LETTER XVI. [A.D.383.]

This letter is addressed to Anysius, immediately on his election as successor to Acholius, in answer apparently to one from Anysius, which accompanied that from the Bishops of Macedonia, and announced his appointment. He speaks of the responsibility of succeeding so zealous a Bishop as Acholius, whom he praises in enthusiastic terms, and prays that (iod may make him a worthy successor in every way.

BISHOP AMBROSE TO HIS BROTHER ANYSIUS.

1. I HAVE been for some time sure of what I now read for the first time, and I know well by his merits him whom my eyes have not seen. I grieve that the one event should have happened, I rejoice that the other has ensued; I should have wished that the one had not happened in my lifetime, but it was my hope that after the death of that holy man this alone would ensue, as it ought. So now we have you, once the disciple, now the successor of Acholius of blessed memory, the inheritor alike of his rank and of his grace. This is a great merit, my brother. I congratulate you that there was not a moment's doubt who should be the successor of so great a man. It is  a great task too, my brother, to have taken upon you the burden of so great a name, a name of such weight, of such a scale. In you we look for Acholius, and as he was in your affections, so in your ministry is required a copy of his virtue, of his holy life, his vigorous mind in that decrepit body.

2. I have seen him, I confess: my seeing him is due to his merits: I saw him in such sort in the body as to believe him to be out of the body: I saw the image of him who, knowing not whether it was in the body or out of the body, saw himself transported to Paradise.  02-38  38. 2 Cor. xii. 2. With such rapid speed had he traversed every region, Constantinople, Achaia, Epirus, and Italy, that younger men could not keep pace with him. Men of stronger bodies yielded to him, knowing that he was free from the shackles of the body, so that he used it more as a covering than as an instrument, at all events that it was his slave not his helpmate, for he had so trained his body that he crucified the world in it, and himself to the world.

3. Blessed is the Lord, and blessed was His youth which He passed in the tabernacle of the God of Jacob, abiding in a monastery, in which, when sought after by His parents and relations He said,  Who is My mother, and who are My brethren?   02-39  39. S. Matt. xii. 48. I know not father, nor mother, nor brethren, save those  who hear the Word of God, and do it. Blessed also were his maturer years, wherein he was elected to the chief priesthood, having given proof of his virtue by a long service. He came like David to restore peace to the people.  02-40  40. 2 Chron. ix. 21. He came like that ship bringing with him spiritual treasure, and cedar wood, and precious stones, and those  silver wings of a dove, with which, lying  in the midst of the lots,   02-41  41. Ps. lxviii. 14. she slept the sleep of tranquillity and peace.

4. For even the sleep of the saints is operative, as it is written,  I   sleep, but my heart waketh,   02-42  42. Cant. v. 2. and as holy Jacob saw in sleep divine mysteries, which waking he saw not,  02-43  43. Gen. xxviii.13. even a passage opened for the saints between earth and heaven, and the Lord regarding him and promising to him the possession of that land. Thus by a brief sleep he attained that which his successors afterwards won by great toil. The sleep of the saints is free from all bodily pleasures, from all perturbation of mind, it brings tranquillity to the mind and peace to the soul, so that, freed from the fetters of the body, it raises itself aloft, and is united to Christ.

5. This sleep is the life of the saints, the life which holy Acholius lived, whose old age was also blest. That old age is truly venerable which is hoary not with gray hairs but in good deeds; for those hoar hairs are reverent which belong to the soul, whose works and thoughts are, as it were, white and shining. For what is true old age, but that unspotted life, which lasts not for days or months but for ages, whose continuance is without end, whose length of years is without weakness?  02-44  44. Wisd. iv. 9. For the longer it lives the stronger it waxes; the longer its life lasts the more vigorously does it grow unto a perfect man.

6. May God then approve you his successor not only in honor but also in conversation, and may He deign to establish you in His highest grace, that the people may flock to you also, and you may say often,  Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves with their young?   02-45  45. Isa. lx. 8. Let them come also as the ships of Tarshish, and take in corn which the true Solomon gives, even twenty measures of wheat.  02-46  46. 2 Chron. ix. 21. Let them receive the oil and wisdom of Solomon, and let there be peace between thee and thy people, and keep thou the covenant of peace. Brother, farewell: love me, for I too love you.

EPISTOLA XVI.

ANYSIO  in Acholii locum recens adscito gratulatur, et decessoris sanctimoniam, adolescentiam in monasterio exactam, ornatam virtutibus juventutem, cumulatamque senectutem laudans, ut Anysius ejusdem meritorum successor fiat, apprecatur. 

