There's a lot to say about St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Ignatius was a disciple of St. John the Apostle along with St. Polycarp. There is a tradition in the Church that he is the one whom Christ held in his arms in the Gospel of Matthew. St. Ignatius's letters are the first developed theology we have of an ecclesiology in the early Church as he focuses on Communion with the Bishop as being fundamental to the ecclesiology of the Church. Though he does not mention the Bishop of Rome by name there exists speculation as to why that is. St. Ignatius was offered a high position in the Senate by the Emperor but refused as the Emperor Trajan demanded he compromise his Christian faith. St. Ignatius wholly submitted to death and used Eucharistic imagery to describe his martyrdom.
Allow me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have fallen asleep [in death], I may be no trouble to any one. Then shall I truly be a disciple of Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice [to God]. I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were apostles; I am but a condemned man: they were free, while I am, even until now, a servant. But when I suffer, I shall be the freed-man of Jesus, and shall rise again emancipated in Him. And now, being a prisoner, I learn not to desire anything worldly or vain. Epistle to the Romans, ch. 4
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