a confession? But let one who has considered denying “before men” be reminded of the one who spoke truthfully: “I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.” And since Matthew wrote, “I also will confess in him before my Father who is in heaven,” but Luke, “the Son of Man also will confess in him before the angels of God,” I take note, lest perhaps the one, the “firstborn” “of all creation,” the “image of the invisible God,” should confess the one who confessed before the Father in heaven, while the other, having become “of the seed of David according to the flesh” and for this reason being the “Son of Man,” and having been born of a woman, who was herself a human, and for this reason being called “Son of Man,” who is understood as the man in Jesus, should confess those who confessed “before the angels of God.” And the same analogy must be applied concerning those who have denied. And this also must be considered, that the one confessing in the Son “before men” establishes, as far as it is in his power, Christianity and the father of this Christianity for those for whom he confesses; but the one who is confessed by the firstborn of all creation and by the Son of Man is established through the confession of the Son of God and of the Son of Man to the Father in heaven and to the angels of God. And if “not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends,” how should one not consider him to be approved who was judged worthy of being commended to the Father in heaven and to the angels of God? But if this one is approved, and those like him, whom the Lord “tested” with torments and examinations “as gold in a furnace” “and received as a whole burnt offering of sacrifice,” what must be said about those who were convicted in the furnace of temptation and denied, whom he who denies the one worthy of denial denies as unapproved before the Father in heaven and “before the angels of God”? 36 And one must struggle not only not to deny but also not to be ashamed at all of suffering things considered shameful by those who are strangers to God; and especially if, having been glorified and received by very many cities, you are now paraded, as it were, carrying the cross of Jesus, holy Ambrosius, and following him as he brings you before governors and kings, so that he himself, traveling with you, may give you a mouth and wisdom, and to you his fellow-combatant, Protoctetus, and to those who bear witness with you, who are filling up “what is lacking” in the sufferings “of Christ,” <and> he may be with you to the paradise of God, showing how you might pass through both “the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turns and guards the way of the tree of life.” For although both of these guard “the way of the tree of life,” they guard it so that no one unworthy may be permitted to pass through it and come to the tree of life. For the flaming sword will restrain those who have built upon the foundation that is laid, Jesus Christ, “wood or hay or straw,” and that most flammable and longest burning wood of, so I might name it, denial; but the cherubim, taking those not destined to be held by the flaming sword because they have built nothing akin to it, will send them to “the tree of life” and all things that “God planted” in the east and “made to spring up” “from the ground.” But with Jesus accompanying you to paradise, despise the serpent, conquered and crushed under the feet of Jesus and through him under yours also, who has given “you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, so that nothing of theirs shall harm you.” 37 Therefore, one must neither deny the Son of God nor be ashamed of him or his own or his words, but must hear this: “whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven,” and this: “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my

