What do you think?
Rate this book
Concerning Repentance
"Concerning Repentance" is part of The Fig Classic Series on Early Church Theology. To view more books in our catalog, visit us at fig-books.com.
75 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2010
3 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Ambrose of Milan
231 books70 followersborn perhaps 340
Saint , bishop of Milan from 374, wrote, composed, and imposed orthodoxy on the early Christian Church.
This ecclesiastical figure of the 4th century most influenced. He served as consular prefect of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered, before popular acclamation. Ambrose staunchly opposed Arianism, and people accused him of fostering persecutions of Jews and pagans.
Tradition credits Ambrose with promoting "antiphonal chant", a style in which one side of the choir responds alternately, as well as Veni redemptor gentium, a hymn of Advent.
Ambrose ranks of the four original doctors of the Church, and the patron. He notably influenced Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Saint , bishop of Milan from 374, wrote, composed, and imposed orthodoxy on the early Christian Church.
This ecclesiastical figure of the 4th century most influenced. He served as consular prefect of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered, before popular acclamation. Ambrose staunchly opposed Arianism, and people accused him of fostering persecutions of Jews and pagans.
Tradition credits Ambrose with promoting "antiphonal chant", a style in which one side of the choir responds alternately, as well as Veni redemptor gentium, a hymn of Advent.
Ambrose ranks of the four original doctors of the Church, and the patron. He notably influenced Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 30, 2025
A great little book from St Ambrose (d. 397), mentor of St Augustine of Hippo, on God’s love for those in sin. Ambrose often preached against the Novatianist heresy, which insisted that many sins could never be forgiven and that God had an “equal disfavor” for people with any sort of sin on their soul.
I found this to be very helpful for discipleship and spiritual direction, especially in times when we overemphasize the gravity of sin at the expense of God’s mercy. Here is an excerpt from my favorite example of God’s merciful love in this book: (On Repentance 1.5.24-26). It is a reminder that even in grave circumstances, God is ready to meet us and use even the smallest mustard seed of faith and repentance to bring us back to his love.
“But if He brings not down every sinner with His whole heart, how much less does He bring down him with His whole heart who has not sinned with his whole heart! For as He said of the Jews: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me,” so perhaps He may say of some of the fallen: “They denied Me with their lips, but in heart they are with Me. It was pain which overcame them, not unfaithfulness which turned them aside.” But some without cause refuse pardon to those whose faith the persecutor himself confessed up to the point of striving to overcome it by torture. They denied the Lord once, but confess Him daily; they denied Him in word, but confess Him with groans, with cries, and with tears; they confess Him with willing words, not under compulsion. They yielded, indeed, for a moment to the temptation of the devil, but even the devil afterwards departed from those whom he was unable to claim as his own. He yielded to their weeping, he yielded to their repentance, and after making them his own lost those whom he attached when they belonged to Another.
25. Is not the case such as when any one carries away captive the people of a conquered city? The captive is led away, but against his will. He must of necessity go to foreign lands, does not willingly make the journey; he takes his native land with him in his heart, and seeks an opportunity to return. What then? When any such return, does any one urge that they should not be received; with less honour indeed, but with readier will, that the enemy may have nothing with which to reproach them? If you pardon an armed man who was able to fight, do you not pardon him in whom faith alone waged the battle?
26. If we were to enquire what is the opinion of the devil concerning those who have fallen after this sort, would he not probably reply: “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me? For how can he be with me who does not depart from Christ? Without any cause do they appear to honour me who keep the doctrine of Jesus, and I thought that they would teach mine. They condemn me all the more when they forsake me after trial. Indeed Jesus is more glorified in these, when He receives them on their return to Him. All the angels rejoice, for in heaven there is greater joy over one sinner that repents, than over ninety and nine just persons who need not repentance. I am triumphed over in heaven and on earth. Christ loses nothing when they who came to me with weeping return with longing to the Church, and I am in danger even as regards my own, who will learn that in reality there is nothing here where men are led on by present rewards, but that there must be very much there where groans and tears and fasts are preferred to my feasts.”
I found this to be very helpful for discipleship and spiritual direction, especially in times when we overemphasize the gravity of sin at the expense of God’s mercy. Here is an excerpt from my favorite example of God’s merciful love in this book: (On Repentance 1.5.24-26). It is a reminder that even in grave circumstances, God is ready to meet us and use even the smallest mustard seed of faith and repentance to bring us back to his love.
“But if He brings not down every sinner with His whole heart, how much less does He bring down him with His whole heart who has not sinned with his whole heart! For as He said of the Jews: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me,” so perhaps He may say of some of the fallen: “They denied Me with their lips, but in heart they are with Me. It was pain which overcame them, not unfaithfulness which turned them aside.” But some without cause refuse pardon to those whose faith the persecutor himself confessed up to the point of striving to overcome it by torture. They denied the Lord once, but confess Him daily; they denied Him in word, but confess Him with groans, with cries, and with tears; they confess Him with willing words, not under compulsion. They yielded, indeed, for a moment to the temptation of the devil, but even the devil afterwards departed from those whom he was unable to claim as his own. He yielded to their weeping, he yielded to their repentance, and after making them his own lost those whom he attached when they belonged to Another.
25. Is not the case such as when any one carries away captive the people of a conquered city? The captive is led away, but against his will. He must of necessity go to foreign lands, does not willingly make the journey; he takes his native land with him in his heart, and seeks an opportunity to return. What then? When any such return, does any one urge that they should not be received; with less honour indeed, but with readier will, that the enemy may have nothing with which to reproach them? If you pardon an armed man who was able to fight, do you not pardon him in whom faith alone waged the battle?
26. If we were to enquire what is the opinion of the devil concerning those who have fallen after this sort, would he not probably reply: “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me? For how can he be with me who does not depart from Christ? Without any cause do they appear to honour me who keep the doctrine of Jesus, and I thought that they would teach mine. They condemn me all the more when they forsake me after trial. Indeed Jesus is more glorified in these, when He receives them on their return to Him. All the angels rejoice, for in heaven there is greater joy over one sinner that repents, than over ninety and nine just persons who need not repentance. I am triumphed over in heaven and on earth. Christ loses nothing when they who came to me with weeping return with longing to the Church, and I am in danger even as regards my own, who will learn that in reality there is nothing here where men are led on by present rewards, but that there must be very much there where groans and tears and fasts are preferred to my feasts.”
December 6, 2022
This book is worth reading, but I will admit there are a few chapters that will be a summary of your basic CCD class, as we don't fall into the heresy that St. Ambrose was dispelling at the time. Still, some very beautiful and insightful parts.
July 5, 2024
Ambrose strikes again with a book that really personifies and demonstrates what repentance should be and how the Lord graciously responds to it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews