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to Christ, who “according to the flesh” is of the family of “David,” the son of man and son of God, so that you might obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undistracted mind, breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, an antidote against dying, but for living in Jesus Christ forever. I am a ransom for you and for those whom you sent to the honor of God to Smyrna, from where I also write to you, giving thanks to the Lord, loving Polycarp as I also love you. Remember me, as Jesus Christ also remembers you. Pray for the church in Syria, from where, being bound, I am being led away to Rome, being the last of the faithful there, as I was counted worthy to be found for the honor of God. Farewell in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, our common hope.

IGNATIUS TO THE MAGNESIANS

Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the church which is blessed in the grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus our savior, in whom I greet the church which is in Magnesia on the Maeander, and pray that you may have abundant joy in God the Father and in Jesus Christ. Having learned of your very well-ordered love according to God, rejoicing, I determined to address you in the faith of Jesus Christ. For having been deemed worthy of a most god-like name, in these bonds which I bear, I sing of the churches, in which I pray for a union of the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ, who is our life forever, and of faith and love, than which nothing is to be preferred, but more especially of Jesus and the Father; in whom, if we endure all the insolence of the ruler of this age and escape it, we shall attain to God.

Since, therefore, I was counted worthy to see you through Damas your bishop, worthy of God, and your worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and my fellow servant, the deacon Zotion, of whom may I have joy, because he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ. And it is fitting for you not to take advantage of the bishop's youth, but according to the power of God the Father to accord him all reverence, as I know the holy presbyters also do, not taking advantage of his apparent youthful ordination, but as men wise in God, yielding to him; yet not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, the bishop of all. For the honor, therefore, of Him who has willed us, it is fitting to obey without any hypocrisy; since it is not this visible bishop that one deceives, but the invisible One that he seeks to cheat. And such a matter is not with flesh, but with God who knows the hidden things. It is fitting, therefore, not only to be called Christians, but also to be; just as some call him bishop, but do all things without him. But such people do not seem to me to have a good conscience, because they do not assemble securely according to the commandment.

Since, then, all things have an end, and two things are set together before us, both death and life, and each one is about to go “to his own place.” For just as there are two coins, the one of God, the other of the world, and each of them has its own stamp upon it, the unbelievers have the stamp of this world, but the faithful in love have the stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ, through whom, if we do not willingly choose to die into his passion, his life is not in us. Since, therefore, in the persons mentioned before I have beheld the whole multitude in faith and have loved you, I exhort you, be zealous to do all things in the harmony of 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 ministry of Jesus Christ who was with the Father before the ages and was manifested in the end. Therefore, all of you, having received the same disposition of God, reverence one another, and let no one look upon his neighbor according to the flesh, but love one another always in Jesus Christ.

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Χριστῷ, τῷ «κατὰ σάρκα» ἐκ γένους «∆αυίδ», τῷ υἱῷ ἀνθρώπου καὶ υἱῷ θεοῦ, εἰς τὸ ὑπακούειν ὑμᾶς τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ καὶ τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ ἀπερισπάστῳ διανοίᾳ, ἕνα ἄρτον κλῶντες, ὅς ἐστιν φάρμακον ἀθανασίας, ἀντίδοτος τοῦ μὴ ἀποθανεῖν, ἀλλὰ ζῆν ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ διὰ παντός. Ἀντίψυχον ὑμῶν ἐγὼ καὶ ὧν ἐπέμψατε εἰς θεοῦ τιμὴν εἰς Σμύρναν, ὅθεν καὶ γράφω ὑμῖν, εὐχαριστῶν τῷ κυρίῳ, ἀγαπῶν Πολύκαρπον ὡς καὶ ὑμᾶς. Mνημονεύετέ μου, ὡς καὶ ὑμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Συρίᾳ, ὅθεν δεδεμένος εἰς Ῥώμην ἀπάγομαι, ἔσχατος ὢν τῶν ἐκεῖ πιστῶν, ὥσπερ ἠξιώθην εἰς τιμὴν θεοῦ εὑρεθῆναι. Ἔρρωσθε ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ, τῇ κοινῇ ἐλπίδι ἡμῶν.

