Author Topic: Ignatous of Antioch (Read 2132 times)

poche · « **on:** October 17, 2013, 02:45:30 AM »

In the Martyrology we read: "At Rome, the holy bishop and martyr Ignatius. He was the second successor to the apostle Peter in the see of Antioch. In the persecution of Trajan he was condemned to the wild beasts and sent in chains to Rome. There, by the emperor's order, he was subjected to most cruel tortures in the presence of the Senate and then thrown to the lions. Torn to pieces by their teeth, he became a victim for Christ."

The bishop and martyr Ignatius occupies a foremost place among the heroes of Christian antiquity. His final journey from Antioch to Rome was like a nuptial procession and a Way of the Cross. For the letters he wrote along the way resemble seven stations of the Cross; they may also be called seven nuptial hymns overflowing with the saint's intense love for Christ Jesus and his longing to be united with Him. These letters are seven most precious jewels in the heirloom bequeathed to us by the Church of sub-apostolic times.

The year of St. Ignatius' death is unknown; perhaps it occurred during the victory festivities in which the Emperor Trajan sacrificed the lives of 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 wild beasts for the amusement of the bloodthirsty populace. The scene of his glorious triumph and martyrdom was most likely the Colosseum; that mammoth structure, glittering with gold and marble, had then been just completed.

"From Syria to Rome I must do battle with beasts on land and sea. For day and night I am chained to ten leopards, that is, the soldiers who guard me and grow more ferocious the better they are treated. Their mistreatment is good instruction for me, yet am I still far from justified. Oh, that I may meet the wild beasts now kept in readiness for me. I shall implore them to give me death promptly and to hasten my departure. I shall invite them to devour me so that they will not leave my body unharmed as already has happened to other witnesses. If they refuse to pounce upon me, I shall impel them to eat me. My little children, forgive me these words. Surely I know what is good for me. From things visible I no longer desire anything; I want to find Jesus. Fire and cross, wild beasts, broken bones, lacerated members, a body wholly crushed, and Satan's every torment, let them all overwhelm me, if only I reach Christ."

The saint, now condemned to fight the wild beasts, burned with desire for martyrdom. On hearing the roar of the lions he cried out: "I am a kernel of wheat for Christ. I must be ground by the teeth of beasts to be found bread (of Christ) wholly pure".

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-10-17

poche · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2013, 12:31:11 AM »

To the Ephesians;

Heartiest greetings of pure joy in Jesus Christ from Ignatius, the “God-inspired,” to the church at Ephesus in Asia. Out of the fullness of God the Father you have been blessed with large numbers and are predestined from eternity to enjoy forever continual and unfading glory. The source of your unity and election is genuine suffering which you undergo by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ, our God. Hence you deserve to be considered happy.

1 I gave a godly welcome to your church which has so endeared itself to us by reason of your upright nature, marked as it is by faith in Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and by love of him. You are imitators of God; and it was God’s blood that stirred you up once more to do the sort of thing you do naturally and have now done to perfection. For you were all zeal to visit me when you heard that I was being shipped as a prisoner from Syria for the sake of our common Name and hope. I hope, indeed, by your prayers to have the good fortune to fight with wild beasts in Rome, so that by doing this I can be a real disciple. In God’s name, therefore, I received your large congregation in the person of Onesimus, your bishop in this world, a man whose love is beyond words. My prayer is that you should love him in the spirit of Jesus Christ and all be like him. Blessed is He who let you have such a bishop. You deserved it.

2 Now about my fellow slave Burrhus, your godly deacon, who has been richly blessed. I very much want him to stay with me. He will thus bring honor on you and the bishop. Crocus too, who is a credit both to God and to you, and whom I received as a model of your love, altogether raised my spirits (May the Father of Jesus Christ grant him a similar comfort!), as did Onesimus, Burrhus, Euplus, and Fronto. In them I saw and loved you all. May I always be glad about you, that is, if I deserve to be! It is right, then, for you to render all glory to Jesus Christ, seeing he has glorified you. Thus, united in your submission, and subject to the bishop and the presbytery, you will be real saints.

3 I do not give you orders as if I were somebody important. For even if I am a prisoner for the Name, I have not yet reached Christian perfection. I am only beginning to be a disciple, so I address you as my fellow students. I needed your coaching in faith, encouragement, endurance, and patience. But since love forbids me to keep silent about you, I hasten to urge you to harmonize your actions with God’s mind. For Jesus Christ — that life from which we can’t be torn — is the Father’s mind, as the bishops too, appointed the world over, reflect the mind of Jesus Christ.

