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THE SAME EPISTLES, REVISED

TO THE EPHESIANS. Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, to her who is blessed in the greatness of the fullness of God the Father, who was also predestined before the ages to be forever for a glory that is lasting, unchangeable, united and chosen in a true passion, by the will of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, to the church worthy of all blessedness, which is in Ephesus of Asia, abundant greetings in Jesus Christ and in blameless joy. Having received in God your much-desired name, which you possess by a righteous nature according to faith and love in Christ Jesus our Savior, being imitators of the love of God, having rekindled in the blood of Christ the kindred work, you have perfectly completed it; for having heard that I am a prisoner from Syria for the sake of Christ, our common hope, trusting through your prayer to succeed in fighting the wild beasts in Rome, so that through martyrdom I might be able to be a disciple of him who offered himself for us to God as an offering and sacrifice for a fragrant aroma; since, therefore, I have received your whole multitude in the name of God through Onesimus, who is of inexpressible love, and your bishop, whom I pray you love according to Jesus Christ, and that you all be in his likeness. For blessed is the God who has granted to you, being such as you are, to possess such a bishop in Christ. And concerning our fellow servant Burrhus, your deacon according to God and blessed in all things, I pray that he may remain blameless for the honor of the church and of your most blessed bishop.

And Crocus, worthy of God and of you, whom we have received as an example of the love from you, has refreshed me in all things and was not ashamed of my chain, may the Father of Jesus Christ also refresh him together with Onesimus and Burrhus and Euplus and Fronto, through whom I have seen all of you in love. May I have joy of you always, if I be worthy. It is therefore fitting for you in every way to glorify Jesus Christ who has glorified you, so that in one submission you may be perfected in the same mind and in the same judgment, and that you all speak the same thing about the same thing, so that, being subject to the bishop and the presbytery, you may be sanctified in all things. I do not command you as if I were someone. For though I am in bonds for the Name, I am not yet perfected in Jesus Christ. For now I have a beginning of being a disciple, and I speak to you as fellow servants; for I needed to be reminded by you in faith, admonition, endurance, and long-suffering. But since love does not permit me to be silent concerning you, for this reason I have taken it upon myself to exhort you, that you should run in harmony with the mind of God. For indeed Jesus Christ does all things according to the mind of the Father, as he himself says somewhere: I always do the things that are pleasing to him. Therefore we also must live according to the mind of God in Christ and be zealous like Paul. For "be imitators of me," he says, "as I am of Christ." Wherefore it is also fitting for you to run in harmony with the mind of the bishop, who shepherds you according to God; which you also do, having been made wise by the Spirit. For the worthily named presbytery, being worthy of God, is so attuned to the bishop, as strings to a lyre, being thus bound together in concord and harmonious love, of which Jesus the Christ is the author and guardian. And you, man by man, become one choir, so that being harmonious in concord, having taken up the harmony of God in unity, you may become one in harmony to God the Father and to his beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. For, "Grant them," he says, "Holy Father, that as I and you are one, they also may be one in us." It is therefore profitable for you to be joined to God in blameless unity, to be imitators of Christ, of whom you are also members.

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ΑΙ ΑΥΤΑΙ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ ΕΠΙ∆ΙΩΡΘΩΜΕΝΑΙ

ΠΡOΣ EΦEΣIOΥΣ. Ἰγνάτιος, ὁ καὶ Θεοφόρος, τῇ εὐλογημένῃ ἐν μεγέθει θεοῦ πατρὸς

πληρώματι, τῇ καὶ προωρισμένῃ πρὸ αἰώνων εἶναι διὰ παντὸς εἰς δόξαν παράμονον, ἄτρεπτον ἡνωμένην καὶ ἐκλελεγμένην ἐν πάθει ἀληθινῷ, ἐν θελήματι θεοῦ πατρὸς καὶ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν,τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ ἀξιομακαρίστῳ, τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τῆς Ἀσίας, πλεῖσταἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ καὶ ἐν ἀμώμῳ χαρᾷ χαίρειν. Ἀποδεξάμενος ὑμῶν ἐν θεῷ τὸ πολυπόθητον ὄνομα, ὃ κέκτησθε φύσει δικαίᾳ κατὰ πίστιν καὶ ἀγάπην ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν, μιμηταὶ ὄντες θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας, ἀναζωπυρήσαντες ἐν αἵματι Χριστοῦ τὸ συγγενικὸν ἔργον τελείως ἀπηρτίσατε·ἀκούσαντες γάρ με δεδεμένον ἀπὸ Συρίας ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, τῆς κοινῆς ἐλπίδος, πεποιθότα τῇ προσευχῇ ὑμῶν ἐπιτυχεῖν ἐν Ῥώμῃ θηριομαχῆσαι, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ μαρτυρίου δυνηθῶ μαθητὴς εἶναι τοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν ἀνενεγκόντος θεῷ προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας· ἐπεὶ οὖν τὴν πολυπλήθειαν ὑμῶν ἐν ὀνόματι θεοῦ ἀπείληφα ἐν Ὀνησίμῳ, τῷ ἐπ' ἀγάπῃ ἀδιηγήτῳ, ὑμῶν δὲ ἐπισκόπῳ, ὃν εὔχομαι κατὰ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑμᾶς ἀγαπᾶν καὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς ἐν ὁμοιώματι αὐτοῦ εἶναι. εὐλογητὸς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ὁ χαρισάμενος ὑμῖν τοιούτοις οὖσιν τοιοῦτον ἐπίσκοπον κεκτῆσθαι ἐν Χριστῷ. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ συνδούλου ἡμῶν Bούρρου, τοῦ κατὰ θεὸν διακόνου ὑμῶν καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν εὐλογημένου, εὔχομαι παραμεῖναι αὐτὸν ἄμωμον εἰς τιμὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου ὑμῶν τοῦ μακαριωτάτου.

