Книга 6

27 (Maur. 58). Ambrose to Bishop Sabinus 736 1. I learned that Peacock, 737 in terms of the nobility of his family, having no equal in the lands of Aquitaine, having sold his estates, both his own and his wife’s, and converted the property into money, for the sake of faith he preferred such a way of life that he became like the poor. Having become a poor man from a rich man, as if laying down a heavy burden, he said goodbye to his home, homeland and relatives in order to serve God more diligently, and, as they say, having chosen the remote city of Nola, he spends his days there, far from the bustle. 2. Likewise, the wife 738 is not inferior to her husband in virtue and zeal, and fully shares his intentions. And so, having transferred the rights to her estates to others, she rushes after her husband and, content with a small piece of land belonging to her husband, will be consoled by the wealth of piety and mercy. They have no offspring, and therefore they long to continue their exploits. 3. When the powers that be hear about this, what will they say? From such a family, of such a kind, endowed with such talents and such eloquence - and left the Senate, interrupting the succession of such a noble family: this is unbearable! 739 Meanwhile, they themselves shave off their hair and eyebrows, dedicating themselves to the mysteries of Isis, and if suddenly a Christian, out of zeal for holy piety, begins to dress differently, they call it a shameful crime. 4. I grieve that such is the persistence in lies and disregard for the truth that many are ashamed to appear too zealous in holy piety, not thinking about the words of the one who said: whoever is ashamed of Me before men, of him I will also be ashamed before My Heavenly Father. 740 But Moses was not ashamed, who, being called to the royal house, 741 preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Egypt. 742 David was not ashamed, who danced before the ark of the covenant in front of all the people. 743 Isaiah was not ashamed, who walked among the people naked and barefoot, proclaiming heavenly prophecies. 744 5. Is there anything more shameful to the eye than imitating the body movements of actors and pampering the body like a woman? The companion of pleasures and the toy of luxury is free dancing. 745 But what did he himself proclaim when he chanted: All nations, clasp your hands (Ps. 46.2)? After all, if we imagine how it looked from the outside, we will think that he clapped his hands with a shameful noise, mingling with the crowd of dancers. After all, it is also said about Ezekiel: Clasp your hands and stamp your foot (Ezek. 6:11). 6. But what is shameful to a superficial glance, from the point of view of holy piety, deserves respect, so that those who condemn it themselves involve their souls in the net of censure. So Michal reproached the dancing David and said to him: How did the king of Israel distinguish himself today, naked today before the eyes of his slaves? And David answered her: I will play before the Lord, who preferred me to your father and to all his house, having established me as the leader of his people Israel; I will play before the Lord; and I will be naked and become insignificant in your eyes, and before the maidservants, before whom you say I have become naked, I will be glorious (2 Samuel 6:20-22). 7. So, David was not ashamed of women’s gossip and, for the sake of fulfilling his sacred duty, was not afraid to accept reproach in the eyes of women. His youth played before the Lord, and was all the more pleased because he humbled himself before God in such a way that, putting aside his royal majesty, like a servant, he could serve God the humblest service. And so the one who reproached him for this dance was punished with infertility and did not give birth to royal offspring, 746 so as not to produce proud people, and, what is true, did not continue herself either in offspring or in exploits. 8. If anyone still doubts, let him take the testimony of the Gospel, for the Son of God said: We sang to you, but you did not dance. 747 And so the Jews were left behind, who did not dance, who did not know how to clasp with their hands: 748 the nations were called, who clasped spiritually to God. For a fool folds his hands and devours his entrails (Eccl. 4:5), that is, he is busy with carnal affairs, and devours his entrails, as if overcoming death (Isa. 25:8), and therefore will not find eternal life; the wise man, lifting up his labors 749 so that they shine before his Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16), does not devour his flesh, but lifts it up to the grace of resurrection. This is the glorious dance of the wise man that David danced; and therefore he ascended to the very throne of Christ in the sublimity of spiritual dancing in order to see and hear the words of the Lord to His Lord; Sit at My right hand (Ps. 109.1)! 9. Therefore, if you did not consider this our interpretation of the dance inappropriate, do not consider it difficult to reflect with me on Isaiah, that you well know that he was not exposed for shame, but for the highest glory in the sight of the assembled people, for the prophecies of the Lord sounded on his lips. 750 10. But perhaps someone will say: isn’t it shameful for a man to walk among people completely naked, while people, both male and female, come across him? Didn't the very sight of him hurt the eyes of everyone, and especially women? Aren't we ourselves, for the most part, ashamed to look at nakedness? At least people's private parts are covered, so as not to confuse the eyes of those watching with an inappropriate spectacle? 11. I also agree, but think about what this act represents and what this appearance means: that the Jewish youths and virgins will walk naked when they are taken captive, as the youth says, My Isaiah walked naked and barefoot (Is. 20.3). He could have expressed this in words, but he preferred a more vivid example, so that the appearance itself would inspire greater fear and so that what they were disgusted by, looking at the body of the prophet, they would be afraid in themselves. For in what is greater the horror of shame, in the body of the prophet or in the sin of the apostates, who deserved such a disaster of captivity? 12. But what if nothing in the body of a prophet was blameworthy? After all, he did not mean the physical, but the spiritual. After all, in the frenzy of his mind, he did not say: I will hear what I have to say, but: what God will say in me (Ps. 84.9), and he did not add whether he will be naked or clothed. After all, Adam was naked before the Fall, but he did not know that he was naked, 751 because he was clothed in virtue; but after he committed the sin, he saw his nakedness and covered it. 752 Noah was naked, but was not ashamed, for he was full of pleasure and spiritual joy, 753 and the one who laughed at his nakedness himself was guilty of eternal condemnation for ugliness. 754 And Joseph, so as not to be shamefully naked, left his clothes and fled naked. 755 So who deserves shame: the one who kept someone else's clothes, or the one who took off his own? 13. But to make it clearer that the prophets do not see either themselves or what is under their feet, but see only the heavenly, let me remind you: Stephen was stoned, but he saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56), and therefore did not feel the blows of the stones, did not notice bodily wounds, but directed his eyes to Christ, clinging to Him. 756 Therefore, Isaiah did not see himself naked, but completely surrendered himself to God as an organ of divine speech in order to express what God spoke through him. 757 14. But even if he saw himself, how could he not do what was ordered? Could he shamefully ponder what God commanded? Sarah, because she laughed, received a reproach for unbelief, 758 and Abraham deserved praise for not thinking about the word of God, and was awarded the Greatest reward, for he believed that, by the command of God, even infanticide can become pious. 759 15. And here could the prophet think about shame, when under the guise of one another was represented? The Jews, abandoned by the Lord God for their sins, began to suffer defeats from their enemies, wanted to go to Egypt so that he would protect them from the Assyrians, while they should have returned to the faith if they were thinking about the good. The angry Lord sent them a sign that in vain they hoped to wash away the insult inflicted on God with even greater sin - because those on whose help the Jewish people hoped would be defeated. 760 These are historical events. 16. And the foreshadowing is this: whoever trusts in the Egyptians, 761 whoever is devoted to luxury, is enslaved to debauchery. Luxury 762 is indulged only by those who deviate from the commandments of the true God. When a person begins to indulge in luxury, he begins to deviate from the true faith. So, he commits two greatest crimes: he dishonors the flesh and defiles the soul. Consequently, whoever does not follow the Lord his God throws himself into the whirlpool of luxury and lust, the destructive passions of the body. And whoever finds himself in a whirlpool and mired in a swamp falls into the snare of unbelief. For the people sat down to eat and drink (1 Cor. 10:7), and demanded gods for themselves. 763 Therefore, the Lord teaches that from the one who has given himself over with his soul to these two kinds of vice, the veil is not taken off from woolen clothing, but from living virtue, the veil of which is not temporary, but eternal. Forgive and love us, for we love you too. 28 (Maur. 50). Ambrose Chromation 764 1. Can God really lie? But no, He is not deceitful, 765 for it is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). And is this really impossible - a sign of weakness? Of course not: for who can do everything if he cannot do something? So what is impossible for Him? Not what He cannot do, but what is contrary to His nature. It is impossible, it is said, to lie to Him. And this is impossible - it is a sign not of weakness, but of strength and power, for the truth does not accept lies, and the power of God does not accept frivolous error. That is why God is faithful and every man is a liar (Rom. 3:4). 2. So, the truth is always in Him, He remains faithful, for He cannot change and deny Himself (2 Tim. 2.13). After all, if He denies that He is true, He will lie, and lying is a sign not of strength, but of powerlessness. He cannot change, for His nature does not accept weakness. Consequently, this is “impossible” for Him - from fullness, which can neither decrease nor increase, and not from weakness, which, even in that which increases, is weak. Hence it follows that God’s “impossibility” is most powerful. For what is more powerful than complete ignorance of weakness? 3. There is, however, another weak thing of God, which is stronger than men, and an unwise God, which is wiser than men (1 Cor. 1.25), but this is according to the cross, then according to the Divinity. Therefore, if that which is weak with Him is strength, what is of strength, how is it weak? So we affirm that God is not deceitful. 4. But according to the law of God there is no place for the diviner of divination in Israel. 766 So how does Balaam say that the Lord through prophecy forbade him to curse the people of Israel, 767 and he went, and an angel of the Lord met him, who forbade him to go further and stopped the donkey on which he was riding, and at the same time he himself told Balaam to go, but to say what would be put into his mouth? 768 If there is no place for a soothsayer in Israel, how can the voice of God, revealing the future, be addressed to one who was a soothsayer? If he spoke a prophecy of God, where did he receive the gift of divine inspiration? 