Ignatius of Antioch
For Ignatius of Antioch, it is obvious that faith must be active in love. Of faith and
love toward Jesus Christ he writes to the Ephesians, "These are the beginning and end of life, for the beginning is faith and the end is love, when the two exist in unity , it is God, and everything else related to goodness is the result." Ignatius had no illusions about the God-head, for him, Christ is "our God". For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary. Ignatius was the
first to use the term "catholic" in his writings to apply to the church. "Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church."
An aggressive Christian servant, Ignatius laid emphasis upon two things in particular, the Bishop and the Eucharist. He agreed with Paul and John with the pre-existence of Jesus, and especially in his emphasis upon the real and actual oneness of the believer with Christ. Salvation meant to him the deification of man and his union with the divine. Redemption then meant to Ignatius the endowment of the whole man, both flesh and spirit, with immortality through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the incarnation of deity.
Ignatius' seven letters during his journey from Antioch to Rome are printed below. They are written as a prisoner on his way to martyrdom. Having come to Smyrna, he wrote to the church at Rome, exhorting
them not to use means for his deliverance from martyrdom. He desired to be martyred in
order that he might the more speedily be with Christ. He declared that if the wild beasts
were not hungry, he would urge them on. Strengthening the churches along the way, he was
brought to Rome to die in the arena. On the way, his guards permitted him to visit
Christian congregations whose members and Bishops had not been arrested. One can easily
surmise why Ignatius should have been taken and others not. As Ignatius passed through
Smyrna, he was received with honor by Polycarp, the Bishop there. The account of the event
survives in a letter written by the congregation. Writing in 107, he says "Be not deceived, my brethren. If any man follows one that makes schism, he doth not inherit the kingdom of God. If anyone walks in strange doctrine, he hath no fellowship with the Passion." Martyred in the Coliseum sometime during Trajan's reign, he was given to the wild beasts to be devoured around 117.
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, sends heartiest good wishes for unalloyed
joy in Jesus Christ to the Church at Ephesus in Asia; a church deserving of
felicitation, blessed, as she is, with greatness through the fullness of
God the Father; predestined, before time was, to be--to her abiding and
unchanging glory--forever united and chosen, through real suffering, by the
will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God.
1. With joy in God I welcomed your community, which possesses its dearly
beloved name because of a right disposition, enhanced by faith and love
through Christ Jesus our Savior. Being imitators of God, you have, once
restored to new life in the Blood of God, perfectly accomplished the task
so natural to you. Indeed, as soon as you heard that I was coming from
Syria in chains for our common Name and hope--hoping I might, thanks to
your prayer, obtain the favor of fighting wild beasts at Rome and through
this favor be able to prove myself a disciple--you hastened to see me. In
the name of God, then, I have received your numerous community in the
person of Onesimus, a man of indescribable charity and your bishop here on
earth. I pray you in the spirit of Jesus Christ to love him, and wish all
of you to resemble him. Blessed, indeed, is He whose grace made you worthy
to possess such a bishop.
2. As to my fellow servant Burrus, your deacon by God's appointment and
blessed with every gift, I wish he would stay at my side both for your
honor and that of the bishop. But Crocus, too, a man of God and worthy of
you, whom I received as a living example of your affection, has brought
relief to me in every way; and I wish that the Father of Jesus Christ may
comfort him in turn, as also Onesimus and Burrus and Euplus and Fronto, in
whose persons I saw tokens of the affection of all of you. May you ever be
my joy, if indeed I deserve it! It is therefore proper in every way to
glorify Jesus Christ who has glorified you, so that you, fully trained in
unanimous submission, may be submissive to the bishop and the presbytery,
and thus be sanctified in every respect.
3. I give you no orders as though I were somebody. For, even though I am in
chains for the sake of the Name, I am not yet perfected in Jesus Christ.
Indeed, I am now but being initiated into discipleship, and I address you
as my fellow disciples. Yes, I ought to be anointed by you with faith,
encouragement, patient endurance, and steadfastness. However, since
affection does not permit me to be silent when you are concerned, I am at
once taking this opportunity to exhort you to live in harmony with the mind
of God. Surely, Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, for His part is the
mind of the Father, just as the bishops, though appointed throughout the
vast, wide earth, represent for their part the mind of Jesus Christ.
4. Hence it is proper for you to act in agreement with the mind of the
bishop; and this you do. Certain it is that your presbytery, which is a
credit to its name, is a credit to God; for it harmonizes with the bishop
as completely as the strings with a harp. This is why in the symphony of
your concord and love the praises of Jesus Christ are sung. But you, the
rank and file, should also form a choir, so that, joining the symphony by
your concord, and by your unity taking your key note from God, you may with
one voice through Jesus Christ sing a song to the Father. Thus He will both
listen to you and by reason of your good life recognize in you the melodies
of His Son. It profits you, therefore, to continue In your flawless unity,
that you may at all times have a share in God.
5. For a fact, if I in a short time became so warmly attached to your
bishop--an attachment based not on human grounds but on spiritual--how much
more do I count you happy who are as closely knit to him as the Church is
to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father! As a result, the
symphony of unity is perfect. Let no one deceive himself: unless a man is
within the sanctuary, he has to go without the Bread of God. Assuredly, if
the prayer of one or two has such efficacy, how much more that of the
bishop and the entire Church! It follows, then: he who absents himself from
the common meeting, by that very fact shows pride and becomes a sectarian;
for the Scripture says: God resists the proud. Let us take care, therefore,
not to oppose the bishop, that we may be submissive to God.
6. Furthermore: the more anyone observes that a bishop is discreetly
silent, the more he should stand in fear of him. Obviously, anyone whom the
Master of the household puts in charge of His domestic affairs, ought to be
received by us in the same spirit as He who has charged him with this duty.
Plainly, then, one should look upon the bishop as upon the Lord Himself.
Now, Onesimus for his part overflows with praise of the good order that,
thanks to God, exists in your midst. Truth is the rule of life for all of
you, and heresy has no foothold among you. The fact is, you have nothing
more to learn from anyone, since you listen to Jesus Christ who speaks
truthfully.
7. Some there are, you know, accustomed with vicious guile to go about with
the Name on their lips, while they indulge in certain practices at variance
with it and an insult to God. These you must shun as you would wild beasts:
they are rabid dogs that bite in secret; you must beware of them, for they
are hard to cure. a There is only one Physician, both carnal and spiritual,
born and unborn, God become man, true life in death; sprung both from Mary
and from God, first subject to suffering and then incapable of it--Jesus
Christ Our Lord.
8. Let no one, then, deceive you, as indeed you are not being deceived,
belonging wholly to God. For as long as no dissension calculated to plague
you has taken firm root among you, it follows that you are leading a life
conformable to God. Your lowliest servant, I also consecrate myself to you
Ephesians--that Church whose renown will go down the ages. The carnal
cannot live a spiritual life, nor can the spiritual live a carnal life, any
more than faith can act the part of infidelity, or infidelity the part of
faith. But even the things you do in the flesh are spiritual, for you do
all things in union with Jesus Christ.
