Epistles

Perseus Greek · Perseus Greek · 207 sections

1.pref.sal.1
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church, worthy of all felicitation, which is at Ephesus in Asia,—blessed with greatness by the fulness of God the Father, predestined from eternity for abiding and unchangeable glory, united and chosen through true suffering by the will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God,—abundant greeting in Jesus Christ and in blameless joy.
1.1.1.1
I became acquainted through God with your much beloved name, which you have obtained by your righteous nature, according to faith and love in Christ Jesus our Saviour, You are imitators of God, and, having kindled your brotherly task by the blood of God, you completed it perfectly.
1.1.2.1
For when you heard that I had been sent a prisoner from Syria for the sake of our common name and hope, in the hope of obtaining by your prayers the privilege of fighting with beasts at Rome, that by so doing I might be enabled to be a true disciple, you hastened to see me.
1.1.3.1
Seeing then that I received in the name of God your whole congregation in the person of Onesimus, a man of inexpressible love and your bishop, I beseech you by Jesus Christ to love him, and all to resemble him. For blessed is he who granted you to be worthy to obtain such a bishop.
1.2.1.1
Now concerning my fellow servant, Burrhus, your deacon by the will of God, who is blessed in all things, I beg that he may stay longer, for your honour and for that of the bishop. And Crocus also, who is worthy of God and of you, whom I received as an example of your love, has relieved me in every way,—may the Father of Jesus Christ refresh him in like manner,—together with Onesimus and Burrhus and Euplus and Fronto, in whose persons I have seen you all in love.
1.2.2.1
May I ever have joy of you, if I be but worthy. It is, therefore, seemly in every way to glorify Jesus Christ, who has glorified you, that you may be joined together in one subjection, subject to the bishop and to the presbytery, and may in all things be sanctified.
1.3.1.1
I do not give you commands as if I were some one great, for though I am a prisoner for the Name, I am not yet perfect in Jesus Christ; for now I do but begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as to my fellow learners. For I needed to be prepared by you in faith, exhortation, endurance, long-suffering.
1.3.2.1
But since love does not suffer me to be silent concerning you, for this reason I have taken upon me to exhort you that you live in harmony with the will of God. For Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the will of the Father, even as the bishops, who have been appointed throughout the world, are by the will of Jesus Christ.
1.4.1.1
Therefore it is fitting that you should live in harmony with the will of the bishop, as indeed you do. For your justly famous presbytery, worthy of God, is attuned to the bishop as the strings to a harp. Therefore by your concord and harmonious love Jesus Christ is being sung.
1.4.2.1
Now do each of you join in this choir, that being harmoniously in concord you may receive the key of God in unison, and sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, that he may both hear you and may recognise, through your good works, that you are members of his Son. It is therefore profitable for you to be in blameless unity, in order that you may always commune with God.
1.5.1.1
For if I in a short time gained such fellowship with your bishop as was not human but spiritual, how much more do I count you blessed who are so united with him as the Church is with Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is with the Father, that all things may sound together in unison!
1.5.2.1
Let no man be deceived: unless a man be within the sanctuary he lacks the bread of God, for if the prayer of one or two has such might, how much more has that of the bishop and of the whole Church?
1.5.3.1
So then he who does not join in the common assembly, is already haughty, and has separated himself. For it is written God resisteth the proud: let us then be careful not to oppose the bishop, that we may be subject to God.
1.6.1.1
And the more anyone sees that the bishop is silent, the more let him fear him. For every one whom the master of the house sends to do his business ought we to receive as him who sent him. Therefore it is clear that we must regard the bishop as the Lord himself.
1.6.2.1
Indeed Onesimus himself gives great praise to your good order in God, for you all live according to truth, and no heresy dwells among you; nay, you do not even listen to any unless he speak concerning Jesus Christ in truth.
1.7.1.1
For there are some who make a practice of carrying about the Name with wicked guile, and do certain other things unworthy of God; these you must shun as wild beasts, for they are ravening dogs, who bite secretly, and you must be upon your guard against them, for they are scarcely to be cured.
1.7.2.1
There is one Physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and yet not born, who is God in man, true life in death, both of Mary and of God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1.8.1.1
Let none therefore deceive you, and indeed you have not been deceived, but belong wholly to God. For since no strife is fixed among you which might torture you, you do indeed live according to God. I am dedicated and devoted to you Ephesians, and your Church, which is famous to eternity.
