A few weeks back, I wrote “Translations of Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 66.” There we identified a common Catholic proof-text and analyzed the different translations.
Another common proof text comes from Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrnaeans (see: “The Eucharist, Part 4: Ignatius of Antioch“). The flaw in using this passage as a proof-text is (mostly) not in the way it is translated, but in the way it is selectively quoted. Unlike the Justin Martyr text, this one is not subject to a whole lot of disagreement over the translation. The context, in this case, is far more important.
In any case, I have not seen an online resource that that collects the different translations, so here they are:
J.P. Migne – Patrologia Graeca, Volume 5 (1894), cols 711,713
περὶ ἀγάπης οὐ μέλει αὐτοῖς, οὔτε περὶ χήρας, ἢ περὶ ὀρφανοῦ, οὔτε περὶ θλιβομένου, οὔτε περὶ δεδεμένου ἢ λελυμένου, οὔτε περὶ πεινῶντος ἢ διψῶντος. Εὐχαριστίας καὶ προσευχῆς ἀπέχονται, διὰ τὸ μὴ ὁμολογεῖν τὴν εὐχαριστίαν σάρκα εἶναι τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν παθοῦσαν, ἣν τῇ χρηστότητι ὁ Πατὴρ ἤγειρεν.
J.P. Migne – Patrologia Graeca, Volume 5 (1894), cols 712,714
Non charitas eis curae est, non vidua, non pupilla, non oppressus, non vinctus vel solutus, non esuriens vel sitiens. Ab Eucharistia et oratione abstinent, eo quod non confiteantur Eucharistiam carnem esse Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi, quae pro peccatis nostris passa est, quamque Pater benignitate sua suscitavit.
They have no regard for love; no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungry, or of the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again.
They have no care for love, none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the afflicted, none for the prisoner, none for the hungry or thirsty. They abstain from eucharist (thanksgiving) and prayer, because they allow not that the eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which flesh suffered for our sins, and which the Father of His goodness raised up.
They have no thought for love, nor for the widow, the orphan, the afflicted, the prisoner, the hungry nor the thirsty. They withhold themselves from Eucharist and prayer, because they confess not that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which flesh suffered for our sins, and which in His loving – kindness the Father raised up .
For love they have no care, none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the distressed, none for the afflicted, none for the prisoner, or for him released from prison, none for the hungry or thirsty. They abstain from Eucharist and prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ who suffered for our sins, which the Father raised up by his goodness.
They care nothing about love: they have no concern for widows or orphans, for the oppressed, for those in prison or released, for the hungry or the thirsty. They hold aloof from the Eucharist and from services of prayer, because they refuse to admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which, in his goodness, the Father raised [from the dead].
For love they have no care, nor for the widow, nor for the orphan, nor for the distressed, nor for those in prison or freed from prison, nor for the hungry and thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised up again.
They have no interest in love, in the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the one who is in chains or the one set free, the one who is hungry or the one who thirsts. They abstain from the eucharist and prayer, since they do not confess that the eucharist is the flesh of our saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered on behalf of our sins and which the Father raised in his kindness
They have no concern for love, none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the oppressed, none for the prisoner or the one released, none for the hungry or thirsty. They abstain from Eucharist and prayer because they refuse to acknowledge the Eucharist is the flesh of our savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which the Father by his goodness raised up
The translations are more-or-less identical. The most significant issue is with the inappropriate transliteration and capitalization of ‘eucharist.’ There isn’t a single translation on this list that fully translates it naturally and without the sacramental presupposition:
…they abstain from thanksgiving and prayer, since they do not acknowledge the thanksgiving to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ…
The meaning of the text is much clearer if you explicitly associate the two sentences together:
They abstain from thanksgiving and prayer—having no regard for love; no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungry, or of the thirsty—because they confess not the thanksgiving to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again.
By transliterating ‘eucharist’ instead of translating it, it is quite challenging to understand the text; to understand why abstaining from “thanksgiving and prayer” constitutes a disregard for those in need.
Here is the affiliation of the English translators, along with the date of translation given above:
| Translator | Date | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Roberts James Donaldson |
1885 | Scottish Presbyterian |
| J. B. Lightfoot J. R. Harmer |
1889 | Anglican |
| James Herbert Srawley | 1900 | Anglican |
| Kirsopp Lake | 1912 | Anglican |
| Cyril C. Richardson | 1953 | Episcopalian |
| William A. Jurgens | 1970 | Roman Catholic |
| Bart D. Ehrman | 2003 | Agnostic; former Evangelical |
| Michael W. Holmes | 2007 | Baptist |
Interestingly, even the Baptist Michael W. Holmes—editor of the modern NRSVue Bible translation—uses the proper noun “Eucharist” instead of simply translating it as “thanksgiving.” Notably, he does not transliterate “eucharist” as “eucharist” or “Eucharist” in the NRSVue, so it is unclear why he does so here.