When John Chrysostom preached to his congregation, he addressed men and women, rich and poor, and also artisans and laborers. But the question of the social and economic backgrounds of those who listened to his sermons is more difficult to answer than this, for when Chrysostom referred to the “artisans,” “laborers,” and “the poor” in his audience, some of his terms are misleading, at least some of the time. Similarly, the presence of women in the congregation does not inevitably mean that the preacher spoke to them. A closer look at the sermons' language and its implications, as well as other contemporary sources, is necessary in order to gain a better understanding of who was in the preacher's audience.

Since the study of late antique sermons has grown rapidly in recent years, it is necessary to summarize and assess this scholarship before examining Chrysostom's congregation here. Scholars have interpreted the composition of the preacher's audience in Late Antiquity with vastly different results. In some cases, the listeners are pictured as social and cultural peers of their well-educated preachers; in other studies, the diverse congregation includes men and women from various social and economic backgrounds. Since quotations can be found in late antique sermons to support either view, assumptions about late antique society and the role of rhetorical speaking in this culture have guided scholars to privilege certain passages over others.