4 Hence you should act in accord with the bishop’s mind, as you surely do. Your presbytery, indeed, which deserves its name and is a credit to God, is as closely tied to the bishop as the strings to a harp. Wherefore your accord and harmonious love is a hymn to Jesus Christ. Yes, one and all, you should form yourselves into a choir, so that, in perfect harmony and taking your pitch from God, you may sing in unison and with one voice to the Father through Jesus Christ. Thus he will heed you, and by your good deeds he will recognize you are members of his Son. Therefore you need to abide in irreproachable unity if you really want to be God’s members forever.

5 If in so short a time I could get so close to your bishop — I do not mean in a natural way, but in a spiritual — how much more do I congratulate you on having such intimacy with him as the Church enjoys with Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ with the Father. That is how unity and harmony come to prevail everywhere. Make no mistake about it. If anyone is not inside the sanctuary, he lacks God’s bread. And if the prayer of one or two has great avail, how much more that of the bishop and the total Church. He who fails to join in your worship shows his arrogance by the very fact of becoming a schismatic. It is written, moreover, “God resists the proud.” Let us, then, heartily avoid resisting the bishop so that we may be subject to God.

6 The more anyone sees the bishop modestly silent, the more he should revere him. For everyone the Master of the house sends on his business, we ought to receive as the One who sent him. It is clear, then, that we should regard the bishop as the Lord himself. Indeed, Onesimus spoke very highly of your godly conduct, that you were all living by the truth and harboring no sectarianism. Nay, you heed nobody beyond what he has to say truthfully about Jesus Christ.

7 Some, indeed, have a wicked and deceitful habit of flaunting the Name about, while acting in a way unworthy of God. You must avoid them like wild beasts. For they are mad dogs which 90bite on the sly. You must be on your guard against them, for it is hard to heal their bite. There is only one physician — of flesh yet spiritual, born yet unbegotten, God incarnate, genuine life in the midst of death, sprung from Mary as well as God, first subject to suffering then beyond it — Jesus Christ our Lord.

8 Let no one mislead you, as, indeed, you are not misled, being wholly God’s. For when you harbor no dissension that can harass you, then you are indeed living in God’s way. A cheap sacrifice I am, but I dedicate myself to you Ephesians — a church forever famous. Carnal people cannot act spiritually, or spiritual people carnally, just as faith cannot act like unbelief, or unbelief like faith. But even what you do in the flesh you do spiritually. For you do everything under Christ’s control.

9 I have heard that some strangers came your way with a wicked teaching. But you did not let them sow it among you. You stopped up your ears to prevent admitting what they disseminated. Like stones of God’s Temple, ready for a building of God the Father, you are being hoisted up by Jesus Christ, as with a crane (that’s the cross!), while the rope you use is the Holy Spirit. Your faith is what lifts you up, while love is the way you ascend to God.

You are all taking part in a religious procession, carrying along with you your God, shrine, Christ, and your holy objects, and decked out from tip to toe in the commandments of Jesus Christ. I too am enjoying it all, because I can talk with you in a letter, and congratulate you on changing your old way of life and setting your love on God alone.

10 “Keep on praying” for others too, for there is a chance of their being converted and getting to God. Let them, then, learn from you at least by your actions. Return their bad temper with gentleness; their boasts with humility; their abuse with prayer. In the face of their error, be “steadfast in the faith.” Return their violence with mildness and do not be intent on getting your own back. By our patience let us show we are their brothers, intent on imitating the Lord, seeing which of us can be the more wronged, robbed, and despised. Thus no devil’s weed will be found among you; but thoroughly pure and self-controlled, you will remain body and soul united to Jesus Christ.

11 The last days are here. So let us abase ourselves and stand in awe of God’s patience, lest it turn out to be our condemnation. Either let us fear the wrath to come or let us value the grace we have: one or the other. Only let our lot be genuine life in Jesus Christ. Do not let anything catch your eye besides him, for whom I carry around these chains — my spiritual pearls! Through them I want to rise from the dead by your prayers. May I ever share in these, so that I may be numbered among the Ephesian Christians who, by the might of Jesus Christ, have always been of one mind with the very apostles.

