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 Ignatius, who is also called Theopharus, to the Church which is at
Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness
and fulness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of
time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory,
being united and elected through the true passion by the will of the
Father, and Jesus Christ, our God: Abundant happiness through Jesus
Christ, and His undefiled grace.
CHAPTER 1
PRAISE OF THE EPHESIANS.
I have become acquainted with your name, much-beloved in God, which ye
have acquired by the habit of righteousness, according to the faith and
love in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Being the followers of God, and stirring
up yourselves by the blood of God, ye have perfectly accomplished the work
which was beseeming to you. For, on hearing that I came bound from Syria
for the common name and hope, trusting through your prayers to be
permitted to fight with beasts at Rome, that so by martyrdom I may indeed
become the disciple of Him "who gave Himself for us, an offering and
sacrifice to God,"[ye hastened to see me]. I received, therefore, your
whole multitude in the name of God, through Onesimus, a man of
inexpressible love, and your bishop in the flesh, whom I pray you by Jesus
Christ to love, and that you would all seek to be like him. And blessed be
He who has granted unto you, being worthy, to obtain such an excellent
bishop.
CHAPTER 2
CONGRATULATIONS AND ENTREATIES.
As to my fellow-servant Burrhus, your deacon in regard to God and
blessed in all things, I beg that he may continue longer, both for your
honour and that of your bishop. And Crocus also, worthy both of God and
you, whom I have received as the manifestation of your love, hath in all
things refreshed me, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ shall also
refresh him; together with Onesimus, and Burrhus, and Euplus, and Fronto,
by means of whom, I have, as to love, beheld all of you. May I always have
joy of you, if indeed I be worthy of it. It is therefore befitting that
you should in every way glorify Jesus Christ, who hath glorified you, that
by a unanimous obedience "ye may be perfectly joined together in the same
mind, and in the same judgment, and may all speak the same thing
concerning the same thing," and that, being subject to the bishop and the
presbytery, ye may in all respects be sanctified.
CHAPTER 3
EXHORTATIONS TO UNITY.
I do not issue orders to you, as if I were some great person. For
though I am bound for the name [of Christ], I am not yet perfect in Jesus
Christ. For now I begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as
fellow-disciples with me. For it was needful for me to have been stirred
up by you in faith, exhortation, patience, and long-suffering. But
inasmuch as love suffers me not to be silent in regard to you, I have
therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that ye would all run together
in accordance with the will of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable
life, is the[manifested] will of the Father; as also bishops, settled
everywhere to the utmost bounds[of the earth], are so by the will of Jesus
Christ.
CHAPTER 4
THE SAME CONTINUED.
Wherefore it is fitting that ye should run together in accordance with
the will of your bishop, which thing also ye do. For your justly renowned
presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the bishop as the
strings are to the harp. Therefore in your concord and harmonious love,
Jesus Christ is sung. And do ye, man by man, become a choir, that being
harmonious in love, and taking up the song of God in unison, ye may with
one voice sing to the Father through Jesus Christ, so that He may both
hear you, and perceive by your works that ye are indeed the members of His
Son. It is profitable, therefore, that you should live in an unblameable
unity, that thus ye may always enjoy communion with God.
CHAPTER 5
THE PRAISE OF UNITY.
For if I in this brief space of time, have enjoyed such fellowship with
your bishop--I mean not of a mere human, but of a spiritual nature--how
much more do I reckon you happy who are so joined to him as the Church is
to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father, that so all things
may agree in unity! Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within
the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or
two possesses such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole
Church ! He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church, has even
by this manifested his pride, and condemned himself. For it is written,
"God resisteth the proud." Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves
in opposition to the bishop, in order that we may be subject to God.
CHAPTER 6
HAVE RESPECT TO THE BISHOP AS TO CHRIST
HIMSELF.
Now the more any one sees the bishop keeping silence, the more ought he
to revere him. For we ought to receive every one whom the Master of the
house sends to be over His household, as we would do Him that sent him. It
is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we
would upon the Lord Himself. And indeed Onesimus himself greatly commends
your good order in God, that ye all live according to the truth, and that
no sect has any dwelling-place among you. Nor, indeed, do ye hearken to
any one rather than to Jesus Christ speaking in truth.
