Bible Dictionaries
Ignatius

　　1. Life.-From the date of the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:23-29) onwards, i.e. from about a.d. 50, there is absolutely no evidence as to the history of the Church of Antioch. In the time of Origen and Julius Africanus, Ignatius was considered as the second of the Antiochene bishops. Between him and Theophilus († c. 185) three bishops were usually placed-Hero, Cornelius, and Eros, of whom nothing was known but their names. Euodius was regarded as Ignatius’ predecessor (Harnack, Chronologie, i., Leipzig, 1897, p. 210). But as a matter of fact, as Lightfoot (Apostolic Fathers2, pt. ii. vol. ii., London, 1889, p. 471) says: ‘The dates of the first century, the accession of Euodius a.d. 42, and the accession of Ignatius a.d. 69, deserve no credit.’ The information to be gleaned from the Apost. Constit. vii. xlvi. 4 (ed. Funk, Paderborn, 1905), such as that Euodius was ordained bishop by St. Peter and Ignatius by St. Paul, does not seem to be of any greater value than the foregoing. St. John Chrysostom, in the panegyric which he pronounces at Antioch on St. Ignatius, supposes that Ignatius knew the apostles and received the laying on of hands from them (in S. Martyrem Ignatium, 1 and 2 [Migne, Patrologia Graeca, l. 587f.]). The Apost. Constit. and St. John Chrysostom represent the same legend in formation. The extent of Eusebius’ information (HE iii. xxxvi. 2) was that St. Peter was the first bishop of Antioch and that Ignatius was his second successor, Euodius being the first. He depends for his knowledge on Origen (Hom. in Lucam, 6), and is in turn followed by Jerome (de Vir. illustr 16).

　　Apart from the fact that he was bishop of Antioch and the details furnished by his authentic letters, the history of Ignatius is absolutely unknown. Some critics have tried, with more zeal than discretion, to fill up the gaps in the history with conjectures, but these are quite worthless. For example, E. Bruston (Ignace d’Antioche, Paris, 1897, p. 112f.) advances the theory that Ignatius was neither Greek nor Syrian, but Roman, his proof being that Ignatius’ name is a Latin one (cf. Forcellini-De-Vit., Onomasticon, s.v. ‘Ignatius = Egnatius’), and that he has all the characteristics of the Roman mind, which is essentially practical! Von Dobschütz (Christian Life in the Primitive Church, Eng. translationΣαῦλος ὁ καί Παῦλος (Acts 13:9), we may suppose that Θεοφόρος, we have to confess complete ignorance.

　　The author of the Passion of Ignatius, entitled the Martyrium Colbertinum (Funk, ii. 276), calls him a ‘disciple of the Apostle John’ and ‘a thoroughly apostolic man,’ but he gives no evidence for the truth of his statements. In his Letter to Polycarp (i. 1) Ignatius seems to say that he has just met Polycarp for the first time (Funk, Kirchengeschichtl. Abhandlungen, ii. [Paderborn, 1899] 340). As Polycarp was an Asiatic disciple of St. John, this would be a proof that Ignatius was not a co-disciple of his. Besides, Ignatius is absolutely silent on the subject of the Apostle John, which, had Ignatius known him, would be very puzzling, considering that Ignatius wrote a long letter to the Ephesians.

　　An attempt has been made to find in Romans, iv. 3, an indication that Ignatius was a slave. But the text has probably a spiritual and not a literal meaning (cf. Philadelphians, viii. 1; Lightfoot, p. 210). It is inconceivable that a slave should ever have been put at the head of a Christian community.

　　Ignatius was not a Roman citizen, since he was condemned to be thrown to the beasts. The modest expressions that Ignatius uses in speaking of himself suggest that he was not a Christian by birth, but became one later on. His previous life may have had some analogy with that of the Apostle Paul before his conversion. ‘But for myself I am ashamed to be called one of them [i.e. the Antiochene Christians]; for neither am I worthy, being the very last of them and an untimely birth’ (Romans, ix. 2).* There are similar protestations of humility in Eph. xxi. 2, Trall. xiii. 1, and Smyrn. xi 1.

