Chapter I.

Inasmuch as your name, which is greatly beloved, is acceptable to me in God, [your name] which ye have acquired by nature, through a right and just will, and also by the faith and love of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and ye are imitators of God, and are fervent in the blood of God, and have speedily completed a work congenial to you; [for] when ye heard that I was bound,^11481148    Literally, “bound from actions.” so as to be able to do nothing for the sake of the common name and hope (and I hope, through your prayers, that I may be devoured by beasts at Rome, so that by means of this of which I have been accounted worthy, I may be endowed with strength to be a disciple of God), ye were diligent to come and see me. Seeing, then, that we have become acquainted with your multitude^11491149    Cureton renders, “have received your abundance,” probably referring the words to gifts sent by the Ephesians to Ignatius. in the name of God, by Onesimus, who is your bishop, in love which is unutterable, whom I pray that ye love in Jesus Christ our Lord, and that all of you imitate his example,^11501150    Literally, “be in his image.” for blessed is He who has given you such a bishop, even as ye deserve [to have].^11511151    There is no Apodosis, unless it be found in what follows.