Ambrose of Alexandria

AMBROSE OF ALEXANDRIA: Friend of Origen; d. about 250. Attracted by Origen’s fame as a teacher, he visited his school about 212, and was converted by Origen from the Valentinian heresy to the orthodox faith (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI. xviii. 1). He was a sufferer during the persecution under Maximinus in 235 (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI. xxviii.), and is last mentioned in Origen’s Contra Celsum, which the latter wrote at the solicitation of Ambrose. He was wealthy and provided his teacher with books for his studies and secretaries to lighten the labor of composition (Eusbius, Hist. eccl., VI. xxiii. 1-2; Jerome, De vir. ill., lvi.). Origen often speaks of him in terms of affection as a man of education and literary and scholarly tastes. All of his works written after 218 are dedicated to Ambrose.