A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

42 A Source Book for Ancient Church HistoryCh. 20. … Especially [will I write again] if the Lord makeknown to me that ye all, man by man, through grace given toeach, agree in one faith and in Jesus Christ, who was of thefamily of David according to the flesh, the Son of Man and theSon of God, so that ye obey the bishop and the presbytery withan undivided mind, breaking one bread, which is the medicine ofimmortality, and the antidote to prevent dying, but which is lifeforever in Jesus Christ.(b) Ignatius, Ep. ad Smyrnæos, 7.The following passage may be regarded as a parallel to partof the preceding extract from the same writer's Epistle to theEphesians.They abstain from the eucharist and from prayer, because theyconfess not that the eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour JesusChrist, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of Hisgoodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak againstthis gift of God, die while disputing. But it were better for themto love it, that they also may rise again. It is fitting, therefore, thatye should keep aloof from such persons, and not speak of themeither in private or public, but to give heed to the prophets and,above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion has been revealedto us and the resurrection fully proved. But avoid all divisions asthe beginning of evils.[032](c) Ignatius, Ep. ad Trallianos, 9, 10.The heresy which the writer fears is that known as Docetism,which denied the reality of the body of Jesus. Reference ismade to it in the New Testament, I John 4:2. It was basedupon the same philosophical idea as much of the later Gnosticspeculation, that matter is essentially evil, and therefore a