aspects of this departure from the pristine purity of faith and practice see Vol. IV, pp. 834, 835. 5. Remove thy candlestick. See on ch. 1:12. The church would forfeit its status as an accredited representative of Christ. The church had “fallen,” but divine mercy patiently provided an opportunity to “repent” (cf. 2 Peter 3:9). Except thou repent. In the Prologue of his epistle to the Ephesians, Ignatius reports that the church did heed the call to “remember,” “repent,” and “do the firstworks” (see