Epistles of Ignatius

The bishops, Onesimus, Bitus, Damas, Polybius, and everyone from Philippi (where I have also written to you), greet you in Christ. Greet the presbytery worthy of God: greet my holy fellow-deacons, of whom I may have joy in Christ, both in the flesh and in the spirit. Greet the people of the Lord, from the smallest to the greatest, each one by name; whom I entrust to you as Moses did the Israelites to Joshua, who became their leader after him. And don't consider what I have said as presumptuous on my part; for although we are not like they were, yet we at least pray that we may be, since indeed we are the children of Abraham. Be strong, therefore, O Hero, like a hero, and like a man. For from now on you shall lead in and out the people of the Lord that are in Antioch, and so "the congregation of the Lord shall not be like sheep who have no shepherd."