Letter 91: Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful of Milan.

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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