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Biography of Ignatius of Antioch, St.Name: Ignatius of Antioch, St.Birth Date: N/A Death Date: c. 115 Place of Birth: N/A Nationality: Syrian Gender: N/A Occupations: bishop Ignatius of Antioch, St. The letters of the Christian bishop St. Ignatius of Antioch (died ca. 115) are an important source of knowledge about the early Church.Ignatius was overseer (bishop) of the Christians in Antioch in Syria during one of the persecutions that broke out while Trajan was emperor. When Ignatius was arrested, he refused to acknowledge the official gods and, not being a Roman citizen, was sentenced to die in the amphitheater in Rome. The soldiers with whom he traveled to Rome allowed him to visit some of the Christian communities along the way. The letters he sent to these groups before he died reveal many of Christianity's ideals in the early 2d century.Ignatius was concerned that the Christian community remain united and that it preserve the faith handed down by the Apostles. He saw the pastor of the community, the bishop, as the leader of this unity in faith. "Do nothing …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…it was "the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death." The Eucharist, he wrote, is a spiritual food which strengthens the one who receives it and helps him into eternal life.Ignatius was an intelligent and articulate leader who would rather die than compromise his faith. The Roman officials saw him as a disruptive influence in an empire which valued the pagan religious rites of Rome as a politically unifying force. Christians have considered Ignatius of Antioch a Father of the Church. Further Reading The latest English translation of Ignatius's letters is in James A. Kleist, ed., The Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch (1946). Virginia Corwin, St. Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch (1960), is a scholarly study of his life, times, and thought. Cyril Charles Richardson, The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch (1935), is helpful for an understanding of the ideas Ignatius expressed in his letters. |