Six Epistles of Ignatius

This episode contains six of the Epistles written by Ignatius, an early Bishop of Antioch. Like Polycarp, he was likely a disciple of the Apostle John. As to his age, tradition identifies him as one of the small children Jesus spoke with in Matthew 18. These letters were written while en route to his martyrdom at the hands of the Romans around AD 107. 

In listening to Ignatius’ epistles, two features stand out. First, they contain a glimpse of early Christian theology. Here we find echoes of the apostles’ creed and references to the miraculous details of Jesus’ birth. Second, Ignatius writes with a pastoral tone, expressing concern for the health of the churches and individuals to which he is writing. In describing how the church ought to function, we also find that he held a strong view of the authority of the Church and its local leaders.

The Ignatian epistles also present a case study of the difficulties involved in determining what is truly original. There are 15 epistles attributed to the author, but as of the late 1800s only seven were considered to be authoritative, in part because they were referenced by Eusebius as having existed in the 4th century. There are, however, multiple copies of each of these epistles: a shorter and longer one in Greek and a few in Syriac. Because of this, while we have little reason to doubt that the works contain original text by Ignatius, it would be impossible to claim that they were inerrant or that we have the entire, genuine article.

Given this difficulty, presented here are six of the seven shorter, Greek, versions of the following Ignatian epistles: The Epistle to the Ephesians; The Epistle to the Magnesians, The Epistle to the Trallians, the Epistle to the Philadelphians, the Epistle to the Smyrnæans, and the Epistle to Polycarp.

If you would like to read more of the writings of the Early Christian Fathers, please visit ccel.org to view the full collection.