5. But do not be surprised that the Lord puts a word in the mouth of the soothsayer, what should he say, if in the Gospel you read that such a word was even put into the mouth of the ruler of the synagogue, one of the persecutors of Christ: It is fitting that one man should die for the people (John 11:50). There is no gift of prophecy here, but there is an affirmation of the truth, when even opponents testify to it, so that even their own soothsayers expose the wickedness of the infidels. Therefore, the Chaldean Abraham 769 was called to faith so that the Chaldean superstition would be silenced. Thus, it is not the merit of the one who prophesies, but the prophecy of the Caller, the grace of God who gives the revelation. 6. So what did he bring upon himself for, if not for saying one thing and plotting another? God needs a clean vessel, unstained by dirt and impurities. Therefore, Balaam was tested and not rewarded, because he was full of deceit and villainy. 770 And when he first asked whether he should go to this vain people, and it was forbidden to him, he refused, and then, when the princes sent to him became more noble, the promises more generous, the gifts more abundant, he was tempted by them and, although he should have refused, decided to ask again, as if God could be bowed down by money or gifts. 771 7. And the answer was given to him as a greedy one, and not as one who seeks the truth, and rather to mock him than to instruct him. 772 He set out on his journey, and an angel met him on a narrow path, appearing to the donkey, but not appearing to the soothsayer. 773 He opened up to her, he neglected him! However, so that he would finally understand, he opened his eyes. The soothsayer saw and, however, did not believe the obvious prophecy and, despite the fact that he should have believed at least his own eyes, he answered evasively and ambiguously. 8. Then the Lord, indignant, said through the angel: “Go, but what I put in your mouth, that is what you will say, 774 - that is, say not what you want, but what you are forced to say. You will sound like Me, like a hollow musical instrument. I will speak, and not you, for you will begin to pronounce what you will hear, but will not understand. 775 There will be no benefit for you on this journey; you will return without any monetary reward or gain of grace.” And his first words were: How can I curse someone whom God does not curse? (Num. 23.8) - to show that he does not bless the Jewish people of his own free will, but by the grace of God. 9. “From the top of the mountains,” he said, “I will see him, for I cannot cover with my eyes this people who will live separately (Num. 23.9), marking their possessions not with land boundaries, but by cultivating virtues and exceptional moral virtues, paving their way to eternity. For who will be numbered among him from other tribes, 776 who from neighboring nations surpasses him in the height of righteousness? Who will comprehend the formation of this race? We see that their bodies were born and grew from human seed, but their souls grew in the highest and wondrous nurseries. 10. Let my soul die among their souls (Num. 23.10), die for this bodily life, so that among the souls of the righteous (Num. 23.10) I may acquire the grace of that eternal life. 777 Here the greatness of the heavenly sacrament of holy Baptism has already been revealed, through the action of which people die to ancient sin and to unrighteous deeds, so that in a new life (Rom. 6.4), having been transformed into the lot of the righteous, they are resurrected with their moral virtues. And what wonder if people die to sin in order to live to God? 778 11. Hearing this, Balak was indignant and said: I brought you to curse my enemies, but you bless (Num. 23.11)! And he answered: I suffer reproach because of what I do not know, for I do not say anything on my own, but like a sounding cymbal, 779 I make a sound. 780 And when they began to lead him from place to place, 781 he again, wanting to curse, blessed: There is no disaster in Jacob, and there is no misfortune (Num. 23.21), God protects this people. And then he orders seven altars and sacrifices to be prepared. Of course, he should have simply left, but in the weakness of his mind and fickleness of judgment, he believed that he could reject the will of God. Being in a frenzy of mind, he wished one thing and said another. 12. How beautiful,” he said, “are your dwellings, the Jewish army!” Your tents are spread out like shady groves, like gardens by the river, like cedar trees by the water. A man will come out of Jacob and rule over many tribes, and his kingdom will be exalted (Num. 24.5-7), and on earth he will extend his dominion to Egypt. 782 He who blesses him is blessed, and he who curses him is cursed (Num. 24.9). So who is God talking about and whom is He blessing if not the people of Christ, into the very core of which the word of God descended, to the division of the soul, joints and marrow (Heb. 4:12)? And Balaam would have acquired the grace of the Lord if he had blessed him of his own free will and with his own feeling. But since the evil soul is bound by its thoughts, and the secrets of the spirit are exposed when they come to the surface, therefore its true face is revealed in subsequent intrigues. 13. He received a worthy reward for his maliciousness! After all, seeing that in a frenzy of mind he could not curse, he gave the king the following advice 783: “Prophecy is what God gives. Make a decision contrary to the prophecies of God. This people is righteous, God protects them, for they are devoted not to fortune-telling and divination, but to one eternal God: that is why they surpass others in faith. However, even faithful souls succumb to bodily temptations and the lure of an attractive appearance. You have many women, and most of them are not deprived of beauty. The male sex is not captured as quickly by anything as by female charm, especially if the heat of the heart is ignited by frequent meetings, and as if ignited by a torch - then the husband, reveling in the hope of possession, will completely surrender to his feeling. Therefore, let your women set traps with the help of their seductive voices, and do not remain unapproachable, but are both accommodating in appearance and sociable in words, 784 let them wander around the army, surrounding it, and with their art attract husbands, but do not agree to get together with them except by demanding from them, as proof of reciprocity, complicity in blasphemy. So they can lose heavenly protection if they themselves treacherously depart from the Lord their God.” 785 14. So, Balaam is by no means righteous, inspiring fornication and sacrilege, as is clearly written in the Revelation of the Evangelist John, when the Lord says to the angel of the church of Pergamon: You have there those who hold the teachings of Balaam, who taught Balak to lead the sons of Israel into temptation, so that they would eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. So you also have those who hold the teachings of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2.14-15). Where clearly came the blasphemy of the Manichaeans, who mix and add shameful deeds to blasphemy. 786 15. And so, neither God was unrighteous, nor His will was changeable. For He saw the soul of Balaam and the secrets of his heart; and therefore tested him as gifted with a divine gift, but did not choose him as a prophet. And of course, for the sake of the grace of such prophecies and the height of revelation, Balaam should have turned. But the soul, filled with depravity, uttered words, but did not bring faith, wanting with advice to avert the future that it itself foretold. And since prophecies cannot lie, Balaam gave false advice, because of which the frivolous people of the Jews were tempted, but were not enslaved. For the righteousness of one man-priest dispelled all the plans of a criminal man, 787 and it is much more surprising that through one man it became possible to free the army of the fathers than that it was possible to mislead him. 16. I sent this little gift to your holy soul, for you want me to collect something from the interpretations of the ancient writers. I preferred to write letters in simple language, but conveying the aroma of fatherly morals. If you approve of them, I will not be ashamed to continue sending you something in the same spirit. After all, I prefer to think about sublime things with you like an old man, which in Greek is called ἀδολεοχῆοαι. 788 with the approach of Rebecca, foreseeing in spirit the sacraments of the future Church. I repeat, I prefer to think with you like an old man, so that it does not seem that I have abandoned this art, rather than talk pompously, which no longer suits us either in our aspirations or in our strengths. Farewell and love us, for I love you. 29 (Maur. 43). Ambrose Oronziano 1. You admitted that you were puzzled by what you read in the “Six Days,” 789 which I wrote: you noticed that both in the narrative of the Divine Scripture and in my work so much is said about man as about no other living creature on earth, and yet all of them, whether winged, or land, or those in the water, the earth and water gave birth to the world even before man, 790 for whose sake they created, and you ask me for an explanation of what Moses kept silent about and what I would not dare to touch 791. 2. Perhaps the interpreter of divine prophecy deliberately kept silent about this, so that it would not seem that he was setting himself up as a judge of the divine economy and plan. After all, it is one thing to say what is inspired by the Spirit of God, and another to interpret the will of God. We, speaking not as interpreters of God, but, according to human understanding, as if gathering together the seeds of reason, believe that we can, based on what the Lord Himself gave to man in other areas as an inheritance, form an opinion why man should have been created last. 3. For the one who throws a feast, like that rich man of the Gospel 792 - after all, we should, as far as possible, compare the divine with the divine - he prepares everything in advance - he slaughters bulls and fat calves - and then invites friends to the feast. Thus, first the things that are not so important are prepared, and only then the one who is being honored is invited. That is why the Lord prepared treats for man in the form of various animals and only then called him to his feast as a friend, and truly as a friend, as a partaker of divine love and an heir to glory. 793 Therefore he says to him: Friend, how did you come here (Matthew 22:12) to the wedding? Consequently, preparations are made first, and the friend is invited at the very end. 4. Take another example: what is the world if not a competition ground? That is why in Revelation the Lord says: To him who overcomes I will give the crown of life (Rev. 2.7, 10). And Paul says: I have fought the good fight (2 Tim. 4:7): and in another place: No one is crowned except the one who fights lawfully (2 Tim. 2:5). The founder of this competition is, of course, Almighty God. And if He organizes a competition in this age, will He not prepare everything that is necessary for the competition, and then only, having prepared the award belts, He will call the athletes to compete for the crown, so that there will be no delay and so that the one who wins will be immediately rewarded? Consequently, man’s rewards are the fruits of the earth and the light of heaven: 794 these for the needs of this present life, this one for the hope of eternal life. 5. Therefore, like an athlete who is the last to enter the list, he lifts up his eyes to heaven and sees that the heavenly creature also submitted to vanity not voluntarily, but by the will of the one who conquered it, in hope (Rom. 8:20). 795 Sees that the whole creation groans together, awaiting redemption (Rom. 8.22–23), sees that all the work lies ahead. He lifts up his eyes, sees the crowns of lights, contemplates the balls of the moon and stars, 796 for the righteous who overcome will be like the stars in the sky. 797 And he pacifies his body, 798 so that it does not resist him in a duel, anoints it with the oil of mercy, exercises him in the daily palette of virtues, sprinkles the dust of the lists, runs, not as if he were unfaithful (1 Cor. 9.26), directs the blow, strains his muscles, but not in vain, 799 strikes an opponent whom he does not see, for he is directed only towards To the One to whom all others, also invisible, yield, and in whose name the powers of the air are crushed. 