Epistle to the Magnesians

Letter from Ignatius to the Magnesians

Ignatius, also says Theophore, to her who is blessed in the grace of God the Father in Jesus Christ our Savior, in whom I greet the Church which is at Magnesia of the Meander, and wish her all joy in God the Father and in Jesus Christ.

I, 1. Having learned that your charity is perfectly ordained according to God, I rejoice in this and have resolved to speak to you in faith in Jesus Christ. 2. Honored with a name of divine splendor, in the irons that I wear everywhere, I sing about the Churches, I wish them union with the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ, our eternal life, union in faith and charity, to which nothing is preferable, and what is more important, union with Jesus and the Father, in whom we will resist all the threats of the prince of this world; we will escape it and we will reach God.

II. 1. Since I had the honor to see you through Damascus, your worthy bishop of God, and the worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and my fellow servant the deacon Zotion ... may I enjoy him, for he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ.

III, 1. And it is appropriate for you not to take advantage of your bishop's age, but for the sake of the power of God the Father, to grant him all veneration; I know in fact that your holy presbyters have not abused the youth which appears in him, but as people who are sensible in God, they submit to him, not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, to the bishop of all. 2. Out of respect for the one who loved us, it is advisable to obey without any hypocrisy; for it is not only this visible bishop that is being abused, but it is the invisible bishop that is sought to be deceived. Because in this case, it is not about flesh that it is a question, but of God who knows the hidden things.

IV, 1. It is therefore advisable not only to bear the name of Christians, but also to be so; some, in fact, still speak of the bishop, but do everything outside of him. These do not seem to me to have a good conscience, for their assemblies are not legitimate, nor in conformity with the command of the Lord.

V, 1. For things have an end, and here before us both equally, death and life, and each one must go to his proper place; 2. just as there are two currencies, that of God and that of the world, and each of them has its own imprint, the infidels that of this world, but the faithful who are in charity carry through Jesus Christ the imprint of God the Father; if we do not freely choose, thanks to him, to die to [share in] his passion, his life is not in us.

VI, 1. Thus, since in the persons whom I named above, I have in faith seen and loved your whole community, I implore you, have at heart to do all things in divine harmony, under the presidency of the bishop who takes the place of God, of the presbyters who take the place of the senate of the apostles, and of the deacons who are so dear to me, to whom was entrusted the service of Jesus Christ, who before the centuries was close to God, and manifested at the end. 2. Take therefore all the mores of God, respect one another, and let no one regard his neighbor according to the flesh, but always love one another in Jesus Christ. May there be nothing in you that can separate you, but unite with the bishop and the presidents in image and lesson of incorruptibility.

VII, 1. Just as therefore the Lord hath done nothing, neither by himself nor by his apostles, without his Father, with whom he is one, so neither do ye do anything without the bishop and the presbyters; and do not try to pass for reasonable what you do apart from yourselves, but do everything in common: one prayer, one supplication, one spirit, one hope in charity, in irreproachable joy; that is Jesus Christ, to whom nothing is preferable. 2. All hasten to gather yourselves as in one temple of God, as around one altar, in the one Jesus Christ, who came out of the one Father, and who was in him the only one, and who went. towards him.

VIII, 1. Do not be seduced by foreign doctrines or by those old fables which are of no use. For if even now we live according to faith, we admit that we have not received grace. 2. For the most divine prophets lived according to Jesus Christ; therefore they were persecuted. They were inspired by his grace, so that the unbelievers would be fully convinced that there is only one God, manifested by Jesus Christ his Son who is his Word out of silence, who in all things made himself agreeable. to whoever sent it.

IX, 1. If therefore those who lived in the old order of things came to the new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but on the Lord's day, the day when our life was dawned by him and by his death , - some deny it; but it is by this mystery that we received the faith, and it is for this that we stand firm, in order to be found true disciples of Jesus Christ, our only master - 2. how could we live without him , since the prophets also, being his disciples in spirit, awaited him as their master? and this is why he whom they were just waiting for raised them from the dead by his presence.

X, 1. So let us not be insensitive to his goodness. Because if he imitates us according to what we do, we no longer exist. This is why we make his disciples and learn to live according to Christianity. For he who is called by another name besides this is not of God. 2. Therefore reject the bad leaven, aged and bitter, and transform yourself into a new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Let him be the salt of your life, so that no one among you becomes corrupted, for you will be judged by the smell. 3. It is absurd to talk about Jesus Christ and to Judaize. For it is not Christianity that believed in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity, in which all languages that believe in God have united.

XI, 1. All this, my beloved, is not that I have heard that some among you are ill-disposed; but, although you are smaller than you, I want you to be on your guard not to get caught in the hooks of vanity. On the contrary, be fully convinced of the birth, and the passion, and the resurrection that took place under the government of Pontius Pilate. All of these things have been truly and certainly fulfilled by Jesus Christ our hope; may none of you ever turn away from them.

XII, 1. May I enjoy you in all things, if I am worthy of it. For, although I am in chains, I am not comparable to any of you who are free. I know that you do not get puffed up; for you have Jesus Christ within you. And more, when I praise you, I know that you are confused about it, as it is written:

XIII. 1. Take care therefore to establish yourselves in the teachings of the Lord and of the apostles, so that "in all that you do you may be successful" in flesh and spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, in beginning and in end, with your so worthy Bishop, and the precious spiritual crown of your presbytery, and with your holy deacons. 2. "Be subject" to the bishop and "to one another", as Christ according to the flesh was subject to the Father, and the apostles to Christ and to the Father and to the Spirit, that union may be at both carnal and spiritual.

XIV, 1. Knowing that you are full of God, I urged you briefly. Remember me in your prayers, that I may find God, and also of the Church of Syria; I am not worthy to be called a member, - for I need your prayer and your charity united in God, - so that God deigns, through your Church, to cause his dew to fall on the Church of Syria.

XV, 1. From Smyrna where I am writing to you, the Ephesians greet you. They came there for the glory of God; like you, they comforted me in all things with Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. And the other Churches also greet you in honor of Jesus Christ. Be well in the harmony of God, possessing that inseparable spirit that is Jesus Christ.