Early Christian writings · 21 chapters
Ignatius to the Ephesians
Ignatius encourages unity, prayer, shared worship and faith in Jesus Christ, and reflects on the church's relationship with its bishop.
Place in the traditions
One of the seven letters in the collection commonly called the middle recension of Ignatius. Included for historical study, with the source's attribution retained.
Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers: source collectionThe edition you are reading
J. B. Lightfoot's historic English translation, transcribed by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library from a 1956 reprint and identified there as public domain. Source chapter divisions are retained. The reader numbers successive source paragraphs within each chapter; these locators may differ from section numbers in other editions. Opening greetings appear separately and do not change chapter numbering. Editorial footnotes are omitted; the source remains available for comparison.
Lightfoot's text at CCELBookmarks, highlights, notes and offline saving work in this collection. Verse comparisons appear when more than one edition is available. The existing cross-reference and Strong's datasets cover the original 66-book collection.
Opening greeting
Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her which hath been blessed in greatness through the plentitude of God the Father; which hath been foreordained before the ages to be forever and unto abiding and unchangeable glory, united and elect in a true passion, by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God; even unto the church which is at Ephesus [of Asia], worthy of all felicitation; abundant greeting in Christ Jesus and in blameless joy.