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Ignatius of Antioch

Epistle to the Philadelphians

Chapter 8

The same continued.

I therefore did what belonged to me, as a man devoted to1 unity. For where there is division and wrath, God doth not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop.2 I trust [as to you] in the grace of Jesus Christ, who shall free you from every bond. And I exhort you to do nothing out of strife, but according to the doctrine of Christ. When I heard some saying, If I do not find it in the ancient3 Scriptures, I will not believe the gospel; on my saying to them, It is written, they answered me, That remains to be proved. But to me Jesus Christ is in the place of all that is ancient: His cross, and death, and resurrection, and the faith4 which is by Him, are undefiled monuments of antiquity; by which I desire, through your prayers, to be justified.

Notes

  1. Literally, “prepared for.”↩
  2. Literally, “to the assembly of the bishop.”↩
  3. The meaning here is very doubtful. Some read ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, as translated above; others prefer ἐν τοῖς ἀρχείοις, as in the longer recension.↩
  4. i.e. the system of Christian doctrine.↩

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.