800 So he calculates the blow, and Christ strikes; he lifts the heel, and Christ directs. Thus, Paul did not see whom he was beating, but he was beating and not shaking the air, 801 for with the preaching of Christ he defeated all the spirits of evil that opposed him. 802 So, by right, the last person to come to the lists was the man for whom the crown was prepared, so that heaven would precede him as a reward. 6. But our warfare is not only against spirits in the heavenly places, but also against flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12), warfare against satiety, warfare against the very fruits of the earth, warfare against wine, with which even the righteous become intoxicated, 803 with which even the entire army of the Jews was subjugated, 804 warfare with wild beasts, warfare with the birds of the air, from which fattened flesh does not submit to slavery, 805 warfare with the dangers of the paths, with the dangers of the rivers, 806 as Paul says, warfare with the tree shoots with which the apostles were beaten. 807 See how many battles there are! Therefore, the earth is a list for man, the sky is a crown. So, they had to introduce him either as a friend - a servant, or as an athlete - a reward. 7. Here’s another example: in any business, the most important thing is the beginning and the end. 808 If you take a house, the most important things are the foundation and the roof; if you take a field, then sowing and harvesting, planting vines and harvesting grapes. How lovely are the tree plantings, how desirable are the fruits! In the same way, heaven was created first, and man was created last, as a heavenly being on earth. After all, although in body he is similar to animals, in spirit he is ranked among heavenly beings; for just as we have borne the image of the earthly, so we also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15:49). How could it not be heavenly if it was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1.26–27)? 8. Therefore, it is true that at the creation of the world the first was the sky, and the last the sky, 809 and above it the God of heaven. And most likely, this is what is said about this: Heaven is My throne (Is. 66.1), - after all, God does not sit above the elements, but in the heart of man. Therefore, the Lord says: We will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). Therefore, the beginning of the world building is heaven, the end is man. 9. Heaven is from the world, man is above the world; after all, this one is part of the world, this one is an inhabitant of paradise, the possession of Christ. The sky is considered incorruptible - and passes away, 810 man, according to the general opinion, is corruptible, but puts on incorruptibility, 811 the image of heaven passes away, 812 man is resurrected as an immortal, 813 but both heaven and man were created by the hands of the Lord according to the testimony of Scripture. After all, just as we read about heaven: And the works of Your hands are heaven (Ps. 101.26), so man says: Thy hands have created me and created me (Ps. 119.73), and also something similar to this: The heavens tell of the glory of God (Ps. 18.1). And just as the sky shines with the radiance of the stars, so people exude the light of good deeds, for their deeds shine before the Father who is in heaven. The upper vault is the firmament of heaven; it is also similar to the firmament, 814 about which it is said: On this rock I will build My Church (Matthew 16:18). This is the firmament of the elements, this is the firmament of virtues. Here’s something even more remarkable: They ate oil from the solid rock (Deut. 32:13), for the rock is the flesh of Christ, 815 which redeemed heaven and the whole world. 10. Is it worth adding to this, as if chasing you throughout the entire race, that God created man to be a partaker of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1.4), as we read in the Epistle of Peter? Why, not without reason, some said: We are His generation (Acts 17:28). 816 For He gave us from His kinship, that is, the rational nature, so that we would seek that divine thing that is not far from each of us, for we live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:27-28). 11. So, when He prepared for man the gifts of the highest grace, He, as the most dear and dear being, gave him everything that is in this world, so that he would not need anything necessary for life, and for a good life, and gave him some riches of earthly blessings for enjoyment, others for the knowledge of heavenly secrets, so that they would inflame the human mind with love and the desire for knowledge, through which we can penetrate into the secret places of the highest and divine. 817 Therefore, both are excellent: to have in your power all the riches of the world, all birds, land animals, as well as fish and seafood, to have, like the king of the elements, without labor, without knowing the need, to have everything in abundance for imitation and likeness to the venerable Creator; live among the highest abundance and discover for yourself the paths and steps to ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven. 12. And you will easily recognize the traveler on this difficult path: this is the man who was brought up in such strength of spirit and will that he is least attached to his own body 818 and does not enter into any communication with vices; he is not pleased by the speeches of flatterers, and no favorable turn of the wheel of fortune will make him despise the humiliated; he avoids sorrow, does not scrutinize or downplay the merits of saints, and does not waste the heat of his soul in search of glory or in the hope of wealth; his spirit will not be burdened by sadness, will not be crushed by injustice, will not be confused by suspicion, will not be aroused by lust, will not be conquered by bodily passions, will not be deprived of peace by the desire for vain things, the charm of pleasures. 819 Add here the virtues: chastity, sobriety and moderation, the ability to easily curb the violent impulses of self-willed passions and put a limit to your pleasures and desires. Such a person judges the ambiguous with impartiality, sorts out the doubtful with calmness of mind and, as if bringing together all the differences of body and mind, like a good judge, maintains harmony between the outer man and the inner, 820 reconciling them in himself, 821 and, if necessary, no bad adviser-fear 822 turned away from the crown of martyrdom: and of course, he will be accepted by the Father not only as a friend, but also as a son, in order to receive the riches of His glory and inheritance (Eph. 1:18). 13. So, it is no coincidence that man was created last, as the completion of nature, for righteousness, 823 as a just judge among other living creatures, and if such an example is appropriate: as among people, the end of the law is Christ, for the righteousness of everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). We are like cattle in the sight of the Lord; for this is what the prophet says: Κτηνώδης προοελογίσΟην παρά σοι, that is, I was like cattle before You (Ps. 72.22). And what other comparison can there be, if He redeemed the perishing, 824 we will slay. He called the slaves to freedom, while we condemn the free to captivity? But who is like God? 825 14. However, of all creations, the last to appear in the world was man, magnificent in appearance, sublime in mind, to be a wonder to all nature, 826 for in him, in the likeness of the eternal God, there is an invisible νοῦς, 827 clothed in human flesh. This νοῦς is the fortress of the soul, like a ruler who has won primacy from the soul and body. Although other living beings do not see Him, they tremble, just as we fear God, Whom we do not see - and we are all the more afraid because we do not see. 828 15. After all, in His image and likeness, 829 as it is written - we prefer to say - when God pours out Himself with the fullness of His grace and sees everything: heaven, air, earth, sea - embracing everything, delving into everything and not omitting anything, and there is nothing that does not rest on Him, does not depend on Him and is not full of Him, as He Himself says: I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord (Mer. 23.24), - so the νοῦς of a person sees everything, but he himself is invisible, having his own invisible essence, with the help of knowledge, thoughts and feelings he embraces the depths of oblivion, 830 penetrates into the secret places of the sea and the hidden corners of all lands, he explores both natures in the likeness of the highest God, whom he imitates and follows, and whose image is present in tiny particles in everyone. 831 Rising into the air and passing through the clouds, he rushes to the heights of heaven in a thirst for knowledge and desire for wisdom, and there, he paused, overwhelmed by delight before the stars of heaven, and enjoying the clarity of the lights, looking at this world from above, and reaching Hesperus and Arcturus and other ἀπλανεῖς πλανήτας, 832 and seeing that the “wandering” that they commit “without wandering” in order to bypass all creation is without stumbling, and yet it seems to be deviation and error, - with even greater zeal he ascends to the very bosom of the Father, to where the Only Begotten Son of God, 833 proclaiming the mysteries of God, which must subsequently be revealed facing face. 834 But now He only partially and guessingly (1 Cor. 13:12) reveals them to those whom He considers worthy, and at the same time, with His Spirit and face, sheds out the radiance of light, like a stream, 835 so that those enlightened by Him may say: And there was like a burning fire in my bones, and I became paralyzed and could not bear it (Jer. 20:9). And David says: From Your presence my judgment will come (Ps. 16:2). 16. So, with this strength of mind - so that I can return to the thought I started - a person embraces the external, sees the separate and distant, subjugates animals that surpass him in strength, and inspires others with such respect for himself that everyone obeys him as a king, listens to his voice and, being unreasonable, acquires intelligence with which nature did not endow them, and retains it through training. Even wild animals, seeing the meekness of a person, become meek at his command. They often stop mid-throw if a human voice calls out to them. We see how dogs catch hares without hurting them with their teeth, and the lions themselves, if they hear a person’s voice, abandon their prey, leopards and bears get angry and calm down, horses follow the voice, applause makes them run faster, and silence slows them down; often they do not even need a whip, and those who are not whipped up bypass those who are whipped up, because the whip of the tongue drives them on faster. 17. And what about their offerings? The ram grows the kind of wool that a person likes and is immersed in a stream to make it shine better. And the sheep choose the best pastures in order to fill their fruitful udders with the sweetest milk, 836 endure birth pangs in order to bring their gifts to man; the oxen spend whole days groaning and pressing the plow into the furrow. 837 Camels, in addition to carrying loads, allow themselves to be sheared, like sheep. And so, as if to a king, various animals bring their tribute to the person and pay a yearly tax. The horse, boasting of its rider, prances proudly, 838 and he also puts his back under the saddle to allow the master to sit down. 839 And if it still bothers you that man was created last, let the horse show us that man is to be revered and not despised. The horse carries the one who came after him, and does not neglect him, but is afraid and, working, carries him everywhere. In one moment, a person travels a considerable space, reaches distant places, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on a triumphal quadriga. 