To the Trallians 3.1

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

Summary: Deacons, bishop, and presbyters together make the church.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:214

Ὁμοίως πάντες ἐντρεπέσθωσαν τοὺς διακόνους ὡς Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ὄντα τύπον τοῦ πατρός. τοὺς δὲ πρεσβυτέρους ὡς συνέδριον θεοῦ καὶ ὡς σύνδεσμον ἀποστόλων. χωρὶς τούτων ἐκκλησία οὐ καλεῖται.

English · Claude translation

Likewise let everyone respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, as also the bishop, who is a type of the Father, and the presbyters as God's council and as the band of the apostles. Without these no church is called a church.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 24:214 · 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
Text: As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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)
Topics: Church office

Notes

Translation notes

“A type of the Father” (τύπον τοῦ πατρός): an image or representation of the Father.
Other manuscripts, followed by the Ante-Nicene Fathers translation (1885), read “the deacons as an appointment of Jesus Christ, and the bishop as Jesus Christ, who is the Son of the Father.”

Cite this passage

Ign. Trall. 3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-trallians/3/1/).

Plain text

Ign. Trall. 3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-trallians/3/1/).

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