CHAPTER 7
BEWARE OF FALSE TEACHERS.
For some are in the habit of carrying about the name[of Jesus Christ]
in wicked guile, while yet they practise things unworthy of God, whom ye
must flee as ye would wild beasts. For they are ravening dogs, who bite
secretly, against whom ye must be on your guard, inasmuch as they are men
who can scarcely be cured. There is one Physician who is possessed both of
flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life
in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible,
even Jesus Christ our Lord.
CHAPTER 8
RENEWED PRAISE OF THE EPHESIANS.
Let not then any one deceive you, as indeed ye are not deceived,
inasmuch as ye are wholly devoted to God. For since there is no strife
raging among you which might distress you, ye are certainly living in
accordance with God's will. I am far inferior to you, and require to be
sanctified by your Church of Ephesus, so renowned throughout the world.
They that are carnal cannot do those things which are spiritual, nor they
that are spiritual the things which are carnal; even as faith cannot do
the works of unbelief, nor unbelief the works of faith. But even those
things which ye do according to the flesh are spiritual; for ye do all
things in Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER 9
YE HAVE GIVEN NO HEED TO FALSE TEACHERS.
Nevertheless, I have heard of some who have passed on from this to you,
having false doctrine, whom ye did not suffer to sow among you, but
stopped your ears, that ye might not receive those things which were sown
by them, as being stones of the temple of the Father, prepared for the
building of God the Father, and drawn up on high by the instrument of
Jesus Christ, which is the cross, making use of the Holy Spirit as a rope,
while your faith was the means by which you ascended, and your love the
way which led up to God. Ye, therefore, as well as all your
fellow-travellers, are God-bearers, temple-bearers, Christ-bearers,
bearers of holiness, adorned in all respects with the commandments of
Jesus Christ, in whom also I exult that I have been thought worthy, by
means of this Epistle, to converse and rejoice with you, because with
respect to your Christian life ye love nothing but God only.
CHAPTER 10
EXHORTATIONS TO PRAYER, HUMILITY, ETC.
And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men. For there is in
them hope of repentance that they may attain to God. See, then, that they
be instructed by your works, if in no other way. Be ye meek in response to
their wrath, humble in opposition to their boasting: to their blasphemies
return your prayers; in contrast to their error, be ye stedfast in the
faith; and for their cruelty, manifest your gentleness. While we take care
not to imitate their conduct, let us be found their brethren in all true
kindness; and let us seek to be followers of the Lord(who ever more
unjustly treated, more destitute, more condemned?), that so no plant of
the devil may be found in you, but ye may remain in all holiness and
sobriety in Jesus Christ, both with respect to the flesh and spirit.
CHAPTER 11
AN EXHORTATION TO FEAR GOD, ETC.
The last times are come upon us. Let us therefore be of a reverent
spirit, and fear the long-suffering of God, that it tend not to our
condemnation. For let us either stand in awe of the wrath to come, or show
regard for the grace which is at present displayed--one of two things.
Only in one way or another] let us be found in Christ Jesus unto the true
life. Apart from Him, let nothing attract you, for whom I bear about these
bonds, these spiritual jewels, by which may I arise through your prayers,
of which I entreat I may always be a partaker, that I may be found in the
lot of the Christians of Ephesus, who have always been of the same mind
with the apostles through the power of Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER 12
PRAISE OF THE EPHESIANS.
I know both who I am, and to whom I write. I am a condemned man, ye
have been the objects of mercy; I am subject to danger, ye are established
in safety. Ye are the persons through whom those pass that are cut off for
the sake of God. Ye are initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with
Paul, the holy, the martyred, the deservedly most happy, at whose feet may
I be found, when I shall attain to God; who in all his Epistles makes
mention of you in Christ Jesus.
CHAPTER 13
EXHORTATION TO MEET TOGETHER FREQUENTLY
FOR THE WORSHIP OF GOD.