AMBROSIUS episcopus ANYSIO fratri.

1. Jamdudum teneo, etsi nunc primum lego; meritisque compertum habeo, quem oculis non videram. Doleo quidem illud accidisse, sed hoc successisse gaudeo; quia licet, superstite me, non optaverim illud contingere; speravi tamen, post illius sancti viri  0959C exitum, hoc solum posse merito succedere. Tenemus ergo te sanctae memoriae Acholii dudum discipulum, nunc successorem, haeredemque ejus vel honoris vel gratiae. Magnum meritum, frater. Gaudeo tibi, ne uno quidem momento de successore tanti dubitatum viri. Et magnum onus, frater, tanti nominis pondus subisse, tantae librae, tantique examinis. Quaeritur in te Acholius: et sicut erat in affectu tuo, ita in officiis desideratur illius virtutis, illius disciplinae effigies, illius fortitudo animi in tam senili corpore.

2. Vidi, fateor, virum; nam et hoc meritis illius debeo, quod illum viderim: vidi ita illum esse in corpore, ut extra corpus putarem: vidi imaginem illius, qui se sive in corpore, sive extra corpus  0959D nesciens, raptum ad paradisum viderat (II Cor. XII, 2); ita enim percurrebat omnia excursu frequenti, Constantinopolim, Achaiam, Epirum, Italiam, ut juniores eum non possent consequi. Cedebant fortiores corpore, quia eum sine impedimento 823 esse corporis noverant; ut eo tantum pro velamine uteretur, non pro officio: certe ad servitium, non  0960A ad subsidium; ita enim affecerat corpus suum, ut in eo mundum crucifigeret, et mundo semetipsum.

3. Benedictus Dominus, et benedicta adolescentia ejus, quam exegit in tabernaculis Dei Jacob, positus in monasteriis, in quibus cum quaereretur a parentibus vel proximis, dicebat:  Qui sunt fratres mei, aut quae mater mea (Matth. XII, 48)? Non novi patrem, vel matrem, vel fratres meos; nisi qui audiunt verbum Dei, et faciunt. Benedictus etiam processus juventutis ipsius, in qua ad summum electus est sacerdotium, maturo jam probatus virtutum stipendio. Venit enim tamquam David ad pacem populi reformandam (II Reg. V, 3). Venit tamquam illa navis aurum secum intelligibile vehens, et ligna cedrina, et lapides pretiosos (II Paral. IX, 21), et illas columbae  0960B pennas deargentatas, quibus medias inter sortes somno pacis et tranquillitatis sopore dormivit (Psal. LXVII, 14).

4. Est enim sanctorum etiam somnus operarius, secundum quod scriptum est:  Ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat (Cant. V, 2). Et secundum quod Jacob sanctus (Gen. XXVIII, 13), divina dormiens videbat mysteria, quae vigilans non viderat, de coelo ad terras aerem pervium sanctis, respicientem Dominum, et pollicentem terrae ejus possessionem. Itaque brevi somno dormiens impetravit, quod magno labore postea acquisivit haereditas ejus. Est enim somnus sanctorum feriatus ab omnibus corporis voluptatibus, ab omni animi perturbatione, tranquillitatem menti invehens, placiditatem animae; ut tamquam  0960C soluta nexu corporis se ablevet, et Christo adhaereat.

5. Hic est somnus vita sanctorum, quam vivebat sanctus Acholius, cujus benedicta etiam senectus. Ipsa est vere senectus illa venerabilis, quae non canis, sed meritis albescit (Sap. IV, 8); ea est enim reverenda canities, quae est canities animae, in canis cogitationibus et operibus effulgens. Quae est enim vere aetas senectutis, nisi vita immaculata (Ibid. 9), quae non diebus aut mensibus, sed saeculis propagatur, cujus sine fine est diuturnitas, sine debilitate longaevitas? Quo enim diuturnior, eo fortior: et quo diutius eam vitam vixerit, eo fortius in virum perfectum excrescit.

6. Hujus igitur successorem te Dominus non solum honore, sed etiam moribus probet, et summa  0960D fundare dignetur gratia; ut ad te quoque populi concurrant, de quibus dicas:  Qui sunt isti, qui sicut nebulae volant, et sicut columbae cum pullis suis (Esa. 60, 8)? Veniant quoque sicut naves Tharsis (II Paral. IX, 21), quae accipiant frumentum, quod Salomon verus impertivit viginti mensuras tritici. Accipiant oleum et sapientiam Salomonis, et sit pax inter te,  0961A et populum, et testamentum pacis 824 custodias. Vale, frater, et nos dilige, quia et nos te diligimus.