Chapter 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.[1]
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.