9. I have heard of certain persons from elsewhere passing through, whose
doctrine was bad. These you did not permit to sow their seed among you; you
stopped your ears, so as not to receive the seed sown by them. You consider
yourselves stones of the Father's temple, prepared for the edifice of God
the Father, to be taken aloft by the hoisting engine of Jesus Christ, that
is, the Cross, while the Holy Spirit serves you as a rope; your faith is
your spiritual windlass and your love the road which leads up to God. And
thus you all are fellow travelers, God-bearers and temple-bearers, Christ-
bearers and bearers of holiness, with the commandments of Jesus Christ for
festal attire. At this I am jubilant, privileged as I am to converse with
you through this letter, and to congratulate you because in your
otherworldliness you love nothing but God alone.
10. But pray unceasingly also for the rest of men, for they offer ground
for hoping that they may be converted and win their way to God. Give them
an opportunity therefore, at least by your conduct, of becoming your
disciples. Meet their angry outbursts with your own gentleness, their
boastfulness with your humility, their revilings with your prayers, their
error with your constancy in the faith, their harshness with your meekness;
and beware of trying to match their example. Let us prove ourselves their
brothers through courtesy. Let us strive to follow the Lord's example and
see who can suffer greater wrong, who more deprivation, who more contempt.
Thus no weed of the devil will be found among you; but you will persevere
in perfect chastity and sobriety through Jesus Christ, in body and soul.
11. The last epoch has arrived! Therefore let us exercise restraint and
fear lest God's long-suffering should turn to our condemnation. Obviously,
we must either fear the gathering storm of anger or else cherish the
present time of grace--one of the two; only let us be found in union with
Christ Jesus so as to possess the true life. Apart from Him, let nothing
fascinate you. In union with Him I carry about these chains of mine--
spiritual pearls they are! May I be privileged through your prayer--in
which I wish I may ever have a share--to wear them when I rise from the
dead! Thus I shall be found in the ranks of the Christians of Ephesus, who
have ever been of one mind with the Apostles through the power of Jesus
Christ.
12. I know who I am and to whom I am writing. I have been condemned, you
have been spared; I am in danger, you are in perfect safety. YOU are the
highway of God's martyrs. You are fellow initiates with Paul, a man
sanctified, of character magnificently attested, and worthy of every
felicitation, in whose footsteps I wish to be found when I come to meet
God, and who in an entire epistle remembers you in Christ Jesus.
13. Make an effort, then, to meet more frequently to celebrate God's
Eucharist and to offer praise. For, when you meet frequently in the same
place, the forces of Satan are overthrown, and his baneful influence is
neutralized by the unanimity of your faith. Peace is a precious thing: it
puts an end to every war waged by heavenly or earthly enemies.
14. Nothing of this escapes you; only persevere to the end in your faith
in, and your love for, Jesus Christ. Here is the beginning and the end of
life: faith is the beginning, the end is love; and when the two blend
perfectly with each other, they are God. Everything else that makes for
right living is consequent upon these. No one who professes faith sins; no
one who possesses love hates. The tree is known by its fruit. In like
manner, those who profess to belong to Christ will be known as such by
their conduct. Certainly, what matters now is not mere profession of faith,
but whether one is found to be actuated by it to the end.
15. It is better to keep silence and be something than to talk and be
nothing. Teaching is an excellent thing, provided the speaker practices
what he teaches. Now, there is one Teacher who spoke and it was done. But
even what He did silently is worthy of the Father. He who has made the
words of Jesus really his own is able also to hear His silence. Thus he
will be perfect: he will act through his speech and be understood through
his silence. Nothing is hidden from the Lord; no, even our secrets reach
Him. Let us, then, do all things in the conviction that He dwells in us.
Thus we shall be His temples and He will be our God within us. And this is
the truth, and it will be made manifest before our eyes. Let us, then, love
Him as He deserves.
16. Do not be deceived, my brethren. Those who ruin homes will not inherit
the kingdom of God. Now, if those who do this to gratify the flesh are
liable to death, how much more a man who by evil doctrine ruins the faith
in God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified! Such a filthy creature will
go into the unquenchable fire, as will anyone that listens to him.
17. The Lord permitted myrrh to be poured on His head that He might breathe
incorruption upon the Church. Do not let yourselves be anointed with the
malodorous doctrine of the Prince of this world, for fear he may carry you
off into captivity--away from the life that is in store for you. Why do we
not all become wise, having received knowledge of God, that is, Jesus
Christ! Why do we perish in folly, failing to appreciate the gift which the
Lord has sent us in truth!
18. I offer my life's breath for the sake of the Cross, which is a
stumbling block to the unbelievers, but to us is salvation and eternal
life. What has become of the philosopher? What of the controversialist?
What of the vaunting of the so-called intellectuals? The fact is, our God
Jesus Christ was conceived by Mary according to God's dispensation of the
seed of David, it is true, but also of the Holy Spirit. He was born and was
baptized, that by His Passion He might consecrate the water.
19. And the Prince of this world was in ignorance of the virginity of Mary
and her childbearing and also of the death of the Lord--three mysteries
loudly proclaimed to the world, though accomplished in the stillness of
God! How, then, were they revealed to the ages? A star blazed forth in the
sky, outshining all the other stars, and its light was indescribable, and
its novelty provoked wonderment, and all the starry orbs, with the sun and
the moon, formed a choir round that star; but its light exceeded that of
all the rest, and there was perplexity as to the cause of the unparalleled
novelty. This was the reason why every form of magic began to be destroyed,
every malignant spell to be broken, ignorance to be dethroned, an ancient
empire to be overthrown--God was making His appearance in human form to
mold the newness of eternal life! Then at length was ushered in what God
had prepared in His counsels; then all the world was in an upheaval because
the destruction of death was being prosecuted.
20. If Jesus Christ, yielding to your prayer, grants me the favor and it is
His will, I shall, in the subsequent letter which I intend to write to you,
still further explain the dispensation which I have here only touched upon,
regarding the New Man Jesus Christ--a dispensation founded on faith in Him
and love for Him, on His Passion and Resurrection. I will do so especially
if the Lord should reveal to me that you--the entire community of you!--are
in the habit, through grace derived from the Name, of meeting in common,
animated by one faith and in union with Jesus Christ--who in the flesh was
of the line of David, the Son of Man and the Son of God--of meeting, I say,
to show obedience with undivided mind to the bishop and the presbytery, and
to break the same Bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote
against death, and everlasting life in Jesus Christ.
