H. Ignatius van Antiochië

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H. Ignatius van Antiochië

Feast date: Oct 17

On Oct. 17, the Roman Catholic Church remembers the early Church Father, bishop, and martyr Saint Ignatius of Antioch, whose writings attest to the sacramental and hierarchical nature of the Church from its earliest days. Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate his memory on Dec. 20.

In a 2007 general audience on St. Ignatius of Antioch, Pope Benedict XVI observed that “no Church Father has expressed the longing for union with Christ and for life in him with the intensity of Ignatius.” In his letters, the Pope said, “one feels the freshness of the faith of the generation which had still known the Apostles. In these letters, the ardent love of a saint can also be felt.”

Born in Syria in the middle of the first century A.D., Ignatius is said to have been personally instructed – along with another future martyr, Saint Polycarp – by the Apostle Saint John. When Ignatius became the Bishop of Antioch around the year 70, he assumed leadership of a local church that was, according to tradition, first led by Saint Peter before his move to Rome.

Although St. Peter transmitted his Papal primacy to the bishops of Rome rather than Antioch, the city played an important role in the life of the early Church. Located in present-day Turkey, it was a chief city of the Roman Empire, and was also the location where the believers in Jesus’ teachings and his resurrection were first called “Christians.”

Ignatius leidde de christenen van Antiochië tijdens de regering van de Romeinse keizer Domitianus, de eerste van de keizers die zijn goddelijkheid uitriep door de titel “Heer en God” aan te nemen. Onderdanen die de keizer onder deze titel geen verering wilden bewijzen, konden met de dood worden gestraft. Als leider van een groot katholiek bisdom in deze periode toonde Ignatius moed en werkte hij eraan om dit ook bij anderen te inspireren.

After Domitian’s murder in the year 96, his successor Nerva reigned only briefly, and was soon followed by the Emperor Trajan. Under his rule, Christians were once again liable to death for denying the pagan state religion and refusing to participate in its rites. It was during his reign that Ignatius was convicted for his Christian testimony and sent from Syria to Rome to be put to death.

Escorted by a team of military guards, Ignatius nonetheless managed to compose seven letters: six to various local churches throughout the empire (including the Church of Rome), and one to his fellow bishop Polycarp who would give his own life for Christ several decades later.

De brieven van Ignatius benadrukten hartstochtelijk het belang van kerkeenheid, de gevaren van ketterij en het overtreffende belang van de Eucharistie als het “medicijn van onsterfelijkheid”. Deze geschriften bevatten de eerste overgeleverde schriftelijke beschrijving van de Kerk als “katholiek”, van het Griekse woord dat zowel universaliteit als volheid aanduidt.

One of the most striking features of Ignatius’ letters, is his enthusiastic embrace of martyrdom as a means to union with God and eternal life. “All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing,” he wrote to the Church of Rome. “It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth.”

“Nu begin ik een leerling te worden,” verklaarde de bisschop. “Laat vuur en het kruis; laat de menigten wilde beesten; laat het verscheuren, breken en ontwrichten van botten; laat het afhakken van ledematen; laat het verbrijzelen van het hele lichaam; en laat alle vreselijke kwellingen van de duivel over mij komen: Als ik maar Jezus Christus mag bereiken.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch bore witness to Christ publicly for the last time in Rome’s Flavian Amphitheater, where he was mauled to death by lions. “I am the wheat of the Lord,” he had declared, before facing them. “I must be ground by the teeth of these beasts to be made the pure bread of Christ.” His memory was honored, and his bones venerated, soon after his death around the year 107.

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