　　Eusebius places the martyrdom of Ignatius in the time of Trajan (a.d. 98-117)-a wide choice of date to which no objection can be raised (Lightfoot, p. 469f.). There seems good reason, however, for deciding on the last years of Trajan’s reign as the most likely date (Harnack, Chronologie, i. 406).

　　According to the Martyrium Colbertinum, ii. 1-2 (Funk, ii. 276), Ignatius appeared before Trajan in the 9th year of his reign (26 Jan. 106-26 Jan. 107), when the latter was passing through Antioch on a march against the Parthians (the war against the Parthians, however, only began in 112). He was condemned by the Emperor and sent to Rome, where he died on 20 Dec. 107, in the consulate of Sura and Senecio (vii. 1, p. 284). This date is debatable, for the oldest known reference to the ‘natale’ of Ignatius, found in the Syriac Martyrology published by Wright, fixes the anniversary as 17 Oct. (Bolland, AS , Nov. i. 1 [1894], p. lxii. [text restored by Duchesne]: τὸ ἴδιον σωματεῖον; xi. 2); and he adds: ‘It seemed to me a fitting thing that ye should send one of your own people with a letter, that he might join with them in giving glory for the calm which by God’s will had overtaken them, and because they were already reaching a haven through your prayers’ (xi. 3). If it were a question of a persecution limited to Antioch, it would not be very clear how peace could have restored its stature to the Church of Antioch, i.e. its spiritual stature, in the sense of Eph. inscr.: and YSS of the Epistles.-The words of Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians (13:2) are the earliest evidence of a collection of Ignatius’ letters: ‘The letters of Ignatius which were sent to us by him, and others as many as we had by us, we send unto you, according as ye gave charge; the which are subjoined to this letter; from which ye will be able to gain great advantage. For they comprise faith and endurance and every kind of edification, which pertaineth unto out Lord.’ Eusebius (HE 3:36) apparently knows of a collection of seven of Ignatius’ letters, with Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians, which is identical with our present group of letters, even down to the order in which the Epistles me given: Eph., Magn., Trall., Rom., Philad., Polyc., Smyrn., and Polycarp’s Philippians.

　　This original collection of letters fell into the hands of a forger, who made interpolations in the text of the. authentic Epistles and also manufactured six additional letters-Mary of Cassobola (there is a Cilician town called Castabala, possibly the same as Cassobola) to Ignatius, Ignatius to Mary of Cassobola, to the Tarsians, to the Philippians, to the Antiochenes, and to Hero the Deacon. We have thus an Ignatian collection of thirteen letters. The identification of the forger with the unknown compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions is atheory highly favoured by Funk. He regards him as having been a Syrian Christian of the beginning of the 5th cent., probably belonging to an Apollinarist order, and he even finds in his work points of contact with Theodore of Mopsuestia (Patr. apostol. opera, ii. pp. ix-xiii, and Kirchengeschichtl. Abhandlungen, ii. [Paderborn, 1899], pp. 347-359).

　　Three other spurious letters of Ignatius may be passed over quickly-one supposed to be addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the Virgin’s reply, and two addressed to the Apostle John. The oldest witness to these three Latin letters is Denis of Chartreux († 1471); the oldest manuscript[Note: folio.] now lost, and is an extremely close rendering of the original. Ussher had at his disposal two Latin Manuscriptsσυναγωγαί) be held more frequently,’ Ignatius writes to Polycarp (4:2, 3). ‘Seek out all men by name.… Let slaves not desire to be set free at the public cost’ (ἀγάπης), none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the afflicted, none for the prisoner, none for the hungry or thirsty.’ In these words we have a résumé of the gospel of love, and an indication of the practical assistance rendered by every Christian community to those in need. Ignatius begs Polycarp to call together the faithful into a sort of deliberative assembly (ἐπὶ τὸ αὑτό, ‘in one place’: not to come ἔθνεσιν) no occasion to calumniate God’s people (πρεσβυτέριον or group of οἰκοδεσπότης) has entrusted with the management of his house (συνέδριον) of the apostles; the deacons are entrusted with the diaconate of Jesus Christ (vi. 1: ‘a service under Jesus Christ’ [Lightfoot, ii. 120]). The Magnesians are to continue in union with their revered bishop, and ‘with the fitly wreathed spiritual circlet of the presbytery, and with the deacons who walk after God’ (xiii. 1). The same advice is found again in Trall. (2:1-2, 3:1, 12:2, 13:2), (Philad. (2:1, 3:2, 7:1), and Smyrn. (8:1, 12:2).