21. I offer my life as a ransom for you and for those whom for the glory of
God you sent to Smyrna, where, too, I am writing to you with thanks to the
Lord and with love for Polycarp and you. Remember me, as may Jesus Christ
remember you! Pray for the Church in Syria, whence I am being led away in
chains to Rome, though I am the least of the faithful there. But then, I
was granted the favor of contributing to the honor of God. Farewell! May
God the Father and Jesus Christ, our common Hope, bless you!
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church at Magnesia by the
Maeander, a church blessed with the grace of God the Father through Jesus
Christ our Savior, in whom I salute her. Heartiest greetings and good
wishes to her in God the Father and in Jesus Christ.
1. When I learned of your well-ordered God-inspired love, I was jubilant
and decided to have a chat with you in the spirit of the faith in Jesus
Christ. I am privileged to bear a name radiant with divine splendor, and so
in the chains which I carry about on me, I sing the praises of the Churches
and pray for union in their midst, a union based on the flesh and spirit of
Jesus Christ, our enduring life; a union based on faith and love--the
greatest blessing; and, most especially, a union with Jesus and the Father.
If in this union we patiently endure all the abuse of the Prince of this
world and escape unscathed, we shall happily make our way to God.
2. Now, then, it has been my privilege to have a glimpse of you all in the
person of Damas, your bishop and a man of, and in the persons of your
worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and of my fellow servant, the
deacon Zotion. Would that I might enjoy the latter's company! He is
obedient to the bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbyters as to
the law of Jesus Christ.
3. But for you, too, it is fitting not to take advantage of the bishop's
youth, but rather, because he embodies the authority of God the Father, to
show him every mark of respect--and your presbyters, so I learn, are doing
just that: they do not seek to profit by his youthfulness, which strikes
the bodily eye; no, they are wise in God and therefore defer to him--or,
rather, not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, the bishop of all
men. SO, then, for the honor of Him who has deigned to choose us, it is
proper to obey without any hypocrisy. It is not really that a man deceives
this particular bishop who is visible, but tries to overreach Him who is
invisible. When this happens, his reckoning is not with man, but with God
who knows what is secret.
4. The proper thing, then, is not merely to be styled Christians, but also
to be such--just as there are those who style a man bishop, but completely
disregard him in their conduct. Such persons do not seem to me to have a
good conscience, inasmuch as they do not assemble in the fixed order
prescribed by him.
5. Now, as all things have an end, and those two issues, death and life,
are set before us at one and the same time, so each man is bound to go to
his own place. It is the same as with two coinages, the one of God, the
other of the world; and each of them has its own stamp impressed upon it:
the unbelievers bear the stamp of this world, while the believers, animated
by love, bear the stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ, whose life
is not in us unless we are ready of our own accord to die in order to share
in His Passion.
6. Since, then, in the persons mentioned before I have with the eyes of the
faith looked upon your whole community and have come to love it, I exhort
you to strive to do all things in harmony with God: the bishop is to
preside in the place of God, while the presbyters are to function as the
council of the Apostles, and the deacons, who are most dear to me, are
entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ, who before time began was with
the Father and has at last appeared. Conform yourselves, then--all of you--
to God's ways, and respect one another, and let no one regard his neighbor
with the eyes of the flesh, but love one another at all times in Jesus
Christ. Let there be nothing among you tending to divide you, but be united
with the bishop and those who preside--serving at once as a pattern and as
a lesson of incorruptibility.
7. Just as the Lord, therefore, being one with the Father, did nothing
without Him, either by Himself, or through the Apostles, so neither must
you undertake anything without the bishop and the presbyters; nor must you
attempt to convince yourselves that anything you do on your own account is
acceptable. No; at your meetings there must be one prayer, one
supplication, one mind, one hope in love, in joy that is flawless, that is
Jesus Christ, who stands supreme. Come together, all of you, as to one
temple and one altar, to one Jesus Christ--to Him who came forth from one
Father and yet remained with, and returned to, one.
8. Do not he led astray by those erroneous teachings and ancient fables
which are utterly worthless. Indeed, if at this date we still conform to
Judaism, then we own that we have not received grace. Why, the Prophets,
those men so very near to God, lived in conformity with Christ Jesus. This,
too, was the reason why they were persecuted, inspired as they were by His
grace to bring full conviction to an unbelieving world that there is one
God, who manifested Himself through Jesus Christ, His Son--who, being His
Word, came forth out of the silence into the world and won the full
approval of Him whose Ambassador He was.
9. Consequently, if the people who were given to obsolete practices faced
the hope of a new life, and if these no longer observe the Sabbath, but
regulate their calendar by the Lord's Day, the day, too, on which our Life
rose by His power and through the medium of His death--though some deny
this; and if to this mystery we owe our faith and because of it submit to
sufferings to prove ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Teacher:
how, then, can we possibly live apart from Him of whom, by the working of
the Spirit, even the Prophets were disciples and to whom they looked
forward as their Teacher? And so He, for whom they rightly waited, came and
raised them from the dead.
10. Let us not, then, be insensible to His loving kindness. Certainly, if
He were to imitate our way of acting, we should be done for instantly. We
must, therefore, prove ourselves His disciples and learn to live like
Christians. Assuredly whoever is called by a name other than this, is not
of God. Hence, put away the deteriorated leaven, a leaven stale and sour,
and turn to the new leaven, that is, Jesus Christ. Be salted in Him to keep
any among you from being spoiled, for by your odor you will be tested. It
is absurd to have Jesus Christ on the lips, and at the same time live like
a Jew. No; Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism believed in
Christianity, and in its bosom was assembled everyone professing faith in
God.
11. Now this, dearly beloved, I do not write as though I had learned that
any of you were men of that description, but because, as one who is not
your superior, I merely wish to warn you betimes not to yield to the bait
of false doctrine, but to believe most steadfastly in the birth, the
Passion, and the Resurrection, which took place during the procuratorship
of Pontius Pilate. Facts these are, real and established by Jesus Christ,
our hope. May God grant that none of you may relinquish it!
12. May you be my joy in all respects, if indeed I deserve it! For, though
I am in chains, compared with one of you who are free, I am nothing. I know
that you are not conceited, for you have Jesus Christ in you. What is more,
I know that when I praise you, you blush, just as the Scripture says: The
just man is his own accuser.
13. Be zealous, therefore, to stand squarely on the decrees of the Lord and
the Apostles, that in all things whatsoever you may prosper, in body and in
soul, in faith and in love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, in
the beginning and the end, together with your most reverend bishop and with
your presbytery--that fittingly woven spiritual crown! --and with your
deacons, men of God. Submit to the bishop and to each other's rights, just
as did Jesus Christ in the flesh to the Father, and as the Apostles did to
Christ and the Father and the Spirit, so that there may be oneness both of
flesh and of spirit.
14. Knowing that you are steeped in God, I am exhorting you but briefly.
Remember me in your prayers that I may happily make my way to God.
