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

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Theology

St. Ambrose thinks of the Church not only as an external organization established by God, but also as an internal phenomenon, gradually revealed and realized in the world. The concept of the Church is given by him in the revelation of two opposite definitions of the City of God (Civitas Dei) and the earthly city (Civitas Terrena). By the name of Civitas Dei he means the Church as God's state, by the name of Civitas Terrena he does not mean any particular political organization, but in general the world with the sin reigning in it, or people living a natural life. It is the duty of a Christian to distance himself from the earthly city, because his city is the Heavenly Jerusalem. An excellent sign of the latter from the earthly Church is its absolute perfection and moral purity. All the Heavenly Powers are members of it. People enter into its composition only after death, but not all to the same extent. The Church is catholic. St. Ambrose uses this term to designate a church assembly consisting of representatives of different countries and nationalities. Forming the bond of believers in Christ, the Church embraces all rational creation, because all rational creation spiritually lives by the grace of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit sent down by Him. Christ is all and in all. Hence the Church is called Heaven, because in it there are saints and angels themselves; it is also called the world, because the earthly members also belong to it. As consisting of earthly members, the Church fills the whole earth, includes the assembly of all peoples, without making any distinction between them on national or class grounds. In terms of the time of its existence, the Church is a permanent and eternal kingdom, it exists from eternity in Divine predestination, and has to exist at all times. It is possible to reach Heaven only through the intermediary of the earthly Church. Participation in Civitas Dei existing on earth is a transition to participation in Civitas Dei in Heaven. "It is beware lest anyone, having once been received by Christ through Baptism, be separated from His Body, that is, cast out of the Church, for this is tantamount to unceasing death" (John Psalm 40). He who separates himself from the Holy Altar is also separated from the Heavenly Jerusalem, departing like the prodigal son to a foreign land. Therefore, the assemblies of heretics and schismatics, as separated from the Church, the Civitas Dei, are assemblies of an unclean spirit (Exposizio Evangelia secundum Lukas). The earthly Church is an assembly of both saints and sinners, whom the Church leads to salvation. The Church is an organism, or the Body of Christ, and, like the human body, consists of members different in meaning and activity, and yet remains one Body, so that each of its members, no matter how small and insignificant he may be, is necessary for the entire Body of the Church and enjoys the help of others. In the case of the suffering of one, all the others suffer as well. And if it is difficult for the body to lose one member, then it is incomparably more difficult for the Church to lose one person. And if the removal of one member upsets others, then the integrity of the church assembly is also upset through neglect of each believer. St. Ambrose graphically describes the position of earthly members in the ecclesiastical organism. "We all," he writes, "constitute one Body of Christ. Of which God is the head, and we serve as its other members: among the latter there are eyes, such as the prophets; there are teeth, like the Apostles, who poured the Gospel preaching into our intestines... the hands of this body are those who are engaged in the performance of good works; there is also a womb, which is formed by believers who give the poor strength to exist; some are feet," and still lower than them are heels (Epist. 41). Cutting off from the Church must be done with great caution: on the one hand, to protect the whole society from the danger of temptation, and on the other hand, to induce sinners to repentance. As a Body, the Church is a closely cohesive unity. The basis of this unity is the people (Sancta Plebs). (Cf. the works of St. Cyprian of Carthage, for whom the episcopate is considered the basis of unity). With St. Ambrose, it is not so much that the people are made dependent on the hierarchy, but vice versa. St. Ambrose even calls his flock his father, who gave birth to him by election for the episcopacy. Because of the importance of the people of God, every penitent needs his help: he receives forgiveness thanks to the prayers of all the people for him. For greater persuasiveness in the latter, St. Ambrose cites an example: the Lord resurrected the son of the widow of Nain, seeing the tears of many. A very important foundation for church unity is Christ, who stands at its head, as well as the unity of faith and love. Therefore, the destruction of unity is seen by St. Ambrose in the perversion of faith and moral impurity. That in the teaching of St. Ambrose about the Church reveals him as a writer of the West, is his attitude to the holy Apostle Peter. Although he does not draw any conclusions about the Bishop of Rome, who is recognized as the successor of the Apostle Peter, and does not speak of any prerogatives of him or the Church of Rome over others, he uses a number of expressions that allegedly presuppose the special position of the Apostle Peter among the other Apostles and, accordingly, in the Church. The holy Apostle Peter, according to the thought of St. Ambrose, had all the faith, for which he received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, in order to open the entrance to it to others, but who is meant here by others – the Apostles or believers in general – St. Ambrose does not explain, moreover, a little earlier in the same reasoning he says that the Lord demanded great faith from all the other Apostles (see: Expositio Evangelia a second to Luke). Further, the saint sometimes expresses that the holy Apostle Peter is preferred to all, that he, as the more perfect, was entrusted by Christ to govern the less perfect, that where Peter is, there is the Church. But in all such cases there is no question of the special position and rights of the Apostle Peter in the Church. Such is the reasoning of St. Ambrose when he speaks of Peter alone, without having in mind the other Apostles. When he speaks of the Apostle Peter together with the other Apostles, he calls them all pillars of the Church in the same way. In the same way, when he speaks of the Apostle Paul, without having in mind the other Apostles, including the Apostle Peter, he mentions the abundant grace upon him, of his superiority. This is how St. Ambrose characterizes the other holy Apostles.

Teaching about the Mother of God

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Theology

The teaching of the Bishop of Milan about the Most Holy Virgin has a historical significance. The saint shared the patristic idea of the Virgin Mary as the New Second Eve. The first Eve served to expel man from paradise, the second - to elevate him to Heaven. St. Ambrose defends the personal sinlessness of the Mother of God and emphasizes the idea of Her ever-virginity. She was a Virgin before the birth of Christ the Savior, in birth, and remained a Virgin after birth. St. Ambrose applies to Her the prophecy of Ezekiel about the holy Gates of the future temple, through which only the Lord God had to pass and which were to remain closed to all others [pp. 44, 22]. In his understanding, the gate is a prototype of Mary, through whom only the Savior entered the world. Having passed through them, Christ did not open them, and they remained imprisoned forever. Emphasizing the lofty dignity of the Mother of God, the saint calls Her a palace consecrated for the dwelling of God, a sanctuary of purity, a temple of God. With these qualities, She serves as an eternal model for all Christian virgins. Her life is a concrete embodiment of the image of virginity, purity and virtue. St. Ambrose not only bears witness to the dignity of the Mother of God, but also assimilates to Her an active participation in the salvation of people: he connects with Her the fulfillment of the promise given by God in paradise – to erase the head of the serpent; He ascribes to it a part of the victory over the devil; of Her He says that She freed Eve and served to accomplish the salvation of the world. The saint directly calls upon the faithful to venerate the Most Holy Virgin and regards any doubt about Her ever-virginity or manifestation of disrespect for Her as impiety (See treatises on virginity). But the veneration of Her should not turn into deification: She was only the temple of God, and not the God of the temple.