Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in Syria. Condemned in Trajan’s reign, he was taken under guard to Rome to die in the arena, and on the way wrote seven letters to churches of Asia Minor and Rome, and to Polycarp of Smyrna. Their date is conventionally about 110, though some scholars argue for a later date.

Against teachers who said Christ only seemed to suffer, Ignatius insisted that Jesus was truly born of Mary, baptized by John and nailed to the cross ‘under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch’. His letters are also the earliest witness to a single bishop leading each church and the first known use of ‘catholic church’.