Sophia Scriptura

To the Smyrnaeans 3.2

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

Summary: The risen Christ invited the disciples to touch him, proving he was not a ghost.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:254

καὶ ὅτε πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Πέτρον ἦλθεν, ἔφη αὐτοῖς· Λάβετε, ψηλαφήσατέ με καὶ ἴδετε, ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ δαιμόνιον ἀσώματον. καὶ εὐθὺς αὐτοῦ ἥψαντο καὶ ἐπίστευσαν, κραθέντες τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ θανάτου κατεφρόνησαν, ηὑρέθησαν δὲ ὑπὲρ θάνατον.

English · Claude translation

And when he came to those with Peter, he said to them, “Take hold, touch me and see that I am not a bodiless demon.” And at once they touched him and believed, being closely joined with his flesh and spirit. For this reason they also despised death, and were found to be above death.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:254 · 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 5:709a–709b (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
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The saying is not found in this form in the canonical Gospels (compare Luke 24:39); its source was already uncertain to Eusebius and Jerome.

Cite this passage

Ign. Smyrn. 3.2 (PG 5:709a–709b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-smyrnaeans/3/2/).

Plain text
Ign. Smyrn. 3.2 (PG 5:709a–709b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-smyrnaeans/3/2/).

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