Ignace d'Antioche
v. 35-v. 107 1st century Feast day: October 17
Desire that passes through fear: wanting God even in what costs the most, holding nothing back.
Who was Ignace d'Antioche?
Bishop of Antioch in Syria, one of the earliest great Churches of the Christian East, he was arrested under the emperor Trajan and taken in chains to Rome to be thrown to the beasts. All along that journey toward death, guarded by ten soldiers he called his ten leopards, he wrote seven letters to the communities who came to greet him on the road. In them he begs that no one try to save him: he wants to follow his likeness to Christ all the way.
In their own words
I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.
It is better for me to die in Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth.
Now I begin to be a disciple.
There is living water within me, which speaks and says inside me: Come to the Father.