IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH

The celebration of the memory of Saint Ignatius of Antioch is a very important commemoration from a historical and dogmatic point of view. Ignatius was an apostolic father, that is, he belonged to the next generation after the Apostles, and became the third, after Peter the Apostle and Euodius, bishop of Antioch, according to ancient tradition.

Ignatius headed this Apostolic Church of Antioch until he was captured by the Roman authorities and sentenced to death. In execution of the sentence, he was transported to Rome, where he was to be thrown to the lions. His path as a prisoner along the roads of the Empire ended with suffering in the Colosseum. This happened during the reign of Emperor Trajan (96-117) around the year 107.

Information about Ignatius and his way of the cross was preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea in his “Church History”. St Jerome and Theodoret of Cyrus wrote about him. John Chrysostom dedicated a separate sermon to Ignatius in the form of a eulogy.

It is known that after the execution, Christians reverently and lovingly collected the remaining bones of the martyr and soon transferred them to the suburbs of Antioch. In 438, under Emperor Theodosius the Younger (401-450), a new transfer of the saint’s relics took place, called the “second translation”. Then the relics of Ignatius were placed in a church in the City of Antioch. In 540, after the Persian invasion, a third transfer took place. But it was not the last. Indeed, according to some sources, after the Arab conquest of the capital of the Christian East, so Antioch was called, in 637 the relics of the martyr were transferred to Rome.

It is known that at the beginning of the 8th century the relics of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) were transferred from Sardinia to Pavia in northern Italy, and in 1087 the relics of Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari. Thus, it turns out that Ignatius of Antioch unwittingly became the pioneer of this medieval practice, when the relics of saints were transferred from territories that came under the rule of new, Muslim conquerors. Contemporaries of those events thought that the saints were simply “ransomed” or even simply “kidnapped”. However, the subsequent history of popular piety showed that behind this desperate gesture of rulers and entrepreneurs a new history of saints and their veneration was opening up.

Ignatius’s martyrdom occurred on December 20. In the Churches that adhere to the Julian calendar, this celebration falls on the second day of the New Year. Such a coincidence does not have a special sacred character, but helps believers remember the saints day after day and experience the time as a celebration of their memory.

In 1366, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch was transferred to Damascus. In a symbolic sense, it repeated the path of Saint Ignatius. Today, when the Syrian territories are again in turmoil, we, together with Saint Ignatius, pray for peace for Syrian Christians.