Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Icon of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, martyr (†c. 107)

He was a disciple of Saint Paul and Saint John, and the second successor of Saint Peter as bishop of the see of Antioch. He was born between AD 30 and AD 35 and died a martyr devoured by wild beasts in the month of January of the year AD 107 during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan. On his way to Rome to face martyrdom, he wrote seven letters — addressed to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to the bishop Polycarp of Smyrna — which have been preserved and constitute an invaluable patristic witness.

The Divinity of Christ

Through Saint Ignatius we receive the testimony of a direct disciple of the Apostles who helps us understand how clear the awareness of the divinity of Christ was in the primitive Church, which is quite useful when combating the attacks of certain sects.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and other sects of an Arian type, for example, deny that the first Christians believed and accepted the divinity of Jesus Christ. For these sects, Jesus Christ would not be true God, would not have shared in the nature of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but would be only a creature. Catholics, on the other hand, profess belief in one God in Three Divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who share one and the same divine nature.

These sects suppose that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ was imposed as a product of the manipulations of the Emperor Constantine during the fourth century, who wished to divinize Christ for political ends. In the epistles of Saint Ignatius, however, we find a testimony several centuries old that demonstrates that at such an early period the full divinity of Jesus Christ was already accepted. In this regard, Saint Ignatius writes in his letters:

“There is one God, who has manifested Himself through Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word, not proceeding from silence, and who in all things pleased Him that sent Him.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 8:2)

“Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High God the 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.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, Prologue)

He simply admits the key points of Catholic Christology, including the dogma of the Incarnation:

“There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 7:2)

“From that time forward every sorcery and every spell was dissolved, the ignorance so characteristic of wickedness vanished, and the ancient kingdom was abolished, God appearing in human form for the renewal of eternal life.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 19:3)

“For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb of Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 18:2)

Throughout his epistles he continues time and again to acknowledge Jesus Christ as his God, while at the same time affirming that there is only one God:

“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.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 1)

“Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 6:3)

“I glorify God, even Jesus Christ, who has given you such wisdom. For I have observed that you are perfected in an immoveable faith, as if you were nailed to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, both in the flesh and in the spirit.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 1:1)

Against the heresy of the Gnostics, who held that Christ had not had a real body but only an apparent one, and therefore suffered on the cross only in appearance, he implicitly affirms the traditional Catholic doctrine later explained through the term “hypostatic union”: Christ is true God but also true man:

“For I know that after His resurrection also He was still possessed of flesh, and I believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, ‘Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit.’ And immediately they touched Him, and believed, being convinced both by His flesh and spirit. For this cause also they despised death, and were found its conquerors. And after his resurrection He ate and drank with them, as being possessed of flesh, although spiritually He was united to the Father.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 3:1–3)

Saint Ignatius also rejects one of the elements that would become central to the doctrine of Arianism — the supposition that Jesus Christ was a created being, or what amounts to the same thing, the notion that there was a moment in time when Jesus Christ did not exist. For him, on the contrary, Christ is above time and is eternal:

“…wait for Him who is above every season, the Eternal, the Invisible, who for our sakes became visible, the Impalpable, the Impassible, who for our sakes suffered, who in every way endured for our sakes.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp 3:2)

The Eucharist

He is considerably more explicit than the Didache in admitting the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist — a doctrine that in antiquity was also rejected by heresies of Gnostic origin. For the Docetists, a Gnostic sect of the era, the consecrated bread and wine could not truly become the body and blood of Christ, since they operated from the already-mentioned conception that Christ had not had a real body but only an apparent one. Saint Ignatius, against this, reaffirmed the traditional faith of the Church:

“They [the Docetists] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 7:1–2)

