THE EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS TO THE
ANTIOCHIANS.
GNATIUS, who is also called Theophorus, to the church sojourning in Syria, which has obtained mercy from God, and been elected by Christ, and which first[1] received the name of Christ, [wishes] happiness in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chap. i.—Cautions against error.
The Lord has rendered my bonds light and easy since I learnt that you are in peace, and that you live in all harmony both of the flesh and spirit. "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,[2] beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,"[3] guarding against those heresies of the wicked one which have broken in upon us, to the deceiving and destruction of those that accept of them; but that ye give heed to the doctrine of the apostles, and believe both the law and the prophets: that ye reject every Jewish and Gentile error, and neither introduce a multiplicity of gods, nor yet deny Christ under the pretence of [maintaining] the unity of God.
Chap. ii.—The true doctrine respecting God and Christ.
For Moses, the faithful servant of God, when he said, "The Lord thy God is one Lord,"[4] and thus proclaimed
- ↑ Comp. Acts xi. 26.
- ↑ Literally, "in the Lord."
- ↑ Eph. iv. 1.
- ↑ Deut. vi. 4; Mark xii. 29.
