Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch

The Hieromartyr Ignatius was born around 35 in Syria. He was a disciple of the Apostle John the Theologian (along with Hieromartyr Polycarp of Smyrna). According to Orthodox tradition, he became the second Bishop of Antioch, successor to Hieromartyr Evodius (a disciple of the Seventy Apostles); by the Western count (which includes the Apostle Peter as the first founder-bishop), he is counted as the third. His epithet "God-Bearer" (Theophoros), according to tradition, comes from his having "borne God in his heart"; according to synaxarion tradition, he was the very child whom Christ took in His arms, saying "unless you turn and become like children..." (Matthew 18:2). Church tradition credits him with introducing antiphonal (responsive) singing into church worship after a vision of angelic choirs singing in alternation was revealed to him.

When Emperor Trajan, passing through Antioch (c. 107), threatened persecution, Ignatius voluntarily presented himself, refused to sacrifice to idols, and was condemned to be sent to Rome to be torn apart by wild beasts as a public spectacle. He was led in chains overland through Asia Minor under guard.

On the way to Rome, the hierarch wrote seven epistles that have come down to us and are among the most important monuments of early Christian literature outside the New Testament canon: to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, and a personal letter to Hieromartyr Polycarp of Smyrna. Their significance is exceptional: the Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (8:2) contains the earliest datable use of the term "catholic (universal) Church"; the epistles are among the earliest and clearest witnesses to the monarchical episcopate (a single bishop presiding over presbyters and deacons) as the God-established order of the Church; they contain strong testimony to belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, against the Docetists who denied the reality of His flesh. The Epistle to the Romans is especially personal — Ignatius begs the Roman Christians not to try to save him from martyrdom, calling himself "God's wheat," to be ground by the teeth of beasts that he might become pure bread of Christ.

The hierarch was torn apart by lions in the arena in Rome around 107 (other datings place it as late as 117, under Trajan or the early reign of Hadrian). According to tradition, after his death an inscription in gold letters was found on his heart — the name "Jesus Christ." His relics were collected by Roman Christians and in 108 buried outside Antioch, near the Daphne Gate; in 438 they were translated into the city itself (this date became a separate feast of the translation of relics); the relics were later returned to Rome, to the Church of San Clemente.

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the stub erroneously classified the hierarch under the category "righteous," even though the biography text itself called him "hieromartyr" — this internal contradiction has been resolved, with the category corrected to "hieromartyr." The date in the life text has also been corrected: instead of the erroneous pairing "January 2 (15)" — the correct date of martyrdom, December 20/January 2, is now given, separately from the date of the translation of relics, January 29/February 11.