Ignatius of Antioch

“ Ignatius, one of the oldest Fathers of the Church, was Bishop of Antioch in the year 70. When Trajan set out on his expedition against the Parthians, he stopped for a short time in this city. As he had refused to sacrifice to the gods for the safety of the Emperor, and was outspoken against the pagans, even in the royal presence, Ignatius was condemned, and ordered to be sent to Rome to be devoured by the wild beasts of the amphitheatre. ”

“ If any one walks according to a strange [13] opinion, he agrees not with the passion [of Christ.] .
Keep yourselves, then, from those evil plants which Jesus Christ does not tend, but that wild beast, the destroyer of men, because they are not the planting of the Father, but the seed of the wicked one. Not that I have found any division among you do I write these things; but I arm you beforehand, as the children of God. For as many as are of Christ are also with the bishop; but as many as fall away from him, and embrace communion with the accursed, these shall be cut off along with them. ”

“ Of the three epistles of Ignatius still claimed as genuine, Prof. C. F. Hudson speaks as follows:—
“Ignatius of Antioch was martyred probably A. D. 115. Of the eight epistles ascribed to him, three are genuine; viz., those addressed to Polycarp, the Ephesians, and the Romans.” [491]
It will be observed that the three epistles which are here mentioned as genuine do not include that epistle from which the quotation in behalf of Sunday is taken, and it is a fact also that they contain no allusion to Sunday. ”

“ It is alleged that he voluntarily courted death by giving himself up as a Christian to Trajan when that emperor was at Antioch, and that he was sent by a circuitous route all the way to-Rome in order to be devoured by wild beasts there, or, apparently, rather in order to write his epistles while a prisoner on his journey. But no reference to this legend is to be traced during the first six centuries of the Christian era. This absurd story is now generally discredited. The life and writings of Ignatius must be classed in the vast catalogue of Christian myths and fabrications. ”

“ We cannot, with any degree of probability, suppose that the charge of being a Christian was the only cause of St. Ignatius being put to death, under the just and merciful Trajan, since we find that several of his own religion were suffered to accompany and minister comfort to him on his way to Rome.27 There had been frequent seditions in Antioch, a city remarkable for the turbulent disposition of its inhabitants; here Ignatius privately acted as bishop over the Christians. ”

“ Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened.
All the ends of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, [46] shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. “For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” I long after the Lord, the Son of the true God and Father, even Jesus Christ. ”

“ Had the somewhat sanguine hope thus expressed been realized, it would have been unnecessary for us to present to the English reader more than a translation of these three Syriac Epistles. But the Ignatian controversy is not yet settled. There are still those who hold that the balance of argument is in favour of the shorter Greek, as against these Syriac Epistles. They regard the latter as an epitome of the former, and think the harshness which, according to them, exists in the sequence of thoughts and sentences, clearly shows that this is the case. ”

“ The following is the passage in which they are supposed to be authenticated: "One of our people said, when condemned to the beasts on account of his testimony towards God—'As I am the wheat of God, I am also ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.'" [53:1] It is worse than a mere begging of the question to assert that Irenaeus here gives us a quotation from one of the letters of Ignatius. In the extensive treatise from which the words are an extract, he never once mentions the name of the pastor of Antioch. ”

“ I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.
The prince of this world would fain carry me away, and corrupt my disposition towards God. Let none of you, therefore, who are [in Rome] help him; rather be ye on my side, that is, on the side of God. Do not speak of Jesus Christ, and yet prefer this world to Him. Let not envy find a dwelling-place among you ”

“ Chapter VI.—Ignatius is devoured by the beasts at Rome.
They pushed forth therefore from the place which is called Portus; [27] and (the [28] fame of all relating to the holy martyr being already spread abroad) we met the brethren full of fear and joy; rejoicing indeed because they were thought worthy to meet with Theophorus, but struck with fear because so eminent a man was being led to death. Now he enjoined some to keep silence who, in their fervent zeal, were saying [29] that they would appease the people, so that they should not demand the destruction of this just one. ”

“ The most influential writer was Ignatius of Antioch, the founder, or earliest representative, of what may be called the Asia Minor theology, which is to be traced through Irenæus, Methodius, and Athanasius to the other great theologians of the Nicene period, becoming the distinctive Eastern type of piety. It probably persisted in Asia Minor after Ignatius. Among its characteristic features was the thought of redemption as the imparting to man of incorruptibility through the incarnation and the sacraments. ”

“ For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. For “if Thou, Lord, shalt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” [67] Let us therefore prove ourselves worthy of that name which we have received. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, he is not of God; for he has not received the prophecy which speaks thus concerning us: “The people shall be called by a new name, which the Lord shall name them, and shall be a holy people.” [68] This was first fulfilled in Syria ”

“ Having ourselves been eye-witnesses of these things, and having spent the whole night in tears within the house, and having entreated the Lord, with bended knees and much prayer, that He would give us weak men full assurance respecting the things which were done, [38] it came to pass, on our falling into a brief slumber, that some of us saw the blessed Ignatius suddenly standing by us and embracing us, while others beheld him again praying for us, and others still saw him dropping with sweat, as if he had just come from his great labour, and standing by the Lord. ”

“ Chapter V.—Ignatius is brought to Rome.
Having therefore, by means of this Epistle, settled, [23] as he wished, those of the brethren at Rome who were unwilling [for his martyrdom] ; and setting sail from Smyrna (for Christophorus was pressed by the soldiers to hasten to the public spectacles in the mighty [city] Rome, that, being given up to the wild beasts in the sight of the Roman people, he might attain to the crown for which he strove) , he [next] landed at Troas. ”