Kρόκος δέ, ὁ θεοῦ ἄξιος καὶ ὑμῶν, ὃν ὡς ἐξεμπλάριον τῆς ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἀγάπης ἀπελάβομεν, κατὰ πάντα με ἀνέπαυσεν καὶ τὴν ἅλυσίν μου οὐκ ἐπῃσχύνθη, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀναψύξαι ἅμα Ὀνησίμῳ καὶ Bούρρῳ καὶ Eὔπλοϊ καὶ Φρόντωνι, δι' ὧν πάντας ὑμᾶς κατὰ ἀγάπην εἶδον. ὀναίμην ὑμῶν διὰ παντός, ἐάνπερ ἄξιος ὦ. πρέπον οὖν ὑμᾶς ἐστιν κατὰ πάντα τρόπον δοξάζειν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν δοξάσαντα ὑμᾶς, ἵνα ἐν μιᾷ ὑποταγῇ ἦτε κατηρτισμένοι τῷ αὐτῷ νοῒ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ γνώμῃ καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ λέγητε πάντες περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ὑποτασσόμενοι τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ καὶ τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ κατὰ πάντα ἦτε ἡγιασμένοι. Oὐ διατάσσομαι ὑμῖν ὡς ὤν τι. εἰ γὰρ καὶ δέδεμαι διὰ τὸ ὄνομα, οὔπω ἀπήρτισμαι ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. νῦν γὰρ ἀρχὴν ἔχω τοῦ μαθητεύεσθαι καὶ προσλαλῶ ὑμῖν ὡς ὁμοδούλοις· ἐμὲ γὰρ ἔδει παρ' ὑμῶν ὑπομνησθῆναι πίστει, νουθεσίᾳ, ὑπομονῇ, μακροθυμίᾳ. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀγάπη οὐκ ἐᾷ με σιωπᾶν περὶ ὑμῶν, διὰ τοῦτο προέλαβον παρακαλεῖν ὑμᾶς, ὅπως συντρέχητε τῇ γνώμῃ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ γὰρ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς πάντα κατὰ γνώμην πράττει τοῦ πατρός, ὡς αὐτός που λέγει· Ἐγὼ τὰ ἀρεστὰ αὐτοῦ ποιῶ πάντοτε. οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡμᾶς χρὴ ζῆν κατὰ γνώμην θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ ζηλοῦν ὡς Παῦλος· μιμηταὶ γάρ μου, φησί, γίνεσθε, καθὼς κἀγὼ Χριστοῦ. Ὅθεν καὶ ὑμῖν πρέπει συντρέχειν τῇ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου γνώμῃ, τοῦ κατὰ θεὸν ποιμαίνοντος ὑμᾶς· ὅπερ καὶ ποιεῖτε, αὐτοὶ σοφισθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος. τὸ γὰρ ἀξιονόμαστον πρεσβυτέριον, ἄξιον ὂν τοῦ θεοῦ, οὕτως συνήρμοσται τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, ὡς χορδαὶ κιθάρᾳ, συνδεδεμένοι οὕτω τῇ ὁμονοίᾳ καὶ συμφώνῳ ἀγάπῃ, ἧς ἐστιν ἀρχηγὸς καὶ φύλαξ Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός. καὶ οἱ κατ' ἄνδρα δὲ χορὸς γένεσθε εἷς, ἵνα σύμφωνοι ὄντες ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ, συνάφειαν θεοῦ λαβόντες ἐν ἑνότητι, ἓν γένησθε τῇ συμφωνίᾳ τῷ θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν· δὸς γὰρ αὐτοῖς, φησί, πάτερ ἅγιε, ἵνα, ὡς ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ἓν ὦσιν. χρήσιμον οὖν ἐστιν ὑμᾶς ἐν ἀμώμῳ ἑνότητι συνημμένους θεῷ μιμητὰς εἶναι Χριστοῦ, οὗ καὶ μέλη ὑπάρχετε.