Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2342
Ambrose, bishop of Milan (Italy) in a philosophical treatise about duties "De officiis" says that it is shameful, especially for the priests, to pester the sick and dying in the hope of getting their inheritances. He also advises priests not to get involved in cases concering financial affairs. Milan, the late 380s.
Book 3
 
Ambrose discusses the relationship between the "beneficial" and "honourable." He cites examples of the behaviours which might bring one a gain but are utterly shameful like, for example, speculating on the grain market (c. 36-52). Then he speaks about hunting for inheritances:
 
57. Nihil itaque deformius quam nullum habere amorem honestatis et usu quodam degeneris mercaturae, quaestu sollicitari ignobili, auaro aestuare corde, diebus ac noctibus hiare in alieni detrimenta patrimonii, non eleuare animum ad honestatis nitorem, non considerare uerae laudis pulchritudinem. 58. Hinc nascuntur aucupio quaesitae hereditates, continentiae atque grauitatis simulatione captatae, quod abhorret a proposito christiani uiri: omne enim quod arte elicitum et fraude compositum est, caret merito simplicitatis. In ipsis qui nullum ecclesiastici ordinis officium receperint, incongrua iudicatur adfectatae ambitio hereditatis: in supremo fine uitae positos suum habere iudicium ut libere testentur quod sentiunt qui postea non sunt emendaturi, cum honestum non sit competentia compendia aliis uel debita uel parata auertere, cum uel sacerdotis uel ministri sit prodesse, si fieri potest, omnibus, obesse nemini. 59. Denique si non potest alteri subueniri nisi alter laedatur, commodius est neutrum iuuari quam grauari alterum. Ideo que in causis pecuniariis interuenire non est sacerdotis in quibus non potest fieri quin frequenter laedatur alter qui uincitur, quoniam intercessoris beneficio se uictum arbitratur. Sacerdotis est igitur nulli nocere, prodesse uelle omnibus; posse autem solius est Dei. Nam in causa capitis nocere ei quem iuuare debeas periclitantem, non sine peccato est graui; in causa autem pecuniae odia quaerere insipientiae est; cum pro salute hominis graues frequenter fiant molestiae, in quo etiam periclitari gloriosum sit. Proposita igitur forma in sacerdotis officio teneatur ut nulli noceat ne lacessitus quidem et aliqua iniuria offensus. Bonus enim est uir qui dixit: Si reddidi retribuentibus mihi mala. Quae enim est gloria si eum non laedimus qui nos non laeserit? Sed illa uirtus est si laesus remittas.
 
(ed. Testard 2000: 174; summary M. Szada)
Book 3
 
Ambrose discusses the relationship between the "beneficial" and "honourable." He cites examples of the behaviours which might bring one a gain but are utterly shameful like, for example, speculating on the grain market (c. 36-52). Then he speaks about hunting for inheritances:
 
57. There is nothing more odious than to have no love for what is honourable, to have an enthusiasm for the kind of practices that belong with the lowest of trades and for dishonest gain, to have a heart that burns with greed, to spend day and night in open–mouthed pursuit of the chance to inflict damage on another person's inheritance, and never to lift the spirit to focus on the splendour of what is honourable, and never to contemplate the beauty of true glory. 58. This is how some people succeed in obtaining inheritances: they go after them like hunters pursuing their quarry, and win them by pretending to show how restrained and serious they are. Such behaviour is repugnant to the purpose of a Christian man, for anything that has been elicited by artifice and contrived by deceitful behaviour is bereft of the merit of honesty. Even people who have never assumed any office in a church order believe it inappropriate to solicit an inheritance by putting on an affected manner. Those who are at the end of life ought to be left to come to their own decisions, and given freedom to make their wills as they see fit —they are not going to be able to alter them thereafter. For it is not honourable to divert hard–earned savings which may be due to others or set aside for them. The obligation of the priest or minister is to be helpful to everyone, if possible, and harmful to no one. 59. In the end, if it is not possible to offer assistance to one person without injuring another, it is better to help neither of them than to cause problems for either one. Since this is so, it is not for a priest to get involved in cases which concern financial affairs: in these situations, it is very often impossible to avoid an outcome at which the defeated party takes offence, for he assumes that his defeat has been aided and abetted by the person who has been acting as mediator. So the priest's task is to harm no one, but to be ready to help everyone— though the power to put this into practice belongs to God by getting involved—though bitterness and animosity will very often be generated by anyone who tries to defend a man's life, and it is a glorious thing if you are actually prepared to expose yourself to danger in those circumstances. Let us then observe the principle which should govern the duty of a priest: that he should harm no one, not even when provoked or offended by an injustice of any kind. A truly good man says this: ‘If I have repaid evil to those who rendered good to me . . . ’. After all, what glory is there is merely refraining from injuring somebody who has not injured us? It really is a virtue, though, if, when you have been injured by someone, you show him forgiveness.
 
