To the Romans

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the church that has received mercy in the majesty of the Father Most High and of Jesus Christ his only Son; beloved and enlightened by the will of him who willed all things that exist, according to the love of Jesus Christ our God; the church that presides in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy in purity, and presiding in love, bearing the name of Christ, bearing the name of the Father; which I greet in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. To those who are united in flesh and spirit with every commandment of his, filled with the grace of God without wavering, and filtered clean of every foreign stain: abundant greetings, blamelessly, in Jesus Christ our God.

Since by praying to God I have been granted to see your godly faces, as I had been asking to receive even more (for as a prisoner in Christ Jesus I hope to greet you, if it is his will that I be counted worthy to reach the end);

for the beginning is well ordered, if I obtain the grace to receive my lot without hindrance. For I am afraid of your love, lest it do me wrong. For it is easy for you to do what you want, but it is difficult for me to attain to God, unless you spare me.

For I do not want you to please people, but to please God, as indeed you do. For neither shall I ever have such an opportunity to attain to God, nor can you, if you keep silent, be credited with any better deed. For if you keep silent about me, I shall be a word of God; but if you love my flesh, I shall again be only a voice.

Grant me nothing more than to be poured out as a drink offering to God while an altar is still ready, so that, forming a choir in love, you may sing to the Father in Christ Jesus, because God has counted the bishop of Syria worthy to be found in the west, having summoned him from the east. It is good to set from the world toward God, so that I may rise to him.

You have never envied anyone; you taught others. And I want the things that you command when you make disciples to remain firm.

Only ask on my behalf for power, both inward and outward, so that I may not only speak but also will, so that I may not only be called a Christian but also be found one. For if I am found to be one, I can also be called one, and then be faithful, when I am no longer visible to the world.

Nothing that is visible is good. For our God Jesus Christ, being in the Father, is all the more visible. Christianity is not a work of persuasion but of greatness, whenever it is hated by the world.

I am writing to all the churches and charging them all that I am dying for God of my own free will, unless you hinder me. I urge you: do not become an untimely kindness to me. Let me be food for the wild beasts, through whom I can attain to God. I am God's wheat, and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may be found pure bread of Christ.

Rather, coax the wild beasts, so that they may become my tomb and leave nothing of my body, so that when I have fallen asleep I may not be a burden to anyone. Then I shall truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world will not even see my body. Pray to Christ for me, that through these instruments I may be found a sacrifice.

I do not give you orders as Peter and Paul did. They were apostles; I am a condemned man. They were free; I am to this day a slave. But if I suffer, I shall become a freedman of Jesus Christ, and I shall rise free in him. Now in chains I am learning to desire nothing.

From Syria to Rome I am fighting with wild beasts, by land and sea, by night and day, bound to ten leopards, that is, a detachment of soldiers, who become worse when they are treated kindly. Yet by their wrongs I am becoming more of a disciple; “but I am not justified by this.”

May I have joy of the beasts that have been prepared for me, and I pray that they may be found prompt with me. I will even coax them to devour me promptly, not as with some whom they were afraid to touch. And if they are unwilling and refuse, I myself will force them.

Forgive me; I know what is to my advantage. Now I am beginning to be a disciple. May nothing visible or invisible envy me, so that I may attain to Jesus Christ. Fire and cross and encounters with wild beasts, cuttings and tearings, scattering of bones, mangling of limbs, grinding of the whole body, the cruel tortures of the devil: let them come upon me, only let me attain to Jesus Christ.

The ends of the world will profit me nothing, nor the kingdoms of this age. It is better for me to die for Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. Him I seek, who died for us; him I desire, who rose for our sake. The pains of birth are upon me.

Bear with me, brothers: do not hinder me from living; do not wish me to die. Do not give to the world one who wants to be God's, nor deceive him with material things. Let me receive the pure light; when I arrive there, I shall be a human being.

Allow me to be an imitator of the suffering of my God. If anyone has him within himself, let him understand what I want, and let him sympathize with me, knowing what constrains me.

The ruler of this age wants to snatch me away and to corrupt my purpose toward God. Let none of you who are there help him; rather be on my side, that is, on God's. Do not speak of Jesus Christ while you desire the world.

Let no envy dwell among you. Even if I myself, when I am with you, should plead with you, do not obey me; obey rather what I am writing to you now. For I am writing to you while alive, yet longing to die. My passionate love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me that loves material things, but living water, speaking in me and saying within me, “Come to the Father.”

I take no pleasure in perishable food or in the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I want his blood, which is incorruptible love.

I no longer want to live in a human way. And this will be so if you are willing. Be willing, so that you too may be willed.

In these few lines I ask you: believe me. And Jesus Christ will make it plain to you that I am speaking the truth: he is the unlying mouth by whom the Father has spoken truly.

Pray for me, that I may attain. I have not written to you according to the flesh but according to the mind of God. If I suffer, you willed it; if I am rejected, you hated me.

Remember in your prayer the church in Syria, which has God as its shepherd in my place. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it, and your love.

But I am ashamed to be called one of them, for I am not worthy, being the least of them and one untimely born. But I have received mercy to be someone, if I attain to God.

My spirit greets you, and so does the love of the churches that received me in the name of Jesus Christ, not as a passer-by. For even the churches that did not lie on my route in the flesh went before me from city to city.

I am writing these things to you from Smyrna by the hand of the Ephesians, who are worthy of blessing. With me, among many others, is Crocus, a name dear to me.

As for those who went ahead of me from Syria to Rome for the glory of God, I believe you have come to know them; tell them that I am near. For they are all worthy of God and of you; it is fitting for you to refresh them in every way.

I have written these things to you on the ninth day before the Kalends of September. Farewell to the end, in the endurance of Jesus Christ.