Today, the Church honors St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Ora pro nobis.
Ignatius, along with the other Apostolic Fathers, is a precious link to the Apostles. For the Christians of the first and early second centuries, Christianity was like an explosion of light not only in the world but in their lives. It was new life, something so unexpected and undeserved that, persecutions notwithstanding, all they could do was praise.
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35 – c. 107 AD), also known as Ignatius Theophorus ("the God-bearing") or Ignatius Nurono (lit. "The fire-bearer"), was an early Christian writer and the third bishop of Antioch and Pope of the Syrian Church (Saint Peter was the first bishop and Pope of Antioch before he went to Rome, then was followed by Evodius). Ignatius was arrested in a local persecution of Christians, and was sent to Rome for trial and punishment. En route to Rome, where he met his martyrdom, Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This correspondence now forms a central part of the later collection known as the Apostolic Fathers. His letters also serve as an example of early Christian theology. Important topics they address include ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.
Nothing is known of Ignatius' early life apart from what may be inferred internally from his letters. It is said Ignatius converted to Christianity at a young age. Tradition identifies Ignatius, along with his friend Polycarp, as disciples of John the Apostle. Theodoret of Cyrrhus claimed that St. Peter himself left directions that Ignatius be appointed to the episcopal see of Antioch. Ignatius called himself Theophorus (God Bearer). A tradition arose that he was one of the children whom Jesus took in his arms and blessed.
Ignatius' own writings mention his arrest by the authorities and travel to Rome to face trial:
From Syria even to Rome I fight with wild beasts, by land and sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only grow worse when they are kindly treated.
— Ignatius to the Romans, 5.
Ignatius' transfer to Rome is regarded by scholars as unusual, since those persecuted as Christians would be expected to be punished locally. If he were a Roman citizen, he could have appealed to the emperor, but then would usually have been beheaded rather than tortured, and not put in chains. It has been suggested that the circuitous route the soldiers took indicated that they had other business to attend to before taking Ignatius to Rome.
During the journey to Rome, Ignatius and his captors made a number of stops in Asia Minor. Along the route Ignatius wrote six letters to the churches in the region and one to a fellow bishop, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Ignatius wanted to reinforce the Apostolic teaching that Gentile Christians were free from having to follow Judaic Law if they were baptized into the Body of Jesus and were following His command to love each other as He loves us. This included celebrating the day of the Lord’s resurrection as the day of primary Christian worship rather than the sabbath.
But above all, Ignatius was a tireless witness to the Word made flesh, countering the seductive teachings of the Docetists, who taught that the Word of God had become flesh only in appearance, not in reality. The latter, for the Docetists, would have been all too humiliating for God. Ignatius, on the other hand, saw the Incarnation as supreme testament of God’s mercy. This testament is, first of all, the real body of our Lord Jesus Christ: "There is one Physician … God existing in flesh … even Jesus Christ our Lord."
Ignatius was the first Christian writer to use the word katholicos. Katholicos had been used in Greek civilization for centuries to refer to a wide variety of things, meaning all-embracing, universal or of general interest, having broad interests or wide sympathies, and inclusive, inviting. Ignatius was the first to use it to describe the Body of the Lord, the community of all the faithful baptized, wherever they are gathered around a bishop assisted by his priests and deacons: "Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church."
Becoming "Christ’s pure bread"
Ignatius wrote about becoming Christ’s pure bread. This bread is the Eucharist that Ignatius celebrated as bishop, but it is also the eucharist, or "thanksgiving," that Ignatius himself would become. Writing to the Church of Rome, he asks them not to appeal his death sentence. In this extraordinary letter, Ignatius writes, "I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by [wild beasts’] teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread…. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life." "Within me is the living water that says, deep inside me, ‘Come to the Father!’ I no longer take pleasure in perishable food… I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ … and for drink I crave his Blood, which is love that cannot perish." He also wrote about the Blessed Sacrament, "God’s bread … the flesh of Jesus Christ": the Eucharist, which Ignatius called "the medicine of immortality."
In his Chronicle, Eusebius gives the date of Ignatius's death as the 11th year of Trajan's reign, AD 108. Ignatius himself wrote that he would be thrown to the beasts, and in the fourth century Eusebius reports tradition that this came to pass, which is then repeated by Jerome, who is the first to explicitly mention "Lions". John Chrysostom is the first to allude to the Colosseum as the place of Ignatius' martyrdom.
"[The Bread of Communion] is the medicine of immortality and the antidote to prevent us from dying but which causes that we should live forever in Jesus Christ."
– Ignatius of Antioch (35-108), 'Letter to the Ephesians 20'
After Ignatius' martyrdom in the Circus Maximus his remains were carried back to Antioch by his companions. The reputed remains of Ignatius were moved by the Emperor Theodosius II to the Tychaeum, or Temple of Tyche, which had been converted into a church dedicated to Ignatius. In 637 AD, the relics were transferred to the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome.
Almighty God, we praise your Name for your bishop and martyr Ignatius of Antioch, who offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts that he might present to you the pure bread of sacrifice. Accept, we pray, the willing tribute of our lives and give us a share in the pure and spotless offering of your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
