(c.50-c.107) Ignatius, a pagan convert to Christianity and disciple of Saint John the Apostle, was the successor to Saint Peter the Apostle as the bishop of Antioch (a city located in modern-day Turkey). He denied Emperor Domitian’s claims to divinity and was arrested by the following emperor, Trajan, for refusing to participate in pagan worship. As Ignatius was escorted to Rome to be mauled by lions in the Flavian Amphitheater, he wrote several letters to surrounding churches stressing Church unity and the centrality and importance of the Eucharist. Ignatius was the first to use the word “Catholic” (which means “universal”) to describe the Church.
Radical honesty, to the point of being thrown to wild beasts before making any offense to the truth, gave force to the witness of Saint Ignatius. Honesty is indispensable for recovery. Have you fully embraced this spiritual principle?
“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ…and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible” (Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 7:3).
Reflection by Brad Farmer