840 18. And since I remembered the triumphal quadrigas, I must add here the chariot of Elijah, in which he was carried away through the air, 841 and the chariot drawn by elephants, standing on which the victorious man, although the last to come into the world, rules those who were the first. In the same way, the helmsman of a ship sits at the stern and rules the entire ship. 842 Therefore, I think that it is no coincidence that the Gospel says that the Lord Jesus slept on the stern, and then, waking up, rebuked the wind and the sea 843 and calmed the storm, showing that that is why he came last, because he came as the Pilot. That is why the apostle says: The first man Adam became a living soul; and the last Adam is a life-giving spirit. But not the spiritual first, but the spiritual, then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second person is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15.45–47). 19. Therefore, it is true that man appeared last, as the pinnacle of all creation, as the cause of the world, the one for whose sake everything was created. As an inhabitant of all the elements, he lives among the beasts, swims with the fish, flies higher than the birds, converses with the angels, inhabits the earth and makes war in the sky, plows the sea, feeds on the air: 844 he is a cultivator of the earth, a traveler of the deep, a fisherman of the streams, a bird-watcher of the air, an heir of heaven, a joint heir of Christ: all according to zeal. 20. Add to this the fact that Moses, having risen above human nature, walked on the bottom of the sea, 845 and the apostles walked on the surface of the sea, 846 Habakkuk flew without wings, 847 Elijah lived on earth, but celebrated his triumph in heaven. 848 Farewell, son, and love us, for we love you. 30 (Maur. 24). Ambrose to Emperor Valentinian 849 1. Although you confirmed your trust in my previous embassy 850 by the fact that they did not require a report from me, everything became clear from the fact that I was held for several days in Gaul, where I did not accept the conditions pleasing to Maximus, 851 and did not agree with what was more beneficial to him than promised peace. Finally, you would not have entrusted me with a second embassy, ​​852 if you had not approved the first. But since on the eve of my return Maxim forced me to meet with him, I consider it necessary to report to you in a letter about my embassy, ​​before someone weaves a speech out of truth and lies. 854 before my return completely refute it and certify it with the seal of truth. 2. Upon my arrival in Trevira 855 the next day I went to the palace. A certain Gaul, the head of the bedchamber, 856 the royal eunuch, came out to me. I demanded an audience. He asked if I had a written order from your lordship. I replied that there is. He replied that they could only accept me in the consistory. I said that it was not the custom to receive bishops and that there were things about which I must seriously talk with his master in private. What else? He consulted with the princeps, but answered the same, from which it was clear that the first answer was given in agreement with him. However, I said that, although it was not consistent with our rank, I would not retreat from my duties; I like humility, especially in your business and, what is true, in the matter of brotherly love. 3. When he settled down in the consistory, I entered. He stood up to give me a kiss. I stood next to the members of the consistory. 857 They began to urge me to go up to the dais, and he called. I replied: “Why would you give a kiss to someone you don’t recognize? 858 If you recognized me, you would not see me in this place.” “You’re annoyed by this, Bishop,” he said. “I’m not offended,” I answer, “but I feel awkward because I’m standing in someone else’s place.” “And on the first embassy,” he says, “you were received in the consistory.” “That,” I say, “was not my mistake; it is not the fault of the one who came, but of the one who invited.” “So why,” he says, “did you come?” - “Because then I asked for peace for the younger, now for the equal.” - “Whose favor is this,” he says, “an equal?” “I answered: “Almighty God, who preserved for Valentinian the kingdom given to him.” 4. Finally he burst out: “Because you deceived me! And this Bauton, 859 who wanted to get the kingdom, hiding behind a boy, who even sent barbarians against me, as if I had no one to bring, despite the fact that thousands of barbarians serve me and receive support from me! If I had not been held back then, during your arrival, who could have resisted me and my strength?! 5. To this I answered gently: “You shouldn’t worry when there is no reason to worry. But listen patiently to what will be the answer to these accusations. That’s why I came because during my first embassy, ​​when you supposedly trusted me, you were already spreading rumors that I had deceived you. But I also accept this as praise for the benefit of the orphan emperor. For who, if not the orphans, should we, bishops, protect? After all, it is written: Defend the orphan, stand up for the widow, save the oppressed (Isa. 1:17). And elsewhere: Judges of widows and fathers of orphans. 860 6. However, I will not reproach Valentinian for my good deeds. To tell the truth, where did I prevent your legions from entering Italy? What rocks? What army? How many soldiers? Or did I block the Alps for you with my body? Oh, if I could! I would not be afraid of reproaches, I would not be afraid of your slander. With what promises did I deceive you so that you would agree to peace? Wasn’t it in Gaul, near the city of Motonziaka, 861 that the commit 862 Victor, whom you sent to ask for peace, met me? So in what way did Valentinian deceive you, whom you asked for peace before he asked you? In what way did Bauto deceive you, who showed loyalty to his emperor? Is it because he did not betray his princeps? 7. And how did I deceive you? When I first came, and you said that Valentinian should come to you like a son to his father, I replied that it was unfair for a boy to travel through the Alps with his widowed mother in the harsh winter; and without his mother, was it possible to let him go on such a dangerous journey? The purpose of my embassy was to negotiate peace, and not to promise its arrival. Of course, we couldn’t promise something that wasn’t entrusted to us, I certainly didn’t promise anything, so you even said: Let’s wait to see what kind of answer Victor brings. And it is clear that he reached Milan while I was held here and was denied what he demanded. They sought only to agree on peace, and not on the arrival of the emperor, who should not have set off. I was still here when Victor returned. So how did I convince Valentinian? Ambassadors again sent to Gaul, reporting that he would not come, caught me in Valence of Gaul. Returning, I came across soldiers from both sides guarding the mountain passes. So which of your troops did I hinder? Which eagles did 863 turn back from Italy? What barbarians did Comite Bauton send? 8. And what wonder if Bauto, being from beyond the Rhine, did this when you threatened the Roman state with foot and horse troops from that side of the border rampart and paid for them from the taxes of the provincials? See what the difference is between your threats and the meekness of young Valentinian Augustus. You threatened to invade Italy with troops of barbarians, Valentinian repelled the Huns and Alans approaching Gaul through the lands of Alemannia. Is there any reason for hatred if Bauton forced the barbarians to resolve a dispute with the barbarians? While you were using Roman soldiers - and they fought on both sides, against each other - in the very heart of the Roman Empire, the Jutungs were plundering Raetia, and therefore the Huns were called in against the Jutungs 864. However, when the Huns, invading from neighboring territory, crushed Alemannia and were already threatening to invade Gaul, 865 they were forced to abandon their conquests so as not to cause fear in you. Compare the actions of both: you caused the raids on Raetia, Valentinian bought peace for you with his gold. 866 9. Look also at the one who stands at your right hand, 867 whom Valentinian released to you with honor, although he could avenge his grief. For Valentinian kept him in his lands, but even at the very news of the murder of his brother, he curbed his impulse and did not repay you in kind, although, if the dignity was not equal, the degree of kinship was equal. So, compare, be a judge of everyone’s actions: he sent your brother back to you alive, but you return him at least dead! Why do you refuse your brother's remains to someone who did not refuse to help you against his own interests? 10. But you are afraid that with the return of the ashes the soldiers’ grief will resume, because that’s what you say. Will they really protect after the death of the one they left when he was alive? Why are you afraid of a dead man whom you killed, although you could have saved his life? “I,” he says, “killed my enemy.” “He is not your enemy, but you are his. He no longer needs protection, think about your own position: if someone decides to seize your power within these limits, are you his enemy or is he yours? What do you say? If I'm not mistaken, the invader starts the war, the emperor observes his rights. Why do you refuse to return the remains of someone you should not have killed? Let Emperor Valentinian receive at least the ashes of his brother as a guarantee of peace with you. And how can you claim that you did not order the death of someone whom you do not allow to be buried? Can you believe that you did not take the life of someone whom you are depriving even of burial? 11. But I will return to myself. I have heard you complain that the supporters of the Emperor Valentinian have turned to the Emperor Theodosius. What did you hope for when you demanded that the refugees be punished, and having captured them, you killed them, and Theodosius bestowed them with riches and awarded them with honors?” “Who,” he says, “did I kill?” I answered him “Vallion, 868 and what a man, what a warrior!” And wasn’t the reason for his death that he remained faithful to his emperor?” “It wasn’t me,” he says, “who ordered him to be killed.” I replied: “We heard that he was killed by order.” “But if he had not killed himself, I would have ordered him to be sent to Kabilun 869 and burned alive there.” I replied: “So that’s why they think you killed him. Who will be confident in their own safety if a brave warrior, a loyal soldier, an active commander is killed? And when I left, he said that he was ready to negotiate. 12. However, soon after this, seeing that I was avoiding the bishops who were in communion with him and demanded the murder of certain people who had apostatized from the faith, 870 annoyed by this, he ordered me to leave immediately. And I set off very willingly, although many did not believe that I would escape the ambush, saddened only by the fact that I learned about the sending into exile of the old bishop Hyginus, 871 who was already barely breathing. And, having agreed with the comites of Maximus so that they would not allow the elder to go into exile without a veil and a pillow, 872 I went into exile myself. 13. This is the report on my embassy. Be well, Emperor, and beware of the man who hides war under the cover of peace. Be healthy! 31 (Maur. 44). Ambrose Oronziano 1. You subtly noticed the prophetic, or, better to say, divine discernment; After all, Moses did not write his own, but what was put into him and revealed to him, especially with regard to the creation of the world. 873 This distinction separates the Creator from the creation. For if one was dispassionate, then the other was subject to passions. That which was dispassionate belongs to God the Creator. That which is passionate, which does not have its own soul and its own movement, but receives its movement, and soul, and image from its Creator, Moses attributed to this world. And the world could not have been created without the Pilot and remain unprotected without the Father. And therefore Moses wrote most clearly: The ruler of this visible world and its, so to speak, guardian is the invisible God. Therefore, what is invisible is eternal, and what is visible is temporary. 