Sophia Scriptura

To Polycarp 3.2

Ignatius of Antioch · To Polycarp · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Troas · Read in context

Summary: Ignatius points to Christ, eternal and invisible, who became visible and suffered for us.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:270

πλέον σπουδαῖος γίνου οὗ εἶ. τοὺς καιροὺς καταμάνθανε. τὸν ὑπὲρ καιρὸν προσδόκα, τὸν ἄχρονον, τὸν ἀόρατον, τὸν διʼ ἡμᾶς ὁρατόν, τὸν ἀψηλάφητον, τὸν ἀπαθῆ, τὸν διʼ ἡμᾶς παθητόν, τὸν κατὰ πάντα τρόπον διʼ ἡμᾶς ὑπομείναντα.

English · Claude translation

Be more diligent than you are. Understand the times. Look for the one who is above time, the timeless, the invisible, who became visible for our sake; the one who cannot be touched, who cannot suffer, who became subject to suffering for our sake; who endured in every way for our sake.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:270 · 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 5:721b (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.
Scripture
Topics
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Who cannot suffer” (ἀπαθῆ) … “subject to suffering” (παθητόν): the same paradox appears in Ign. Eph. 7.2; Ignatius insists against the docetists that the eternal one truly suffered.

Cite this passage

Ign. Pol. 3.2 (PG 5:721b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/3/2/).

Plain text
Ign. Pol. 3.2 (PG 5:721b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/3/2/).

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