The literary activity of St. Ambrose is closely connected with the church cathedra. Most of his works were composed of sermons recorded by his listeners. Some of them remained in this record. Others were revised by him and brought into the form of separate treatises and books. All his works can be divided according to form into treatises, words (speeches), letters and hymns. Treatises. In the latest printed editions of the works of St. Ambrose, the work Hexaemeron (Six Days) stands in the first place. This is due to the motifs of logical sequence: Hexaemeron is an explanation of the biblical account of the creation of the world and the origin of man, and thus touches upon the first verses of the book of Genesis, while other exegetical works are devoted to the further chapters of this and other sacred books. The earliest in time of origin is considered to be the creation of De Paradiso (On Paradise). It is devoted to the interpretation of the biblical testimony about paradise, about the settlement of man in it, about the naming of animals, about the creation of woman, about the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, about the tempter and temptation, about the consequences of the Fall. De Noah (About Noah) - retells the story of the righteous Noah with a detailed description and explanation of Noah's Ark, speaks about the Flood, about the conclusion of the covenant with God and the subsequent fate of the patriarch. This creation opens up a number of other works about the postdiluvian patriarchs and is closely connected with them (for example, about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, etc.). Of the dogmatic works, De fide (On Faith) should be noted. This work contains the Orthodox teaching on the Person of Christ the Saviour, contrary to Arianism, and in general expounds the teaching on the Most Holy Trinity. De Spiritu Sancto (On the Holy Spirit) expounds the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, His participation in creation, providence, and redemption. De Incarnationis Dominitsa Sacramento (On the Mystery of the Lord's Incarnation) is directed against Arianism, Apollinarianism and expounds the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God and the mystery of the Incarnation. The opening words - an appeal to the listeners - speak of the origin of this creation from a sermon. The moral and ascetic work of St. Ambrose "On the Offices of the Clergy of the Church of Christ", which is a popular guide for pastors and contains discourses on moral topics, enjoys great fame and distribution. A pastor of the Church in the understanding of the saint is mainly a fighter for the truth. "In all matters concerning the clergy," writes the saint, "the most complete justice and impartiality must reign" [p. 182]. A number of works by St. Ambrose are devoted to the doctrine of virginity, a theme to which many ancient Christian writers, beginning with Tertullian, turned to the disclosure. The most famous work of St. Ambrose of this kind is "On the Virgins". It was compiled at the request of the virgin Marcellina's sister from sermons delivered in the first years of his episcopal ministry. In this work, St. Ambrose praises virginity, presenting examples of it (St. Mts. Agnes, Thecla, disciple of the Apostle Paul, patroness of Mediolanum); glorifies the Mother of God - in Her life shows the rules and the way of behavior for virgins. In conclusion, St. Ambrose glorifies those virgins who preferred death to the insult of innocence. This work has been highly valued by Christians since ancient times... Close to it in content is another work: "On Widows", written on the occasion of the intention of a widow to remarry. St. Ambrose tries to divert her from this intention. In this regard, he depicts the height and moral value of widowhood, mainly in comparison with married life, indicates the virtues with which Christian widows should be adorned, using biblical examples for this purpose. "However," remarks the saint, "we express this in the form of advice and do not prescribe it as a commandment; we (rather) persuade the widow than bind her... I will say more, we do not prevent a second marriage, but we do not approve of their frequent repetition" (Chapter II, § 68)... The work "On Virginity" was written in response to the reproaches addressed to St. Ambrose, as if he exalted virginity too much over married life. Refuting them, the saint again praises virginity and notes its advantages... "On the Upbringing of the Virgin and the Ever-Virginity of St. Mary" – here the speech of St. Ambrose at the tonsure of Ambrose is recounted, and the heresy of Bonoz, who rejected the ever-virginity of the Mother of God, is refuted... The "Exhortation to Celibacy" is a speech delivered by the saint on the occasion of the consecration of a church built by a widow, who devoted her life to God, and brought her children to the same... An essay on the same topic: "On the Fall of the Consecrated Virgin" belongs to the category of doubtful. In addition to St. Ambrose, it is attributed to Blessed Augustine, Blessed Jerome, St. John Chrysostom and St. Nicetas of Remesian. The fact that this work belonged to St. Ambrose is evidenced by the similarity of its content in some places with other treatises of the saint on virginity. Thus, like the latter, it ends with a hymn sung by the fallen and risen virgin. It should also be added that this hymn is reminiscent of other enthusiastic hymns of the saint. There are no sharp discrepancies in the composition with the original ones in style. In his work "Two Books on Repentance," St. Ambrose refutes the opinion of the Novatians, who assert that grave criminals cannot be forgiven, and proves that life is promised not only to those who always keep the commandments of the Lord, "but also to those who after the fall will also keep them" [p. 26]. The saint exhorts not to postpone repentance: "The Lord Himself sufficiently exhorted those who postpone repentance, saying: Repent, draw near the Kingdom of Heaven. We do not know at what hour the thief will come, we do not know whether it is not this night that our soul will be sought" [p. 73]. The words of St. Ambrose are diverse in their content. For example: On the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ; On the Sacrament of Baptism and to the catechumens; About Him Who