874 2. So, he argues that the world was created in six days - not because God, who can do what he wants in an instant, would need time to create the world, for he spoke, and they were made (Ps. 149.5) - but because what is created requires order, and order, as a rule, requires time and number. 875 And this is largely because He intended for us, for our actions, to give us a pattern, and the number of days, and times, and we need time to get down to business seriously and not to be rash in our decisions and actions, so as not to neglect order. For when we read about God that He, as Scripture testifies, created wisely, with some reasoning and thoroughness, and that first He created heaven, which is most beautiful of all, this means that we should first of all lift our eyes there, think about aspiring there, consider that this particular throne is above all earthly thrones. 876 3. So, in six days He created the world, and on the seventh day He rested from His work (Gen. 2.2). The number seven is beautiful, which we understand not like the Pythagoreans and other philosophers, 877 but according to the image and divisions of spiritual grace. For the prophet Isaiah named the seven main gifts of the Holy Spirit. 878 This septenary, like the Most Honorable Trinity itself, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is without time, without subordination, the creator of number, not bound by the law of number. So we see that just as the heavens, earth and seas, as well as the sun, moon and stars, were created by the grace of the eternal Trinity, so we see that in accordance with the same sevenfold circle of action of the divine power 879 a certain sevenfold arrangement of planets was created, 880 illuminating this world. And they say that their service corresponds to the number of stars, which are called constant, as it sounds in Greek, ἀπλανοῦς. 881 Hence the Latin name Septentrio, that is, the Seven Star, 882 because the light of seven stars shines in it and this constellation, like a leader, is believed to be followed by pilots. 883 4. This order came down from heaven to earth. 884 After all, even if we omit that we have seven entrances on our heads: 885 these are two eyes, a pair of ears and nostrils, as well as a mouth through which we enjoy taste, it is enough to mention that in the seventh month in most cases the fetus ripens in the womb, and if it is born, it is born for life, but the eighth month, according to natural law, is a forbidden time for childbirth, and if extreme necessity opens the gates womb, then this is a great danger for both the mother and the fetus. 886 5. However, the one who is born seven months old is born into suffering (Job 5:7). The one who on the eighth day 887 partakes of the resurrection sacraments is sanctified by grace and called to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Great is the grace in the sevenfold of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but in the sevenfold it sounds, it sanctifies the eightfold. In that there is sound, 888 in this there is fruit, and therefore on the eighth day the grace of the Spirit returns to heaven saved those whom their own sin once expelled from there. 6. The Old Testament knows this eight, which in Latin we call an octave; as Ecclesiastes says: Give part to those seven and even to those eight (Eccl. 11.2). The septenary belongs to the Old Testament, the octagonal - to the New, when Christ was resurrected and the day of new salvation dawned on everyone, the day about which the prophet speaks: Let us rejoice and be glad on this day, which the Lord has made (Ps. 117.24). On this day the light of complete and complete circumcision was poured into the hearts of men. 889 Therefore, the Old Testament “gave a part” to the eight in the rite of circumcision. 890 But it was still lurking in the shadows. The Sun of Truth appeared (Mal. 4.2) and, through the fulfillment of his own suffering, shone with the rays of His light, which it extended to everyone and revealed the brilliance of eternal life. 7. Therefore, these are the seven and eight of which Hosea says that with this number he found and gained for himself the fullness of faith. For it is said this way: And I went and bought it for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and an homer of barley and half an homer of wine (Hos. 3:2). 891 And above, the Lord ordered him to bring a harlot. 892 So it is clear that he brought her and indicated the price of her acquisition. Fifteen pieces of silver consist of seven and eight, and thus represent seven and eight. So, at the price of two Testaments, that is, at the price of complete faith, the prophet received the fulfillment of faith, the Church received completeness; for in the first Testament the chosen people of Israel were sought, in the second - the rest of the nations and tribes. The price of complete faith is a harlot seeking a spouse either from the pagans or from the adulterous people of the Jews, who abandoned their Lord and the Creator of the virgin faith, spreading their meetings throughout the world. 893 8. And what he said: for a homer and half a homer of barley (Hos. 3.2), - in a homer there is a full measure, in half a homer - a half, fullness in the Gospel, incompleteness in the law, as we read what the Lord says: I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill (Matt. 5.17). And in another place we read how the Lord says through the prophet Micah that then there will be peace in the land of Israel when Assur comes into his land and seven shepherds and eight bites of men rise up against him (Mic. 5.5). For then there will be complete peace among the faithful people, free from all temptations and vanities, when peace and grace drive out the vanity of this world from our hearts: the peace of the Old Testament, the grace of the New. 9. The seven shepherds are the prescriptions of the law, which became, still unreasonable, like the rod of Moses, it was led and guided through the wilderness; The eight human bites are the commandments of the Gospel and the utterances of the mouth of the Lord. Because with the heart one believes for righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses for salvation (Rom. 10:10). Good ones are bites through which we tasted the gift of eternal life, eating the remission of sins in the body of Christ. In the Old Testament, the bite of death is bitter, which is why it is said: He who has mastered death has destroyed (Is. 25:8). In the New Testament there is a sweet bite of life that has swallowed up death; therefore the apostle says: Death is swallowed up in its victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting (1 Cor. 15.55–56)? 10. Let us also use the apostolic testimonies: having created man, God rested on the seventh day from all His work (Heb. 4:4). But since the Jewish people, in their insolence, despised the commandments of God, the Lord says: They will not enter My rest (Heb. 4:3). And in another place God predetermined the day of which he says: “Today, if you hear My voice.” 894 For Scripture knows two main days, yesterday and today, about which it says: Imitate faith! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13.7-8). In the previous day there is a promise, in the next there is liberation. But since neither Moses nor Joshua brought the people into rest on yesterday, Christ brought them on today, to whom the Father said: Today I have begotten You (Ps. 2:7). For by His resurrection Jesus prepared rest for the people. After all, peace is in heaven, not on earth, our peace is the Lord Jesus, who says: Today you will be with me in paradise (Lk. 23.43). 11. So should I watch how the constellations set and rise, at the rising of which a new crop is cut, not plowed with a rough coulter, or at the setting of which a joyful harvest rests? 895 One Star is enough for me, I don’t need others: the bright and morning Star (Rev. 22.16), at the rising of which the seeds of not fruits were sown, but the seeds of the martyrs, when Rachel wept for her children (Matthew 2.18), in order to sacrifice her children, washed with tears, for Christ; 896 the setting of this Star raised from the graves not insensible bodies, but triumphant regiments of the breathing dead. 897 12. So, let the septenary be marked by the fact that through seven ages human life continues to flow until old age, as Hippocrates, the teacher of medicine, explains in his writings. The first age is infancy, the second is childhood, the third is adolescence, the fourth is adolescence, the fifth age is manhood, the sixth is maturity, the seventh is old age. Accordingly, there is a baby, a boy, a youth, a youth, a husband, an elderly person, an old man. 898 13. Solon describes ten ages, each of seven years, so that the first age, infancy, continues until the change of teeth, with which he can already eat solid food and his speech becomes intelligible; childhood continues until the age of growing up and maturation of the genital organs, adolescence - until the appearance of a beard, youth - until full strength is achieved, the fifth age - manhood, during this seventh year it is best to get married; the sixth week also refers to the age of maturity, it is characterized by both prudence of mind and strength of strength, the seventh and eighth find a person mature, in full strength of mind and endowed with pleasant speech, the ninth week still retains the remnants of strength, but both speech and mind weaken, the tenth week sets the limit, and the one who can reach it will no longer complain that he knocked untimely on the door of death. 899 14. Consequently, both Hippocrates and Solon knew seven ages or weeks of human life. The sevenfold predominates in them, but the eightfold knows one and eternal age, when we grow into a perfect man (Eph. 4.13) by the knowledge of God, by the fullness of faith, when the measure of legal age is fulfilled. 15. Also, our insides testify to the grace of the sevenfold. After all, it is known that we have seven internal organs: stomach, heart, lung, spleen, liver, two kidneys, and there are also seven external extremities of the body: head, back, stomach, two arms and two legs. 900 16. The septenary is excellent, but subject to suffering. However, who can doubt that even greater is the gift of the eight, which renewed the whole man, 901 so that nothing could suffer? So, the seventh age of the world ended, and the eightfold dawned with grace, which made man no longer of this world (John 15:19), but above the world. After all, we no longer live our lives, but Christ: For for us life is Christ, and death is gain (Phil. 1:21) and flight from sin. So, no longer in the flesh, but by faith (Gal. 2:20) we live for Christ, says the apostle. From this we conclude that the day of peace is over; at the last hour the Lord Jesus came and died for us, 902 and we all died in Him to live for God. Therefore, it is not we who were who live, but Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20). 17. So, the seven has gone, the eight has come, yesterday has gone, today has come, that today which is promised, which exhorts us to obey the voice of God and follow it. So, that day of the Old Testament has passed, a new day has come, when the New Testament is established, about which it is said: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not such a covenant as I made with their fathers at the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (Heb. 8.8-9). And he adds for what reason the covenant was changed: Because they did not continue in my covenant, and I despised them, says the Lord (Heb. 8:9). 18. The high priests of the law, the legal courts, are gone. Let us come to the new High Priest, 903 to the throne of grace, to the Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:25), the High Priest, who is not according to the law of the carnal commandment, but according to the power of unceasing life (Heb. 7:16). For He did not appropriate glory to Himself (Heb. 5:4), but was chosen by the Father, 904 as the Father Himself says: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:17). We see what the new High Priest brought: other priests made sacrifices for themselves and for their people, 905 He, having no sin, 906 to offer for Himself, offered Himself for the whole world (Heb. 9.14) and with His Blood one day entered the sanctuary (Heb. 9.12). 