Primary source · Koine Greek

The Seven Epistles of Ignatius

Ignatius of Antioch · c. AD 107–110, on the road to martyrdom

Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne) — manuscript witness to The Seven Epistles of Ignatius
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne) — 1857Eastern Orthodox St. Fathers · Public domain · Commons
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Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne) — manuscript witness to The Seven Epistles of Ignatius

Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne) — 1857Eastern Orthodox St. Fathers · Public domain · Commons

What this text is

The six church-letters and the note to Polycarp written under guard — Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, Polycarp — with the first surviving use of the phrase ‘the catholic church.’ (His letter to Rome has its own reader.)

Profile of Ignatius of Antioch →

Interlinear passages

Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.

To the Ephesians 1 — Onesimus · Ephesians 19.1 — the hidden mysteries
ΚαὶAndἔλαθενwas hidden fromτὸνtheἄρχονταprinceτοῦofαἰῶνοςageτούτουthisἡtheπαρθενίαvirginityΜαρίας.of Mary
To the Smyrnaeans 8 — the catholic church
ὅπουwhereverἂν—ᾖisΧριστὸςChristἸησοῦς,Jesus,ἐκεῖthereἡ[is] theκαθολικὴcatholicἐκκλησία.church
To the Trallians 9 — truly born, truly crucified
ἀληθῶςtrulyἐγεννήθη,he was born,ἀληθῶςtrulyἐδιώχθηwas persecutedἐπὶunderΠοντίουPontiusΠιλάτου,Pilate,ἀληθῶςtrulyἐσταυρώθη.was crucified

Public-domain translations

J. B. Lightfoot (1885)

And hidden from the prince of this world were the virginity of Mary and her child-bearing and likewise also the death of the Lord — three mysteries to be cried aloud… Wheresoever Jesus Christ is, there is the universal Church.

Roberts–Donaldson (ANF, 1885)

Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world… Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. He was truly born, truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, truly crucified and died.

Manuscript witnesses

Codex Mediceus Laurentianus 57.7 (Florence)

11th c.

The middle recension of six letters — the codex from which Voss printed the authentic Ignatius in 1646.

PRINCIPAL WITNESS

Papyrus Berlin 10581 (Smyrnaeans fragments)

5th c.

Coptic-era papyrus scraps, the oldest physical carrier of any Ignatian text.

EARLIEST FRAGMENT

Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne)

1857

Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.

PRINTED PROXY

Provenance

Smyrna and Troas, c. AD 107; collected by Polycarp within months

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Figures named in this text (20)

Complete public-domain text ↗