Be watchful over yourselves, and over the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has placed you in charge, to shepherd the Church of God, which he won for himself at the cost of his life.
Do not neglect the divine gift within you, which was given you, amid many a prediction, when the hands of the Officers of the Church were laid on your head.
My reason for leaving you in Crete was that you might put in order what had been left unsettled, and appoint Officers of the Church in the various towns, as I myself directed you.
May God, the source of all peace, who brought back from the dead him who, 'by virtue of the blood that rendered valid the unchangeable Covenant, is the Great Shepherd of God's Sheep,' Jesus, our Lord--
the mystic meaning of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamps. The seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches, and the seven lamps are the seven Churches.