12 I realize who I am and to whom I am writing. I am a convict; you have been freed. I am in danger; you are safe. You are the route for God’s victims. You have been initiated into the mysteries with Paul, a real saint and martyr, who deserves to be congratulated. When I come to meet God may I follow in his footsteps, who in all his letters mentions your union with Christ Jesus.

13 Try to gather together more frequently to celebrate God’s Eucharist and to praise him. For when you meet with frequency, Satan’s powers are overthrown and his destructiveness is undone by the unanimity of your faith. There is nothing better than peace, by which all strife in heaven and earth is done away.

14 You will not overlook any of this if you have a thorough belief in Jesus Christ and love him. That is the beginning and end of life: faith the beginning and love the end. And when the two are united you have God, and everything else that has to do with real goodness is dependent on them. No one who professes faith falls into sin, nor does one who has learned to love, hate. “The tree is known by its fruit.” Similarly, those who profess to be Christ’s will be recognized by their actions. For what matters is not a momentary act of professing, but being persistently motivated by faith.

15 It is better to keep quiet and be real, than to chatter and be unreal. It is a good thing to teach if, that is, the teacher practices what he preaches. There was one such Teacher, who “spoke and it was done”;and what he did in silence is worthy of the Father. He who has really grasped what Jesus said can appreciate his silence. Thus he will be perfect: his words will mean action, and his very silence will reveal his character.

The Lord overlooks nothing. Even secrets are open to him. Let us, then, do everything as if he were dwelling in us. Thus we shall be his temples and he will be within us as our God — as he actually is. This will be clear to us just to the extent that we love him rightly.

16 Make no mistake, my brothers: adulterers will not inherit God’s Kingdom. If, then, those who act carnally suffer death, how much more shall those who by wicked teaching corrupt God’s faith for which Jesus Christ was crucified. Such a vile creature will go to the unquenchable fire along with anyone who listens to him.

17 The reason the Lord let the ointment be poured on his head was that he might pass on the aroma of incorruption to the Church. Do not be anointed with the foul smell of the teaching of the prince of this world, lest he capture you and rob you of the life ahead of you. Why do we not all come to our senses by accepting God’s knowledge, which is Jesus Christ? Why do we stupidly perish, ignoring the gift which the Lord has really sent?

18 I am giving my life (not that it’s worth much!) for the cross, which unbelievers find a stumbling block, but which means to us salvation and eternal life. “Where is the wise man? Where is the debater?” Where are the boasts of those supposedly intelligent? For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary, in God’s plan being sprung both from the 93seed of David and from the Holy Spirit. He was born and baptized that by his Passion he might hallow water.

19 Now, Mary’s virginity and her giving birth escaped the notice of the prince of this world, as did the Lord’s death — those three secrets crying to be told, but wrought in God’s silence. How, then, were they revealed to the ages? A star shone in heaven brighter than all the stars. Its light was indescribable and its novelty caused amazement. The rest of the stars, along with the sun and the moon, formed a ring around it; yet it outshone them all, and there was bewilderment whence this unique novelty had arisen. As a result all magic lost its power and all witchcraft ceased. Ignorance was done away with, and the ancient kingdom was utterly destroyed, for God was revealing himself as a man, to bring newness of eternal life. What God had prepared was now beginning. Hence everything was in confusion as the destruction of death was being taken in hand.

20 If Jesus Christ allows me, in answer to your prayers, and it is his will, I will explain to you more about plan in a second letter I intend to write. I have only touched on this plan in reference to the New Man Jesus Christ, and how it involves believing in him and loving him, and entails his Passion and resurrection. I will do this especially if the Lord shows me that you are all, every one of you, meeting together under the influence of the grace that we owe to the Name, in one faith and in union with Christ, who was “descended from David according to the flesh” and is Son of man and Son of God. At these meetings you should heed the bishop and presbytery attentively, and break one loaf, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which wards off death but yields continuous life in union with Jesus Christ.

