Apocrypha
Ignatius to the Magnesians
Apostolic Father
15 chapters · read and listen
Reading note
An apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text — outside the canon of the Western churches, yet widely circulated among ancient Jews and Christians. Published here from a public-domain translation, edited for continuous reading.
Chapters
Dossier
The letter in which Ignatius asks the church at Magnesia not to be drawn back into old ways — and records, in passing, the shift from the Sabbath to the Lord's day.
Where this text comes from
Greek, around AD 107-110, written on the same journey as the other six.
Why it is not in the Bible
Patristic literature, outside any canon.
What you will find
- The passage about living no longer according to the Sabbath but according to the Lord's day is one of the earliest Christian references to Sunday.
- Ignatius insists that the local bishop's youth does not lessen his authority.
- The warning against Judaism practised without Christ is made without hostility to the Jewish people, which sets it apart from later texts.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this letter prove Christians already kept Sunday in the 2nd century?
- It is one of the earliest witnesses in that direction. The phrase is brief and its translation is debated, but the standard reading is that the community already organised the week around the Lord's day.