vid

I was looking into supposed Ignatius' quotes of gospel, and it seemed that all "solid" ones were only in the longer version.

Can somebody here give me a quick introduction to the longer / shorter version problem? Which is supported by quotes from other ancient authors?

DCHindley

Hey vid,

It was established quite a while ago that the shorter Greek version is likely most authentic. The longer version not only has all that additional stuff when compared to the shorter, but there are also additional letters that look devotional and not authentic.

Both Short and Long versions are to be found in the Ante Nicene Fathers series, as you probably already found out. The printed edition has a kind of basic introduction and some footnotes, representing devotional "scholarship" of the mid 19th century, but I do not think these make it into the online versions.

There is a Hermenia commentary on the Ignatian letters by William Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch (Hermeneia Commentary Series) (or via: amazon.co.uk), Augsburg Fortress, 1985.

DCH

vid

Maybe you mean this: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.i.html

I've read that: First (newer) part of introduction seems just like zealous rambling that says little, original part of introduction looks more on topic, but it cites only very old scholarly works, so I rather asked.

I also read introduction quote at Peter Kirby's site (by William R. Schoedel), which was talking about some hypothetical "middle recension", and it said shorter recension is abridged greek translation of syriac translation.

Doug Shaver

This won't answer all your questions, but you might find it of some interest: http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/s...label/Ignatius.

DCHindley

Right now, almost all critics agree that the "middle recension" (shorter Greek) is the closest to any originals, with the "long recension" (longer Greek) being loosely based on the shorter Greek with lots of additions, and the "short recension" (in Syriac) are really abreviated translations of some of the authentic middle recension letters.

Language	Modern	ANF
Syriac	Short	Syriac
Greek	Middle	Shorter Greek
Greek	Long	Longer Greek

DCH

andrewcriddle

It is still worth reading Lightfoot on the Apostolic Fathers particularly the posthumous edition with his latest revisions. It has a long discussion of the Ignatian problem.

lightfoot apostolic fathers at archive.org

Andrew Criddle