Saint Ignatius of Antioch

c. 35–108 · 2nd c. · 2 works

Saint Ignatius of Antioch, surnamed Theophoros (“God-bearer”), was one of the Apostolic Fathers and an early Christian bishop and martyr. He led the church of Antioch in Syria and died in the early second century, standing among the earliest witnesses to the life and order of the Church in the generation after the apostles.

During a persecution under the emperor Trajan he was arrested and condemned to death, then taken under military guard overland and by sea toward Rome for execution. Along the route he met fellow believers and their leaders, among them Polycarp of Smyrna, and addressed letters of encouragement to Christian communities.

His principal works are seven letters written during that journey — to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, and Smyrnaeans, and to Polycarp. They are early witnesses to the authority of the bishop's office, the centrality of the Eucharist, and the unity of the Church, and they affirm the real humanity of Christ against the errors of the day.

He was martyred at Rome, thrown to the beasts, about the year 107. He is venerated as a hieromartyr, and the Orthodox Church commemorates him on 20 December, with a second feast on 29 January for the translation of his relics.

Sources: Orthodox Church in America — Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer · Encyclopædia Britannica — St. Ignatius of Antioch