Texts in Conversation
The Christian theologian Ambrose treats the book of Sirach as an authoritative source on friendship and moral speech. By drawing from its call to loyalty, discretion, and care in words, he uses the text to define the ethical boundaries that preserve trust and community.
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Sirach 22:25
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
23 Gain the trust of your neighbor in his poverty, so that you may rejoice with him in his prosperity. Stand by him in time of distress, so that you may share with him in his inheritance. 24 The vapor and smoke of the furnace precede the fire; so insults precede bloodshed. 25 I am not ashamed to shelter a friend, and I will not hide from him. 26 But if harm should come to me because of him, whoever hears of it will beware of him. 27 Who will set a guard over my mouth, and an effective seal upon my lips, so that I may not fall because of them, and my tongue may not destroy me?
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Ambrose On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
Early Christian
37 It gives a very great impetus to mutual love if one shows love in return to those who love us and proves that one does not love them less than oneself is loved, especially if one shows it by the proofs that a faithful friendship gives. What is so likely to win favour as gratitude? What more natural than to love one who loves us? What so implanted and so impressed on men's feelings as the wish to let another, by whom we want to be loved, know that we love him? Well does the wise man say: Lose your money for your brother and your friend. And again: I will not be ashamed to defend a friend, neither will I hide myself from him. If, indeed, the words in Ecclesiasticus testify that the medicine of life and immortality is in a friend; yet none has ever doubted that it is in love that our best defense lies. As the Apostle says: It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; love never fails.
Date: 390-395 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Book of Ecclesiasticus [Sirach] has been honored still more highly among the Christians, being cited in the Epistle of James (Edersheim, in Wace, 'Apocrypha,' p. 21), the Didache (4:5), and the Epistle of Barnabas (19:9), while Clement of Alexandria and Origen quote from it repeatedly, as from a γραφή, or holy book. In the Western Church, Cyprian frequently appeals to it in his 'Testimonia,' as does Ambrose in the greater number of his writings. In like manner the Catalogue of Cheltenham, Damasus I., the Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), Pope Innocent I., the second Council of Carthage (419), and Augustine all regard it as a canonical book. This is contrary, however, to the opinions of the Council of Laodicea, of Jerome, and of Rufinus of Aquileia, which authorities rank it among the ecclesiastical books. It was finally declared canonical by the Council of Trent; and the favor with which the Church has always regarded it has preserved it in its entirety. ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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