Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
388-389 · 1 year · show in timeline

Callinicum 388: Christians burned down a synagogue at the instigation of their bishop, and Bishop Ambrose of Milan forced the emperor to drop rebuilding and punishment

In 388 a mob led by the local bishop and many monks destroyed the synagogue of Callinicum on the Euphrates; monks also burned down a church of the Valentinians. Emperor Theodosius I ordered the bishop to rebuild the synagogue and the offenders to be punished. Bishop Ambrose of Milan wrote to the emperor that the synagogue was a house of unbelief and declared that he would take the burning upon himself. Through a sermon before the emperor and his refusal to celebrate Mass, he forced the revocation of the order and the end of the investigation.

Period
388-389 (1 year)
Country
Syria
Institutions
Bishop of Callinicum
Ambrose of Milan
monks
Emperor Theodosius I
Category
Anti-Judaism, Violence
Level of evidence
A Primary source · what does this mean?
Persons
Ambrose of Milan (Bishop of Milan, forced the abandonment of rebuilding and punishment)
Theodosius I (Roman emperor, ordered rebuilding and punishment and revoked the order)

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, in 388 a mob led by the local bishop and many monks destroyed the synagogue of Callinicum in Mesopotamia (on the Euphrates, today ar-Raqqa in Syria). Ambrose wrote to his sister that Christians, at the instigation of the bishop, had burned a synagogue of the Jews and a meeting house of the Valentinians (a Christian group regarded as heretics).
    Evidence: The Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot
    „It appears that in 388 a mob, led by the local bishop and many monks, destroyed the synagogue at Callinicum.“
    Ambrose, Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 41, Abs. 1
    „For when it was reported that a synagogue of the Jews and a conventicle of the Valentinians had been burnt by Christians at the instigation of the bishop“
    Ambrosius, Brief 41 an seine Schwester Marcellina, Brief 41, Abs. 1. Original · Archive copy

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. The military Count of the East reported that the synagogue had been burned at the instigation of the bishop. Emperor Theodosius I ordered that the other offenders be punished and that the synagogue be rebuilt by the bishop himself, and likewise that the monks who had burned the Valentinians' building be punished. The Britannica calls this impartial conduct on the emperor's part.
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 40, Abs. 6
    „A report was made by the military Count of the East that a synagogue had been burnt, and that this was done at the instigation of the Bishop. You gave command that the others should be punished, and the synagogue be rebuilt by the Bishop himself.“
    Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, Brief 40, Abs. 6. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 41, Abs. 1
    „an order was made while I was at Aquileia, that the synagogue should be rebuilt, and the monks punished who had burnt the Valentinian building“
    Ambrosius, Brief 41 an seine Schwester Marcellina, Brief 41, Abs. 1. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Artikel Theodosius (emperors), Abschnitt Theodosius I.
    „When the Christians in the eastern part of the empire destroyed a Jewish synagogue and a church belonging to the Valentinians, Theodosius gave orders for the offenders to make reparation.“
    Theodosius (emperors), Artikel Theodosius (emperors), Abschnitt Theodosius I.. Original · Archive copy

What happened to those affected?

  1. The Jews of Callinicum neither got their synagogue back nor were the offenders punished. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the immunity thus granted led to the plundering of synagogues all over the empire afterwards.
    Evidence: The Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot
    „he succeeded in obtaining his promise that the sentence should be completely revoked“
    Ambrose, Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: The Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot
    „In this manner, this altogether discreditable affair ended in the victory of the Church, with the very natural consequence that thereafter the prospect of immunity thus afforded occasioned spoliations of synagogues all over the empire.“
    Ambrose, Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot. Original · Archive copy

