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Life of St Ambrose
Paulinus the Deacon, tr. Kaniecka, 1928
His Favor Prevails Over Theodosius, Whom on Account of the Massacre of the Citizens of…
Now when Maximus had been executed and the emperor Theodosius was at Milan and Bishop Ambrose was at Aquileia, in the regions of the East, in a certain fortified city, the Jewish synagogue and a grove of the Valentinians were burned by the Christians because either the Jews or the Valentinians had insulted the Christian monks; for the Valentinian heretics worship thirty gods. And the Count of the East sent a report of the act to the emperor, who, when he received it, ordered the synagogue to be rebuilt by the bishop of the place and, moreover, that punishment be exacted of the monks. But when the tenor of this order had reached the ears of the venerable man, Bishop Ambrose, he despatched a letter to the emperor because he himself was unable to hasten forth at that time, in which he requested of him that what had been decreed by him should be recalled, and stated that an audience should be reserved for himself by him, who, if he were unworthy to be heard by him, would also be unworthy to be heard in his behalf by the Lord or to whomever he should entrust his entreaties and prayers; furthermore, that he was prepared to undergo death for such a matter, lest by his negligence he might make an apostate out of the emperor, who had given such unjust orders against the Church.
However, after he had returned to Milan and when the emperor was present in the church, he preached in the presence of the people on this same subject. In this discourse he introduced the person of our Lord as speaking to the emperor: “I made you emperor from the lowest, I delivered the army of your enemy to you, I gave to you the troops which he had prepared as his army against you, I brought your enemy into your power, I placed one of your seed on the throne of the empire, I made you triumph without labor, and do you give triumphs to my enemies over me?” The emperor said to him as he descended from the pulpit: “You spoke against us today, bishop.” But he answered that he had not spoken against him but for him. Then the emperor said: “Truly, I gave a stern command to the bishop on the restoration of the synagogue, moreover that punishment must be exacted of the monks.” So too was it reported by the counts who were present at the time. The bishop said to them: “I now treat, of course, with the emperor, but with you I must treat otherwise.” And so he contrived that the orders which had been given should be recalled, and he said he would not approach the altar unless the emperor should show by his promise that he ought to go on. And the bishop said to him: “Shall I therefore go on, with your promise?” The emperor answered: “Go on, with my promise.” After this solemn promise had been repeated the bishop now, without anxiety, performed the divine mysteries. These things, however, were written in a letter which he sent to his sister, and in it he enclosed the sermon which he preached on that same day about the staff of the nut tree which is described as having been seen by the prophet Jeremias.
At the same time on account of the city of Thessalonica no little distress came upon the bishop, when he learned that that city had been almost wiped out. For the emperor had promised him that he would grant pardon to the citizens of the above mentioned city, but when the counts had consulted secretly with the emperor without the knowledge of the bishop the city was given to the sword for almost three hours and many innocent were slain. When the bishop learned of this deed he refused the emperor any opportunity of entering the church, nor did he judge him worthy of union with the church or of the participation in the sacraments, before he should do public penance. On the other hand, the emperor declared to him that David had committed adultery and also homicide. But straightway the reply was given: “You who have followed him as he sinned, follow him as he corrected himself.” When the most merciful emperor heard this he so took it to heart that he did not scorn public penance, and the progress of this correction prepared for him a favorable victory.
At the same time two of the most powerful and wisest men of the Persians, because of the fame of the bishop, came to Milan, bringing with them many questions that thereby they might make trial of wisdom of the great man, and with him they argued through an interpreter from the first hour of the day until the third hour of the night, and they went away full of wonder. And to show that they had come for no other reason than really to get better acquainted with the man of whom they had heard of by report, on the next day bidding farewell to the emperor they set out for the city of Rome, wishing there to become acquainted with the power of the illustrious man Probus; and when they had become acquainted with it they returned to their own home.