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Ignatius of Antioch

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He was arrested by the Roman authorities and transported to Rome to die in the arena. They hoped to make an example of him and thus discourage [[Christianity]] from spreading. Instead, he met with and encouraged Christians all along his route, and wrote letters to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Philadelphians, Smyrneans, and Romans, as well as a letter to [[Polycarp of Smyrna|Polycarp]], who was [[bishop]] of Smyrna and a disciple of [[Apostle John|John the Evangelist]].
These letters proved to be influential in the development of Christian [[theology]], since the number of extant writings from this period of Church history is very small. They bear signs of being written in great haste and without a proper plan, such as run-on sentences and an unsystematic succesion of thought. Ignatius is the first known Christian writer to put great stress on loyality to a single [[bishop]] in each city, who is assisted by both [[presbyter]]s ([[priest]]s) and [[deacon]]s. Earlier writings only mention ''either'' bishops ''or'' presbyters, and give the impression that there was usually more than one bishop per congregation. Ignatius also stresses the value of the [[Eucharist]], calling it "a medicine to immortality." The very strong desire for bloody martyrdom [[martyr]]dom in the arena, which Ignatius expresses rather graphically in places, may seem quite odd to the modern reader, but an examination of his theology of [[soteriology]] shows that he regarded salvation as being from the power and fear of death. So, for him, to try to escape his martyrdom would be to fear death and place himself back under its power.
Nowadays only shorter variants of those seven letters are thought to be authentic writings of Ignatius. Their longer variants are thought to be emendations from the fifth century, created to postumously enlist Ignatius as an unwitting witness into certain theological fights of that age, while the other letters bearing his name and the purported eye-witness account of his martyrdom, are thought to be pure forgeries from around the same time.
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