1.8.2.1
They who are carnal cannot do spiritual things, neither can they who are spiritual do carnal things, just as faith is incapable of the deeds of infidelity, and infidelity of the deeds of faith. But even what you do according to the flesh is spiritual, for you do all things in Jesus Christ.
1.9.1.1
I have learnt, however, that some from elsewhere have stayed with you, who have evil doctrine; but you did not suffer them to sow it among you, and stopped your ears, so that you might not receive what they sow, seeing that you are as stones of the temple of the Father, made ready for the building of God our Father, carried up to the heights by the engine of Jesus Christ, that is the cross, and using as a rope the Holy Spirit. And your faith is your windlass and love is the road which leads up to God.
1.9.2.1
You are then all fellow travellers, and carry with you God, and the Temple, and Christ, and holiness, and are hi all ways adorned by commandments of Jesus Christ. And I share in this joy, for it has been granted to me to speak to you through my writing, and to rejoice with you, that you love nothing, according to human life, but God alone.
1.10.1.1
Now for other men pray unceasingly, for there is in them a hope of repentance, that they may find God. Suffer them therefore to become your disciples, at least through your deeds.
1.10.2.1
Be yourselves gentle in answer to their wrath; be humble minded in answer to their proud speaking; offer prayer for their blasphemy; be stedfast in the faith for their error; be gentle for their cruelty, and do not seek to retaliate.
1.10.3.1
Let us be proved their brothers by our gentleness and let us be imitators of the Lord, and seek who may suffer the more wrong, be the more destitute, the more despised; that no plant of the devil be found in you but that you may remain in all purity and sobriety in Jesus Christ, both in the flesh and in the Spirit.
1.11.1.1
These are the last times. Therefore let us be modest, let us fear the long-suffering of God, that it may not become our judgment. For let us either fear the wrath to come, or love the grace which is present,—one of the two,—only let us be found in Christ Jesus unto true life.
1.11.2.1
Without him let nothing seem comely to you, for in him I carry about my chains, the spiritual pearls in which may it be granted me to rise again through your prayers, which I beg that I may ever share, that I be found in the lot of the Christians of Ephesus, who also were ever of one mind with the Apostles in the power of Jesus Christ.
1.12.1.1
I know who I am and to whom I write. I am condemned, you have obtained mercy; I am in danger, you are established in safety;
1.12.2.1
you are the passage for those who are being slain for the sake of God, fellow-initiates with Paul, who was sanctified, who gained a good report, who was right blessed, in whose footsteps may I be found when I shall attain to God, who in every Epistle makes mention of you in Christ Jesus.
1.13.1.1
Seek, then, to come together more frequently to give thanks and glory to God. For when you gather together frequently the powers of Satan are destroyed, and his mischief is brought to nothing, by the concord of your faith.
1.13.2.1
There is nothing better than peace, by which every war in heaven and on earth is abolished.
1.14.1.1
None of these things are unknown to you if you possess perfect faith towards Jesus Christ, and love, which are the beginning and end of life; for the beginning is faith and the end is love, and when the two are joined together in unity it is God, and all other noble things follow after them.
1.14.2.1
No man who professes faith sins, nor does he hate who has obtained love. The tree is known by its fruits: so they who profess to be of Christ shall be seen by their deeds. For the deed is not in present profession, but is shown by the power of faith, if a man continue to the end.
1.15.1.1
It is better to be silent and be real, than to talk and to be unreal. Teaching is good, if the teacher does what he says. There is then one teacher who spoke and it came to pass, and what he has done even in silence is worthy of the Father.
1.15.2.1
He who has the word of Jesus for a true possession can also hear his silence, that he may be perfect, that he may act through his speech, and be understood through his silence.
1.15.3.1
Nothing is hid from the Lord, but even our secret things are near him. Let us therefore do all things as though he were dwelling in us, that we may be his temples, and that he may be our God in us. This indeed is so, and will appear clearly before our face by the love which we justly have to him.
1.16.1.1
Do not err, my brethren; they who corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
1.16.2.1
If then those who do this according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man corrupt by false teaching the faith of God for the sake of which Jesus Christ was crucified? Such a one shall go in his foulness to the unquenchable fire, as also shall he who listens to him.
1.17.1.1
For this end did the Lord receive ointment on his head that he might breathe immortality on the Church. Be not anointed with the evil odour of the doctrine of the Prince of this world, lest he lead you away captive from the life which is set before you.
1.17.2.1
But why are we not all prudent seeing that we have received knowledge of God, that is, Jesus Christ? Why are we perishing in our folly, ignoring the gift which the Lord has truly sent?
