Unus Deus - Ignatius
Ignatius usually gets a bludgeoning from various people and groups that I deal with personally, but in the end I hold that he was a solid ‘modalist’ although that word would have been foreign to him. He invented the word ‘apostolic’ which is horribly misused by Rome and oneness people. He also was among the first (if not they first) to use the term ‘catholic‘ in describing the Church, but this is not the big C Catholic that we know of today, but instead the universal Church, both Jew and Gentile, Living and Dead.
His famous quote,
Where the bishop is, there let the people gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church.
Expresses the unity of the Church, not a name or collective center such as Rome. After all, Alexandria would occupy the seat of papal authority long before Rome would. I have included a portion of Ignatius’ works, and a word of caution. One has to be cautious in discarding all of history because they are used and interpreted by the Trinitarians.
The Epistles of Ignatius (c35-110)
I have chosen to include several passages from different Epistles composed by this Bishop of Antioch, but I do so with caution. We know assuredly that this man lived and wrote extensively. We know fully that he was a Bishop of Antioch and that he was martyred for the Faith around 107 by the Romans. History, however, has given us several representations of his works. Along with most scholars, I have used only the shorter versions in which to extract doctrine. Many scholars will speak to the fact that it is plain one or the other of these versions (Shorter and Longer) exhibits a corrupt text, and scholars have for the most part agreed to accept the shorter form as representing the genuine letters of Ignatius, but that theory is not without its faults. I will hold to that theory, but with the rider that interpolations[1] are known to have occurred.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians
Introduction
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus[2], to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory, being united and elected through the true passion by the will of the Father and Jesus Christ, our God[3]: Abundant happiness through Jesus Christ, and His undefiled grace.
Chapter I
Being the followers of God, and stirring up yourselves by the blood of God[4], ye have perfectly accomplished the work which was beseeming to you.
Chap. XVIII
Let my spirit be counted as nothing for the sake of the cross, which is a stumbling-block to those that do not believe, but to us salvation and life eternal. “Where is the wise man? where the disputer?” Where is the boasting of those who are styled prudent? For our God, Jesus Christ[5], was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by His passion He might purify the water.
Chapter XIX
Hence every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom abolished, God Himself being manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by God.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians
Chapter XV
The Ephesians from Smyrna (whence I also write to you), who are here for the glory of God, as ye also are, who have in all things refreshed me, salute you, along with Polycarp, the bishop of the Smyrnæans. The rest of the Churches, in honour of Jesus Christ, also salute you. Fare ye well in the harmony of God, ye who have obtained the inseparable Spirit, who is Jesus Christ[6].
Epistle to the Trallians
Chapter VII
Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons. And this will be the case with you if you are not puffed up, and continue in intimate union with Jesus Christ our God, and the bishop, and the enactments of the apostles. He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without is not pure; that is, he who does anything apart from the bishop, and presbytery, and deacons, such a man is not pure in his conscience.
Epistle to the Romans
Introduction
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High Father, and Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, which also presides in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father, which I also salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father: to those who are united, both according to the flesh and spirit, to every one of His commandments; who are filled inseparably with the grace of God, and are purified from every strange taint, [I wish] abundance of happiness unblameably, in Jesus Christ our God.
Chapter III
For our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is in the Father, is all the more revealed [in His glory]. Christianity is not a thing of silence only, but also of [manifest] greatness.
Epistle to the Church at Smyrna
Chapter I
I Glorify God, even Jesus Christ, who has given you such wisdom
Chapter X
Ye have done well in receiving Philo and Pheus Agathopus as servants of Christ our God[7] who have followed me for the sake of GOd, and who give thanks to the Lord in your behalf, because ye have in every way refreshed them. None of these things shall be lost to you.
[1] Interpolations can be easily indentified in the longer text with the addition of titles and the correcting on ‘Christological concerns, i.e. Ignatius’ unqualified declaration that Christ is God.
[2] God-bearer, indicating the indwelling of the Spirit
[3] The Greek is τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, indicating Christ is God. The longer versions reads ‘God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour’
[4] Cf Acts 20.28
[5] Clear statement as to the Ignatius’ theology of the nature of God
[6] It is either that Christ is the inseparable Spirit or God
[7] The longer version reads only ‘of Christ’.
agapeton
Here’s a section of the appendix to my thesis on Fr. John Romanides’ writings. I comment on each of his writings in this interminable appendix, which is a book in and of itself, but anyway, here’s the section on what is, in my opinion, the very best article about St Ignatius. See original article on http://www.romanity.org, of course. The section breaks off abruptly, because I haven’t finished it yet.
