Resultados25 letters/passages
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
It seems an entirely honorable and necessary undertaking to petition a pious Emperor for the security of the Roman state, since it is fitting to seek from you what can benefit our liberty. For among all the blessings God has uniquely granted you, nothing is more glorious than the knowledge that you have the power to gi …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.02
… the faith precisely because the bishops were free to debate and decide without imperial interference. When later emperors — Constantius above all [the Arian-sympathizing son of Constantine, who used imperial power to impose Arian formulas on the Church] — tried to dictate the outcome of councils, the result was not pe …
leo_great · c. 447 · score 0.02
For this reason, we pray your clemency to oppose such disturbances with the Truth, and to order the Faith of the Catholic religion to be preserved without stain. We ask that, in accordance with the standard and decision of the Apostolic See — which we likewise revere as preeminent — Flavian may remain completely unharm …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
We give thanks to God, to whom the peace of kings is always welcome, that you have declared our accession most pleasing to your clemency. It is clear that you can love one whom you are glad to see reach the summit of kingship. This is how a man should be received who presumed to be elevated through your favor. Grant th …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.02
Ambrose to the Emperor Theodosius. You know, most merciful Emperor, that I spoke to you recently about the matter of Callinicum. I see that my letter has not yet produced its full effect, and so I must press the point further — not from obstinacy but from pastoral duty. When I stood before you at the altar and you were …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.02
Through the venerable priest Heracleanus, an imperial letter from Your Serenity has illuminated us, generously granting the favor of your words and fittingly offering the gift of your greeting — so that it is truly a great benefit to have merited so gracious a conversation with the Em …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
[1] It is fitting, most wise Emperor, that you should gladly grant us those things which, if we were negligent in seeking them, your own clemency would rightly urge us to request. For the harmony between our realms serves not merely our interests but the peace of the civilized world. When the powers that guard its west …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius. I write to you, most merciful Emperor, not as a subject to a ruler but as a priest to a son of the Church — for in the things of God, the emperor is within the Church, not above it. The matter of Callinicum has been reported to you, and your initial reaction was to order the …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to the Emperor Theodosius. I thank you, most merciful Emperor, for your willingness to reconsider the matter of Callinicum. The modification you have made shows your good will, but I must confess it does not go far enough. You have removed the requirement that the bishop personally rebuild the synagogue, but yo …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
I understand that your Serenity's favor is richer than any gift, since you urge me to do things that can only benefit my own soul. Such is always the wish of one who loves — that you want us to perform acts of mercy that commend us to divine power. Therefore I report to Your Glory that the convent of God's handmaids, w …
ambrose_milan · c. 389 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful prince and most blessed Emperor Theodosius. I am always burdened with cares, most blessed Emperor, but I have never been in such distress as now — because I see that I must guard against anything that could be charged to me as sacrilege. I beg you: hear me patiently. If I am unwort …
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful prince and most blessed Emperor Theodosius. I am constantly burdened with cares, most blessed Emperor, but I have never been in such distress as now. I see that I must take every precaution against anything that might be charged to me as approaching sacrilege. I beg you: hear me wi …
ambrose_milan · c. 396 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius. Although I have recently written to your Clemency twice already, I still feel that I have not done enough — given how deeply indebted I am for your many kindnesses, most blessed and august Emperor. Every opportunity to express my duty must be seized, not least because I would …
epistulae_austrasicae · c. 585 · score 0.01
To the most pious and mighty Emperor Maurice, from Brunhild, queen of the Franks, greetings in Christ, I address you in my own name, as the mother of King Childebert and as the guardian of his kingdom during the years when his age requires that those around him bear the weight of governance. I am aware that some may fi …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
Our desire is fulfilled whenever we have the opportunity to send a salutary letter to your piety, because the man who speaks with you in sincere spirit is always filled with joyful happiness. And so, greeting your clemency with fitting honor, I commend to you the bearer of this letter, who comes on business of the chur …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
My Senate grows in honors, increases ceaselessly in wealth. "Do not through discord scatter what you ought to defend through war. I have had many kings, but never one so learned. I have had wise men, but none so distinguished in both learning and devotion. I love this son of the Amal line [Witigis], nursed at my breast …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius — written in my own hand, for your eyes alone. I write this privately because the matter requires delicacy, and I have no desire to humiliate you in public. But I must be honest with you, and honesty in this case is painful. At Thessalonica, by your order, thousands were kille …
leo_great · c. 448 · score 0.01
Leo, Bishop of Rome, to the Emperor Theodosius, ever Augustus. I. He suspends judgment on the appointment of Anatolius until he has made an open confession of the Catholic faith In all your piously expressed letters, amid the anxieties we endure for the faith, you have given us hope of security by upholding the Council …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most clement Emperor Theodosius. I have learned that your Clemency has ordered the bishop of Callinicum to rebuild the synagogue destroyed by a Christian crowd, and to do so at his own expense. I speak plainly: this order must not stand. I do not defend mob violence — disorder is never lawful. B …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
If ancient emperors strove to devise laws so that their subjects might enjoy delightful peace, it is far nobler to decree measures that accord with sacred rules. Let the damaging profits of our age be banished. The only thing we can truly call gain is what divine judgment does not punish. Recently, a defender of the Ro …
cassiodorus · c. 522 · score 0.01
You will recall, wisest of Emperors, that both through our ambassadors and through the very eloquent Peter, whom Your Piety recently sent to us, we have shown how earnestly we desire harmony with your August Serenity. Now again, through the same most holy man, I thought it right to repeat these appeals — so that you ma …
symmachus · c. 372 · score 0.01
… aim for themselves the windfall gains [bona caduca -- property that fell to the imperial treasury when intended heirs were disqualified], and that the position of honest men will grow worse if the opportunity for fraud falls only to those restrained by neither law nor shame. Therefore, since the emperor's own position …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
… I write to you about a matter that has long concerned me: the speed with which imperial sentences are carried out. Your Clemency issues decrees in the heat of righteous anger — and the anger is often justified. But by the time the decree reaches the executioner, the anger has passed and the emperor would wish it undon …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
3. What, then, could I do? Should I not hear? But I could not close my ears with the wax of ancient fables. Should I speak what I heard? But I was forced to guard my words against the very thing I feared from your commands — that some act of bloodshed would be carried out. Should I keep silent? But then my conscience w …
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.01
Punish the rioters if justice demands it — but do not compel a Christian bishop to build a synagogue. That is not justice. That is a triumph of those who deny Christ over those who confess him. If you will not hear me as a counselor, hear me at least as an intercessor. I would rather owe you gratitude for mercy than be …