Resultados25 letters/passages
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.02
I replied that I had never deceived anyone: the fact that I had not cooperated with his plans was exactly the point. I had been sent by a legitimate emperor, and I had acted in that emperor's interest. Then he tried a different tactic. He claimed that Bauto, the Frankish general, had invited barbarians into the empire. …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.02
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed Emperor Valentinian. Since the illustrious Symmachus, Prefect of the City [Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, the leading pagan senator and orator of his generation], has sent a memorial to your Clemency requesting that the Altar of Victory [a golden altar and statue of the goddess Victory …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.02
I believed that gods of wood and metal could protect me. Experience has taught me otherwise. Hannibal came to my gates despite all the rites I performed. The Gauls seized the Capitol while the geese screamed and the priests chanted. My gods did not save me then. It was Roman courage that saved me — not Roman religion." …
ambrose_milan · c. 381 · score 0.02
To my sister, dearer to me than my eyes and life. Since you ask anxiously in every letter about the church here, let me tell you what is happening. The day after I received your letter — in which you said your dreams were troubling you — the pressure of heavy troubles began. This time it was not the Portian basilica ou …
ambrose_milan · c. 397 · score 0.02
For your victory is regarded as having been granted to you in the ancient manner, with the old miracles [referring to the legendary storm that turned against Eugenius' army at the Battle of the Frigidus in 394] — a victory like those granted to holy Moses, holy Joshua son of Nun, Samuel, and David — won not by human st …
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.02
Ambrose explains to the Emperor Eugenius [a Western usurper emperor, 392-394, a former rhetoric teacher elevated by the Frankish general Arbogast] why he was absent from Milan. He then reproaches him for his concessions to pagan worship. This, he says, was why he did not write sooner, and he promises to treat him with …
ambrose_milan · c. 396 · score 0.01
Ambrose explains his absence from Milan when the Emperor Theodosius [Theodosius I, 379-395] arrived after his victory over Eugenius [the Western usurper, defeated at the Battle of the Frigidus, 394]. After expressing thankfulness for the Emperor's success, he promises obedience and urges the Emperor to show mercy to th …
ambrose_milan · c. 386 · score 0.01
To my sister, dearer to me than eyes and life. Since you ask anxiously in every letter about the state of the church here, let me tell you what is happening. The day after I received your letter — in which you mentioned that your dreams were troubling you — a storm of heavy troubles began. This time it was not the Port …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to his most beloved sister Marcellina — greetings. You will have heard reports of what has happened here, and I want you to have the truth from me directly, not from rumor. The court demanded that I hand over the Portian Basilica [a church outside the walls of Milan] for the use of the Arians. I refused. They t …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
And David too, when he held the kingdom and heard that innocent Abner had been killed by Joab, his army commander, said: "I am guiltless, and my kingdom is guiltless from this day forward of the blood of Abner, son of Ner," and he fasted in grief. 11. I have written this not to humiliate you, but so that the examples o …
ambrose_milan · c. 377 · score 0.01
To the most merciful Emperors, the Christian and most glorious princes Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius — from the Council assembled at Aquileia. Most merciful Emperors, your decrees have ensured that Arian faithlessness [the heresy denying the full divinity of Christ] can no longer hide or spread. The Council's ru …
ambrose_milan · c. 383 · score 0.01
I turned my temples red with the blood of animals, I bowed before dead stones, I honored gods who were demons. Now I have been taught better. I am ashamed of my past, not proud of it. I do not beg for my old errors to be restored. I beg you to leave them buried." If length of custom were an argument for truth, then the …
ambrose_milan · c. 379 · score 0.01
To the most blessed Emperor and most merciful prince Theodosius — Ambrose and the other bishops of Italy. We knew your holy mind was devoted to Almighty God in pure and sincere faith. But you have added fresh kindnesses: you have restored Catholics to their churches, most august Emperor. If only you had restored the Ca …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to Eugenius. You have written to me requesting that I meet with you. I must decline, and I owe you an explanation for the refusal. I do not question that you hold power in the West. Power is a fact, and I am not so naive as to pretend that facts do not exist. But the manner in which you acquired that p …
ambrose_milan · c. 378 · score 0.01
To the most merciful, Christian, and glorious princes Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius — from the Council assembled at Aquileia. However abundantly we might give thanks, most merciful Emperors, we could never match the scale of your generosity to the faith. After so many years of persecution inflicted on Catholics …
ambrose_milan · c. 381 · score 0.01
To the most blessed Emperor and most merciful prince Theodosius — Ambrose and the other bishops of Italy. The report of your faith, spread throughout the whole world, has stirred deep affection in our hearts. Because we desired this glory too for your reign — that you might be seen to have restored unity to both the We …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
You have not feared God. You have not considered how others will judge you. The funds you have granted are used for sacrifices to demons. A Christian emperor — even one whose legitimacy rests on shaky ground — cannot afford to be seen financing the worship of false gods. Consider the example of the Hebrews. When they t …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.01
But Rome's greatness was built by her soldiers, not her priests. Regulus did not consult the augurs before marching to Carthage. Scipio did not sacrifice to Victory before destroying it. The battles that made Rome were won by Roman arms, not Roman altars. And the rites that Symmachus defends — the very rites he claims …
ambrose_milan · c. 381 · score 0.01
But when they arrived and found the people assembled in prayer, they joined the congregation. When word reached us that the soldiers had come over, the joy was tremendous. It was Easter, and the troops sent to enforce the emperor's will had defected to Christ. I preached. I compared our situation to Job's trials — espe …
ambrose_milan · c. 382 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed prince and most Christian Emperor Valentinian. All men who live under Roman rule serve you, the emperors and princes of the world. But you yourselves serve Almighty God and the holy faith. There is no other path to salvation: everyone must worship the true God — the God of the Chris …
ambrose_milan · c. 397 · score 0.01
Ambrose excuses himself for having missed an earlier opportunity to write to the Emperor, but is now sending a letter through a deacon. He requests forgiveness for some of Eugenius' followers [Eugenius was a Western usurper emperor, 392-394, defeated by Theodosius at the Battle of the Frigidus] who have sought the prot …
ambrose_milan · c. 386 · score 0.01
I pointed out that even Job's greatest trial came not from his enemies but from his own wife, who told him to curse God and die [Job 2:9]. Women, I said, are often the instrument through which the devil attacks — Eve in the garden, Jezebel against Elijah, Herodias against John the Baptist. And now the empress mother Ju …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful of Milan — on the death of the Emperor Valentinian. The Emperor Valentinian II is dead [found dead at Vienne in Gaul in May 392, officially by suicide; many suspected he was murdered by order of the Frankish general Arbogast]. He was twenty years old. Twenty years — and in that brief sp …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed prince and most gracious Emperor Valentinian. Since the illustrious Symmachus, Prefect of the City, has petitioned your Grace to restore the altar removed from the Roman Senate house, and since you, Emperor — young in years but a veteran in faith — rejected the prayer of the pagans, …
ambrose_milan · c. 383 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed prince and most merciful Emperor Valentinian. When the illustrious Symmachus, Prefect of the City, submitted his memorial to your Clemency requesting that the altar removed from the Roman Senate house be restored to its place, you, Emperor — though still young in years — proved your …