21 I am giving my life for you and for those whom you, to God’s honor, sent to Smyrna. I am writing to you from there, giving the Lord thanks and embracing Polycarp and you too in my love. Bear me in mind, as Jesus Christ does you. Pray for the church in Syria, whence I am being sent off to Rome as a prisoner. I am the least of the faithful there — yet I have been privileged to serve God’s honor. Farewell in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, our common hope.

http://silouanthompson.net/library/early-church/ignatius/to-the-ephesians/

poche · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2013, 04:29:02 AM »

to the Magnesians

Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her which
hath been blessed through the grace of God the Father
in Christ Jesus our Saviour, in whom I salute the
church which is in Magnesia on the Maeander, and I
wish her abundant greeting in God the Father and in
Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 1
1:1 When I learned the exceeding good order of your
love in the ways of God, I was gladdened and I
determined to address you in the faith of Jesus
Christ.
1:2 For being counted worthy to bear a most godly
name, in these bonds, which I carry about, I sing the
praise of the churches; and I pray that there may be
in them union of the flesh and of the spirit which are
Jesus Christ's, our never-failing life -- an union of
faith and of love which is preferred before all
things, and -- what is more than all -- an union with
Jesus and with the Father; in whom if we endure
patiently all the despite of the prince of this world
and escape therefrom, we shall attain unto God.

CHAPTER 2
2:1 Forasmuch then as I was permitted to see you in
the person of Damas your godly bishop and your worthy
presbyters Bassus and Apollonius and my fellow-servant
the deacon Zotion, of whom I would fain have joy, for
that he is subject to the bishop as unto the grace of
God and to the presbytery as unto the law of Jesus
Christ: --

CHAPTER 3
3:1 Yea, and it becometh you also not to presume
upon the youth of your bishop, but according to the
power of God the Father to render unto him all
reverence, even as I have learned that the holy
presbyters also have not taken advantage of his
outwardly youthful estate, but give place to him as to
one prudent in God; yet not to him, but to the Father
of Jesus Christ, even to the Bishop of all.
3:2 For the honour therefore of Him that desired
you, it is meet that ye should be obedient without
dissimulation. For a man doth not so much deceive this
bishop who is seen, as cheat that other who is
invisible; and in such a case he must reckon not with
flesh but with God who knoweth the hidden things.

CHAPTER 4
4:1 It is therefore meet that we not only be called
Christians, but also be such; even as some persons
have the bishop's name on their lips, but in
everything act apart from him. Such men appear to me
not to keep a good conscience, forasmuch as they do
not assemble themselves together lawfully according to
commandment.

CHAPTER 5
5:1 Seeing them that all things have an end, and
these two -- life and death -- are set before us
together, and each man shall go _to his own place;_
5:2 for just as there are two coinages, the one of
God and the other of the world, and each of them hath
its proper stamp impressed upon it, the unbelievers
the stamp of this world, but the faithful in love the
stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ, through
whom unless of our own free choice we accept to die
unto His passion, His life is not in us: --

CHAPTER 6
6:1 Seeing then that in the aforementioned persons I
beheld your whole people in faith and embraced them, I
advise you, be ye zealous to do all things in godly
concord, the bishop presiding after the likeness of
God and the presbyters after the likeness of the
council of the Apostles, with the deacons also who are
most dear to me, having been entrusted with the
diaconate of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father
before the worlds and appeared at the end of time.
6:2 Therefore do ye all study conformity to God and
pay reverence one to another; and let no man regard
his neighbour after the flesh, but love ye one another
in Jesus Christ always. Let there be nothing among you
which shall have power to divide you, but be ye united
with the bishop and with them that preside over you as
an ensample and a lesson of incorruptibility.

CHAPTER 7
7:1 Therefore as the Lord did nothing without the
Father, [being united with Him], either by Himself or
by the Apostles, so neither do ye anything without the
bishop and the presbyters. And attempt not to think
anything right for yourselves apart from others: but
let there be one prayer in common, one supplication,
one mind, one hope, in love and in joy unblameable,
which is Jesus Christ, than whom there is nothing
better.
7:2 Hasten to come together all of you, as to one
temple, even God; as to one altar, even to one Jesus
Christ, who came forth from One Father and is with One
and departed unto One.

CHAPTER 8
8:1 Be not seduced by strange doctrines nor by
antiquated fables, which are profitless. For if even
unto this day we live after the manner of Judaism, we
avow that we have not received grace:
8:2 for the divine prophets lived after Christ
Jesus. For this cause also they were persecuted, being
inspired by His grace to the end that they which are
disobedient might be fully persuaded that there is one
God who manifested Himself through Jesus Christ His
Son, who is His Word that proceeded from silence, who
in all things was well-pleasing unto Him that sent
Him.