1.18.1.1
My spirit is devoted to the cross, which is an offence to unbelievers, but to us salvation and eternal life. Where is the wise? Where is the disputer? Where is the boasting of those who are called prudent?
1.18.2.1
For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary by the dispensation of God, as well of the seed of David as of the Holy Spirit: he was born, and was baptized, that by himself submitting he might purify the water.
1.19.1.1
And the virginity of Mary, and her giving birth were hidden from the Prince of this world, as was also the death of che Lord. Three mysteries of a cry which were wrought in the stillness of God.
1.19.2.1
How then was he manifested to the world? A star shone in heaven beyond all the stars, and its light was unspeakable, and its newness caused astonishment, and all the other stars, with the sun and moon, gathered in chorus round this star, and it far exceeded them all in its light; and there was perplexity, whence came this new thing, so unlike them.
1.19.3.1
By this all magic was dissolved and every bond of wickedness vanished away, ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom was destroyed, for God was manifest as man for the newness of eternal life, and that which had been prepared by God received its beginning. Hence all things were disturbed, because the abolition of death was being planned.
1.20.1.1
If Jesus Christ permit me through your prayers. and it be his will, in the second book, which I propose to write to you, I will show you concerning the dispensation of the new man Jesus Christ, which I have begun to discuss, dealing with his faith and his love, his suffering and his resurrection;
1.20.2.1
especially if the Lord reveal to me that you all severally join in the common meeting in grace from his name, in one faith and in Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David according to the flesh, the Son of Man and the Son of God, so that you obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undisturbed mind, breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote that we should not die, but live for ever in Jesus Christ.
1.21.1.1
May my soul be given for yours, and for them whom you sent in the honour of God to Smyrna, whence I also write to you, thanking the Lord and loving Polycarp as I do also you. Remember me as Jesus Christ also remembers you.
1.21.2.1
Pray for the Church in Syria, whence I am led a prisoner to Rome, being the least of the faithful who are there, even as I was thought worthy to show the honour of God. Farewell in God our Father and in Jesus Christ, our common hope.
2.pref.sal.1
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to her who is blessed in the Grace of God the Father by Christ Jesus, our Saviour, in whom I greet the Church which is in Magnesia on the Maeander, and bid it in God the Father and in Christ Jesus abundant greeting.
2.1.1.1
Knowing the great orderliness of your love towards God I gladly determined to address you in the faith of Jesus Christ.
2.1.2.1
For being counted worthy to bear a most godly name I sing the praise of the Churches in the bonds which I carry about, and pray that in them there may be a union of the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ, who is our everlasting life, a union of faith and love, to which is nothing preferable, and (what is more than all) a union of Jesus and the Father. If we endure in him all the evil treatment of the Prince of this world and escape, we shall attain unto God.
2.2.1.1
Forasmuch then as I was permitted to see you in the person of Damas, your godly bishop, and the worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and my fellow servant the deacon Zotion, whose friendship I would enjoy because he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ,
2.3.1.1
Now it becomes you not to presume on the youth of the bishop, but to render him all respect according to the power of God the Father, as I have heard that even the holy presbyters have not taken advantage of his outwardly youthful appearance, but yield to him in their godly prudence, yet not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, to the bishop of all.
2.3.2.1
For the honour therefore of him who desired us, it is right that we yield obedience without hypocrisy, for a man does not merely deceive this bishop who is seen, but is dealing wrongly with him who is invisible. And in this matter his reckoning is not with flesh, but with God, who knows the secret things.
2.4.1.1
It is right, then, that we should be really Christians, and not merely have the name; even as there are some who recognize the bishop in their words, but disregard him in all their actions. Such men seem to me not to act in good faith, since they do not hold valid meetings according to the commandment.
2.5.1.1
Seeing then that there is an end to all, that the choice is between two things, death and life, and that each is to go to his own place;
2.5.2.1
for, just as there are two coinages, the one of God, the other of the world, and each has its own stamp impressed on it, so the unbelievers bear the stamp of this world, and the believers the stamp of God the Father in love through Jesus Christ, and unless we willingly choose to die through him in his passion, his life is not in us.
2.6.1.1
Seeing then that I have looked on the whole congregation in faith in the persons mentioned above, and have embraced them, I exhort you:—Be zealous to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God and the presbyters in the place of the Council of the Apostles, and the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the service of Jesus Christ, who was from eternity with the Father and was made manifest at the end of time.
2.6.2.1
Be then ail in conformity with God, and respect one another, and let no man regard his neighbour according to the flesh, but in everything love one another in Jesus Christ. Let there be nothing in you which can divide you, but be united with the bishop and with those who preside over you as an example and lesson of immortality.
