The Presbyters Project

1 Thess 5:12-13: "Hortamur (rogamus) autem vos, fratres, ut cognoscatis eos, qui laborant in vobis et praesunt vobis in domino et monent vos, ut illis summum honorem habeatis in caritate propter opera ipsorum pacem habete inter vos."

1. hoc est, quod dicit et in alia epistola, presbyteros duplici honore honorandos, qui laborant in verbo et doctrina. quid enim prodest honorem sine fructu habere? aut quid magnum est offerre ei carnalia, qui tribuit spiritalia? potest enim pigere eum, qui inopiam patitur, exercitium facere, quod prosit audientibus. sicut enim divitiae neglegentiam pariunt salutis, ita et egestas dum saturari quaerit, a iustitia declinat. hinc Solomon nec nimis divitem se petit fieri nec egestosum.

(ed. Vogels 1969: 230)

1 Thess 5:12-13: "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them who labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you: That you esteem them more abundantly in charity, for their work's sake. Have peace with them."

1. That means (as he says also in other letters) that presbyters who toiled both in preaching of the word and in teaching. But what use of an honour if it brings no fruits? Or what kind of great thing is offering bodily things to the one who offers the spiritual ones? For someone who suffers poverty it may be troubling to make an effort profitable to those who listen to him. Because just as the riches produce the negligence of salvation, indigence, when it makes a person to look for satiation, turns him away from justice. That is why Salomon asked that he be neither rich nor poor.

(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region

Rome

City

Rome

About the source:

Author: Ambrosiaster
Title: Commentary to the Letters of Paul, Commentaries to the Pauline Epistles, Commentaria in Pauli epistulas
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

"Ambrosiaster" is a name given in the scholarship (probably since the 17th-century edition of the Maurines) to the author of the Commentaries to the Letters of Paul which where attributed to Bishop Ambrose of Milan throughout the Middle Ages. Some proposed to identify Ambrosiaster with one of the known authors but none of these identifications is supported by compelling evidence. From the remarks scattered in the Commentaries we can deduce that he lived in Rome during the pontificate of Pope Damasus (366-384). As he sometimes speaks disapprovingly about the Roman deacons, it is possible that he was himself a presbyter (Hunter 2017). The Commentaries follow a Latin translation of the Pauline epistles common in Italy before the Vulgate revision. The Commentaries survived in the several revisions. Their editor Vogels distinguishes three recensions in the commentary to the Romans, alpha, beta and gamma, and two recensions, alpha and gamma, for the remaining letters. The text given here takes into account both revisions.

Also the Quaestiones Veteris and Novi Testamenti, transmitted under the name of Augustine, are now unanimously attributed to Ambrosiaster.

Edition:

H.I. Vogels ed., Ambrosiaster, Commentarius in xiii Epistulas Paulinas, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Lationorum 81, Wien 1966–9

Bibliography:

D.G. Hunter, "The Significance of Ambrosiaster," Journal of Early Christian Studies 17 (2009), 1-26

D.G. Hunter, "Rivalry between Presbyters and Deacons in the Roman Church: Three Notes on Ambrosiaster, Jerome, and The Boasting of the Roman Deacons," Vigiliae Christianae 71 (2017), 495–510

S. Lunn-Rockliffe, Ambrosiaster's Political Theology, Oxford 2007

A. Merkt, "Wer war der Ambrosiaster?" Wissenschaft und Weisheit 59 (1996) 19-33

A. Polliastri, "Ambrosiaster", in: Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, ed. A. Di Berardino, Downers Grove 2013

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Economic status and activity - Gift

Livelihood/income

Devotion - Donations and offerings

Pastoral activity - Teaching

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2227, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2227