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TO THE ANTIOCHENES.

Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, to the church that has found mercy from God, chosen by Christ, sojourning in Syria and first to receive the name of Christ, to the church in Antioch, greetings in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has made my bonds light and easy for me, having learned that you are at peace and living in all harmony, both fleshly and spiritual. I urge you therefore, I a prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthy of the calling to which you were called, guarding against the heresies of the evil one that have stealthily entered for the deceit and destruction of those who obey him, and to pay attention to the teaching of the apostles and to believe the law and the prophets, to reject every Jewish and Greek error, and neither to introduce a multitude of gods nor to deny Christ on the pretext of the one God. For Moses, the faithful servant of God, having said: The Lord your God is one Lord, and having preached the one and only God, straightway confessed also our Lord, saying: The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord. and again: And God said: Let us make man in our image; and God made man, in the image of God he made him, and further: In the image of God I have made man. and that he would become man, he says: The Lord will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers like me. And the prophets, speaking as from the person of God: I am the first God and I am after these things and besides me there is no God, speak concerning the Father of all. and concerning our Lord Jesus Christ: A Son, he says, is given to us, whose government is from above, and his name is called Angel of Great Counsel, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Ruler. and concerning his incarnation: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. and concerning the passion: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, and: I was like a gentle lamb led to be sacrificed. And the evangelists, having spoken of the one Father as the only true God, did not omit what pertains to our Lord, but wrote: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made. and concerning the incarnation: The Word, he says, became flesh and dwelt among us, and: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And the apostles, having said that there is one God, they themselves said that there is also one mediator between God and men, and were not ashamed of the incarnation and the passion; for what does he say? The man Jesus Christ, who gave himself for the life of the world.

Whoever, therefore, proclaims one God to the denial of the divinity of Christ, is a son of the devil and an enemy of all righteousness; and he who confesses Christ not as the Son of the one who made the world, but of some other unknown one, besides whom the law and the prophets preached, this one is an instrument of the devil himself; and he who rejects the incarnation and is ashamed of the cross, for which I am in bonds, this one is the antichrist; and he who says Christ is a mere man is accursed according to the prophet, not trusting in God but in man; wherefore he is also fruitless, like the wild tamarisk. These things I write to you, O youth of Christ, not being conscious of such a mind in you, but guarding you beforehand, as a father his own children. beware therefore of the malicious workers, the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, whose glory is in their shame

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ΠΡOΣ ANTIOΧEIΣ.

Ἰγνάτιος, ὁ καὶ Θεοφόρος, ἐκκλησίᾳ ἠλεημένῃ ὑπὸ θεοῦ, ἐκλελεγμένῃ ὑπὸ

Χριστοῦ, παροικούσῃ ἐν Συρίᾳ καὶ πρώτῃ Χριστοῦ ἐπωνυμίαν λαβούσῃ, τῇ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ χαίρειν. Ἐλαφρά μοι καὶ κοῦφα τὰ δεσμὰ ὁ κύριος πεποίηκεν μαθόντι εἰρηνεύειν ὑμᾶς καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ὁμονοίᾳ σαρκικῇ τε καὶ πνευματικῇ διάγειν. παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, ἐγὼ ὁ δέσμιος ἐν κυρίῳ, ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι τῆς κλήσεως, ἧς ἐκλήθητε, φυλαττόμενοι τὰς εἰσκωμασάσας αἱρέσεις τοῦ πονηροῦ ἐπ' ἀπάτῃ καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν πειθομένων αὐτῷ, προσέχειν δὲ τῇ τῶν ἀποστόλων διδαχῇ καὶ νόμῳ καὶ προφήταις πιστεύειν, πᾶσαν ἰουδαϊκὴν καὶ ἑλληνικὴν ἀπορρίψαι πλάνην καὶ μήτε πλῆθος θεῶν ἐπεισάγειν μήτε τὸν Χριστὸν ἀρνεῖσθαι προφάσει τοῦ ἑνὸς θεοῦ. Mωσῆς τε γὰρ ὁ πιστὸς θεράπων τοῦ θεοῦ εἰπών· Kύριος ὁ θεός σου κύριος εἷς ἐστιν, καὶ τὸν ἕνα καὶ μόνον κηρύξας θεόν, ὡμολόγησεν εὐθέως καὶ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν λέγων· Kύριος ἔβρεξεν ἐπὶ Σόδομα καὶ Γόμορρα παρὰ κυρίου πῦρ καὶ θεῖον. καὶ πάλιν· Kαὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός· ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ'εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν· καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν, καὶ ἑξῆς· Ἐν εἰκόνι θεοῦ ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρωπον. καὶ ὅτι γενήσεται ἄνθρωπος, φησίν· Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει κύριος ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ὡς ἐμέ. Oἵ τε προφῆται εἰπόντες ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· Ἐγὼ θεὸς πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν θεός, περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων λέγουσιν. καὶ περὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· Υἱός, φησίν, ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἄνωθεν, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, θαυμαστός, σύμβουλος, θεὸς ἰσχυρός, ἐξουσιαστής. καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως αὐτοῦ· Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ. καὶ περὶ τοῦ πάθους· Ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος, καί· Ἐγὼ ὡς ἀρνίον ἄκακον ἀγόμενον τοῦ θύεσθαι. Oἵ τε εὐαγγελισταὶ εἰπόντες τὸν ἕνα πατέρα μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν οὐ παρέλιπον, ἀλλ' ἔγραψαν· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως· Ὁ λόγος, φησίν, σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καί· Bίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ ∆αυίδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ. οἱ δὲ ἀπόστολοι εἰπόντες, ὅτι θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν, εἶπον οἱ αὐτοί, ὅτι εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τὴν ἐνσωμάτωσιν καὶ τὸ πάθος οὐκ ἐπῃσχύνθησαν· τί γάρ φησιν; Ἄνθρωπος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς.

Πᾶς οὖν, ὅστις ἕνα καταγγέλλει θεὸν ἐπ' ἀναιρέσει τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεότητος, υἱός ἐστιν διαβόλου καὶ ἐχθρὸς πάσης δικαιοσύνης· ὅ τε ὁμολογῶν Χριστὸν οὐ τοῦ ποιήσαντος τὸν κόσμον υἱόν, ἀλλ' ἑτέρου τινὸς ἀγνώστου, παρ' ὃν ἐκήρυξεν ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται, οὗτος ὄργανόν ἐστιν αὐτοῦ τοῦ διαβόλου· ὅ τε τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν παραιτούμενος καὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἐπαισχυνόμενος, δι' ὃν δέδεμαι, οὗτός ἐστιν ἀντίχριστος· ὅ τε ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον λέγων τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπάρατός ἐστι κατὰ τὸν προφήτην, οὐκ ἐπὶ θεῷ πεποιθώς, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπῳ· διὸ καὶ ἄκαρπός ἐστιν παραπλησίως τῇ ἀγριομυρίκῃ. Tαῦτα γράφω ὑμῖν, ὦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ νεολαία, οὐ συνειδὼς ὑμῖν τὸ τοιοῦτο φρόνημα, ἀλλὰ προφυλαττόμενος ὑμᾶς, ὡς πατὴρ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ τέκνα. βλέπετε οὖν τοὺς κακεντρεχεῖς ἐργάτας, τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὧν τὸ τέλος ἀπώλεια, ὧν ὁ θεὸς ἡ κοιλία, ὧν ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