Sophia Scriptura

To Polycarp 4.3

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

Summary: Slaves and masters should both avoid pride; slaves should seek God's freedom rather than church-funded release.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:272

δούλους καὶ δούλας μὴ ὑπερηφάνει· ἀλλὰ μηδὲ αὐτοὶ φυσιούσθωσαν, ἀλλʼ εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πλέον δουλευέτωσαν, ἵνα κρείττονος ἐλευθερίας ἀπὸ θεοῦ τύχωσιν. μὴ ἐράτωσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ ἐλευθεροῦσθαι, ἵνα μὴ δοῦλοι εὑρεθῶσιν ἐπιθυμίας.

English · Claude translation

Do not be arrogant toward male and female slaves; but neither let them be puffed up. Rather, let them serve all the more to the glory of God, so that they may obtain a better freedom from God. Let them not desire to be set free at the common expense, so that they may not be found slaves of desire.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:272 · 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 5:724a (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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • “At the common expense” (ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ): from the church's common fund, which was evidently used to buy the freedom of Christian slaves.

Cite this passage

Ign. Pol. 4.3 (PG 5:724a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/4/3/).

Plain text
Ign. Pol. 4.3 (PG 5:724a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/4/3/).

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