To the Magnesians

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the church blessed in the grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus our Savior, in whom I greet the church that is in Magnesia on the Maeander, and I wish it abundant greetings in God the Father and in Jesus Christ.

Having learned of the great good order of your godly love, I rejoiced and chose to speak with you in the faith of Jesus Christ.

For having been counted worthy of a most godly name, in the chains that I bear I sing the praises of the churches, and I pray that in them there may be union with the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ, our constant life, a union of faith and love, to which nothing is preferred, and, what is more important, a union with Jesus and the Father. If in him we endure all the abuse of the ruler of this age and escape it, we shall attain to God.

Since, then, I have been counted worthy to see you through Damas, your bishop worthy of God, and your worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and my fellow servant the deacon Zotion, of whom may I have joy, because he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God and to the council of presbyters as to the law of Jesus Christ—

It is fitting for you also not to take advantage of the bishop's youth, but to render him all respect according to the power of God the Father, just as I have learned that the holy presbyters too have not presumed upon his evidently youthful position, but as those wise in God defer to him; yet not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, the bishop of all.

So for the honor of him who has desired us, it is fitting to obey without any hypocrisy. For it is not that one deceives this bishop who is seen; rather, one cheats the one who is unseen. In such a case one's account is not with flesh but with God, who knows hidden things.

It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians but also to be Christians, just as some speak of “the bishop” but do everything without him. Such people do not seem to me to have a good conscience, since they do not meet validly according to the commandment.

Since, then, things are coming to an end, and the two lie before us together, death and life, and each is going to go to his own place;

for just as there are two coinages, one of God and one of the world, and each has its own stamp impressed on it, so the unbelievers bear the stamp of this world, and the believers in love bear the stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ. Unless we willingly choose to die through him into his suffering, his life is not in us.

Since, then, in the persons mentioned above I have seen your whole congregation in faith and have loved it, I urge you: be eager to do all things in godly concord, with the bishop presiding in the place of God and the presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles, and the deacons, most dear to me, entrusted with the service of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before the ages and appeared at the end.

All of you, then, taking on God's character, respect one another, and let no one regard his neighbor according to the flesh, but always love one another in Jesus Christ. Let there be nothing among you that can divide you, but be united with the bishop and with those who preside, as an example and a teaching of incorruptibility.

So, just as the Lord did nothing without the Father, being united with him, either by himself or through the apostles, so you must do nothing without the bishop and the presbyters. Do not try to make anything appear right to you on your own; but let there be, in common, one prayer, one petition, one mind, one hope, in love, in blameless joy, which is Jesus Christ, than whom nothing is better.

All of you, run together as to one temple of God, as to one altar, to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from the one Father, and is with the One, and has returned to him.

Do not be led astray by other doctrines or by old fables, which are useless. For if we are still living according to Judaism, we confess that we have not received grace.

For the most godly prophets lived according to Christ Jesus. That is why they were persecuted, being inspired by his grace, so that the disobedient might be fully convinced that there is one God, who revealed himself through Jesus Christ his Son, who is his Word that came forth from silence, who in every way pleased the one who sent him.

If, then, those who lived in ancient ways came to a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath but living according to the Lord's day, on which our life also rose through him and his death (which some deny), the mystery through which we received faith, and because of which we endure, so that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher,

how shall we be able to live apart from him, whom even the prophets, being his disciples in the Spirit, awaited as their teacher? And for this reason he whom they rightly awaited, when he came, raised them from the dead.

Let us not, then, be insensible to his kindness. For if he were to imitate us according to what we do, we would no longer exist. Therefore, having become his disciples, let us learn to live according to Christianity. For whoever is called by any other name than this is not of God.

Put away, then, the bad leaven, which has grown old and sour, and change to the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be salted in him, so that none of you may go bad, since you will be tested by your smell.

It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism. For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity, into which every tongue that has believed in God has been gathered.

I write these things, my beloved, not because I have learned that any of you are like this, but, as one less than you, I want to warn you in advance not to fall into the hooks of vain opinion, but to be fully convinced of the birth and the suffering and the resurrection that took place in the time of the governorship of Pontius Pilate. These things were truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ, our hope, from which may none of you be turned aside.

May I have joy of you in every way, if indeed I am worthy. For even if I am in chains, I am not comparable to one of you who are free. I know that you are not puffed up, for you have Jesus Christ in yourselves; and more than that, when I praise you, I know that you feel ashamed, as it is written, “The righteous is his own accuser.”

Be eager, then, to be established in the decrees of the Lord and of the apostles, so that “whatever you do may prosper,” in flesh and spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and in the Spirit, in the beginning and in the end, together with your most worthy bishop and the worthily woven spiritual crown of your council of presbyters and with the deacons who are according to God.

Be subject to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father and the apostles were to Christ and to the Father, so that there may be a union both of flesh and of spirit.

Knowing that you are full of God, I have exhorted you briefly. Remember me in your prayers, that I may attain to God, and remember the church in Syria, of which I am not worthy to be called a member. For I need your united prayer and love in God, so that the church in Syria may be counted worthy to be refreshed with dew by your church.

The Ephesians greet you from Smyrna, from where I am also writing to you. They are here for the glory of God, as you are too, and they have refreshed me in every way, together with Polycarp, bishop of the Smyrnaeans. The other churches also greet you in honor of Jesus Christ. Farewell in godly concord, possessing an unwavering spirit, which is Jesus Christ.