CHAPTER 9
9:1 If then those who had walked in ancient
practices attained unto newness of hope, no longer
observing sabbaths but fashioning their lives after
the Lord's day, on which our life also arose through
Him and through His death which some men deny -- a
mystery whereby we attained unto belief, and for this
cause we endure patiently, that we may be found
disciples of Jesus Christ our only teacher --
9:2 if this be so, how shall we be able to live
apart from Him? seeing that even the prophets, being
His disciples, were expecting Him as their teacher
through the Spirit. And for this cause He whom they
rightly awaited, when He came, raised them from the
dead.

CHAPTER 10
10:1 Therefore let us not be insensible to His
goodness. For if He should imitate us according to our
deeds, we are lost. For this cause, seeing that we are
become His disciples, let us learn to live as
beseemeth Christianity. For whoso is called by another
name besides this, is not of God.
10:2 Therefore put away the vile leaven which hath
waxed stale and sour, and betake yourselves to the new
leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be ye salted in Him,
that none among you grow putrid, seeing that by your
savour ye shall be proved.
10:3 It is monstrous to talk of Jesus Christ and to
practise Judaism. For Christianity did not believe in
Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity, wherein _every
tongue_ believed and _was gathered together_ unto
God.

CHAPTER 11
11:1 Now these things I say, my dearly beloved, not
because I have learned that any of you are so minded;
but as being less than any of you, I would have you be
on your guard betimes, that ye fall not into the
snares of vain doctrine; but be ye fully persuaded
concerning the birth and the passion and the
resurrection, which took place in the time of the
governorship of Pontius Pilate; for these things were
truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ our hope;
from which hope may it not befal any of you to be
turned aside.

CHAPTER 12
12:1 Let me have joy of you in all things, if I be
worthy. For even though I am in bonds, yet am I not
comparable to one of you who are at liberty. I know
that ye are not puffed up; for ye have Jesus Christ in
yourselves. And, when I praise you, I know that ye
only feel the more shame; as it is written _The
righteous man is a self-accuser._

CHAPTER 13
13:1 Do your diligence therefore that ye be
confirmed in the ordinances of the Lord and of the
Apostles, that ye may _prosper in all things
whatsoever ye do_ in flesh and spirit, by faith and by
love, in the Son and Father and in the Spirit, in the
beginning and in the end, with your revered bishop,
and with the fitly wreathed spiritual circlet of your
presbytery, and with the deacons who walk after God.
13:2 Be obedient to the bishop and to one another,
as Jesus Christ was to the Father [according to the
flesh], and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the
Father, that there may be union both of flesh and of
spirit.

CHAPTER 14
14:1 Knowing that ye are full of God, I have
exhorted you briefly. Remember me in your prayers,
that I may attain unto God; and remember also the
church which is in Syria, whereof I am not worthy to
be called a member. For I have need of your united
prayer and love in God, that it may be granted to the
church which is in Syria to be refreshed by the dew of
your fervent supplication.

CHAPTER 15
15:1 The Ephesians from Smyrna salute you, from
whence also I write to you. They are here with me for
the glory of God, as also are ye; and they have
comforted me in all things, together with Polycarp
bishop of the Smyrnaeans. Yea, and all the other
churches salute you in the honour of Jesus Christ.
Fare ye well in godly concord, and possess ye a
stedfast spirit, which is Jesus Christ.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-magnesians-lightfoot.html

poche · « **Reply #3 on:** October 24, 2013, 03:39:41 AM »

To the Trallians

Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, to the holy Church which is at Tralles, in Asia, beloved by God, the Father of Jesus Christ, elect and worthy of God, at peace by the flesh and blood and the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, our hope in the resurrection unto him; which I salute in the fulness, after the Apostolic manner, and pray that it may rejoice greatly.

CHAPTER 1
1:1 I have known that you have a disposition blameless and unmovable in patience, not merely for outward use, but in your very nature. Even as Polybius, your bishop, hath showed unto me, who came unto me in Smyrna, according to the will of God and of Jesus Christ, and so rejoiced with me in my bonds in Jesus Christ, that I beheld your whole multitude in him.

1:2 Having received, therefore, through him your benevolence, which is according to God, I seemed to have found you, as I knew already, to be imitators of God.

