1. IN nearly all your letters you inquire anxiously about the Church;
hear then what is going on. The day after I received the letter in
which you told me how you had been troubled in your dreams, a heavy
weight of troubles began to assail me. It was not now the Portian
Basilica, that is the one without the walls, which was demanded, but
the new Basilica, that is, one within the walls, which is larger in
size.
2. In the first place some chief men[100], counsellors of state,
appealed to me to give up the Basilica, and restrain the people from
raising any commotion. I replied as a matter of course, that a Bishop
could not give up God’s house.
3. On the following day the people expressed their approval in the
Church, and the Præfect[101] also came thither, and began to urge us
to yield up at least the Portian Basilica. The people were clamorous
against this, whereupon he departed, saying, that he would report
matters to the Emperor.
4. On the following day, which was the Lord’s day, having dismissed
the catechumens after the lessons and sermon, I was explaining the
Creed to some candidates for Baptism in the Baptistery of the Church.
There the news was reported to me that, on learning that officials[102]
had been sent from the palace to the Portian Basilica, and were putting
up the Imperial hangings[103], many of the people were proceeding
thither. I however continued my ministrations, and began to celebrate
the Eucharist[104].
5. While I was offering, tidings were brought me that the populace had
seized upon one Castulus, whom the Arians called a priest. While making
the oblation I began to weep bitterly and to beseech God’s aid that no
blood might be shed in the Church’s quarrel; or if so, that it might
be my own, and that not for my people only, but even for the ungodly
themselves. But, to be brief, I sent some presbyters and deacons, and
rescued the man.
6. The severest penalties were immediately decreed; first upon the
whole body of merchants. And thus, during the sacred period of the last
Week, wherein the debtor was wont to be loosed from his bonds, chains
are placed on innocent men’s necks, and two hundred pounds’ weight of
gold is demanded within three days. They reply they will willingly give
as much, or twice as much again, so that they may not violate their
faith. The prisons too were filled with tradesmen.
7. All the Officials of the palace, the Recorders, the Proctors, the
Apparitors of the several Courts, on the pretext of its being unlawful
for them to be present at seditious assemblies, were commanded to keep
at home, severe threats were held out against men of high rank in case
the Basilica was not delivered up. The persecution raged, and had an
opening been afforded, they seemed likely to break out into every kind
of outrage.
8. I myself had an interview with the Counts and Tribunes, who urged me
to give up the Basilica without delay, declaring that the Emperor was
acting on his rights, inasmuch as he had supreme power over all things.
I replied that if he required of me what was my own, my estate, my
money, or the like, I would not refuse it, although all my property
really belonged to the poor, but that sacred things were not subject to
the power of the Emperor. ‘If my patrimony be required,’ I said, ‘take
it; if my person, here it is. Will you drag me away to prison, or to
death? I will go with pleasure. I will not entrench myself by gathering
a multitude round me, I will not lay hold of the Altar and beg for my
life; rather will I offer myself to death for the Altar.’
9. In fact my mind was shaken with fear when I found that armed men
had been sent to occupy the Basilica, I was seized with dread lest in
protecting the Church, blood might be shed which would tend to bring
destruction on the whole city. I prayed that if so great a city or
even all Italy were to perish I might not survive. I shrank from the
odium of shedding blood, and I offered my own throat to the knife. Some
officers of the Goths[105] were present; I addressed them, saying, ‘Is
it for this that you have become citizens of Rome, to shew yourselves
disturbers of the public peace? Whither will you go, if everything here
is destroyed?’
10. I was called upon to calm the people. I replied that it was in
my power not to excite them, that it was in God’s Hand to pacify them.
That if I was considered the instigator, I ought to be punished, that
I ought to be banished into whatever desert places of the earth they
chose. Having said this, they departed, and I spent the whole day in
the old Church. Thence I returned home to sleep; that if any man wished
to arrest me, he might find me prepared.
11. When, before dawn, I passed out over the threshold, I found the
Basilica surrounded and occupied by soldiers. And it was said that they
had intimated to the Emperor that he was at liberty to go to Church if
he wished it, that they would be ready to attend him if he were going
to the assembly of the Catholics; otherwise that they would go to the
assembly which Ambrose had convened.
