citizens. He was formally commanded to surrender the basilica, and the soldiers were ordered to
use violence if necessary. But in the end they refused to use violence, and the Emperor was
compelled to give way. A great battle had been won in the contest for ecclesiastical independence;
Ambrose had demonstrated that there were matters in which the State must yield to the Church,
and had thereby established a new principle which retains its importance to the present day.
His next conflict was with the Emperor Theodosius. A synagogue had been burnt, and the Count
of the East reported that this had been done at the instigation of the local bishop. The Emperor
ordered that the actual incendiaries should be punished, and that the guilty bishop should rebuild
the synagogue. Saint Ambrose neither admits nor denies the bishop's complicity, but is indignant
that the Emperor should seem to side with Jews against Christians. Suppose the bishop refuses to
obey? He will then have to become a martyr if he persists, or an apostate if he gives way. Suppose
the Count decides to rebuild the synagogue himself at the expense of the Christians? In that case
the Emperor will have an apostate Count, and Christian money will be taken to support unbelief.
"Shall, then, a place be made for the unbelief of the Jews out of the spoils of the Church, and shall
the patrimony, which by the favour of Christ has been gained for Christians, be transferred to the
treasuries of unbelievers?" He continues: "But perhaps the cause of discipline moves you, O
Emperor. Which, then, is of greater importance, the show of discipline or the cause of religion? It
is needful that judgement should yield to religion. Have you not heard, O Emperor, how, when
Julian commanded that the Temple of Jerusalem should be restored, those who were clearing the
rubbish were consumed by fire?"
It is clear that, in the Saint's opinion, the destruction of synagogues should not be punished in any
way. This is an example of the manner in which, as soon as it acquired power, the Church began
to stimulate anti-Semitism.
The next conflict between Emperor and Saint was more honourable to the latter. In A.D. 390,
when Theodosius was in Milan, a mob in Thessalonica murdered the captain of the garrison.
Theodosius, on receiving the news, was seized with ungovernable fury, and ordered an
abominable revenge. When the people were assembled in the circus, the soldiers fell upon them,
and massacred at least seven thousand of