Introduction

The Fathers of the Church are the writers of the first Christian centuries. With the testimony of their life and their work, they exercised an important and basic role in the history of Christianity: they transmitted and explained the Word of God, as privileged witnesses of Tradition; they defended Christianity against heresies and created the various liturgical forms to express praise and adoration of God. Above all, they lived the Gospel message with coherence, diffused human and Christian values in the society in which they lived, faced the dialogue with the world and the contemporary culture. Thus, they transmitted a great spiritual and literary patrimony to later generations, educating minds and hearts to reflection and to the noblest sentiments, bringing to evidence the immense possibilities of good in men (on the opposite, as shadow, they revealed also the evil, which man becomes responsible of when he denies God).

To recall the example and teachings of the Fathers of the Church means to be re-connected to the roots of our Christian faith, to go back there where the old and ever new heart of the Church beats; it is a going back to the living sources of our faith. The fathers are actual even today –as the catechesis of Pope Benedict XVI, from March 2007, dedicates to them on the Wednesdays general audiences- and help us to re-discover ever more the fascinating person of Christ (and near Him the sweet figure of Mary and of the saints) as well as to reflect on the splendid image of God present in every human creature.

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Ignatius of Antioch emerges out of the first Fathers of the Church as one of the most meaningful and fascinating personalities. He lived in a time immediately after that of the apostles: he was the third Bishop of Antioch (today in the extreme South of Turkey) from 70 till 107, the year of his martyrdom. A flourishing community had come up in that city which, according to tradition, had St. Peter as its first Bishop, and it was there that the disciples were called Christian for the first time (Acts, 11, 26).

During his journey from Antioch to Rome, where he underwent martyrdom, -condemned to be devoured by wild animals in the amphitheatre Flavius- Ignatius wrote seven letters to various Christian communities: in them he expressed his deep love for Christ and for the Church: he manifested his worry for the Christians, wanting them to remain solid in unity and faith, without deviations towards the heresies; he stated clearly the principal dogmas of Christianity: unity and Trinity of God, true humanity and divinity of Christ, “generated and non generated…born from Mary and from God” (Letter to the Ephesians 7) and that –Ignatius remembered with realism- really suffered as really rose”  (Letter to the Christians in  Smyrna 2); he called to memory the redemptive plan of God with the collaboration of Most Holy Mary; he highlighted the sacraments, particularly Baptism and the Eucharist; presented a Church guided by the Bishop, with whom the priests, deacons and people collaborate in full harmony.

The Christian lives united with God and with the

Ignatius defined himself as “a man whom the task of unity had been entrusted to (Letter to the Philadelphians 8, 19) and He tended to unity in an irresistible way. Unity is a prerogative of God, it is God himself (See, Letter to the Tralliani 11, 1). The Christians are called to realise this unity in love and harmony, to be “all united with an undivided heart” (Letter to the Philadelphians 6, 2).

Re-echoing the prayer of Jesus in the Last Supper, Ignatius recommended the Christians of Magnesia to be one, “One supplication, one mind, one hope in love…Run all together to Jesus Christ as to the unique temple of God, as to the unique altar: he is one and, proceeding from a unique Father, he has remained united to Him and to Him he went back in unity” (7, 1-2). He exhorted the faithful of Smyrna to a common commitment in solidarity, writing to their Bishop Polycarp: “Work all together reciprocally, struggle together, run together, suffer together and keep vigil together as administrators of God, his assessors and servants. Try to please Him for whom you militate and from whom you receive the reward. See that no one of you becomes a deserter; let Baptism be your shield, faith your helmet, charity like a lance, patience as a an armour”  (Letter to Polycarp 6,1-2).

