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Ignatius of Antioch

Epistle to the Philadelphians

Chapter 1

Praise of the bishop.

Which bishop,1 I know, obtained the ministry which pertains to the common [weal], not of himself, neither by men,2 nor through vainglory, but by the love of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; at whose meekness I am struck with admiration, and who by his silence is able to accomplish more than those who vainly talk. For he is in harmony with the commandments [of God], even as the harp is with its strings. Wherefore my soul declares his mind towards God a happy one, knowing it to be virtuous and perfect, and that his stability as well as freedom from all anger is after the example of the infinite3 meekness of the living God.

Notes

  1. The bishop previously referred to.↩
  2. Comp. Gal. i. 1.↩
  3. Literally, “all.”↩

Translation by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and Frederick Crombie: The Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. 1: The Apostolic Fathers (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1870).
Text from Project Gutenberg eBook #77576, proofread by Distributed Proofreaders from Internet Archive scans. Public domain.