CHAPTER 2
2:1 For when ye are subject unto the bishop as unto Jesus Christ, ye appear unto me not to live according to man, but according to Jesus Christ who died for us, that ye, by believing on his death, might escape death.

2:2 It is necessary, therefore, that ye should do nothing without the bishop, as indeed ye do, and that ye should submit yourselves to the presbytery also, as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope, in whom we shall be found walking.

2:3 It is necessary, also, that the deacons, being ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should in every way please all men. For they are not ministers of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God; it is therefore their duty to avoid offences as fire.

CHAPTER 3
3:1 In like manner, let all men reverence the deacons, and the bishop likewise, even as Jesus Christ who is the Son of the Father; and the presbyters as the council of God, and as the bond of the Apostles. Without these there is no Church;

3:2 concerning which things I am persuaded that it is so with you: for I have received a specimen of your love, and have it with myself in the person of your bishop, whose appearance is great instruction, and whose meekness is strength; whom I reckon that even the ungodly respect, loving him because he spareth not himself.

3:3 Have I then, though able to write on this subject, come to such a degree of reputation, that though condemned, I should give ordinances unto you as an Apostle?

CHAPTER 4
4:1 I know many things in God, but I measure myself that I may not be lost by boasting; for now is it necessary for me to fear even more, and not to attend to those who puff me up, for they who say such things to me scourge me.

4:2 Of a truth, I am content to suffer, yet I know not whether I be worthy. For this my zeal doth not appear to many, but it maketh war upon me with greater force. Therefore I need meekness, by which the ruler of this world is destroyed.

CHAPTER 5
5:1 Am I not able to write to you concerning heavenly things? but I fear lest I should cause harm to you, because ye are babes; and (forgive me) lest not being able to receive it, ye be choked.

5:2 And I, too, not being according to my bonds, but being able to know the things celestial, and the stations of the angels, and the conflicts of principalities, both the things visible and invisible, yet even on that account am still a learner; for many things are lacking to us, that we may not fall short of God.

CHAPTER 6
6:1 I therefore exhort you, yet not I but the love of Jesus Christ, to use the Christian food alone, and to abstain from all strange herbage, which is heresy;

6:2 the time that now is embraces Jesus Christ, not the devil. Do ye therefore, having again put on patience, refresh yourselves in faith, which is the flesh of the Lord, and love, which is the blood of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 7
7:1 Guard yourselves, therefore, against such as these. And this will happen unto you if ye be not puffed up, and separate not from our God Jesus Christ, and the bishop, and the commandments of the Apostles.

7:2 He who is within the altar is pure; that is, he who doeth anything apart from the bishop and the presbytery and the deacons, he is not pure in his conscience.

CHAPTER 8
8:1 It is not because I have known anything of the kind in you, but I put you on your guard beforehand because ye are my beloved, foreseeing the snares of the devil. Do ye therefore, having again put on patience, refresh yourselves in faith, which is the flesh of the Lord, and love, which is the blood of Jesus Christ.

8:2 Let none of you have aught against his neighbour; give no opportunities to the Gentiles, that the multitude which is in God may not be blasphemed for the folly of a few. For woe unto him, through whose foolishness my name among certain men is blasphemed.

CHAPTER 9
9:1 Be ye deaf, therefore, when any one speaketh unto you apart from Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David, who was born of Mary, who was truly born, ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died, in the sight of the things that are in heaven and on earth and under the earth; 9:2 and was truly raised from the dead, his Father having raised him up; according to the similitude of which also his Father shall raise up us who believe in him in Christ Jesus, apart from whom we have not the true life.

CHAPTER 10
10:1 But if, as certain men who are without God, that is unbelievers, assert, his passion was an appearance, being themselves an appearance, why am I bound, and why do I pray to fight with wild beasts? therefore I die in vain. Of a truth, do I not lie against the Lord?

CHAPTER 11
11:1 Avoid therefore the evil branches that produce deadly fruit, of which if any man taste he dieth forthwith. These, therefore, are not the planting of the Father,

11:2 for if they were they would appear branches of the cross, and their fruit would have been incorruptible, through which cross in his passion he exhorteth us who are his members. The head, therefore, cannot be born apart without the members, since God promiseth union, which is himself.

