Sophia Scriptura

To the Ephesians 5.2

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

Summary: Whoever stays away from the church's gathering lacks the bread of God.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:178

μηδεὶς πλανάσθω· ἐὰν μή τις ᾖ ἐντὸς τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ὑστερεῖται τοῦ ἄρτου τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰ γὰρ ἑνὸς καὶ δευτέρου προσευχὴ τοσαύτην ἰσχὺν ἔχει, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἥ τε τοῦ ἐπισκόπου καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας;

English · Claude translation

Let no one be deceived: if anyone is not within the sanctuary, he lacks the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two has such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole church?

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:178 · 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 5:649a (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
Eucharist, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Sanctuary” (θυσιαστηρίου): literally “place of sacrifice, altar”; here the gathered church around its bishop.
  • “The bread of God” (John 6:33) probably refers to the Eucharist.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong breathing)): ἑὰν μή → ἐὰν μή.

Cite this passage

Ign. Eph. 5.2 (PG 5:649a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-ephesians/5/2/).

Plain text
Ign. Eph. 5.2 (PG 5:649a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-ephesians/5/2/).

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