Ignatius of Antioch

Saint Ignatius of Antioch
Memorial 17 October

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Our saint for this week was an early convert from paganism to Christianity. He was the second bishop of Antioch it Is said that Saint Peter the Apostle himself appointed Our Saint as the bishop of that particular diocese. Ignatius was also a disciple and student of the Apostle John. Antioch is the first place we were called “Christians”. A long standing legend says he was the infant that Jesus took into his arms in Mark 9 and placed in the midst of the Apostles telling them that whoever accepts a child such as this receives him and the one who sent him. Mark was also a disciple of Peter. This is probably not a reliable legend since he was probably born around the year 50 AD

Anyhoo, during the persecution of Trajan, Ignatius was considered a big troublemaker in a big city in the empire. So the emperor ordered Our Saint to be taken to Rome to be killed by wild animals. Naturally there was no Amtrak back in the Roman Empire so the journey to Rome to meet his end took four months. On the way, Ignatius wrote a series of encouraging letters to the various local churches under his care. In these letters, written about the year 107, he describes the structure of the Church including Bishops, Priests and Deacons…and the nature of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, the belief in the Eucharist being the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, not just a symbol, goes way back to the earliest times of the Christian Church, I’ve included some of his writings below. I find them interesting, but you know me.

As nice added bonus, he the first writer to coin the term the “Catholic Church”; which is also One, Holy and Apostolic.

He was martyred by being thrown to wild animals in the year 1o7 or thereabouts. His relics are in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

He is patron of people suffering throat diseases, as is St Blaise.

Readings

"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes...keep aloof from such persons" (St. Ignatius: Letter to the Smyrnaeans; Ch. 6:2-7:1).



"See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast (Mass); but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid." (St. Ignatius: Letter to the Smyrnaeans; Ch 8)