Apostleship of Prayer - SaintsOctober 17th - Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius was born in Syria and converted to Christianity. He became the second Bishop of Antioch after Peter. The Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and gave the Christians the choice to apostasise or to be martyred. Ignatius refused to apostasise and was condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. For this reason Ignatius was sent to Rome.
On his journey to Rome Ignatius wrote seven letters: five of them were to the churches in Turkey, which he urged to keep faithful to God and to obey their superiors; In these letters he prepares them with solid truths against heretical doctrines. The sixth letter was to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna who also was martyred for the faith. The last letter was to the faithful of Rome, begging them not to prevent his martyrdom. In the year 107 he was given to the lions in the Coliseum.
In his letters, he dealt deeply with the theology of Christ, with the constitution of the Church and with the Christian life. In all of them he showed his deep wisdom and love of God.
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