CHAPTER I.

1
Ignatius commends the brethren for sending
Onesimus and other members of the church to him.
Exhorts them to unity;
by a due subjection to their bishop;

IGNATIUS, who is also called
Theophorus, to the church which
is at Ephesus in Asia; most
deservedly happy: being blessed
through the greatness and fullness
of God the Father, and predestinated
before the world began; that it
should be always unto an enduring
and unchangeable glory; united and
chosen through his true passion,
according to the will of the Father,
and Jesus Christ our God; all
happiness, by Jesus Christ,
and his undefiled grace.

2
I have heard of your name
much beloved in God; which ye
have very justly attained by a
habit of righteousness, according
to the faith and love which is in
Jesus Christ our Saviour.

3
How that being followers of
God, and stirring up yourselves
by the blood of Christ ye have
perfectly accomplished the work
that was con-natural unto you.

4
For hearing that I came bound
from Syria, for the common name
and hope, trusting through your
prayers to fight with beasts at
home; so that by suffering I may
become indeed the disciple of him
who gave himself to God, an offering
and sacrifice for us; ye hastened
to see me. I received, therefore,
in the name of God, your whole
multitude in Onesimus;

5
Who by: inexpressible love is
ours, but according to the flesh
is our bishop; whom I beseech you,
pray Jesus Christ, to love: and that
you would all strive to be like unto
him. And blessed be God, who
has granted unto you, who are so
worthy of him, to enjoy such an
excellent bishop.

6
For what concerns my fellow
servant Burrhus, and your most
blessed deacon in things pertaining
to God; I entreat you that he may
tarry longer, both for yours, and
your bishop's honour.

7
And Crocus also worthy of
both our God and you, whom I
have received as the pattern
of your love, has 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,
in whom I have, as to your charity,
seen all of you, And may always,
have joy of you, if I shall be
worthy of it.

8
It is therefore fitting that you
should by all means glorify Jesus
Christ, who hath glorified you
that by a uniform obedience ye
may be perfectly joined together
in the same mind, and in the same
judgment; and may all speak the
same things concerning everything:

9
And that being, subject to
your bishop, and the presbytery,
ye may be wholly and thoroughly
sanctified.

10
These things I prescribe to
you, not as if I were somebody
extraordinary: for though I am
bound for his name, I am not yet
perfect in Christ Jesus. But now
I begin to learn, and I speak to
you as fellow disciples together
with me.

11
For I ought to have been
stirred up by you, in faith: in
admonition; in patience; in long-
suffering; but forasmuch as
charity suffers me not to be
silent towards you, I have first
taken upon me to exhort you, that
ye would all run together,
according to the will of God.

12
For even Jesus Christ, our
inseparable life, is sent by the
will of the Father; as the bishops,
appointed unto the utmost bounds of
the earth, are by the will of Jesus
Christ.

13
Wherefore it will become you
to run together according to the
will of your bishop, as also ye do,

14
For your famous presbytery,
worthy of God, is fitted as exactly
to the bishop, as the strings are
to the harp.

15
Therefore in your concord
and agreeing charity, Jesus Christ
is sung; and every single person
among you makes up the chorus:

16
That so being all consonant
in love, and taking up the song
of God, ye may in a perfect unity
with one voice, sing to the Father
by Jesus Christ; to the end that
he may both hear you, and perceive
by your works, that ye are indeed
the members of his son.

17
Wherefore it is profitable for
you to live in an unblameable
unity, that so ye may always have
a fellowship with God.

CHAPTER II.

1
The benefit of subjection.
The bishop not to be respected the less
because he is not forward in exacting it:
warns brethren against heretics; bidding
them cleave to Jesus, whose divine and human
mature is declared: commends them for their care
to keep themselves from false teachers:
and shews them the way to God.

FOR if I in this little time have
had such a familiarity with
your bishop, I mean not a carnal,
but spiritual acquaintance with
him; how much more must I think
you happy who are so joined to him,
as the church is to Jesus Christ,
and Jesus Christ to the Father;
so that all things may agree in
the same unity.

2
Let no man deceive himself;
if a man be not within the altar,
he is deprived of the bread of God.
For if the prayer of one or two
be of such force, as we are told;
how much more powerful shall
that of the bishop and the whole
church be?

3
He therefore that does not
come together in the same place
with it, is proud, and has already
condemned himself; for it is written,
God resisteth the proud. Let us take
heed therefore, that we do not set
ourselves against the bishop,
that we may be subject to God.

