Apostolic FathersChristianityScholarly ReconstructionGreek / Latin / Syriac textual traditionsShareApostolic Fathers 135Ante-Nicene Christian Library - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableAnte-Nicene Christian LibraryLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Apostolic Fathers 1Apostolic Fathers 2Apostolic Fathers 3Apostolic Fathers 4Apostolic Fathers 5Apostolic Fathers 6Apostolic Fathers 7Apostolic Fathers 8Apostolic Fathers 9Apostolic Fathers 10Apostolic Fathers 11Apostolic Fathers 12Apostolic Fathers 13Apostolic Fathers 14Apostolic Fathers 15Apostolic Fathers 16Apostolic Fathers 17Apostolic Fathers 18Apostolic Fathers 19Apostolic Fathers 20Apostolic Fathers 21Apostolic Fathers 22Apostolic Fathers 23Apostolic Fathers 24Apostolic Fathers 25Apostolic Fathers 26Apostolic Fathers 27Apostolic Fathers 28Apostolic Fathers 29Apostolic Fathers 30Apostolic Fathers 31Apostolic Fathers 32Apostolic Fathers 33Apostolic Fathers 34Apostolic Fathers 35Apostolic Fathers 36Apostolic Fathers 37Apostolic Fathers 38Apostolic Fathers 39Apostolic Fathers 40Apostolic Fathers 41Apostolic Fathers 42Apostolic Fathers 43Apostolic Fathers 44Apostolic Fathers 45Apostolic Fathers 46Apostolic Fathers 47Apostolic Fathers 48Apostolic Fathers 49Apostolic Fathers 50Apostolic Fathers 51Apostolic Fathers 52Apostolic Fathers 53Apostolic Fathers 54Apostolic Fathers 55Apostolic Fathers 56Apostolic Fathers 57Apostolic Fathers 58Apostolic Fathers 59Apostolic Fathers 60Apostolic Fathers 61Apostolic Fathers 62Apostolic Fathers 63Apostolic Fathers 64Apostolic Fathers 65Apostolic Fathers 66Apostolic Fathers 67Apostolic Fathers 68Apostolic Fathers 69Apostolic Fathers 70Apostolic Fathers 71Apostolic Fathers 72Apostolic Fathers 73Apostolic Fathers 74Apostolic Fathers 75Apostolic Fathers 76Apostolic Fathers 77Apostolic Fathers 78Apostolic Fathers 79Apostolic Fathers 80Apostolic Fathers 81Apostolic Fathers 82Apostolic Fathers 83Apostolic Fathers 84Apostolic Fathers 85Apostolic Fathers 86Apostolic Fathers 87Apostolic Fathers 88Apostolic Fathers 89Apostolic Fathers 90Apostolic Fathers 91Apostolic Fathers 92Apostolic Fathers 93Apostolic Fathers 94Apostolic Fathers 95Apostolic Fathers 96Apostolic Fathers 97Apostolic Fathers 98Apostolic Fathers 99Apostolic Fathers 100Apostolic Fathers 101Apostolic Fathers 102Apostolic Fathers 103Apostolic Fathers 104Apostolic Fathers 105Apostolic Fathers 106Apostolic Fathers 107Apostolic Fathers 108Apostolic Fathers 109Apostolic Fathers 110Apostolic Fathers 111Apostolic Fathers 112Apostolic Fathers 113Apostolic Fathers 114Apostolic Fathers 115Apostolic Fathers 116Apostolic Fathers 117Apostolic Fathers 118Apostolic Fathers 119Apostolic Fathers 120Apostolic Fathers 121Apostolic Fathers 122Apostolic Fathers 123Apostolic Fathers 124Apostolic Fathers 125Apostolic Fathers 126Apostolic Fathers 127Apostolic Fathers 128Apostolic Fathers 129Apostolic Fathers 130Apostolic Fathers 131Apostolic Fathers 132Apostolic Fathers 133Apostolic Fathers 134Apostolic Fathers 135Apostolic Fathers 136Apostolic Fathers 137Apostolic Fathers 138Apostolic Fathers 139Apostolic Fathers 140Apostolic Fathers 141Apostolic Fathers 142Apostolic Fathers 143Apostolic Fathers 144Apostolic Fathers 145Apostolic Fathers 146Apostolic Fathers 147Apostolic Fathers 148Apostolic Fathers 149Apostolic Fathers 150Apostolic Fathers 151Apostolic Fathers 152Apostolic Fathers 153Apostolic Fathers 154Apostolic Fathers 155Apostolic Fathers 156Apostolic Fathers 157Apostolic Fathers 158Apostolic Fathers 159Apostolic Fathers 160Apostolic Fathers 161Apostolic Fathers 162Apostolic Fathers 163Apostolic Fathers 164Apostolic Fathers 165Apostolic Fathers 166Apostolic Fathers 167Apostolic Fathers 168Apostolic Fathers 169Apostolic Fathers 170Apostolic Fathers 171Apostolic Fathers 172Apostolic Fathers 173Apostolic Fathers 174Apostolic Fathers 175Apostolic Fathers 176Apostolic Fathers 177Apostolic Fathers 178Apostolic Fathers 179Apostolic Fathers 180Apostolic Fathers 181Apostolic Fathers 182Apostolic Fathers 183Apostolic Fathers 184Apostolic Fathers 185Apostolic Fathers 186Apostolic Fathers 187Apostolic Fathers 188Apostolic Fathers 189Apostolic Fathers 190Apostolic Fathers 191Apostolic Fathers 192Apostolic Fathers 193Apostolic Fathers 194Apostolic Fathers 195Apostolic Fathers 196Apostolic Fathers 197Apostolic Fathers 198Apostolic Fathers 199Apostolic Fathers 200Apostolic Fathers 201Apostolic Fathers 202Apostolic Fathers 203Apostolic Fathers 204Apostolic Fathers 205Apostolic Fathers 206Apostolic Fathers 207Apostolic Fathers 208Apostolic Fathers 209Apostolic Fathers 210Apostolic Fathers 211Apostolic Fathers 212Apostolic Fathers 213Apostolic Fathers 214Apostolic Fathers 215Apostolic Fathers 216Apostolic Fathers 217Apostolic Fathers 218Apostolic Fathers 219Apostolic Fathers 220Apostolic Fathers 221Apostolic Fathers 222Apostolic Fathers 223Apostolic Fathers 224Apostolic Fathers 225Apostolic Fathers 226Apostolic Fathers 227Apostolic Fathers 228Apostolic Fathers 229Apostolic Fathers 230Apostolic Fathers 231Apostolic Fathers 232Apostolic Fathers 233Apostolic Fathers 234Apostolic Fathers 235Apostolic Fathers 236Apostolic Fathers 237Apostolic Fathers 238Apostolic Fathers 239Apostolic Fathers 240Apostolic Fathers 241Apostolic Fathers 242Apostolic Fathers 243Apostolic Fathers 244Apostolic Fathers 245Apostolic Fathers 246Apostolic Fathers 247Apostolic Fathers 248Apostolic Fathers 249Apostolic Fathers 250Apostolic Fathers 251Apostolic Fathers 252Apostolic Fathers 253Apostolic Fathers 254Apostolic Fathers 255Apostolic Fathers 256Apostolic Fathers 257Apostolic Fathers 258Apostolic Fathers 259Apostolic Fathers 260Apostolic Fathers 261Apostolic Fathers 262Apostolic Fathers 263Apostolic Fathers 264Apostolic Fathers 265Apostolic Fathers 266Apostolic Fathers 267Apostolic Fathers 268Apostolic Fathers 269Apostolic Fathers 270Apostolic Fathers 271Apostolic Fathers 272Apostolic Fathers 273Apostolic Fathers 274Apostolic Fathers 275Apostolic Fathers 276Apostolic Fathers 277Apostolic Fathers 278Apostolic Fathers 279Apostolic Fathers 280Apostolic Fathers 281Apostolic Fathers 282Apostolic Fathers 283Apostolic Fathers 284Apostolic Fathers 285Apostolic Fathers 286Apostolic Fathers 287Apostolic Fathers 288Apostolic Fathers 289Apostolic Fathers 290Apostolic Fathers 291Apostolic Fathers 292Apostolic Fathers 293Apostolic Fathers 294Apostolic Fathers 295Apostolic Fathers 296Apostolic Fathers 297Apostolic Fathers 298Apostolic Fathers 299Apostolic Fathers 300Apostolic Fathers 301Apostolic Fathers 302Apostolic Fathers 303Apostolic Fathers 304Apostolic Fathers 305Apostolic Fathers 306Apostolic Fathers 307Apostolic Fathers 308Apostolic Fathers 309Apostolic Fathers 310Apostolic Fathers 311Apostolic Fathers 312Apostolic Fathers 313Apostolic Fathers 314Apostolic Fathers 315Apostolic Fathers 316Apostolic Fathers 317Apostolic Fathers 318Apostolic Fathers 319Apostolic Fathers 320Apostolic Fathers 321Apostolic Fathers 322Apostolic Fathers 323Apostolic Fathers 324Apostolic Fathers 325Apostolic Fathers 326Apostolic Fathers 327Apostolic Fathers 328Apostolic Fathers 329Apostolic Fathers 330Apostolic Fathers 331Apostolic Fathers 332Apostolic Fathers 333Apostolic Fathers 334Apostolic Fathers 335Apostolic Fathers 336Apostolic Fathers 337Apostolic Fathers 338Apostolic Fathers 339Apostolic Fathers 340Apostolic Fathers 341Apostolic Fathers 342Apostolic Fathers 343Apostolic Fathers 344Apostolic Fathers 345Apostolic Fathers 346Apostolic Fathers 347Apostolic Fathers 348Apostolic Fathers 349Apostolic Fathers 350Apostolic Fathers 351Apostolic Fathers 352Apostolic Fathers 353Apostolic Fathers 354Apostolic Fathers 355Apostolic Fathers 356Apostolic Fathers 357Apostolic Fathers 358Apostolic Fathers 359Apostolic Fathers 360Apostolic Fathers 361Apostolic Fathers 362Apostolic Fathers 363Apostolic Fathers 364Apostolic Fathers 365Apostolic Fathers 366Apostolic Fathers 367Apostolic Fathers 368Apostolic Fathers 369Apostolic Fathers 370Apostolic Fathers 371Apostolic Fathers 372Apostolic Fathers 373Apostolic Fathers 374Apostolic Fathers 375Apostolic Fathers 376Apostolic Fathers 377Apostolic Fathers 378Apostolic Fathers 379Apostolic Fathers 380Apostolic Fathers 381Apostolic Fathers 382Apostolic Fathers 383Apostolic Fathers 384Apostolic Fathers 385Apostolic Fathers 386Apostolic Fathers 387Apostolic Fathers 388Apostolic Fathers 389Apostolic Fathers 390Apostolic Fathers 391Apostolic Fathers 392Apostolic Fathers 393Apostolic Fathers 394Apostolic Fathers 395Apostolic Fathers 396Apostolic Fathers 397Apostolic Fathers 398Apostolic Fathers 399Apostolic Fathers 400Apostolic Fathers 401Apostolic Fathers 402Apostolic Fathers 403Apostolic Fathers 404Apostolic Fathers 405Apostolic Fathers 406Apostolic Fathers 407Apostolic Fathers 408Apostolic Fathers 409Apostolic Fathers 410Apostolic Fathers 411Apostolic Fathers 412Apostolic Fathers 413Apostolic Fathers 414Apostolic Fathers 415Apostolic Fathers 416Apostolic Fathers 417Apostolic Fathers 418Apostolic Fathers 419Apostolic Fathers 420Apostolic Fathers 421Apostolic Fathers 422Apostolic Fathers 423Apostolic Fathers 424Apostolic Fathers 425Apostolic Fathers 426Apostolic Fathers 427Apostolic Fathers 428Apostolic Fathers 429Apostolic Fathers 430Apostolic Fathers 431Apostolic Fathers 432Apostolic Fathers 433Apostolic Fathers 434Apostolic Fathers 435Apostolic Fathers 436Apostolic Fathers 437Apostolic Fathers 438Apostolic Fathers 439Apostolic Fathers 440Apostolic Fathers 441Apostolic Fathers 442Apostolic Fathers 443Apostolic Fathers 444Apostolic Fathers 445Apostolic Fathers 446Apostolic Fathers 447Apostolic Fathers 448Apostolic Fathers 449Apostolic Fathers 450Apostolic Fathers 451Apostolic Fathers 452Apostolic Fathers 453Apostolic Fathers 454Apostolic Fathers 455Apostolic Fathers 456Apostolic Fathers 457Apostolic Fathers 458Apostolic Fathers 459Apostolic Fathers 460Apostolic Fathers 461Apostolic Fathers 462Apostolic Fathers 463Apostolic Fathers 464Apostolic Fathers 465Apostolic Fathers 466Apostolic Fathers 467Apostolic Fathers 468Apostolic Fathers 469Apostolic Fathers 470Apostolic Fathers 471Apostolic Fathers 472Apostolic Fathers 473Apostolic Fathers 474Apostolic Fathers 475Apostolic Fathers 476Apostolic Fathers 477Apostolic Fathers 478Apostolic Fathers 479Apostolic Fathers 480Apostolic Fathers 481Apostolic Fathers 482Apostolic Fathers 483Apostolic Fathers 484Apostolic Fathers 485Apostolic Fathers 486Apostolic Fathers 487Apostolic Fathers 488Apostolic Fathers 489Apostolic Fathers 490Apostolic Fathers 491Apostolic Fathers 492Apostolic Fathers 493Apostolic Fathers 494Apostolic Fathers 495Apostolic Fathers 496Apostolic Fathers 497Apostolic Fathers 498Apostolic Fathers 499Apostolic Fathers 500Apostolic Fathers 501Apostolic Fathers 502Apostolic Fathers 503Apostolic Fathers 504Apostolic Fathers 505Apostolic Fathers 506Apostolic Fathers 507Apostolic Fathers 508Apostolic Fathers 509Apostolic Fathers 510Apostolic Fathers 511Apostolic Fathers 512Apostolic Fathers 513Apostolic Fathers 514Apostolic Fathers 515Apostolic Fathers 516Apostolic Fathers 517Apostolic Fathers 518Apostolic Fathers 519Apostolic Fathers 520Apostolic Fathers 521Apostolic Fathers 522Apostolic Fathers 523Apostolic Fathers 524Apostolic Fathers 525Apostolic Fathers 526Apostolic Fathers 527Apostolic Fathers 528Apostolic Fathers 529Apostolic Fathers 530Apostolic Fathers 531Apostolic Fathers 532Apostolic Fathers 533Apostolic Fathers 534Apostolic Fathers 535Apostolic Fathers 536Apostolic Fathers 537Apostolic Fathers 538Apostolic Fathers 539Apostolic Fathers 540Apostolic Fathers 541Apostolic Fathers 542Apostolic Fathers 543Apostolic Fathers 544Apostolic Fathers 545Apostolic Fathers 546Apostolic Fathers 547Apostolic Fathers 548Apostolic Fathers 549Apostolic Fathers 550Apostolic Fathers 551Apostolic Fathers 552Apostolic Fathers 553Apostolic Fathers 554Apostolic Fathers 555Apostolic Fathers 556Apostolic Fathers 557Apostolic Fathers 558Apostolic Fathers 559Apostolic Fathers 560Apostolic Fathers 561Apostolic Fathers 562Apostolic Fathers 563Apostolic Fathers 564Apostolic Fathers 565Apostolic Fathers 566Apostolic Fathers 567Apostolic Fathers 568Apostolic Fathers 569Apostolic Fathers 570Apostolic Fathers 571Apostolic Fathers 572Apostolic Fathers 573Apostolic Fathers 574Apostolic Fathers 575›Introductory Notice.Apostolic Fathers 135ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The epistles ascribed to Ignatius have given rise to more controversy than any other documents connected with the primitive church. As is evident to every reader on the very first glance at these writings, they contain numerous statements which bear on points of ecclesiastical order that have long divided the Christian world; and a strong temptation has thus been felt to allow some amount of prepossession to enter into the discussion of their authenticity or spuriousness. At the same time, this question has furnished a noble field for the display of learning and acuteness, and has, in the various forms under which it has been debated, given rise to not a few works of the very highest ability and scholarship. We shall present such an outline of the controversy as may enable the reader to understand its position at the present day. 2There are, in all, fifteen epistles which bear the name of Ignatius. These are the following: One to the Virgin Mary, two to the Apostle John, one to Mary of Cassobelæ, one to the Tarsians, one to the Antiochians, one to Hero, a deacon of Antioch, one to the Philippians; one to the Ephesians, one to the Magnesians, one to the Trallians, one to the Romans, one to the Philadelphians, one to the Smyrnæans, and one to Polycarp. The first three exist only in Latin: all the rest are extant also in Greek. 3It is now the universal opinion of critics, that the first eight of these professedly Ignatian letters are spurious. They bear in themselves indubitable proofs of being the production of a later age than that in which Ignatius lived. Neither Eusebius nor Jerome makes the least reference to them; and they are now by common consent set aside as forgeries, which were at various dates, and to serve special purposes, put forth under the name of the celebrated bishop of Antioch. 4But after the question has been thus simplified, it still remains sufficiently complex. Of the seven epistles which are acknowledged by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. iii. 36), we possess two Greek recensions, a shorter and a longer. It is plain that one or other of these exhibits a corrupt text, and scholars have for the most part agreed to accept the shorter form as representing the genuine letters of Ignatius. This was the opinion generally acquiesced in, from the time when critical editions of these epistles began to be issued, down to our own day. Criticism, indeed, fluctuated a good deal as to which epistles should be accepted and which rejected. Archp. Usher (1644), Isaac Vossius (1646), J. B. Cotelerius (1672), Dr T. Smith (1709), and others, edited the writings ascribed to Ignatius in forms differing very considerably as to the order in which they were arranged, and the degree of authority assigned them, until at length, from about the beginning of the eighteenth century, the seven Greek epistles of which a translation is here given, came to be generally accepted in their shorter form as the genuine writings of Ignatius. 