Editing Ambrose (section)

== Character ==
In 1994, Neil B. McLynn wrote a complex study of Ambrose that focused on his politics and was intended to "demonstrate that Ambrose viewed community as a means to acquire personal political power". Subsequent studies of how Ambrose handled his episcopal responsibilities, his Nicene theology and his dealings with the Arians in his episcopate, his pastoral care, his commitment to community, and his personal asceticism, have mitigated this view.{{sfn|Smith|2021|pp=3-4}}{{sfn|Mediolanensis|2005|pp=4-5}} 
[[File:Museo del Duomo - Milan - St Ambrose of Milan - Unknown Lombard author (early 17 century).jpg|thumb|200px|Statue of Saint Ambrose with a scourge in Museo del Duomo, Milan. Unknown Lombard author, early 17th century.]]
All of Ambrose's writings are works of advocacy for Nicene Christianity, and even his political views and actions were closely related to his religion.{{sfn|Mediolanensis|2005|p=5}} He was rarely, if ever, concerned about simply recording what had happened; he did not write to reveal his inner thoughts and struggles; he wrote to advocate for his God.{{sfn|Mediolanensis|2005|p=4}} Boniface Ramsey writes that it is difficult "not to posit a deep spirituality in a man" who wrote on the mystical meanings of the ''Song of Songs'' and wrote many extraordinary hymns.{{sfn|Ramsey|2002|pp=ix-x}} Despite an abiding spirituality, Ambrose had a generally straightforward manner, and a practical rather than a speculative tendency in his thinking.{{sfn|Ramsey|2002|p=1}} ''De Officiis'' is a utilitarian guide for his clergy in their daily ministry in the Milanese church rather than "an intellectual ''tour de force''".{{sfn|Davidson|1995|p=315}}

Christian faith in the third century developed the monastic lifestyle which subsequently spread into the rest of Roman society in a general practice of virginity, voluntary poverty and self-denial for religious reasons. This lifestyle was embraced by many new converts, including Ambrose, even though they did not become actual monks.{{sfn|Ramsey|2002|p=9}}

The bishops of this era had heavy administrative responsibilities, and Ambrose was also sometimes occupied with imperial affairs, but he still fulfilled his primary responsibility to care for the well-being of his flock. He preached and celebrated the Eucharist multiple times a week, sometimes daily, and dealt directly with the needs of the poor, as well as widows and orphans, "virgins" (nuns), and his own clergy. He replied to letters personally, practised hospitality, and made himself available to the people.{{sfn|Ramsey|2002|pp=5-6}} 
[[File:Saint Ambrose in His Study 1.jpg|thumb|''Saint Ambrose in His Study'', {{circa|lk=no|1500}}. Spanish, Palencia. Wood with traces of polychromy. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City.]]
Ambrose had the ability to maintain good relationships with all kinds of people.{{sfn|Smith|2021|p=2}} Local church practices varied quite a bit from place to place at this time, and as the bishop, Ambrose could have required that everyone adapt to his way of doing things. It was his place to keep the churches as united as possible in both ritual and belief.{{sfn|Mediolanensis|2005|p=6}} Instead, he respected local customs, adapting himself to whatever practices prevailed, instructing his mother to do the same.{{sfn|Ramsey|2002|p=6}} As bishop, Ambrose undertook many different labours in an effort to unite people and "provide some stability during a period of religious, political, military, and social upheavals and transformations".{{sfn|Smith|2021|p=1}}

Brown says Ambrose "had the makings of a faction fighter".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=124}} While he got along well with most people, Ambrose was not averse to conflict and even opposed emperors with a fearlessness born of self-confidence and a clear conscience and not from any belief he would not suffer for his decisions.{{sfn|Ramsey|2002|p=2}} Having begun his life as a Roman aristocrat and a governor, it is clear that Ambrose retained the attitudes and practices of Roman governance even after becoming a bishop.{{sfn|Smith|2021|pp=6-7}}

