Epistle of St Ignatius to the Romans
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has
obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Mast High Father, and Jesus Christ,
His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will
of Him that willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ
our God, which also presides in the place of the report of the Romans, worthy
of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise,
worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, and which presides
over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father, which I also salute in
the name of Jesus Christ, the San of the Father: to those who are united, both
according ta the flesh and spirit, to every one of His commandments; who are
filled inseparably with the grace of God, and are purified from every strange
taint, [I wish] abundance of happiness unblameably, in Jesus Christ our God.
CHAPTER I.–AS A
PRISONER, I HOPE TO SEE YOU
THROUGH prayer to God I have obtained the privilege of seeing
your most worthy faces, and have even been granted more than I requested; for I
hope as a prisoner in Christ Jesus to salute you, if indeed it be the will of
God that I be thought worthy of attaining unto the end. For the beginning has
been well ordered, if I may obtain grace to cling to my lot without hindrance
unto the end. For I am afraid of your love, lest it should do me an injury. For
it is easy for you to accomplish what you please; but it is difficult for me to
attain to God, if ye spare me. But it is difficult for me to attain to God, if
ye do not spare me, under the pretence of carnal affection.
CHAPTER II.–DO NOT
SAVE ME FROM MARTYRDOM
For it is not my desire to act towards you as a man-pleaser, but
as pleasing God, even as also ye please Him. For neither shall I ever have such
[another] opportunity of attaining to God; nor will ye, if ye shall now be
silent, ever be entitled to the honour of a better work. For if ye are silent
concerning me, I shall become God’s; but if you show your love to my flesh, I
shall again have to run my race. Pray, then, do not seek to confer any greater
favour upon me than that I be sacrificed to God while the altar is still
prepared; that, being gathered together in love, ye may sing praise to the
Father, through Christ Jesus, that God has deemed me, the bishop of Syria,
worthy to be sent for from the east unto the west. It is good to set from the
world unto God, that I may rise again to Him.
CHAPTER III.–PRAY
RATHER THAT I MAY ATTAIN TO MARTYRDOM
Ye have never envied anyone; ye have taught others. Now I desire
that those things may be confirmed [by your conduct], which in your
instructions ye enjoin [on others]. Only request in my behalf both inward and
outward strength, that I may not only speak, but [truly] will, so that I may not
merely be called a Christian, but really found to be one. For if I be truly
found [a Christian], I may also be called one, and be then deemed faithful,
when I shall no longer appear to the world. Nothing visible is eternal. “For
the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are
eternal. The Christian is not the result of persuasion, but of power. When he
is hated by the world, he is beloved of God. For says [the Scripture], “If ye
were of this world, the world would love its own; but now ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of it: continue in fellowship with me.”
CHAPTER IV.–ALLOW ME
TO FALL A PREY TO THE WILD BEASTS
I write to all the Churches, and impress on them all, that I
shall willingly die for God, unless ye hinder me. I beseech of you not to show
an unseasonable goodwill towards me. Suffer me to become food for the wild
beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I
am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may
be found the pure bread of God. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may
become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have fallen
asleep [in death], I may not be found troublesome to any one. Then shall I be a
true disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body.
Entreat the Lord for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice
to God. I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were
apostles of Jesus Christ, but I am the very least [of believers]: they were
free, as the servants of God; while I am, even until now, a servant. But when I
suffer, I shall be the freedman of Jesus Christ, and shall rise again
emancipated in Him. And now, being in bonds for Him, I learn not to desire
anything worldly or vain.
CHAPTER V.–I DESIRE
TO DIE
From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts, both by land and
sea, both by night and day, being bound to ten leopards, I mean a band of
soldiers, who, even when they receive benefits, show themselves all the worse.
But I am the more instructed by their injuries [to act as a disciple of
Christ]; “yet am I not thereby justified.” May I enjoy the wild beasts that are
prepared for me; and I pray that they may be found eager to rush upon me, which
also I will entice to devour me speedily, and not deal with me as with some,
whom, out of fear, they have not touched. But if they be unwilling to assail
me, I will compel them to do so. Pardon me [in this] I know what is for my
benefit. Now I begin to be a disciple. And let no one, of things visible or
invisible, envy me that I should attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the
cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations
of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and
let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to
Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER VI.–BY DEATH
I SHALL ATTAIN TRUE LIFE
All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this
earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus
Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. “For what shall a man be
profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” Him I seek, who
died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the gain which
is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living, do not
wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God, do
not ye give me over to the world. Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I have
gone thither, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of
the passion of my God. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what
I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened.
CHAPTER VII.–REASON
OF DESIRING TO DIE
The prince of this world would fain carry me away, and corrupt
my disposition towards God. Let none of you, therefore, who are [in Rome] help
him; rather be ye on my side, that is, on the side of God. Do not speak of
Jesus Christ, and yet set your desires on the world. Let not envy find a
dwelling-place among you; nor even should I, when present with you, exhort you
to it, be ye persuaded to listen to me, but rather give credit to those things
which I now write to you. For though I am alive while I write to you, yet I am
eager to die. My love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me desiring
to be fed; but there is within me a water that liveth and speaketh, saying to
me inwardly, Come to the Father. I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in
the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the
bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became
afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely
His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.
CHAPTER VIII.–BE YE
FAVOURABLE TO ME
I no longer wish to live after the manner of men, and my desire
shall be fulfilled if ye consent. Be ye willing, then, that ye also may have
your desires fulfilled. I entreat you in this brief letter; do ye give credit
to me. Jesus Christ will reveal these things to you, [so that ye shall know]
that I speak truly. He is the mouth altogether free from falsehood, by which
the Father has truly spoken. Pray ye for me, that I may attain [the object of
my desire]. I have not written to you according to the flesh, but according to
the will of God. If I shall suffer, ye have wished [well] to me; but if I am
rejected, ye have hated me.
CHAPTER IX.–PRAY FOR
THE CHURCH IN SYRIA
Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which now has God
for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it, and your
love [will also regard it]. But as for me, I am ashamed to be counted one of
them; for indeed I am not worthy, as being the very last of them, and one born
out of due time. But I have obtained mercy to be somebody, if I shall attain to
God. My spirit salutes you, and the love of the Churches that have received me
in the name of Jesus Christ, and not as a mere passer-by. For even those
Churches which were not near to me in the way, I mean according to the flesh,
have gone before me, city by city, [to meet me.]
CHAPTER
X.–CONCLUSION
Now I write these things to you from Smyrna by the Ephesians,
who are deservedly most happy. There is also with me, along with many others,
Crocus, one dearly beloved by me. As to those who have gone before me from
Syria to Rome for the glory of God, I believe that you are acquainted with
them; to whom, [then,] do ye make known that I am at hand. For they are all
worthy, both of God and of you; and it is becoming that you should refresh them
in all things. I have written these things unto you, on the day before the
ninth of the Kalends of September (that is, on the twenty-third day of August).
Fare ye well to the end, in the patience of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Shorter version.
Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, 1885.