Remember, too, the Church in Syria, of which I am an unworthy member. Yes,
I do stand in need of your God-inspired prayer and your love. Thus the
Church in Syria will be privileged through your Church to be quickened with
refreshing dew.
15. The Ephesians at Smyrna--the place from which I am writing to you--send
their greetings. Like yourselves, they have come here for the glory of God.
They have revived my spirits in every way, as does Polycarp, the bishop of
Smyrna. The rest of the Churches, too, beg to be remembered in honor of
Jesus Christ. Farewell--you who, being of one mind with God, possess an
unflinching spirit--which is to be like Jesus Christ.
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the holy Church at Tralles in Asia,
loved by God the Father of Jesus Christ; elect and an honor to God;
enjoying inward and outward peace through the Passion of Jesus Christ, who
is our hope when we rise to be with Him. I salute her in Apostolic fashion
with the fullness of grace and offer her heartiest good wishes.
1. Beyond reproach, I hear, and unshaken in patient endurance is your
disposition--not an acquired habit, but a natural endowment. I was informed
of it by Polybius, your bishop, who by the will of God and Jesus Christ
came to Smyrna and so heartily shared my joy at the chains which I bear in
Christ Jesus, that in his person I beheld your whole community. Welcoming,
then, your God-inspired goodwill, I burst into thanks and praise, finding
that you, as I learned, were patterning yourselves after God.
2. Surely, when you submit to the bishop as representing Jesus Christ, it
is clear to me that you are not living the life of men, but that of Jesus
Christ, who died for us, that through faith in His death you might escape
dying. It is needful, then--and such is your practice--that you do nothing
without your bishop; but be subject also to the presbytery as representing
the Apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope, in whom we are expected to live
forever. It is further necessary that the deacons, the dispensers of the
mysteries of Jesus Christ, should win the approval of all in every way; for
they are not dispensers of food and drink, but ministers of a church of
God. Hence they must be on their guard against criticism, as against fire.
3. Likewise, let all respect the deacons as representing Jesus Christ, the
bishop as a type of the Father, and the presbyters as God's high council
and as the Apostolic college. Apart from these, no church deserves the
name. In these matters I am convinced that such is your attitude; for I
have received, and have with me, the embodiment of your affection in the
person of your bishop. His very demeanor is a powerful sermon, his
gentleness a mighty influence--a man whom even the unbelievers, I am sure,
respect. From love for you I spare your feelings--though I might write more
sternly in this regard. But I do not think that I, a man condemned, should
give you orders like an Apostle.
4. Many thoughts are mine when I take God's view of things; yet I keep
within due bounds, that I may not perish through boastfulness. Right now I
must fear the more, and pay no heed to those who flatter my vanity. Really,
those who speak to me in this strain torture me. True, I am in love with
suffering, but I do not know if I deserve the honor. My passionate longing
is not manifest to many, but it grips me all the more. What I need is
equanimity, by which the Prince of this world is undone.
5. Am I not able to write to you about heavenly things? I am; but I fear to
inflict harm on you who are mere babes. Pardon me, then you must not be
choked by what you cannot assimilate. It is the same with me: just because
I am in chains and able to grasp heavenly things--the ranks of the angels,
the hierarchy of principalities, things visible and invisible it does not
immediately follow that I am a disciple. Plainly, we are yet short of much
if we are not to be short of God.
6. I exhort you therefore--no, not I, but the love of Jesus Christ: partake
of Christian food exclusively; abstain from plants of alien growth, that
is, heresy. Heretics weave Jesus Christ into their web--to win our
confidence, just like persons who administer a deadly drug mixed with
honeyed wine, which the unsuspecting gladly take--and with baneful relish
they swallow death!
7. So, then, beware of such! And you will do so if you are not puffed up
and cling inseparably to God Jesus Christ, to the bishop, and to the
precepts of the Apostles. He that is inside the sanctuary is pure; he that
is outside the sanctuary is not pure. In other words: he that does anything
apart from bishop, presbytery, or deacon has no pure conscience.
8. Not that I have discovered any such thing in your midst; no, I merely
warn you betimes since you are dear to me and I foresee the devil's snares.
Take up the practice, then, of kind forbearance and renew yourselves in
faith, which is the Flesh Of the Lord, and in love, which is the Blood of
Jesus Christ. Let none of you bear a grudge against his neighbor. Give no
pretext to the pagans, so that, because of a few foolish persons, God's own
people may not be reviled. For woe unto him through whom my name is reviled
among some out of folly."
9. Stop your ears therefore when anyone speaks to you that stands apart
from Jesus Christ, from David's scion and Mary's Son, who was really born
and ate and drank, really persecuted by Pontius Pilate, really crucified
and died while heaven and earth and the underworld looked on; who also
really rose from the dead, since His Father raised Him up, His Father, who
will likewise raise us also who believe in Him through Jesus Christ, apart
from whom we have no real life.
10. But if, as some atheists, that is, unbelievers, say, His suffering was
but a make-believe--when, in reality, they themselves are make-believes--
then why am I in chains? Why do I even pray that I may fight wild beasts?
In vain, then, do I die! My testimony is, after all, but a lie about the
Lord!
11. Shun these wildlings, then, which bear but deadly fruit, and when one
tastes it, he is outright doomed to die! Surely, such persons are not the
planting of the Father. For if they were, they would appear as branches of
the Cross, and their fruit would be imperishable--the Cross through which
by His Passion He calls you to Him, being members of His body. Evidently,
no head can be born separately, without members, since God means complete
oneness, which is Himself.
12. I greet you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God present here
with me. They comfort me in every way, both in body and in soul. My chains,
which I carry about on me for Jesus Christ, begging that I may happily make
my way to God, exhort you: persevere in your concord and in your community
prayers. It is certainly fitting for you individually, but especially for
the presbyters, to give comfort to the bishop in honor of the Father and
Jesus Christ and the Apostles. I beg you to listen to me in love, so that I
may not, by writing to you, prove witness against you. But also pray for
me, who stand in need of your charity before the mercy seat of God. Thus I
shall be granted that portion on the obtaining of which my heart is set,
and shall not be found a reprobate.
13. The love of the Smyrnaeans and the Ephesians sends you greetings.
Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, to which I do not deserve to
belong, being the least of her members. Farewell in the name of Jesus
Christ. Be obedient to the bishop as to the commandment, and so, too, to
the presbytery. And love one another, man for man, with undivided heart. My
spirit is consecrated to you, not only now, but also when I have happily
made my way to God. For I am still in danger. But then, the Father is
faithful and will, in Jesus Christ, answer both my and your prayer. May you
in union with Him be found above reproach.
