Chapter VIII.--Exhortations to the presbyters and others.
Ye presbyters, "feed the flock which is among you," [1247] till God shall show who is to hold the rule over you. For "I am now ready to be offered," [1248] that I "may win Christ." [1249] Let the deacons know of what dignity they are, and let them study to be blameless, that they may be the followers of Christ. Let the people be subject to the presbyters and the deacons. Let the virgins know to whom they have consecrated themselves.
[1247] 1 Pet. v. 2.
[1248] 2 Tim. iv. 6.
[1249] Phil. iii. 8.
Chapter IX.--Duties of husbands, wives, parents, and children.
Let the husbands love their wives, remembering that, at the creation, one woman, and not many, was given to one man. Let the wives honour their husbands, as their own flesh; and let them not presume to address them by their names. [1250] Let them also be chaste, reckoning their husbands as their only partners, to whom indeed they have been united according to the will of God. Ye parents, impart a holy training to your children. Ye children, "honour your parents, that it may be well with you." [1251]
[1250] Comp. 1 Pet. iii. 6.
[1251] Eph. vi. 1, 3.
Chapter X.--Duties of masters and servants.
Ye masters, do not treat your servants with haughtiness, but imitate patient Job, who declares, "I did not despise [1252] the cause [1253] of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me. For what in that case shall I do when the Lord makes an inquisition regarding me?" [1254] And you know what follows. Ye servants, do not provoke your masters to anger in anything, lest ye become the authors of incurable mischiefs to yourselves.
[1252] Literally, "If I did despise."
[1253] Or, "judgment."
[1254] Job xxxi. 13, 14.
Chapter XI.--Inculcation of various moral duties.
Let no one addicted to idleness eat, [1255] lest he become a wanderer about, and a whoremonger. Let drunkenness, anger, envy, reviling, clamour, and blasphemy "be not so much as named among you." [1256] Let not the widows live a life of pleasure, lest they wax wanton against the word. [1257] Be subject to Cæsar in everything in which subjection implies no [spiritual] danger. Provoke not those that rule over you to wrath, that you may give no occasion against yourselves to those that seek for it. But as to the practice of magic, or the impure love of boys, or murder, it is superfluous to write to you, since such vices are forbidden to be committed even by the Gentiles. I do not issue commands on these points as if I were an apostle; but, as your fellow-servant, I put you in mind of them.
[1255] Comp. 2 Thess. iii. 10.
[1256] Eph. v. 3.
[1257] 1 Tim. v. 6, 11.
Chapter XII.--Salutations.
I salute the holy presbytery. I salute the sacred deacons, and that person most dear to me, [1258] whom may I behold, through the Holy Spirit, occupying my place when I shall attain to Christ. My soul be in place of his. I salute the sub-deacons, the readers, the singers, the doorkeepers, the labourers, [1259] the exorcists, the confessors. [1260] I salute the keepers of the holy gates, the deaconesses in Christ. I salute the virgins betrothed to Christ, of whom may I have joy in the Lord Jesus. [1261] I salute the people of the Lord, from the smallest to the greatest, and all my sisters in the Lord.
[1258] Literally, "the name desirable to me," referring to Hero the deacon.
[1259] A class of persons connected with the Church, whose duty it was to bury the bodies of the martyrs and others.
[1260] Such as voluntarily confessed Christ before Gentile rulers.
[1261] Some insert here a clause referring to widows.
Chapter XIII.--Salutations continued.
I salute Cassian and his partner in life, and their very dear children. Polycarp, that most worthy bishop, who is also deeply interested in you, salutes you; and to him I have commended you in the Lord. The whole Church of the Smyrnæans, indeed, is mindful of you in their prayers in the Lord. Onesimus, the pastor of the Ephesians, salutes you. Damas, [1262] the bishop of Magnesia, salutes you. Polybius, bishop of the Trallians, salutes you. Philo and Agathopus, the deacons, my companions, salute you, "Salute one another with a holy kiss."
[1262] Or, as some read, "Demas."
[1263] 2 Cor. xiii. 12.