Resultados25 letters/passages
ambrose_milan · c. 381 · score 0.02
Ambrose explains why he refused to appear at the imperial consistory when summoned. He argues that in matters of faith, only bishops can rightly judge, and that he was not being defiant but defending the rights of his order. He warns that Auxentius [an Arian bishop who claimed the see of …
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. 380 · score 0.02
Your brother Gratian removed them by formal rescript. Will you now undo what your father allowed to stand and your brother actively abolished? The petition claims to come from the Senate. But the Christian senators — who are the majority — did not consent to it. They did not sign it. They did not authorize it. A handfu …
ambrose_milan · c. 380 · score 0.02
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. 382 · score 0.02
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. 381 · score 0.01
Repeal your law, then, if you want a real debate. 17. I would have come, Emperor, to your consistory to make these points in your presence, if either the bishops or the people had allowed me. But they said that matters concerning the faith ought to be handled in the church, in the presence of the people. 18. And I wish …
ambrose_milan · c. 395 · score 0.01
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. 381 · score 0.01
Let them simply come to the church, if there are any who will come. Let them listen alongside the people — not for everyone to sit as judge, but so that each person may examine his own conscience and choose whom to follow. The matter concerns the bishop of this church. If the people hear him and think his arguments are …
ambrose_milan · c. 381 · score 0.01
3. Who, then, has responded to your Clemency defiantly? The one who desires you to be like your father, or the one who wishes you to be unlike him? — Unless perhaps the judgment of so great an Emperor seems of little account to some, whose faith was proven by the constancy of his profession, and whose wisdom was demons …
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. 389 · score 0.01
I reminded them of Julian the Apostate, who had tried the same thing in reverse and failed. When I came down from the pulpit, the emperor said to me: "You have been preaching about me." I replied: "I addressed what concerned your soul's welfare." He said the order about the synagogue was too harsh — he had already modi …
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. 381 · score 0.01
For I would not want your law to be placed above the law of God. The law of God has taught us what to follow; human laws cannot teach us this. They usually force a change in the fearful, but they cannot inspire faith. 11. When the order has been given throughout so many provinces at once that whoever acts against the E …
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 381 · score 0.01
14. This was the doctrine decreed at the Council of Ariminum [Rimini, 359 — a council that was manipulated into adopting an Arian creed], and rightly do I reject that council, following instead the rule of the Council of Nicaea [325 — the first ecumenical council, which defined the orthodox doctrine of Christ's full di …
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, …