Ignatius of Antioch, Epistles, Kirsopp Lake (Translator), 4.3

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[1] You never have envied anyone, you taught¹ others. But I desire that those things may stand fast which you enjoin in your instructions.

[2] Only pray for me for strength, both inward and outward, that I may not merely speak, but also have the will, that I may not only be called a Christian, but may also be found to be one. For if I be found to be one, I can also be called one, and then be deemed faithful when I no longer am visible in the world.

[3] Nothing visible is good, for our God, Jesus Christ, being now in the Father, is the more plainly visible.² Christianity is not the work of persuasiveness, but of greatness, when it is hated by the world.

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.) — 4.3 focus

[1] Οὐδέποτε ἐβασκάνατε οὐδενί, ἄλλους ἐδιδάξατε. ἐγὼ δὲ θέλω, ἵνα κἀκεῖνα βέβαια ᾖ ἃ μαθητεύοντες ἐντέλλεσθε.

[2] μόνον μοι δύναμιν αἰτεῖσθε ἔσωθέν τε καὶ ἔξωθεν, ἵνα μὴ μόνον λέγω ἀλλὰ καὶ θέλω, ἵνα μὴ μόνον λέγωμαι Χριστιανὸς ἀλλὰ καὶ εὑρεθῶ. ἐὰν γὰρ εὑρεθῶ, καὶ λέγεσθαι δύναμαι, καὶ τότε πιστὸς εἶναι, ὅταν κόσμῳ μὴ φαίνωμαι.

[3] οὐδὲν φαινόμενον καλόν: ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐν πατρὶ ὢν μᾶλλον φαίνεται. οὐ πεισμονῆς τὸ ἔργον, ἀλλὰ μεγέθους ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστιανισμός, ὅταν μισῆται ὑπὸ κόσμου.

Notes on the current edition

Epistles

1. Request that they should pray for him

2. The sentence is clumsily expressed: apparently Ignatius means nothing directly visible is good, and Jesus Christ, who is no longer visible, being in the Father, is more clearly perceived by the eye of faith, but he has sacrificed clearness to a paradoxical playing with the words.

Ignatius of Antioch Epistles 4.3

Kirsopp Lake (Translator)

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