Background

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

  1. Ambrose wrote to the emperor that the synagogue was a home of unbelief, a house of impiety, a receptacle of folly, which God Himself had condemned. He declared that he himself had set fire to the synagogue, or at least ordered those who did it, so that there might not be a place where Christ was denied. Rebuilding it with the Church's money would mean that the Jews could write on their synagogue: the temple of impiety, erected from the plunder of Christians.
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 40, Abs. 14
    „much less since it is the burning of a synagogue , a home of unbelief, a house of impiety, a receptacle of folly, which God Himself has condemned“
    Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, Brief 40, Abs. 14. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 40, Abs. 8
    „I declare that I set fire to the synagogue , or at least that I ordered those who did it, that there might not be a place where Christ was denied.“
    Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, Brief 40, Abs. 8. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 40, Abs. 10
    „Shall the Jews write this inscription on the front of their synagogue : The temple of impiety, erected from the plunder of Christians ?“
    Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, Brief 40, Abs. 10. Original · Archive copy
  2. In justification Ambrose claimed that under Emperor Julian the Jews had burned churches at Damascus, Gaza, Ascalon, Berytus and Alexandria without anyone demanding punishment. The Jewish Encyclopedia remarks that it is hard to say what foundation there is for this charge, since all the misfortunes of the Christians under Julian were laid upon the Jews. The Britannica writes that Ambrose, where the interests of his creed were concerned, could forget the common principles of justice.
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 40, Abs. 15
    „I could tell how many of the Church's basilicas the Jews burnt in the time of the Emperor Julian“
    Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, Brief 40, Abs. 15. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: The Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot
    „It is hard to say just what foundation there is for this charge againstthe Jews, seeing that all the misfortunes which befell the Christians in Julian the Apostate's reign were laid upon their shoulders.“
    Ambrose, Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Artikel Theodosius (emperors), Abschnitt Theodosius I.
    „Such impartial conduct drew forth a remonstrance from Ambrose, who, where the interests of his creed were concerned, could forget the common principles of justice.“
    Theodosius (emperors), Artikel Theodosius (emperors), Abschnitt Theodosius I.. Original · Archive copy

Response of the Church

  1. When the emperor did not respond to the letter, Ambrose preached about it in his presence in Milan in the winter of 388/89. He then refused to go to the altar until the emperor promised to amend the edict and to end the whole investigation, so that the Count could not harm the Christians. The emperor promised. Ambrose wrote: And so everything was done as I wished.
    Evidence: The Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot
    „to take advantage of the opportunity which a visit by Theodosius to Milan in the winter of 388-89 offered, to speak upon the matter from the pulpit in the emperor's presence“
    Ambrose, Artikel Ambrose, Abschnitt The Callinicum Riot. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 41, Abs. 28
    „he said that he would amend the edict. I went on at once to say that he must end the whole investigation, lest the Count should use the opportunity of the investigation to do any injury to the Christians . He promised that it should be so.“
    Ambrosius, Brief 41 an seine Schwester Marcellina, Brief 41, Abs. 28. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 41, Abs. 28
    „And so I went to the altar, whither I should not have gone unless he had given me a distinct promise.“
    Ambrosius, Brief 41 an seine Schwester Marcellina, Brief 41, Abs. 28. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent, Brief 41, Abs. 28
    „And so everything was done as I wished.“
    Ambrosius, Brief 41 an seine Schwester Marcellina, Brief 41, Abs. 28. Original · Archive copy

Original texts

Original text Ambrose to Emperor Theodosius, Letter 40, para. 8 (English translation, NPNF 1896)

You have the guilty man present, you hear his confession. I declare that I set fire to the synagogue , or at least that I ordered those who did it, that there might not be a place where Christ was denied. If it be objected to me that I did not set the synagogue on fire here, I answer, it began to be burnt by the judgment of God , and my work came to an end.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent: Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, Brief 40, Abs. 8. Original · Archive copy

See also

Original documents to read

  1. Church document
    Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent: Ambrosius, Brief 40 an Kaiser Theodosius, 1 January 1896. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)
  2. Church document
    Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 10, übers. von H. de Romestin u. a. (1896), Ausgabe New Advent: Ambrosius, Brief 41 an seine Schwester Marcellina, 1 January 1896. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)

Scholarly literature and reference works

  1. Reference work
    The Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901): Ambrose, 1 January 1901. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)
  2. Reference work
    Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911): Theodosius (emperors), 1 January 1911. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)
Change log (1)

The change log is kept in German only.

  • : Aufgenommen

Last changed on 23 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.