Abstract
Metaphors, in particular those with spatial source domains, are a frequent feature of the oratory of the Greek Church Father John Chrysostom (c. 349–407). Given that he was an accomplished religious orator with an eye for imagistic language, this article explores how spatial metaphors contribute to Chrysostom’s achieving his persuasive goals. Adopting the approach of cognitive metaphor theory, it examines the treatise To Theodore with a focus on the epistemic and paraenetic functions fulfilled by conceptual metaphors. What is peculiar to Chrysostom’s metaphor use is that he involves his audience in metaphorical scenarios created by his visual rhetoric, in order to make his readers reappraise their attitudes and behaviour and, at once, elicit from them a specific response to the present situation.