4
The more any one sees his
bishop silent, the more let him
revere him. For whomsoever the
master of the house sends to be
over his own household, we ought
in like manner to receive him, as
we do him that sent him. It is
therefore evident that we ought
to look upon the bishop, even as
we do upon the Lord himself.

5
And indeed Onesimus himself
does greatly commend your good
order in God: that you all live
according to the truth, and that
no heresy dwells among you. For
neither do ye hearken to anyone
more than to Jesus Christ
speaking to you in truth.

6
For some there are who
carry about the name of Christ
in deceitfulness, but do things
unworthy of God; whom ye must
flee, as ye would do so many
wild beasts. For they are raving
dogs, who bite secretly; against
whom ye must guard yourselves,
as men hardly to be cured.

7
There is one Physician, both
fleshy and spiritual; made and
not made; God incarnate; true
life in death; both of Mary and
of God: first passible, then
impassible; even Jesus Christ our
Lord.

8
Wherefore let no man deceive
you; as indeed neither are ye
deceived, being wholly the
servants of God. For inasmuch as
there is no contention nor strife
among you, to trouble you, ye
must needs live according to God's
will. My soul be for yours;
and I myself, the expiatory
offering for your church of Ephesus;
so famous throughout the world.

9
They that are of the flesh
cannot do the works of the spirit;
neither they that are of the spirit
the works of the flesh; as he
that has faith cannot be an infidel;
nor he that is an infidel have
faith. But even those things
which ye do according to the flesh
are spiritual; forasmuch as ye do
all things in Jesus Christ.

10 Nevertheless I have heard
of some who have passed by you,
having perverse doctrine; whom
ye did not suffer to sow among
you; but stopped your ears, that
ye might not receive those things
that were sown by them: because
being the stones of the temple of
the Father, prepared for his
building; and drawn up on high
by the Cross of Christ,
as by an engine;

11. Using the Holy Ghost as the
rope: your faith being your support;
and your charity the way that leads
unto God.

12
Ye are therefore, with all
your companions in the same
journey full of God; his spiritual
temples, full of Christ, and of
holiness: adorned in all things
with the commands of Christ.

13
In whom also I rejoice that
I have been thought worthy by
this present epistle to converse,
and joy together with you; that
with respect to the other life, ye
love nothing but God only.

CHAPTER III.

1
Exhorts them to prayer; to be unblamable.
To be careful of salvation;
frequent in public devotion;
and to live in charity.

PRAY also without ceasing for
other men; for there is hope
of repentance in them, that they
may attain unto God. Let them
therefore at least be instructed by
your works, if they will be no
other way.

2
Be ye mild at their anger;
humble at their boasting; to their
blasphemies return your prayers
to their error, your firmness in
the faith; when they are cruel,
be ye gentle; not endeavouring
to imitate their ways.

(3 Let us be their brethren in
all kindness and moderation, but
let us be followers of the Lord;
for who was ever more unjustly
used? More destitute? More
despised?).

4
That so no herb of the devil
may be found in you: but ye may
remain in all holiness and sobriety
both of body and spirit, in Christ
Jesus.

5
The last times are come upon
us: let us therefore be very
reverent, and fear the long-
suffering of God, that it be
not to us unto condemnation.

6
For let us either fear the
wrath that is to come, or let us
love the grace that we at present
enjoy; that by the one or other of
these, we may be found in Christ
Jesus, unto true life.

7 Besides him, let nothing be
worthy of you; for whom also I
bear about these bonds; those
spiritual jewels, in which I would
to God that I might arise through
your prayers.

8
Of which I entreat you to
make me always partaker, that I
may be found in the lot of the
Christians of Ephesus, who have
always agreed with the Apostles,
through the power of Jesus Christ.

9 I know both who I am, and
to whom I write: I, a person
condemned; ye, such as have
obtained mercy; I, exposed
to danger; ye confirmed
against danger.

10
Ye are the passage of
those that are killed for God;
the companions of Paul in the
mysteries of the Gospel; the
holy, the martyr, the deservedly
most happy Paul: at whose feet
may I be found, when I shall have
attained unto God; who throughout
all his epistles, makes mention
of you in Christ Jesus.

11
Let it be your care therefore
to come more fully together, to
the praise and glory of God;
for when ye meet fully together
in the same place, the powers of
the devil are destroyed, and his
mischief is dissolved by the unity
of your faith.

12
And indeed, nothing is better
than peace, by which all war both
spiritual and earthly is abolished.

13
Of all which, nothing is hid
from you, if ye have perfect faith
and charity in Christ Jesus, which
are the beginning and end of life.

14
For the beginning is faith;
the end is charity. And these two
joined together, are of God; but
all other things which concern a
holy life, are the consequences of
these.