　　The ecclesiology of Ignatius does not regard union and discipline merely as a means of sanctification but as the condition of Christianity. Some call their chief ‘bishop,’ but ‘in everything act apart from him,’ and ‘do not assemble themselves together lawfully according to commandment’ (χωρὶς τούτων ἐκκλησία οὐ καλεῖται, Trall, iii. 1). Similar declarations may be found in Philad. (iii. 2). To the Smyrnaeans Ignatius writes (viii. 1-2): ‘Let no man do aught of things pertaining to the Church apart from the bishop. Let that be held a valid (ἀγάπη; i.e. ‘eucharist’). The Letter to Polycarp contains a still more striking piece of advice: ‘Please the Captain in whose army ye serve, from whom also ye will receive your pay. Let none of you be found a deserter’ (vi. 2).

　　A. Michiels (L’Origine de l’épiscopat, Louvain, 1900, pp. 396-98) has tried to show that Ignatius regards this three-grade hierarchy-‘and notably the episcopate’-as of Divine institution. But Ignatius does not look at the problem from this point of view at all. He regards the Church as a sort of extension of the gospel by the apostles: ‘I take refuge in the gospel as the flesh of Jesus and in the Apostles as the presbytery of the Church’ (Philad. v. 1). The Church is the visible realization of salvation: ‘For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ, they are with the bishop; and as many as shall repent and enter into the unity of the Church, these also shall be of God, that they may be living after Jesus Christ’ (iii. 2). And ‘if any man followeth one that maketh a schism (οἱ ἐπίσκοποι οἱ κατὰ τὰ πέρατα ὁρισθέντες, Ephesians 3:2; for the meaning of συνέρχεσθαι εἰς εὐχαριστίαν θεοῦ καὶ εἰς δόξαν, xiii. 1), prayer for all men that they may find God (x. 1), for the other churches (xxi. 2), or for any private individual (xx. 1). In the assembly there is to be but one prayer, one supplication, one mind in common (Magn. vii. 1). ‘And do ye, each and all, form yourselves into a chorus (σύμφωνοι) sing with one voice’ (χειροτονεῖν is used to express the method by which the assembly elects an ambassador to go to some distant church; it is not a far cry to suppose that the members of the hierarchy were elected in the same way by the general vote. But Ignatius believes that God ratifies this choice and the one elected is the elect of God; he congratulates the bishop of Philadelphia on having been invested with ‘the ministry which pertaineth to the common weal (ἀγάπην ποιεῖν (viii. 2). Mention is made of it again in Eph. 20:2: ‘… that ye may obey the bishop and the presbytery without distraction of mind; breaking one bread (δωρεᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ) perish by their questionings.’ By ἄρτος and αἷμα refer to Christ in heaven).

　　(2) The false teachers.-The unity in each church is contrasted with the divisions among heretics. Onesimus, bishop of Ephesus, praises his flock for their orderly conduct (μηδεμία ἕρις), and that they have always ‘lived after God’ (viii. 1). But there are false teachers, men who bear the Christian name and yet act in a manner unworthy of God. These men are to be ‘shunned as wild-beasts; for they are mad dogs, biting by stealth’ (vii. 1). Ignatius praises the Ephesians for not allowing them to sow bad seed among them and for stopping their ears so as not to hear them (ix. 1). Woe to him who ‘through evil doctrine corrupts the faith of God,’ for he ‘shall go into unquenchable fire; and in like manner also shall he that hearkeneth unto him’ (xvi. 2).

　　In his Letter to the Magnesians Ignatius gives some more definite characteristics of these false teachers. He seems to make a distinction between (1) μυθεύματα being the equivalent of παλαιά possibly of 1 Corinthians 5:7, Ignatius thus making use of St. Paul’s language to designate the errors of his time. In the same Epistle Ignatius adds: ‘For if even unto this day we live after the manner of Judaism, we avow that we have not received grace’-an expression which might be taken as meaning that the