The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians
The ‘authentic’ epistles of Ignatius[i]
have come to us in two languages – Latin and Greek – and they have come to us
in two versions of differing lengths – a shorter and a longer version. The difference between the shorter and longer
version is especially noticeable in the epistle to the Philadelphians, though
it’s still not clear whether the shorter version is a summery of the longer or
if the longer is an expansion of the shorter.
And this difference in length is especially noticeable in chapter
VI. In this chapter Ignatius provides
his readers with a list of heresies and how to identify them. In the longer version this list includes six
different groups, the shorter only one.
The shorter versions list[ii]
of heretics to avoid mentions only the Jew, described here as “a liar even
as also is his father the devil.”[iii] Again, the tradition that connects Ignatius
to the Apostle John may be confirmed in the use of this phrase.
The longer version list of heresies, in addition to the Jew,
also includes the disciples of Simon Magus, Ebionites, Gnostics (maybe),
Docetists, and the so-called “Nicolaitians.”
If anyone confesses that Christ Jesus is the Lord but deniest the God of the law and the prophets saying that the Father of Christ is not the maker of heaven and earth, he has not continued in the truth any more than his father the devil, and is a disciple of Simon Magus, not of the Holy Spirit.
If anyone says there is one God and also confesses Christ Jesus, but thinks the Lord to be a mere man, and not the only-begotten God, and Wisdom and the Word of God, and deems Him to consist merely of a soul and body, such a one is a serpent, that preaches deceit and error for the destruction of man. And such a man is poor in understanding, even as by name he is an Ebionite.”
If anyone confesses the truths mentioned but calls lawful wedlock and the procreation of children destruction and pollution, or deem certain kinds of food abominable, such a one has the apostate dragon within him.
I’m not sure who Ignatius is referring to here.
If I had to guess, it sounds something like a Gnostic dualism in which
things of a spiritual nature are all good and pure and things of a physical
nature (eating, marriage, procreation, etc…) are to be avoided.
If anyone confesses the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost and praises the creation but calls the incarnation merely an appearance, and is ashamed of the passion, such an one has denied the faith, not less than the Jews who killed Christ.
Ignatius really had strong feelings about the Jews and the Docetists;
he refers to these two groups in several of his letters.[iv]
If anyone confesses these things and that God the Word did dwell in a human body, being within it as the Word, even as the soul also in the body, because it was God that inhabited it and not a human soul, but affirms that unlawful unions are a good thing and places the highest happiness in pleasure, as does the man who is falsely called a Nicolaitan, this person can neither be a lover of God nor a lover of Christ, but is a corrupter of his own flesh, and therefore void of the Holy Spirit and a stranger to Christ.
Again, it’s unclear who the Nicolaitans (first mentioned in
Revelation 2:6 and 15) were or what they taught – and it’s further unclear who
Ignatius’ “so-called Nicolaitans” were – but it seems that they encouraged a
less rigid interpretation of sexual mores than Ignatius was comfortable with.
These heresies / heterodoxies all look a lot like
Christianity; they each have facets of the whole truth (as Ignatius understands
it) but the differences, the variations they introduce into the faith are
significant enough to Ignatius for him to describe their followers as “monuments
and sepulchers of the dead upon which are written only the names of dead men.”
[v]
Ignatius encourages his readers in Philadelphia to “…be ye all joined
together with an undivided heart and a willing mind, ‘being of one accord and
one judgment,’ being always of the same opinion about the same things…”[vi]
But is this even possible?
The history of Christianity (and, perhaps we could add, the history of
any religion) would seem to indicate: No.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnæans
Ignatius affirms that the Christians in Smyrna are doing very well. “For I have observed that ye are perfected
in an unmovable faith as if ye were nailed to the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ both in the flesh and in the spirit…” [vii] But
even so, his three themes pervade this brief epistle.
The heresy addressed in his letter to Smyrna is, once again, Docetism – the idea
that Jesus only ‘appeared’ as a human. His suffering and death were not real
but only an illusion, they only seemed to be real.
But Ignatius refuses to call out by name those who are
teaching this heresy, “inasmuch as they are unbelievers; and far be it from
me to make any mention of them until they repent.” [viii]
This was not his thinking when he wrote to the Trallians (LINK).
Though he won’t call them by name, he does refer to them as “beasts in the shape of men”[ix] and “offspring of that spirit who is the author of all evil,” [x] and he encourages his readers to flee from people like this, people that would cause schisms within the church.
Though he won’t call them by name, he does refer to them as “beasts in the shape of men”[ix] and “offspring of that spirit who is the author of all evil,” [x] and he encourages his readers to flee from people like this, people that would cause schisms within the church.
The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp
This letter differs from the others in that it is written to
an individual rather than a church – and to an individual that Ignatius seems
to know personally. The letter is warm
and friendly and filled with advice for his friend and fellow bishop. And even in this more personal communication,
Ignatius’ three themes are present.
“Seek by meekness to subdue the more troublesome
[disciples].” [xi]
“Let not those who seem worthy of credit, but teach
strange doctrine, fill thee with apprehension.
Stand firm as does an anvil which is beaten. It is the part of a noble athlete to be
bruised and yet to conquer.” [xii]
“Labor together with one another, strive in company
together, run together, suffer together, sleep together, and awake together as
the stewards and associates and servants
of God…Let your baptism endure as your arms, your faith as your helmet, your
love as your spear, your patience as a complete panoply.” [xiii]
[i] As
opposed to the spurious ones that were added later, perhaps in the 6th
century CE
[ii] Can one
entry be called a ‘list’?
[iii] The
Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians Chap. VI
[iv] Ignatius frequently mentions the Jews and the
Docetists – but not these other heresies.
This might suggest that the longer version of this letter is later
expansion of Ignatius original – shorter – letter.
[v] Chap. VI
[vi] Chap.
VI
[vii] The
Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnæans Chap. I
[viii] Chap. V
[ix] Chap IV
[x] Chap VII
[xi] The
Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp Chap. II
[xii] Chap.
III
[xiii] Chap.
VI
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