Ignatius of Antioch
2nd century · AD 108 · Early Fathers (before Nicaea) · 247 passages
Bishop of Antioch who wrote seven letters on his way to martyrdom in Rome, insisting on the reality of Christ's incarnation and the unity of the church.
Background on Ignatius of Antioch
In his own words on Philemon
- Philemon 1:8
I do not issue orders to you, as if I were some great person. For though I am bound for the name [of Christ], I am not yet perfect in Jesus Christ. For now I begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as fellow-disciples with me. For it was needful for me to have been stirred up by you in faith, exhortation, patience, and long-suffering. But inasmuch as love suffers me not to be silent in regard to you, I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that ye would all run together in accordance with the will of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the [manifested] will of the Father; as also bishops, settled everywhere to the utmost bounds [of the earth], are so by the will of Jesus Christ.
Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians
Quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations of the fathers — Aquinas's Catena Aurea, the Ante-Nicene and Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, and related editions. Each quotation links to its source.