CHAPTER 12
12:1 I salute you from Smyrna, together with the Churches of God who are present with me, who have in all things refreshed me, both in flesh and in spirit;

12:2 my bonds exhort you which I bear about for the sake of Jesus Christ, asking that I may attain unto God. Abide in your unity, and in prayer one with another, for it becometh each of you separately, and especially the presbyters, to refresh the bishop unto the honour of the Father, Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

12:3 I pray you in love to hear me, that I may not be for a testimony against you, by writing among you; and pray ye for me also, who need your love in the mercy of God, that I may be thought worthy of the lot to which I press forward to attain, that I may not be found a castaway.

CHAPTER 13
13:1 The love of the Smyrnaeans and Ephesians saluteth you. Remember in your prayers the Church which is in Syria, of which I am not worthy to be called bishop, being the last of them.

13:2 Farewell in Jesus Christ, being subject to the bishop as to the commandment; and in like manner also to the presbytery. And do ye each of you love one another with undivided heart.

13:3 Purify ye my spirit, not only now, but when I attain unto God. For I am still in danger; but the Father in Jesus Christ is faithful to fulfil my request and yours, in whom may ye be found blameless.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-trallians-hoole.html

poche · « **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2013, 03:40:30 AM »

To the Romans;

Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her that
hath found mercy in the bountifulness of the Father
Most High and of Jesus Christ His only Son; to the
church that is beloved and enlightened through the
will of Him who willed all things that are, by faith
and love towards Jesus Christ our God; even unto her
that hath the presidency in the country of the region
of the Romans, being worthy of God, worthy of honour,
worthy of felicitation, worthy of praise, worthy of
success, worthy in purity, and having the presidency
of love, walking in the law of Christ and bearing the
Father's name; which church also I salute in the name
of Jesus Christ the Son of the Father; unto them that
in flesh and spirit are united unto His every
commandment, being filled with the grace of God
without wavering, and filtered clear from every
foreign stain; abundant greeting in Jesus Christ our
God in blamelessness.

CHAPTER 1
1:1 Forasmuch as in answer to my prayer to God it
hath been granted me to see your godly countenances,
so that I have obtained even more than I asked; for
wearing bonds in Christ Jesus I hope to salute you, if
it be the Divine will that I should be counted worthy
to reach unto the end;
1:2 for the beginning verily is well ordered, if so
be I shall attain unto the goal, that I may receive
mine inheritance without hinderance. For I dread your
very love, lest it do me an injury; for it is easy for
you to do what ye will, but for me it is difficult to
attain unto God, unless ye shall spare me.

CHAPTER 2
2:1 For I would not have you to be men-pleasers but
to please God, as indeed ye do please Him. For neither
shall I myself ever find an opportunity such as this
to attain unto God, nor can ye, if ye be silent, win
the credit of any nobler work. For, if ye be silent
and leave me alone, I am a word of God; but if ye
desire my flesh, then shall I be again a mere cry.
2:2 [Nay] grant me nothing more than that I be
poured out a libation to God, while there is still an
altar ready; that forming yourselves into a chorus in
love ye may sing to the Father in Jesus Christ, for
that God hath vouchsafed that the bishop from Syria
should be found in the West, having summoned him from
the East. It is good to set from the world unto God,
that I may rise unto Him.

CHAPTER 3
3:1 Ye never grudged any one; ye were the
instructors of others. And my desire is that those
lessons shall hold good which as teachers ye enjoin.
3:2 Only pray that I may have power within and
without, so that I may not only say it but also desire
it; that I may not only be called a Christian, but
also be found one. For if I shall be found so, then
can I also be called one, and be faithful then, when I
am no more visible to the world.
3:3 Nothing visible is good. For our God Jesus
Christ, being in the Father, is the more plainly
visible. The Work is not of persuasiveness, but
Christianity is a thing of might, whensoever it is
hated by the world.

CHAPTER 4
4:1 I write to all the churches, and I bid all men
know, that of my own free will I die for God, unless
ye should hinder me. I exhort you, be ye not an
unseasonable kindness to me. Let me be given to the
wild beasts, for through them I can attain unto God. I
am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild
beasts that I may be found pure bread [of Christ].
4:2 Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may
become my sepulchre and may leave no part of my body
behind, so that I may not, when I am fallen asleep, be
burdensome to any one. Then shall I be truly a
disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not so
much as see my body. Supplicate the Lord for me, that
through these instruments I may be found a sacrifice
to God.
4:3 I do not enjoin you, as Peter and Paul did. They
were Apostles, I am a convict; they were free, but I
am a slave to this very hour. Yet if I shall suffer,
then am I a freed-man of Jesus Christ, and I shall
rise free in Him. Now I am learning in my bonds to put
away every desire.

