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Ignatius of Antioch

Epistle to the Smyrnaeans

Chapter 11

Request to them to send a messenger to Antioch.

Your prayer has reached to the church which is at Antioch in Syria. Coming from that place bound with chains, most acceptable to God,1 I salute all; I who am not worthy to be styled from thence, inasmuch as I am the least of them. Nevertheless, according to the will of God, I have been thought worthy [of this honour], not that I have any sense2 [of having deserved it], but by the grace of God, which I wish may be perfectly given to me, that through your prayers I may attain to God. In order, therefore, that your work may be complete both on earth and in heaven, it is fitting that, for the honour of God, your church should elect some worthy delegate;3 so that he, journeying into Syria, may congratulate them that they are [now] at peace, and are restored to4 their proper greatness, and that their proper constitution5 has been re-established among them. It seems then to me a becoming thing, that you should send some one of your number with an epistle, so that, in company with them, he may rejoice6 over the tranquillity which, according to the will of God, they have obtained, and because that, through your prayers, they have now reached the harbour. As persons who are perfect, ye should also aim at7 those things which are perfect. For when ye are desirous to do well, God is also ready to assist you.

Notes

  1. Literally, “most becoming of God.”↩
  2. Or, “from any conscience.”↩
  3. Literally, “God-ambassador.”↩
  4. Or, “have received.”↩
  5. Literally, “body.”↩
  6. Literally, “may glorify with them.”↩
  7. Or, “think of.”↩

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.