Sophia Scriptura

To the Ephesians 1.3

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

Summary: Ignatius has met the whole church in its bishop, Onesimus.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:174

ἐπεὶ οὖν τὴν πολυπλήθειαν ὑμῶν ἐν ὀνόματι θεοῦ ἀπείληφα ἐν Ὀνησίμῳ, τῷ ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἀδιηγήτῳ, ὑμῶν δὲ ἐπισκόπῳ, ὃν εὔχομαι κατὰ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ὑμᾶς ἀγαπᾶν καὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς αὐτῷ ἐν ὁμοιότητι εἶναι. εὐλογητὸς γὰρ ὁ χαρισάμενος ὑμῖν ἀξίοις οὖσι τοιοῦτον ἐπίσκοπον κεκτῆσθαι.

English · Claude translation

Since, then, I have received your whole congregation in God's name in Onesimus, a man of love beyond words and your bishop, I pray that you love him according to Jesus Christ and that all of you be like him. For blessed is he who granted you, being worthy, to have such a bishop.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:174 · 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 5:645a (found by text match)
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.
Topics
Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • Some have identified this Onesimus with the slave of Paul's letter to Philemon; there is no evidence either way.
  • Other editions and older translations (e.g. the Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1885) read “your bishop in the flesh” (ἐν σαρκί); the digital text of Lake used here lacks the phrase.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong accent)): ὄν εὔχομαι → ὃν εὔχομαι.

Cite this passage

Ign. Eph. 1.3 (PG 5:645a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-ephesians/1/3/).

Plain text
Ign. Eph. 1.3 (PG 5:645a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-ephesians/1/3/).

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