Ignatius, a Disciple of the Apostle John, in the Year 111

Ignatius, a disciple of the apostle John, and a successor of Peter and Evodius, was in the service of the church of Christ at Antioch in Syria. He was a very God-fearing man, and faithful and diligent in his ministry. He was surnamed Theophorus, that is, The Bearer of God, apparently because he often had the name of God and of his Savior in his mouth, and led a godly life. He frequently used to say: "The life of man is a continual death, unless Christ lives in us." Likewise: "The crucified Christ is my only and entire love." And: "Whoever allows himself to be called after any other than Christ is not of God." And again: "As the world hates the Christians, so God loves them." A. Mellin., folio 15, column 1, from Ignat. in Epist. ad Rom. et alibi. [n138-1]

Ignatius learned that the Emperor Trajan, after the victories he had won over the Dacians, Armenians, Assyrians, and other eastern nations, gave thanks at Antioch to the gods and offered great sacrifices to them, as though these victories had come from them. As Nicephorus informs us, Ignatius reproved the Emperor for it, and this openly in the temple.

The Emperor was greatly enraged at this and had Ignatius arrested. Yet for fear of an uproar, because Ignatius was held in great respect in Antioch, he did not have him punished there, but handed him over to ten soldiers and sent him bound to Rome, to be punished there.

In the meantime his sentence of death was made known to him, in what manner and where he was to die; namely, that he should be torn to pieces by wild beasts at Rome.

On his way there he wrote several letters of comfort to his friends, the faithful in Christ Jesus; and also to different churches, such as those of Smyrna, Ephesus, Philadelphia, Trallis, Magnesia, Tarsus, Philippi, and especially to the church of Christ at Rome; this letter he sent ahead of his arrival there.

It appears that the thought of being torn to pieces by the teeth of wild beasts was constantly on his mind during the journey; yet not as something he dreaded, but as something he earnestly desired. He mentions this in his letter to the church at Rome, writing: "Journeying from Syria to Rome, by water and by land, by day and by night, I fight with wild beasts, bound between ten leopards, who, the more I stroke them and show myself friendly to them, the more cruel and malicious they become. However, through the cruelties and torments they inflict on me daily, I am more and more exercised and instructed; yet I am not justified by this. Oh that I were already with the beasts that are ready to devour me! I hope that before long I shall find them such as I wish them to be, that is, cruel enough to destroy me quickly. But if they will not fall upon me and tear me, I will kindly entice them, so that they will not spare me, as they have already spared several Christians, but will quickly tear me in pieces and devour me. Forgive me for speaking this way; I know what I need. Only now do I begin to be a disciple of Christ. I regard neither things visible nor things invisible, at which the world is amazed. It is enough for me if I only become a partaker of Christ. Let the devil and evil men afflict me with every kind of pain and torment, with fire, with the cross, with fighting against wild beasts, with the scattering of the members and bones of my body; I count all this very little, if only I may enjoy Christ. Only pray for me, that inward and outward strength may be given me, not only to speak or write this, but also to do it and endure it, so that I may not only be called a Christian, but also be found one in truth." Ignat. in Epist. ad Rom.

When he had arrived at Rome, he was delivered by the soldiers to the governor, together with the letters of the Emperor, which contained his sentence of death. He was kept in prison several days, until a certain feast day of the Romans, when the Governor, according to the order of the Emperor, had him brought out into the amphitheater. First of all they tried by many torments to make him blaspheme the name of Christ and offer sacrifice to the gods. But when Ignatius did not weaken in his faith, and was only strengthened the longer he refused to offer heathen sacrifices, he was at once condemned by the Roman Senate to be thrown before the lions immediately.

As Ignatius was led away from the presence of the Senate to the innermost enclosure, or pit of the lions, he frequently repeated the name of Jesus in the conversation which he carried on with the believers along the way, as well as in his secret prayer to God. When he was asked why he did this, he answered: "My dear Jesus, my Savior, is written so deeply in my heart that I am confident that if my heart were cut open and chopped to pieces, the name of Jesus would be found written on every piece." By this the pious man showed that not only his mouth, but the innermost parts of his heart were filled with the love of Jesus; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So also Paul, being filled with the love of Jesus Christ, used in his letters as many as two hundred times (as has been counted) the words, "Our Lord Jesus Christ." The name "Jesus" he uses as many as five hundred times.

When the whole multitude of the people had assembled to witness the death of Ignatius (for the report had spread through the whole city that a bishop had been brought from Syria who, according to the sentence of the Emperor, was to fight against the wild beast), Ignatius was brought out and placed in the middle of the amphitheater. Then Ignatius, with a bold heart, addressed the people who stood around in this way: "O you Romans, all of you who have come to see this combat with your own eyes, know that this punishment has not been laid on me for any misdeed or crime, for I have committed no such thing, but so that I may come to God, for whom I long, and to enjoy whom is my insatiable desire. For I am the grain of God. I am ground by the teeth of the beast, so that I may be found a pure bread of Christ, who is to me the bread of life." These words Ignatius spoke when he stood in the middle of the amphitheater, and when he heard the lions roar; which the brothers of the church, who also stood among the people, heard and testified to.

As soon as he had spoken these words, two dreadful, hungry lions were let out to him from their pits, and they instantly tore and devoured him, leaving almost nothing, or at least very little, even of his bones. So this faithful martyr of Jesus Christ fell asleep, happy in the Lord, in the year 111, in the 12th year of Emperor Trajan. Compare Abr. Mell., 1st book of the Hist. der vervolg. en Mart., printed 1619, folio 25, columns 1 to 4, and folio 26, column 1, with Joh. Gysii Hist. Mart., folio 15, columns 2, 3. [n138-2] Also, W. Baudart. in Apophth. Christian, printed in the year 1640. The first book, in the second Apophthegm, on the name Ignatius, pages 37, 38, from various other authors.