Letter of St Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans
This is the last of four letters that St Ignatius wrote from Smyrna. As days went by, he became more aware of his impending martyrdom, which he considered an honor and a duty. A thought loomed dark in the bishop’s mind. Some of the Christians of Rome were influential. Might they not try to obtain a revocation of his death sentence? To avoid such calamity, St Ignatius decided to write to the Romans to beg them not to intervene in his behalf through misplaced charity.
Thus, St Ignatius expresses his love for Jesus and his desire to die for him. These passages have no equal in Christian literature.
When one compares the tone of the epistles of St Ignatius, one notices that the epistle addressed to the church of Rome is different. There is no doubt that the bishop of Antioch is writing to a superior. He greets the church that is “presiding in the chief place of the Roman territory;” evidently, presiding not over itself but over the other Christian communities. He calls her “the one presiding in charity,” or “presiding in the bond of love.” This is his way of saying “presiding over the Church universal.” St Ignatius will be the first writer to use the expression “Catholic Church” (Cf. Ep. to the Smyrneans, 8) to designate the Church founded by Christ.
St Ignatius consistently uses this term, tes agapes, to designate each of the local churches. It literally means “love” or “charity,” probably meaning “a community bound with charity.”
In every community, each faithful is directly linked with God; the sum total of these links is like a strong fabric that binds the faithful among themselves, forming a people “brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” #1 with visible and social dimensions.
The Church arises as a universal communion of charity, founded on faith, on the sacraments, and on the hierarchy. Pastors and faithful –individually and as a community– receive the spiritual nourishment from the channels of grace, obeying the Holy Spirit, who is a Spirit of truth and love.
The expression “presiding in the bond of love” assigns to the Roman church authority to guide and lead in the new order brought into the world by Christ’s divine love for men. It is one of the earliest declarations of the Primacy of Rome coming from a non-Roman ecclesiastic.
Ignatius called Theophorus, to the church that has found mercy in the transcendent Majesty of the Father on high and of Jesus Christ, his only Son; to the church which is loved and enlightened by the Father, who wills all that exists, through the love of Jesus Christ our God; to the church which also presides in the chief place of the Roman territory; a church worthy of God, worthy of honor and of praise, worthy to be called blessed, worthy to receive the answer to its prayer, pure, and presiding in the bond of love among Christian communities, maintaining the law of Christ and bearing the Father’s Name.
I greet this church in the Name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Father. And I heartily wish every pure joy in Jesus Christ our Lord to you who are in union, body and soul, with his every command; to you who are filled with the grace of God without wavering, and cleansed wholly from all foreign stain.
A Christian should try to please God and not men. St Ignatius’s desire of doing God’s Will.
1 Through my prayers, I have been granted the favor of seeing you, my holy brothers, face to face, as indeed I have constantly asked. I now hope to embrace you as a prisoner in Christ Jesus, provided that it is God’s Will for me to be found worthy to reach the goal.
A good start has been made. May I gain the grace to secure my prize without hindrance! For I fear that your love may harm me. It is easy for you to reach your end; but hard for me to win my way to God, if you should not allow me to be martyred.
A martyr is an eloquent witness of the faith, a word of God.
2 I wish you to please God and not men–as indeed you are doing. I shall never again have such an opportunity to get to God, nor will you, if you remain quiet, ever have the credit for a greater achievement. If you keep silent about me, I will become a word of God; but if you love me in a purely human manner, I will become a meaningless sound.
Allow me to become a sacrifice to God; let my blood be spilled while there is still an altar at hand. Thus you may form a choir of love and sing praise to the Father in Christ Jesus for so graciously summoning the bishop of Syria from the sun’s rising to come to the place of its setting. It is a fine thing for me to set with the sun, leaving the world and going to God. May I rise in his presence!
The holy bishop asks the Romans to let him not only be called a Christian, but also prove to be one. He remarks that the teachings of Roman church are universal doctrine.
3 You have been teachers for all. You have never impeded the martyrs from winning their triumph, but rather trained them for it. And so I am asking you to be consistent with the lessons you have taught. Just beg for me the courage and perseverance not only to speak but also to desire what is right; that I may not only be called a Christian, but also prove to be one. If I prove myself to be a Christian, then people will know about it, and my loyalty to Christ will be apparent when the world sees me no more.
Christianity wins more adherents by the life of the faithful than by long discussions of its merits.
Nothing you can see is truly good. Thus, our God Jesus Christ is the more clearly seen now that he has returned to his Father. Our task is not to produce persuasive propaganda but to live our greatness; Christianity shows its greatness even when it is hated by the world.
