 |
| St. Ignatius of Antioch |
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
Ignatius of Antioch
[
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which
is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness
and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning[1] of
time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory, being
united[2] 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.
CHAP. I.--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[4] of God, and
stirring up[5] 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,"[6][ye hastened to see me[7]]. I received, therefore,[8]
your whole multitude in the name of God, through Onesimus, a man of
inexpressible love,[9] 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.
CHAP. II.--CONGRATULATIONS AND ENTREATIES.
As to my fellow-servant Burrhus, your deacon in regard to
God and blessed in all things,[1] 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[2] of your love, hath in all things
refreshed[3] me, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ shall also refresh[3]
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,"[5]
and that, being subject to the bishop and the presbytery, ye may in all
respects be sanctified.
CHAP. III.--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[6] 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.
CHAP. IV.--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.
CHAP. V.--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!
 |
| Adoration of the Lamb (closeup) by Van Eyck |
 |
| Adoration of the Lamb by Van Eyck |
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[4] such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole Church
!He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church, has even[5] by this
manifested his pride, and condemned himself. For it is written, "God
resisteth the proud."[9] Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves in
opposition to the bishop, in order that we may be subject to God.
CHAP. VI.--HAVE RESPECT TO THE BISHOP AS TO CHRIST HIMSELF.
Now the more any one sees the bishop keeping silence,[10]
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,[11] 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.
CHAP. VII.--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,[7] even Jesus
Christ our Lord.
CHAP. VIII.--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 the 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.
CHAP. IX.--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[1] 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,[2] 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[7] ye love nothing but
God only.
CHAP. X.--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,[2] 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[4] your prayers;
in contrast to their error,
be ye
stedfast[5] 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.
CHAP. XI.--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[16] 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.
CHAP. XII.--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(1) 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(4)
may I be found, when I shall attain to God; who in all his Epistles makes
mention of you in Christ Jesus.
CHAP. XIII.--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(7) is prevented by the unity of your faith.
Nothing is more precious than
peace, by which all war, both in heaven and earth,(8) is brought to an end.
CHAP. XIV.--EXHORTATIONS TO FAITH AND LOVE.
None of these things is hid from you, if ye perfectly
possess that faith and love towards Christ Jesus(10) which are the beginning
and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love.(11) Now
these two. being inseparably connected together,(12) 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;(13) nor does he that possesses
love hate any one. The tree is made manifest by its fruit;(15) so those that
profess themselves to be Christians shall be recognised by their conduct. For
there is not now a demand for mere profession,(16) but that a man be found
continuing in the power of faith to the end.
CHAP. XV.--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,(20) 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.
CHAP. XVI.--THE FATE OF FALSE TEACHERS.
Do not err, my brethren.(3) Those that corrupt families
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.(4) 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.
CHAP. XVII.--BEWARE OF FALSE DOCTRINES.
For this end did the Lord suffer the ointment to be poured
upon His head,(7) 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?
CHAP. XVIII.--THE GLORY OF THE CROSS.
Let my spirit be counted as nothing(10) 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?"(1) Where is the boasting of those who are styled prudent? For
our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment(3) 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.
CHAP. XIX.--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,(5) which were wrought in silence by(6) God. How, then, was He
manifested to the world?(7) 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.
CHAP. XX.--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 14] if the Lord make known to me that ye come together man by
man in common through grace, individually,(1) 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.
CHAP. XXI.--CONCLUSION.
My soul be for yours and theirs(2) 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(4) to show forth the honour of God. Farewell in God the
Father, and in Jesus Christ, our common hope.
Taken from The Early Church Fathers and Other Works
originally published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland,
beginning in 1867 (Anti-Nicene Fathers I, volume 5, Roberts and Donaldson.) The
electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was not completely
corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)
Provided Courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
No comments:
Post a Comment