12. Not a single Arian dared come out, for there were none among the
citizens, only a few of the royal household, and some of the Goths,
who, as of old they made their waggon their home, so now make the
Church their waggon. Wherever that woman goes, she carries with her all
those of her own communion.
♦13. The groans of the people gave me notice that the Basilica was
surrounded; but while the lessons are being read word is brought me
that the New Basilica also is full of people, that the crowd seemed
greater than when all were at liberty, that they were calling for a
Reader. To be brief, the soldiers themselves, who were found to have
occupied the Basilica, being informed of my directions that the people
should abstain from communion with them, began to come to our assembly.
At the sight of them the minds of the women are agitated, one of them
rushes forth. But the soldiers themselves exclaimed that they had come
to pray not to fight. The people raised a cry. In the most modest, most
resolute, most faithful manner they entreated that I would go to that
Basilica. In that Basilica also the people were reported to desire my
presence.
Sidenote: Ps. xvii. 7.
14. Then I began the following discourse: Ye have heard, my sons, the
lesson from the book of Job, which according to the usual service of
the season, is now in course. By use the devil knew that this book was
to be declared, already all the power of his temptations is laid open
and betrayed, and therefore he exerted himself to-day with greater
violence. But thanks be to our God Who hath so confirmed you in faith
and patience. I went up into the pulpit to admire Job, I found I had
all of you to admire as Jobs. Job lives again in each of you, in each
the patience and virtue of that saint is reflected. For what more
opportune could be said by Christian men than that which the Holy
Spirit hath spoken in you this day? ‘We petition your Majesty, we
use no force, we feel no fear, but we petition.’ This is what becomes
Christians, to desire peace and quiet fear, and still not to let the
steadfastness of faith and truth be shaken even by peril of death. For
the Lord is our Guide, _Who will save those who hope in Him_.
15. But let us come to the lessons set before us. Ye see that power
of temptation is given to the devil to prove the good. The wicked one
envies our progress in good, he tempts us in various ways. He tempted
holy Job in his patrimony, he tempted him in his sons, he tempted him
by bodily pains. The stronger is tempted in his own person, the weaker
in that of others. Me too he would fain have despoiled of the riches
which I possess in you, and he desired to waste this patrimony of
your tranquillity. Yourselves also he desired to snatch from me, my
good children for whom I daily offer sacrifice; you he endeavoured
to involve in the ruins of the public confusion. Already then I have
incurred two kinds of temptation. And perhaps the Lord, knowing my
weakness, hath not yet given him power over my body: though I myself
desire it, though I offer it, He perhaps still judges me unequal to
this contest, and exercises me by diverse labours. Even Job himself did
not begin with this contest, but was perfected by it.
Sidenote: Job ii. 9.
16. But Job was tempted by the accumulated tidings of evil, he was
tempted by his wife who said, _Curse God, and die_. Ye behold how many
things are suddenly stirred up against us, the Goths, the troops, the
heathen, the fine of the tradesmen, the punishment of the saints. Ye
observe what is commanded, when it is said ‘Deliver up the Basilica;’
_Curse God, and die_. But here it is not only ‘Speak against God,’ but
also ‘Act against God.’ The command is, ‘Betray the altars of God.’
Sidenote: ib. 10.
Sidenote: Gen. iii. 9.
17. So then we are pressed by the Imperial mandates, but we are
strengthened by the words of Scripture, which answered, _Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh_. Not slight therefore is that
temptation, for temptations which come through the agency of women
we know to be more severe. Lastly, Adam also was betrayed by Eve,
and thereby it came to pass that he betrayed the Divine commandments.
Becoming aware of this error, and his guilty conscience accusing him,
he desired to hide himself, but could not; wherefore God says to him,
_Adam where art thou?_ that is, what wert thou before? where hast thou
now begun to be? where did I place thee? whither hast thou fallen? thou
ownest thyself naked, because thou hast lost the garments of a good
faith. The things wherewith thou desirest to clothe thyself are leaves.
