Bishop and Empire: Ambrose of Milan and the Roman Empire in the 4th Century

See also: Letters to Valentian against the restoration of the altar to the Victory of St. Ambrose of Milan The book by M. M. Kazakov, candidate of historical sciences, covers one of the most interesting and dramatic eras in the history of world civilization - the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the 4th century. The author focuses on the personality of the father of the church, an outstanding politician, bishop and writer Ambrose of Milan, one of the key figures in almost all the turbulent political events that took place in the West in the last quarter of the 4th century. The book includes many excerpts from the works of Ambrose and other late antique authors, a significant part of which is published in Russian for the first time. The book is intended for specialist historians, students, graduate students, and is also intended for a wide range of readers interested in antiquity and the history of religions. How deplorable and woeful is the very brevity of life for us! The youth desires to reach the years of youth, the youth thinks about the perfect age, and being dissatisfied with the flourishing years, he desires the respect of the old. And so, by nature, we all desire change: for everything present is unpleasant to us. And even our very desires, when fulfilled, do not please us, and what we wanted to receive, having received it, we turn away. Ambrose of Milan. About the hope of resurrection. The 4th century was the most interesting time in Roman history. It began with the last years of the reign of Emperor Diocletian, who, at the cost of incredible efforts, managed to pull the Roman Empire out of a severe crisis and delay the final fall of the ancient world for almost two centuries. And 5 years before the end of the 4th century, after the death of the last great Roman emperor Theodosius, the Great Empire was divided into Western and Eastern and was never reborn as a single whole. The agony of the Empire was long and painful, and 476 is considered only a conditional date of its death, when the leader of the German tribe of the Sciri, Odoacer, deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus (by an evil irony of fate, he bore the name of the founder and first king of Rome and the derogatory nickname “Augustus”, derived from the title of the first Roman emperor) and sent the signs of imperial dignity to Constantinople. But before the Empire was engulfed by a deadly disease, it gave birth to a wonderful child, who was destined to survive not only the death of the ancient World, but also all subsequent eras. This creation, which arose from the ruins of antiquity and gradually conquered the whole world, today unites almost a third of the entire population of the globe around faith in Christ. The 4th century in terms of significance for the fate of Christianity and its further history can be placed in second place after the time of Christ himself and the age of the Apostles. This is the time of the legalization of the Christian religion, its spread in breadth and depth, and the final triumph of the Church over all other religions. This is the time of the formalization of Christian doctrine and the final composition of all parts of the New Testament. This is the time of the formation of the institution of the Christian church with all its attributes and its transformation into the most important economic, ideological and political force in society. Finally, this is a time of vigorous activity of outstanding Christian leaders - the fathers of the church, whose authority for all Christians can only be compared with the authority of the Holy Scripture itself and whose works have become classics of Christian literature. Among the church fathers of the 4th century, who adorned the church building with their great deeds, righteous works and wise writings, stands the name of Ambrose of Milan. The significance of this outstanding personality is not limited to the history of Christianity, although Ambrose was, first of all, a bishop, and after his death he was canonized. His multifaceted activity is inseparable from the political history of the 4th century, full of dramatic and vibrant events that gave the life of a church minister a special “worldly” flavor. In the personality of Ambrose, who lived at the end of antiquity, one can see features characteristic of both the “best of the Romans” - the heirs of the heroic past of the eternal city and the state it created, and the “holy fathers” of the medieval West. Ambrose's significance goes far beyond the 4th century, and his popularity in Italy and especially in Milan is so great that the bishop's profile was minted on coins, a basilica, a library, a gallery and even a bank were named after him; Moreover, his name has become a household name, and in modern Italian the word ambrosiano is used to describe the Milanese. The history of the growth and formation of the Christian Church in the 4th century, its struggle against heresies and paganism, the formation of relations between church and state, the activities and creativity of the church father Ambrose of Milan were the subject of the closest attention of researchers and were carefully studied in both church and secular historiography. In 1981, a bibliographic index of books and articles dedicated to Ambrose was published in Milan, as well as general works that in one way or another touch upon problems related to him 1 . This index covers publications from the last hundred years and includes the titles of approximately 2,350 studies by 1,425 authors! However, out of the entire abundance of these works, 4 works stand out, which are the undisputed leaders in foreign ambrosial studies, the authors of which are G. Kampenhausen 2, J. R. Palank 3, F. X. Daddep 4 and A. Paredi 5. These works cover almost all sources related to Ambrose, set out all the events associated with him, provide a broad historical background against which the bishop’s life took place, and represent a kind of encyclopedia of national historiography on Ambrose, most often cited in the literature 6 . In Russian literature, Ambrose was completely undeservedly ignored by researchers, and Russian-language titles in the Milan bibliographic index account for less than 1%. Only two Russian researchers thoroughly studied Ambrose at the beginning of the 20th century. – G.V. Prokhorov 7 and I.I. Adamov 8 . Since then, no significant works on Ambrose have been published in Russian, and his name remains almost unknown to the modern reader. The purpose of this book is to fill this unfortunate and unfair gap. Cento anni di bibliografia ambrosiano (1874–1974)/. A cura di P.F.Beatrice (et al.) – Milano, 1981. Campenhausen, H. von. Ambrosius von Mailand als Kirhenpolitiker. – Berlin & Leipzig, 1929. Palanque J.-R. Saint Ambroise et l'empire romain. – Paris, 1933. Dudden F. H. The Life and Times of Saint Ambrose. – Oxford, 1935. Paredi A. Sant'Ambrogio e la sua eta. – Milano, 1941. An abridged translation of this book into Russian, published abroad, recently appeared. Prokhorov G.V. Moral teaching of St. Ambrose of Milan. - St. Petersburg, 1912. The same author owns a translation into Russian of one of Ambrose’s most significant works, “On the Duties of the Clergy.” – Kazan, 1908. (Reprint: Moscow – Riga: “Blagovest”, 1995). Adamov I. I. St. Ambrose of Milan. – Sergiev Posad, 1915. The main part of this extensive work is devoted to the study of the dogmatic views of Ambrose. While this book was being prepared for publication, an interesting monograph by Oxford University graduate Neil McLynn was published in the United States. "Ambrose of Milan. Church and Court in the Christian Capital" (University of California Press, 1994). For more information, see the Epilogue.