Ignatius of Antioch (d. circa 107/110)

By Rev. Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M.

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was arrested and taken to Rome to suffer martyrdom in the Coliseum, and is presently buried in San Clemente Church near by. He is a very lively, energetic and determined man – cut from the cloth of Paul. In the course of his travels he met with and wrote to other Christian communities. In his seven letters he was primarily concerned with three issues: 1. the unity of church as lived in communion with the Bishop and fostered in the Eucharist, 2. the danger of heresy and, 3. the glory of martyrdom.

For Ignatius the unity of the church was of the supreme importance because this unity consisted of Christ (the head) and his body. This unity was first of all founded upon a unity of faith – all believed in the one true Gospel (thus his concern for heresy which destroys the unity of faith). It was the Bishop, as the earthly presence of Christ and successor to the Apostles, who is the foundation of this present unity for he is the authentic teacher and defender of the Gospel, and the pastoral who oversees the proper care and harmony of all the faithful. The fullest expression and fostering of this unity, ‘ a symphony of minds in concert’, is found in the Eucharist for there the local faithful, in union with the bishop, gather to hear the Gospel and to come into communion with Christ by receiving his risen body and blood, which is ‘the medicine of immortality’.

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