St. Ignatius of Antioch
Bishop and Martyr
Many Catholics study early Church history and Church fathers. There are many fathers that are worth reading. St. Augustine and St. Athanasius come to mind but there are many others. One that cannot be ignored is St. Ignatius of Antioch.
St. Ignatius of Antioch was the Bishop of Antioch in the early second century. He was martyred in Rome in about 107 AD and gives an early witness to many church doctrines. Doctrines such as the deity of Christ, monarchial ecclesiology, transubstantiation and others.
He has seven authentic epistles to various churches throughout the Christian world. It is amazing how much traditional theology he gives in these seven short epistles.
In his epistle to the Ephesians, St. Ignatius tells us of the doctrine of the Trinity. The deity of Christ and the person of the Holy Ghost are clearly laid out in the following quote from this epistle:
“For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by His passion He might purify the water.”
This one quote shows the deity of Christ, the personhood of the Holy Ghost, the virgin birth and the Davidic lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. Most uneducated opponents of the Catholic faith will say that the Trinity was invented at the Council of Nicaea over two centuries later. This statement shows that it was an apostolic belief which was firmly established early on.
His view on the Eucharist is the traditional Catholic belief. In his epistle to the Smyrnaeans he states:
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again.”
St. Ignatius was talking about the Gnostic opponents of the Christian faith. Gnostics didn’t believe that Jesus had a physical body so they believed it impossible for the flesh of Christ to be rendered on alters on Earth. We know that they used altars because in his epistle to the Trallians he states:
“He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without is not pure; that is, he who does anything apart from the bishop, and presbytery, and deacons, such a man is not pure in his conscience.”
The fact that altars are used, shows that they believed the Eucharist to be a sacrifice. This same verse shows the threefold episcopacy of the Church. We know that when Ignatius refers to a Bishop, he refers to the monarchial leader of a local Church. All churches at the time had this form of ecclesiology because in his epistle to the Ephesians he states:
“For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the manifested will of the Father; as also bishops, settled everywhere to the utmost bounds [of the earth], are so by the will of Jesus Christ.”
Some who don’t know Church history well believe that Rome didn’t have a monarchial bishop until decades after St. Ignatius. If they didn’t, why didn’t St. Ignatius criticize them greatly in his epistle to the Romans. By reading through his epistles, St. Ignatius clearly believes that all churches must have this mode of governance.
While not using the words Trinity or Transubstantiation, St. Ignatius clearly refers to those doctrines. He also presents traditional ecclesiology as it has always been. Much more can be said about this brilliant bishop and theologian but all I can recommend is that you read his seven epistles. They are part of the rich tradition of the holy and apostolic Church.
It is said somewhere that there are three sources of our faith are like the pillars or legs of a stool if you must use an illustration. These are scripture, Tradition, and the authentic Magisterium. The church fathers are evidence of the teachings of Christ, who as the end of st Johns Gospel puts it as there are so many that are not recorded in the scriptures, and if they were, not all the books in the world would contain them.