His acts and writings show he was quite clear about the limits of imperial power over the church's internal affairs including doctrine, moral teaching, and governance. He wrote to Valentinian: "In matters of faith bishops are the judges of Christian emperors, not emperors of bishops." (''Epistle'' 21.4). He also famously said to an Arian bishop chosen by the emperor, "The emperor is in the church, not over the church." (''Sermon Against Auxentius'', 36).{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=80}}{{sfn|Kempf|1980|p=88}} Ambrose's acts and writings "created a sort of model which was to remain valid in the Latin West for the relations of the Church and the Christian State. Both powers stood in a basically positive relationship to each other, but the innermost sphere of the Church's life--faith, the moral order, ecclesiastical discipline--remained withdrawn from the State's influence."{{sfn|Kempf|1980|p=88}}

Ambrose was also well aware of the limits of his power. At the height of his career as a venerable, respected and well-loved bishop in 396, imperial agents marched into his church, pushing past him and his clergy who had crowded the altar to protect a political suspect from arrest, and dragged the man from the church in front of Ambrose who could do nothing to stop them.{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=146}} "When it came to the central functions of the Roman state, even the vivid Ambrose was a lightweight".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=146}}

=== Attitude towards Jews ===
Ambrose is recorded on occasions as taking a hostile attitude towards Jews,{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=23}} for example in 388, when the Emperor [[Theodosius I]] was informed that a crowd of Christians had retaliated against the local Jewish community by destroying the [[synagogue]] at Callinicum on the [[Euphrates]].{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=27}} The synagogue most probably existed within the fortified town to serve the soldiers stationed there, and Theodosius ordered that the offenders be punished and that the synagogue be rebuilt at the expense of the bishop.{{sfn|Lee|2013|p=41}} Ambrose wrote to the emperor arguing against this, basing his argument on two assertions: first, if the bishop obeyed the order, it would be a betrayal of his faith,{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=28}} and second, if the bishop instead refused to obey the order, he would become a martyr and create a scandal embarrassing the emperor.{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=28}} Ambrose, referring to a prior incident where [[Magnus Maximus]] issued an edict censuring Christians in Rome for burning down a Jewish synagogue, warned Theodosius that the people, in turn, exclaimed "the emperor has become a Jew", implying that Theodosius would receive the same lack of support from the people.{{sfn|Nirenberg|2013|pp=117–118}} Theodosius rescinded the order concerning the bishop.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2010|p=300}}{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=28}}

That was not enough for Ambrose, however, and when Theodosius next visited Milan Ambrose confronted him directly in an effort to get him to drop the entire case. McLynn argues that Ambrose failed to win the emperor's sympathy and was mostly excluded from his counsels thereafter.{{sfn|McLynn|1994|pp= 308–9}}{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=29}} The Callinicum affair was not an isolated incident. Generally speaking, however, while McLynn says it makes Ambrose look like a bully and a bigot to modern eyes, scholars also agree that Ambrose's attitudes toward the Jews cannot be fairly summarized in one sentence, as not all of Ambrose's attitudes toward Jews were negative.{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=29}}

For example, Ambrose makes extensive and appreciative use of the works of a Jew, [[Philo of Alexandria]], in his own writings, treating Philo as one of the "faithful interpreters of the Scriptures".{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=23, 49}} Philo was an educated man of some standing and a prolific writer during the era of [[Second Temple Judaism]]. Forty–three of his treatises have been preserved, and these by Christians, rather than Jews.{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=23}} Philo became foundational in forming the Christian literary view on the six days of creation through Basil's ''[[Hexaemeron]]''. [[Eusebius]], the [[Cappadocian Fathers]], and [[Didymus the Blind]] appropriated material from Philo as well, but none did so more than Ambrose. As a result of these extensive references, Philo was accepted into the Christian tradition as an honorary Church Father. "In fact, one Byzantine catena even refers to him as 'Bishop Philo'. This high regard for Philo even led to a number of legends of his conversion to Christianity, although this assertion stands on very dubious evidence".{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=26}} Ambrose also used [[Josephus]], Maccabees, and other Jewish sources for his writings. He praises some individual Jews.{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=30}} Ambrose tended to write negatively of all non-Nicenes as if they were all in one category. This served a rhetorical purpose in his writing and should be considered accordingly.{{sfn|Elliott|2019|p=31}}

