IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH
Blood, Lions and Priests
SOMETHING HAPPENED BETWEEN JOHN'S DEATH AND THE RISE OF THE CHURCH EN MASS. A few men stand in the gap but no one can be certain of their intimacy with
the last of the original Talmidim (disciples, namely John). Among these are Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp. In the writings of Ignatius, we find some interesting trends. He is the one responsible for setting up the Bishopric as it stands to this day.
"For though some would have deceived me according to the flesh, yet the Spirit, as being from God, is not deceived. For it knows both whence it comes and whither it goes, and detects the secrets [of the heart]. For, when I was among you, I cried, I spoke with a loud voice: Give heed to the bishop, and to the presbytery and deacons. Now, some suspected me of having spoken thus, as knowing beforehand the division caused by some among you. But He is my witness, for whose sake I am in bonds, that I got no intelligence from any man. But the Spirit proclaimed these words: Do nothing without the bishop; keep your bodies as the temples of God; love unity; avoid divisions; be the followers
of Jesus Christ, even as He is of His Father."
His declaration; The Spirit proclaimed..., seems at least suspect as
there is no precedent in the writings of the Talmidim nor of Paul that leads one to believe that nothing could be done without a bishop (or overseer) present. We certainly have precedent for the setting up of overseers and servants in the Church but no admonishment that we should not meet or proceed with studies or service without a leader present. Earlier, he writes that he (Ignatius) cried with a loud voice to heed the bishops, presbytery and deacons; then he seems to want to cement his own admonitions
by attaching the Holy Spirit's name to them.
He writes with a certain arrogance and seems far too eager to head off to the lions in full view of the world chained between two soldiers. In a letter to Christians in Rome he writes: "Permit me to imitate my suffering God ... I am God's wheat and I shall be ground by the
teeth of beasts, that I may become the pure bread of Christ." He was, as it turns out, devoured by those hungry lions in a public Roman venue one evening. We can't help but admire his loyalty to Christ. He was
a true martyr of our faith. But he did, out of his fear that docetism
(a heresy that stipulated that Christ was not human but rather a supernatural specter) would sweep the Church out to sea, set up some wonky ecclesiastical policies from the outset with no clear authority from Paul, John or the other church leaders.
It appears as though Ignatius lead the way to an established hierarchical order born of fear. Even a cursory look through the book of Acts and the Pastoral Letters reveals that heresy was, in fact, a malevolent force rolling in on the horizon but that Paul and others dealt with it quite handily and allowed Christ to rule His Church ultimately. Paul grappled with his own authority out of a spirit of humility but rendered it with a righteous sternness, confident he was endowed by Christ to lay down the law, while Ignatius seems bent on setting up what would turn out to be an ecclesiastical aristocracy.Â
In short, Ignatius was a God-fearing man who loved his Savior. And he died for his faith in Him. And this cannot be over-looked. He was a sincere man who some believe to have made a mistake. And his well-intended blunder has cost the Church centuries of bloody warfare and the theft of an unfettered and direct personal relationship between the children of God and their Abba.
"I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth.
He who died in place
of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire."
According to
Catholic Tradition:
The second Bishop of Antioch, Syria, this disciple of the beloved Disciple John was consecrated Bishop around the year 69 by the Apostle Peter, the first Pope. A holy man who was deeply loved by the Christian faithful, he always made it his special care to defend orthodoxy (right teaching) and orthopraxy (right practice) among the early Christians.
