Letter of Gratian to Ambrose¶
A.D. 379
IT is in answer to this that Letter 1 was written by S. Ambrose. It was written by the Emperor Gratian in his 20th year, four years after his succession to the Empire in partnership with his Uncle Valens and his younger brother Valentinian the 2nd, on the death of their father Valentinian the first, 375 A.D. Tillemont (Hist. des Emp. vol. v. p. 158.) calls it ‘une lettre toute pleine de piété et d’humilité, et d’ailleurs mesme écrite avec beaucoup d’esprit et d’elegance.’
THE EMPEROR GRATIAN TO AMBROSE BISHOP OF ALMIGHTY GOD
1. GREAT is my desire that as I remember you though far away, and in spirit am present with you, so I may be with you in bodily presence also. Hasten then, holy Bishop1 of God; come and teach me, who am already a sincere believer; not that I am eager for controversy, or seek to apprehend God in words rather than with my mind, but that the revelation of His Godhead may sink more deeply into an enlightened breast.
2. For He will teach me, He Whom I deny not, but confess to be my God and my Lord, not cavilling at that created nature in Him, which I see also in myself. That I can add nothing to Christ I acknowledge, but I am desirous by declaring the Son to commend myself to the Father also; for in God I can fear no jealousy; nor will I suppose myself such an eulogist as that I can exalt His divinity by my words. Weak and frail, I proclaim Him according to my power, not according to His Majesty.
3. I beg you to bestow upon me the Treatise2 you gave me before, adding to it an orthodox discussion on the Holy Spirit: prove, I beseech you, both by Scripture and reason, that He is God. God keep you for many years, my father, servant of the eternal God, Whom we worship, even Jesus Christ.
- 1
The word in the original is Sacerdos. It is constantly used by S. Ambrose and other writers of his time for Bishops, though they sometimes add a qualifying epithet, ‘Summus Sacerdos.’ But even alone it is used where the writer is clearly speaking of Bishops, and of Bishops quâ Bishops. Thus it occurs frequently in the Proceedings of the Council of Aquileia, which is itself styled ‘Sacerdotale Concilium.’ See the Article ‘Bishop’ by Mr. Haddan in Dict. of Chr. Ant. Vol. 1 p. 210 b., who refers also to Bp. Taylor, Episc. Assert. § 27. It has therefore been rendered ‘Bishop’ throughout this volume, wherever it is plain that the reference is to Bishops, and ‘Priest’ wherever it is used in a more general way.
- 2
This forms the two first books of the ‘De Fide’ still extant among the works of S. Ambrose. The other three books were added afterwards, as S. Ambrose explains at the beginning of Bk. iii, to maintain his statements against the attacks of heretical teachers. The Treatise, ‘De Spiritu Sancto,’ in 3 books, was sent afterwards in 381 A.D.