Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Bishop

"For when you submit to the bishops as to Jesus Christ, I see you living, not as men live, but as Jesus Christ, who died for you, wants. Believing in his death, you escape death. You must do nothing without the bishop, as indeed you do. You must also submit to the presbyterium as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope....You will succeed if you remain inseparable from Jesus Christ in God and from the bishop and the commands of the Apostles. The person with the sanctuary is pure but the person who is outside is not; i.e. he who acts without the bishop, presbyters, and deacons, is the one whose conscience is not clear."

-St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians.

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