Is Sick in the Kingdom of Heaven; About the pea grain; About precious beads; On the Benefits of Fasting; to the Apostle's words: "If you eat, if you drink, if you do anything else, do it all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31); on the Twelve Great Feasts, the Days of the Great Saints, etc. (See Selected Instructive Words of St. Ambrose). Two of the words were pronounced over the grave of the brother Satyr, dearly loved by the saint and inseparable from him. In the first homily (On the Repose of His Brother Satyrus), spoken at the burial, Saint Ambrose grieves over the death of his brother, depicts his Christian virtues and thanks God for "having had such a brother... Who will not be amazed at a husband who is of average age between brother and sister, and equal in generosity, who has fulfilled the two greatest titles: for he had both the purity of a sister and the holiness of a brother, not in rank, but in virtue. Thus, when lust and anger give rise to other vices, then, of course, purity and mercy produce certain virtues." In the second homily – On the Hope of the Resurrection – the saint "came to the tomb of Satyr on the seventh day" after his death, seeking consolation in the Christian faith in the resurrection and eternal life... Two more funeral orations are very famous: "On the Death of the Younger Emperor Valentinian," delivered in Milan at the burial of Valentinian, and "On the Death of Theodosius the Great," delivered on the fortieth day after his death before the transfer of his body from Milan to Constantinople. Both speeches are not only an example of oratory, but also an important historical source... It is also necessary to note the Sermon on the mutual love of Christians (see "Christian Reading", 1837, IV, pp. 28-34). Touching upon the life of the early Christian community, St. Ambrose continues: "Those who professed one faith, had communion with each other in life, that is, those who had one faith, they had one property, and those who had Christ in common, they had common expenses. For pious men considered it a crime not to make a partaker in their property of one who shared with them in grace, and therefore they, as brothers, enjoyed all things together." Turning to the days of his time, the saint says: "Do we find anything of the kind at the present time? Of course, Christ is the same with us. The same Christ, but not the same heart. The same faith among the people, but there is no more generosity"... All the zeal of Saint Ambrose, directed towards the eradication of the evil of people's insensitivity and callousness, which was widespread in his time, was manifested in his Discourse on Ahab and Naboth (see "Christian Reading", 1838, III, pp. 33-38). Recalling the pages of history about the above-mentioned persons, St. Ambrose says: "The history of Naboth is ancient in time, in fact daily. For who among the rich does not daily covet the things of others? What rich man's soul is not inflamed by the property of his neighbor? No, Ahab is not alone; He is born every day and never dies. The poor man Naboth does not perish alone; but the poor man is killed daily... How long will you, who are rich, enlarge your foolish lusts? Or do you live alone on earth? Why do you drive away from it the companion of your nature? Nature does not know the rich; she gives birth to all poor, she puts into the world naked; the earth also perceives the naked." A separate collection of words consists of a sequential explanation of the Gospel history and teaching, the Expositio of the Gospel to Luke. A similar collection is an explanation of the 118th Psalm. A special group in the works of St. Ambrose is his letters. According to the Benedictine edition, there are 91 of them. In terms of content, only a few of them have a private, personal character, while the greater part, as caused by the ecclesiastical and administrative activity of the saint, has historical significance (information is given about the councils of which he was a participant), dogmatic (the denial of the ever-virginity of the Mother of God, the humiliation of virginity by Jovinian is criticized, Arian opinions are criticized), moral (instructions are given), pastoral (perplexities in church practice are resolved), exegetical (difficult passages are explained From this it is clear that the letters of St. Ambrose are a valuable source for the knowledge of a Christian. As for the hymns of St. Ambrose, tradition has preserved many of them under the name of Ambrosian. But since the name Ambrosian was used in the early period not only in the sense of authorship by the Bishop of Milan, but also in the sense of imitating his hymns, the name alone was not sufficient to solve the question of authenticity. Up to 30 hymns were attributed to St. Ambrose, but only 12 of them, with more probability, belong to him (some bring up to 18). The authorship of the well-known hymn to Thee, O God we praise, is also questioned, although there is a legend that it was sung by St. Ambrose together with Blessed Augustine at the Baptism of the latter. Until the eighth century there are no traces of this legend, and this hymn was not attributed to St. Ambrose, although it was known without his name in the West from the first half of the sixth century and is mentioned in the monastic rule of St. Benedict of Nursia. In terms of content, the hymns of St. Ambrose are distinguished by their church-wide character. These are hymns of confession of the Christian faith, expounding the essence of Christian teaching. They speak of the incarnation of the Redeemer (of the birth of the Virgin, of the two natures, of the descent into hell), of the doctrine of the Cross of Christ (of the destruction of the kingdom of death and the bestowal of grace), or of the faithful being called to spiritual vigilance and the salvific fruits of such vigilance are depicted, and so on. St. Ambrose introduced antiphonal singing in the Western Church on the model of the East, which was called the Ambrosian chant. There are many works that for a long time were attributed to St. Ambrose, but are now recognized as inauthentic. These are mainly commentaries on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. The inauthentic works of the saint are usually called the works of Ambrosiastes. A number of works by St. Ambrose have not survived to our time.

