Ambrosiaster and Damasus: A Presbyter’s Perspective on Clerical Misconduct

Abstract

This essay examines the comments of the fourth-century Roman exegete, now called “Ambrosiaster”, on the problem of misconduct of the clergy. In a manner that anticipated Augustine’s arguments against the Donatists, Ambrosiaster argued that the authority of a church office could not be demeaned by the misconduct of any individual cleric. I argue that one context of Ambrosiaster’s thinking on the problem of clerical misconduct was the troubled pontificate of Damasus and the numerous criticisms of the clergy that emerged at this time.