The Epistle of Ignatius to
the Romans
Ignatius, who is also called Theophoros, to the
Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High Father,
and Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and
enlightened by the will of Him that wills all things which are according to the
love of Jesus Christ our God, which also presides in the place of the report of
the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness,
worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed
holy, and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father,
which I also salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the San of the Father: to those
who are united, both according to the flesh and spirit, to every one of His
commandments; who are filled inseparably with the grace of God, and are purified
from every strange taint, I wish abundance of happiness unblameably, in Jesus
Christ our God.
1 As a Prisoner, I
Hope to See You
Through prayer to God I have obtained the privilege
of seeing your most worthy faces, and have even been granted more than I
requested; for I hope as a prisoner in Christ Jesus to salute you, if indeed it
be the will of God that I be thought worthy of attaining unto the end. For the
beginning has been well ordered, if I may obtain grace to cling to my lot
without hindrance unto the end. For I am afraid of your love, lest it should do
me an injury. For it is easy for you to accomplish what you please; but it is
difficult for me to attain to God, if you spare me. But it is difficult for me
to attain to God, if you do not spare me, under the pretence of carnal affection.
2 Do Not Save Me From
Martyrdom
For it is not my desire to act towards you as a
man-pleaser, but as pleasing God, even as also you please Him. For neither shall
I ever have such another opportunity of attaining to God; nor will you, if you
shall now be silent, ever be entitled to the honour of a better work. For if you
are silent concerning me, I shall become God's; but if you show your love to my
flesh, I shall again have to run my race. Pray, then, do not seek to confer any
greater favour upon me than that I be sacrificed to God while the altar is still
prepared; that, being gathered together in love, you may sing praise to the
Father, through Christ Jesus, that God has deemed me, the bishop of Syria,
worthy to be sent for from the east unto the west. It is good to set from the
world unto God, that I may rise again to Him.
3 Pray Rather That I
May Attain to Martyrdom
Ye have never envied anyone; you have taught others.
Now I desire that those things may be confirmed by your conduct, which in your
instructions you enjoin on others. Only request in my behalf both inward and
outward strength, that I may not only speak, but truly will, so that I may not
merely be called a Christian, but really found to be one. For if I be truly
found a Christian, I may also be called one, and be then deemed faithful, when I
shall no longer appear to the world. Nothing visible is eternal. "For the
things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are
eternal. The Christian is not the result of persuasion, but of power. When he is
hated by the world, he is beloved of God. For says the Scripture, "If you
were of this world, the world would love its own; but now you are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of it: continue in fellowship with me."
4 Allow Me to Fall
Prey to Wild Beasts
I write to all the Churches, and impress on them
all, that I shall willingly die for God, unless you hinder me. I beseech of you
not to show an unseasonable goodwill towards me. Suffer me to become food for
the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain
to God. I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts,
that I may be found the pure bread of God. Rather entice the wild beasts, that
they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have
fallen asleep in death, I may not be found troublesome to any one. Then shall I
be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my
body. Entreat the Lord for me, that by these instruments I may be found a
sacrifice to God. I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They
were apostles of Jesus Christ, but I am the very least of believers: they were
free, as the servants of God; while I am, even until now, a servant. But when I
suffer, I shall be the freedman of Jesus Christ, and shall rise again
emancipated in Him. And now, being in bonds for Him, I learn not to desire
anything worldly or vain.
5 I Desire to Die
From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts, both
by land and sea, both by night and day, being bound to ten leopards, I mean a
band of soldiers, who, even when they receive benefits, show themselves all the
worse. But I am the more instructed by their injuries to act as a disciple of
Christ; "yet am I not thereby justified." May I enjoy the wild beasts
that are prepared for me; and I pray that they may be found eager to rush upon
me, which also I will entice to devour me speedily, and not deal with me as with
some, whom, out of fear, they have not touched. But if they be unwilling to
assail me, I will compel them to do so. Pardon me in this I know what is for my
benefit. Now I begin to be a disciple. And let no one, of things visible or
invisible, envy me that I should attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross;
let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of
bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let
all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus
Christ.
6 By Death I Shall
Attain True Life
All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms
of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of
Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. "For what shall
a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?'' Him I
seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the
gain which is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living,
do not wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God,
do not you give me over to the world. Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I
have gone thither, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator
of the passion of my God. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider
what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am
straitened.
7 Reason of Desiring
to Die
The prince of this world would fain carry me away,
and corrupt my disposition towards God. Let none of you, therefore, who are in
Rome help him; rather be on my side, that is, on the side of God. Do not speak
of Jesus Christ, and you set your desires on the world. Let not envy find a
dwelling-place among you; nor even should I, when present with you, exhort you
to it, be you persuaded to listen to me, but rather give credit to those things
which I now write to you. For though I am alive while I write to you, I am eager
to die. My love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me desiring to be
fed; but there is within me a water that lives and speaks, saying to me
inwardly, Come to the Father. I have no delight in corruptible food, 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 became
afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God,
namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.
8 Be Favorable to Me
I no longer wish to live after the manner of men,
and my desire shall be fulfilled if you consent. Be you willing, then, that you
also may have your desires fulfilled. I entreat you in this brief letter; do you
give credit to me. Jesus Christ will reveal these things to you, so that you
shall know that I speak truly. He is the mouth altogether free from falsehood,
by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me, that I may attain the object
of my desire. I have not written to you according to the flesh, but according to
the will of God. If I shall suffer, you have wished well to me; but if I am
rejected, you have hated me.
9 Pray for the Church
in Syria
Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which
now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it,
and your love will also regard it. But as for me, I am ashamed to be counted one
of them; for indeed I am not worthy, as being the very last of them, and one
born out of due time. But I have obtained mercy to be somebody, if I shall
attain to God. My spirit salutes you, and the love of the Churches that have
received me in the name of Jesus Christ, and not as a mere passer-by. For even
those Churches which were not near to me in the way, I mean according to the
flesh, have gone before me, city by city, to meet me.
10 Conclusion
Now I write these things to you from Smyrna by the
Ephesians, who are deservedly most happy. There is also with me, along with many
others, Crocus, one dearly beloved by me. As to those who have gone before me
from Syria to Rome for the glory of God, I believe that you are acquainted with
them; to whom, then, do you make known that I am at hand. For they are all
worthy, both of God and of you; and it is becoming that you should refresh them
in all things. I have written these things unto you, on the day before the ninth
of the Calends of September [that is, on the twenty-third day of August]. Fare
you well to the end, in the patience of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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