Ignatius of Antioch's letters
About this date: Traditionally placed around Trajan's reign; exact year uncertain.
On the way to martyrdom, Ignatius writes about Christ, episcopal unity, and the Eucharist.
People
- Ignatius of Antioch
Primary sources
Ignatius instructs the Smyrnaeans:
Ignatius joins the proper Eucharist and the congregation's unity to its bishop and to Christ.
See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.
Passage context and translation
Ignatius connects visible ecclesial unity and the Eucharistic assembly with the bishop.
Before the excerpt
But avoid all divisions, as the beginning of evils.
After the excerpt
It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast