The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Summary

The Epistle to Polycarp was written c. 107–110 AD by St. Ignatius from Troas, his last stop before sailing on toward martyrdom in Rome. Unlike his letters to whole churches, this one is addressed to a single man—St. Polycarp, the young Bishop of Smyrna—and reads as a father’s charge to a son in the faith, a manual on the pastoral duties of the episcopate.

Historical Context

Hosted by the Smyrnaeans on his way west, Ignatius came to know and love their bishop, Polycarp, himself a disciple of the Apostle John. From Troas the aged martyr wrote back to encourage the younger shepherd and to ask him to send letters ahead on his behalf. Polycarp would treasure and gather Ignatius’s epistles, and decades later crown his own witness in the flames as a martyr of Smyrna.

Theological Significance

  • The Bishop as Physician of Souls: Ignatius counsels Polycarp to “bear the infirmities of all” and to treat each soul individually—“every kind of wound is not healed with the same plaster.” Orthodox pastoral theology inherits this vision of the bishop and priest as a spiritual healer who applies the Church’s medicine with discernment (diakrisis) to each person.

  • Vigilance and Ascetic Struggle: The letter’s athletic imagery—“be sober as an athlete of God,” “stand firm as an anvil which is beaten”—frames the Christian and pastoral life as unceasing askesis, whose prize is “immortality and eternal life,” the goal of deification (theosis).

  • Order Under the Bishop: Ignatius insists that nothing in the Church’s life—including marriage—be done “without the bishop,” and that widows, slaves, and the whole flock be sought out “by name.” This is the concrete face of his Eucharistic ecclesiology: the visible unity of the Body is guarded through communion with the bishop.

  • The Incarnation as Ground of the Cure: Even in a practical letter, Ignatius grounds all in Christ, “who became visible for our sakes; impalpable and impassible, yet who became passible on our account.” The pastor’s care of souls is possible only because God has truly entered our suffering flesh.

  1. 0. Greeting
  2. 1. Commendation and exhortation
  3. 2. Exhortations
  4. 3. Exhortations
  5. 4. Exhortations
  6. 5. The duties of husbands and wives
  7. 6. The duties of the Christian flock
  8. 7. Request that Polycarp would send a messenger to Antioch
  9. 8. Let other churches also send to Antioch

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to Polycarp, Bishop of the Church of the Smyrnæans, or rather, who has, as his own bishop, God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ: (wishes) abundance of happiness.