Christians have you heard of this father of the church?

Saint Ignatius He was the Bishop of Antioch in the early second century. He was condemned to die in Rome during the persecutions and was fed to the lions of Rome’s coliseum (AD 107) and afterward his body was transported back to Antioch. Ignatius is one of the closest links we have with the apostolic church; the question is why does he hold such a high view of the Eucharist if the Apostles didn’t? He did, after all, claim to receive what he taught from the apostle John, did he purposefully lie? I think not.

While on his journey to Rome he wrote seven letters to seven churches. After reading these letters one thing is noticeable, his high view of the Eucharist. The Sacrament is the beating heart of his teachings. He echoes the sacrificial language employed in the Didache when he speaks of the church as “the place of sacrifice” where the episcopos (bishop) presides over the Eucharist. For Ignatius the church received its unity in Christ during table worship (e.g. the Eucharist). A sacramental ontology of the church, if you wish.

Ignatius marked those who deny the real presence as abject heretics “because they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer; because they do not confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ.” (Smyrnaeans, 7). This is where it gets real interesting for those who deny the real presence; Ignatius said they should not even be served the Eucharist as doing so would precipitate spiritual death. (1 cor 11-28:30) In him we also find an undertone of the necessity of apostolic succession; “let that be deemed a proper Eucharist which is administered either by the bishop or by one to whom he has entrusted it.” (Ibid., 8). So in sum, Mass, for Ignatius, is not valid unless it is offered and accepted as the real presence of Christ by a bishop (or a priest entrusted by the bishop) in succession The underlying idea is that all apostolic teaching is not contained in the Scripture and therefore we must employ tradition to aid in our understanding. Just to clarify before I’m called a heretic, I do believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain everything necessary for life and salvation in Christ. They do not, however, tell us everything; this is why we employ tradition. As Ignatius traveled to Rome his concern was for a Eucharistic theology;

just thought you might like to know what the first Christians where being taught and believed.

thoughts....