We cannot support those who would expel strangers at the
very time when they ought to help, says St. Ambrose. “Wild beasts and animals
consider the food which the earth supplies to be owned by all; they all give
assistance to those like themselves. But man, who ought not to consider
anything human to be foreign to himself, fights against his own.”
In the decades after the Edict of Milan, which ended the era
of persecution and opened the way to a Christian empire, some struggles
continued over remnants of ancient Roman religious practices. One such practice
was about the Altar of Victory outside the Roman Senate. There was a statue at
this altar, and it was custom for several centuries to burn incense to Nike,
the god of Victory, when Senators were on their way in for a vote. The Senators
would pass through a cloud of smoke, an offering to the Nike. Christians
objected, and the altar was removed by one emperor, then replaced by another,
then removed by a third. Then there was a famine, and some devotees of the
Roman gods – pagans, from a Christian perspective – said the famine was due to
the disrespect shown to Nike.
St. Ambrose was prominent in the debate about restoring the
Altar of Victory. He opposed it strenuously. But his arguments about pagan
worship did not lead him to treat non-Christians with disrespect.
Some of the pagans who wanted the Altar of Victory restored were
from villages outside Rome that had been subjected by Rome. The inhabitants
were not Roman citizens; in fact, they were often treated as slaves. They
raised food for the Romans, and sometimes came into Rome as laborers. In the
city, they were regarded as immigrant labor.
At the time of the famine, there was a debate about whether
to expel the outsiders. The arguments included questions of citizenship,
kinship, religion. The outsiders were pagans, migrants, laborers, outsiders, and
strangers. So in a time of famine, should they be expelled?
Regarding them, St. Ambrose wrote:
“Those who would close the city to strangers cannot have our
support! They would expel strangers at the very time when they ought to help.
They would refuse them a share in the food that is meant for all, and close
down human contacts that have already begun. They are unwilling, even in a time
of necessity, to give anything to people who have enjoyed their rights in
common. They refuse to share what they have. Beasts don’t drive out beasts, but
man shuts out man. Wild beasts and animals consider the food which the earth
supplies to be owned by all; they all give assistance to those like themselves.
But man, who ought not to consider anything human to be foreign to himself,
fights against his own.”
(St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. Duties of the Clergy, Book
III, chapter 7. St. Ambrose is among the Great Fathers of the Church, the
second of the Great Latin Fathers. Excerpt from Philip Schaff’s Library of the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.)