Union should reach such a degree of perfection as to be a splendid “symphony”, a charming music, in which the instruments are perfectly attuned and each person may create a harmonious chorale: it is the plastic image applied by Ignatius to the Christians of Ephesus in describing their admirable unity and exemplar communion, with the omen that they migh emerge and get realised in Christian communities, “It is good for you to go ahead together in harmony with the mind of the Bishop, a thing that you are already doing. In fact, your college of presbyters, rightly famous and worthy for God, is harmoniously united with the Bishop like the chords to the lyre. Thus you one by one become a choir, so that in the symphony of harmony, after taking the tonality of God in unity, may sing in one voice. (Letter to the Ephesians, 4. 1- 2).

For Ignatius the Church is at the same time one and universal; he is the first in the Christian literature to give the Church the attribute of Catholic”, namely “universal”. “The Catholic Church is there where Jesus Christ is” (Letter to the Christians in Smyrna, 8, 2). The unity of the Church is manifested in “faith and charity, of which there is nothing more excellent” (Letter to the Christians in Smyrna, 6,1).

In the service to unity, the Catholic Church exercises a pre-eminence of love and guidance, which Ignatius underlined, turning to this community, “It presides in Rome venerable, worthy of God, worthy of being called blessed…He presides in charity, with the law of Christ and bears the name of the Father”  (Letter to the Romans,  prologue).

The Christian offers his life after the example of Christ

Ignatius aspired to join Christ and to reach God, the final goal of his existence. With a stupendous sentence, synthesising his constant yearning towards the fullness of life and his deep faith in the Resurrection, he declared, “It is beautiful for me to die in the world in order to rise in God (Letter to the Romans, 2, 1).

He supplicated the Christians in Rome not to do anything to prevent his martyrdom, the supreme testimony of love for Christ, many times proclaimed by him as “my own” or “Our God”. “It is beautiful for me to die while going towards Jesus Christ, rather than reigning up to the boundary of the earth. I seek Him, who has died for me, I want him who has risen for us …Allow me to reach the pure light! Once I reach there, I shall be a true man. Let me be an imitator of the passion of my God!” (Letter to the Romans 6,1-3).

Ignatius felt to be called to realise the offering of his life fully, like a Eucharist pleasing to God, “I am the corn of God chewed by the teeth of the wild animals to become immaculate bread of Christ” (Letter to the Romans 4, 1). The voice of the Holy Spirit, like the constant swashing of a wave, invites him insistently to return to God, “The living water whispers within me and tells me: Come to the Father” (Letter to the Romans, 7, 2).

Supported by faith and love, Ignatius could say goodbye to the Christians before facing martyrdom, “Goodbye, be strong until the end in suffering for Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Romans 10, 1). Concluding his life, he wished to transmit to them his last heartfelt appeal and to send them his supreme wish: “Love one another with an undivided heart. I offer my spirit in sacrifice for you, not only now, but also when it will have reached God….May you be found spotless in Christ”  (Letter to the Tralliani 13,2-3).

Conclusion

Ignatius practised in his life all that he taught (See: Letter to the Ephesians 15, 1: «it is beautiful to teach if he who speaks acts accordingly); the Christians could learn from him: this was the commitment that he recommended to the faithful, “Let them learn from your works” (Letter to the Ephesians, 10). His writings keep the interior fire that animated all his attitudes and his words as a Christian and a Bishop. His ideals were: Christ and the Church: the first one is to be followed and imitated until death, the second to be loved and harmonised in the unity of faith. He has revealed himself a “true bearer of God” (= Theophanous), as he defined himself at the opening of all his letters.

Heaven lived and throbbed already in his soul: death itself, signing the passage from this life to eternity, is considered by him as the supreme act of love a Christian is capable of; in fact, he returns to God the greatest gift he had ever received: life. In dying, the martyr realises and renders visible in his person the most authentic meaning of the Eucharist: to be an unconditional gift for men, transmitting to them the incorruptible love (Letter to the Romans 7.3), which prolongs itself from time to eternity.

Mario Maritano
Pontifical Salesian University
 Piazza dell’Ateneo Salesiano, 1 - 00139 Roma