you believe that Paul was caught up "to the third heaven" and "was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter", consequently you will know that you will immediately know more and greater things than the unspeakable words then revealed to Paul, after which he descended from the third heaven, after the knowledge not about to descend, if taking up the cross you follow after Jesus, whom we have as "a great high priest who has passed through the heavens." and you yourselves, not departing from those behind him, will pass through the heavens, surpassing not only the earth and the mysteries concerning the earth but also the heavens and the things concerning them. For there are stored up in God sights much greater than these, which no nature among those in a body, not first being released from all body, is able to comprehend. For I am persuaded that God stores up and keeps with himself much greater things than what the sun and moon and the chorus of the stars have seen, but also the holy angels, whom God made "spirit" and "a flame of fire," so that he might reveal them, when all "the creation" is set free "from the bondage of the enemy into the freedom of the glory of the children of God". 14 And so, beyond the first martyrs, one who has a greater love for learning in Christ than many martyrs will ascend more quickly. But to you, holy Ambrose, looking closely with the voice of the gospel, it is possible to see that perhaps either no one ever or very few will attain an outpouring of blessing of an exceptional and greater kind; among whom you also will be, if you swim through the contest without hesitation. The words are thus: Peter once said to the Savior: "Behold, we have left everything and followed you; what then will there be for us? But Jesus said to them" (that is, to the apostles): "Truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration, when God sits on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left brothers or sisters or parents or children or fields or houses for my name's sake, will receive many times more and will inherit eternal life." And on account of these words, having acquired on earth as much as you have, or even more, I would have prayed to become a martyr in Christ God, so that I might receive "many times more" or, as Mark says, "a hundredfold;" <which> is much more than the few things, such as we will leave behind, if we are called to martyrdom, being multiplied a hundredfold. And for this reason, if I become a martyr, I would have wished also to leave behind children along with fields and houses, so that from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named," I might be called the father of many more and holier children, or, to speak precisely, of a hundredfold. And if there are fathers, about whom it was said to Abraham: "But you shall go to your fathers in peace, being nourished in a good old age," someone might say (I do not know if he speaks truly): Perhaps those fathers are ones who were once martyrs and left children, in return for which they became fathers of the fathers of the patriarch Abraham and of other such patriarchs; for it is likely that those who have left children and become martyrs become fathers not of infants but of fathers. 15 But if someone, as if coveting the greater gifts and counting blessed rich martyrs and father-martyrs who will beget "a hundredfold" of children and will receive a hundredfold of fields and houses, should ask, if reasonably those men, in comparison to martyrs who were poor in life, will have their possession in the intelligible realm multiplied many times, it must be said to him that, just as those who endured tortures and labors showed a more splendid virtue in martyrdom than those not tested in these things, so those who, in addition to loving the body and loving life, having cut and broken so many worldly bonds, employing great love for God, and truly having taken up the living and active word of God, sharper "than any two-edged sword," have been able, having cut so many bonds, and having fashioned for themselves wings as if

