BOOK 8 (from: _Apostolic Fathers,_ Charles H. Hoole, 1885 translation) Ignatius to the Romans <> <<4648 East Saint Catherine Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85040-5369>> <> CHAPTER 0 0:1 |Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, to the Church that hath obtained mercy in the greatness of the majesty of the most high Father and of Jesus Christ his only Son, to her that is beloved and enlightened according to the will of him that willed all things that are, according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, which also presideth in the city and neighbourhood of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of glory, worthy to be thought happy, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her wishes, worthily pure, and presiding in love, bearing the name of Christ, bearing the name of the Father, whom also I salute in the name of Jesus Christ the son of the Father, united both in flesh and spirit to all his commandments, filled with the grace of God without distinction, and purified from all alien colour, much blameless joy in Jesus Christ our God. CHAPTER 1 1:1 |Since, in answer to prayer unto God, I have attained to see your faces which are worthy of God, even as I have for a long time asked to receive. For having been bound in Christ Jesus, I hope to salute you, if at least it be the will of God that I should be thought worthy to endure unto the end. 1:2 For the beginning is easy to arrange, if at least I attain unto grace, so as to receive my lot without hindrance. For I fear your love, lest it injure me, for it is easy for you to do what you will; but it is difficult for me to attain unto God, if ye insist upon sparing me. CHAPTER 2 2:1 |For I do not desire to please you as men, but to please God, even as ye also please him. For I shall never again have such an opportunity to attain unto God, nor can ye, if ye keep silence, be inscribed on a better work. For if ye shall cease from defending me, I shall become a partaker of God; but if ye love my flesh, I shall again have my course to run. 2:2 Give me nothing further than this, that I should be offered unto God, while the altar is still ready. In order that, having formed a band in love, ye may sing unto the Father in Christ Jesus, because God hath deemed me worthy to be found the bishop of Syria, having sent for me from the east even unto the west. It is a good thing for me to set from the world unto God, that I may rise unto him. CHAPTER 3 3:1 |Ye have never envied any one. Ye have taught others; but I desire that those things which ye have commanded in your teaching should be firmly established. 3:2 Only seek power for me both from within and from without, that I may not only speak, but may also will; that I may not only be called a Christian, but may also be found one. For if I be also found a Christian, I can truly be called one, and then I can be faithful, when I appear no longer to the world. 3:3 Nothing that appears is eternal. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. For our God Jesus Christ, being in the Father, is the more seen. The work is not one of silence only, but Christianity is a matter of greatness. CHAPTER 4 4:1 |I write unto the Churches, and charge all that I die willingly for God, if at least ye hinder me not. I entreat you, show not unto me an unseasonable love. Suffer me to be the food of the wild beasts, through whom it is allowed me to attain unto God. I am the corn of God; let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. 4:2 Rather encourage ye the beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body, that I may not, after my death, become troublesome to any one. Then shall I be truly a disciple of Christ, when the world shall not even behold my body. Beseech Christ on my behalf, that I may be found a sacrifice by means of these instruments. 4:3 I give not commands unto you, as did Peter and Paul. They were Apostles; I am condemned. They were free men; I am even until now a slave. But if I suffer, I am the freedman of Christ and shall rise free in him. Now I am learning, being in bonds, to desire nothing [worldly or vain]. CHAPTER 5 5:1 |From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild beasts by land and sea, night and day being bound to ten leopards, which are the band of soldiers, who even when they receive benefits become the worse. But by their wrong-doing I am the more instructed; yet not on his account am I justified. 5:2 May I have joy of the wild beasts that have been prepared for me, and I pray that they may be found ready for me, whom also I will allure to devour me quickly, and not to avoid touching me through fear, as they did to some men. And even if they be unwilling and refuse, I will compel them. 5:3 Pardon me in this. I know what is expedient for me; I am now beginning to be a disciple. Let nothing that is visible or invisible envy me the attaining unto Jesus Christ. May fire and the cross, and the attacks of wild beasts, dividings and rending, the scattering of bones, the hewing of limbs, the grinding of the whole body, the evil chastisements of the devil come upon me, only may I attain unto Jesus Christ. CHAPTER 6 6:1 |The delights of the world and the kingdoms of this life will profit me nothing. Better is it for me to die unto Jesus Christ than to reign over the ends of the earth. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul? I seek him who died for us; him I desire, who rose for us; the pains of birth are come upon me. 6:2 Pardon me, brethren; do not prevent me from living; do not wish me to die, me who desire to belong to God. Please not the world. Suffer me to receive the pure light. When I have arrived there I shall be a man of God. 6:3 Permit me to be an imitator of the suffering of my God. If any one have him in himself, let him know what I mean, and let him sympathise with me, knowing the things that encompass me. CHAPTER 7 7:1 |The ruler of this world desireth to rend me, and to corrupt my resolution towards my God. Let not any one of you who are present assist him; rather be ye on my side, that is on the side of God. Speak not of Jesus Christ and at the same time desire the world. 7:2 Let not envy dwell in you; do not even obey me if I should exhort you being present, but rather obey the things that I write unto you. I write unto you alive, desiring to die. My love is crucified, and there is not in me any earthly fire, but living water which speaketh in me, and saith from within, Come hither unto the Father. 7:3 I delight not in the nurture of corruption, 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 was born in the latter time of the seed of David and Abraham. And I desire the drink of God, even his blood, which is love incorruptible and ever-flowing life. CHAPTER 8 8:1 |I no longer desire to live according to men, and that will be if ye are willing; be willing, therefore, that goodwill may be showed unto you. 8:2 I write you in few words, believe me. But Jesus Christ, the mouth in which there is no falsehood, by which the Father spoke truly, will manifest these things unto you, that I say them truly. 8:3 Ask concerning me that I may obtain. I have not written unto you according to the flesh, but according to the will of God. If I suffer, ye have had goodwill towards me. But if I be rejected from suffering, ye have hated me. CHAPTER 9 9:1 |Remember in your prayer the Church in Syria, which instead of me hath God for its pastor. Jesus Christ alone, and your love, shall be its bishop. 9:2 But I am ashamed to be numbered among them, for I am not worthy, being the last of them, and one born out of due time. But I have obtained mercy, so that I should be some one, if I attain unto God. 9:3 My spirit saluteth you, and the love of the Churches who have received me in the name of Jesus Christ, not as a passer-by. For even those Churches who were not connected with me conducted me from city to city, on my way according to the flesh. CHAPTER 10 10:1 |I write these things unto you from Smyrna by means of the Ephesians, who are worthily thought happy. There is also with me Crocus, the name much desired by me, together with many others. 10:2 Concerning those who went before me from Syria unto Rome for the glory of God, I believe that you know them; to whom also ye showed that I was near at hand. For they are all worthy of God and of you, whom it is suitable for you to refresh in every way. 10:3 I have written these things unto you on the ninth day before the calends of September (that is, on the twenty-fourth of August). Fare ye well unto the end in the patience of Jesus Christ. Amen.