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Vatican City (Fides Service) - Saint Ignatius, third Bishop of the town of Antioch in what today is Turkey between the year 70 and 107AD the year he was martyred, was the second of the Apostolic Fathers, after Saint Clement, on whom Pope Benedict XVI focussed his catechesis for the general audience on Wednesday 14 March. We learn from the Acts of the Apostles that in Antioch there was a flourishing Christian community whose first bishop was Saint Peter the apostle. The Holy Father recalled the testimony offered by the 4th century historian Eusebius of Caesarea. When writing about the life and works of Ignatius, Eusebius recalls that the former was sent to Rome “to be fed to the wild beasts because of his witness to Christ”. During his journey towards martyrdom Ignatius encouraged and strengthened the Christian communities he encountered urging them not to be misled by heresies but to remain faithful to Apostolic Tradition. He stopped first at Smyrne from where he wrote four letters; then at Troade from where he sent letters to the Churches of Philadelphia and Smyrne and a letter to Bishop Polycarp. “Reading these letters - the Pope said - we note the freshness of the faith of a generation which had known the Apostles. In these letters one notes the ardent love of a saint”. When he reached Rome, Ignatius was fed to wild beasts in the Amphitheatre of Flavius.
“No other Father of the Church expressed with such intensity as Ignatius his longing to be united with Christ and to live in Him” Pope Benedict XVI said recalling that Ignatius begged the Christians in Rome to do nothing to prevent his martyrdom because he was impatient to “be with Jesus Christ". “For Ignatius unity is first of all a prerogative of God who exists in absolute unity, three Persons in One. He says frequently that God is unity and unity in its pure and original state is found only in God. The unity which Christian are called to achieve on this earth is simply an imitation the most similar as possible to the divine archetype”. Ignatius insists on two aspects of Christian life: the hierarchical structure of the ecclesial community and the fundamental unity which binds together all the followers of Christ. “This insistence on communion of believers among themselves and with their bishop is continually reformulated with eloquent images and analogies: the zither, the harp, intonation, concert, symphony. The special responsibility of the bishops, priests and deacons for building up the community is clear. They must be the first to respond to the call to love and unity … Ignatius was the first in Christian literature to attribute the adjective "catholic" meaning "universal" to the Church … and precisely to serve the unity of the Catholic Church, the Christian community in Rome exercises a sort of primacy in love”.
Pope Benedict XVI continued “Ignatius is truly a ‘doctor of unity: unity of God and the unity of Christ (in defiance of various heresies which were beginning to circulate and which separated the Man and the God in Christ), unity of the Church, unity of the faithful ‘in faith and charity compared to which nothing more excellent exists’ … Ignatius urges the faithful of yesterday and today, an all of us to strive for progressive configuration with Christ (union with Him, life in Him) and dedication to his Church (unity with the Bishop, generous service to the community and to the world). In brief a must be reached synthesis between communion of the Church within herself and mission proclamation of the Gospel to others, until the two dimensions speak through one another and believers are ever more in "possession of that undivided spirit, which is Christ Jesus himself". The Pope concluded “Let us pray that the Lord will help us attain this unity so we may be found at last without stain because love purifies the soul.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 15/3/2007 - righe 41, parole 622)