The depth of this argument far surpasses a simple claim of Real Presence. Ignatius is here establishing an indissoluble bond between the doctrine of the Incarnation and the doctrine of the Eucharist: it is the same heretics — the Docetists — who deny both simultaneously, and they do so with internal consistency. If Christ had no real flesh, neither can there be real flesh and blood in the bread and cup. If the Incarnation was only appearance, the Eucharist is also only appearance. Docetism was at least logically consistent: it rejected the materiality of Christ at every level. What Ignatius could not have imagined — because no one had yet maintained it — is that someone would accept the bodily reality of the Incarnation and simultaneously reject the bodily reality of the Eucharist. That is precisely what evangelical Protestantism does, which confesses without difficulty that Jesus Christ assumed real flesh in the womb of Mary, but denies that this same flesh is present in the consecrated bread. Ignatius, who combated those who denied both, would have found inexplicable that someone should deny only one of them.

Probably inspired by the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, he calls the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality” and his flesh “the bread of God”:

“…breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but which causes that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 20:2)

“I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 7:3)

“Be careful, therefore, to observe one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to show forth the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop, along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants: that, whatsoever you do, you may do it according to the will of God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 4)

The Greek word that Ignatius uses in this passage to designate the altar is θυσιαστήριον (thusiastērion), a term derived from the verb θύω (thyō), which means precisely “to offer in sacrifice.” In the Septuagint, thusiastērion is the same word that designates the sacrificial altar of the Temple of Jerusalem, where victims were offered to God. Ignatius does not use a generic or decorative term: he takes the vocabulary of the sacrificial cult of the Old Testament and transfers it without ambiguity to the Eucharistic celebration. This implies that, for Ignatius, the Eucharist is not a simple memorial of the Last Supper, but a sacrificial reality celebrated upon a genuine altar, by a legitimately ordained minister. Protestantism, which rejects both the ministerial priesthood and the sacrificial character of the Mass, is confronted by a text from the year 107 that frontally contradicts its premises. The oneness of the altar that Ignatius requires is also not merely a disciplinary norm: it is the sacramental expression of the oneness of Christ’s sacrifice, whose offering continues to be present in the Eucharist celebrated by the bishop in communion with his Church.

He holds as valid only the Eucharist celebrated by a bishop possessing legitimate apostolic succession.

“Let that Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop, or by one to whom the bishop has committed this charge… It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8:1)

He also exhorts Christians to celebrate the Eucharist frequently:

“Therefore, give diligence to meet together more frequently for thanksgiving and glory to God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 13:1)

The Catholic Church and Her Hierarchical Constitution

From Saint Ignatius we have the first preserved testimony in which the Christian Church is called the “Catholic Church.” He writes: “wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” He also sheds much light on the hierarchical organization of the Church of his time, for he addresses his letters to recipient churches that had a perfectly defined tripartite hierarchy: a bishop who governed them (monarchical episcopate), a college of presbyters subordinate to him, and one or more deacons.

“Follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father; and the college of presbyters, as the Apostles. Respect the deacons, as appointed by God. Let no one do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that Eucharist be valid which is under the bishop, or one to whom he shall have committed it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast without the bishop; but whatever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8:1–2)

“Since, therefore, I have had the privilege of seeing you, through Damas your most worthy bishop, and through your worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and through my fellow-servant the deacon Sotion, whose friendship may I ever enjoy, inasmuch as he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 6:1)

“It is therefore befitting that you should in every way glorify Jesus Christ, who hath glorified you, that by a unanimous obedience ye may be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment, and may all speak the same thing concerning the same thing, and that, being subject to the bishop and the presbytery, ye may in all respects be sanctified.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 4:1)

“I have had the privilege of seeing you all, in the person of Damas your most worthy bishop, and in the persons of your worthy presbyters Bassus and Apollonius, and of my fellow-servant the deacon Sotion, whose friendship may I ever enjoy, inasmuch as he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 2:1)

The same is observed throughout his epistles (Letter to the Ephesians 1:3; 3:2; 4:1; Letter to the Magnesians 2; 3:1; 6:1; 7:1; 13:1; 15:1; Letter to the Trallians 1:1; 3:1; 12:2; Letter to the Philadelphians 1; 3:2; 7:1–2; Letter to Polycarp 1; 6:1; Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8:1–2; 12:2.)

