To the Smyrnaeans 8.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:260

ὅπου ἂν φανῇ ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, ἐκεῖ τὸ πλῆθος ἤτω, ὥσπερ ὅπου ἂν ᾖ Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ἐκεῖ ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία. οὐκ ἐξόν ἐστιν χωρὶς τοῦ ἐπισκόπου οὔτε βαπτίζειν οὔτε ἀγάπην ποιεῖν· ἀλλʼ ὃ ἂν ἐκεῖνος δοκιμάσῃ, τοῦτο καὶ τῷ θεῷ εὐάρεστον, ἵνα ἀσφαλὲς ᾖ καὶ βέβαιον πᾶν ὃ πράσσετε.

English · Claude translation

Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church. It is not permitted either to baptize or to hold a love feast without the bishop; but whatever he approves is also pleasing to God, so that everything you do may be secure and valid.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 24:260 · 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 5:713b (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.

Topics

Church office, Baptism, Eucharist

Notes

Translation notes

“The catholic church” (ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία): the earliest surviving use of the phrase; here “the universal, whole church.”
“Love feast” (ἀγάπην): the church's common meal, probably including the Eucharist (see the glossary).

Cite this passage

Ign. Smyrn. 8.2 (PG 5:713b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-smyrnaeans/8/2/).

Plain text

Ign. Smyrn. 8.2 (PG 5:713b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-smyrnaeans/8/2/).