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| Letter LI: To Theodosius After the Massacre at Thessalonica.
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Letter LI.
Addressed to the Emperor Theodosius after the
massacre at Thessalonica.3618
St. Ambrose begins by stating his reasons for not having met the
Emperor on his return to Milan. He then mentions the sentiments
of the bishops with regard to the slaughter at Thessalonica, and points
out that repentance for that deed is necessary to obtain forgiveness
and a victory over the devil, the instigator to that crime. St.
Ambrose could not offer the sacrifice in the Emperor’s presence,
and, as truly loving the Emperor, grieves and yet hopes.
1. The memory of
your old friendship is pleasant to me, and I gratefully call to mind
the kindnesses which, in reply to my frequent intercessions, you have
most graciously conferred on others. Whence it may be inferred
that I did not from any ungrateful feeling avoid meeting you on your
arrival, which I had always before earnestly desired. And I will
now briefly set forth the reason for my acting as I did.
2. I saw that from me alone in your court
the natural right of hearing was withdrawn, so that I was deprived also
of the office of speaking; for you were frequently troubled because
certain matters which had been decided in your consistory had come to
my knowledge. I, therefore, am without a part in the common
privilege, since the Lord Jesus says: “That nothing is
hidden, which shall not be made known.”3619
I, therefore, as reverently as I
could, complied with the imperial will, and took heed that neither
yourself should have any reason for displeasure, when I effected that
nothing should be related to me of the imperial decrees; and that I,
when present, either should not hear, through fear of all others, and
so incur the reputation of connivance, or should hear in such a fashion
that my ears might be open, my utterance prevented, that I might not be
able to utter what I had heard lest I should injure and bring in peril
those who had incurred the suspicion of treachery.
3. What, then, could I do? Should I not
hear? But I could not close my ears with the wax of the old
fables. Should I utter what I heard? But I was bound to be
on my guard in my words against that which I
feared in your commands, namely, lest
some deed of blood should be committed. Should I keep
silence? But then my conscience would be bound, my utterance
taken away, which would be the most wretched condition of all.
And where would be that text? If the priest speak not to him that
erreth, he who errs shall die in his sin, and the priest shall be
liable to the penalty because he warned not the erring.3620
4. Listen, august Emperor. I cannot deny
that you have a zeal for the faith; I do confess that you have the fear
of God. But you have a natural vehemence, which, if any one
endeavours to soothe, you quickly turn to mercy; if any one stirs it
up, you rouse it so much more that you can scarcely restrain it.
Would that if no one soothe it, at least no one may inflame it!
To yourself I willingly entrust it, you restrain yourself, and overcome
your natural vehemence by the love of piety.
5. This vehemence of yours I preferred to commend
privately to your own consideration, rather than possibly raise it by
any action of mine in public. And so I have preferred to be
somewhat wanting in duty rather than in humility, and that other,
should rather think me wanting in priestly authority than that you
should find me lacking in most loving reverence, that having restrained
your vehemence your power of deciding on your counsel should not be
weakened. I excuse myself by bodily sickness, which was in truth
severe, and scarcely to be lightened but by great care. Yet I
would rather have died than not wait two or three days for your
arrival. But it was not possible for me to do so.
6. There was that done in the city of the
Thessalonians of which no similar record exists, which I was not able
to prevent happening; which, indeed, I had before said would be most
atrocious when I so often petitioned against it, and that which you
yourself show by revoking it too late you consider to be
grave,3621
| 3621 Theodosius had
promised to forgive the Thessalonians, but was again stirred up by his
courtiers, as Paulinus relates in his life of St. Ambrose. | this I could
not extenuate when done. When it was first heard of, a synod had
met because of the arrival of the Gallican Bishops. There was not
one who did not lament it, not one who thought lightly of it; your
being in fellowship with Ambrose was no excuse for your deed.
Blame for what had been done would have been heaped more and more on
me, had no one said that your reconciliation to our God was
necessary.
7. Are you ashamed, O Emperor, to do that
which the royal prophet David, the forefather of Christ, according to
the flesh, did? To him it was told how the rich man who had many
flocks seized and killed the poor man’s one lamb, because of the
arrival of his guest, and recognizing that he himself was being
condemned in the tale, for that he himself had done it, he said:
“I have sinned against the Lord.”3622
Bear it, then, without
impatience, O Emperor, if it be said to you: “You have done
that which was spoken of to King David by the prophet.” For
if you listen obediently to this, and say: “I have sinned
against the Lord,” if you repeat those words of the royal
prophet: “O come let us worship and fall down before Him,
and mourn before the Lord our God, Who made us,”3623
it shall be said to you also:
“Since thou repentest, the Lord putteth away thy sin, and thou
shalt not die.”3624
8. And again, David, after he had commanded
the people to be numbered, was smitten in heart, and said to the
Lord: “I have sinned exceedingly, because I have commanded
this, and now, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I
have transgressed exceedingly.”3625
And the prophet Nathan was sent
again to him, to offer him the choice of three things, that he should
select the one he chose—famine in the land for three years, or
that he should flee for three months before his enemies, or mortal
pestilence in the land for three days. And David answered:
“These three things are a great strait to me, but let me fall
into the hand of the Lord, for very many are His mercies, and let me
not fall into the hands of man.”3626
Now his fault was that he desired
to know the number of the whole of the people which was with him, which
knowledge he ought to have left to God alone.
