Stand Like an Anvil

Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to Polycarp, overseer of the church of the Smyrnaeans — or rather, a man overseen himself by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Fullest greetings.

I have found your mind fixed in God as on a rock that cannot be shifted, and I glorify him beyond measure for it. I was counted worthy of your blameless face. May I have joy of it in God! I beg you, by the grace you are clothed in, to add speed to your running, and to keep urging everyone on, so that they may be saved. Do justice to the place you hold, with every care, of the flesh and of the spirit alike. Take thought for unity; there is nothing better than that. Carry everyone, as the Lord carries you. Put up with everyone in love, as in fact you do. Give your free hours to prayer, without a break in it. Ask for more understanding than you have. Stay awake, and keep a spirit that never sleeps. Speak to them one man at a time, taking God’s own way of acting. Carry the sicknesses of them all, as a perfect athlete does. Where the work is heavier, the gain is great. [d]

If you love the good disciples, you have earned no thanks by it. Make the more pestilent ones submit instead, and do it by gentleness. Not every wound is treated with the same plaster. Bring the flare-ups down with soaks and compresses. Be shrewd as the serpent in everything, and always innocent as the dove. This is why you are both flesh and spirit: so that you can coax along the things that show themselves in front of your face. As for the things that cannot be seen, ask that they be made plain to you, so that you go short of nothing and overflow with every gift. The moment is calling for you, as a pilot calls for wind and a man caught in a storm calls for a harbor, so that you may reach God. Be sober, like an athlete of God. The prize is freedom from decay and eternal life, and of that you are already convinced. In everything, my life for yours — mine, and my chains, which you have loved. [g]

Do not let the men who look worth believing, and who teach a different teaching, knock you off balance. Stand your ground like an anvil under the hammer. It takes a great athlete to be flayed and still win. Above all, we have to endure everything for God’s sake, so that he too will endure us. Be more in earnest than you already are. Study the times. Wait for the one who is above time — the timeless one, the unseen one who for our sake was seen; who cannot be handled, who cannot suffer, and who for our sake could suffer; who endured everything, in every way there is, for our sake. [j]

Widows are not to be neglected. After the Lord, you be the one who thinks for them. Let nothing be done without your judgment, and do nothing yourself without God — which in fact you do not. Stand steady. Let the gatherings come more often. Look for everyone by name. Do not look down on the men and women who are slaves; and they in turn are not to swell with pride. Let them serve all the more, for the glory of God, so that they may get a better freedom from God. They are not to set their hearts on being bought out of the common fund, or they will be found slaves of their own craving. [l]

Run from the evil arts — or rather, give a public talk about them. Speak to my sisters: tell them to love the Lord, and to be content with their husbands in flesh and in spirit. In the same way charge my brothers, in the name of Jesus Christ, to love their wives as the Lord loves the church. If anyone can stay chaste, in honor of the Lord’s flesh, let him stay so without boasting of it. If he boasts, he is lost; and if he becomes better known than the overseer, he is ruined. And it is fitting for the men who marry and the women who marry to make their union with the overseer’s judgment, so that the marriage is according to the Lord and not according to craving. Let everything be done in honor of God. [o]

Pay attention to the overseer, so that God will pay attention to you. My life for the lives of those who submit to the overseer, to elders, to deacons; and may I be given my portion with them in God. Work side by side, wrestle together, run together, suffer together, sleep together, wake together, as God’s household stewards and assistants and servants. Please the one you are soldiering under, the one you draw your pay from; let none of you be found a deserter. Let your baptism stay on as your weapons, faith as your helmet, love as your spear, endurance as your full suit of armor. Your deposits are your works, so that you may draw the credit you have coming. So be patient with one another, in gentleness, as God is with you. May I have joy of you always. [s]

The church at Antioch in Syria is at peace, as word has reached me, thanks to your prayer; and I too have been cheered, resting in the freedom from worry that God gives — if only by suffering I may reach God, so that at your resurrection I may be found a disciple. It is fitting, Polycarp, most blessed of God, to call a council worthy of God, and to elect by a show of hands someone you are very fond of, a man who does not tire, one who can be called God’s runner. Count him worthy of this: to travel to Syria and give glory to your tireless love, to the glory of God. A Christian has no authority over himself; his time belongs to God. This work is God’s, and it is yours, once you have brought it off. For I trust the grace given you: you are ready for the good work that belongs to God. Knowing how tightly strung you are for the truth, I have urged you on in a few short lines. [u]

I have not been able to write to all the churches, because I am sailing suddenly from Troas to Neapolis, as the will orders. So you are to write to the churches ahead of me, since you have God’s own mind, and have them do the same: those who can, sending men on foot; the rest, sending letters by the men you send. Then you will all be glorified by a work that lasts forever — as you are worthy to be. I greet everyone by name, and the wife of Epitropus along with her whole household and her children. I greet Attalus, my dear friend. I greet the man who is to be counted worthy of going to Syria. Grace will be with him always, and with Polycarp who sends him. I pray that you may keep well always, in our God Jesus Christ. Stay in him, in God’s unity and God’s oversight. I greet Alce, a name I long for. Farewell in the Lord. [x]