Pervo : — [ 2 ]. While en route to Rome , where he met his martyrdom , Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This correspondence forms a central part of a later collection of works by the Apostolic Fathers. He is considered one of the three most important of these, together with Clement of Rome and Polycarp. His letters also serve as an example of early Christian theology , and address important topics including ecclesiology , the sacraments , and the role of bishops.
Nothing is known of Ignatius' life apart from the words of his letters and later traditions. It is said Ignatius converted to Christianity [ 10 ] at a young age. Tradition identifies him and his friend Polycarp as disciples of John the Apostle. Peter himself left directions that Ignatius be appointed to this episcopal see. A tradition exists that he was one of the children whom Jesus Christ took in his arms and blessed. Ignatius' feast day was kept in his own Antioch on 17 October, the day on which he is now celebrated in the Catholic Church and generally in western Christianity , although from the 12th century until it was put at 1 February in the General Roman Calendar.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is observed on 20 December. Ignatius was condemned to death for his faith, but instead of being executed in his home town of Antioch, the bishop was taken to Rome by a company of ten soldiers:. From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts, both by land and sea, both by night and day, being bound to ten leopards, I mean a band of soldiers Scholars consider Ignatius' transport to Rome unusual since those persecuted as Christians would be expected to be punished locally.
Stevan Davies has pointed out that "no other examples exist from the Flavian age of any prisoners except citizens or prisoners of war being brought to Rome for execution". If Ignatius had been a Roman citizen, he could have appealed to the emperor, with the common result of execution by beheading rather than torture. Allen Brent argues that Ignatius was transferred to Rome for the emperor to provide a spectacle as a victim in the Colosseum. Brent insists, contrary to some, that "it was normal practice to transport condemned criminals from the provinces in order to offer spectator sport in the Colosseum at Rome.
Stevan Davies rejects this idea, reasoning that: "if Ignatius was in some way a donation by the Imperial Governor of Syria to the games at Rome, a single prisoner seems a rather miserly gift. Under Roman law, only the governor of a province or the emperor himself could impose capital punishment , so the legate would have faced the choice of imprisoning Ignatius in Antioch or sending him to Rome.
