Ignatius of Antioch, Epistles, Kirsopp Lake (Translator), 1.5

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[1] For if I in a short time gained such fellowship¹ with your bishop as was not human but spiritual, how much more do I count you blessed who are so united with him as the Church is with Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is with the Father, that all things may sound together in unison!

[2] Let no man be deceived: unless a man be within the sanctuary he lacks the bread of God, for if the prayer of one or two has such might, how much more has that of the bishop and of the whole Church?

[3] So then he who does not join in the common assembly, is already haughty, and has separated himself.² For it is written God resisteth the proud: let us then be careful not to oppose the bishop, that we may be subject to God.³

Epistles. Ignatius of Antioch. Kirsopp Lake (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1912.

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Current edition Perseus

The Epistles of Saint Ignatius (English) (Ignatius of Antioch. The Apostolic Fathers, Volume 1. Lake, Kirsopp, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1912.)

Editions (1)

Epistulae vii genuinae First1KGreek (Ignatius of Antioch. The Apostolic Fathers, Volume 1. Lake, Kirsopp, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1912.) — 1.5 focus

[1] Εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἐν μικρῷ χρόνῳ τοιαύτην συνήθειαν ἔσχον πρὸς τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ὑμῶν, οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνην οὖσαν, ἀλλὰ πνευματικήν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς μακαρίζω τοὺς ἐγκεκραμένους ¹ οὕτως, ὡς ἡ ἐκκλησία Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ, καὶ ὡς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τῷ πατρί, ἵνα πάντα ἐν ἑνότητι σύμφωνα ᾖ;

[2] μηδεὶς πλανάσθω: ἑὰν μή τις ᾖ ἐντὸς τοῦ ² θυσιαστηρίου, ὑστερεῖται τοῦ ἄρτου τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰ γὰρ ἑνὸς καὶ δευτέρου προσευχὴ τοσαύτην ἰσχὺν ἔχει, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἥ τε τοῦ ἐπισκόπου καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας;

[3] ὁ οὖν μὴ ἐρχόμενος ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ οὗτος ἤδη ὑπερηφανεῖ καὶ ἑαυτὸν διέκρινεν. ³ γέγραπται γάρ: Ὑπερηφάνοις ὁ θεὸς ἀντιτάσσεται, σπουδάσωμεν οὖν μὴ ἀντιτάσσεσθαι τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, ἵνα ὦμεν θεῷ ⁴ ὑποτασσόμενοι.

Notes on the current edition

Epistles

1. The necessity of subordination to the bishop

2. There is a curious mixture of tenses in the Greek: Lightfoot takes the final aorist as gnomic: but it is possible that Ignatius is, at least in part, referring to some special instance.

3. Or, with the alternative reading, by our submission we may belong to God.

Ignatius of Antioch Epistles 1.5

Kirsopp Lake (Translator)

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