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church that has found mercy in the
transcendent Majesty of the Most High Father and of Jesus Christ, His only
Son; the church by the will of Him who willed all things that exist,
beloved and illuminated through the faith and love of Jesus Christ our God;
which also presides in the chief place of the Roman territory; a church
worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of felicitation, worthy of praise,
worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and presiding in love,
maintaining the law of Christ, and bearer of the Father's name: her do I
therefore salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.
Heartiest good wishes for unimpaired joy in Jesus Christ our God, to those
who are united in flesh and spirit by every commandment of His; who
imperturbably enjoy the full measure of God's grace and have every foreign
stain filtered out of them.
1. By prayer to God I have obtained the favor of seeing your venerable
faces; in fact, I have been pleading for an even greater favor: as a
prisoner in Christ Jesus I hope to embrace you, provided it is His will
that I should be privileged to reach the goal. An auspicious beginning has
certainly been made--if only I obtain the grace of taking due possession of
my inheritance without hindrance. The truth is, I am afraid it is your love
that will do me wrong. For you, of course, it is easy to achieve your
object; but for me it is difficult to win my way to God, should you be
wanting in consideration for me.
2. Surely, I do not want you to court the good pleasure of men, but to
please God, as indeed you do please Him. Yes, I shall never again have such
an opportunity of winning my way to God, nor can you, if you remain quiet,
ever have your name inscribed on a more glorious achievement. For, if you
quietly ignore me, I am the word of God; but if you fall in love with my
human nature, I shall, on the contrary, be a mere sound. Grant me no more
than that you let my blood be spilled in sacrifice to God, while yet there
is an altar ready. You should form a choir of love and sing a song to the
Father through Jesus Christ, because God has graciously summoned the bishop
of Syria to come from the rising of the sun to the setting. How glorious to
be a setting sun--away from the world, on to God! May I rise in His
presence!
3. You have never grudged any man. You have taught others. All I want is
that the lessons you inculcate in initiating disciples remain in force.
Only beg for me strength within and without, that I may be a man not merely
of words, but also of resolution. In this way I shall not only be called a
Christian, but also prove to be one. For if I prove to be one, I can also
be called a true believer even then when I am no longer seen by the world.
Nothing that is seen is good. Our God Jesus Christ certainly is the more
clearly seen now that He is in the Father. Whenever Christianity is hated
by the world, what counts is not power of persuasion, but greatness.
4. I am writing to all the Churches and state emphatically to all that I
die willingly for God, provided you do not interfere. I beg you, do not
show me unseasonable kindness. Suffer me to be the food of wild beasts,
which are the means of my making my way to God. God's wheat I am, and by
the teeth of wild beasts I am to be ground that I may prove Christ's pure
bread. Better still, coax the wild beasts to become my tomb and to leave no
part of my person behind: once I have fallen asleep, I do not wish to be a
burden to anyone. Then only shall I be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ
when the world will not see even my body. Petition Christ in my behalf that
through these instruments I may prove God's sacrifice. Not like Peter and
Paul do I issue any orders to you. They were Apostles, I am a convict; they
were free, I am until this moment a slave. But once I have suffered, I
shall become a freedman of Jesus Christ, and, united with Him, I shall rise
a free man. Just now I learn, being in chains, to desire nothing.
5. All the way from Syria to Rome I am fighting wild beasts, on land and
sea, by day and night, chained as I am to ten leopards, that is, a
detachment of soldiers, who prove themselves the more malevolent for
kindnesses shown them. Yet in the school of this abuse I am more and more
trained in discipleship, although I am not therefore justified. Oh, may the
beasts prepared for me be my joy! And I pray that they may be found to be
ready for me. I will even coax them to make short work of me, not as has
happened to some whom they were too timid to touch. And should they be
unwilling to attack me who am willing, I will myself compel them. Pardon
me--I know very well where my advantage lies. At last I am well on the way
to being a disciple. May nothing seen or unseen, fascinate me, so that I
may happily make my way to Jesus Christ! Fire, cross, struggles with wild
beasts, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crunching of the whole body,
cruel tortures inflicted by the devil--let them come upon me, provided only
I make my way to Jesus Christ.
6. Of no use to me will be the farthest reaches of the universe or the
kingdoms of this world. I would rather die and come to Jesus Christ than
be king over the entire earth. Him I seek who died for us; Him I love who
rose again because of us. The birth pangs are upon me. Forgive me,
brethren; do not obstruct my coming to life--do not wish me to die; do not
make a gift to the world of one who wants to be God's. Beware of seducing
me with matter; suffer me to receive pure light. Once arrived there, I
shall be a man. Permit me to be an imitator of my suffering God. If anyone
holds Him in his heart, let him understand what I am aspiring to; and then
let him sympathize with me, knowing in what distress I am.
7. The Prince of this world is resolved to abduct me, and to corrupt my
Godward aspirations. Let none of you, therefore, who will then be present,
assist him. Rather, side with me, that is, with God. Do not have Jesus
Christ on your lips, and the world in your hearts. Give envy no place among
you. And should I upon my arrival plead for your intervention, do not
listen to me. Rather, give heed to what I write to you. I am writing while
still alive, but my yearning is for death. My Love has been crucified, and
I am not on fire with the love of earthly things. But there is in me a
Living Water, which is eloquent and within me says: "Come to the Father." I
have no taste for corruptible food or for the delights of this life. Bread
of God is what I desire; that is, the Flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the
seed of David; and for my drink I desire His Blood, that is, incorruptible
love.
8. No longer do I wish to live after the manner of men; and this is what
will happen if you wish it so. Wish it, that your own wishes, too, may be
fulfilled. By this short letter I beseech you: do believe me! Jesus Christ
will make it clear to you that I speak the truth--He on whose lips there
are no lies, through whom the Father has spoken truthfully. Pray for me
that I may succeed. What I write to you does not please the appetites of
the flesh, but it pleases the mind of God. If I suffer, you have loved me;
if I am rejected, you have hated me!
9. Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria which now has God for her
Shepherd in my stead. Jesus Christ alone will be her Bishop, together with
your love. For myself, I am ashamed to be counted as one of her members. I
certainly do not deserve to be one, being the least of them and one that
came to birth unexpectedly. However, if I but make my way to God, then by
His mercy I shall be someone. My spirit salutes you, and so does the
affection of the Churches that offered their hospitality to me, not as to a
chance visitor, but in deference to Jesus Christ. Why, even those not
adjoining my route--the route by which my body traveled hastened in advance
from town after town to meet me.
10. I am sending you this letter from Smyrna through the kindness of the
Ephesians, who deserve so much praise. Among many others Crocus is here
with me--a dearly beloved name to me! As to the men from Syria who for the
glory of God have gone to Rome to meet you there, you have, I trust, made
their acquaintance. Please, inform them also that I am near. One and all
they are men of God and will be an honor to you. You will do well to give
them every comfort. I am writing this to you on the 24th of August.
