Sophia Scriptura

To Polycarp 4.1

Ignatius of Antioch · To Polycarp · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Troas · Read in context

Summary: The bishop must care for widows and oversee everything in the church.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:270–272

Χῆραι μὴ ἀμελείσθωσαν· μετὰ τὸν κύριον σὺ αὐτῶν φροντιστὴς ἔσο. μηδὲν ἄνευ γνώμης σου γινέσθω μηδὲ σὺ ἄνευ θεοῦ τι πρᾶσσε, ὅπερ οὐδὲ πράσσεις· εὐστάθει.

English · Claude translation

Do not let widows be neglected. After the Lord, you be their guardian. Let nothing be done without your consent, and do nothing without God, as indeed you do not. Stand firm.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:270–272 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 172–277 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Also in
PG 5:721b (found by text match)
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Church office, Ethics

Cite this passage

Ign. Pol. 4.1 (PG 5:721b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/4/1/).

Plain text
Ign. Pol. 4.1 (PG 5:721b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/4/1/).

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