Resultados25 letters/passages
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.02
… d you saw fit to grant to those very petitioners what they had asked. 7. Though imperial power is great, consider, Emperor, how great God is. He sees the hearts of all, He examines the innermost conscience, He knows all things before they happen — He knows the hidden depths of your heart. You do not allow yourselves to …
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.02
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. 395 · score 0.02
Since I am bound by my own words before both God and all people, I felt that nothing else was allowable or necessary for me but to act according to my conscience, since I could not fully trust you. I kept back and concealed my grief for a long time. I thought it wrong to confide it to anyone. Now I can no longer preten …
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.02
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. 385 · score 0.02
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 …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.02
To the most gracious Emperor and most blessed Augustus, Gratian — Ambrose, Bishop, sends greetings. Since your Clemency has asked me to write something on the faith — not because you doubt, but because you desire to know more fully — I have composed this work at your command. It would have been more fitting for others, …
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.01
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. 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. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to the faithful. The Emperor Gratian is dead, murdered by the treachery of men who owed him loyalty [Gratian was betrayed by his own troops, who defected to Magnus Maximus, a rival general proclaimed emperor in Britain]. He was twenty-four years old. I mourn him not only as a subject mourns his emperor but as a …
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 …
ambrose_milan · c. 381 · score 0.01
… to recognize the devil's favorite instrument. The basilica was surrendered. The imperial hangings were removed. The people sang hymns of relief and thanksgiving. But even then, a notary came to me with a warning: "Ambrose, you despise the emperor. I see that you wish for death." I answered: "God grant that I do not des …
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.01
… s are not allowed to contribute to idol worship. 3. My letters were read in the imperial council. Count Bauto [a Frankish general in Roman service], a man of the highest military rank, was present, as was Rumoridus — also of the same rank and devoted to pagan worship from his earliest youth. Valentinian at that time fo …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to the Emperor Theodosius. Your Clemency has done what I asked: you have shown mercy to the defeated supporters of Eugenius. For this, all Italy gives thanks — and more importantly, God gives thanks, for mercy is the virtue most like himself. I have heard that you spared even those who fought against you willin …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius. I explain my absence from Milan when your Clemency arrived after your great victory. I was not avoiding you — though I understand how it might appear. The truth is simpler: I was unwell, and the roads were difficult. But I also wished to write first what I might not say easil …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
For the one is a sign of humility, the other of contempt. For the Word of God Himself tells us that He prefers obedience to His commandments over the offering of sacrifice. God proclaims this, Moses declares it to the people, Paul preaches it to the Gentiles. Do what you understand to be most beneficial for the present …
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. 395 · score 0.01
For when in the city of Tyre the quinquennial games were being held and the extremely wicked king of Antioch [Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid persecutor of the Jews] had come to attend, Jason appointed agents to carry three hundred silver didrachms from Jerusalem and give them for the sacrifice to Hercules. But th …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
… hing is hidden that will not be made known" (Luke 8:17). So I complied with the imperial will as respectfully as I could, taking care that you would have no reason for displeasure when I arranged that nothing of the imperial decrees would be reported to me. When present, I would either fail to hear — because everyone e …
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. 388 · score 0.01
… is called the will of God. When Jews suffer, it is called an outrage requiring imperial intervention. Consider Julian the Apostate. He ordered the Jews to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. What happened? Fire burst from the foundations and consumed the workers. Even the elements refused to cooperate. Shall a Christia …
ambrose_milan · c. 388 · score 0.01
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. 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. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to his brother Chromatius — greetings in the Lord. My dear brother, your letter brought me great joy. It is no small comfort, amid the constant pressures of this see [Milan was the effective capital of the Western Empire and one of the busiest bishoprics in Christendom], to hear from a fellow bishop who shares …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose to the faithful. The Emperor Julian [Julian "the Apostate," 361-363, who attempted to reverse the Christianization of the empire] tried to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. He failed. Fires erupted from the foundations. Workers were killed. The project was abandoned. This was not an accident. It was a sign. God …