St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 50-117 CE) was an early Christian, who is said to have written a number of important letters defending the purity of the early Church. The Catholic Enclyclopedia stresses his importance to Church history:
"It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of the testimony which the Ignatian letters offer to the dogmatic character of Apostolic Christianity. The martyred Bishop of Antioch constitutes a most important link between the Apostles and the Fathers of the early Church. Receiving from the Apostles themselves, whose auditor he was, not only the substance of revelation, but also their own inspired interpretation of it; dwelling, as it were, at the very fountain-head of Gospel truth, his testimony must necessarily carry with it the greatest weight and demand the most serious consideration. Cardinal Newman did not exaggerate the matter when he said... that 'the whole system of Catholic doctrine may be discovered, at least in outline, not to say in parts filled up, in the course of his seven epistles.'" [ce]
Further, Ignatius's writings are the first to speak of a physical Jesus Christ, or Mary, and of Pontius Pilate. [ij]
However, the authenticity of the letters attributed to Ignatius has long been disputed. They have come down to us in various forms, some shorter and some - with much more detail about the "life" of Christ - longer. Further versions, written in Syraic, were also discovered in 1843. However, it has long been accepted by that only the shorter versions can possibly be reliable. English translations of Ignatius's works appear in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, and are introduced as follows:
"...although the shorter form of the Ignatian letters had been generally accepted in preference to the longer, there was still a pretty prevalent opinion among scholars, that even it could not be regarded as absolutely free from interpolations, or as of undoubted authenticity. Thus said Lardner, in his Credibility of the Gospel History (1743): "have carefully compared the two editions, and am very well satisfied, upon that comparison, that the larger are an interpolation of the smaller, and not the smaller an epitome or abridgment of the larger.... But whether the smaller themselves are the genuine writings of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, is a question that has been much disputed, and has employed the pens of the ablest critics. And whatever positiveness some may have shown on either side, I must own I have found it a very difficult question." [an]
Ignatius and the historical Christ
Ignatius is particularly interesting to studies of early Christianity because he lived so soon after the time of Christ. In fact, if it is genuine, his Epistle to the Trallians would contain one of the earliest references to a historical Christ:
"Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born, and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; He was truly crucified, and [truly] died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father quickening Him, even as after the same manner His Father will so raise up us who believe in Him by Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not possess the true life." (Chapter IX) [et]
Are the letters of Ignatius genuine?
Walter Richard Cassels' nineteenth century Supernatural Religion rejected the authenticity of this reference, claiming that the Letters were forgeries from the end of the second century:
"Included in Cassels's lengthy analysis is a discussion of the letters of Bishop of Antioch Ignatius (c. 50-107), letters that some scholars have claimed infer the existence of the canonical gospels. However, these letters contain merely a "biography" consisting mainly of a rough outline of the gospel tale, with little detail. Basically, the Ignatian texts insist simply that Jesus was "born and died," was "truly crucified by Pontius Pilate," and was born of the Virgin Mary. Moreover, Cassels shows that these epistles were forged towards the end of the 2nd century, so they still would not serve as evidence of the existence of the gospels before that date." [ca]
This view is echoed in the 1902 Encyclopaedia Biblica, which describes the Letters as being by an "unknown writer" from the middle of the second century CE [eb].
Quentin David Jones provides a more speculative theory, that the references to "Mary" and "Pilate" may not be genuine, and may instead refer to early Christian Gnostic beliefs:
"Kuhn argues that the Ignatian references to Mary and Pontius Pilate are mis-interpretations of Gnostic concepts - there are major flaws in this argument - yet the Ignatian writings are extremely corrupt and even considered a forgery by some, I present his point of view for consideration."
"To the Gnostics, to be 'born of Mare' means to incarnate on the physical plane (this only applies in Latin of course)."
"'Pontos Pilatos' may refer esoterically to the 'dense sea' of matter - the physical plane (I cannot find any such word 'piletas' or 'pilatos' meaning dense). To the Gnostics, to 'suffer crucifixion under Pontos Pilatus' means to be be incarnated on the physical plane - to have the higher self, the Christos, nailed to the physical body." [ij]
As a final point, it is worth considering that a known successor of Ignatius, Theophilus of Antioch (c. 115-181 CE) never once mentions "Jesus Christ" in any of his writings which have come down to us - for all his discussions of the nature of God, the veracity of the Old Testament, and the "truth" of the Christian after life. [th]
Conclusion
At least some of the writings attributed to Ignatius are undoubtedly forgeries [an]. Cassel's work from over a century ago argues forcefully that all are suspect [ca]. Given the lack of other contemporary evidence for the historical existence of Jesus, there is reason to doubt all of the works attributed to Ignatius [fc]. Until further information comes to light, it seems that we cannot be certain that this "early" reference to the existence of Jesus Christ is genuine.
(This document is a work in progress. Please contact me with any further information.)
Referenced in
Christianism 18: [6/28/97: See: Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1902, 3488-3489 (van Manen), "Epistles of Ignatius". Comments include: "unknown writer"; "date near the middle of the second century"; etc.]. [eb]