Allow me to suffer for Christ.
4 I am writing to all the churches to declare to them all that I am glad to die for God, if only you do not hinder me. I beg you not to show me a misplaced kindness. Allow me to be the food of wild beasts that I may come to God. I am God’s wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.
I would prefer that you goad the beasts to become my tomb and to leave no scrap of me behind; then once I have fallen asleep, I do not wish to be a burden to anyone. I shall be a true disciple of Christ when the world no longer sees my body. Pray to Christ for me so that by these means I may become a sacrifice to God.
The following testimony makes St Ignatius an important witness to the sojourn in Rome of Sts Peter and Paul. Significant also is the fact that, although St Ignatius calls for unity in each of his letters, he does not do so in the one addressed to the Romans. The Roman church is the center of unity. He does not presume to issue orders to the Roman church, for it has the authority of the Prince of the Apostles.
I do not give you orders like Peter and Paul. They were apostles, I am a condemned criminal; they were free, I am still a slave. But if I suffer, I shall become a freed man of Jesus Christ, and I shall rise again to freedom in him.
5 Now as a prisoner, I am learning to give up my own wishes. All the way from Syria to Rome, I am fighting wild beasts, by the land and by the sea, by day and by night, chained as I am to ten leopards, I mean the detachment of soldiers who guard me. The better you treat them, the worse they become. Because of their cruelty, I am more and more learning to be a true disciple, but not by this am I justified.
How happy I will be with the beasts which are prepared for me! I hope that they will make short work of me. I shall even coax them to devour me quickly and not to be afraid of touching me, as sometimes happens; in fact, if they hold back I shall force them to eat.
Bear with me, for I know what is good for me. Now I am beginning to be a disciple. May nothing visible or invisible rob me of my price, which is Jesus Christ! The fire, the cross, packs of wild beasts, lacerations, rendings, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of the whole body, the horrible tortures of the devil–come what may, if only I may gain Jesus Christ!
St Ignatius declares that his earthly desires have been crucified. Christian life consists in imitating Christ. This imitation should be more than merely accepting Christ’s teachings; it should lead to conform oneself with his Passion and Death–that is, to accept mortification and to have a sense of commitment in life for one’s mission. Hence, St Ignatius’s desire for martyrdom.
6 I have no use for the delights of this world and all its kingdoms. I would prefer dying in Jesus Christ to ruling over all the earth. I seek him who died for us; I desire him who rose for our sake.
I am about to be born again. Understand me, my brothers; do not hinder me from coming to life, do not wish me to die. I desire to belong to God, not to the world. Do not seduce me with perishable things.
Let me see the pure light; when I am there, I shall be truly a man at last. Allow me to imitate the sufferings of my God. If anyone has God in him, let him understand what I want and have sympathy for me, knowing what drives me on.
A true disciple is ready to sacrifice his life for Jesus.
7 The Prince of this world wants to snatch me away and destroy my desire to be with God. So, let none of you who will be there give him help. Take my part instead–that is, God’s part. Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips and the world in your hearts.
Envy should have no place among you. And if, when I get there, I should plead for your intervention, pay no attention to me. No, believe instead what I am writing to you now.
I am writing to you while still alive, but I long for death. My Love has been crucified, and I am no longer in love with perishable, material things. But a living water speaks within me, saying: “Come to the Father.”
The imitation of Christ is not something abstract or figurative; it is accomplished in union with the hierarchy and with the participation in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist.
I take no delight in corruptible food or in the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David. And for drink I want his Blood, the sign of his immortal love.
8 I no longer wish to live, as men count life. And I shall have my way, if you wish it so. Wish it, then, so that you, too, may have God’s favor. With these few words, I beg you to believe me. Jesus Christ will make plain to you the truth of what I say; he is the true voice that speaks the Father’s truth.
Pray for me that I may reach my goal. I have written to you not prompted by merely human feelings and values, but by God’s purpose for me. If I am to suffer, it will be because you loved me well; if I am rejected, it will be because you hated me.
9 Remember in your prayers the church of Syria: it now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will be its bishop, along with your love. For myself, I am ashamed to be counted among its members, for I do not deserve it, being the least of all, born out of due time. Yet, if I make my way to God, by his mercy I shall be someone.
I greet you from my heart, and so do the churches that have welcomed me not as a mere chance visitor but as the representative of Jesus Christ. Yes, even the churches that were not on my route humanly speaking, though spiritually on the same journey, were there in advance to meet me in city after city.