Thou hast cast aside the fruit, thou desirest to lie hid under the
leaves of the tree, but thou art betrayed. For one woman’s sake thou
hast chosen to depart from thy God, therefore thou fliest from Him when
thou soughtest to see. Thou hast chosen to hide thyself with one woman,
to leave the mirror of the world, the abode of Paradise, the Grace of
Christ.
18. Why need I add that Elijah also was cruelly persecuted by Jezebel?
that Herodias caused John the Baptist to be put to death? Each man
seems to suffer from this or that woman; for me, in proportion as
my merits are less, my trials are heavier. My strength is weaker,
but I have more danger. Women succeed each other, their hatreds are
interchanged, their falsehoods are varied, the elders are gathered
together, the plea of wrong to the Emperor is put forward. What
explanation is there then of such grievous temptation to such a worm
as I am, but that it is not me but the Church that they persecute.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxii. 21.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xiv. 4.
19. At length came the command, ‘Deliver up the Basilica;’ I reply, ‘It
is not lawful for us to deliver it up, nor for your Majesty to receive
it. By no law can you violate the house of a private man, and do you
think that the house of God may be taken away? It is asserted that
all things are lawful to the Emperor, that all things are his. But do
not burden your conscience with the thought that you have any right as
Emperor over sacred things. Exalt not yourself, but if you would reign
the longer, be subject to God. It is written, _God’s to God and Cæsar’s
to Cæsar_. The palace is the Emperor’s, the Churches are the Bishop’s.
To you is committed jurisdiction over public not over sacred buildings.’
Again the Emperor is said to have issued his command, ‘I also ought
to have one Basilica;’ I answered ‘_It is not lawful for thee to have
her_. What hast thou to do with an adultress who is not bound with
Christ in lawful wedlock?’
Sidenote: Ps. lxxix. 1.
20. While I was engaged with this subject, it was reported to me that
the Imperial hangings were taken down, the Church filled with people,
and that my presence was required; straightway I turned my discourse to
this, saying, How deep and profound are the oracles of the Holy Spirit!
Remember, brethren, what was read at matins and how we responded with
deep grief of mind, _O God the heathen are come into Thine inheritance_.
And truly the heathen came, nay, even more than the heathen, for the
Goths came and men of divers nations, they came armed with weapons,
and surrounded and seized the Basilica. Ignorant of Thy Greatness we
grieved for this, but our ignorance was mistaken.
Sidenote: Ps. lxxvi. 2, 3.
Sidenote: Ps. xxx. 9.
Sidenote: Ps. xxx. 11, 12.
21. The heathen came, but truly _into Thine inheritance_ they came, for
they who came as heathen were made Christians. They who came to invade
Thine inheritance, were made coheirs of God; those whom I accounted
enemies are become my defenders; I have as comrades those whom I
esteemed adversaries. Thus has that been fulfilled which the prophet
David spake of the Lord Jesus, that _His Dwelling is in peace[106],
there brake He the horns of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the
battle_. For whose office, whose work is this but Thine, Lord Jesus?
Thou sawest armed men coming to Thy temple, on the one hand the people
groaning and collecting in a crowd that they might not seem to give up
the Basilica, on the other hand the soldiers commanded to use force.
Death was before my eyes, lest in the midst of all this madness should
break out into licence. But Thou, O Lord plantedst Thyself in the midst,
and madest the twain one. Thou restrainedst the soldiers, saying, If
ye run to arms, if they who are within My temple are disturbed, _What
profit is there in My blood?_ All thanks therefore be to Thee, O Christ.
It was not an enemy, not a messenger but _Thou O Lord hast delivered
Thy people, Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness_.
