Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Ignatius, who bears also the name Theophorus, sends greetings to God's own assembly — the church belonging to the Father and to his beloved Son Jesus Christ. Mercy has been poured out on her in every gift; faith and love fill her completely; she lacks nothing that grace supplies; she is utterly fitting to God and carries what is sacred — this is the congregation gathered in Smyrna of Asia. With an unstained spirit and through God's own utterance, I send abundant greeting.
Jesus Christ, the God who granted you such wisdom, receives my glory and praise, for I recognized that your faith stands immovable, fastened as though by nails to the very cross where the Lord Jesus Christ hung in both flesh and spirit, held firm in love through Christ's own blood. You are wholly convinced about our Lord: that he genuinely descended from David's line in the flesh, that he is God's Son by the Father's will and power, that a virgin truly bore him, that John baptized him so every requirement of righteousness would be satisfied through him — and that he was genuinely fastened to a cross on our behalf, in the flesh, under the governorship of Pontius Pilate and the tetrarch Herod (his suffering, blessed by God, is the very source from which we ourselves grew), that he might, through his rising, lift a standard for all the ages over his holy and faithful people, Jew and Gentile alike, gathered into the single body that is his church.
For all these things he suffered for our sake, so that we might be saved; and he truly suffered, just as he truly raised himself, and not, as some unbelievers say, that his suffering was only in appearance — it is they themselves who exist only in appearance! And just as they think, so it will happen to them, since they are bodiless and demonic.
As for me, my knowledge and conviction are this: even once raised, he remained a being of flesh. When he approached Peter's company, he told them, "Reach out, touch me, and satisfy yourselves that I am no phantom without a body." At once they laid hands on him and were convinced, having come into contact with both his flesh and his spirit. That is why they no longer feared dying, and proved themselves stronger than death itself. Following his resurrection he shared food and drink with them like any man of flesh, even though, in spirit, he remained one with the Father.
I press this counsel on you, dear friends, aware that you already hold to it. Yet let me caution you in advance concerning those men-shaped beasts: do not merely decline their company; whenever possible avoid even crossing their path. Instead simply pray on their behalf, hoping — however unlikely — that they might yet turn back. Jesus Christ, who is our genuine life, holds power over even this. Suppose, though, that our Lord's ordeal was mere illusion — then my own imprisonment would likewise be illusory. Why else would I have surrendered myself to die, exposed to flame, blade, or beast? Yet whoever stands close to the blade stands close to God; whoever stands among beasts stands among God. It is solely for the name of Jesus Christ, sharing his suffering, that I bear everything — because he, being perfect man, supplies my strength.
There are some, ignorant of this, who reject him — or better said, it is he who has rejected them, since they champion death instead of championing truth. Neither the prophecies swayed them, nor Moses' law, nor even the gospel down to this very hour, nor the personal sufferings any of us has undergone; they hold the identical opinion about our case too. What benefit is it to me if a man speaks well of me while cursing my Lord, refusing to acknowledge him as one who carried real flesh? Whoever says such a thing has thoroughly rejected him and carries death within himself. I judged it unfitting to record their names, since they belong to unbelief. May it never even fall to me to keep them in memory — not until they turn in repentance toward that suffering which constitutes our own resurrection.
No one should be misled: not the heavenly powers, not the splendor belonging to angels, not the rulers seen or unseen — if any of these fail to trust in Christ's blood, condemnation stands ready for them too. Whoever can take in this teaching should take it in. Let no rank swell anyone's pride, for everything comes down to faith and love; nothing outranks that pair. Study closely those whose teaching about the grace of Jesus Christ granted to us differs from ours, and notice how contrary they stand to God's own purpose. Love means nothing to them — not toward the widow, not the orphan, not the one who suffers, not the prisoner or the freedman, not the one who hungers or thirsts.
They keep away from the eucharist and from communal prayer alike, since they refuse to acknowledge that the eucharist is the very flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh that suffered for our sins and that the Father, in his goodness, raised up again. Those, then, who argue against this gift of God die in the midst of their disputing; it would have been far better for them to love, so that they might rise as well. It is fitting to keep away from such people and to say nothing about them, whether privately or in a gathering, but instead to give heed to the prophetic writings, and most of all to the gospel narrative, in which the suffering has been disclosed to us openly and the resurrection brought to completion. Flee from divisions, then, as the source from which every evil grows.
All of you should follow the bishop, just as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and follow the council of elders as you would the apostles; show the deacons the same respect you would God's own command. No one should carry out any task belonging to the congregation without the bishop's knowledge. Only that thanksgiving service counts as sound which takes place under the bishop's oversight, or under someone he himself has authorized to act in his place. Let the people gather wherever the bishop shows himself, in the same way that the universal church exists wherever Christ Jesus is present. Baptizing on one's own, or celebrating a fellowship meal without the bishop present, is not permitted; rather, whatever gains his approval counts as acceptable to God too, so that all your actions may rest on a secure and firm footing.
It is reasonable, then, that we should at last come to our senses, while we still have time to turn back to God. It is a good thing to acknowledge God and the bishop. The one who honors the bishop has been honored by God; the one who does something in secret apart from the bishop is serving the devil. Let everything, then, abound among you in grace; for you are worthy of it. You have refreshed me in every way, and may Jesus Christ refresh you. Whether I was absent or present, you loved me. God will repay you, for whose sake you endure all things — you will obtain him.
You did well in receiving Philo and Rheus Agathopous, who followed me for the sake of the word of God, as servants of God; they too give thanks to the Lord on your behalf, because you refreshed them in every way. Nothing you have done will be lost. My spirit be given in exchange for yours, and so too my chains, which you did not scorn nor were ashamed of. Nor will the perfect hope, Jesus Christ, be ashamed of you.
News of your prayer has arrived at the church of Antioch in Syria, from which place — bound now in chains befitting God himself — I send greeting to all, unworthy though I am to claim that city as mine, being the very last among its members. Yet by God's own will I was judged worthy of this honor, not through any merit of my own conscience but purely through God's grace; I ask that this grace be granted to me in its fullness, so your prayers might carry me through to God. So that your labor may reach its completion in heaven as well as on earth, it suits God's honor for your congregation to send forth a delegate on his behalf, to travel into Syria and share in the joy of that church, since peace has returned to them, their former greatness has come back, and their own proper assembly has been restored. It struck me, then, as something worthy of God to dispatch one of your own people bearing a letter, so he could join in celebrating the tranquility God has granted them, and the fact that, through your prayer, they have already come safely into harbor. Since you are complete already, keep your thoughts complete as well — God stands ready to give you good things, for that is his wish.
Greetings come to you from the brotherly love found among the believers in Troas, the same place from which I write, through Burrhus — the man you sent with me alongside the Ephesians, your own brothers, who has been a comfort to me in every respect. If only everyone would take him as their model, since he exemplifies service to God so well. May grace repay him fully in every way. I send greeting to your God-worthy bishop, to the elders' council so fitting to God, to the deacons who serve alongside me, and to each of you as well as all of you together — in the name of Jesus Christ, in his flesh and his blood, in his suffering and his rising, both in body and in spirit, joined in the unity shared by God and by you. Grace, mercy, peace, and steadfast endurance be yours always.
Greetings to the homes of my brothers — to their wives, their children, and the virgins known as widows. May you fare well through the Father's strength. Philo sends his greeting too, being here with me. Greetings also to Tavia's household; I pray it stands solidly rooted in faith and love, in body as much as in spirit. Greetings to Alce, whose name means much to me, to the peerless Daphnus, to Eutecnus, and to every one of them by name. Fare well in God's grace.
← All of Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others: The Apostolic Fathers