2.7.1.1
As then the Lord was united to the Father and did nothing without him, neither by himself nor through the Apostles, so do you do nothing without the bishop and the presbyters. Do not attempt to make anything appear right for you by yourselves, but let there be in common one prayer, one supplication, one mind, one hope in love, in the joy which is without fault, that is Jesus Christ, than whom there is nothing better.
2.7.2.1
Hasten all to come together as to one temple of God, as to one altar, to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from the one Father, and is with one, and departed to one.
2.8.1.1
Be not led astray by strange doctrines or by old fables which are profitless. For if we are living until now according to Judaism, we confess that we have not received grace.
2.8.2.1
For the divine prophets lived according to Jesus Christ. Therefore they were also persecuted, being inspired by his grace, to convince the disobedient that there is one God, who manifested himself through Jesus Christ his son, who is his Word proceeding from silence, who in all respects was well-pleasing to him that sent him.
2.9.1.1
If then they who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope, no longer living for the1 Sabbath, but for the Lord’s Day, on which also our life sprang up through him and his death,—though some deny him,—and by this mystery we received faith, and for this reason also we suffer, that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ our only teacher;
2.9.2.1
if these things be so, how then shall we be able to live without him of whom even the prophets were disciples in the Spirit and to whom they looked forward as their teacher? And for this reason he whom they waited for in righteousness, when he came raised them from the dead.
2.10.1.1
Let us then not be insensible to his goodness. for if he should imitate us in our actions we are lost. For this cause let us be his disciples, and let us learn to lead Christian lives. For whoever is called by any name other than this is not of God.
2.10.2.1
Put aside then the evil leaven, which has grown old and sour, and turn to the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be salted in him, that none among you may be corrupted, since by your savour you shall be tested.
2.10.3.1
It is monstrous to talk of Jesus Christ and to practise Judaism. For Christianity did not base its faith on Judaism, but Judaism on Christianity, and every tongue believing on God was brought together in it.
2.11.1.1
Now I say this, beloved, not because I know that there are any of you that are thus, but because I wish to warn you, though I am less than you, not to fall into the snare of vain doctrine, but to be convinced of the birth and passion and resurrection which took place at the time of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate; for these things were truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ, our hope, from which God grant that none of you be turned aside.
2.12.1.1
Let me have joy of you in all things, if I be but worthy. For even though I am in bonds I am not to be compared to one of you that have been set free. I know that you are not puffed up; for you have Jesus Christ in yourselves. And I know that when I praise you your modesty increases the more, as it is written, The righteous man is his own accuser.
2.13.1.1
Be diligent therefore to be confirmed in the ordinances of the Lord and the Apostles, in order that you may prosper in all things whatsoever ye do in the flesh and in the spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, at the beginning and at the end, together with your revered bishop and with your presbytery, that aptly woven spiritual crown, and with the godly deacons.
2.13.2.1
Be subject to the bishop and to one another, even as Jesus Christ was subject to the Father, and the Apostles were subject to Christ and to the Father, in order that there may be a union both of flesh and of spirit.
2.14.1.1
I know that you are full of God, and I have exhorted you briefly. Remember me in your prayers, that I may attain to God, and remember the Church in Syria, of which I am not worthy to be called a member. For I need your united prayer in God and your love, that the Church which is in Syria may be granted refreshment from the dew of your Church.
2.15.1.1
The Ephesians greet you from Smyrna, whence also I am writing to you; they, like yourselves, are here for the glory of God and have in all things given me comfort, together with Polycarp the bishop of the Smyrnaeans. And the other Churches also greet you in honour of Jesus Christ. Farewell in godly concord and may you possess an unhesitating spirit, for this is Jesus Christ.
3.pref.sal.1
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Holy Church which is at Tralles in Asia, beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ, elect and worthy of God, having peace in the flesh and in the Spirit through the passion of Jesus Christ, who is our hope through our resurrection unto him. Which Church I also greet in the Divine fulness after the apostolic fashion, and I bid her abundant greeting.
3.1.1.1
I have learned that you possess a mind free from blame and unhesitating in endurance, not from habit, but by nature, as Polybius your bishop showed me, when he visited me in Smyrna by the will of God and of Jesus Christ, and so greatly rejoiced with me, prisoner for Jesus Christ as I was, that I saw your whole congregation in his person.
3.1.2.1
I received therefore your godly benevolence through him, and gave God glory that I found you, as I had learnt, imitators of God.