MAΓNHΣIEΥΣIN IΓNATIOΣ

Ἰγνάτιος, ὁ καὶ Θεοφόρος, τῇ εὐλογημένῃ ἐν χάριτι θεοῦ πατρὸς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν, ἐν ᾧ ἀσπάζομαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν Mαγνησίᾳ τῇ πρὸς Mαιάνδρῳ καὶ εὔχομαι ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. Γνοὺς ὑμῶν τὸ πολυεύτακτον τῆς κατὰ θεὸν ἀγάπης, ἀγαλλιώμενος, προειλόμην ἐν πίστει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ προσλαλῆσαι ὑμῖν. Kαταξιωθεὶς γὰρ ὀνόματος θεοπρεπεστάτου, ἐν οἷς περιφέρω δεσμοῖς, ᾄδω τὰς ἐκκλησίας, ἐν αἷς ἕνωσιν εὔχομαι σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ διὰ παντὸς ἡμῶν ζῆν, πίστεώς τε καὶ ἀγάπης, ἧς οὐδὲν προκέκριται, τὸ δὲ κυριώτερον Ἰησοῦ καὶ πατρός· ἐν ᾧ ὑπομένοντες τὴν πᾶσαν ἐπήρειαν τοῦ ἄρχοντος τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου καὶ διαφυγόντες θεοῦ τευξόμεθα.

Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἠξιώθην ἰδεῖν ὑμᾶς διὰ ∆αμᾶ τοῦ ἀξιοθέου ὑμῶν ἐπισκόπου καὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἀξίων Bάσσου καὶ Ἀπολλωνίου καὶ τοῦ συνδούλου μου διακόνου Zωτίωνος, οὗ ἐγὼ ὀναίμην, ὅτι ὑποτάσσεται τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ ὡς χάριτι θεοῦ καὶ τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ ὡς νόμῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Kαὶ ὑμῖν δὲ πρέπει μὴ συγχρᾶσθαι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου, ἀλλὰ κατὰ δύναμιν θεοῦ πατρὸς πᾶσαν ἐντροπὴν αὐτῷ ἀπονέμειν, καθὼς ἔγνων καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους πρεσβυτέρους οὐ προσειληφότας τὴν φαινομένην νεωτερικὴν τάξιν, ἀλλ' ὡς φρονίμους ἐν θεῷ συγχωροῦντας αὐτῷ, οὐκ αὐτῷ δέ, ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῷ πάντων ἐπισκόπῳ. Eἰς τιμὴν οὖν ἐκείνου τοῦ θελήσαντος ἡμᾶς πρέπον ἐστὶν ἐπακούειν κατὰ μηδεμίαν ὑπόκρισιν· ἐπεὶ οὐχ ὅτι τὸν ἐπίσκοπον τοῦτον τὸν βλεπόμενον πλανᾷ τις, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀόρατον παραλογίζεται. Tὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον οὐ πρὸς σάρκα ὁ λόγος, ἀλλὰ πρὸς θεὸν τὸν τὰ κρύφια εἰδότα. Πρέπον οὖν ἐστὶν μὴ μόνον καλεῖσθαι Χριστιανούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἶναι· ὥσπερ καί τινες ἐπίσκοπον μὲν καλοῦσιν, χωρὶς δὲ αὐτοῦ πάντα πράσσουσιν. Oἱ τοιοῦτοι δὲ οὐκ εὐσυνείδητοί μοι εἶναι φαίνονται διὰ τὸ μὴ βεβαίως κατ' ἐντολὴν συναθροίζεσθαι.

Ἐπεὶ οὖν τέλος τὰ πράγματα ἔχει καὶ πρόκειται τὰ δύο ὁμοῦ, ὅ τε θάνατος καὶ ἡ ζωή, καὶ ἕκαστος «εἰς τὸν ἴδιον τόπον» μέλλει χωρεῖν. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐστιν νομίσματα δύο, ὃ μὲν θεοῦ, ὃ δὲ κόσμου, καὶ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ἴδιον χαρακτῆρα ἐπικείμενον ἔχει, οἱ ἄπιστοι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, οἱ δὲ πιστοὶ ἐν ἀγάπῃ χαρακτῆρα θεοῦ πατρὸς διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ ἐὰν μὴ αὐθαιρέτως ἔχωμεν τὸ ἀποθανεῖν εἰς τὸ αὐτοῦ πάθος, τὸ ζῆν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τοῖς προγεγραμμένοις προσώποις τὸ πᾶν πλῆθος ἐθεώρησα ἐν πίστει καὶ ἠγάπησα, παραινῶ, ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ θεοῦ σπουδάζετε πάντα πράσσειν, προκαθημένου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου εἰς τόπον θεοῦ καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων εἰς τόπον συνεδρίου τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ τῶν διακόνων τῶν ἐμοὶ γλυκυτάτων πεπιστευμένων διακονίαν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὃς πρὸ αἰώνων παρὰ πατρὶ ἦν καὶ ἐν τέλει ἐφάνη. Πάντες οὖν ὁμοήθειαν θεοῦ λαβόντες ἐντρέπεσθε ἀλλήλους καὶ μηδεὶς κατὰ σάρκα βλεπέτω τὸν πλησίον, ἀλλ' ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ ἀλλήλους διὰ παντὸς ἀγαπᾶτε.