22. Thus I spoke, wondering that the Emperor’s mind could be softened
by the zeal of the soldiers, by the entreaties of the Counts, by the
prayers of the people. Meanwhile I am informed that a Secretary was
come with the mandate. I retired a little, and he notified to me the
mandate. ‘What has been your design,’ says he, ‘in acting against the
Emperor’s orders?’ I replied, ‘What has been ordered I know not, nor am
I aware what is alleged to have been wrongly done.’ He says, ‘Why have
you sent presbyters to the Basilica? If you are a tyrant I would fain
know it, that I may know how to arm myself against you.’ I replied by
saying that I had done nothing which assumed too much for the Church,
but when I heard it was filled with soldiers, I only uttered deeper
groans, and though many exhorted me to proceed thither, I replied,
‘I cannot give up the Basilica, yet I must not fight.’ That afterwards,
when I was told that the Imperial hangings were removed, and that the
people required me to go thither, I had directed the presbyters to do
so, but that I was unwilling to go myself, saying, ‘I trust in Christ
that the Emperor himself will espouse our cause.’
Sidenote: 2 Cor. xii. 10.
23. If this seems like domineering, I grant indeed that I have arms,
but only in the name of Christ; I have the power of offering up my
body. Why, I asked, did he delay to strike if he considered my power
unlawful? By ancient right Priests have conferred sovereignty, never
assumed it, and it is a common saying that Emperors have coveted the
Priesthood more often than Priests sovereignty. Christ fled that He
might not be made a king. We have a power of our own. The power of
a Priest is his weakness; _When I am weak_, it is said, _then am
I strong_. But let him against whom God has raised up no adversary
beware lest he raise up a tyrant for himself. Maximus did not say that
I domineered over Valentinian, though he complains that my embassage
prevented his passing over into Italy. I added, that priests were never
usurpers, but that they had often suffered from usurpers.
24. The whole of that day was past in this affliction; meanwhile the
boys tore in derision the Imperial hangings. I could not return home,
because the Church was surrounded by a guard of soldiers. We recited
the Psalms with our brethren in the little Basilica belonging to the
Church.
Sidenote: Jonah iv. 9.
25. On the following day, the book of Jonah was read in due course,
after which, I began this discourse; We have read a book, my brethren,
wherein it is foretold that sinners shall return again to repentance.
They are accepted on this footing, that their present state is
considered an earnest of the future. I added that this just man was
even willing to incur blame, rather than behold or denounce destruction
on the city; and, since that prophecy was mournful, that he was also
grieved because the gourd had withered; that God had said to the
prophet, _Art thou greatly angry for the gourd?_ and Jonah had answered,
_I am greatly angry_. Then the Lord said, if the withering of the gourd
was a grief to him, how much more ought he to care for the salvation
of so many souls; and therefore that He had suspended the destruction
which had been prepared for the whole city.
Sidenote: Ib. 7.
26. Immediate tidings are brought to me that the Emperor had commanded
the soldiers to retire from the Church; and that the fine which had
been imposed on the merchants on their condemnation should be restored.
What joy then prevailed among the whole people, what applause, what
congratulations! Now it was the day whereon the Lord delivered Himself
up for us, the day whereon there is a relaxation of penance in the
Church. The soldiers eagerly brought the tidings, running in to the
altars, and giving the kiss, the emblem of peace. Then I perceived that
God had smitten _the worm which came when the morning rose_, that the
whole city might be preserved.
27. These are the past events, and would that they were terminated, but
the excited words of the Emperor show that heavier trials are awaiting
us. I am called a tyrant, and even more than tyrant. For when the
Counts besought the Emperor to go to the Church, and said that they did
so at the request of the soldiers, he replied, ‘You would deliver me
up to chains, if Ambrose bade you.’ I leave you to judge what awaits us
after these words; all shuddered at hearing them, but there are those
about him who exasperate him.
28. Lastly Calligonus the Grand Chamberlain[107] ventured to address
himself specially to me. ‘Do you, while I live, despise Valentinian?
I will have your head.’ I replied, ‘May God grant you to fulfil your
threat: I shall suffer as becomes a Bishop, you will act as befits an
♦eunuch.’ May God indeed turn them aside from the Church; may all their
weapons be directed against me, may they satiate their thirst in my
blood!
LETTER XXI.
A.D. 386.
S. AMBROSE ends his letter to his sister with forebodings of
more troubles. Nor was he wrong. One of the next steps taken
was a challenge to dispute publicly before the Emperor with
Auxentius the Arian (so-called) Bishop, with regular umpires
(judices) appointed on both sides. This letter is his reply to
the Emperor, setting forth his ground for refusing, as he had
before done at the time of the Council of Aquileia, to allow
laymen to be judges of questions of Faith. (See above, Council
of Aquil. § 51, 52, 53.)