19. So, He is the new High Priest and the new sacrifice, not according to the law, but above the law, the Defender of the world, the Light of the world (John 8:12), who said: Behold, I come (John 22:7). And He came, let us approach Him with full faith (Heb. 10:22), worshiping, begging and hoping for Him, Whom we do not see with our eyes, but through love we hold, 907 To whom is all honor and glory always. 32 (Maur. 48). Ambrose Sabinus 1. You returned the books to me, 908 which, because of your approval, I myself will value more highly. And so I sent others, not at all anticipating praise, but counting on the impartial assessment that you promised and I asked for. I prefer to correct something based on your comments, if something bothers you, before the essay is published and there is no opportunity to withdraw it - this is better than if you praise something and others condemn it. So, I ask you for an assessment of what you ordered to send. I would like you not just to read my writings, which should be released to the people, but to weigh them with your judgment. “This trial and this red tape” will not require “long sessions,” as they said in ancient times, 909 it’s easy for you to judge ours. 2. Of course, I decided that I needed to respond to your proposal. 910 Your job is to resolutely analyze and meticulously consider what needs to be corrected, so that the errors that have crept into our essay will not be reproached to you. I don’t know how, because of a certain fog of unreason that has enveloped me, everyone is deceived by their own writings; he listens to them as if he didn’t hear; and just as children, albeit ugly ones, delight their parents, so the author’s ear is caressed by his own, albeit awkward, speeches. Often something is interpreted inattentively, something is understood more maliciously, something remains unclear. And therefore, when the works are submitted to the judgment of another, we must trust the opinion of others rather than our own, and remove all these malicious specks. 3. So, show mercy and incline your picky ear, check everything, reconsider the speeches, whether they contain not rhetorical embellishments and exhorting words, 911 but sincerity of faith and sobriety of confession. Note if there is any ambiguous word, “counterfeit coin,” that the enemy could interpret in his favor. Let him be refuted if he enters into a dispute: a book that does not convince without reinforcement is bad. Let what came out without an intermediary be responsible for itself, and we will not publish our book if your weighty judgment does not approve of it. So, when you give her the go-ahead with your trust, she will come out into the world. 4. However, since the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power (1 Cor. 4:20), if the word is mistaken in anything, question the power of confession. The confession of faith is the definition that we adhere to, having received it from our ancestors, it is directed against the Sabellians and Arians and consists in honoring the Father and His Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. This Trinity has one essence, majesty, divinity; exactly like that. in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), they baptize us, as it is written. So, the Son, co-eternal with the Father, took on flesh, was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, 912 equal to the Father in divinity, in the image of God, 913 that is, in all the fullness of the Godhead, which dwells in Him bodily (Col. 2.9), as the Apostle said, and becoming a man, He took on the form of a servant and humbled Himself even to death (Phil. 2.7-8). 5. That is why we use the same definition against Fotinus 914. And against Apollinaris 915 caution is necessary in order to confess that just as in the image of God His divine nature and fullness was in no way diminished, so in that image of man He lacked nothing in any way so that one could call Him an imperfect man; He then came to save the whole man (John 7:23). After all, it was not fitting that He, who in all other respects had completed the work perfectly, should suffer imperfection in Himself. 916 And if He lacked something, He would not have redeemed all man, and if He had not redeemed all, then He who said that He came to save all man would not be telling the truth. But since it is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18), He did not tell a lie. Consequently, since He came to redeem and save the whole man, He took on everything that was characteristic of a perfect man. 917 6. Our opinion, as you remember, is this. If words somewhere confuse you, do not let them raise doubts about faith; after all, an unshakable mind overshadows even wavering speech and protects from error. 7. This is our preface. And I will include it in the collections of our letters, if you do not object, and I will replenish their number, 918 so that they are supported by your name and so that through letters, yours to us and ours to you, our mutual love in the Lord will increase; so that you read in order to make a judgment and, if anything confuses you, write to me, for true love is tested in constancy. We now like what is easier for old people: to conduct a conversation in everyday and ordinary language, weaving into it what we find from the Divine Scriptures. Farewell, brother, and love your friend, for I love you very much too. 33 (Maur. 49). Ambrose Sabinus 1. Since you also liked our exchange of letters, in which we, although at a distance, communicate as if in person, I will more often address you in my writings and, being alone, talk with you. I am never less lonely than when I seem lonely, and I am never less idle than when I am idle. 919 I, at my discretion, invite those whom I want, and keep with me those whom I love most and whom I wish to see; no one intrudes, no one interrupts the conversation. And this is how I often hold you and talk about the Scriptures, and our conversation drags on. 2. Mary was alone, but she talked with an angel. 920 She remained alone when the Holy Spirit descended on Her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed Her (Luke 1:35). She remained alone - and brought about the salvation of the world, and conceived the Redemption of all. 921 Peter remained alone and learned the secrets of the sanctification of the pagans throughout the world. 922 Adam remained alone, but did not grumble, for he clung to God in spirit. But after a wife was given to him, he could no longer cleave to the commandments of heaven, and therefore he secluded himself when God walked in paradise. 923 3. And now God walks in paradise when I read the Divine Scriptures. Paradise is the book of Genesis, where the virtues of the patriarchs sprout, paradise is Deuteronomy, where the prescriptions of the law grow, paradise is the Gospel, where the tree of life bears good fruit (Matthew 7:17) and spreads the commandments of eternal hope to all nations. 4. And so, hearing the words love your enemies (Matt. 5.44), hearing the words “leave all that is yours and follow Me” (Matt. 19.21), hearing the words to the one who struck you on the cheek, offer the other (Luke 6.29), but not doing this and loving the one who loves me with all my might; not forgiving, if I have something, wanting to take revenge for an accepted insult and to return to myself what was taken from me, although Scripture says otherwise here, namely, that one must give in more than they asked or took away - I see that I am not acting according to the commandments of God and, opening the eyes of my conscience, I notice that right there, next to me, God is walking, I long to hide, I long to hide, but I am naked before God, before whom all things are naked and open (Heb. 4:13). And so I am ashamed and cover up shameful things, like shameful parts of my body. But since God sees everything, I, as if in a garment of leaves, although covered, am completely before Him and only think that I am hidden, being clothed in a body. These are the same leather vestments (Gen. 3.21) with which Adam was expelled from paradise, not protected either from frost or from reproach, but open to both insult and sin. 5. From this it is clear that when we are alone, then we appear before God, then we open our minds to Him, then we remove the veil of lies. Adam was alone when he settled in paradise, 924 he was alone when he was created in the image of God (Gen. 1.27), but he was not alone when he was expelled from paradise. Alone was the Lord Jesus when he redeemed the world; for it was not a messenger or a messenger, but the Lord Himself who saved His people (Isa. 63.9), although He is never alone in Whom the Father always abides. Therefore, let us also remain alone, so that the Lord may remain with us. Forgive and love us, for we love you. 34 (Maur. 45). Ambrose Sabinus 1. After reading “Six Days,” 925, you decided to ask if I added something of my own when speaking about heaven, and said that you were eager to know what my idea of it was. I wrote about this a long time ago, before I was an elderly bishop. 926 2. However, I know that most people have different ideas about heaven. Thus, Josephus, 927 being a historiographer, says that this is a place overgrown with trees and numerous bushes and irrigated by a river, which is divided into four streams. 928 For the earth, gathered together at the division of the waters, 929 was not exhausted to the depths and was not deprived of moisture, but even now it spouts springs and brings out streams of rivers with which it nourishes its children, like a good mother with breast milk. 3. Others judge differently. However, everyone agrees that in paradise both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, distinguishing between good and evil, are rooted, as well as other trees full of power, life-giving, breathing and intelligent. 930 Of these, paradise itself is composed, not the earthly one that could be seen, not on some continent, but in our dominant part of the soul, 931 which is animated and enlivened by its virtues and the penetration of the Spirit of God. 4. Thus, Solomon in the spirit clearly proclaimed that paradise is in man himself, and he expressed these secrets of the soul and the Word, or Christ and the Church, speaking of the virgin soul or the Church, 932 whom he wanted to present to Christ as a pure virgin (2 Cor. 11.2): A reserved garden, my sister my bride, a reserved garden, a sealed spring (Song. 4.12). 5. In Greek paradisus, and we translate “garden”. 933 So Susanna was in the garden 934 (and the Latin text says paradisus), and Adam was there. 935 Therefore, do not be confused by the fact that in some manuscripts there is a “garden”, and in others a Greek word. 6. Therefore, the chaste wife 936 is in the same place as the virgin, although the chosen virgin has her own seals and seals. But both are in paradise, so that they can hide from the heat of the body and the burning of the flesh in the cool shadow of virtues. 7. Consequently, heaven is in our dominant part of the soul, it gives shoots of many judgments. In it God especially established the tree of life (Gen. 2.9), that is, the root of piety, for this is the substance of our life, if we offer appropriate honors to the Lord and our God. 937 8. He also confirmed the source of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2.9). For of all living beings, only man is endowed with the knowledge of good and evil. There are also many other various plants, the fruits of which are virtues. 9. But since God knew the inherent desire for knowledge in man: that it would rather be inclined towards cunning than to reach the heights of prudence - for the qualities inherent in His creation could not be hidden from the Judge, who set clear boundaries for our soul, - He, as the perspicacious Creator of our salvation and our life, decided to expel cunning from paradise and implant pious striving and teaching. 