Footnote:
1. “De unitate Patris at Filii et Spiritus Sancti plebs adunata” (cf. St Cyprian, De Orat. Dom., 23.)
Thus, St Ignatius expresses his love for Jesus and his desire to die for him. These passages have no equal in Christian literature.
When one compares the tone of the epistles of St Ignatius, one notices that the epistle addressed to the church of Rome is different. There is no doubt that the bishop of Antioch is writing to a superior. He greets the church that is “presiding in the chief place of the Roman territory;” evidently, presiding not over itself but over the other Christian communities. He calls her “the one presiding in charity,” or “presiding in the bond of love.” This is his way of saying “presiding over the Church universal.” St Ignatius will be the first writer to use the expression “Catholic Church” (Cf. Ep. to the Smyrneans, 8) to designate the Church founded by Christ.
St Ignatius consistently uses this term, tes agapes, to designate each of the local churches. It literally means “love” or “charity,” probably meaning “a community bound with charity.”
In every community, each faithful is directly linked with God; the sum total of these links is like a strong fabric that binds the faithful among themselves, forming a people “brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” #1 with visible and social dimensions.
The Church arises as a universal communion of charity, founded on faith, on the sacraments, and on the hierarchy. Pastors and faithful –individually and as a community– receive the spiritual nourishment from the channels of grace, obeying the Holy Spirit, who is a Spirit of truth and love.
The expression “presiding in the bond of love” assigns to the Roman church authority to guide and lead in the new order brought into the world by Christ’s divine love for men. It is one of the earliest declarations of the Primacy of Rome coming from a non-Roman ecclesiastic.
Ignatius called Theophorus, to the church that has found mercy in the transcendent Majesty of the Father on high and of Jesus Christ, his only Son; to the church which is loved and enlightened by the Father, who wills all that exists, through the love of Jesus Christ our God; to the church which also presides in the chief place of the Roman territory; a church worthy of God, worthy of honor and of praise, worthy to be called blessed, worthy to receive the answer to its prayer, pure, and presiding in the bond of love among Christian communities, maintaining the law of Christ and bearing the Father’s Name.
I greet this church in the Name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Father. And I heartily wish every pure joy in Jesus Christ our Lord to you who are in union, body and soul, with his every command; to you who are filled with the grace of God without wavering, and cleansed wholly from all foreign stain.
A Christian should try to please God and not men. St Ignatius’s desire of doing God’s Will.
1 Through my prayers, I have been granted the favor of seeing you, my holy brothers, face to face, as indeed I have constantly asked. I now hope to embrace you as a prisoner in Christ Jesus, provided that it is God’s Will for me to be found worthy to reach the goal.
A good start has been made. May I gain the grace to secure my prize without hindrance! For I fear that your love may harm me. It is easy for you to reach your end; but hard for me to win my way to God, if you should not allow me to be martyred.
A martyr is an eloquent witness of the faith, a word of God.
2 I wish you to please God and not men–as indeed you are doing. I shall never again have such an opportunity to get to God, nor will you, if you remain quiet, ever have the credit for a greater achievement. If you keep silent about me, I will become a word of God; but if you love me in a purely human manner, I will become a meaningless sound.
Allow me to become a sacrifice to God; let my blood be spilled while there is still an altar at hand. Thus you may form a choir of love and sing praise to the Father in Christ Jesus for so graciously summoning the bishop of Syria from the sun’s rising to come to the place of its setting. It is a fine thing for me to set with the sun, leaving the world and going to God. May I rise in his presence!
The holy bishop asks the Romans to let him not only be called a Christian, but also prove to be one. He remarks that the teachings of Roman church are universal doctrine.
3 You have been teachers for all. You have never impeded the martyrs from winning their triumph, but rather trained them for it. And so I am asking you to be consistent with the lessons you have taught. Just beg for me the courage and perseverance not only to speak but also to desire what is right; that I may not only be called a Christian, but also prove to be one. If I prove myself to be a Christian, then people will know about it, and my loyalty to Christ will be apparent when the world sees me no more.
Christianity wins more adherents by the life of the faithful than by long discussions of its merits.
Nothing you can see is truly good. Thus, our God Jesus Christ is the more clearly seen now that he has returned to his Father. Our task is not to produce persuasive propaganda but to live our greatness; Christianity shows its greatness even when it is hated by the world.
Allow me to suffer for Christ.
