IGNA'TITIS, SAINT, bishop of Antioch after 69 A.D., is said to have been a disciple of St. John, and is reckoned one of the apostolic al fathers. He bore the surname of Theo one who carries God [or, as Ignatius explained it, "Christ"] in his heart: or, again, as some (Jerome amongst them) wrongly supposed, "one who was carried by God"—i.e., Christ (cf. Mark, ix. 36)--whom. however, according to Si. Chrysostom. Ignatius never saw. Tills legend that he was the little child whom Jesus set in the midst of his disciples, may, however, like the other tradition of his m'elationship to St. JOT), be taken as symbolic of his winning, affectionate nature. Ignatius was a true shepherd of his people. one of those meek, earnest, loving spirits to whose beautiful unobtrusive piety Christianity owed its first and best triumphs. Domitian's persecution of the church, of Antioeh proved hint to be no courarreons than pious, and when that storm had pa:sked.oVer, the second and .fiercer Trajan gratified Igna bus's wish of being sacrificed for his flock. The story of his interview with Trajan has come down to us. That strong ruler, full of worldly sagacity, just and virtuous after his fashion, could not understand a man so utterly unworldly as Ignatius. He con temptuously called him a kakodaimon, or, as we should say, " a poor devil," and in the end condemned hint "to be led as a prisoner to Rome, there to be made the food of wild beasts for the amusement [ad delectationend of the people." . The sentence was executed 107 A.D., or, according to others, 116 ..4.1). In the church of Rome his mar tyrdom is commemorated on Feb. 1; in the Greek church on Dec. 20.
The genuineness of the writings (a liturgy and a little work entitled Didachg, quoted by Chrysostom) and epistles ascribed to him—of which 15 (12 in Greek and 3 in Latin) are now extant—and some of which are quoted in the 2d, 3d, and 4th c., and were widely read in the ancient church, has been eagerly discussed and much disputed since the 16th century. The common opinion of scholars (until perhaps the last 20 years) was in favor of the genuineness of seven of the Greek epistles, which are extant in two redactions of different length, and iu two corresponding ancient Latin translations— those to the Ephesians, Maguesians, Philadelphians, Trallians, Smyrneans, Romans, and to Polycarp, his contemporary; but even these were regarded as spurious by Daille, Semler, Hermann, Ernesti, and others, with whom in the main Meander concurs. The
controversy received a new impetus by the publication of Bunsen's Ignatius and seine Zeit (klamb. 1847), in which that writer endeavored to establish the genuineness of three of the seven epistles, and the spuriousness of the others; his conclusions were, however, assailed by the great leader of the Tubingen school, P. C. Baur, in his Die Ignatianischen Beiefe and ihr neuester Kritiker (Tilb. 1848). The most probable view of the seven epis tles is that which conceives them to have a basis of genuineness, but to have suffered extensive interpolation. The reason why these epistles have excited so keen an interest, especially among ecclesiastics, is, that the question of church government is believed to hang very much upon them; they are, in fact, a battle-ground between Episcopalians and Presbyterians; and as they seem to faVor the hierarchical system of the former, Episcopalians have, as a rule, been strenuous in defense of their Ignatian origin, while Presbyterians have as warmly attacked it. The discovery, in an Egyptian convent, of a Syriac version of three of the epistles—those to the Romans, the Ephesians, and to Polycarp (published by the rev. W. -Cureton, formerly of the British museum, under the title of The Ancient k*rictc Version of the Epistles of St. Ignatius. etc., Lond. 1845), has, on account of its possessing higher claims to be considered genuine than any Greek MSS., led to the conclusion that the common Greek text has been very seriously tam pered with—the interpolations consisting often of passages enforcing episcopal authority, and asserting the deity of Jesus Christ.
The text of the writings ascribed to Ignatius is to be found in the various editions of the apostolic fathers, from that of Cotelerius (2d ed. 1724) to the recent and admit :114e one edited by Gebhardt, Harnack, and Zahn (1876). There are English translations by archbishop Wake and in the Ante-Nicene Library (Clark, Edin.). See Zahn, Ignatius Antiochien (1873).