3.2.1.1
For when you are in subjection to the bishop as to Jesus Christ it is clear to me that you are living not after men, but after Jesus Christ, who died for our sake, that by believing on his death you may escape death.
3.2.2.1
Therefore it is necessary (as is your practice) that you should do nothing without the bishop, but be also in subjection to the presbytery, as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ our hope, for if we live in him we shall be found in him.
3.2.3.1
And they also who are deacons of the mysteries of Jesus Christ must be in every way pleasing to all men. For they are not the ministers of food and drink, but servants of the Church of God; they must therefore guard against blame as against fire.
3.3.1.1
Likewise let all respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as the bishop is also a type of the Father, and the presbyters as the council of God and the college of Apostles. Without these the name of Church is not given.
3.3.2.1
I am confident that you accept this. For I have received the example of your love, and I have it with me in the person of your bishop, whose very demeanour is a great lesson, and whose meekness is a miracle, and I believe that even the godless pay respect to him.
3.3.3.1
I am sparing you in my love, though I might write more sharply on his behalf: I did not think myself competent, as a convict, to give you orders like an Apostle.
3.4.1.1
I have many thoughts in God, but I take the measure of myself that I perish not through boasting, for at present it is far better for me to be timid, and not to give heed to them who puff me up. For they who speak thus are a scourge to me.
3.4.2.1
For I desire to suffer, but I know not if I am worthy, for the jealousy of the devil is to many not obvious, but against me it fights the more. I have need therefore of meekness, by which the prince of this world is brought to nothing.
3.5.1.1
Am I not able to write to you heavenly things? Yes, but I am afraid that I should do you harm seeing you are babes. Pardon me, for I refrain lest you be choked by what you cannot receive.
3.5.2.1
For I myself, though I am in bonds and can understand heavenly things, and the places of the angels and the gatherings of principalities, and things seen and unseen, not for this am I a disciple even now, for much is lacking to us, that we may not lack God.
3.6.1.1
I beseech you therefore (yet not I but the love of Jesus Christ) live only on Christian fare, and refrain from strange food, which is heresy.
3.6.2.1
For these men mingle Jesus Christ with themselves in specious honesty, mixing as it were a deadly poison with honeyed wine, which the ignorant takes gladly in his baneful pleasure, and it is his death.
3.7.1.1
Beware therefore of such men; and this will be possible for you, if you are not puffed up, and are inseparable from God, from Jesus Christ and from the bishop and the ordinances of the Apostles.
3.7.2.1
He who is within the sanctuary is pure, but he who is without the sanctuary is not pure; that is to say whoever does anything apart from the bishop and the presbytery and the deacons is not pure in his conscience.
3.8.1.1
It is not that I know that there is any thing of this kind among you, but I warn you because you are dear to me, and I foresee the snares of the devil. Therefore adopt meekness and be renewed in faith, which is the flesh of the Lord, and in love, which is the blood of Jesus Christ.
3.8.2.1
Let none of you have a grudge against his neighbour. Give no occasion to the heathen, in order that the congregation of God may not be blasphemed for a few foolish persons. For Woe unto him through whom my name is vainly blasphemed among any.
3.9.1.1
Be deaf therefore when anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David, and of Mary, who was truly born, both ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth;
3.9.2.1
who also was truly raised from the dead, when his Father raised him up, as in the same manner his Father shall raise up in Christ Jesus us who believe in him, without whom we have no true life.
3.10.1.1
But if, as some affirm who are without God,—that is, are unbelievers—his suffering was only a semblance (but it is they who are merely a semblance), why am I a prisoner, and why do I even long to fight with the beasts? In that case I am dying in vain. Then indeed am I lying concerning the Lord.
3.11.1.1
Fly from these wicked offshoots, which bear deadly fruit, which if a man eat he presently dies. For these are not the planting of the Father.
3.11.2.1
For if they were they would appear as branches of the Cross (and their fruit would be incorruptible) by which through his Passion he calls you who are his members. The head therefore cannot be borne without limbs, since God promises union, that is himself.
3.12.1.1
I greet you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God that are present with me, men who in all things have given me rest in the flesh and in the spirit.
3.12.2.1
My bonds exhort you, which I carry about for the sake of Jesus Christ, praying that I may attain to God; continue in your present harmony and in prayer with one another. For it is right that each of you, and especially the presbyters, should refresh the bishop, to the honour of the Father, of Jesus Christ, and of the Apostles.

Perseus Greek. CTS URN tlg1443.tlg001.perseus-eng1. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.