There is a clear connection between the simplicity of Ambrose’s hymns and his people’s ability to communicate theological truth. “They all have become teachers,” says Ambrose. He composed hymns as a means of instructing his people in a way that they would appreciate and understand; he wrote hymns which they could sing, as heretics had already done before him. This last observation is important as the reader must first understand that Ambrose did not invent the Christian hymn itself, just a particular form of hymnody.