exposition of Romans v. 12-14:
—“Death reigned from Adam to Moses. How reigned? In likeness of
the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of One to come. How a
figure? Because, as he became a cause of death to those who were
born from him, although they had not eaten of the tree, even so
Christ has become to His posterity the procurer of righteousness,
though they have not done righteousness, which He has bestowed
upon us all through His cross.” Augustine quotes also his observation
on Christ’s tears over the grave of Lazarus:—“He wept to think that
men, who were capable of immortality, had been made mortal by
the devil;” and his remarks on Genesis i. 28, about the subjection of
the lower animals to man: “that man’s present dread of wild beasts
was entirely owing to the Fall, and had not existed previous to that:
it was inherited by all Adam’s posterity, because they inherited his
degradation through the Fall.” All these passages, however, do not
amount to more than the doctrine of a universally inherited tendency
to sin, and therefore liability to its punishment, death. In his
interpretation of the passage, “the free gift is of many offences unto
justification,” this last word is plainly taken by him in the sense of
making man righteous, not accounting him as such.687
His conception of the relation between the will and power of God
on the one hand, and man’s freedom on the other, appears to be
this:—All men, without exception, are through Christ called to
salvation; predestination means no more than God’s original design,
conceived prior to the Fall, of bringing all men to salvation. So, after
the Fall, His redemptive plan or purpose embraces all men; but, on
the other hand, it constrains no one. According to His absolute will
all men are to be saved; but the accomplishment of His purpose is
limited by the freedom of choice which He has Himself bestowed on
man, whereby man may either accept the proffered favour and be
eternally blessed, or reject it and be eternally condemned. God’s
election of those who are called is not compulsory, but
persuasive;688 hence, many of those who have been called perish
through their rejection of grace: they, and not God, are the authors
of their own condemnation. God knows beforehand what each man
will be, good or bad; but He does not constrain him to be one or the
other.689 The illustration of the potter in Romans ix. 20 must not be
pressed too closely; St. Paul’s object simply is to enforce the duty of
unconditional obedience. A vessel of wrath is one who obdurately
resists God’s grace; he was never intended by God to be a vessel of
wrath. “The vessels of mercy are said to have been prepared afore
by God unto glory,” but the vessels of wrath to be fitted (not by God
—He is not mentioned—but by sin) unto destruction.690 So again, he
acutely observes that, in the account of the final judgment (St. Matt.
xxv.), the destiny of the good only is referred to God. “Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you;” but,
“Depart, ye cursed” (not “of my Father”), “into everlasting fire,
prepared” (not for you, but) “for the devil and his angels.”
On St. John vi. 44, he remarks, it is perfectly true that only they
who are drawn and taught by the Father can come to Christ; but
away with the paltry pretence that those who are not thus drawn
and taught are emancipated from blame; for this very thing, the
being led and instructed, depends on their own moral choice. Two
factors, therefore, Divine grace which presents, and human will
which appropriates, are co-efficients in the work of man’s salvation;
God’s love and man’s faith must work hand in hand. God provides
opportunities, encourages by promises, arouses by calls; and the
moment these are responded to, the moment man begins to will and
to do what is right, he is abundantly assisted by grace. But
Chrysostom recognises nothing approaching the doctrine of final
perseverance. St. Paul might have relapsed, Judas might have been
saved (De Laud. Ap. Pauli, Hom. ii. 4). In his commentary on Phil. ii.
12-13, “It is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of his
good pleasure,” the spontaneity of man’s will is carefully maintained.
It may be said, if God works the will in us, why does the apostle
exhort us to work? for if God wrought the wish, it is vain to speak of
obedience; the whole work is God’s from the beginning. No!
Chrysostom says, what St. Paul means is, that if your will works, God
will augment your will, and quicken it into activity and zeal. Hast
thou given alms? you are the more prompted to give; hast thou
abstained from giving? negligence will increase upon you. The
histories of Abraham, Job, Elijah, St. Paul, and other saints, are
frequently cited to prove his central principle, that God in the moral
and spiritual sense helps those only who help themselves. “When
He, who knows the secrets of our hearts, sees us eagerly prepare
for the contest of virtue, He instantly supplies us with His assistance,
lightening our labours, and strengthening the weakness of our
nature. In the Olympian contests the trainer stands by as a spectator
merely, awaiting the issue, and unable to contribute anything to the
efforts of the contender; whereas our Master accompanies us,
extends His hand to us, all but subdues our antagonist, arranges
everything to enable us to prevail, that He may place the
amaranthine wreath upon our brows.”691 God does not anticipate
(φθάνει) man’s own volitions (βουλήσεις), but when these are once
bent in the right direction, God’s grace powerfully promotes them;
and without this divine co-operation holiness is unattainable.692 But
as, according to Chrysostom’s conceptions, the first movement
towards good moral practice comes from the man himself, he often
speaks of a man’s salvation depending on his own moral choice. He
is not, therefore, in harmony with the mind of our Church as
expressed in the Article, that “we have no power to do good works,
pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God preventing
us, that we may have a good will;” but his language thoroughly
concurs with the subsequent clause, “and working with us when we
have that good will.” In the technical language of theology, he
recognises assisting, but not prevenient, grace.
It has been well remarked by Mr. Alexander Knox (“Remains,” vol.
iii. 79), that “the advocates for efficient grace have been too
generally antiperfectionists, and the perfectionists, on the other
hand, too little aware that we are not sufficient so much as to think
anything as of ourselves, but that it is God which worketh in us both
to will and to do of His good pleasure.” The perfect conception of the
true Christian standard of character could only be found, he thought,
in a union of the systems of St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine. It
must not be imagined, however, that Chrysostom regarded Divine
grace as merely accessory or subsidiary to man’s own will and
purpose. He fails not to represent it as indispensable to every human
soul, however powerfully inclined of itself to good. The human will,
weakened and depraved by evil, is not for a moment to rank as co-
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