AMBROSE, Deacon. - Disciple and correspondent of Origen, confessor of the faith. Of a noble and wealthy family, perhaps Alexandrian, he was a deacon, though he had a wife and children. Having been led to embrace a Gnostic sect, he was converted around 212 by Origen. From then on he remained faithful to his master and not only urged him in every way to compose various works, but also provided him with the means to write them and to deepen his studies. During the persecution of Maximinus, A. was imprisoned and mistreated, but was finally released. He died not long after, shortly before Origen himself.

Among the numerous works dedicated to him by Origen, particularly noteworthy is the Exhortatio ad martyrium, which he sent to him while he was in prison (PG 11, 563-638), and the Contra Celsum, composed at the urging of A. himself.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: St. Jerome, De viris inlustribus, 56; Acta SS. Martii, II, Paris 1865, p. 500; A. Harnack, Geschichte der alchristlichen Literatur, I, Leipzig 1893, p. 328; ibid., II, ibid. 1897, p. 54; S. Salaville, s. v. in DHC, I, col. 1000.

Antonio Ferrua

@incollection{ec1_ambrogio_diacono, author = {Ferrua, Antonio}, title = {Ambrogio, diacono}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1000--1001}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ambrogio-diacono} }

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Ambrose, Deacon

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