“ It is the part of a good athlete to be bruised and to prevail. Consider the times: look for Him who is above time. Slight not the menservants and the handmaids. Let your stewardship define your work. A Christian is not his own master, but waits upon God. Ignatius so delighted in his name Theophorus (sufficiently expounded in his own words to Trajan or his official representative) , that it is worth noting how deeply the early Christians felt and believed in (2 Cor. vi. 16) the indwelling Spirit.
Ignatius has been censured for his language to the Romans, in which he seems to crave martyrdom. ”

“ Clement (of Rome) , of whom the tradition, constant and definite, tells us he was the disciple of Peter and also of Paul.
(2) From Ignatius, whose early date and connexion with Antioch, a chief centre of apostolic work, render, as Lightfoot well urges, his personal intercourse with apostles at least probable. The earliest tradition represents Ignatius as the second of the Antiochene bishops. His martyrdom must be dated circa A.D. 110. He was evidently then an old man. He was certainly a younger contemporary of some of the apostles. ”

“ But it is with Ignatius that the younger man is inseparably linked. They met, probably for the first (and only) time, at Smyrna when the great Bishop of Antioch was on his way to martyrdom at Rome. Touching in their affectionateness are the remarks which each passes upon each. Polycarp inspires Ignatius with 'love.' The younger man is to the older 'most blessed,' 'clothed with grace,' marked by 'fervid sincerity,' a man 'whose godly mind is grounded on an immovable rock' (Letter to Polycarp) . ”

“ Let no one among you be idle; for idleness is the mother of want. I do not enjoin these things as being a person of any consequence, although I am in bonds [for Christ] ; but as a brother, I put you in mind of them. The Lord be with you!
Chapter X.—Salutations.
May I enjoy your prayers! Pray ye that may attain to Jesus. I commend unto you the Church which is at Antioch. The Churches of Philippi, [37] whence also I write to you, salute you. Philo, your deacon, to whom also I give thanks as one who has zealously ministered to me in all things, salutes you. ”

“ It was a considerable time before editors in modern times began to discriminate between the true and the false in the writings attributed to Ignatius. The letters first published under his name were those three which exist only in Latin. These came forth in 1495 at Paris, being appended to a life of Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Some three years later, eleven Epistles, comprising those mentioned by Eusebius, and four others, were published in Latin, and passed through four or five editions. In 1536, the whole of the professedly Ignatian letters were published at Cologne in a Latin version ”

“ If any one confesses these things, and that God the Word did dwell in a human body, being within it as the Word, even as the soul also is in the body, because it was God that inhabited it, and not a human soul, but affirms that unlawful unions are a good thing, and places the highest happiness [54] in pleasure, as does the man who is falsely called a Nicolaitan, this person can neither be a lover of God, nor a lover of Christ, but is a corrupter of his own flesh, and therefore void of the Holy Spirit, and a stranger to Christ. ”

“ And he slew the false priests, as the corrupters and deceivers of men, and not the worshippers of the Deity. Wherefore youth is not to be despised when it is devoted to God. But he is to be despised who is of a wicked mind, although he be old, and full of wicked days. [22] Timothy the Christ-bearer was young, but hear what his teacher writes to him: “Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word and in conduct.” [23] It is becoming, therefore, that ye also should be obedient to your bishop, and contradict him in nothing ”

“ But inasmuch as love suffers me not to be silent in regard to you, I have therefore taken [28] upon me first to exhort you that ye would run together in accordance with the will of God. For even Jesus Christ does all things according to the will of the Father, as He Himself declares in a certain place, “I do always those things that please Him.” [29] Wherefore it behoves us also to live according to the will of God in Christ, and to imitate Him as Paul did. For, says he, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” [30] ”

“ For, on hearing that I came bound from Syria for the common name and hope, trusting through your prayers to be permitted to fight with beasts at Rome, that so by martyrdom I may indeed become the disciple of Him “who gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God,” [8] [ye hastened to see me [9] ] . I received, therefore, [10] your whole multitude in the name of God, through Onesimus, a man of inexpressible love, [11] and your bishop in the flesh, whom I pray you by Jesus Christ to love, and that you would all seek to be like him. ”

“ Seeing that the church which is at Antioch in Syria is, as report has informed me, at peace, through your prayers, I also am the more encouraged, resting without anxiety in God, [1] if indeed by means of suffering I may attain to God, so that, through your prayers, I may be found a disciple [of Christ] . It is fitting, O Polycarp, most blessed in God, to assemble a very solemn [2] council, and to elect one whom you greatly love, and know to be a man of activity, who may be designated the messenger of God ”

“ I do not glory in the world, but in the Lord. I exhort Hero, my son; “but let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord.” [24] May I have joy of thee, my dear son, whose guardian may He be who is the only unbegotten God, and the Lord Jesus Christ! Do not believe all persons, do not place confidence in all; nor let any man get the better of thee by flattery. For many are the ministers of Satan; and “he that is hasty to believe is light of heart.” [25]
Chapter VII.—Solemn charge to Hero, as future bishop of Antioch. ”

“ Ignatius, a man of Philippi, has been supposed to be Ignatius, the pastor of Antioch; and Syria, the eastern province of the Roman Empire, has been confounded with Psyria or Syria—either of these names representing an island in the Aegean Sea not far from Smyrna. Ignatius, the confessor of Philippi, when in bonds wrote, as we find, a number of letters which were deemed worthy of preservation, but which have long since perished ”