Ambrose Bishops And Spirituality Notes

Ambrose, Bishops and Spiritual Power

Background information on Ambrose

• Born to a Christian senatorial family in Rome. Ambrose has a liberal education.

• Father was praetorian prefect in Gaul

• Worked as a assessor (legal advisor) to Petronius Probus.

• In 373-3, Ambrose was appointed consularis of Piedmont and Lombardy.

• Arianism in the Roman Empire

• By 370, Arianism still divided the empire

  • Auxentius was bishop in Milan for almost 20 years

• 374

  • Ambrose is appointed bishop to raucous reception.

• Justina and Valentinian Controversy (386)

• Do they just want to get rid of Ambrose?

  • In 383

    • Ambrose was sent as envoy to Magnus Maximus (383) urging him not to invade Italy.

• 4 letters dealing with the controversy

  • Ep. 75

    • To Valentinian II

      • About being required to hold a debate with Auxentius, a Homoian bishop; Ambrose argues laymen and emperors have no legal right to adjudicate the issue should be judged by the people in Church.

    • He has been asked to go into exile, and to hand over a basilica.

  • Ep. 75 A.

    • Against Auxentius

      • Delivered to a Milan basilica congregation, while it is surrounded by soldiers. Ambrose refuses to hand over the basilica to the Arians.

      • Refers to law (23 January 386) threatening death to those preventing Homoian assembly.

      • Reference made to an arbitration with Auxentius.

  • Ep. 76

    • An open letter to his sister Marcellina

      • Ambrose refuses to hand over the basilica or pacify the people.

      • He refers to the edicts and an accusation that he is actually a ‘usurper’; an accusation made against Ambrose of treason.

• Dating is key here

• Liebeschuetz

  • 1. January 386 edict

  • 2. Ep 75 a – gives this sermon first.

  • 3. Ep. 75 – sends this letter to Valentinian II

  • 4. Ep. 76 – refers to a different siege to the one in 75 and 75 a.

• Mclynn

  • Ep. 76 – composed first in Easter 386

  • Ep. 75 & Ep. 75 A were composed afterwards.

• Epistle 72: Ambrose to Valentinian II

Basic argument: if altar is restored to the senate chamber, it will incense Christian senators. Threatens that if restored, Valentinian will not find a bishop in the Milan church. Ambrose can be aggressive because he served as ambassador to the usurper Maximus, and perhaps saved his reign.

• ‘you serve almighty God and the holy faith’

  • It is your duty to prevent restoration of Altar to pagan deities and provide money for ‘impious sacrifices’.

• (4)

  • Pagans who spilled our blood and massacred us now they want money and privileges

    • i.e. exemption from the munera civila.

      • Ambrose says these were used to trap Christians into practicing apostasy.

• (5)

  • Abolish the privileges!

• (6)

  • Paganism is mere superstition and if Symmachus can show such zeal for superstition, than surely Valentinian can show zeal for the True Faith.

• (7)

• (8)

  • Do not let their [so-called Christians’ meaningless words win over your mind’

    • Clearly there are some Christians who are supporting the Altar coming back, maybe even opposed to Ambrose.

  • ‘The whole Christian is at risk’.

    • Makes clear Senate is composed by majority by Christians.

• (10)

• Reinstatement of Altar is an act of sacrilege.

  • The Christian senators are not comfortable with the reinstatement proposal.

• (11)

• Suggests Christian senators were present, but didn’t vote because of reasons of conscience.

• (12)

• Reminds Valentinian that his embassy to Maximus persuaded him not to invade Italy in 382.

• (13)

• If you come to Church ‘when you get there you will find no bishop, or you find one who will resist you’.

• (14)

• Your gifts on the Altar of Christ will be rejected.

  • How is it fair that the Vestal Virgins get privileges, while those ‘consecrated to God lack your privileges’?

• (15)

  • What would Gratian say?

    • ‘you’ve abolished my decrees: a far more painful weapon piercing my body’.

• (16)

  • What would Valentinian I say?

    • Apparently that he did not collaborate with pagans – nobody reported there was an Altar in the Roman senate house, nor should pagans offer sacrifice in council shared by Christians and pagans alike.

• (17)

  • Ambrose says Valentinian would thus wrong God, his father and brother.

    • ‘Take the action, I beg you, that you know will advance your salvation with God’.

Epistle 73: Ambrose to Symmachus (384)

• (2)

• Pagans may be ‘reflecting a glitter of shining eloquence’, they might give off a rich and grandiose sound, but they are ultimately defending irreligion.

• (3)

• On Hannibal

  • Symmachus argues that worshipping the gods prevented Hannibal from seizing Rome,

  • But didn’t Hannibal worship the same gods, and get to the outskirts of Rome?

• (7)

• Rome asks ‘why do you stain me every day with the useless blood of harmless herds?’

  • In short,

    • It is the strength of warriors and not the sacrifice of animals that made Rome great.

• (8)

• Destroys Symmachus’ argument that ‘so great a secret cannot be reached by a single truth’.

  • In reality, there is only one God and he is Truth and this is the only form of it.

• (11)

• The pagans ‘never did us a…favour’ when they ordered Christians to be butchered and killed.

• (13)

• Christians were denied the right to inherit from private individuals

  • Yet know, the pagan priests are incensed because they’ve missed their public food allowance.

• (14)

• Compare the two cases.

  • You want to c

Epistula 75A: Ambrose to his congregation, ‘Against Auxentius’.

• (1)

• ‘But you could have noticed the instructions that I sent back’

  • This is referring to his refusal to go into voluntary exile and not about the summons to debate in the consistory.

• (2)

• ‘resistance I know nothing about. I shall be able to lament, to weep, to groan: when I face arms, soldiers, Goths, even my tears are weapons’.

• (3)

• Again, Ambrose makes the point that in ecclesiastical matters, secular powers have no right to adjudicate.

• (4)

• ‘The soldiers all around us, the clashing of weapons by which the church is hemmed in do not frighten my faith’.

  • Is this Ambrose’s liberal education coming in here? Rhetorical, emotive language?

• (5)

• Ambrose won’t surrender ‘anything...

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