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. 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. 381 · score 0.02
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 0.02
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. 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. 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. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful — on the death of the Emperor Theodosius. Forty days have passed since the death of the Emperor Theodosius [following the biblical pattern of forty-day mourning periods], and it is time to speak what is in our hearts. We have lost the last great emperor. I say this knowing that his sons …
ambrose_milan · c. 393 · score 0.01
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 I am able, toward God; I never turn my mind away from him; and I am accustomed to value no man's favor more highly than the grace of Christ. I do no one an injustice when I pu …
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 …
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. 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. 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. 392 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the Emperor Theodosius. My silence was broken by the words of your Clemency. Until now, in the face of such sorrow, I had resolved to do nothing better, if I could manage it, than hide myself away. Since I could not withdraw from the world or resign my bishopric, I hid within silence. I grieve — I c …
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. 390 · score 0.01
I grieve over it not because it happened under your rule, but because you are the sort of man who should never have allowed it. When I heard the first reports, I groaned. Many bishops were present at the time, and they groaned with me. Your guilt is not diminished by the fact that others prompted you to it. It is incre …
ambrose_milan · c. 390 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most august Emperor Theodosius. The memory of our long friendship is sweet to me, and I gratefully recall the many kindnesses you have shown to those on whose behalf I interceded. You may be confident, then, that it is no ungrateful spirit that has made me avoid your arrival — an arrival that wa …
ambrose_milan · c. 385 · score 0.01
Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful. The pagans call death the supreme evil. The Epicureans [followers of the Greek philosopher Epicurus] say it is the end of everything. The Stoics say it should be faced with indifference. None of them is right. Death is not the supreme evil — sin is. Death is the consequence of sin, but …