St. Ignatius of Antioch
(+ C. 107-116 AD)
Historical Note
St. Ignatius Theophorus of Antioch was the second successor to the See of
Antioch in Syria after St. Peter and St. Evodius. We know next to nothing
about his origin, birth and early life. According to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical
History 3, 36), he was elevated to this see in the year 69. It is highly
possible that in his earlier years St. Ignatius knew and worshipped with Sts.
Peter and Paul as both spent considerable time in Antioch. Tradition holds
that it was St. Peter himself who ordained St. Ignatius a bishop: “…he
obtained this office from those saints, and that the hands of the blessed
apostles touched his sacred head…” (Chrysostom, Homilies on St. Ignatius
and St. Babylas, in Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ist Series,
9:136).
In his later years, St. Ignatius became a disciple of the Apostle John and
good friends with St. Polycarp of Smyrna. Somewhere around the years
107-116, during the persecution of the Emperor Trajan, St. Ignatius, by
now an elderly man, was arrested and chained by the Romans on the charge
of being a Christian. He was marched across Asia Minor to be eaten alive
by lions in the Colosseum: “I am His wheat, ground fine by the lion’s teeth
to be made purest bread for Christ” (Epistle to the Romans 4). Along the
way he was greeted by delegations from the various churches that flocked
to venerate the renowned spiritual father.
It was during his agonizing journey to Rome that St. Ignatius composed his
now famous seven epistles in Greek addressed to the Christian
communities at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna
and a personal one to St. Polycarp. The principal themes emerging from his
epistles are the authority of the clergy, the hatred of heresy and division and
the greatness of martyrdom. Docetists and Judaizers received his strongest
criticisms.
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