Theology

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

St. Ambrose does not go into the study of metaphysical subtleties, but is more concerned with solving problems of a practical nature. He was not a theologian-theoretician, an armchair scientist engaged in research for the sake of research, and did not study the subject comprehensively and in detail. His main concern was to defend the purity of the Church's teaching and the inviolability of its possessions, to extend the influence of the Church to various aspects of life. This determines the general character of his theology. In the works of St. Ambrose, the moral and edifying element predominates. In this regard, he reveals the rarest art - he finds something instructive in everything.

His instructions give vivid sketches of the everyday aspects of that time, as a result of which they contain a lot of material for characterizing Christian society and therefore have an enduring historical interest. St. Ambrose also touches upon dogmatic questions, but they arise for the most part by chance and are regarded as something completely independent, isolated. The narration of the Bishop of Milan is sometimes too lengthy, but in moments of the saint's spiritual uplift, the speech becomes fascinating, lively, and impressive. He often uses metaphors, personifications and comparisons.

Teaching on the Holy Trinity

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Theology

In the struggle against Arianism, Saint Ambrose resolutely became a preacher of the dogmatic definition of the faith of the First Ecumenical Council. Therefore, in his Trinitarian scheme, the central place is occupied by the doctrine of the Second Person, of His Deity. Emphasizing the divinity of the nature of the Son, he pays attention mainly to its property of absolute spirituality and incorporeality. "If there can be no material voice in the Father, then the Son is not a word composed of material parts" (De inkar). St. Ambrose rejects the analogy between the Divine Word and the human Word, which was accepted in pre-Nicene theology: the spoken human word is lifeless in its essence, while the Word of God is the Living and Unspoken Word. "Our word, as pronounced, consists of syllables and is a sound; By itself, without the thought of our mind hiding behind it, it is incapable of producing any action. But the Divine Word is constantly acting, living, and healing" (De Fide). The relationship of the Son to the Father is defined by the saint as the relationship of the Born to the Birther. The very act of Birth is considered to be an integral property of the Divine nature. It cannot be compared with human birth. The concepts of freedom or necessity do not apply to him: it cannot be said that the Father begets the Son of His own free will, but it would be wrong to say that this is done out of necessity, compulsion. "In eternal generation there is neither desire nor unwillingness: it is impossible to call the Father the Father Who begets compulsory, nor can He be recognized as the Begat of will; for birth is not based on the faculty of will, but on a certain right and attribute of the Father's nature. For as the Father is good, not by will or by necessity, but by nature, which is higher than both, so He begat the Son not by will or necessity" (De Fide). In this theology of St. Ambrose one can see the immanent character of the Holy Trinity: the Trinity is conditioned by the essence of the Divine nature, and the concept of Him is derived from the very concept of God, and does not stem from the need to reveal Himself in the world... Born of the Divine nature, the Son eternally exists in the Father - there is His Wisdom and Radiance. "Do not allow the moment when God exists without Wisdom or Light does not have brilliance" (De Fide). The Divine Birth itself is sublime and incomprehensible to the human mind. The Holy Spirit is the giver of sanctification from above. He is eternally unchangeable and good. "The Spirit is the source and principle of goodness, for as the Father has goodness and the Son, so does the Holy Spirit have goodness" (De Spiritu Sancto). In the teaching on the personal attribute of the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose notices uncertainty and ambiguity. Sometimes he simply says that the Holy Spirit is "of the Father" or is "of the Father." But in other cases it is expressed in the sense of the dependence of the Holy Spirit in His being on the Son, and it speaks of the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son, or simply from the Son (De Spiritu Sancto). Thus, the teaching of St. Ambrose about the Holy Trinity is expounded, in general, in terms of Tertullian's Western Trinitarian scheme. However, St. Ambrose corrected it by revealing the timelessness of the birth of the Son and by a fuller teaching about the equality of the Hypostases. In the latter case, he follows the theology of the Cappadocians.