4 I am writing to all the churches to declare to them all that I am glad to die for God, if only you do not hinder me. I beg you not to show me a misplaced kindness. Allow me to be the food of wild beasts that I may come to God. I am God’s wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.
I would prefer that you goad the beasts to become my tomb and to leave no scrap of me behind; then once I have fallen asleep, I do not wish to be a burden to anyone. I shall be a true disciple of Christ when the world no longer sees my body. Pray to Christ for me so that by these means I may become a sacrifice to God.
The following testimony makes St Ignatius an important witness to the sojourn in Rome of Sts Peter and Paul. Significant also is the fact that, although St Ignatius calls for unity in each of his letters, he does not do so in the one addressed to the Romans. The Roman church is the center of unity. He does not presume to issue orders to the Roman church, for it has the authority of the Prince of the Apostles.
I do not give you orders like Peter and Paul. They were apostles, I am a condemned criminal; they were free, I am still a slave. But if I suffer, I shall become a freed man of Jesus Christ, and I shall rise again to freedom in him.
5 Now as a prisoner, I am learning to give up my own wishes. All the way from Syria to Rome, I am fighting wild beasts, by the land and by the sea, by day and by night, chained as I am to ten leopards, I mean the detachment of soldiers who guard me. The better you treat them, the worse they become. Because of their cruelty, I am more and more learning to be a true disciple, but not by this am I justified.
How happy I will be with the beasts which are prepared for me! I hope that they will make short work of me. I shall even coax them to devour me quickly and not to be afraid of touching me, as sometimes happens; in fact, if they hold back I shall force them to eat.
Bear with me, for I know what is good for me. Now I am beginning to be a disciple. May nothing visible or invisible rob me of my price, which is Jesus Christ! The fire, the cross, packs of wild beasts, lacerations, rendings, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of the whole body, the horrible tortures of the devil–come what may, if only I may gain Jesus Christ!
St Ignatius declares that his earthly desires have been crucified. Christian life consists in imitating Christ. This imitation should be more than merely accepting Christ’s teachings; it should lead to conform oneself with his Passion and Death–that is, to accept mortification and to have a sense of commitment in life for one’s mission. Hence, St Ignatius’s desire for martyrdom.
6 I have no use for the delights of this world and all its kingdoms. I would prefer dying in Jesus Christ to ruling over all the earth. I seek him who died for us; I desire him who rose for our sake.
I am about to be born again. Understand me, my brothers; do not hinder me from coming to life, do not wish me to die. I desire to belong to God, not to the world. Do not seduce me with perishable things.
Let me see the pure light; when I am there, I shall be truly a man at last. Allow me to imitate the sufferings of my God. If anyone has God in him, let him understand what I want and have sympathy for me, knowing what drives me on.
A true disciple is ready to sacrifice his life for Jesus.
7 The Prince of this world wants to snatch me away and destroy my desire to be with God. So, let none of you who will be there give him help. Take my part instead–that is, God’s part. Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips and the world in your hearts.
Envy should have no place among you. And if, when I get there, I should plead for your intervention, pay no attention to me. No, believe instead what I am writing to you now.
I am writing to you while still alive, but I long for death. My Love has been crucified, and I am no longer in love with perishable, material things. But a living water speaks within me, saying: “Come to the Father.”
The imitation of Christ is not something abstract or figurative; it is accomplished in union with the hierarchy and with the participation in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist.
I take no delight in corruptible food or in the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David. And for drink I want his Blood, the sign of his immortal love.
8 I no longer wish to live, as men count life. And I shall have my way, if you wish it so. Wish it, then, so that you, too, may have God’s favor. With these few words, I beg you to believe me. Jesus Christ will make plain to you the truth of what I say; he is the true voice that speaks the Father’s truth.
Pray for me that I may reach my goal. I have written to you not prompted by merely human feelings and values, but by God’s purpose for me. If I am to suffer, it will be because you loved me well; if I am rejected, it will be because you hated me.
9 Remember in your prayers the church of Syria: it now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will be its bishop, along with your love. For myself, I am ashamed to be counted among its members, for I do not deserve it, being the least of all, born out of due time. Yet, if I make my way to God, by his mercy I shall be someone.
I greet you from my heart, and so do the churches that have welcomed me not as a mere chance visitor but as the representative of Jesus Christ. Yes, even the churches that were not on my route humanly speaking, though spiritually on the same journey, were there in advance to meet me in city after city.
Footnote:
1. “De unitate Patris at Filii et Spiritus Sancti plebs adunata” (cf. St Cyprian, De Orat. Dom., 23.)