Ignatius of Antioch

Saint Ignatius of Antioch
Fresco of St. Ignatius from Hosios Loukas Monastery, Boeotia, Greece
Bishop, martyr and Church Father
Born	15 May 35 A.D. Province of Syria, Roman Empire
Died	6 July 108 (aged 73) Rome, Roman Empire
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches Eastern Catholic Churches Oriental Orthodox Churches Church of the East Anglican Communion Lutheranism
Canonized	pre-congregation by John The Apostle (said in later writings.)
Major shrine	Basilica of San Clemente, Rome, Italy
Feast	20 December (Eastern Orthodox Church) 24 Koiak (martyrdom - Coptic Christianity[1]) 7 Epip (commemoration - Coptic Christianity[2]) 17 October (Roman Catholic and Syrian Christianity) 1 February (General Roman Calendar, 12th century to 1969)
Attributes	a bishop surrounded by lions or in chains
Patronage	Church in eastern Mediterranean; Church in North Africa

Ignatius of Antioch (/ɪɡˈneɪʃəs/; Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Ignátios Antiokheías; c. 35  – c. 107),^[3][4][5] also known as Ignatius Theophorus (Ιγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος, Ignátios ho Theophóros, lit. "the God-bearing") or Ignatius Nurono (lit. "The fire-bearer"), was an early Christian writer and bishop of Antioch (As the successor of Saint Peter). 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.

Life

Nothing is known of Ignatius' life apart from what may be inferred internally from his letters, except from late spurious traditions. It is said Ignatius converted to Christianity^[6] at a young age. Tradition identifies Ignatius, along with his friend Polycarp, as disciples of John the Apostle.^[7] Later in his life, Ignatius was chosen to serve as Bishop of Antioch; the fourth-century Church historian Eusebius writes that Ignatius succeeded Evodius.^[8] Theodoret of Cyrrhus claimed that St. Peter himself left directions that Ignatius be appointed to the episcopal see of Antioch.^[9] Ignatius called himself Theophorus (God Bearer). A tradition arose that he was one of the children whom Jesus took in his arms and blessed.^[10]

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. Allen Brent has suggested that Ignatius was involved in conflict with other Christians and was executed for the capital crime of disturbing the peace.^[11]

During the journey to Rome, Ignatius and his entourage of soldiers 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. In his Chronicle, Eusebius gives the date of Ignatius's death as AA 2124 (2124 years after Abraham), i.e. the 11th year of Trajan's reign, AD 108.^[12] Ignatius himself wrote that he would be thrown to the beasts, and in the fourth century Eusebius reports tradition that this came to pass,^[13] which is then repeated by Jerome,^[11] who is the first to explicitly mention "Lions". John Chrysostom is the first to allude to the Colosseum as the place of Ignatius' martyrdom.^[14] Contemporary scholars are not clear that any of these authors had sources other than Ignatius own writings.^[11][13]

After Ignatius' martyrdom in the Circus Maximus his remains were carried back to Antioch by his companions.^[15] 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.^[16] In 637 the relics were transferred to the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome.

Veneration

Ignatius' feast day was kept in his own Antioch on 17 October, the day on which he is now celebrated in the Catholic Church and generally in western Christianity, although from the 12th century until 1969 it was put at 1 February in the General Roman Calendar.^[17][18]

In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is observed on 20 December.^[19] The Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria places it on the 24th of the Coptic Month of Koiak (which is also the 24 day of the fourth month of Tahisas in the Synaxarium of The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church), corresponding in three years out of every four to 20 December in the Julian Calendar, which currently falls on 2 January of the Gregorian Calendar.

Letters

Painting of Ignatius of Antioch from the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)

The following seven letters preserved under the name of Ignatius are generally considered authentic as they were mentioned by the historian Eusebius in the first half of the fourth century.

Seven authentic letters:

• The Letter to the Ephesians,
• The Letter to the Magnesians,
• The Letter to the Trallians,
• The Letter to the Romans,
• The Letter to the Philadelphians,
• The Letter to the Smyrnaeans,
• The Letter to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.