15
No man professing a true
faith, sinneth; neither does he
who has charity hate any.

16
The tree is made manifest
by its fruit; so they who profess
themselves to be Christians are
known by what they do.

17
For Christianity is not the
work of an outward profession;
but shows itself in the power of
faith, if a man be found faithful
unto the end.

18
It is better for a man to hold
his peace, and be; than to say, he
is a Christian, and not to be.

19
It is good to teach; if what
he says he does likewise.

20
There is therefore one master
who spake, and it was done; and
even those things which he did
without speaking, are worthy
of the Father.

21
He that possesses the word
of Jesus, is truly able to bear his
very silence. That he may be perfect,
he will do according to what he
speaks, and be known by those
things of which he is silent.

22
There is nothing hid from
God, but even our secrets are nigh
unto him.

23
Let us therefore do all
things, as becomes those who
have God dwelling in them;
that we maybe his temples;
and he may be our God as also
he is, and will manifest himself
before our faces, by those things
for which we justly love him.

CHAPTER IV.

1
To have a care for the Gospel.
The virginity of Mary, the incarnation,
and the death of Christ, were hid from the Devil.
How the birth of Christ was revealed.
Exhorts to unity.

BE not deceived, my brethren:
those that corrupt families
by adultery, shall not inherit
the kingdom of God.

2
If therefore they who do this
according to the flesh, have
suffered death; how much more shall
he die, who by his wicked doctrine
corrupts the faith of God, for which
Christ was crucified?

3
He that is thus defiled, shall
depart into unquenchable fire, and
so also shall he that hearkens to
him.

4
For this cause did the Lord
suffer the ointment to be poured
on his head; that he might breathe
the breath of immortality unto his
church.

5
Be not ye therefore anointed
with the evil savour of the doctrine
of the prince of this world: let him
not take you captive from the life
that is set before you.

6
And why are we not all
wise, seeing we have received
the knowledge of God, which is
Jesus Christ? Why do we suffer
ourselves foolishly to perish;
not considering the gift which
the Lord has truly sent to us?

7
Let my life be sacrificed
for the doctrine of the cross;
which is indeed a scandal to the
unbelievers, but to us is salvation
and life eternal.

8
Where is the wise man?
Where is the disputer? Where
is the boasting of those who
are called wise?

9
For our Lord Jesus Christ was
according to the dispensation of
God, conceived in the womb of
Mary, of the seed of David,
by the Holy Ghost. He was born
and baptized, that through his
passion he might purify water,
to the washing away of sin.

10
Now the Virginity of Mary,
and he who was born of her, was
kept in secret from the prince of
this world; as was also the death
of our Lord: three of the mysteries
the most spoken of throughout the
world, yet done in secret by God.

11
How then was our Saviour
manifested to the world? A star
shone in heaven beyond all the
other stars, and its light was
inexpressible, and its novelty
struck terror into men's minds.
All the rest of the stars,
together with the sun and moon,
were the chorus to this star;
but that sent out its light
exceedingly above them all.

12
And men began to be troubled
to think whence this new star
came so unlike to all the others.

13
Hence all the power of magic
became dissolved; and every bond
of wickedness was destroyed: men's
ignorance was taken away; and
the old kingdom abolished; God
himself appearing in the form
of a man, for the renewal of
eternal life.

14
From thence began what
God had prepared: from thence.
forth things were disturbed;
forasmuch as he designed to
abolish death.

15 But if Jesus Christ shall
give me grace through your prayers,
and if it be his will, I purpose
in a second epistle which I will
suddenly write unto you, to manifest
to you more fully the dispensation
of which I have now begun to speak,
about the new man, which is Jesus
Christ; both in his faith, and
charity; in his suffering, and
in his resurrection.

16
Especially if the Lord shall
make known unto me, that ye all
by name come together united in
one faith, and in Jesus Christ;
who was of the race of David
according to the flesh; the Son
of man, and son of God; obeying
your bishop and the presbytery
with an entire affection; breaking
one and the same bread, which is
the medicine of immortality;
our antidote that we should not
die, but live for ever in Christ
Jesus.

17 My soul be for yours, and
theirs whom ye have sent, to the
glory of God; even unto Smyrna,
from whence also I write to you;
giving thanks unto the Lord and
loving Polycarp even as I do you.
Remember me, as Jesus Christ does
remember you.

18
Pray for the church which is
in Syria from whence I am carried
bound to Rome; being the least
of all the faithful which are there,
as I have been thought worthy to
be found, to the glory of God.

19
Fare ye well in God the
Father, and in Jesus Christ, our
common hope. Amen.