(trans. Davidson 2001: 389-91; summary M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
City
  • Milan

About the source:

Author: Ambrose of Milan
Title: De officiis, On duties
Origin: Milan (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Ambrose of Milan most probably wrote "De officiis" in the late 380s. With some probability, we can identify Ambrose`s allusion to "the times of Arian onslaught" to his confrontation with the Arians over the basilicas in Milan in 385-386 (see [1947] and [1951]). Similarly, the story about a certain urban prefect of Rome who failed to cope with the food shortage in the city may refer to Q. Aurelius Symmachus who was the prefect in 384. For the more detailed discussion on dating and references to the secondary literature see Davidson 2001: 3-5.
 
Ambrose to same extent modelled his work on the famous treatise by Cicero also titled De officiis. Ambrose follows Cicero in dividing his work into three books and he refers to Cicero`s considerations about what is virtuous, what is practical and about opposition between virtuous and practical. Ambrosian De officiis are not, however, a Christian rendering of the classical pagan philosophical treatise nor the consistent refutation of Cicero, though he is evoked critically in several places. As Ivor Davidson proposed, De officiis are rather "designed to be a sign of Ambrose`s church`s relationiship to the saeculum." (Davidson 2001: 59; see also McLynn 1994: 255-256). It is not devised to systematically respond to Cicero (and pagans in general) on philosophical grounds, and therefore much of the argument relies on the Scriptural exempla. These show that new Christian and clerical officialdom is superior to any former pagan elites because of its higher purposes and responsibility toward God. For this interpretation see Davidson 2001: 45-64.
 
The immediate addressees of the treatise are Ambrose`s clerics, especially the young ones as he frequently addresses them in fatherly manner and makes allusions to their young age and lack of experience (e.g. I.65-66, 81, 87, 212, 217-218, II.97-101). It seems, however, also very probable that Ambrose`s had also in mind wider readership of literary secular elites (Davidson 2001: 63-64).
 
Two primary families of the manuscript tradition name the treatise "De officiis". In the third, the longer version apears - "De officiis ministrorum". Although it is most possibly the corrective gloss, as Davidson notices (2001: 1), the longer title is more frequently used in modern scholarship. Ancient allusions to the treatise give the shorter version (Augustine, Letter 82.21; Cassiodorus, Institutiones 1.16.4).
Edition:
M. Testard ed., Ambroise de Milan, Les devoirs, 2 vols., Paris 1984-1992 (with French translation)
M. Testard ed., Ambrosii Mediolanensis De officiis, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 15, Turnhout 2000
 
English translation with commentary:
I. Davidson ed., Ambrose, De officiis, 2 vols., Oxford 2001
Bibliography:
N. McLynn, Ambrose of Milan. Church and Court in Christian Capital, Oxford 1994

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
    Economic status and activity - Inheritance
      Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης
        Economic status and activity
          Pastoral activity - Visiting the sick
            Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2342, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2342