TO THE MOST CLEMENT EMPEROR, HIS BLESSED MAJESTY VALENTINIAN,
AMBROSE, BISHOP, SENDS GREETING.
1. DALMATIUS the tribune and notary cited me at your Clemency’s bidding,
as he alleged, requiring that I also should choose umpires as Auxentius
had done. He did not mention the names of those who had been called
for, but he added that the trial would take place in the Consistory,
and that your pious judgment would decide between us.
2. To this I make, as I consider, a sufficient answer. No one ought
to deem me contumacious for asserting what your father of illustrious
memory not only declared by word of mouth[108] but sanctioned by his
laws; that in a matter of the Faith or of any ecclesiastical ordinance,
the judges ought to be qualified for it, both competent by office and
qualified by profession: (these are the words of the Rescript), that is
to say, he would have Bishops judge Bishops. Moreover if a bishop were
accused elsewhere also, and a charge of a moral nature to be examined,
this too he willed should be referred to the judgment of Bishops.
3. Who then is it who makes a contumacious answer to your Clemency?
He who would have you like your Father, or he who would have you
unlike? Unless perhaps some persons count cheaply the opinion of that
great Emperor, whose faith has been approved by the constancy of his
confession[109], and his wisdom proclaimed by the improved condition
of the State.
4. When have you ever heard, most gracious Emperor, that laymen
had judged a Bishop in a matter pertaining to the Faith? Does
their flattery make us cringe so low as to forget the rights of the
priesthood, and suppose that what God has committed to me I should
entrust to others? If a layman may teach a Bishop, what will follow?
a layman will dispute, and a Bishop listen, a Bishop learn of a layman.
Assuredly, if we revert to the volume of Holy Scripture or to the
time of old, who is there who will deny that in a cause of the Faith,
in a cause, I say, of the Faith, Bishops are wont to judge Christian
Emperors, not Emperors to judge Bishops.
5. Hereafter, you will, by God’s favour, reach a more mature age, and
then you will judge what kind of Bishop he must be who submits the
rights of the priesthood to laymen. Your father, who by God’s favour
attained a riper age, used to say: ‘It is not for me to judge between
Bishops:’ your Majesty now says, ‘I ought to judge.’ He, although
baptized into Christ, considered himself unequal to the weight of
so important a judgment; does your Majesty, who have yet to earn for
yourself the Sacrament of Baptism, claim to decide concerning the Faith,
although still ignorant of the Sacrament of this Faith?
6. But what sort of judges he will have selected we may leave to be
guessed, seeing that he fears to disclose their names. Let them come
openly, if indeed there be any, to the Church; let them attend together
with the people, not to sit as judges, but for every one to prove his
own feelings and choose whom he will follow. The cause is concerning
the Bishop of that Church; if the people hear him and suppose he has
the better of the argument, let them follow his Faith; I shall not be
jealous.
7. I forbear to mention that the people themselves have already
decided; I do not urge that the Bishop[110] whom they have they
demanded from your Majesty’s father; I urge not that your father
promised tranquillity for the future if he, having been elected, took
upon him the Bishopric. It was in reliance on these promises that I
acted.
8. But if he prides himself on the support of any foreigners let him
be Bishop in the place whence those come who hold that he should be
invested with the name of a Bishop. For I neither acknowledge him as
Bishop, nor know whence he comes.
9. How, your Majesty, can we be said to settle a matter in which you
have already declared your judgment; nay, have yourself published laws
precluding others from deciding otherwise. And when you laid down this
rule for others you laid it down also for yourself; for the laws which
the Emperor makes he ought to be the first to keep. Would you then have
me make trial whether those who are chosen judges will meet, contrary
to your decree, or whether they will allege that they have not been
able to contravene so rigid and peremptory a command of the Emperor?