CHAPTER 5
5:1 From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild
beasts, by land and sea, by night and by day, being
bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers,
who only wax worse when they are kindly treated.
Howbeit through their wrong doings I become more
completely a disciple; _yet am I not hereby
justified._
5:2 May I have joy of the beasts that have been
prepared for me; and I pray that I may find them
prompt; nay I will entice them that they may devour me
promptly, not as they have done to some, refusing to
touch them through fear. Yea though of themselves they
should not be willing while I am ready, I myself will
force them to it.
5:3 Bear with me. I know what is expedient for me.
Now am I beginning to be a disciple. May nought of
things visible and things invisible envy me; that I
may attain unto Jesus Christ. Come fire and cross and
grapplings with wild beasts, [cuttings and manglings,]
wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushings of my
whole body, come cruel tortures of the devil to assail
me. Only be it mine to attain unto Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 6
6:1 The farthest bounds of the universe shall profit
me nothing, neither the kingdoms of this world. It is
good for me to die for Jesus Christ rather than to
reign over the farthest bounds of the earth. Him I
seek, who died on our behalf; Him I desire, who rose
again [for our sake]. The pangs of a new birth are
upon me.
6:2 Bear with me, brethren. Do not hinder me from
living; do not desire my death. Bestow not on the
world one who desireth to be God's, neither allure him
with material things. Suffer me to receive the pure
light. When I am come thither, then shall I be a man.
6:3 Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my
God. If any man hath Him within himself, let him
understand what I desire, and let him have fellow-
feeling with me, for he knoweth the things which
straiten me.

CHAPTER 7
7:1 The prince of this world would fain tear me in
pieces and corrupt my mind to Godward. Let not any of
you therefore who are near abet him. Rather stand ye
on my side, that is on God's side. Speak not of Jesus
Christ and withal desire the world.
7:2 Let not envy have a home in you. Even though I
myself, when I am with you, should beseech you, obey
me not; but rather give credence to these things which
I write to you. [For] I write to you in the midst of
life, yet lusting after death. My lust hath been
crucified, and there is no fire of material longing in
me, but only water living +and speaking+ in me, saying
within me, Come to the Father.
7:3 I have no delight in the food of corruption or
in the delights of this life. I desire the bread of
God, which is the flesh of Christ who was of the seed
of David; and for a draught I desire His blood, which
is love incorruptible.

CHAPTER 8
8:1 I desire no longer to live after the manner of
men; and this shall be, if ye desire it. Desire ye,
that ye yourselves also may be desired.
8:2 In a brief letter I beseech you; believe me. And
Jesus Christ shall make manifest unto you these
things, that I speak the truth -- Jesus Christ, the
unerring mouth in whom the Father hath spoken [truly].
8:3 Entreat ye for me, that I may attain [through
the Holy Spirit]. I write not unto you after the
flesh, but after the mind of God. If I shall suffer,
it was your desire; if I shall be rejected, it was
your hatred.

CHAPTER 9
9:1 Remember in your prayers the church which is in
Syria, which hath God for its shepherd in my stead.
Jesus Christ alone shall be its bishop -- He and your
love.
9:2 But for myself I am ashamed to be called one of
them; for neither am I worthy, being the very last of
them and an untimely birth: but I have found mercy
that I should be some one, if so be I shall attain
unto God.
9:3 My spirit saluteth you, and the love of the
churches which received me in the name of Jesus
Christ, not as a mere wayfarer: for even those
churches which did not lie on my route after the flesh
went before me from city to city.

CHAPTER 10
10:1 Now I write these things to you from Smyrna by
the hand of the Ephesians who are worthy of all
felicitation. And Crocus also, a name very dear to me,
is with me, with many others besides.
10:2 As touching those who went before me from Syria
to Rome unto the glory of God, I believe that ye have
received instructions; whom also apprise that I am
near; for they all are worthy of God and of you, and
it becometh you to refresh them in all things.
10:3 These things I write to you on the 9th before
the Kalends of September. Fare ye well unto the end in
the patient waiting for Jesus Christ.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-romans-lightfoot.html