Writing in 1886, Presbyterian minister and church historian William Dool Killen asserted none of the Ignatian epistles were authentic. Instead, he argued that Callixtus, bishop of Rome, pseudepigraphically wrote the letters around AD 220 to garner support for a monarchical episcopate, modeling the renowned Saint Ignatius after his own life to give precedent for his own authority.^[20]:137 Killen contrasted this episcopal polity with the presbyterian polity in the writings of Polycarp.^[20]:127

Most scholars, however, accept at least the two Ignatian epistles which were referenced by Origen,^[20] and believe that by the 5th century, this collection had been enlarged by spurious letters. The original text of six of the seven authentic letters are found in the Codex Mediceo Laurentianus written in Greek in the 11th century (which also contains the pseudepigraphical letters of the Long Recension, except that to the Philippians),^[21] while the letter to the Romans is found in the Codex Colbertinus.^[7] Some of the original letters were, at one point, believed to had been changed with interpolations. The oldest is known as the "Long Recension" which dates from the latter part of the fourth century.^[7] These were created to posthumously enlist Ignatius as an unwitting witness in theological disputes of that age, but that position was vigorously combated by several British and German critics, including the Catholics Denzinger and Hefele, who defended the genuineness of the entire seven epistles.^[7] At the same time, the purported eye-witness account of his martyrdom is also thought to be a forgery from around the same time. A detailed but spurious account of Ignatius' arrest and his travails and martyrdom is the material of the Martyrium Ignatii which is presented as being an eyewitness account for the church of Antioch, and attributed to Ignatius' companions, Philo of Cilicia, deacon at Tarsus, and Rheus Agathopus, a Syrian.

Although James Ussher regarded it as genuine, if there is any genuine nucleus of the Martyrium, it has been so greatly expanded with interpolations that no part of it is without questions. Its most reliable manuscript is the 10th-century Codex Colbertinus (Paris), in which the Martyrium closes the collection. The Martyrium presents the confrontation of the bishop Ignatius with Trajan at Antioch, a familiar trope of Acta of the martyrs, and many details of the long, partly overland voyage to Rome. The Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria says that he was thrown to the wild beasts that devoured him and rent him to pieces.^[22]

Ignatius's letters proved to be important testimony to the development of Christian theology, since the number of extant writings from this period of Church history is very small. They bear signs of being written in great haste and without a proper plan, such as run-on sentences and an unsystematic succession of thought.

Ignatius modeled his writings after Paul, Peter, and John, and even quoted or paraphrased their own works freely, such as when he quoted 1 Corinthians 1:18, in his letter to the Ephesians: "Let my spirit be counted as nothing for the sake of the cross, which is a stumbling-block to those that do not believe, but to us salvation and life eternal." – Letter to the Ephesians 18, Roberts and Donaldson translation^[23]

Pseudo-Ignatius

Epistles attributed to Saint Ignatius but of spurious origin (their author is often called Pseudo-Ignatius in English) include:^[25]

• Epistle to the Tarsians;
• Epistle to the Antiochians;
• Epistle to Hero, a Deacon of Antioch;
• Epistle to the Philippians;
• The Epistle of Maria the Proselyte to Ignatius;
• Epistle to Mary at Neapolis, Zarbus;
• First Epistle to St. John;
• Second Epistle to St. John;
• The Epistle of Ignatius to the Virgin Mary.

See also

• Apostolic succession
• Christianity in the 2nd century
• Early centers of Christianity
• History of early Christianity
• List of Patriarchs of Antioch
• Apostolic Fathers
• Catholic (term)

References

Further reading

External links

Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Συγγραφέας:Ιγνάτιος Αντιοχείας

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Ignatius of Antioch

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ignatius of Antiochie.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ignatius of Antioch

• Works by or about Ignatius of Antioch at Internet Archive
• Works by Ignatius of Antioch at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Early Christian writings: On-line texts of St. Ignatius' letters (archived) (non-archived link)
• The Ecclesiology of St. Ignatius of Antioch by Fr. John S. Romanides
• Saint Ignatius
• Opera Omnia by J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Spurious Epistles of St. Ignatius of Antioch
• Ignatius writings in the Ante-Nicene Fathers
• Greek text of Ignatius writings
• 2012 Translation & Audio Version (Authentic Seven Letters and Martyrdom of Ignatius)
• Saint Ignatius of Antioch at the Christian Iconography web site
• Here Followeth the Life of St. Ignatius, Bishop from Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend
• Colonnade Statue in St Peter's Square
• Ignatius of Antioch (1919) [1900]. The Epistles of St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. Translations of Christian Literature. Translated by James Herbert Srawley (3rd ed.). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
• Ignatius of Antioch (1919). Crafer, Thomas Wildred, ed. The Epistles of St. Ignatius (Epistles in Greek). Issue 10 of Texts for Students. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.