St. John Chrysostom: When I was driven from the city, I felt no anxiety, but said to myself...

When I was driven from the city, I felt no anxiety, but said to myself: if the empress wishes to banish me, let her do so; the earth is the Lord's. If she wants to have me sawn in sunder, I have Isaiah for an example. 

If she wants me to be drowned in the ocean, I think of Jonah. If I am to be thrown into the fire, the three men in the furnace suffered the same. If cast before wild beasts, I remember Daniel in the lion's den. If she wants me to be stoned, I have before me Stephen, the first martyr. If she demands my head, let her do so; John the Baptist shines before me. Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked shall I leave this world.

Paul reminds me, 'If I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ'.

St. John Chrysostom