Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Ignatius — who bears also the name Theophorus — writes to Polycarp: overseer of the Smyrnaean congregation, or rather, a man watched over himself by God our Father and by our Lord Jesus Christ. Warmest greetings.
Welcoming your godly disposition, grounded as it is like an immovable rock, I give surpassing praise, counted worthy as I am of your blameless face, in which may I find joy in God. I beg you, by the grace you are clothed in, to press further along your course and to urge everyone on, so that they may be saved. Vindicate the place you hold with every kind of care, both of the flesh and of the spirit. Give thought to unity, than which nothing is better. Carry everyone, as the Lord carries you. Bear with everyone in love, just as you already do. Devote yourself to unceasing prayers. Ask for greater understanding than you have. Stay wide awake, keeping a spirit that never sleeps. Speak to each person individually after the manner of God. Carry the sicknesses of all, like a perfect athlete. Where the labor is greater, the gain is great.
If you love only the good pupils, there is no credit to you in that; rather bring the more troublesome ones into line through gentleness. Not every wound is healed by the same plaster. Calm sudden attacks with soothing applications. Show the shrewdness of the serpent in all things, yet remain, like the dove, harmless without end. This is why you are both flesh and spirit: so that you may deal gently, face to face, with what appears, while asking that what is unseen be revealed to you, so that you may lack nothing and abound in every gift. The season calls upon you, as sailors call upon favorable winds and one caught in a storm calls upon a harbor, so that you may reach God. Keep clear-headed like a champion competing for God: incorruption and life everlasting are the prize awaiting you, a truth of which you are already persuaded. In everything I am a ransom for your soul, and so are my chains, which you have loved.
Do not let those who seem trustworthy but who teach otherwise strike you with fear. Stand firm like an anvil under the hammer. It belongs to a great athlete to be struck and still win. But above all, for God's sake we must endure everything, so that he too may endure us. Become more earnest than you are. Read the seasons closely. Look for him who is above every season, the timeless one, the invisible one who became visible for our sake, the untouchable, the one incapable of suffering — yet he suffered on our account, enduring every hardship for our benefit.
Let widows not be neglected. After the Lord, be their guardian yourself. Let nothing happen without your consent, and do not act yourself apart from God — which indeed you do not. Stand firm. Let gatherings be held more often. Seek out everyone by name. Do not look down on male or female slaves; but let them not become puffed up either — rather let them serve all the more for the glory of God, so that a superior freedom, granted by God, may come to them. They should not crave release at the congregation's cost, lest they turn out to be enslaved to their own cravings instead.
Flee wicked schemes — or rather, preach against them. Tell my sisters this: cherish the Lord, and let your own husbands be enough for you, in flesh together with spirit. Likewise instruct my brothers, invoking Jesus Christ's name, that each should love his wife as the church is loved by the Lord. If someone can hold to purity out of reverence for the Lord's own flesh, let him hold to it without boasting of the fact. Boasting destroys it, and if it comes to be known by more than the bishop, it is already spoiled. Those entering marriage, whether men or women, ought to form their union with the bishop's approval, so that the marriage follows the Lord's will rather than mere appetite. Let everything be done to honor God.
Pay attention to the bishop, so that God may also pay attention to you. I offer myself as ransom for those obedient to the bishop, the elders, and the deacons; may I be given a share alongside them within God. Toil alongside one another, wrestle alongside one another, race alongside one another, suffer alongside one another, rest alongside one another. Stand up together as God's stewards, his assessors, his attendants. Satisfy the one you serve as soldiers, the one who pays your wages; not a single one among you should turn deserter. Treat your baptism as armor that stays with you, faith as your helmet, love as your spear, patient endurance as your full panoply. Make your deeds your deposits, so you may draw out savings that belong to you. Show patience toward each other, then, with gentleness, the way God shows patience toward you. May you always be my joy.
Since the church in Antioch of Syria is at peace, as I have been told, because of your prayers, I too have become more cheerful, free of care in God — provided that through my suffering I attain to God, so as to be found a disciple through your resurrection. It is fitting, Polycarp, most blessed in God, to convene a council most worthy of God and to appoint someone whom you hold especially dear and who is tireless, one who will be able to be called a runner for God — to deem this person worthy to go to Syria and glorify your tireless love, to the glory of God. A Christian has no authority over himself, but devotes his time to God. This is a work of God, and yours too, once you have completed it. For I trust in grace, that you are ready for a good work belonging to God. Aware of your zeal for the truth, I have urged this on you in these few written lines.
Since it was not possible for me to send letters to every church, my departure from Troas to Neapolis coming suddenly, as God's will directs, you yourself should write on to the churches beyond you, since you hold the mind of God, so that they too may act likewise — those able to do so dispatching runners on foot, the others sending letters carried by envoys of your own choosing — so that you may earn the honor of a work lasting forever, an honor you deserve. I send greetings to each person by name, and to the Procurator's wife along with her entire house and children. Greetings to Attalus, whom I love. Greetings also to the man soon to be judged fit for the journey to Syria. May grace remain with him without end, and with Polycarp who sends him on his way. I ask that things go well for you continually, in our God Jesus Christ, in whom may you abide, kept within the unity and care of God. Greetings to Alce, a name precious to me. Farewell in the Lord.
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