The
Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus,
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 willeth 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 Son 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.
Chapter I.-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
Chapter II.-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 ye please Him. For neither shall
I ever have such [another] opportunity of attaining to God; nor
will ye, if ye shall now be silent, ever be entitled to the honour
of a better work. For if ye 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, ye 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.
Chapter III.-Pray Rather that I May
Attain to Martyrdom.
Ye have never envied any one; ye have taught others. Now I
desire that those things may be confirmed [by your conduct], which
in your instructions ye enjoin [on others]. Only request in my
behalf both inward and outward strength, that I may not only speak,
but [truly] will; and that I may not merely be called a Christian,
but really be 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." For our God, Jesus Christ,
now that He is with the Father, is all the more revealed [in His
glory]. Christianity is not a thing of silence only, but also
of [manifest] greatness.
Chapter IV.-Allow Me to Fall a Prey
to the Wild Beasts.
I write to the Churches, and impress on them all, that I shall
willingly die for God, unless ye hinder me. I beseech of you not
to show an unseasonable good-will 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 let me be ground by the teeth of the
wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. 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 be no trouble to any one. Then shall I truly be a disciple
of Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body. Entreat
Christ 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; I am but a condemned man: they were free,
while I am, even until now, a servant. But when I suffer, I shall
be the freed-man of Jesus, and shall rise again emancipated in
Him. And now, being a prisoner, I learn not to desire anything
worldly or vain.
Chapter V.-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 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.
Chapter VI.-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 ye 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.
Chapter VII.-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 ye on my
side, that is, on the side of God. Do not speak of Jesus Christ,
and yet 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 ye 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, yet 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 liveth and speaketh, 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.
Chapter VIII.-Be Ye Favourable to
Me.
I no longer wish to live after the manner of men, and my desire
shall be fulfilled if ye consent. Be ye willing, then, that ye
also may have your desires fulfilled. I entreat you in this brief
letter; do ye give credit to me. Jesus Christ will reveal these
things to you, [so that ye shall know] that I speak truly. He
is the mouth altogether free from falsehood, by which the Father
has truly spoken. Pray ye 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, ye have wished
[well] to me; but if I am rejected, ye have hated me.
Chapter IX.-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.]
Chapter X.-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 ye 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 Kalends of September (that is, on the twenty-third day of August). Fare ye well to the end, in the patience of Jesus Christ. Amen.
See also: Throwing Christians to the Lions
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