Soteriology

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Theology

The teaching of St. Ambrose on salvation bears traces of both the East (mainly Origen) and the West (mainly Tertullian and St. Cyprian). One of the forms of soteriology, as it developed in the East, was the understanding of the work of Christ as the revelation of Divine truth to people, as the enlightenment from above to those who lived in the darkness of ignorance and idolatry. This form was also adopted by the Bishop of Milan. But along with it, he has a further understanding of the Savior's work in the sense of changing the world order. Following the Church's teaching that man in the Fall submitted to the will of the devil, voluntarily made himself dependent on him and, thus, gave him a certain right to rule over him, even among the predecessors of St. Ambrose there was an opinion that the Saviour, by His suffering and death, gave Himself as a pledge to the devil and thereby forced him to free mankind from captivity. The blood and soul of Christ were considered by them as a ransom payment, an exchange for slaves. Adhering to this point of view, St. Ambrose considers the entire earthly life of the Savior under the form of pious deception (pia fraus) in relation to the devil. He explains all its particular circumstances as aimed at concealing from the devil the true nature of the Son of God. On the other hand, St. Ambrose understands the relationship between the devil and man in the spirit of Western writers, as the relationship of a creditor to a debtor who has issued a binding receipt to his creditor. Hence Origen's idea of redemption (pia fraus) is associated by St. Ambrose with the idea of the destruction of this receipt and the termination of debt obligations thanks to the death of the Savior on the cross. In the soteriology of St. Ambrose there are also traces of the widespread Eastern understanding of redemption as the act of propitiating God by the death of the Savior on the cross. Christ the Saviour, who bodily possessed in Himself all the fullness of the Godhead, became propitiation, High Priest according to Divinity, and sacrifice for the people according to the Body. He's the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world. The sacrifice of the Son of God had infinite value in the eyes of God, and therefore served as a propitiation of God and had as its consequence the remission of sins. The Western point of view was expressed by St. Ambrose in his view of redemption as satisfaction for an angry God for the sins of all mankind. In his opinion, this satisfaction was necessary, because the Divine judgment weighed down on the sinful people, by virtue of which they had to be punished. And so the Saviour, in order to fulfill this sentence in His Person, to satisfy the Divine truth, took death upon Himself. This led to the cessation of God's wrath against people: from sons of wrath they turned into sons of peace and love. And further: Christ not only brought satisfaction that covered the sinful past, but also did something more - he won people the special favor of God. In St. Ambrose, therefore, it is not only about the return of the grace lost by man, but also about granting him a new abundant grace, which he did not have before. In this sequence, the very fall and sinfulness of mankind acquire a special meaning and justification: this means that if man had not sinned, he would not have received the abundant grace brought by the Incarnate One. Here St. Ambrose expresses completely new thoughts. But St. Ambrose considers the redemptive feat of Christ not only as a change in external relations, but also as an internal religious and moral regeneration of the very nature of man (in the spirit of the theology of St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons). On the one hand, Christ's sacrifice cleansed and destroyed sins, burned them, washed away the ancient infection, on the other hand, Christ not only removed responsibility for previous sins, but, by crucifying the passions that lead us to sin, gave us the ability to live a new life. In His Body, He destroyed our passions, quenched our lusts, weakened their power, destroyed the vanity of the world. A blameless and pure life has now become possible for man. Following a view that is quite widespread both in the East and in the West, St. Ambrose often expresses the idea that the Incarnate Lord not only accomplished the salvation of mankind, but by His service gave an example of a truly God-pleasing life, showed that the will of God can be fulfilled not only in Heaven, but also on earth. A person becomes a participant in the salvation accomplished by Christ in the Church.

Ecclesiology