Farewell to the end in the patient endurance of Jesus Christ.
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church of God the Father and the
beloved Jesus Christ; a church mercifully endowed with every gift;
overflowing with faith and love; lacking in no gift; radiant with God's
splendor, and fruitful mother of saints. To the Church at Smyrna in Asia I
send best wishes for irreproachableness of sentiment and loyalty to the
word of God.
1. I extol Jesus Christ, the God who has granted you such wisdom. For I
have observed that you are thoroughly trained in unshaken faith, being
nailed, as it were, to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ both in body and
in soul, and that you are well established in love through the Blood of
Christ and firmly believe in Our Lord: He is really of the line of David
according to the flesh, and the Son of God by the will and power of God;
was really born of a virgin, and baptized by John in order to comply with
every ordinance. Under Pontius Pilate and the tetrarch Herod He was really
nailed to the cross in the flesh for our sake--of whose fruit we are, in
virtue of His most blessed Passion. And thus, through the Resurrection, He
raised a banner for all times for His saints and faithful followers,
whether among the Jews or the Gentiles, that they might be united in a
single body, that is, His Church.
2. All these sufferings, assuredly, He underwent for our sake, that we
might be saved. And He suffered really, as He also really raised Himself
from the dead. It is not as some unbelievers say, who maintain that His
suffering was a make-believe. In reality, it is they that are make-
believes: and, as their notion, so their end: they will be bodiless and
ghostlike shapes!
3. For myself, I know and believe that He was in the flesh even after the
Resurrection. And when He came to Peter and Peter's companions, He said to
them: "Here; feel me and see that I am not a bodiless ghost." Immediately
they touched Him and, through this contact with His Flesh and Spirit,
believed. For the same reason they despised death and, in fact, proved
stronger than death. Again, after the Resurrection, He ate and drank with
them like a being of flesh and blood, though spiritually one with the
Father.
4. I am urging these things on you, beloved, although I know that you are
of the same mind. I am cautioning you betimes, however, against wild beasts
in human form, whom you ought not only not to receive, but, if possible,
even avoid meeting. Only pray for them, if somehow they may change their
mind--a difficult thing! But that is in the power of Jesus Christ, our true
Life. Surely, if those things were done by Our Lord as a mere make-believe,
then I in my chains, too, am a make-believe! Why, moreover, did I surrender
myself to death, to fire, to the sword, to wild beasts? Well, to be near
the sword is to be near God; to be in the claws of wild beasts is to be in
the hands of God. Only let it be done in the name of Jesus Christ! To
suffer with Him I endure all things, if He, who became perfect man, gives
me the strength.
5. Some disown Him through ignorance, or, rather, were disowned by Him,
being advocates of death rather than the truth. They were not convinced by
the prophecies or by the Law of Moses; no, not even to this day by the
Gospel or the sufferings of our own people; for they entertain the same
view of us. Really, what good does anyone do me if he praises me, but
blasphemes my Lord by not admitting that He carried living flesh about Him?
He who does not admit this, has absolutely disowned Him, and what he
carries about him is a corpse. Their names--names of unbelievers they are!-
-I do not think advisable to write down. In fact, I even wish I did not
remember them, until they change their mind concerning the Passion, which
is our resurrection.
6. Let no one be deceived! Even the heavenly powers and the angels in their
splendor and the principalities, both visible and invisible, must either
believe in the Blood of Christ, or else face damnation. Let him grasp it
who can. Let no rank puff up anyone; for faith and love are paramount--the
greatest blessings in the world. Observe those who hold erroneous opinions
concerning the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how they
run counter to the mind of God! They concern themselves with neither works
of charity, nor widows, nor orphans, nor the distressed, nor those in
prison or out of it, nor the hungry or thirsty.
7. From Eucharist and prayer they hold aloof, because they do not confess
that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered
for our sins, and which the Father in His loving-kindness raised from the
dead. And so, those who question the gift of God perish in their
contentiousness. It would be better for them to have love, so as to share
in the resurrection. It is proper, therefore, to avoid associating with
such people and not to speak about them either in private or in public, but
to study the Prophets attentively and, especially, the Gospel, in which the
Passion is revealed to us and the Resurrection shown in its fulfillment.
Shun division as the beginning of evil.
8. You must all follow the lead of the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed
that of the Father; follow the presbytery as you would the Apostles;
reverence the deacons as you would God's commandment. Let no one do
anything touching the Church, apart from the bishop. Let that celebration
of the Eucharist be considered valid which is held under the bishop or
anyone to whom he has committed it. Where the bishop appears, there let the
people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It
is not permitted without authorization from the bishop either to baptize or
to hold an agape; but whatever he approves is also pleasing to God. Thus
everything you do will be proof against danger and valid.
9. It is consonant with reason, therefore, that we should come to our
senses, while we still have time to change our ways and turn to God. It is
well to revere God and bishop. He who honors a bishop is honored by God. He
who does anything without the knowledge of the bishop worships the devil.
May all things, then, be yours in abundance through grace, for you deserve
it. You have brought relief to me in every respect, and may Jesus Christ do
so to you! Whether I was absent or present, you have shown me love. Your
reward is God, to whom you will come if you endure all things for His sake.
10. As to Philo and Rheus Agathopus, who accompanied me in the name of God,
it was good of you to give them a warm reception as to servants of Christ
God. For their part, they thank the Lord on your behalf, because you
offered them losers. A ransom for you are my life and my chains, which you
did not despise and of which you were not ashamed. Neither will Jesus
Christ, our consummate hope, be ashamed of you.
11. Your prayer made its way to the Church at Antioch in Syria. Coming from
there in chains radiant with divine splendor, I send greetings to all. Not
that I deserve to belong to that community, being the least of its members;
but by the will (of God) I was granted this favor--no, not because of any
conscious deed, but because of the grace of God. Would that this grace were
given me in perfection, that through your prayer I may make my way to God!
Now, that your own work may be made perfect both on earth and in heaven, it
is proper, for the honor of God, that your Church should send a God-
empowered delegate to go to Syria and congratulate the people on enjoying
peace, having recovered their normal greatness, and having their full
status restored to them. It therefore appears to me to be a God-inspired
undertaking to send one of your number with a letter for the purpose of
joining in the celebration of their God-given tranquillity, and because
they have, thanks to your prayer, at last made port. Be perfect, therefore,
and devise a perfect method. You need only be willing to do well, and God
is ready to assist you.
12. In their affection the brethren at Troas wish to be remembered to you.
It is from here that I send this letter through the kindness of Burrus,
whom you conjointly with your brethren, the Ephesians, commissioned to
accompany me. He has given me every possible comfort. And would that all
might imitate him, for he is a pattern of what a minister of God should be.
