IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, Christian bishop and martyr: b. Syria, c. A.D. 50; d. Rome, A.D. 110-117; was called in Syriac Minima; and probably received at baptism his second name, Theophorus, ((the God-bearer.* Of his early life nothing is certain. Origen, vi in Luc., sec. 1,' speaks of him as the second bishop of Antioch after Peter. doret, (Epist. 151,) says that ((Ignatius, who is known far and wide, received the high hood by the right hand of the great Peter?) The (Chronicon' of Eusebius, in Saint Jerome's revision, groups Ignatius of Antioch with Papias of Hierapolis and Polycarp of Smyrna as of John . the Evangelist. The tyrium Ignatii, accepted as historical by son and Ussher but. rejected by Lightfoot, is copious in its details of the martyrdom of natius. The authentic letters of the martyr give the following account of the journey to martyrdom. Ignatius was condemned to death (Ephes. 12, Trail. 3, Rom. 4), and sent to Rome ato make a Roman holiday?) He made no appeal to Caesar, as had Saint Paul. His chief desire is that no appeal be made in his behalf (Rom. 1, 2 5, etc.). Likely the cause of the journey to Rome was merely the clamor of the Roman populace, during Trajan's reign, for the butchery of men as well as beasts in the arena. The martyr probably set sail from Seleucia, the port nearest to Antioch. His guard of IO soldiers gathered in other victims as they proceeded toward Rome. The route was across Asia Minor, from a Cilician or Parnphilian port, to Philadelphia, on to Sardis, and thence to Smyrna. Here Ignatius was received by his friend Polycarp, and met by delegates from the churches of Ephesus, Tralles and Magne sia. During this stay at Smyrna, the letters to the Ephesians, the 'Iranians, the Magnesians and the Romans were written. The guards seem to have been a brutal set. Ignatius speaks of them as aten leopards" (Rom. 5) ; and says he ahas been fighting with wild beasts' From Smyrna the prisoner was taken to Troas, where he wrote his letters to Philadelphia, to Smyrna and 10 Polycarp. From the letter of Polycarp
to the Philippians, we learn of the martyr's stay at Philippi; and of the request made by that church for the letters of Ignatius. To this request and Polycarp's compliance, is probably due the first collection of the seven authentic Epistles of Saint Ignatius. His martyrdom is witnessed to by Ortgen, Homil. in Lc. vi; and is assigned by Eusebius, 'Historia Ecdesiastica, iii, to the reign of Trajan. Seven of the Epistles of Saint Ignatius are now quite gen erally admitted to be authentic, those to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna and to Polycarp. These are the collection witnessed to by Eusebius, Saint Jerome and many later Fathers, and ad mitted by such critics as Lightfoot, Harnack, Zahn and Funk. Of doubtful authenticity are the letters to (1) Mary of Cassobola; (2) Hero, deacon of Antioch; to the churches of (3) Tarsus, (4) Philippi, and (5) Antioch. Ad mittedly spurious are two letters to John the Apostle, one to the blessed Virgin Mary, and one from her to Ignatius. The Epistle to the Romans is chiefly personal. It reveals the writer's enthusiastic devotedness, intensity of personal love for Jesus Christ and ardent yearning for martyrdom. The other six au thentic letters are chiefly doctrinal. They teach the divine institution of the Church as a visible society (Philad. 3), her unity (ib., Magn. 13), holiness (Eph. 9), catholicity (Smyrn. .8), in fallibility (Philad. 3), hierarchical constitution and priesthood (Magn. 13, Eph. 9), together with the primacy of the Roman see (Rom., Introd.).
The best editions of the Epistles of Saint Ignatius are: Zahn (1876) ; Funk (1901) ; Lightfoot (1889) ; Cf. Newman, J. H., 'The Theology of Saint Ignatius,' in His torical Sketches, I (1890) ; Gasquet, (Saint Ig natius and the Roman Primacy' in Studies (1904).