Ignaitus was born in Syria circa 50 and died in Rome 98-117.
He was believed to have been the child held by Jesus (Mark
9: 35).
With St. Polycarp, he was an auditor of St. John.
He was the third Bishop of Antioch after Evodius and St. Peter. Appointed by St. Peter himself, says St. John Chrysostom.
He was vigilant in protecting, inspiring his flock during persecutions, but wished himself to receive the fullness of discipleship by martyrdom.
His letters and martyrdom...
The (believed to be greatly interpolated) “Martyrdom of Ignatius” is
an eyewitness account of the events written by Philo, deacon of Tarsus, and Rheus Agathopus, a
Syrian, who accompanied Ignatius on his journey to Rome.
Trajan decreed that the Christians worship the gods on penalty of death. Ignatius was arrested and gave testimony before Trajan himself who was then at Antioch. After having given an inspired speech, he was condemned to become food for wild beasts at Rome as a spectacle for the people.
On his Journey to Rome he was roughly treated by his guards whom he called "leopards": “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.”
Also, along the way, fellow-Christians met him at the roadside to give him comfort and homage. His stay in Smyrna, where he spent time with St. Polycarp, was a protracted one. There he was visited by delegations from Ephesus, Magnesia, and Trallia and wrote his famous letters to those churches and also to that at Rome, in which he begged th Christians at Rome not to intervene to prevent his martyrdom. At Troas (Troy), he wrote the last of his extant letters to the churches at Philadelphia and Smyrna, and to St. Polycarp.
Shortly after arriving at Rome, he was martyred in the Flavian Amphitheatre. His relics were returned to Antioch by Philo and Rheus and now rest alongside those of St. Clement in Rome.
The importance of letters (from Catholic Encyclopedia)
It is scarcely possible to
exaggerate the importance of the testimony which the Ignatian letters offer to
the dogmatic character of Apostolic Christianity. The martyred Bishop of
Antioch constitutes a most important link between the Apostles and the Fathers
of the early Church. Receiving from the Apostles themselves, whose auditor he
was, not only the substance of revelation, but also their own inspired
interpretation of it; dwelling, as it were, at the very fountain-head of Gospel
truth, his testimony must necessarily carry with it the greatest weight and
demand the most serious consideration.
St. John Henry Newman wrote that “the whole system
of Catholic doctrine may be discovered, at least in outline, not to say in
parts filled up, in the course of his seven epistles.”
As for the content of the letters... we'll duscuss after reading.
DSMW
