IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, SAINT

died c. 110, , Rome also called Ignatius Theophoros (Greek: God Bearer) bishop of Antioch, Syria, known mainly from seven highly regarded letters that he wrote during a trip to Rome, as a prisoner condemned to be executed for his beliefs. He was apparently eager to counteract the teachings of two groupsthe Judaizers, who did not accept the authority of the New Testament, and the Docetists, who held that Christ's sufferings and death were apparent but not real. The letters have often been cited as a source of knowledge of the Christian church at the beginning of the 2nd century. Additional reading English translations of the genuine letters are found in R.M. Grant, Ignatius of Antioch (1966), vol. 4 from the multivolume The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary. For analysis of historical background of the letters, and philological, philosophical, and cultural commentary, see Cyril Charles Richardson, The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch (1935, reissued 1967); Johannes Quasten, The Beginnings of Patristic Literature (1950, reprinted 1983), vol. 1 of the multivolume Patrology; Virginia Corwin, St. Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch (1960); and William R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (1985).