938 Therefore, He commanded man that one may eat from every tree that is in paradise, but one should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2.16-17). 10. But since all creation is subject to passion, pleasure crept into human feelings like a snake. And therefore it is no coincidence that Saint Moses depicted pleasure, likening it to a snake; for it, like a snake, drags along the ground on its belly, not resting on its legs and not rising with the help of its legs, but moving in the sinuous sliding of its entire flexible body. 939 For him, the earth is food, like for a serpent, for he does not know the food of heaven. After all, pleasure feeds on the body and changes into various images of passions, twisting into bizarre rings. There is poison in his teeth, and everyone who is devoted to excess torments his insides, the reveler kills himself, the glutton kills himself. How many have been destroyed by wine, weakened by drunkenness, and exhausted by indigestion! 940 11. Now I understand why the Lord Jesus 941 blew into the face (Gen. 2.7) of a man - for there are all the senses, there is the refuge and bait of pleasure, in the eyes, nostrils and lips: to strengthen our feelings against pleasure. 942 Therefore, it is precisely this that, like a serpent, pours cunning into us; for it is not pleasure, but labor and daily meditation with the grace of God that gives perfect prudence. 12. However, since subsequent generations of the human race were entangled in the lies of the serpent, we will also follow the serpent’s cunning in not exposing our head to danger, but preserving it intact. Our head is Christ (1 Cor. 11:3). Let her remain unharmed so that the snake’s poison cannot harm us. 943 For wisdom is good with an inheritance (Ecc. 7:11), that is, with faith, because this is the inheritance of those who believe in the Lord. 13. And if that first man could have stumbled so easily, who talked with God while in paradise, 944 which was created from virgin clay, which only recently, according to the word of God, took on image and form; and the blood of this man had not yet mixed with the criminal blood of the other 945 and had not been defiled by vice and shame, and our flesh had not yet been condemned to damnation in all its inheritance - especially later, when the worst generation in the succession of births succeeded the better, the slippery path, directed towards sin, easily led the human race to the very abyss. 946 14. After all, if a magnet stone has such a natural force that it attracts iron to itself and transforms itself into its form, so that, as many have experienced, when several iron rings are brought to this stone, it attracts them all equally, then, if another ring is brought closer to the ring that the stone attracted, and so on in order, then the natural force of the stone will permeate the entire row, but the magnet attracts the first rings more strongly, the subsequent ones weaker, the more natural ones The properties of the human race in each subsequent, more sinful generation descend from the purest state to a worse state. 947 15. After all, if in these substances, not subject to sin, nature weakens, then all the more is its strength exhausted in souls and bodily joints, defiled by the destruction of crimes! Therefore, when evil multiplied, innocence was destroyed, there was no one who would do good, there was not one (Ps. 13.3), the Lord came to restore the dignity of nature and even increase it, so that where sin abounded, grace would abound (Rom. 5.20). From here it is clear that the Creator of man is God and that God is one, not many gods, but one. Who created the world, and also the only one, not many worlds, as philosophers say. 948 16. So, first He created the world, then the inhabitant of the world, to whom the whole world would be a home. 949 Indeed, today, wherever the sage comes, he is everywhere a citizen, everywhere he sees his own, nowhere does he feel like a stranger, nowhere does he consider himself a guest - especially since that first man was an inhabitant of the world and, as the Greeks say, κοσμοπολίτης, a recent creation of God, His eternal interlocutor, 950 fellow citizen of the saints ( Eph. 2.19), filled with virtues, placed over all animals of the earth, sea, and wings. He considered the whole world to be his possession, 951 he is the one whom the Lord kept as His creation and did not abandon as a good Parent and Creator. And He loved His creation so much that He redeemed him, who had renounced him, again accepted him who had been exiled, and resurrected the dead through the suffering of His Only Begotten Son. Consequently, the creator of man is God, and the good Worker loves His work, and the good Father does not abandon the one whom, like a rich father of a family, he redeemed at the price of His inheritance. 17. So, let us beware lest this man, that is, νοῦν, the mind, that woman, 952 that is, passion, itself deceived and seduced by the pleasure of our feelings, make it effeminate and, having seduced, subordinate it to its laws and judgments. Let us avoid pleasure like a snake! He has many tricks, and most of all - against people. For other living beings are caught by greed for food, and a person, the more senses he has, both visual and auditory, is exposed to greater dangers. Forgive and love us as you do now, for we love you. 35 (Maur. 83). Ambrose Sisinnia 1. The fact that you, at my request, forgave our son, who took a wife without consulting you, I attribute rather to your parental piety than to love for us, for piety can be expected from you rather than fulfilling anyone’s commands. Of course, a clergyman achieves more when virtue abounds, for the clergyman’s request is a lesson in piety. Therefore, nature demanded it, the son demanded it, especially since reflection on a request is usually temporary, but the habit of virtue and the goodwill of souls are long-lasting. 2. So, it’s wonderful that you again recognized your father in yourself, although your indignation was justified. I prefer to admit guilt - to the greater glory of parental indulgence. But the paternal feeling itself was offended, because you, at your own discretion, should have chosen the one who was supposed to take the place of your daughter, the one to whom you were supposed to become the father. For we receive children either by nature or by election. By nature - by chance, by election - with reasoning, and we are more picky about adopted children than about our own ones, because if our own children are unlucky, we attribute this to nature, but if children adopted by adoption or thanks to some other ties are unworthy, we attribute this to our mistake. Therefore, you had reason to be angry with your son. But there was also a reason to forgive him for choosing a wife: you had a daughter without the danger of making the wrong choice. If he took a good wife, then he found grace for you; if he made a mistake, then by accepting you will make them better, by rejecting them you will make them worse. 3. Of course, the reasoning is more mature when the girl is handed over to the son by the father, but one can expect greater respect if the son brings her to the father, and the one chosen by the husband enters the father-in-law’s house, because both the son will be afraid of making a mistake in his judgment, and the daughter-in-law in her behavior. This one was elevated and confirmed by the preference of the father's choice, this one is humbled by the fear of offending, softened by timidity. And if some kind of resentment suddenly arises, the son will not be able to blame only his wife, as if he himself was not involved - as happens. Moreover, he will try to ensure that both his choice of wife and his own obedience win approval. 4. So, you acted like a good father, quickly forgiving your son, but you did it by yielding to the request. After all, before you were asked, it would not have been forgiveness, but approval of what you had done. To delay forgiveness any longer would be unpleasant both for you and for them; the father's heart could not bear it any longer. 5. In an outburst of supreme piety, Abraham, by the will of God, brought his son to the altar as a burnt offering and, as if alien to his father’s nature, raised a sword over him so that delay would not devalue the sacrifice. 6. However, when he was ordered to leave his son, he joyfully hid the sword and, having just prepared to slay his only begotten son for the sake of faith, hastened with even greater pious zeal to sacrifice the ram. 953 7. Likewise, Joseph, in order to keep his younger brother, pretended to be angry in front of his brothers and made up a false accusation of theft. And although he was irritated, when one of the brothers, Judas, fell to his knees and everyone else was sobbing, he, defeated and broken by brotherly love, could no longer feign sternness and, having removed the judges, revealed to the brothers that they were his relatives, and that he himself was Joseph, whom they sold, and that he did not remember the insult and his pain from the betrayal of his brothers forgives them and attributes what happened to reasons of a higher order, for this was how it should have been according to God's providence: so that he would come to Egypt and feed his needy people with other people's fruits, so that during the famine he would help his father and his sons. 954 8. What can we say about Saint David, who, at the request of one woman, softening his spirit with the dictates of his father’s heart, accepted into his home an unworthy son who had forgotten about brotherly blood? 955 9. And that evangelical father, who caressed the returning youngest son, who lived dissolutely and squandered all the property 956 received from his father, bowed by just one of his humbly spoken words, the confession that he had sinned against his father, in an outburst of fatherly love, came out to meet him, and fell on his neck (Luke 15:20), and ordered to bring his best robe, and a ring, and shoes, and honored him with a kiss, presented him with gifts, and took him to a wonderful feast. 957 10. You too have shown yourself to be their imitator in fatherly love, by which we become like God. And therefore I convinced our daughter that she should undertake the labor of the winter journey, in order to better spend the winter not only in hospitality, but also in fatherly love, for indignation has already been replaced by grace, so that, completely becoming like and imitating the saints, you would expose those who, having invented lies, decided to harden your soul against your children. Sabinus was the bishop of Placentia (now Piacenza, Italy), he participated in the Council of Aquileia in 381 (cf.: Act. conc. Aquil. 1. 10. 37. 38. 58). The letter dates from the beginning of 395. We are talking about St. Pavlina Nolansky. He was born in Burdigal (modern Bordeaux, France) in 353 into a wealthy senatorial family. Having been baptized in 390, he and his wife Therasia decided to leave the world. Peacock first retired to Spain, where in 394 he was ordained a priest. After some time he moved to Italy, and St. Ambrose accepted him into the Mediolan clergy. In 395, Paulinus and Therasia settled in Nola, where in 409 Paulinus was elected bishop. He died in 435. 35 of his poems have survived. St.'s wife Pavlina Terazia. Wed. in Ausonius (epist. 24 and 25) and in St. Pavlin Polyansky (carm. 10 and 11). See: Mk. 8.38; Matt. 10.33: Luke. 9.26. Wed. in Cicero, Mur. 6. 13: Multarum deliciarum comes est extrema sal- latio. Perhaps there is a play on the meaning of the word luxus - luxury; dislocation, displacement. – Note. ed. Bishop of Aquileia (December 388–407/408), participated in the Council of Aquileia in the rank of presbyter (Act. conc. Aquil. 45.51). Maintained relations with the blessed one. Hieronymus of Stridon and Rufinus of Aquileia. This letter probably dates to 389–390. (see: Banterle. R. 261, not.). Terah, Abraham's father, and his entire family left Ur of the Chaldeans (see: Gen. 11.31). See: Number. 22. 12–19. Wed. also in Philo of Alexandria (Mos. 1.48.267–268). Wed. in Philo (Mos. 49.274). Wed. in Philo (Mos. 1.50.278–279). Wed. in Philo (Mos. 1.51.281). Wed. in Philo (Mos. 1.52.289–290). See: Number. 