ὁμολογία; λογισάμενος δέ τις ἀρνήσασθαι «ἔμπροσ θεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων» ὑπομιμνησκέσθω τοῦ ἀψευδῶς εἰπόντος· «ἀπαρ νήσομαι κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.» ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος ἀνέγραψεν· «ὁμολογήσω κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς», ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς· «καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁμολογήσει ἐν αὐτῷ ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ», ἐφίστημι, μή ποτε ὁ μὲν «πάσης κτίσεως» «πρωτότοκος», ἡ «εἰκὼν τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοῦ», ὁμολογήσῃ τὸν ὁμολογήσαντα ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὸς, ὁ δὲ γενόμενος «ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυὶδ κατὰ σάρκα» καὶ διὰ τοῦτο «υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου» τυγχάνων καὶ γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικὸς καὶ αὐτῆς οὔσης ἀνθρώπου καὶ διὰ τοῦτο χρηματίζων «υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου», ὅσπερ νοεῖται ὁ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἄνθρωπος, ὁμολο γήσῃ τοὺς ὁμολογήσαντας «ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ.» τὸ δ' ἀνάλογον καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀρνησαμένων ἀποδοτέον. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο θεωρητέον, ὅτι ὁ μὲν ὁμολογῶν ἐν τῷ υἱῷ «ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων» τὸ ὅσον ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ συνίστησι χριστιανισ μὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ τούτου ἐφ' ὧν ὁμολογεῖ· ὁ δὲ ὁμολογούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πάσης κτίσεως πρωτοτόκου καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου συνίσταται διὰ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁμολογίας τῷ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὶ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέ λοις τοῦ θεοῦ. εἴπερ δὲ «οὐχ ὁ αὑτὸν συνιστάνων, ἐκεῖνός ἐστι δόκι μος, ἀλλὰ ὃν ὁ κύριος συνίστησι», πῶς οὐ χρὴ νομίζειν εἶναι δόκιμον τὸν ἄξιον κριθέντα τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς πατέρα καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀγγέλους τοῦ θεοῦ συστάσεως; εἰ δὲ δόκιμος οὗτος καὶ οἱ παραπλή σιοι αὐτῷ, οὓς «ὡς χρυσὸν ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ» ταῖς βασάνοις καὶ ταῖς ἐξετάσεσιν «ἐδοκίμασεν» ὁ κύριος «καὶ ὡς ὁλοκάρπωμα θυσίας προσ εδέξατο», τί χρὴ λέγειν περὶ τῶν ἐλεγχθέντων ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ καὶ ἀρνησαμένων, οὓς ὡς ἀδοκίμους ἀρνεῖται ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὸς καὶ «ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ» ὁ τὸν ἄξιον ἀρνήσεως ἀρνούμενος; 36 Καὶ οὐ μόνον γε πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀρνήσασθαι ἀγωνιστέον ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν αἰσχυνθῆναι νομιζόμενον παρὰ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις θεοῦ αἰσχύνης ἄξια πάσχειν· καὶ μάλιστα εἰ δοξασθεὶς καὶ ἀποδεχθεὶς ὑπὸ πλείστων ὅσων πόλεων νῦν ὡσπερεὶ πομπεύεις αἴρων τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἱερὲ Ἀμβρόσιε, καὶ ἀκολουθῶν αὐτῷ προσάγοντί σε ἐπὶ ἡγεμόνας καὶ βασιλεῖς, ἵνα αὐτός σοι συμπορευθεὶς αὐτός σοι καὶ δῷ στόμα καὶ σοφίαν καὶ σοὶ τῷ συναγωνιστῇ αὐτοῦ, Πρω τόκτητε, καὶ συμμαρτυροῦσιν ὑμῖν τοῖς ἀναπληροῦσι «τὰ ὑστερήματα» τῶν παθημάτων «τοῦ Χριστοῦ», <καὶ> σὺν ὑμῖν γένηται ἐπὶ τὸν παρά δεισον τοῦ θεοῦ ὑποδεικνὺς, πῶς ἂν διοδεύσητέ τε «τὰ χερουβὶμ καὶ τὴν φλογίνην ῥομφαίαν, τὴν στρεφομένην καὶ φυλάσσουσαν τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς». ταῦτα γὰρ ἀμφότερα εἰ καὶ φυλάσσει «τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς», φυλάσσει, ἵνα μηδεὶς ἀνάξιος ἐπιτραπῇ αὐτὴν διελθὼν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς. ἡ μὲν γὰρ φλογίνη ῥομφαία καθέξει τοὺς ἐποικοδομήσαντας τῷ κειμένῳ θεμελίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ «ξύλα ἢ χόρτον ἢ καλάμην» καὶ τὸ εὐκαυστότατον καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖον καιόμενον ξύλον τῆς, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ἀρνήσεως· τὰ δὲ χερουβὶμ τοὺς οὐ πεφυκότας κρατεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς φλογίνης ῥομφαίας τῷ μηδὲν συγγενὲς αὐτῇ ᾠκοδομηκέναι παραλαβόντα παραπέμψει ἐπὶ «τὸ τῆς ζωῆς ξύλον» καὶ πάντα ἃ «ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς» ἐν ταῖς ἀνα τολαῖς καὶ «ἐξανέτειλεν» «ἐκ τῆς γῆς». Ἰησοῦ δὲ συνοδεύοντος ὑμῖν ἐπὶ τὸν παράδεισον καταφρονήσατε τοῦ ὄφεως νενικημένου καὶ συντρι βέντος ὑπὸ τοὺς Ἰησοῦ πόδας καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ τοὺς ὑμετέρους, δεδωκότος «ὑμῖν ἐξουσίαν πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, ἵνα μηδὲν ὑμᾶς αὐτῶν ἀδικήσῃ.» 37 Οὔτ' οὖν ἀρνητέον τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ οὔτ' ἐπαισχυντέον αὐτὸν ἢ τοὺς οἰκείους αὐτοῦ ἢ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀκουστέον τοῦδε· «ὅστις δ' ἂν ἀπαρνήσηταί με ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀπαρ νήσομαι κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρα νοῖς,» καὶ τοῦ· «ὃς γὰρ ἂν ἐπαισχυνθῇ με καὶ τοὺς