The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
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Ignatius of Antioch
AD 108
My soul be for yours, when I attain to Jesus. Remember my bonds.
I have sent you this letter through Euphanius the reader, a man honoured of God, and very faithful, happening to meet with him at Rhegium, just as he was going on board ship. Remember my bonds
Hear Paul’s chains, and you will understand that to be in affliction is no proof of being forsaken. Would you wear silken robes? Remember Paul’s chains, and these fine clothes will appear to you more worthless than the rags of a menstruating woman. Would you array yourself with gold trinkets? Listen in your mind to Paul’s chains, and trinkets will seem to you no better than a withered bulrush…. Would you daub yourself with pastes and pigments and similar things? Think of Paul’s tears: for three years, night and day, he continued to weep…. What fountain will you compare to these tears? Homilies on Colossians
The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand. This is a proof of their sincerity and affection; that they both looked at his handwriting, and that with emotion. Remember my bonds. Wonderful! How great the consolation! For this is enough to cheer them on to all things, and make them bear themselves more nobly in their trials; but he made them not only the braver, but also the more nearly interested. Grace be with you. Amen.
It is great praise, and greater than all the rest, his saying of Epaphras, who is [one] of you, a servant of Christ. And he calls him a minister for them, like as he terms himself also a minister of the Church, as when he says, Whereof I Paul was made a minister. Colossians 1:23 To the same dignity he advances this man; and above he calls him a fellow-servant Colossians 1:7, and here, a servant. Who is of you, he says, as if speaking to a mother, and saying, who is of your womb. But this praise might have gendered envy; therefore he commends him not from these thi...