25.1 et seq.; 31. 16, and also: Rev. 2.14. Wed. in Virgil, Aen. 3. 621 nec uisu facilis neе dictu affabilis ulti. Wed. in Philo (Mos. 1.53.294 – 54.298). Since marriage was prohibited in Manichaeism, which contrasted the light principle in man with dark matter, prodigal sins were widespread there. Emperor Theodosius issued three decrees directed against the Manichaeans (372, 389, 391). Wed: Number. 25. 7–13. We are talking about Phinehas, who pierced an Israelite with a spear along with the woman with whom he was caught See: Gen. 24. 63–64: Isaac went out into the field to meditate. See also: Isaac (788) 1. Book "Six Days" by St. Ambrose was completed c. 387 See: Philo (opif. mund 25.77). Wed: Matt. 22.4; OK. 14. 16. Compare: Eph. 1. 18. Wed. also in Philo (opif. mund. 25.78). Compare: hymn 6. 2: micantium astrorum globos. Following the example of Ap. Pavla, sdt. Ambrose resorts to the same image of the athlete. Wed: interp. lob. 2. 3. 7; exam. 6. 1. 1. Wed: Ref. 32.6 (episode with the golden calf). Wed: Ref. 16. 11–15 (episode with the quails that God sent to feed the Jewish people). Wed. in Philo, opif. mund. 27. 82: “Having decided to combine the beginning and the end in the emerging [entities], God [chose] the necessary and the most beloved and made heaven the beginning, and man the end” (see: Philo of Alexandria Interpretations of the Old Testament / Translation and commentary by A. V. Vdovichenko, M. G. and V. E. Vitkovsky, O. L. Levinskaya. M., 2000). According to biblical cosmology, the sky is a firmamentum (firmamentum), separating the water that is under the firmament from the water that is above the firmament (cf. Gen. 1:7). Ap. Paul, in his speech on the Areopagus, quotes a hemistich of Aratus, a third-century author. BC e. (see: phaenom. 5). Wed. in Philo, opif. mund. 25. 77: “God, having endowed man with a reasonable relationship to Himself, which was the most beautiful of gifts, did not deny anything to other creatures, but to man, as the most dear and beloved creature, he prepared everything in the world, desiring that immediately after his appearance he would not need anything - neither for life, nor for a virtuous life, of which the first is ensured by the abundance and abundance of what is consumed in food, and the second - contemplation of the heavenly, struck by which the mind rushes to the heavenly and longs to know it.” Wed: epist. II. and also in Plotinus (cnn. 1. 6. 6–11). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 26.79). Wed. in Cicero (tusc. 4. 37–38). See: Eph. 2. 15–16. Wed. also in Philo (opif mund. 26.81). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 29.79). Wed. in Philo, opif. mund. 28.83: “Of all that arose, man had to be the last so that, unexpectedly appearing at the end, he could amaze all other living beings.” νοῦς - mind. (Greek) At St. Ambrose νοῦς is practically equal to the soul, cf. properties of the soul described by Cicero (tusc. 1. 66–68). – Note. ed. Compare: 1 Peter. 1. 8 . Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 23.69). Literally, “to comprehend the Letheian”: Letheia is an underground river, the water of which gave oblivion to the dead. Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 23.69). “Non-wandering planets” is a play on words. Planet - from Greek. πλανάω to wander. This definition applies to permanent stars like Vesper and Arcturus. Wed. in Cicero (nat. deor. 2. 20. 51), as well as: exam. 4. 4. 16. Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 23.71). Wed. in Virgil, ecl. 9. 31: Sic cytiso pastae distendant ubera uaccae. Wed. in Ovid, ecl. 1. 124: pressique iugo gemuere iuuenci. Wed. in Virgil, georg. 3. 117: insultare solo et gressus glomerare superbos. Wed. y Philo, opif. mund. 28.86: “Likewise, a horse, a very capricious animal, easily allows a bridle to be put on itself... and even, in order to sit comfortably on it, arches its back, accepting the rider.” Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 28. 87–88). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 51.147). Wed: 2 Kings 1. 3–17; 2.11. Emperor Valentinian II (371–392). The letter was probably written towards the end of 384, when Valentinian was 13 years old. Obviously, the actual addressee was Empress Justina. – Note. ed. After the death of Emperor Gratian, who was killed on August 25, 383 by Andragathius, the commander of the usurper Maximus Magnus, St. Ambrose went to Maxim to negotiate peace and stop his advance. The first embassy can be dated to late autumn, as indicated by the expression aspero hiemis in § 7. Cf. also: obit. V.28. Magnus Maximus is a commander who in 383 raised an uprising in Britain against Emperor Gratian. Subsequently he was defeated by Emperor Theodosius and killed in Aquileia on August 28, 388. For the second embassy, see obit. V. 28. The second embassy is dated differently: in the fall of 384, in the summer or autumn of 386. Since we are talking about the transfer of the remains of Gratian, the first dating seems more likely. Perfectum praesens in letters is found in St. Ambrose quite often, in the same letter § 9. see also: cpisi 41, 43, 47. – Note. ed. Wed. in Virgil. Aen 10. 630–631: ant ego ueri / uana feror. Augusta Treu rorum, now Trier (Germany). Praepositus sacri cubiculi – Cuvicular, a court office in the late Roman Empire. See Ammianus Marcellinus (res gest. 18 4. 2–7). With onsistorium sacrum since the time of Emperor Diocletian - consistory, the highest state council under the emperor. It necessarily included four courtiers who occupied key positions: magister officiorum, quaestor sacri palatii, comes sacrarum largitionum and comes rerum priuatarum, as well as courtiers who belonged to the category of uiri spectabiles and called comites consistoriani. That is, Maxim did not show due respect for the episcopal rank. Bauton was a commander, a Frank by birth, who held the position of magister peditum at the court of Valentinian, consul in 385. His daughter Eudoxia became the wife of Emperor Arcadius. Mogontsiak, modern Mainz am Rhein. Comite - an official in the late Roman Empire. Eagles are the standards of the Roman army. The Yutungs are a people attributed to either the Germans or the Goths and lived along the banks of the Danube. This refers to Cisalpine Gaul (modern Northern Italy). – Note. ed. Apparently Emperor Valentinian had to pay the Huns to leave the conquered areas. This refers to Maxim's brother. Marcellinus (see: Faller. R. 212). Wed. in the panegyrist Pakat Drepaniya, paneg. TheocL 35. 1: Maicellinus...frater tyranni. Vallio held the position of comes militaris under the Emperor Gratian and was loyal to him to the end. Wed. at Pacat, paneg. Theod. 28.4 (there it is called Balio). Cabylunnum - now the city of Chalon-sur-Saone (France). At this time, the trial of the Iriscilians was underway in Treviri. Priscillian was convicted in the spring of 385 and executed along with his followers. Bishop of Cordoba, first a persecutor, then a follower of Priscillian. See Sulpicius Severus (chron. 2.47). Obviously, this refers to the details of the equipment of the cart in which the elderly bishop was to ride. Wed: 2 Cor. 4.18. See Philo of Alexandria (opif. mund. 2.8–9). In this letter to St. Ambrose places large quotations from this work of Philo. Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 3.13). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 33.100). Wed: Is. 11. 2–3: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of God will fill it. This refers to the seven days of creation. In Antiquity, there were seven “planets” - the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 38.113). Septentrio, usually pl. septentriones, is the constellation Ursa Major. The word itself means "seven bulls", from the archaic trio, onis; Wed in Varro (ling. lat. 7. 74–75). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 39.114). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 40.117). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 40.119). Wed. in Philo (opif mund. 41.124). This refers to Easter, when the catechumens received Baptism (see: Banterle. R. 303, not. 12). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 41.125). Wed: Col. 2. 11, 12. This refers to Baptism, which replaced the Old Testament circumcision. Wed: Gen. 17.12. The point is that the baby was circumcised on the eighth day. Homer is a measure of volume equal to 220 liters. Wed. in Arnobius (adu. nat. 2.70.4). Wed. in Philo, opif. mund. 39.115: “Their ascents and concealments for everyone become the cause of numerous benefits. After all, when they set, the furrows are plowed for sowing, and when they are about to rise, [thereby] they announce the harvest, and having risen, they raise the rejoicing farmers to gather the necessary [fruits].” This refers to the infants of Bethlehem killed by Herod. Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 36.105). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 35.104). Wed. by Clement of Alexandria (ström. 6. 16. 3–6). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 40.118). Wed: 2 Cor. 4.16; Col. 3.10. It is unknown what books we are talking about. Judging by the argument proposed in § 4, this may be the treatise On Faith, the first two books of which were completed in 378, the remaining three in 380. Wed. in Cicero (fam. 3.9.2). Inuitato tuo - MS. in Cicero (fam. 7. 5. 2). See: expi. syml. 3. 15–16. Photinus, Bishop of Sirmium, was convicted and deposed in 351 for Trinitarian errors. Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea, adhering to the trichotomous anthropological model, recognized human flesh and soul in Christ, but the human mind in Christ, according to Apollinaris, was replaced by the Divine Logos. – Note. ed. This remark helps to understand the principles that guided St. Ambrose when publishing his letters. Wed: off. 3. 1. 2; uirgb. 2.2. 10, and also in Cicero, off 3.1.1: ...numquamse minus otiosum esse quam cum otiosus, nec minus solum quam cum solus esset. Wed. exp. Luc. 2.8; also: uirgt. 2. 2. 10. Wed: Acts. 10.9; 11. 12–18. This refers to Josephus. Wed: antiq. iud. 1. 37–38. Wed. in Philo of Alexandria, opif. mund. 54. 153–154: “In the divine garden, all the plants were living and intelligent, the fruit of which were virtues, as well as incorruptible intelligence and understanding.” In a word principale St. Ambrose will convey the term ἡγεμονική, which goes back to Stoicism, meaning the “leading,” rational part of the soul. These are the two most common interpretations of the Song of Songs, see the treatise of St. Ambrose "On Isaac or the Soul." The word παράδεισος is of Persian origin and became widespread in the Greek language thanks to Xenophon (see: anab. 1. 2. 7, etc.), who used this word to describe the parks of the Persian kings. – Note. ed. The chaste Susanna, like the bride from the Song of Songs, is in the garden (or paradise). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 54.154). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 55.155). Wed: Gen. 3.14. See Philo (opif. mund. 56.157). Wed. in Philo, opif. mund. 56.159: “Intemperance in food is by nature deadly and full of poison, since it disrupts digestion with a constant influx of more and more new food before the previous one has had time to be digested.” In Gen. 2.7 says “Lord God.” St. Ambrose argues from the standpoint of the triadological teachings of his era. Wed: exam. 6. 7. 40. Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 48.139). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 49.148). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 49.141). Philo's source is Plato (Ion, 533d), (see: Banterle. P. 325, not. 23). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 49.170). Wed. in Seneca (epist. 102.21). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 49.142). Wed. in Philo (opif. mund. 59. 165: “The mind in us plays the role of a man, and the role of a woman is feeling. Pleasure initially meets and enters into communication with the feelings, through which the dominant mind deceives”). You might be interested in: