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Page:Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1.djvu/265

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TO THE SMYRNÆANS.
251
subject to the deacons; the deacons to the presbyters; the presbyters to the bishop; the bishop to Christ, even as He is to the Father. As ye, brethren, have refreshed me, so will Jesus Christ refresh you. Ye have loved me when absent, as well as when present. God will recompense you, for whose sake ye have shown such kindness towards His prisoner. For even if I am not worthy of it, yet your zeal [to help me] is an admirable[1] thing. For "he who honours a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward."[2] It is manifest also, that he who honours a prisoner of Jesus Christ shall receive the reward of the martyrs.

Chap. x.Acknowledgment of their kindness.

Ye have done well in receiving Philo and Rheus Agathopus as servants[3] of Christ our God, who have followed me for the sake of God, and who give thanks to the Lord in your behalf, because ye have in every way refreshed them. None of these things shall be lost to you. May my spirit be for

Ye have done well in receiving Philo, and Gaius, and Agathopus, who, being the servants[3] of Christ, have followed me for the sake of God, and who greatly bless the Lord in your behalf, because ye have in every way refreshed them. None of those things which ye have done to them shall be passed by without being reckoned unto you. "The Lord grant" to you "that ye may find mercy of the Lord in that day!"[4] May my

  1. Or, "great."
  2. Matt. x. 41.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Or, "deacons."
  4. 2 Tim. i. 18.