=== Attitude towards pagans ===
{{Main|Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire}}
Modern scholarship indicates that paganism was a lesser concern than heresy for Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries, including Ambrose, but it was still a concern.{{sfn|Salzman|1993|p=375}} Writings of this period were commonly hostile and often contemptuous toward paganism which Christianity saw as already defeated in Heaven.{{sfn|Hagendahl|1967|pp=601-630}} The great Christian writers of the third to fifth centuries attempted to discredit the continuation of these "defeated practices" by searching pagan writings, "particularly those of Varro, for everything that could be regarded by Christian standards as repulsive and irreligious."<ref name="John North">{{cite web |last1=North |first1=John |title=The Religious History of the Roman Empire |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-114 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |year=2017 |access-date=19 June 2021 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.114|isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 }}</ref> Ambrose' work reflects this triumphalism.{{efn|These Christian sources have had great influence on perceptions of this period by creating an impression of overt and continuous conflict that has been assumed on an empire-wide scale, while archaeological evidence indicates that, apart from the use of violent rhetoric, the decline of paganism away from the imperial court was relatively non-confrontational.{{sfn|Bayliss|pp=65, 68}}{{sfn|Salzman|Sághy|Testa|2016|p=7}}{{sfn|Cameron|1991|pp=121-124}}{{sfnm|Trombley|2001|1loc=Vol I|1pp=166-168|Trombley|2001|2loc=Vol II''|2pp=335-336}}}}

Throughout his time in the episcopate, Ambrose was active in his opposition to any state sponsorship of pagan cults.{{sfn|Lietzmann|1951|p=68}} When Gratian ordered the [[Altar of Victory]] to be removed, it roused the aristocracy of Rome to send a delegation to the emperor to appeal against the decision, but [[Pope Damasus I]] induced Christian senators to petition against it, and Ambrose blocked the delegates from obtaining an audience with the emperor.{{sfn|Lietzmann|1951|p=69}}{{sfn|Sheridan|1966|p=187}}<ref>Ambrose Epistles 17-18; Symmachus Relationes 1-3.</ref> Under Valentinian II, an effort was made to restore the Altar of Victory to its ancient station in the hall of the [[Roman Senate]] and to again provide support for the seven [[Vestal Virgin]]s. The pagan party was led by the refined senator [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus]], who used all his prodigious skill and artistry to create a marvellous document full of the ''maiestas populi Romani''.{{sfn|Lietzmann|1951|p=76}} Hans Lietzmann writes that "Pagans and Christians alike were stirred by the solemn earnestness of an admonition which called all men of goodwill to the aid of a glorious history, to render all worthy honour to a world that was fading away".{{sfn|Lietzmann|1951|pp=76, 77}}

Then Ambrose wrote to Valentinian asserting that the emperor was a soldier of God – not simply a personal believer, but one bound by his position to serve the faith; under no circumstances could he agree to something that would promote the worship of idols.{{efn|Romans claimed to be the most religious of peoples.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cicero |first1=Marcus Tullius |title=The nature of the gods; and, On divination |date=1997 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, N.Y. |isbn=978-1-57392-180-0}} 2.8</ref> Their unique success in war, conquest, and the formation of an empire, was attributed to the empire maintaining good relations with the gods through proper reverence and worship practices.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherk |first1=Robert K. |title=Rome and the Greek East to the Death of Augustus |date=1984 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-511-55268-7}} doc. 8, 9–10.</ref> This did not change once the empire's official religion became Christianity.}} Ambrose held up the example of Valentinian's brother, Gratian, reminding Valentinian that the commandment of God must take precedence.{{sfn|Lietzmann|1951|p=77}} The bishop's intervention led to the failure of Symmachus' appeal.{{sfn|Salzman|2006|p=362}}{{sfn|Lietzmann|1951|pp=77-78}}

In 389, Ambrose stepped in against a pagan senatorial delegation who wished to see the emperor [[Theodosius I]]. Although Theodosius refused their requests, he was irritated at the bishop's presumption and refused to see him for several days.{{sfn|Cameron|2011|pp=63–64}} Later, Ambrose wrote a letter to the emperor [[Eugenius]] complaining that some gifts the latter had bestowed on pagan senators could be used for funding pagan cults.{{sfn|McLynn|1994|pp=344–346}}{{sfn|Cameron|2011|pp=74–80}}