D. “The Ecclesiology of St. Ignatius of Antioch”
Fr. John finds in St. Ignatius an ecclesial Christology that maintains the nexus of, on the one hand, 1) Eucharist, 2) clergy, and 3) life in Christ; and on the other hand, 1) asceticism and 2) demonology:
Christology is the positive aspect of the Church, but is conditioned by biblical demonology, which is the key negative factor which determines both Christology and Ecclesiology, both of which are incomprehensible without an adequate understanding of the work and methods of Satan.
This notion that the Church has a twofold nature in no way limits the Cross’s victory over Satan, but recognizes as necessary man’s concrete, ascetic acceptance of the divine gift of power over death and the Devil: “. . .[T]hus the Church, although already the body of Christ, is continuously becoming what she is.” It is interesting to note that, even though Fr. John incorporates many of N. Afanasiev’s emphases into his theology, he never espouses a “Eucharistic Ecclesiology” which would emphasize sacraments to the exclusion of asceticism. Instead, Fr. John sees the Eucharist as a “manifestation” of the Church members’ “unity of love with each other in the life-giving nature of Christ.” For Fr. John, sacramentology becomes magical when separated from an asceticism predicated upon the defeat of the power of Satan: “Participation of the love of God in union with each other. . .can be weakened and even destroyed by man’s inattention to the ways of Satan.” Here Fr. John gives due attention to the individual Christian whose heart, through “intense warfare against Satan” becomes a Temple of God who shares in the selfless love of Christ, though this participation in Christ remains “Sarkocentric” , and thus cannot be achieved outside of “looking to the Blood of God” in the Eucharistic assembly.
St. Ignatius’s ethical teachings are Christocentric in that they uphold the ontological basis of morality: Moral evil is Satanic opposition to union with God in Christ. Moral good is actual union with God in His Uncreated Energies which are given to man through Christ’s actual flesh and blood. Christ’s deified material body bestows the gift of divine power for the defeat of the power of Satan. This power is not magical, but is rather a weapon that must be wielded by Christians in a concrete local community that is continuously being established in selfless love through asceticism and the sacraments. Though each person must take up his own Cross and wage war against Satan, this struggle within man’s heart and members can succeed only as a communal achievement, since many become one in the unity of love in Christ. Real non-utilitarian, non-individualistic love in the body of Christ “seeks not its own”: “This love is such that Christ ‘pleased not himself’ (Rom. 15:3) but ‘died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves’ (II Cor. 5:15).”
The significance of martyrdom in the Christology of the early Church writers cannot be overstated, according to Fr. John. In an early sermon entitled “La vie dans le Christ”, we find Fr. John commenting at great length on the overcoming of the fear of death and Satan as a prerequisite for membership in the Church:
The biblical and patristic tradition is unanimous on one point: The one who is a living member of the Body of Christ is one who is dead to the power of death and who lives in the renewal of the Spirit of life. For this very reason, those who denied Christ during persecution, even after hours of torture, were considered excommunicated. Once a Christian died with Christ in baptism, he was expected to be ready to die anytime in the name of Christ. “Whoever denies me before men I will deny also before my Father in heaven” (Mat. 10:33).
Martyrdom is here closely associated with the overcoming of death through union with the body of Christ, and Fr. John finds view in St. Ignatius of Antioch, who says of those who died for the Faith: “. . .they touched Him and believed, being supported by both His flesh and spirit. For this cause also they despised death, for they were found above death” (Smyr. 3). On the basis of the presuppositions of Orthodox martyrdom, Fr. John dismisses Western scholars who diagnose St. Ignatius with “eschatological enthusiasm” or “psychopathic disturbances.” Obviously, St. Ignatius wished that other Christians not hinder him from martyrdom because his (or their) dwelling upon any possibility of escaping death would mean ceasing to love “nothing but God only” : “The prince of this world would fain carry me away (or capture me), and corrupt my disposition (or opinion) toward god. Let none of you, therefore, who are in Rome help him” (Ign. Rom. 7). Thus, Fr. John’s article shows that St. Ignatius’ view of the body of Christ keeps in focus the. . .
James Kelley
10 Jul 08 at 3:03 am
James, thanks for the comment and information. I have recently begun to study the ‘Church Fathers’ (Apostolic and otherwise) and have come to enjoy Ignatius, although it seems that his writings have faced the most corruption over the centuries.
What changed between Ignatius and Cyprian by way of readmitting traditors?
Polycarp
10 Jul 08 at 7:57 am