5Before this date, however, there had not been wanting some who refused to acknowledge the authenticity of these epistles in either of the recensions in which they were then known to exist. By far the most learned and elaborate work maintaining this position was that of Daillé (or Dallæus), published in 1666. This drew forth in reply the celebrated Vindiciæ of Bishop Pearson, which appeared in 1672. It was generally supposed that this latter work had established on an immoveable foundation the genuineness of the shorter form of the Ignatian epistles; and, as we have stated above, this was the conclusion almost universally accepted down to our own day. The only considerable exception to this concurrence was presented by Whiston, who laboured to maintain in his Primitive Christianity Revived (1711) the superior claims of the longer recension of the epistles, apparently influenced in doing so by the support which he thought they furnished to the kind of Arianism which he had adopted. 6But although the shorter form of the Ignatian letters had been generally accepted in preference to the longer, there was still a pretty prevalent opinion among scholars, that even it could not be regarded as absolutely free from interpolations, or as of undoubted authenticity. Thus said Lardner, in his Credibility of the Gospel History (1743): “I have carefully compared the two editions, and am very well satisfied, upon that comparison, that the larger are an interpolation of the smaller, and not the smaller an epitome or abridgment of the larger.... But whether the smaller themselves are the genuine writings of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, is a question that has been much disputed, and has employed the pens of the ablest critics. And whatever positiveness some may have shown on either side, I must own I have found it a very difficult question.” 7This expression of uncertainty was repeated in substance by Jortin (1751), Mosheim (1755), Griesbach (1768), Rosenmüller (1795), Neander (1826), and many others; some going so far as to deny that we have any authentic remains of Ignatius at all, while others, though admitting the seven shorter letters as being probably his, yet strongly suspected that they were not free from interpolation. Upon the whole, however, the shorter recension was, until recently, accepted without much opposition, and chiefly in dependence on the work of Bishop Pearson above mentioned, as exhibiting the genuine form of the epistles of Ignatius. 8But a totally different aspect was given to the question by the discovery of a Syriac version of three of these epistles among the MSS. procured from the monastery of St Mary Deipara, in the desert of Nitria, in Egypt. In the years 1838, 1839, and again in 1842, Archdeacon Tattam visited that monastery, and succeeded in obtaining for the English Government a vast number of ancient Syriac manuscripts. On these being deposited in the British Museum, the late Dr Cureton, who then had charge of the Syriac department, discovered among them, first, the Epistle to Polycarp, and then again, the same epistle, with those to the Ephesians and to the Romans, in two other volumes of manuscripts. 9As the result of this discovery, Cureton published in 1845 a work, entitled, The Ancient Syriac Version of the Epistles of St Ignatius to St Polycarp, the Ephesians, and the Romans, etc., in which he argued that these epistles represented more accurately than any formerly published what Ignatius had actually written. This, of course, opened up the controversy afresh. While some accepted the views of Cureton, others very strenuously opposed them. Among the former was the late Chev. Bunsen; among the latter, an anonymous writer in the English Review, and Dr Hefele, in his third edition of the Apostolic Fathers. In reply to those who had controverted his arguments, Cureton published his Vindicæ Ignatianæ in 1846, and his Corpus Ignatianum in 1849. He begins his introduction to the last-named work with the following sentences: “Exactly three centuries and a half intervened between the time when three epistles in Latin, attributed to St Ignatius, first issued from the press, and the publication in 1845 of three letters in Syriac bearing the name of the same apostolic writer. Very few years passed before the former were almost universally regarded as false and spurious; and it seems not improbable that scarcely a longer period will elapse before the latter be almost as generally acknowledged and received as the only true and genuine letters of the venerable bishop of Antioch that have either come down to our times, or were ever known in the earliest ages of the Christian church.” 