Epistle LXIII.
Limenius, Bishop of Vercellæ, having died, the see remained long vacant owing to domestic factions. St. Ambrose, therefore, as Exarch, writes to the Christians at Vercellæ, and commences by reference to the speedy and unanimous election of Eusebius, a former Bishop, and reminds them of the presence of Christ as a reason for concord. He refers next to two apostate monks, Sarmatio and Barbatianus, and inveighs against sensuality, which degrades men below the beasts. Thence he passes to the virtues required in a bishop, referring again to Eusebius, and to Dionysius, Bishop of Milan, comparing the clerical and monastic lives, and ends with exhortations to Christian virtue. The letter seems to have been written 396.
, a servant of Christ, called to be a Bishop, to the Church of Vercellæ, and to those who call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Grace be fulfilled unto you in the Holy Spirit from God the Father and His only-begotten Son.
1. I am spent with grief that the Church of God
which is among you is still without a bishop, and now alone of all the
regions of Liguria and Æmilia, and of the Venetiæ and other
neighbouring parts of Italy needs that care which other churches were
wont to ask for themselves from it; and what is a greater source of
shame to myself, the tension amongst you which causes the obstacle is
laid to my charge. Now since there are dissensions among you, how
can we decree anything, or you elect, or anyone agree to undertake this
office amongst those who are at variance which he could hardly sustain
amongst those who are at unity.
2. Is this the training of a confessor, are
these the offspring of those righteous fathers who, as soon as they
saw, approved of holy Eusebius, whom they had never known before, preferring him to their fellow-citizens, and he was no sooner amongst them than he was approved, and much more when they had observed him. Justly did he turn out so great a man, whom the whole Church elected, justly was it believed that he whom all had demanded was elected by the judgment of God. It is fitting then that you follow the example of your parents, especially since you who have been instructed by a holy confessor ought to be so much better than your fathers, as a better teacher has taught and instructed you, and to manifest a sign of your moderation and concord by agreeing in your request for a Bishop.
3. For if according to the Lord’s
saying, that which two shall have agreed upon on earth concerning
anything which they shall ask, shall be done for them, as He says, by
My Father, Who is in heaven, for: “Where two or three are
gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of
them,” how much
less, where the full congregation is gathered in the Name of the
Lord. Where the demand of all is unanimous, ought we to doubt
that the Lord Jesus is there as the Author of that desire, and the
Hearer of the petition, the Presider over the ordination, and the Giver
of the grace?
4. Make yourselves then to appear worthy
that Christ should be in your midst. For where peace is, there is
Christ, for Christ is Peace; and where righteousness is, there is
Christ, for Christ is Righteousness. Let Him be in the midst of
you, that you may see Him, lest it be said to you also: “There standeth One in the midst of you, Whom ye see not.” The Jews saw not Him in Whom they believed not; we look upon Him by devotion, and behold Him by faith.
5. Let Him therefore stand in your midst, that the heavens, which declare the glory of God, may be opened to you, that you may do His will, and work His works. He who sees Jesus, to him are the heavens opened as they were opened to Stephen, when he said: “Behold I see the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Jesus was standing as his advocate, He was standing as though anxious, that He might help His athlete Stephen in his conflict, He was standing as though ready to crown His martyr.
6. Let Him then be standing for you, that
you may not be afraid of Him sitting; for when sitting He judges, as
Daniel says: “The thrones were placed, and the books were
opened, and the Ancient of days did sit.” But in the eighty-first [second]
Psalm it is written: “God stood in the congregation of
gods, and decideth among the gods.” So then when He sits He judges, when He stands He decides, and He judges concerning the imperfect, but decides among the gods. Let Him stand for you as a defender, as a good shepherd, lest the fierce wolves assault you.