Letter 50010: To the most gracious Emperor Gratian — Ambrose, Bishop.

From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan To: Emperor Gratian Date: ~381 AD Context: Ambrose sends his treatise on the Holy Spirit to Gratian, completing his dogmatic instruction of the emperor on the Trinity. He argues that the Spirit is fully divine, equal to Father and Son. To the most gracious Emperor Gratian — Ambrose, Bishop. You asked me to write on the faith, and I obeyed. You then asked me to write on the Holy Spirit, and I obey again — for the faith is not complete without confession of the full Trinity. The Arians and their allies the Macedonians [followers of Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit while accepting the Son's divinity — also called Pneumatomachians, "Spirit-fighters"] would reduce the Spirit to a creature, a mere servant of God rather than God himself. But Scripture tells us otherwise. "The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10). What creature can search the depths of its Creator? The Spirit is not a work of God but the breath of God — proceeding from the Father, sent by the Son, one in nature with both. Consider baptism itself: we baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Not in three names but in one name. If the Spirit were a creature, we would be baptized partly in the name of God and partly in the name of a created being — an absurdity that refutes itself. I have set these arguments out at length, most faithful Emperor, because the enemies of the Spirit are subtle. They will concede much and then withdraw everything by a single qualification. "The Spirit is great," they say — "but not God." "The Spirit is holy" — "but not as the Father is holy." Against such evasions, only precision serves. Receive this work, and may the Spirit himself, whom you confess, guide your heart and your empire.

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