Something important in all of this is that Saint Ignatius speaks to an audience of which he assumes — as he does himself — to know well that all Christian churches have this hierarchical structure:

“But since love will not permit me to be silent in regard to you, I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that you 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.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 3:2)

This supports the traditional thesis that the monarchical episcopate had its origin in the Apostles themselves, and therefore in Jesus Christ himself, and has not been — as a large part of contemporary theology has supposed — a late development of Christian doctrine. In this regard the historian and patrologist Daniel Ruiz Bueno explains:

“This has for a long time been another stumbling block for critics in admitting the authenticity of the letters of Saint Ignatius, for with them one had to swallow a monarchical episcopate and a perfectly defined hierarchy at the end of the first century, which brought many cherished theories crashing down. But theories are theories and texts are texts. Now, the texts of the Ignatian letters attest with absolute clarity and insistent repetition that each Church — Antioch, Smyrna, Ephesus, Tralles, Philadelphia — has at its head an ἐπίσκοπος, ‘superintendent, overseer,’ the supreme authority in the community, to whom there is added, as dependent and subordinate, a πρεσβυτέριον, a college of ‘elders’ that assists him as a kind of ‘senate,’ and a third body of deacons or ministers.”

The Catholic historian José Orlandis adds:

“Many churches of the first century were founded by the Apostles and, while these lived, remained under their superior authority, directed by a college of presbyters that ordered their liturgical and disciplinary life. This regime can be attested especially in the Pauline churches, founded by the Apostle to the Gentiles. But as the Apostles disappeared, the monarchical episcopate became universal everywhere, having already been introduced from the very beginning in other particular churches. The bishop was the head of the Church, shepherd of the faithful, and as successor of the Apostles, possessed the fullness of the priesthood and the necessary authority for the governance of the community.”

Heresy and Schism

For Saint Ignatius, the succession of bishops in direct line back to the Apostles is one of the necessary pillars for the Church to remain incorruptible and not yield to the temptation of falling into heresies and schisms:

“Now, while I was among you, I cried out, I spoke with a great voice — the voice of God — saying: Give heed to the bishop, and to the presbytery and deacons. There were those, indeed, who suspected me of saying this because I had previous knowledge of the division caused by some among you. But He for whose sake I am in chains is my witness that I had no such information from any human being. It was the Spirit that kept proclaiming these words: Do nothing without the bishop. Keep your bodies as the temples of God. Love unity. Flee from divisions. Be imitators of Jesus Christ, as He Himself is of His Father.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 7:1–2)

“And I exhort you — not I, but the charity of Jesus Christ — to use none but Christian nourishment, and abstain from the strange plant, which is heresy. For those who intermix Jesus Christ with their own speculations, speaking things unworthy of credit, are like those who administer a deadly drug in sweet wine, so that one who is ignorant of it takes it eagerly, and dies in a pleasant death. Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons. And this will be the case with you if you are not puffed up and are inseparable from Jesus Christ our God, from the bishop, and from the ordinances of the Apostles. He that is within the altar is pure; but he that is without, being deprived thereof, is not pure; that is, he who does anything without the bishop, the presbytery, and the deacons, that man is not clean in his conscience.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians 6–7)

He identifies heresy as a most grievous sin, even graver than adultery, because it corrupts the true faith:

“Now, if those who do this according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man corrupt by evil doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified? A man who by such wickedness has become foul will go away into the unquenchable fire; and so will he that gives ear to him.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 16:1)

“Now

“Let no man deceive himself. Both heavenly and earthly things have a place in Jesus Christ. The holy things and the things of our life, and if there be those among you who give ear to any one preaching other doctrine, let them not suppose that I am as one of them. For do you know any one who is not to be spoken of, that has not been condemned? As for me, I have been entrusted with a message for you all.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 8:1)

He further adds that those who have fallen into heresy can repent and return to the bosom of the Catholic Church:

