Letter 91

From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan To: The Church at Milan Date: ~397 AD Context: Among the last letters attributed to Ambrose, written in the final months of his life. He reflects on his episcopate, commends his successor, and faces death with the composed authority that defined his career. Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful of Milan. I am dying. You have known this for some time, and so have I. The illnesses that have been my companions for years are now making their final claim, and I have no strength left to resist them. I do not write this to inspire pity. I have had a life that would exhaust ten men, and I have no right to complain that it is ending. Twenty-three years as your bishop — years that began with a call I never sought and continued with challenges I never imagined. When the people of Milan dragged a Roman governor to the baptismal font and forced a bishop's staff into his unprepared hands [Ambrose was acclaimed bishop by popular demand in 374, while still a catechumen; he was baptized, ordained, and consecrated within eight days], I thought the world had gone mad. I am no longer sure it had. I have fought the Arians and won. I have confronted emperors and survived. I have defended the rights of the Church against those who would make it a department of the state. I have preached, taught, written, administered, judged, reconciled, and — I confess — sometimes erred. The errors, God willing, were honest ones. What remains? Simplicianus [the learned priest who would succeed Ambrose as bishop of Milan; he was the spiritual father of both Marius Victorinus and Augustine] will succeed me. He is a better man than I — wiser, holier, and more patient. The church of Milan will be in good hands. To you, the faithful: continue in the faith. Hold fast to the Nicene Creed. Resist the Arians if they return. Care for the poor. Pray for one another. And remember your bishop — not with monuments, but with prayers. I have served the Lord in this place as well as I could. The rest is in his hands. Farewell, Milan. Farewell, my people. I go to the Lord I have served. May his peace be with you, now and always.

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