Reflection on Ignatius Any person who picks up the letters of this ancient church leader and reads them without any preparation will most certainly come to the conclusion that here we must have a man who is not in a proper frame of mind. It is not ordinary for anyone, then or now, to wish to deliberately die. And yet, when properly understood, these rather rash statements of Ignatius, on his way to death, make very good sense. How then might we understand what this early bishop is saying to his many friends and colleagues in the faith, both in the second century and for us today?
Arguably, no author early or late, is as eloquent on the imitation of Jesus, the Christ, as Ignatius of Antioch. If anyone wishes to live the life of Christ and/or God, then that person must adopt the principles and virtues of God and Christ. As Christ imitated his Father, so we must imitate Christ. As he says in his letter to the Philippians (7), Do as Jesus did, for He, too, did as the Father did. This is not merely lip service, but seen clearly in conforming oneself particularly to the passion and death of Jesus. Thus as we have seen in the text of the letter to the Romans, Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of Jesus, our God (Rom. 6).
From this conception of a perfect imitation of Christ springs Ignatius' great enthusiasm for martyrdom. Martyrdom is the perfect imitation of Christ, and only they who are willing to sacrifice their lives for him are true disciples. Today, we have a great many marginal Christians. That is, the rolls of the churches are inflated with many who would not, if necessary, take the real risk of living the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. To stand for the Christian faith is costly as the noted German martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once said. We should remember that Bonhoeffer gave his life in opposition to Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich.
In more recent times we may point to the example of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who, in his fight for civil rights of African Americans in particular and, by virtue of that struggle, the rights of all human beings, was impelled to a large extent by his religious convictions of freedom and love. Joined to these men are thousands of persons who, also sparked by religious convictions, gave of themselves in modern martyriological fashion. It may not be as explicit or fiery as that of Ignatius of Antioch, but it is nevertheless equally real and equally valid.
The Jesus to whom Ignatius is so passionately devoted is clearly both human and divine. He vehemently attacks docetists who deny a human nature to the Christ and especially as they deny the suffering of Jesus of Nazareth. This is hardly make-believe to Ignatius. If it is, why would he be so foolish as to be in chains with his own life on the line (see Trallians, 10ff.)? Indeed he argues that the Eucharist is the very flesh of our saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins and who was raised by the Father showing his lovingkindness.
At the same time Ignatius refers to Christ as Timeless and Invisible, concepts that certainly reflect a being of divine quality. However, nowhere does he try to reconcile these elements of suffering, invisibility, and timelessness. At this stage in the development of Christianity when the so-called end-times were considered imminent, why would there be a need? This problem was left for later generations so solve. It was sufficient at the time for the bishop to affirm the reality of Jesus' humanity against the docetists and the reality of his divinity who is in his own words God.
Furthermore, for Ignatius, as it was for other early disciples, something very real occurred in the life of Jesus that affected their lives so dramatically that they were willing to give up their very lives for their personal convictions. No one is willing to die for something that is not very real and true to them.
When Ignatius speaks of imitating the passion of Jesus his God, he would, by later standards, be considered heretical. As the influence of Greek thought begins to take control with such persons as Justin Martyr, the fiery, personal, and dynamic relationship with Christ of which Ignatius speaks becomes more and more heretical. This is clear when Ignatius speaks of the suffering of God--an impossibility for later orthodox Christians.
The idea of unity brings all of this together for this first century martyr. Underlying this sense of unity was the idea that the church was the body of Christ (following Paul), an idea that did not simply mean that unity with the church was unity with Christ, but that without a unity with Christ, unity with the church would not be possible. For Ignatius Jesus the Christ was the essential link.
The idea of unity is a basic presupposition in Ignatius. How then is it effected? His response is simple and clear. Union with Christ is brought about by participation in the Eucharist. This is what is meant by the phrases medicine of immortality and the antidote by which we escape death. Obviously, Ignatius again has the docetists in mind and, at the same time, reflects some sense of the mystical union that we find in both Paul and John of the New Testament. Ignatius speaks very clearly in physical and human terms of a physical oneness with Jesus, and as we participate in this real, fully human sacrifice, we put on the mantle of immortality.
