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Ignatius of Antioch

late 1st/early 2nd century Christian author and Patriarch of Antioch

b. c. 35 · d. c. 108

3rd Patriarch of Antioch (Greek line)

Offices

Ignatius of Antioch, also known as Ignatius Theophorus, was an early Christian writer and the Patriarch of Antioch. While en route to Rome, where he was to be killed, Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This correspondence forms a central part of a later collection of works by the Apostolic Fathers. He is considered one of the three most important of these, together with Clement of Rome and Polycarp. Although the authenticity of his letters has been questioned, they continue to serve as an example of early Christian theology, and address important topics including ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.

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How we know

Recorded as a historical figure.

  • Ecclesiastical History 3 claims — HE 3.22, 3.36; The road from Antioch to Rome; The martyrdom of Ignatius in the amphitheatre
  • The Apostolic Fathers 1 claim — Whether Ignatius argues or describes
  • Letters 10.96–97 (the Pliny–Trajan correspondence) 1 claim — Trajanic policy on Christians

Documents

Glosses

  • Whether Ignatius argues or describes Ignatius writes to six churches about 110 and tells each of them to do nothing without the bishop. Whether that is evidence of a new thing or of an old one is the oldest live argument about the shape of the early…
  • Presbyter and bishop In the New Testament and in Clement's letter to Corinth the two words name one office: presbyteros and episkopos are used of the same men in the same paragraph. A single bishop standing over a college of presbyters is…

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