Ignatius to the Trallians
(from: "Apostolic Fathers", Lightfoot & Harmer, 1891 translation)
IGNATIUS to the Trallians
CHAPTER 0
0:0 Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her that is
beloved by God the Father of Jesus Christ; to the holy
church which is in Tralles of Asia, elect and worthy of
God, having peace in flesh and spirit through the
passion of Jesus Christ, who is our hope through our
resurrection unto Him; which church also I salute in the
Divine plenitude after the apostolic fashion, and I wish
her abundant greeting.
CHAPTER 1
1:1 I have learned that ye have a mind unblameable and
stedfast in patience, not from habit, but by nature,
according as Polybius your bishop informed me, who by
the will of God and of Jesus Christ visited me in
Smyrna; and so greatly did he rejoice with me in my
bonds in Christ Jesus, that in him I beheld the whole
multitude of you.
1:2 Having therefore received your godly benevolence
at his hands, I gave glory, forasmuch as I had found you
to be imitators of God, even as I had learned.
CHAPTER 2
2:1 For when ye are obedient to the bishop as to Jesus
Christ, it is evident to me that ye are living not after
men but after Jesus Christ, who died for us, that
believing on His death ye might escape death.
2:2 It is therefore necessary, even as your wont is,
that ye should do nothing without the bishop; but be ye
obedient also to the presbytery, as to the Apostles of
Jesus Christ our hope; for if we live in Him, we shall
also be found in Him.
2:3 And those likewise who are deacons of the
mysteries of Jesus Christ must please all men in all
ways. For they are not deacons of meats and drinks but
servants of the Church of God. It is right therefore
that they should beware of blame as of fire.
CHAPTER 3
3:1 In like manner let all men respect the deacons as
Jesus Christ, even as they should respect the bishop as
being a type of the Father and the presbyters as the
council of God and as the college of Apostles. Apart
from these there is not even the name of a church.
3:2 And I am persuaded that ye are so minded as
touching these matters: for I received the ensample of
your love, and I have it with me, in the person of your
bishop, whose very demeanour is a great lesson, while
his gentleness is power -- a man to whom I think even
the godless pay reverence.
3:3 Seeing that I love you I thus spare you, though I
might write more sharply on his behalf: but I did not
think myself competent for this, that being a convict I
should order you as though I were an Apostle.
CHAPTER 4
4:1 I have many deep thoughts in God: but I take the
measure of myself, lest I perish in my boasting. For now
I ought to be the more afraid and not to give heed to
those that would puff me up: for they that say these
things to me are a scourge to me.
4:2 For though I desire to suffer, yet I know not
whether I am worthy: for the envy of the devil is unseen
indeed by many, but against me it wages the fiercer war.
So then I crave gentleness, whereby the prince of this
world is brought to nought.
CHAPTER 5
5:1 Am I not able to write to you of heavenly things?
But I fear lest I should cause you harm being babes. So
bear with me, lest not being able to take them in, ye
should be choked.
5:2 For I myself also, albeit I am in bonds and can
comprehend heavenly things and the arrays of the angels
and the musterings of the principalities, things visible
and things invisible -- I myself am not yet by reason of
this a disciple. For we lack many things, that God may
not be lacking to us.
CHAPTER 6
6:1 I exhort you therefore -- yet not I, but the love
of Jesus Christ -- take ye only Christian food, and
abstain from strange herbage, which is heresy:
6:2 for these men do even mingle poison with Jesus
Christ, imposing upon others by a show of honesty, like
persons administering a deadly drug with honied wine, so
that one who knoweth it not, fearing nothing, drinketh
in death with a baneful delight.
CHAPTER 7
7:1 Be ye therefore on your guard against such men.
And this will surely be, if ye be not puffed up and if
ye be inseparable from [God] Jesus Christ and from the
bishop and from the ordinances of the Apostles.
7:2 He that is within the sanctuary is clean; but he
that is without the sanctuary is not clean, that is, he
that doeth aught without the bishop and presbytery and
deacons, this man is not clean in his conscience.
CHAPTER 8
8:1 Not indeed that I have known of any such thing
among you, but I keep watch over you betimes, as my
beloved, for I foresee the snares of the devil. Do ye
therefore arm yourselves with gentleness and recover
yourselves in faith which is the flesh of the Lord, and
in love which is the blood of Jesus Christ.
8:2 Let none of you bear a grudge against his
neighbour. Give no occasion to the Gentiles, lest by
reason of a few foolish men the godly multitude be
blasphemed: for _Woe unto him through whom My name is
vainly blasphemed before some._
CHAPTER 9
9:1 Be ye deaf therefore, when any man speaketh to you
apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the race of David,
who was the Son of Mary, who was truly born and ate and
drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was
truly crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven
and those on earth and those under the earth;
9:2 who moreover was truly raised from the dead, His
Father having raised Him, who in the like fashion will
so raise us also who believe on Him -- His Father, I
say, will raise us -- in Christ Jesus, apart from whom
we have not true life.
CHAPTER 10
10:1 But if it were as certain persons who are
godless, that is unbelievers, say, that He suffered only
in semblance, being themselves mere semblance, why am I
in bonds? And why also do I desire to fight with wild
beasts? So I die in vain. Truly then I lie against the
Lord.
CHAPTER 11
11:1 Shun ye therefore those vile offshoots that
gender a deadly fruit, whereof if a man taste, forthwith
he dieth. For these men are not the Father's planting:
for if they had been, they would have been seen to be
branches of the Cross, and their fruit imperishable --
the Cross whereby He through His passion inviteth us,
being His members. Now it cannot be that a head should
be found without members, seeing that God promiseth
union, and this union is Himself.
CHAPTER 12
12:1 I salute you from Smyrna, together with the
churches of God that are present with me; men who
refreshed me in all ways both in flesh and in spirit.
12:2 My bonds exhort you, which for Jesus Christ's
sake I bear about, entreating that I may attain unto
God; abide ye in your concord and in prayer one with
another. For it becometh you severally, and more
especially the presbyters, to cheer the soul of your
bishop unto the honour of the Father [and to the honour]
of Jesus Christ and of the Apostles.
12:3 I pray that ye may hearken unto me in love, lest
I be for a testimony against you by having so written.
And pray ye also for me who have need of your love in
the mercy of God, that I may be vouchsafed the lot which
I am eager to attain, to the end that I be not found
reprobate.
CHAPTER 13
13:1 The love of the Smyrnaeans and Ephesians saluteth
you. Remember in your prayers the church which is in
Syria; whereof [also] I am not worthy to be called a
member, being the very last of them.
13:2 Fare ye well in Jesus Christ, submitting
yourselves to the bishop as to the commandment, and
likewise also to the presbytery; and each of you
severally love one another with undivided heart.
13:3 My spirit is offered up for you, not only now,
but also when I shall attain unto God. For I am still in
peril; but the Father is faithful in Jesus Christ to
fulfil my petition and yours. May we be found
unblameable in Him.
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