Chapter 1
Letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Trallians
Salutation
Ignatius, who is also called God-bearer, to the beloved Church of God the Father of Jesus Christ, the holy Church that is in Tralles in Asia, elect and worthy of God, at peace in flesh and spirit through the passion of Jesus Christ, our hope in his resurrection: I greet you in the fullness in the apostolic character and wish you abundant joy.
1
1 by apostolic mind and an undivided spirit in patient endurance, not by practice but by nature, as Polybius your bishop made clear to me—he who came to me by the will of God and Jesus Christ in Smyrna and so rejoiced with me as I was bound in Christ Jesus, so that I see your whole congregation in him through contemplation.[1]
2 Having received, then, the goodwill that comes from God through him, I gave glory, finding you to be, as I have come to know, imitators.
2
1 When you are subject to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, you appear to me not to be living as human beings, but as Jesus Christ, whom we must contemplate—he who died so that, believing in his death, you might escape death.
2 It is necessary, then, as you are doing, that you do nothing without the bishop, but also be subject to the presbytery as to the apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope, in whom by living we shall be found.
3 The deacons, being stewards of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, must in every way please everyone. For they are not servants of food and drink, but servants of the Church of God; they must therefore guard themselves against accusations as against fire.
3
1 In the same way, let everyone respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, just as they respect the bishop, who is a type of the Father, and the presbyters as the council of God and as the bond of the apostles. Without these, the Church is not called a Church.
2 I am convinced that you hold this view. For I have received a model of your love and I keep it with me in your bishop, whose very bearing is a great lesson, and whose gentleness is power—whom I believe even the godless must respect.[2]
3 Because I love you, I hold back, though I could write more forcefully about this. I didn’t think it right that, being under sentence of death, I should give you orders as though I were an apostle.
4
1 I have many thoughts in God, but I measure myself, so that I may not perish in boasting. For now I need to be all the more fearful and not pay attention to those who puff me up. For those who speak to me are scourging me.
2 I do love to suffer, but I don’t know if I’m worthy. For the jealousy is not apparent to many, but it wars against me all the more. So I need gentleness, by which the ruler of this age is destroyed.
5
1 Can’t I write to you about heavenly things? But I’m afraid that I might cause you harm, since you are infants. So forgive me, lest you be unable to take it in and be choked. For even I—not because I’m in chains and can understand heavenly things and the angelic ranks and the principalities’ orders, visible and invisible—am not yet a disciple because of that. For we lack much, so that we may not lack God.
6
1 I urge you, then, not in my own voice, but in the love of Jesus Christ—use only Christian food, and abstain from foreign plants, which is heresy.
2 Those who intertwine Jesus Christ with themselves, claiming him falsely, are like people offering a deadly poison mixed with honeyed wine—the ignorant person takes it gladly, with wicked pleasure, to his death.[3]
7
1 Guard yourselves against such people. This will be possible for you if you are not puffed up and remain inseparable from God, Jesus Christ, and the bishop, and from the apostles’ commandments.
2 Whoever is within the altar is pure; whoever is outside the altar is not pure. That is, whoever acts without the bishop, presbyters, and deacons is not pure in conscience.
8
1 It’s not because I’ve found anything like this among you, but I’m guarding you as my beloved, foreseeing the snares of the devil. So take up meekness and recover yourselves in faith, which is the flesh of the Lord, and in love, which is the blood of Jesus Christ.
2 Let none of you hold a grudge against his neighbour. Do not give opportunity to the nations, so that the assembly in God may not be blasphemed because of a few foolish people. For woe to him through whom my name is blasphemed in vain among some.
9
1 So turn a deaf ear whenever anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the race of David, who was of Mary, who was truly born, who ate and drank, who was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, who was truly crucified and died, in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
2 He also was truly raised from the dead, his Father having raised him, and in the same way his Father will also raise us who believe in him in Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not have true life.
10
1 But if, as some godless people—that is, unbelievers—say, he only seemed to suffer (when they themselves are the ones who only seem to exist), then why am I in chains, and why do I even pray to fight wild beasts? In that case I’m dying for nothing. So then I’m lying about the Lord.
11
1 So flee the evil offshoots that bear deadly fruit; if anyone tastes it, he dies on the spot. For these are not the planting of the Father.
2 For if they were, they would appear as branches of the cross, and their fruit would be incorruptible—through which, in his passion, he calls you who are members of him. So a head cannot be born separately, without members, since God promises union, which is himself.
12
1 I greet you from Smyrna, together with the Churches of God that are present with me, who have refreshed me in every way in body and in spirit.
2 My bonds, which I bear for the sake of Jesus Christ as I seek to attain God, urge you: remain in your harmony and in prayer with one another. For it is fitting for each of you, and especially for the presbyters, to refresh the bishop in honour of the Father, Jesus Christ, and the apostles.
3 I pray for you in love. Listen to me, so that my writing may not become a testimony against you. And pray for me too, for I need the love that is from you, in the mercy of God, so that I may be deemed worthy of the lot I am striving to attain, that I may not be found disqualified.
13
1 The love of the Smyrnaeans greets you, and the Edessenians. Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, from which I am not worthy to be called, being the least of them.[4]
2 Farewell in Jesus Christ, submitting to the bishop as to a commandment, and likewise to the presbytery. And love one another, each and every one with an undivided heart.
3 Your spirit is sanctified by my spirit, not only now but also when I attain to God. For I am still in danger; but God the Father is faithful in Jesus Christ to fulfill my petition and yours, in which you may be found blameless.[5]