10Had the somewhat sanguine hope thus expressed been realized, it would have been unnecessary for us to present to the English reader more than a translation of these three Syriac epistles. But the Ignatian controversy is not yet settled. There are still those who hold that the balance of argument is in favour of the shorter Greek, as against these Syriac epistles. They regard the latter as an epitome of the former, and think the harshness which, according to them, exists in the sequence of thoughts and sentences, clearly shows that this is the case. We have therefore given all the forms of the Ignatian letters which have the least claim on our attention.[742] The reader may judge, by comparison for himself, which of these is to be accepted as genuine, supposing him disposed to admit the claims of any one of them. We content ourselves with laying the materials for judgment before him, and with referring to the above-named works, in which he will find the whole subject discussed. 11As to the personal history of Ignatius, almost nothing is known. The principal source of information regarding him is found in the account of his martyrdom, to which the reader is referred. Polycarp alludes to him in his Epistle to the Philippians (chap. ix.), and also to his letters (chap. xiii.). Irenæus quotes a passage from his Epistle to the Romans (Adv. Hær. v. 28; Epist. ad Rom. chap. iv.), without, however, naming him. Origen twice refers to him, first in the preface to his Comm. on the Song of Solomon, where he quotes a passage from the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans, and again in his sixth homily on St Luke, where he quotes from the Epistle to the Ephesians, both times naming the author. It is unnecessary to give later references. 12Supposing the letters of Ignatius and the account of his martyrdom to be authentic, we learn from them that he voluntarily presented himself before Trajan at Antioch, the seat of his bishopric, when that prince was on his first expedition against the Parthians and Armenians (A.D. 107); and on professing himself a Christian, was condemned to the wild beasts. After a long and dangerous voyage he came to Smyrna, of which Polycarp was bishop, and thence wrote his four epistles to the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trallians, and the Romans. From Smyrna he came to Troas, and tarrying there a few days, he wrote to the Philadelphians, the Smyrnæans, and Polycarp. He then came on to Neapolis, and passed through the whole of Macedonia. Finding a ship at Dyrrachium in Epirus about to sail into Italy, he embarked, and crossing the Adriatic, was brought to Rome, where he perished on the 20th of December 107, or, as some think, who deny a twofold expedition of Trajan against the Parthians, on the same day of the year A.D. 116. 13The other epistles, bearing the name of Ignatius, will be found in the Appendix; so that the English reader possesses in this volume a complete collection of the Ignatian letters. 14The following letters were originally printed side-by-side, the Shorter form to the left and the Longer to the right. They are transcribed in this e-book one after another so as to be readable on modern reading devices, which often cannot handle multiple columns. ‹Previous chapterApostolic Fathers 134Next chapterApostolic Fathers 136›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg