IGNATIUS (35 - 107) ****
BISHOP
OF ANTIOCH where disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11), he was a
native Syrian and a contemporary of John the Apostle and Polycarp. He was the
first man to use the term "catholic," but he never used it in any
letter as referring to anything more than the body of born-again believers who
were in Christ by the Holy Spirit. At
no time does he suggest that such a term applies to anything Roman or connected
with Rome, nor does he ever connect it with anyone who thinks that water
baptism is a part of salvation.
The
attitude of Ignatius was: "I would rather die for Christ than rule the
whole earth. Leave me to the beasts
that I may by them be a partaker of God . . . welcome nails and cross, welcome
broken bones, bruised body, welcome all diabolic torture, if I may but obtain
the Lord Jesus Christ."
Ignatius
was thrown to the lions and eaten alive in 107 A.D.