πιστεύετε ὅτι Παῦλος ἡρπάγη «εἰς τρίτον οὐρανὸν» καὶ «ἡρπάγη εἰς τὸν παράδεισον καὶ ἤκουσεν ἄῤῥητα ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι», ἀκολούθως εἴσεσθε ὅτι τῶν τότε Παύλῳ ἀποκαλυφθέντων ῥημάτων ἀῤῥήτων, μεθ' ἃ καταβέβηκεν ἀπὸ τοῦ τρίτου οὐρανοῦ, πλείονα καὶ μείζονα εὐθέως γνώσεσθε, μετὰ τὴν γνῶσιν οὐ καταβη σόμενοι, ἐὰν αἴροντες τὸν σταυρὸν ὀπίσω τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀκολουθῆτε, ὃν ἔχομεν «ἀρχιερέα μέγαν διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανούς.» καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐκ ἀφιστάμενοι τῶν ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ διελεύσεσθε τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, οὐ μόνον γῆν καὶ τὰ περὶ γῆς μυστήρια ὑπερβαίνοντες ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν. ἔστι γὰρ ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἐναποτεθησαυρισμένα πολλῷ μείζονα τούτων θεάματα, ἅτινα οὐδεμία φύσις τῶν ἐν σώματι μὴ πρότερον ἀπαλλαγεῖσα παντὸς σώματος χωρῆσαι δύναται. πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι ὧν εἶδεν ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀστέρων χορὸς ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγγέλων ἁγίων, οὓς ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς «πνεῦμα» καὶ «πυρὸς φλόγα», πολλῷ μείζονα ταμιεύεται καὶ τηρεῖ παρ' ἑαυτῷ ὁ θεὸς, ἵνα αὐτὰ φανερώσῃ, ὅταν πᾶσα «ἡ κτίσις» ἐλευθερωθῇ «ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ ἐχθροῦ εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ θεοῦ». 14 Καὶ ἐπέκεινα οὖν τις προμαρτύρων πλεῖόν τι παρὰ πολλοὺς μάρτυρας ἐχόντων τὸ ἐν Χριστῷ φιλομαθὲς τάχιον ἀναβήσεται. σοὶ δὲ, ἱερὲ Ἀμβρόσιε, ἐνιδόντι ἐξητασμένως εὐαγγελικῇ φωνῇ πάρεστιν ἰδεῖν, ὡς ἄρα τάχα ἢ οὐδεὶς τῶν πώποτε ἢ πάνυ ὀλίγοι χύσεως μα καρισμοῦ ἐπιτεύξονται ἐξαιρέτου τινὸς καὶ πλείονος· ἐν ὁποίῳ ἔσῃ καὶ σὺ, εἰ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἀδιστάκτως διανήξαιο. τὰ δὲ ῥήματα οὕτως ἔχει· ὁ Πέτρος εἶπέ ποτε τῷ σωτῆρι· «ἰδοὺ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν πάντα καὶ ἠ κολουθήσαμέν σοι· τί ἄρα ἔσται ἡμῖν; ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς» (δη λονότι τοῖς ἀποστόλοις)· «ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οἱ ἀκολουθήσαν τές μοι ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ, ὅταν καθίσῃ ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ, καθήσεσθε καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐπὶ θρόνους δώδεκα κρίνοντες τὰς δώ δεκα φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. καὶ πᾶς ὅστις ἀφῆκεν ἀδελφοὺς ἢ ἀδελφὰς ἢ γονεῖς ἢ τέκνα ἢ ἀγροὺς ἢ οἰκίας ἕνεκεν τοῦ ὀνόματός μου, πολ λαπλασίονα λήψεται καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσει». τούτων δὲ ἕνεκεν τῶν ῥητῶν ηὐξάμην ἂν τοσαῦτα κτησάμενος ἐπὶ γῆς, ὁπόσα ἔχεις, ἢ καὶ τούτων πλείονα γενέσθαι μάρτυς ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ θεῷ, ἵνα «πολλαπλασίονα» λάβω ἢ, ὡς ὁ Μάρκος φησὶν, «ἑκατονταπλα σίονα·» <ἃ> πολλῷ πλείονά ἐστιν ὀλίγων, ὁποῖα καταλείψομεν, ἐὰν ἐπὶ μαρτύριον κληθῶμεν, ἑκατονταπλασιαζομένων. τούτου δὲ ἕνεκεν εἰ μαρτυρῶ, ἐβουλόμην καὶ τέκνα καταλιπεῖν μετὰ ἀγρῶν καὶ οἰκιῶν, ἵνα καὶ παρὰ τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ τοῦ κυ ρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, «ἐξ οὗ πᾶσα πατριὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀνομάζεται», πολλαπλασιόνων καὶ ἁγιωτέρων τέκνων χρηματί σω πατὴρ ἢ, ἵν' ὡρισμένως εἴπω, ἑκατονταπλασιόνων. εἴπερ δέ εἰσι πατέρες, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται τῷ Ἀβραάμ· «σὺ δὲ ἀπελεύσῃ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας σου μετ' εἰρήνης τραφεὶς ἐν γήρᾳ καλῷ», εἴποι ἄν τις (οὐκ οἶδα εἰ ἀληθεύων)· τάχα ἐκεῖνοι πατέρες εἰσὶ μαρτυρήσαντές ποτε καὶ ἀφέντες τέκνα, ἀνθ' ὧν πατέρες γεγόνασι πατέρων τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ἄλλων τοιούτων πατριαρχῶν· εἰκὸς γὰρ τοὺς ἀφέντας τέκνα καὶ μαρτυρήσαντας οὐ νηπίων ἀλλὰ πατέρων γίνεσθαι πατέρας. 15 Ἐὰν δέ τις ὡσπερεὶ ζηλῶν χαρίσματα τὰ μείζονα καὶ μα καρίζων πλουσίους μάρτυρας καὶ πατέρας μάρτυρας «ἑκατονταπλασίονα» γεννήσοντας τέκνα καὶ ἑκατονταπλασίονας ἀγροὺς καὶ οἰκίας ληψο μένους ζητῇ, εἰ εὐλόγως ἐκεῖνοι παρὰ τοὺς ἐν βίῳ πένητας μάρτυ ρας πολυπλασιαζομένην ἕξουσι τὴν ἐν νοητοῖς κτῆσιν, λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι, ὥσπερ οἱ βασάνους καὶ πόνους ὑπομείναντες τῶν μὴ ἐν τούτοις ἐξητασμένων λαμπροτέραν ἐπεδείξαντο τὴν ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ ἀρετὴν, οὕτως οἱ πρὸς τῷ φιλοσωματεῖν καὶ φιλοζωεῖν καὶ τοὺς τοσούτους κοσμικοὺς δεσμοὺς διακόψαντες καὶ διαῤῥήξαντες μεγάλῃ τῇ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀγάπῃ χρησάμενοι καὶ ἀληθῶς ἀνειληφότες τὸν ζῶντα τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον καὶ ἐνεργῆ καὶ τομώτερον «ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαι ραν δίστομον» δεδύνηνται τοὺς τοσούτους διακόψαντες δεσμοὺς καὶ κατασκευάσαντες ἑαυτοῖς πτέρυγας ὥσπερ