10. But this is the part of a contumacious not of a respectful Bishop.
See, your Majesty, how you yourself partially rescind your own law; but
I would that you would do so not partially but universally, for I would
not wish your law to be above the law of God. The law of God has taught
us what we should follow, human laws cannot teach us this. They can
compel a change in the timid, but they cannot inspire faith.
11. Who therefore when he learns that in one moment it has been
published through so many provinces that whoever shall resist the
Emperor shall be put to death, whoever shall not give up the temple of
God shall immediately be slain; who is there, I say, who either alone
or with a few others can say to the Emperor; ‘I do not approve your
law?’ The priesthood are not allowed to say this; are then the laity
allowed? And shall he judge concerning the faith, who either hopes for
favour or fears giving offence?
12. Lastly, shall I venture to nominate laymen for umpires, who if they
keep true to their Faith must be proscribed or put to death, as that
law passed concerning the Faith prescribes. Shall I then expose them to
the hazard either of prevarication or of punishment?
13. Ambrose is not of such importance as to degrade the priesthood on
his account. One man’s life is not of as much value as the dignity of
the whole priesthood, by whose advice I gave my direction when they
suggested that there might be some heathen or Jew, chosen by Auxentius,
to whom we might give a triumph over Christ if we committed to him
judgment concerning Christ. What else pleases them but to hear of wrong
done to Christ? What else can please them but the denial (which God
forbid) of the Divinity of Christ? Clearly they agree entirely with
the Arian, who calls Christ a creature, which heathens and Jews too
are willing enough to confess.
14. This was decreed at the synod of Ariminum, and with good reason
do I abhor that Council; following as I do the doctrine of the Nicene
Council, from which neither death nor the sword can ever separate me.
This Faith your Majesty’s father, the blessed Emperor Theodosius, both
followed and approved. This Faith the provinces of Gaul and of Spain
hold, and this they keep with the pious confession of the Divine Spirit.
15. If I have to preach, I have learnt to preach in the Church, as
my predecessors did. If a conference is to be held on a matter of
Faith, it ought to be a conference of Bishops, as was the case under
Constantine of august memory, who laid down no laws beforehand, but
left to the Bishops the liberty of judging. The same was the case also
under Constantius of illustrious memory, who inherited his father’s
dignity, but what began well ended badly. For the Bishops had at first
subscribed an orthodox confession, but, through the wish of certain
persons to judge of the Faith in agreement with the palace, the result
was that these judgments of the Bishops were fraudulently changed; they
however immediately recalled this perverted decision. And there is no
doubt that the majority at Ariminum approved the creed of the Nicene
Council[111] and condemned the Arian decrees.
16. If Auxentius appeals to a Synod to discuss questions concerning the
Faith, though it would be needless to disturb so many Bishops on one
person’s account, who, were he an Angel from heaven, ought not to be
preferred to the Church’s peace, I too will not be absent when I hear
that the Synod is assembled. Let the law then be repealed, if you would
have the contest entered upon.
17. I would have come to your Majesty’s Consistory, to offer this plea
in your presence, could I have obtained leave from the Bishops or the
people; but they said that an argument concerning the Faith ought to be
held in the Church in the presence of the people.
18. I could have wished that your Majesty had not declared that I might
go into exile, whither I chose. I went abroad daily, no man guarded me.
You should then have sent me wherever you thought fit, for I was ready
to submit to any thing; now the Bishops say to me, ‘There is little
difference between voluntarily leaving Christ’s altar and betraying it,
for if you leave you will betray it.’
19. And I would I were certain that the Church would not be given up to
the Arians, I would then willingly surrender myself to your Majesty’s
disposal. But if it is I only who am an intruder, why has the command
been given to invade all other Churches also? I would it were certain,
that no one would disturb the Churches, I would gladly then have any
sentence which seems good passed concerning myself.
20. Let your Majesty then be pleased graciously to accept my reasons
for not coming to the Church. I have not learned how to stand up in the
Consistory except in your behalf[112]; and within the palace I cannot
contend, for I neither seek after nor know the secrets of the palace.
21. I, Bishop Ambrose, offer this remonstrance to the most clement
Emperor, his blessed Majesty Valentinian.
SERMON
A.D. 386.