St. Ambrose (Dec 09)
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Ambrose. He was born at Trier around 340. His father was praetorian prefect of Gaul, but he died when Ambrose was still young, and his widow returned to Rome where her son was brought up. He became a lawyer and was so successful that he was clearly destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. The Emperor Valentinian made him governor of Liguria and Amelia, and he resided in Milan.
It was here that the decisive turning point in his life took place. The Arian bishop of Milan, Auxentius, died in 374. There was much strife in the city over whether his successor should be an Arian or a Catholic. St. Ambrose therefore went to the church where the election was being held and pleaded with the people that they make their choice peacefully and without violent disorder. A voice was heard in the crowd saying that Ambrose himself should be bishop. This was then taken up by the whole people and led to St. Ambrose himself being appointed. It was a surprising choice, not least to Ambrose himself, for he was as yet unbaptised. Though he was at first reluctant to accept he was eventually persuaded to do so, and consequently had to pass from baptism, through ordination to the various minor and major orders in swift succession, before his consecration to the episcopate.
It was an inspired choice, and St. Ambrose would prove to be one of the most significant and influential bishops in the history of the Church. Despite his own aristocratic background he had no delusions of grandeur and lived simply. Though not an original thinker, he was a powerful preacher and his sermons on the virtues of virginity were so successful in encouraging recruits for the religious life that he was accused of trying to depopulate the empire. He was successful in preventing the attempt by certain senators to restore the cult of the goddess of Victory in Rome. At that time the Roman aristocracy was still mostly pagan and the great orator Symmachus had said that it was paganism rather than Christianity that had led to the prosperity of the empire. By contrast, St. Ambrose successfully insisted that the empire was now Christian rather than pagan and consequently the cult was not restored.
Though Milan now had an orthodox bishop, Arianism still had much popular support in the city, as well as the patronage of the empress Justina. In 385 she had persuaded the emperor Valentinian to demand a basilica in Milan for the use of the Arians. St. Ambrose bravely refused to follow this order, though he also made it clear that his opposition to an unjust law should not be used by the people as a pretext for violence and disorder. Justina now went further and persuaded her son to make a law authorising the Arian assemblies. St. Ambrose disregarded the law and refused to surrender any church to the Arians. On Palm Sunday after he preached on not giving up churches his life seemed in danger, and the people barricaded themselves into the church with their bishop. The imperial troops surrounded the church, but they were still there by Easter Sunday. St. Ambrose occupied the time by teaching the people to sing psalms and hymns that he had composed (he was one of the fathers of ecclesiastical music). He reminded Valentinian that laymen could not make ecclesiastical laws and that the emperor was in the Church rather than over it. St. Ambrose’s moral authority was such that his cause prevailed.
Further conflict arose under the emperor Theodosius. Christians had destroyed a synagogue at Kallinicum in Mesopotamia, and the emperor had ordered them to rebuild it. St. Ambrose protested that no Christian bishop should pay for false worship and Theodosius agreed to revoke the order. If on that occasion St. Ambrose had taken matters too far and had shown a zeal not according to knowledge, he later secured his greatest triumph in 390 after a terrible massacre at Thessaloniki. Theodosius had ordered reprisals in response to a riot and seven thousand people had been massacred. St. Ambrose exhorted Theodosius to penance and said that he would not restore him into the Church until that was satisfied. It was a reminder that no one, even the emperor, was above the moral law. Theodosius repented and the moral authority of St. Ambrose again prevailed. He survived Theodosius by only two years, dying on 4th April, 397.
When asked whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar Jesus had responded by saying that it was right to render unto Caesar that which belonged to Caesar, but to God that which belonged to God. In other words the authority of the civil power was a strictly limited one. It had legitimate authority within its own sphere, but that power was not absolute. There was no justification for violent revolution and it was lawful therefore to pay taxes to Caesar, but it was a civil rather than a moral obligation. Jesus himself had been crucified on a political charge, that of claiming to be King of the Jews, in other words a rival to the authority of the emperor. But he said that his kingdom was different from those that belonged to this world. It was based not on force and violent coercion, but on self sacrificial love. As he himself had foretold his followers, if they were truly his disciples, would also face persecution and martyrdom, for they proclaimed the lordship of Christ rather than Caesar. Hence, though the civil power had a legitimate authority and there was no justification for violent revolution, it should not be worshipped. It was because Christians refused to acknowledge the cult of the Emperor, the apotheosis of human power, that the Church was persecuted for several centuries.
In the early fourth century the Emperor Constantine finally accepted Christianity, and the faith at last achieved toleration. For many within the Church this seemed like a heaven sent deliverance and they were prepared to uncritically support an institution that now actively promoted what it had once opposed. It soon proved to be an ambiguous blessing, as some of the emperors promoted Arianism rather than orthodoxy, while in Rome itself the aristocracy remained pagan in outlook. It was into this environment that St. Ambrose was born. He came from the governing class and it might have been expected that he would be a mere placeman who would give uncritical support to the civil power. In fact, he used his new found ecclesiastical authority to speak truth to power. It was not enough for the emperor and his entourage to pay lip service to Christianity, if in their outlook and behaviour they remained fundamentally pagan. The authority of the emperor was a civil not a moral one, for if he were a Christian he was still within the Church and not above it. If the Christian claims were true then conscience existed and there were limits to power.
The Kingdom of Christ was unlike the kingdoms of this world, which were based on force and violence, but this did not mean that faith was a purely private and personal matter with no implications for public conduct. An emperor like Theodosius might promote Christianity, but this did not mean that he should not be held to account if he behaved unethically, as he had clearly done over the massacre of innocents in Thessaloniki. It was in that city centuries before that the authorities had been alarmed by St. Paul’s teaching that there was another king, one called Jesus. St. Ambrose stood up to Theodosius on that same basis. The obligation to obey the law was a purely civil matter, not a moral one and consequently the power of the emperor was limited. However lamentably the church often failed in its witness, the example of St. Ambrose would remain for all time to come of one who successfully held the civil power to account. He prevailed not by force and violence, but by the moral authority of his message.
Let us pray for grace to follow the example of St. Ambrose today, that we will be enabled to speak truth to power, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, in our own time and place.
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