3.1 Having exhorted the
deacons to please everyone, Ignatius then goes on to state the corollary (such
is the force of the word “similarly” here) in calling on everyone to respect
the deacons. The remark is unusual in that it compares the deacons with Jesus
Christ (see on Mag. 6.1). There is no
compelling reason to reject the line on textual grounds, and thus it properly
serves to underscore the tentative character of all such comparisons in
Ignatius (especially since it comes so soon after the comparison between the
bishop and Christ in Tr. 2.1). The
choice of language here was probably determined by the immediate context.
Ignatius expresses himself more forcefully than usual to offset any possible
negative impressions left by his preceding comments on the deacons of Tralles.
At this point Ignatius is driven to add to the remark about the deacons
another about the bishop and elders. Having effected the addition by means of
the conjunction ὡς (“as”), that word is no
longer available to him in making the comparison between the bishop and the
Father. Instead, Ignatius resorts to speaking of the bishop as the τύπος (“type,” “image,” “copy”) of the Father.
Since both Barnabas (19.7) and the Didache (4.11) speak of the master as “a
type of God” to the slave, the meaning of the comparison does not go beyond
what we have set out above in our discussion of Eph. 6.1, Mag. 3.1 and
6.1. Authority is enhanced by such comparisons but not divinized.
The comparison involving the presbyters is more complex than usual. They
are likened to the council of God and the band of apostles. Elsewhere the two
expressions are collapsed into one—the council of the apostles (Mag. 6.1). The double formula makes more
explicit the hierarchical relation involved. “God” in the expression “council
of God” must correspond to the bishop (note that we hear of the “council” of
the bishop in Phd. 8.1). Evidently
Ignatius wants not only to compare the presbyters to the council of apostles
but also to compare the relation between God and the apostles to that between
the bishop and the presbyters. We have found other examples of such comparisons
within comparisons (see on Mag. 6.1).
However subordinate to the bishop Ignatius makes the presbyters and
deacons, here he is explicit in recognizing no church without the existence of
all three. He must have found them in place wherever he went to make this
statement in the matter-of-fact way that he does. It is only his exaltation of
the role of the bishop that sometimes strikes us as going beyond what was
commonly accepted. (William R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch
[Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1985], 141-42)
Schoedel rendered To the Trallians 3:1 as:
Similarly let everyone respect
the deacons as Jesus Christ, as also the bishop who is a type of the Father,
and the presbyters as the council of God and as the band of the apostles.
Nothing can be called a church without these (Ibid., 140)
Here is the entry under “συνέδριον” in Lampe’s patristic
lexicon (emphasis added):
συνέδριον, τό, A. council; 1. prob. of Jewish sanhedrin, Pss.Sal.4:1; 2. of college of presbyters as bishop’s council τῶν πρεσβυτέρων εἰς τύπον συνεδρίου τῶν ἀποστόλων Ign.Magn.6.1; τοὺς
… πρεσβυτέρους ὡς σ. θεοῦ
id.Trall.3.1; ἐὰν μετανοήσωμεν εἰς ἑνότητα θεοῦ καὶ σ.
τοῦ ἐπισκόπου id.Philad.8.1; ὁ καθεζόμενος ἐν πρεσβυτερίῳ συνειδότι μεμιασμένος … τὸ Χριστοῦ μολύνων σ. Or.fr.50 in Jer.36:21(p.223.23; M.13.580a);
Const.App.2.28.4 cit. s. βουλή; 3. σ. ἐπισκόπων council, synod ὅτι δ ἂν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις τῶν ἐπισκόπων σ. πράττηται, τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν θείαν βούλησιν ἔχει τὴν ἀναφοράν
Const.ap.Eus.v.C.3.20(p.87.11;
M.20.1080a); Jo.Ant.ep.pop.CP(p.129.9;
M.83.1449b); cf. τοῦ ἀρχιερατικοῦ σ. Thdt.ep.42(4.1100); abs. ποία … σύνοδος ἐπισκόπων ἦν τότε;
ποῖον σ. ἀληθείας ἐχόμενον; CAlex.ep.ap.Ath.apol.sec.8(p.94.5; M.25.261c); Ath.syn.1(p.231.9; M.26.681a); Pall.v.Chrys.3(p.16.10; M.47.12); Philost.h.e.2.7,11(M.65.472a,473b); σ. ποιέω, Gr.Naz.or.27.9(p.16.5;
M.36.24a); σ. συγκροτέω, Pall.v.Chrys.7(p.38.11; M.47.23); σ. καθίζω Philost.h.e.8.4(M.65.560a); of a council lacking
proper eccl. authority τῷ τῆς ἀποστασίας σ. CEph.(431)can.1,2; hence a. session, meeting of a
council τὸ σ. τῆς συνόδου συνεκροτεῖτο CArim.ep.Const.1
ap.Ath.syn.10(p.237.23,35;
M.26.697a,b); Acac.Mel.hom.(p.90.9;
M.77.1468a); b. council-chamber ἵνʼ
… αὐθαίρετος εἰσέλθῃ εἰς τὸ σ. Pall.v.Chrys.4(p.22.20; M.47.15); ib.8(p..45.24,46.12,15;
M.47.27); Thdt.haer.4.2(4.353).
B. of non-legislative assemblies; 1. any public gathering,
concourse, Clem.paed.3.11(p.278.27;
M.8.656a); 2. assembly, congregation; a.
as signifying whole body of Jews or Christians καταλέλοιπε … ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ Ἰουδαίων σ. καὶ ἄλλο σ. καὶ ἐκκλησίαν ἑαυτῷ πεποίηκε τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν Or.hom.14.15 in Jer.(p.122.1;
M.13.423c); ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ σ. τοῦ λοιμικοῦ, καὶ περιέτυχε τῇ σωτηρίῳ πηγῇ Chrys.hom.59.1 in Jo.(8.344d); ἐξεβάλλετο … τοῦ κοινοῦ σ. id.hom.5.2 in 1Tim.(11.576f); b. local assembly or congregation ἄνδρες οἱ ἐλθόντες εἰς τὸ σ. τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θέλοντες εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν πιστεῦσαι A.Thom.A
37(p.154.19); of gatherings of Ophites, Or.Cels.6.28(p.98.19;
M.11.1336b); of other heretics οἴκους,
ἐν οἷς τὰ σ. ταῦτα πληροῦτε Const.ap.Eus.v.C.3.65(p.112.12;
M.20.1141a); c. of the building,
whether church ὅπως ἁγίων ἀνθρώπων ἄξιον σ. ἀποδειχθῇ Const.ib.3.53(p.100.27;
1116a); or conventicle τὰ τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ὑμῶν σ. Const.ib.3.65(p.112.28; 1141c). (“συνέδριον,” in A Patristic Greek Lexicon, ed. G. W. H. Lampe [Oxford: At The
Clarendon Press, 1961], 1314-15)