“Now, for my own part, I have done what belongs to me as a man devoted to unity; for where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. The Lord forgives all who repent, if their repentance leads to the unity of God and the council of the bishop. I trust in the grace of Jesus Christ, who shall free you from every chain. But I exhort you to do nothing out of a spirit of strife, but according to the doctrine of Christ.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 8:1–2)

“Shun divisions as the beginning of evils. Follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ did the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles; and to the deacons pay respect, as to the commandment of God. Let no one do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop, or by one whom he ordains. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8:1–2)

He also stresses the importance of assembling together in the Church, and contrasts this with the proud man who claims to have faith but does not attend the assembly of the faithful:

“Let no one deceive himself. If any one be not within the sanctuary, he lacks the bread of God. For if the prayer of one and another has such great power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole Church! He therefore that does not assemble with the Church, has even by this testified his pride and condemned himself. For it is written: God resists the proud. Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves in opposition to the bishop, in order that we may be subject to God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 5:2–3)

Justification by Faith

His doctrine on justification is in harmony with that of all the first Fathers: we are justified by faith — but by faith that is joined to charity, and therefore the faith that saves is that which is a true fidelity leading us to remain united and steadfast in obedience to God and His commandments to the very end:

“Those that are carnal cannot do spiritual things, nor those that are spiritual do carnal things; even as faith cannot do the works of faithlessness, nor faithlessness the works of faith. But even those things which you do in the flesh are spiritual, for you do all things in Jesus Christ.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 8:2)

“These things are not hidden from you, if you have perfect faith and love toward Jesus Christ — the beginning and end of life: faith is the beginning, love the end; and these two, in their unity, are God, and all things else that are noble follow from them. No man professing faith sins; no man possessing love hates. The tree is known by its fruit: so those who profess to be Christians shall be known by their deeds. For it is not a matter of mere profession, but of persevering in the power of faith to the very end.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 14:1–2)

It is clear that he believed — unlike the Protestant reformers — that salvation was something that could be lost if one did not persevere in a state of grace. So much so that he asks for prayers for his own salvation, that he might be found worthy and not rejected at the moment of death:

“I pray God that you listen to me with love, lest by your reading of this letter it become a testimony against me. And, moreover, pray for me that I may attain to God; for I have need of your love in the mercy of God, to the end that I may be made worthy of the lot which I am about to obtain, so that I be not found to be a reprobate.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians 12:3)

The Primacy of the Roman See

Although throughout his letters Saint Ignatius does not explicitly address the question of the jurisdictional primacy of the Church of Rome as the see of Saint Peter’s successors, an attentive reading of his letters cannot fail to notice the distinctly different tone he employs when addressing the Church of Rome. One may compare the salutation he directs to each of the other churches with the one he directs to the church that “presides in Rome,” which is “placed at the head of charity.” The tone stands out not only for the abundance of praise and accolades, but for the deference proper to one addressing a superior — an implicit acknowledgment that Rome presided over the rest of the churches and not merely over its own territory.

“Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Almighty God and Jesus Christ His only Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him who wills 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 honor, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, and which presides over love — following the law of Christ, and bearing the name of the Father — her do I salute in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Father.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, Prologue)

And being placed “at the head of charity,” Rome also imparts instruction to the other churches — including the very church of which Saint Ignatius is bishop:

“You have never envied anyone; you have taught others. Now I desire that those things may be confirmed by your deeds which in your instructions you enjoin on others. Only request in my behalf both inward and outward strength, that I may not only speak, but truly will; and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 3:1)

It is also significant that while he does not entrust the care of his own church to any other church, he does commend it to Rome, asking her to act as bishop toward it.

“Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it, and your charity.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 9)

It may also be deduced that Saint Ignatius was well aware that the Church of Rome had been governed by Saints Peter and Paul:

“I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were Apostles; I am but a condemned man: they were free, while I am, even until now, a servant.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 4:3)

The Virginity of Mary

Saint Ignatius speaks of the virginity of Mary as a mystery so wondrous that it was hidden even from Satan himself — though he is not sufficiently explicit to allow certainty as to whether he referred not only to her virginity before the birth, but also to her virginity in and after giving birth:

“The virginity of Mary and her giving birth were hidden from the prince of this world, as was also the death of the Lord — three mysteries of a cry which were wrought in the silence of God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 19:1)

Sunday as the Lord’s Day

Seventh-day Adventists and other sabbatarian sects accuse the Catholic Church of having substituted Sunday for Saturday as the day of rest, in violation of God’s commandment. They also claim that this change was due to the manipulations of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, who sought to impose, secretly, the worship of the Sun God.

Yet nearly three centuries earlier, Saint Ignatius affirmed that those who kept the Sabbath rather than Sunday — as Christians do — had allowed themselves to be deceived by strange doctrines and had ended up Judaizing; the Christians, by contrast, kept Sunday as the Lord’s Day by reason of it being the day on which the Lord rose from the dead.

“Be not deceived by strange doctrines, nor by old fables which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace…

If, then, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death — whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 8:1; 9:1)

“It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. For Christ is one, in whom every nation that believes, and every tongue that confesses, is gathered unto God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 10:3)

“But if any one preach the Jewish law unto you, listen not to him. For it is better to hearken to Christian doctrine from a man who has been circumcised, than to Judaism from one uncircumcised.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 6:1)

These warnings were likely due to the fact that there were still some Christians who clung to the ancient ordinances of the Mosaic Law — circumcision, tithes, the Sabbath as a day of rest, dietary laws — a conflict that had already left its mark in the New Testament and that provoked the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Saint Paul himself, whose disciple Saint Ignatius was, had already given the same warning in the New Testament: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.” (Col 2:16)

Marriage and Celibacy

Saint Ignatius follows the same line as Saint Paul regarding his recommendations on celibacy and marriage. The Apostle of the Gentiles had written to the community at Corinth that celibacy was the ideal state for serving the Lord: “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion… The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided.” (1 Cor 7:8–9; 32–34). The recommendations of Saint Ignatius are virtually identical:

“Moreover, exhort my brethren in the name of Jesus Christ, that they love their wives, even as the Lord the Church. If any one can continue in a state of purity, to the honor of Him who is Lord of the flesh, let him so remain without boasting. If he begins to boast, he is undone; and if he reckon himself greater than the bishop, he is ruined. But it becomes both men who marry and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust. Let all things be done to the honor of God.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp 5:1–2)

The phrase “their marriage may be according to God” merits special attention. Ignatius does not offer here an optional piece of advice or a merely disciplinary norm: he affirms that Christian marriage, in order to be “according to God” — that is, to have its full supernatural value — requires the mediation of the Church through the bishop. This is the sacramental conception of marriage: the conjugal bond is not a purely civil matter nor a private transaction between two individuals, but an ecclesial event that enters into the sacramental life of the Church and demands its formal recognition. The Protestant reformers, by contrast, desacramentalized marriage, reducing it in some cases to a civil contract with an optional religious blessing; Luther went so far as to declare that marriage was “a worldly business.” Against this position, Ignatius — writing in the year 107 with a direct chain of tradition reaching back to the Apostles — requires that Christian marriage pass through the bishop. This is the oldest testimony outside the New Testament associating marriage with ecclesiastical authority, anticipating the doctrine that the Church would develop in subsequent centuries.

Detachment and Spiritual Poverty

The perspective of the primitive Church on the importance of material goods and detachment from them was very different from the heretical contemporary theologies that circulate and become popular in Protestant ecclesial communities and even in some Catholic ones. Unlike, for example, what is known as the “prosperity gospel,” for Saint Ignatius the goods of this world — even life itself — are worth nothing in comparison with eternal life, and greed is rather an obstacle and an impediment:

“The uttermost parts of the earth shall not profit me, nor the kingdoms of this world. It is better for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 6:1)

“Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips and the world in your heart.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 7:1)