Take heed, then, often to come together to give thanks to God, and show
forth His praise. For when ye assemble frequently in the same place, the
powers of Satan are destroyed, and the destruction at which he aims is
prevented by the unity of your faith. Nothing is more precious than peace,
by which all war, both in heaven and earth, is brought to an end.
CHAPTER 14
EXHORTATIONS TO FAITH AND LOVE.
None of these things is hid from you, if ye perfectly possess that
faith and love towards Christ Jesus which are the beginning and the end of
life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love. Now these two.
being inseparably connected together, are of God, while all other things
which are requisite for a holy life follow after them. No man [truly]
making a profession of faith sinneth; nor does he that possesses love hate
any one. The tree is made manifest by its fruit; so those that profess
themselves to be Christians shall be recognised by their conduct. For
there is not now a demand for mere profession, but that a man be found
continuing in the power of faith to the end.
CHAPTER 15
EXHORTATION TO CONFESS CHRIST BY SILENCE AS
WELL AS SPEECH.
It is better for a man to be silent and be [a Christian], than to talk
and not to be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts. There
is then one Teacher, who spake and it was done; while even those things
which He did in silence are worthy of the Father. He who possesses the
word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be
perfect, and may both act as he speaks, and be recognised by his silence.
There is nothing which is hid from God, but our very secrets are near to
Him. Let us therefore do all things as those who have Him dwelling in us,
that we may be His temples, and He may be in us as our God, which indeed
He is, and will manifest Himself before our faces. Wherefore we justly
love Him.
CHAPTER 16
THE FATE OF FALSE TEACHERS.
Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have
suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who
corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was
crucified! Such an one becoming defiled [in this way], shall go away into
everlasting fire, and so shall every one that hearkens unto him.
CHAPTER 17
BEWARE OF FALSE DOCTRINES.
For this end did the Lord suffer the ointment to be poured upon His
head, that He might breathe immortality into His Church. Be not ye
anointed with the bad odour of the doctrine of the prince of this world;
let him not lead you away captive from the life which is set before you.
And why are we not all prudent, since we have received the knowledge of
God, which is Jesus Christ? Why do we foolishly perish, not recognising
the gift which the Lord has of a truth sent to us?
CHAPTER 18
THE GLORY OF THE CROSS.
Let my spirit be counted as nothing for the sake of the cross, which is
a stumbling-block to those that do not believe, but to us salvation and
life eternal. "Where is the wise man? where the disputer?" Where is the
boasting of those who are styled prudent? For our God, Jesus Christ, was,
according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the
seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by
His passion He might purify the water.
CHAPTER 19
THREE CELEBRATED MYSTERIES.
Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world, as
was also her offspring, and the death of the Lord; three mysteries of
renown, which were wrought in silence by God. How, then, was He manifested
to the world? A star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the
light of Which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with
astonishment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, formed
a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all.
And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so
unlike to everything else [in the heavens]. Hence every kind of magic was
destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was
removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in
human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning
which had been prepared by God. Henceforth all things were in a state of
tumult, because He meditated the abolition of death.
CHAPTER 20
PROMISE OF ANOTHER LETTER.
If Jesus Christ shall graciously permit me through your prayers, and if
it be His will, I shall, in a second little work which I will write to
you, make further manifest to you [the nature of] the dispensation of
which I have begun [to treat], with respect to the new man, Jesus Christ,
in His faith and in His love, in His suffering and in His resurrection.
Especially [will I do this if the Lord make known to me that ye come
together man by man in common through grace, individually, in one faith,
and in Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David according to the flesh,
being both the Son of man and the Son of God, so that ye obey the bishop
and the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same
bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent
us from dying, but [which causes] that we should live for ever in Jesus
Christ.
CHAPTER 21
CONCLUSION.
My soul be for yours and theirs whom, for the honour of God, ye have
sent to Smyrna; whence also I write to you, giving thanks unto the Lord,
and loving Polycarp even as I do you. Remember me, as Jesus Christ also
remembered you. Pray ye for the Church which is in Syria, whence I am led
bound to Rome, being the last of the faithful who are there, even as I
have been thought worthy to be chosen to show forth the honour of God.
Farewell in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, our common hope.
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