God's grace will reward him in every way. Greetings to the bishop, that man
of God, to the God-minded presbytery, to the deacons my fellow servants, to
the whole community, individually and collectively, in the name of Jesus
Christ, in His Flesh and Blood, in His Passion and Resurrection, both
corporal and spiritual, in unity with God and with you. Grace be to you and
mercy and peace and patient endurance forever.
13. Greetings to the families of my brethren, including their wives and
children, and to the virgins who are enrolled among the widows. Farewell in
the power of the Father! Philo, who is with me, wishes to be remembered to
you. Offer my respects to the household of Tavia, and I pray that she may
be firmly rooted in faith and love, both carnal and spiritual. Give my
regards to Alce, that most dear friend of mine, and to the incomparable
Daphnus, and to Eutecnus, and to all the rest by name. Farewell in the
grace of God!
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, sends heartiest greetings to Polycarp,
who is bishop of the Church of Smyrna, or rather has for his bishop God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. I am so well pleased with your God-mindedness, firmly built, as it were,
upon an immovable rock, that I am exceedingly grateful for the privilege I
had of seeing your saintly face. May it, please God, be a constant joy to
me! I exhort you, clothed as you are with the garment of grace, to speed
on your course and exhort all others to attend to their salvation. Do
justice to your once with the utmost solicitude, both physical and
spiritual. Be concerned about unity, the greatest blessing. Bear with all,
just as the Lord does with you. Have patience with all in charity, as
indeed you do. To prayer give yourself unceasingly; beg for an increase in
understanding; watch without letting your spirit flag. Speak to each one
singly in imitation of God's way. Bear the infirmities of all, like a
master athlete. The greater the toil, the greater the reward.
2. If you love good disciples, you can expect no thanks. Rather, reduce to
subjection, by gentleness, the more pestiferous. Not every hurt is healed
by the same plaster. Allay fits of fever by means of poultices. Be wary
like a serpent, yet always guileless like a dove. You consist of body and
soul for the reason that you may deal graciously with whatever meets your
eye; but pray that what is kept secret may be revealed to you. In this way
you will be lacking in nothing and abound in every gift. As a pilot calls
on winds and a storm-tossed mariner looks heavenward, so the times call on
you to win your way to God. As God's athlete, be sober; the stake is
immortality and eternal life. Of this you are firmly convinced. For your
sake I sacrifice myself--chains and all, which are your delight.
3. Men that seem worthy of confidence, yet teach strange doctrines, must
not upset you. Stand firm, like an anvil under the hammer. It is like a
great athlete to take blows and yet win the fight. For God's sake above all
we must endure everything, so that God, in turn, may endure us. Increase
your zeal. Read the signs of the times. Look for Him who is above all time-
-the Timeless, the Invisible, who for our sake became visible, the
Impassible, who became subject to suffering on our account and for our sake
endured everything.
4. Widows must not be neglected. After the Lord, you must be their
guardian. Nothing must be done without your approval; nor must you do
anything without God's approval, as indeed you do not. Be calm. Let
meetings be held as frequently as possible. Seek out all by name. Do not
treat slaves, male or female, with a haughty air, but neither must they
give themselves airs; on the contrary, for the glory of God they should
render all the better service so as to obtain a better freedom from God.
They should not pine for release at the expense of the community;
otherwise, they turn out to be slaves of unruly appetites.
5. Pay no attention to their wily stratagems; and do more preaching on this
subject. Tell my sisters to love the Lord and to be content with their
husbands in body and soul. In like manner, exhort my brethren in the name
of Jesus Christ to love their wives as the Lord loves the Church. If anyone
is able to remain continent, to the honor of the Flesh of the Lord, let him
persistently avoid boasting. The moment he boasts, he is lost; and if he is
more highly esteemed than the bishop, he is undone. For those of both sexes
who contemplate marriage it is proper to enter the union with the sanction
of the bishop; thus their marriage will be acceptable to the Lord and not
just gratify lust. Let all things be done to the honor of God.
6. Heed the bishop, that God may heed you, too. My life is a ransom for
those who are obedient to the bishop, presbyters, and deacons; and in their
company may I obtain my portion! Toil together, wrestle together, run
together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, since you are
stewards in God's house, members of His household, and His servants. Win
the approval of Him whose soldiers you are, from whom you also draw your
pay. Let none of you turn deserter. Let your baptism be your armor; your
faith, your helmet; your love, your spear; your patient endurance, your
panoply. Your deposits should be your works, that you may receive your
savings to the exact amount. To sum up: be long-suffering toward one
another and gentle, as God is with you. May you be my joy always!
7. Since, as I was informed, the Church at Antioch in Syria enjoys peace
through your prayer, I, too, gather fresh courage, carefree and confident
in God. If only I win my way to God, for at the resurrection I want to be
found your disciple! It is fitting, my dear God-blessed Polycarp, to
convene a council invested with all the splendor of God and to appoint
someone who is dear to you and untiring in his zeal, one qualified for the
part of God's courier; then confer on him the distinction of going to Syria
and extolling, for the glory of God, the untiring charity of your
community. A Christian is not his own master; his time belongs to God. This
is God's work; and it will be yours, too, once you have accomplished it.
Yes, I trust in the grace of God that you are ready for a noble work which
concerns God. Knowing your intense zeal for the truth, I confine my
exhortation to these few words.
8. To conclude. Because of my sudden embarkation from Troas for Neapolis--
for such is the order of the day. I cannot personally write to all the
Churches. Therefore, God-minded as you are, you will please write to the
principal Churches and tell them to do the same thing: those that can
afford it should send messengers; the rest should send letters through the
kindness of your personal delegates. You are qualified for this task. In
this way you all will reap honor from a work destined to live forever.
Remember me to all by name, especially to the widow of Epitropus, with her
whole family and those of her children. Remember me to my dear Attalus.
Remember me to the man who will have the honor of going to Syria. God's
grace will forever be with him, as also with Polycarp who sends him. I say
good-bye to you all forever in Jesus Christ our God, through whom I wish
you to be united with God and under His watchful eye. Farewell in the Lord!
Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church of God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ, which is at Philadelphia in Asia; a church which has
found mercy and is irrevocably of one mind with God; which unwaveringly
exults in the Passion of Our Lord, and firmly believes in His Resurrection
through sheer mercy. This Church I salute in the Blood of Jesus Christ. She
is a source of everlasting joy, especially when the members are at one with
the bishop and his assistants, the presbyters and deacons, that have been
appointed in accordance with the wish of Jesus Christ, and whom He has, by
His own will, through the operation of His Holy Spirit, confirmed in
loyalty.
1. Regarding this bishop I am informed that he holds the supreme office in
the community not by his own efforts, or by men's doing, or for personal
glory. No, he holds it by the love of God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. I am charmed with his sweetness of manner. He accomplishes more by
his silence than others that talk to no purpose No wonder; he is as
perfectly in accord with the commandments as strings are with a harp. With
all my heart, therefore, I laud his disposition to please God, a
disposition virtuous and perfect, as I am very well aware; his unshaken
constancy, too, and his passionless temper, modeled on the transcendent
gentleness of the living God.
