into a sort of deliberative assembly (avfi^ovXiov) to elect ixei-poTovrja-ai) a messenger to go to Antioch (vii. 2 ; cf. Philad. x. 1 and S7nyrn. xi. 2). The church assembles ^Tri rb aiirS, 'in one place': not to come iiri rb aiirb is to show pride and to stand self-condemned (Eph. v. 2) : to come iiri rb airS is to cast down the powers of Satan (xiii. 1). The faithful must give the Gentiles (i6ve(7iv) no occasion to calumniate God's people (rb iv Oeif irX^^oj, Trail. viii. 2) ; they must abide in concord and in common prayer (xii. 2) ; they must flee evil arts (KaKorexvias) ; women must be 'content with their husbands in flesh and in spirit' (Polyc. v. 1). If a Christian desires to abide in chastity to the honour of the flesh of the Lord, he may do so, but on condition that he does it without pride (v. 2 ; this is a some- what remarkable recommendation, as it is a re- pudiation of the Encratite conception of the Chris- tian life). Each church has its widows, whom it has to care for (Polyc. iv. 1 ; Smyrn. xiii. 1). Ignatius recommends that those who marry — male or female — should not enter into wedlock without the consent of the bishop, for marriage should be 'after the Lord and not after concupiscence ' (Polyc. v. 2).
Each church has a bishop at its head ; this is true not only of Antioch, but also of Ephesus (Eph.i. 3), Magnesia (Magn. ii.), Tralles (Tra//. i. 1), Philadelphia (P/u7ac?. i. 1), and Smyrna (5wt/rn. xii. 1). Next to the bishop there is a irpeff^vripiov or group of irpecT^&repoi : SO at Ephesus (Eph. iv. 1, XX. 2), Magnesia (Magn. ii., xiii. 1), Tralles (Trail. ii. 2, xiii. 2), Philadelphia (Philad. vii. 1), and Smyrna (Smyrn. xii. 2). Under the presbyters, there are deacons (Eph. ii. 1, Magn. ii., Trail, ii. 3, iii. 1, vii. 2, Philad., subscr., vii. 1, x. 1, Smyrn. viii. 1, xii. 2).
The Epistles are a perpetual appeal to unity on the part of the Christian community by submission to the deacons, the presbytery, and the bishop. Ignatius writes to the Ephesians : ' I have received your whole multitude (iroXwX-nOlav vfiQv) in the person of Onesimus' (Eph. i. 3). They will be sanctified if they submit to their bishop and pres- bytery (ii. 2), if they and their bishop have but one thought, if their presbytery is united to the bishop as ' its strings to a lyre ' (iv. 1). The bishop is to be regarded as the steward, whom the pro- prietor (olKodeffTrdTrjs} has entrusted with the manage- ment of his house (ohovofxiav) ; and even as the Master Himself (vi. 1). In Magn. (ii.) Ignatius commends Zotion the Deacon for submitting ' to the bishop as unto the grace of God and to the presbytery as unto tlie law of Jesus Clirist.' The presbyters, again, are subject to their bishop, how- ever young he may be (iii. 1). The bishop is but the visible bishop ; above him is the invisible Bishop, God the Father, the universal Bishop (6 TT&vTuv iTrlcTKOTrot, iii. 1, 2). The bishop presides, and thus takes the place of God ; the presbyters represent the council (awiSpiov) of the apostles ; the deacons are entrusted with the diaconate of Jesus Christ (vi. 1 : ' a service under Jesus Christ ' [Lightfoot, ii. 120]). The Magnesians are to con- tinue in union with their revered bishop, and ' with the fitly wreathed spiritual circlet of the presbytery, and with the deacons who walk after God ' (xiii. 1). The same advice is found again in Trail, (ii. 1-2, iii. 1, xii. 2, xiii. 2), Philad. (ii. 1, iii. 2, vii. 1), and Smyrn. (viii. 1, xii. 2).
The ecclesiology of Ignatius does not regard union and discipline merely as a means of sancti- fication but as the condition of Christianity. Some call tiieir chief 'bishop,' but 'in everything act apart from him,' and 'do not assemble themselves togetiier lawfully according to commandment' (/^ij /3e/3afws Kar ivToKrjv avvadpol^ecOai, Magn. iv.). ' Neither do ye anything M-ithout the bishop and the presbyters' (vii. 1). Apart from the bishop,
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the presbytery, and the deacons, ' there is not even the name of a church ' (x^pis Totjruv iKKXrjala ov KoXeirai, Trail, iii. 1). Similar declarations may be found in Philad. (iii. 2). To the Smyrnseans Ignatius writes (viii. 1-2) : 'Let no man do aught of things pertaining to the Church apart from the bishop. Let that be held a valid (^e^aia) eucharist which is under the bishop or one to whom he shall have committed it. Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people (ttX^^os) be. . . . It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to baptize or to hold a love-feast' {dyd-m] ; i.e. 'eucharist'). The Letter to Polycarp contains a still more striking piece of advice : ' Please the Captain in whose army ye serve, from whom also ye will receive your pay. Let none of you be found a deserter' (vi. 2).
A. Michiels (L'Origine de Vipiscopat, Louvain, 1900, pp. 396-98) has tried to show that Ignatius regards this three-grade hierarchy — ' and notably the episcopate' — as of Divine institution. But Ignatius does not look at the problem from this point of view at all. He regards the Church as a sort of extension of the gospel by the apostles : ' I take refuge in the gospel as the flesh of Jesus and in the Apostles as the presbytery of the Church ' {Philad. V. 1). The Church is the visible realiza- tion of salvation : ' For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ, they are with the bishop ; and as many as shall repent and enter into the unity of the Church, these also shall be of God, that they may be living after Jesus Christ' (iii. 2). And 'if any man followeth one that maketh a schism (o-X^fovrt), he doth not inherit the Kingdom of God. If any man walketh in strange doctrine (iv dWoTpiq. yvdjiirj irepcTrarel) he hath no fellowship with the passion' (iii. 3). This is equivalent to saying that union with the local church, under the authority of the bishop, is the sine qua non for justification by the blood of Christ, for inheriting the Kingdom of God, and for life after Jesus Christ. Union with the Church is thus not a matter of ecclesiastical law or of individual choice, but one condition of salvation. If this is the view taken by Ignatius, how could he help believing that the visible and hierarchical Church was instituted by the will of God ? ' He has an intensely clear perception that the mind of God for man's salvation has expressed itself not in any mere doctrine but in a divinely instituted society with a divinely authorized liier- archy. This is the mind of God ... so clearly that he who would . . . run in harmony with the divine purpose must perforce have merged his individuality in the fellowship of the Church and submitted his wilfulness to her government' (C. Gore, The Ministry of fh6 Christian Church-, London, 1888-89, p. 299).