9. And, we are told, when death came upon
the people, on the very first day at dinner time, when David saw the
angel smiting the people, he said: “I have sinned, and I,
the shepherd, have done wickedly, and this flock, what hath it
done? Let Thine hand be upon me, and upon my father’s
house.”3627
And so
it repented the Lord, and He commanded the angel to spare the people,
and David to offer a sacrifice, for sacrifices were then offered for
sins; sacrifices are now those of penitence. And
so by that humbling of himself he
became more acceptable to God, for it is no matter of wonder that a man
should sin, but this is reprehensible, if he does not recognize that he
has erred, and humble himself before God.
10. Holy Job, himself also powerful in this
world, says: “I hid not my sin, but declared it before all
the people.”3628
His
son Jonathan said to the fierce King Saul himself: “Do not
sin against thy servant David;”3629
and: “Why dost thou sin
against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?”3630
For, although he was a king, yet
he would have sinned if he slew the innocent. And again, David
also, when he was in possession of the kingdom, and had heard that
innocent Abner had been slain by Joab, the leader of his host,
said: “I am guiltless and my kingdom is guiltless
henceforth and for ever of the blood of Abner, the son of
Ner,”3631
and he fasted
for sorrow.
11. I have written this, not in order to
confound you, but that the examples of these kings may stir you up to
put away this sin from your kingdom, for you will do it away by
humbling your soul before God. You are a man, and it has come
upon you, conquer it. Sin is not done away but by tears and
penitence. Neither angel can do it, nor archangel. The Lord
Himself, Who alone can say, “I am with you,”3632
if we have sinned, does not forgive
any but those who repent.
12. I urge, I beg, I exhort, I warn, for it is a
grief to me, that you who were an example of unusual piety, who were
conspicuous for clemency, who would not suffer single offenders to be
put in peril, should not mourn that so many have perished. Though
you have waged battle most successfully, though in other matters, too,
you are worthy of praise, yet piety was ever the crown of your
actions. The devil envied that which was your most excellent
possession. Conquer him whilst you still possess that wherewith
you may conquer. Do not add another sin to your sin by a course
of action which has injured many.
13. I, indeed, though a debtor to your kindness,
for which I cannot be ungrateful, that kindness which has surpassed
that of many emperors, and has been equalled by one only; I, I say,
have no cause for a charge of contumacy against you, but have cause for
fear; I dare not offer the sacrifice if you intend to be present.
Is that which is not allowed after shedding the blood of one innocent
person, allowed after shedding the blood of many? I do not think
so.
14. Lastly, I am writing with my own hand that
which you alone may read. As I hope that the Lord will deliver me
from all troubles, I have been warned, not by man, nor through man, but
plainly by Himself that this is forbidden me. For when I was
anxious, in the very night in which I was preparing to set out, you
appeared to me in a dream to have come into the Church, and I was not
permitted to offer the sacrifice. I pass over other things, which
I could have avoided, but I bore them for love of you, as I
believe. May the Lord cause all things to pass peaceably.
Our God gives warnings in many ways, by heavenly signs, by the precepts
of the prophets; by the visions even of sinners He wills that we should
understand, that we should entreat Him to take away all disturbances,
to preserve peace for you emperors, that the faith and peace of the
Church, whose advantage it is that emperors should be Christians and
devout, may continue.
15. You certainly desire to be approved by
God. “To everything there is a time,”3633
as it is written: “It is
time for Thee, Lord, to work.”3634
“It is an acceptable time, O Lord.”3635
You shall then make your offering
when you have received permission to sacrifice, when your offering
shall be acceptable to God. Would it not delight me to enjoy the
favour of the Emperor, to act according to your wish, if the case
allowed it? And prayer by itself is a sacrifice, it obtains
pardon, when the oblation would bring offence, for the one is a sign of
humility, the other of contempt. For the Word of God Himself
tells us that He prefers the performance of His commandments to the
offering of sacrifice. God proclaims this, Moses declares it to
the people, Paul preaches it to the Gentiles. Do that which you
understand is most profitable for the time. “I prefer
mercy,” it is said, “rather than sacrifice.”3636
Are they not, then, rather
Christians in truth who condemn their own sin, than they who think to
defend it? “The just is an accuser of himself in the
beginning of his words.”3637
He who
accuses himself when he has sinned is just, not he who praises
himself.
16. I wish, O Emperor, that before this I
had trusted rather to myself, than
to your habits. When I consider that you quickly pardon, and
quickly revoke your sentence, as you have often done; you have been
anticipated, and I have not shunned that which I needed not to
fear. But thanks be to the Lord, Who willeth to chastise His
servants, that He may not lose them. This I have in common with
the prophets, and you shall have it in common with the saints.
17. Shall I not value the father of Gratian more
than my very eyes? Your other holy pledges also claim
pardon. I conferred beforehand a dear name on those to whom I
bore a common love. I follow you with my love, my affection, and
my prayers. If you believe me, be guided by me; if, I say, you
believe me, acknowledge what I say; if you believe me not, pardon that
which I do, in that I set God before you. May you, most august
Emperor, with your holy offspring, enjoy perpetual peace with perfect
happiness and prosperity. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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