2. Being born, then, of the light of truth, shun division and bad
doctrines. Where the shepherd is, there you, being sheep, must follow. For,
many wolves there are, apparently worthy of confidence, who with the bait
of baneful pleasure seek to capture the runners in God's race; but if you
stand united, they will have no success.
3. Avoid the noxious weeds. Their gardener is not Jesus Christ, because
they are not the planting of the Father. Not that I found any division in
your midst; but I did find that there had been a purge. Surely, all those
that belong to God and Jesus Christ are the very ones that side with the
bishop; and all those that may yet change their mind and return to the
unity of the Church, will likewise belong to God, and thus lead a life
acceptable to Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived, my brethren: if a man runs
after a schismatic, he will not inherit the kingdom of God; if a man
chooses to be a dissenter, he severs all connection with the Passion.
4. Take care, then, to partake of one Eucharist; for, one is the Flesh of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one the cup to unite us with His Blood, and one
altar, just as there is one bishop assisted by the presbytery and the
deacons, my fellow servants. Thus you will conform in all your actions to
the will of God.
5. My brethren, my love for you overflows all bounds, and it is my supreme
delight to provide you with safeguards, though it is really not I that do
it, but Jesus Christ. Being in chains for His sake, I am all the more
apprehensive, since I am not yet perfected. But then, your prayer will make
me perfect in the sight of God, so that I may win the lot which, through
mercy, has fallen to me. I take refuge in the Gospel, which to me is Jesus
in the flesh, and in the Apostles, as represented by the presbytery of the
Church. But let us also cherish the Prophets, because they, for their part,
foreshadowed the Gospel; and they hoped in Him and waited for Him and were
saved by their belief in Him; for thus they were one with Jesus Christ. O
those lovable and wonderful saints! Their merits are attested by Jesus
Christ, and their message is part and parcel of the Gospel of our common
hope.
6. But should anyone expound Judaism, do not listen to him. It is
preferable, surely, to listen to a circumcised man preaching Christianity
than to an uncircumcised man preaching Judaism. But if neither of them
preaches Jesus Christ, they are to me tombstones and graves of the dead, on
which only the names of the dead are inscribed. Shun, then, the base
artifices and snares of the Prince of this world, for fear you may be
harassed by his scheming and grow weak in your love. Rather, come together,
all of you, with undivided heart. I thank my God that I have a good
conscience as concerning you, and that no one has occasion to boast that I
was a burden to anyone either secretly or openly, in great matters or in
small. But I also pray for all those in whose midst I spoke, that they may
not find in my words any testimony against them.
7. For, even though some were willing enough to lead my human spirit into
error, yet the Spirit is not led into error, since He proceeds from God.
Indeed, He knows where He comes from and whither He goes, and lays bare
what is secret. I cried out, while in your midst, and said in a ringing
voice--God's voice: "Give heed to the bishop and to the presbytery and to
the deacons." Some, however, suspected I was saying this because I had
previous knowledge of the division caused by some; but He for whose sake I
am in chains is my witness, that I had not learned it from any human
source. No, it was the Spirit who kept preaching in these words: "Apart
from the bishop do nothing; preserve your persons as shrines of God;
cherish unity, shun divisions; do as Jesus Christ did, for He, too, did as
the Father did."
8. I was doing my part, therefore, acting as a man trained to cherish
unity. Where there is division and passion, there is no place for God. Now,
the Lord forgives all if they change their mind and by this change of mind
return to union with God and the council of the bishop. I trust in the
grace of Jesus Christ, who will free you from all enslavement. I exhort you
never to act in a spirit of factiousness, but according to what you learnt
in the school of Christ. When I heard some say, "Unless I find it in the
official records--in the Gospel I do not believe"; and when I answered
them, "It is in the Scriptures," they retorted: "That is just the point at
issue."But to me the official record is Jesus Christ; the inviolable record
is His Cross and His death and His Resurrection and the faith of which He
is the Author. These are the things which, thanks to your prayer, I want to
be my justification.
9. God, too, are priests; but better is the High Priest who was entrusted
with the Holy of Holies, who alone was entrusted with the hidden designs of
God. He is the door of the Father, through which enter Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob and the Prophets and the Apostles and the Church. All these are
means of being united with God. a But the Gospel contains something
special--the Advent of the Savior Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Passion and
His Resurrection. The beloved Prophets announced His coming, whereas the
Gospel is the imperishable fulfillment. All things alike are good, provided
your faith is rooted in love.
10. Since it was reported to me that--thanks to your prayer and kindly
interest, inspired by Jesus Christ--the Church at Antioch in Syria is at
peace, it is proper that you, as a church of God, should appoint a deacon
to go there as God's ambassador, and congratulate the people in a public
meeting, and give glory to the Name. Blessed in Jesus Christ is he who is
to discharge this office; and you, too, will reap glory. If only you are
determined, it is not impossible to do this for God's name, just as the
neighboring Churches have, some of them, delegated bishops--others,
presbyters and deacons.
11. Now, as to Philo, the deacon from Cilicia, a man of attested merit, who
even now assists me in the ministry of the word of God together with Rheus
Agathopus, an exquisite character, who has been accompanying me from Syria
after turning his back upon this life--well, both these men testify (and I,
too, thank God on your behalf) that you received them kindly. May the Lord
do so to you! As for those who treated them with disrespect, may they be
redeemed by the grace of Jesus Christ! In their love the brethren of Troas
wish to be remembered. It is from here that I send this letter through the
kindness of Burrus, who, as a testimonial of honor, was sent by the
Ephesians and Smyrnaeans to accompany me. These men will be honored by the
Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they hope with body and soul and spirit and
faith and love and concord. Farewell in Jesus Christ, our common Hope.
Ignatius of Antioch was the first century Bishop of Antioch in Syria, beloved and held in famous memory. Surnamed Theophorus, Gr. God-bearer. Eusebius says that the Apostles Peter and Paul, who planted the faith in Antioch, left directions that Ignatius should succeed Evodius as Bishop. Ignatius retained the office for 40 years proving himself as an exemplary pastor. During the persecution of Domitian - 81-96, Ignatius kept up the courage of his flock by daily preaching, prayer and fasting.
Epistles of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Smyrnaeans, Polycarp, Philadelphians.
Epistle to the Ephesians
St. Ignatius to the Magnesians
IGNATIUS TO THE TRALLIANS
IGNATIUS TO THE ROMANS
IGNATIUS TO THE SMYRNAEANS
IGNATIUS TO POLYCARP
IGNATIUS TO THE PHILADELPHIANS
[16, 17, 18, 23, 311, 22, 286, 12, 338, 19]
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