Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Unlike most martyrs St. Ignatius of Antioch died with a broad level of fame. He was one of those martyrs that was literally fed to the lions at the Colosseum. This occurred on December 20th, on the very last day of the public games of that particular. It was on the last day when the highest profile victims were presented. His handlers had been eager to get him to Rome on that day for that reason. However, St. Ignatius not only drew multitudes of those who wanted to see him dead, but also large numbers of those who didn’t want to see him dead. Several people accompanied him all the way to Rome and more joined him while he was on the trip. It is thought that it was the deacons who traveled with him, Philo and Agathopus, who wrote the account of his martyrdom.

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Much like St. Paul when he traveled from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to Rome, St. Ignatius made a bunch of stops on the way there. Bishops either greeted him directly or sent envoys to meet with him during these layovers and he would preach to the crowds that came to see him. Also much like St. Paul, he wrote a variety of letters to various Christian congregations. In these letters we find very early teaching on the importance of the church hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons, affirmations regarding the humanity of Christ as well as the Eucharist being a source of unity. It is these letters more than anything that he did earlier in his life that made him a famous father of the church with his name being one of those ones recited in the longer version of the Mass for centuries.

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However, there is something distinctive in his writings that should also make him famous to us. He provides the first written first-person account of someone who wants to die. These are his words:

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“For though I am alive while I write to you, yet I am eager to die for the sake of Christ. My love has been crucified, and there is no fire in me that loves anything; but there is living water springing up in me, and which says to me inwardly, Come to the Father. I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.”

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The coming of Jesus Christ made it possible for humans to be eager for death. St. Paul explains the mechanism by quoting David in today’s reading from Romans:

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Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven

and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not record.

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St. Ignatius of Antioch is aware that Jesus Christ has forgiven his iniquities and has not recorded his sins. It’s the forgiveness that he has received that makes it possible for him to be blessed and the blessed man does not fear death. As a result St. Ignatius feared no physical torment nor like the Pharisees did he fear that his reputation would be destroyed by the revelation of his sins.

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Over the last couple days many of you had the chance to go to confession. Some of you did and some of you didn’t. Those who did confess their sins sincerely have been empowered by God’s forgiveness and can now appropriate the following words from St. Ignatius for themselves:

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“I fight with beasts, both by land and sea, both by night and day. But I am the more instructed by their injuries to act as a disciple of Chris]. May I enjoy the wild beasts that are prepared for me; and I pray they may be found eager to rush upon me, which also I will entice to devour me speedily. But if they be unwilling to assail me, I will compel them to do so. I know what is for my benefit. Now I begin to be a disciple. And let no one, of things visible or invisible, envy me that I should attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.”

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