The Presbyters Project

LXXVI (Maur. 20)

De traditione basilicae <sorori frater>

22. [...] nuntiatur mihi missum notarium qui mandata deferret. Concessi paululum, mandatum intimat. "Quid tibi visum est", inquit, "ut contra placitum faceres?" Respondi: "Quod placitum sit ignoro, quid ve temere factum dicatur incertum habeo". Ait: "Cur presbyteros ad basilicam destinasti? Si tyrannus es scire volo, ut sciam quemadmodum me adversus te praeparem". Retuli dicens me nihil in praeiudicium fecisse ecclesiae: eo tempore quo audieram occupatam esse a militibus basilicam gemitum tantummodo liberiorem habuisse multis que adhortantibus ut eo pergerem dixisse: "Tradere basilicam non possum, sed pugnare non debeo". Postea vero quam cognoverim cortinas regias inde esse sublatas, cum me populus eo ire deposceret, direxisse presbyteros, me tamen noluisse ire sed dixisse: "Credo in Christo quod ipse nobis cum faciet imperator".

(ed. Zelzer 1982: 121)

LXXVI (Maur. 20)

On the hand-over of the basilica <the brother [Ambrose] to his sister>

22. [...] I received the news that a notary was on his way to convey the emperor's instructions. I withdrew a little, he divulged the instructions. "What were you thinking of," he said, "that you acted contrary to the emperor's wishes?" I replied: "I do not know what his wishes are, and I am not sure what rash act is claimed to have taken place". He said: "Why did you send presbyters to the basilica? If you are a usurper I want to know, so that I know what preparations to make against you". I replied, saying that I had done nothing to the disadvantage of the Church. On hearing that the basilica had been occupied by soldiers, I had merely given vent to greater distress; and when many people were calling on me to go there, I had said: "Surrender the basilica I cannot, but participate in fighting I ought not". But after I had learnt that the imperial hangings had been removed from the basilica, and when the people were demanding that I should go there, I sent some prsbyters. I had refused to go myself, but said: "I trust in Christ, that the emperor himself will come on to our side". [I continued to the notary]

(trans. Liebeschuetz 2010: 170, slightly adapted)

Discussion:

The conflict over basilicas in Milan between Bishop Ambrose and the imperial court of Valentinian II was initiated in the spring or summer of 385 by the emperor's request to Ambrose to hand over one of Milanese churches, the extramural Basilica Portiana, for a Homoian service. The bishop refused, and that supposedly launched hostile actions of the Homoian party against him - attempts to force Ambrose to leave, threats of kidnapping, accusations, and the troops around the church in which he celebrated services. On 23 January 386 the emperor issued the law allowing the Homoians to gather for worship and punishing those who would prevented them with death (see Codex Theodosianus 16.1.4). Subsequently, on Easter 386 followed a second demand to surrender basilica to the Homoians. It led to the events described by Ambrose in the present letter 76 addressed to his sister Marcellina. These should not be confused with the events described in Letter 75 (Maur. 21) and 75a. For detailed discussions and different reconstructions of the events see, among others, Palanque 1933: 139-164, Van Haerningen 1937, Lenox-Conyngham 1982, Nauroy 1988, McLynn 1994: 170-219, Williams 1995: 185-232, Barnes 2000, Colish 2002, Chin 2010, Liebeschuetz 2011: 124-136.

Place of event:

Region

Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Milan

About the source:

Author: Ambrose of Milan
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Milan (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Ambrose was a bishop of Milan from 374 until his death in 397. We have a collection of his letters organized in three parts. The first one consists of 77 letters organized in ten books most probably by Ambrose himself. He published his letters at some point after the death of Theodosius in 395. From this collection, Book 4 is missing, as are some letters of Books 2 and 4. The second part is the group of letters that survived outside the collection (extra collectionem), and the third is a group of letters concerning the council of Aquileia in 381 (together with the acts of this council). For a detailed discussion on the letters and further reading see Liebeschuetz 2010: 27–48 and Nauroy 2016: 146–160.

Edition:

M. Zelzer ed., Sancti Ambrosi opera pars decima epistularum liber decimus. Epistulae extra collectionem. Gesta concili Aquileiensis, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Lationorum 82/3, Wien 1982

Translation:

Ambrose of Milan, Political Letters and Speeches, trans. J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, Translated Texts for Historians 43, Liverpool 2010

Bibliography:

T.D. Barnes, "Ambrose and the Basilicas of Milan in 385 and 386: The Primary Documents and their Implications”, Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity 4 (2000), 282–299.

C.M. Chin, "The Bishops’s „Two Bodies”: Ambrose and the Basilicas of Milan”, Church History 79 (2010), 531–555.

M.L. Colish, "Why the Portiana?: Reflections on the Milanese Basilica Crisis of 386”, Journal of Early Christian Studies 10 (2002), 361–372.

A. Lenox-Conyngham, "The Topography of the Basilica Conflict of A.D. 385/6 in Milan”, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 31 (1982), 353–363.

J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, Ambrose of Milan: political letters and speeches, Liverpool 2010.

J.-P. Mazières, "Les lettres d’Ambroise de Milan à Irenaeus.”, Pallas. Revue d’études antiques 26 (1979), 103–114.

N. McLynn, Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital, Berkeley 1994.

G. Nauroy, "The Letter Collection of Ambrose of Milan", [in:] Late Antique Letter Collections: A Critical Introduction and Reference Guide, ed. C. Sogno, B.K. Storin, E.J. Watts, Oakland, CA 2016, 146–160.

G. Nauroy, "Le fouet et le miel. Le combat d’Ambroise en 386 contre l’arianisme milanais”, Recherches Augustiniennes et Patristiques 23 (1988), 3–86.

G. Nauroy, "Édition et organisation du recueil des lettres d’Ambroise de Milan: une architecture cachée ou altérée?", in: La correspondance d'Ambroise de Milan, textes réunis et préparés par A. Canellis, Saint-Étienne 2012, 19-61.

J.-R. Palanque, Saint Ambroise et l’Empire romain. Contribution à l’histoire des rapports de l’Église et de l’État à la fin du quatrième siècle, Paris 1933.

A. Paredi, S. Ambrogio e la sua età, Milano 1960.

J.H. Van Haeringen, "De Valentiniano II et Ambrosio. Illustrantur et digeruntur res anno 386 gestae. I. Valentinianus II basilicam adoritur (de Ambrosii epistula XX)”, Mnemosyne 5 (1937), 152–158.

D.H. Williams, Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Arian-Nicene Conflicts, Oxford 1995.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Relation with - Secular authority

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1951, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1951