The model of the sage in St. Ambrose’s letters

Marcin Wysocki

Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II , Poland


Abstract

St. Ambrose’s letters are a unique example of bishop’s concern for pastoral, social and political issues relating to the city, the diocese, the Empire and the Church. They have been a special way of his pastoral influence and work. He in­cluded in them a number of moral, legal and dogmatic instructions, among which he described a model of the Christian sage. It was based on the statements of the Stoic philosophy, but finally the Christian character arising from Scripture, and es­pecially from the teaching of St. Paul the Apostle, was added to Ambrose’s model of a sage. According to Ambrose, the basic feature of the sage is freedom, but it also provides a number of other features – such as submission to God, love for the neighbours, the spirit of repentance, knowledge of God’s Law – which constitute the perfect sage, and ultimately – the perfect Christian.

Keywords:

St. Ambrose of Milan, sage, wisdom, stoicism, letters, freedom, wealth, penance, epistolography

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Published
2015-12-15


Wysocki, M. (2015). Ideał mędrca w listach św. Ambrożego. Vox Patrum, 64, 581–594. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3732

Marcin Wysocki 
Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II



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