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. 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. 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. 393 · score 0.02
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. 383 · score 0.02
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. 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. 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 …
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.01
Lastly, I said that if he did this, he should either not come to the church, or if he came, he would either find no priest there or find one standing against him. Nor could the excuse be offered that he was a catechumen [a person preparing for baptism], since catechumens are not allowed to contribute to idol worship. 3 …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed prince and most Christian Emperor Valentinian. All 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 path to salvation unless everyone worships in truth the true God — the God of the Chri …
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Valentinian. Although the success of my first embassy was sufficiently proven to you — I was detained in Gaul for days precisely because I refused to cooperate with Maximus [the general who had seized Gaul and murdered Emperor Gratian in 383] — I owe you an account of my second, lest any …
ambrose_milan · c. 397 · score 0.01
[Note: This letter is a duplicate of Ambrose's letter to Eugenius (Letter 57). See the translation of that letter above. The database contains two entries for the same text.] Ambrose, Bishop, to the most merciful Emperor Eugenius. The reason I withdrew from Milan was the fear of God. I direct all my actions, as far as …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
Yet I would rather have died than not wait two or three days for your arrival. But it was not possible for me to do so. 6. What was done in the city of Thessalonica [the massacre of approximately 7,000 people in the hippodrome in retaliation for the murder of the Gothic military commander Butheric] has no parallel in r …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
I dare not offer the sacrifice [the Eucharist] if you intend to be present. Is what is not permitted after shedding the blood of one innocent person, permitted after shedding the blood of many? I do not think so. 14. Finally, I am writing with my own hand what only you may read. As I hope that the Lord will deliver me …
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. 382 · score 0.01
Are you, Valentinian, to restore what your father condemned and your brother abolished? Do not think this is a private concern. It is a matter of faith. If you grant what they ask, you will be making offerings to idols with public money — offerings that our consciences cannot accept. I say this plainly: if such a decre …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
Addressed to the Emperor Theodosius [Theodosius I, 379-395] after the massacre at Thessalonica [in 390 AD, Theodosius ordered a retaliatory massacre in the city's hippodrome after a popular riot killed his military commander; approximately 7,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered]. Ambrose states his reasons for …
ambrose_milan · c. 382 · score 0.01
Taking my text from Psalm 19 — "The heavens declare the glory of God" — I explained that the "heavens" are the martyrs and apostles, and "the day" is their confession. These men were humbled by God and then raised up. Their blood, shed centuries ago, still speaks. The earth that held them could not contain their testim …
ambrose_milan · c. 389 · score 0.01
Either way, the church loses. Is that your intention? I am not saying that the synagogue should have been burned. I am saying that the remedy you have chosen is worse than the offense. Punish the rioters, if you must — but do not compel a bishop to rebuild with his own money a place where Christ is blasphemed. That is …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful of Milan. "Naboth had a vineyard beside the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria" (1 Kings 21:1). That sentence is the beginning of one of the most instructive stories in Scripture — instructive because the story never stops happening. Ahab wanted what was not his. He offered to buy it. Nabo …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to the faithful. "The earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it" (Psalm 24:1). Not to you. Not to any landlord. To God. And God created it for all, not for some. When the rich man hoards grain while the poor starve, he is not exercising his property rights — he is committing theft. Yes, theft. For what yo …