Where the Shepherd Is

Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the church of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ that is at Philadelphia in Asia — a church that has received mercy and stands settled in the harmony of God, rejoicing without division in the suffering of our Lord, and by his resurrection made fully sure, in every mercy. I greet it in the blood of Jesus Christ, which is joy everlasting and unfailing — above all if they are at one with the overseer and with the elders who are with him and the deacons, appointed by the mind of Jesus Christ, whom by his own will he made firm and steady through his Holy Spirit.

This overseer — I know that he did not take up for himself the service that belongs to the common good, and did not get it from men, or out of empty pride, but in the love of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am struck with wonder at his consideration. Keeping silent, he can do more than men who talk to no purpose. For he is tuned in with the commands as a lyre is with its strings. That is why my soul calls his mind toward God a happy one: I have come to know that it is full of virtue and complete, and I have seen his steadiness and his freedom from anger, lived out in all the consideration of the living God. [f] So then, children of the light of truth: run from division and from bad teaching. Where the shepherd is, follow there like sheep. For there are many wolves who look worth trusting, and by a pleasure that harms they carry off God’s runners as prisoners. But in your unity they will have no place. [i] Keep away from the evil weeds that Jesus Christ does not farm, since they are not the Father’s planting. Not that I found any division among you — I found you strained clean. For all who belong to God and to Jesus Christ are with the overseer. And all who repent and come back to the unity of the church, they too will belong to God, so that they may live Jesus Christ’s way. Do not be misled, my brothers. Anyone who follows a man who causes a split does not inherit the kingdom of God. Anyone who lives by a mind that is foreign does not agree with the suffering. [k]

So be eager to use one thanksgiving. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup for union with his blood; one altar, just as there is one overseer, together with the council of elders and the deacons, my fellow servants. Then whatever you do, you will do it God’s way. [m]

My brothers, I am poured right out in loving you, and in my overflowing joy I am making you safe — yet not I, but Jesus Christ. Bound in him, I am all the more afraid, since I am not yet finished. But your prayer to God will finish me, so that I may reach the portion for which I was granted mercy. I take refuge in the good news as in the flesh of Jesus, and in the apostles as in the church’s council of elders. And let us love the prophets too, because they also made their announcement with the good news in view, and set their hope on him, and waited for him. Believing in him, they were saved. They stand in the unity of Jesus Christ, holy men worthy of love and worthy of wonder, who have had witness borne to them by Jesus Christ and are counted in together in the good news of the hope we all share. [o]

But if anyone expounds Judaism to you, do not listen to him. It is better to hear Christianity from a man who is circumcised than Judaism from a man who is not. And if neither of them speaks about Jesus Christ, then to me they are gravestones and tombs of the dead, with nothing written on them but the names of men. So run from the evil tricks and the ambushes of the ruler of this age, in case his design wears you down and you grow weak in love. Instead, all of you, come together in the same place, with an undivided heart. I thank my God that my conscience is clear among you, and that no one can boast, in secret or out in the open, that I was a burden to anyone in a small matter or a great one. And for all those I spoke among, I pray that they will not keep it as evidence against them. [r]