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

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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