Ignatius of Antioch

Santo Inácio, segundo sucessor de Pedro na Cátedra de Antioquia, é uma figura de grande importância na antiguidade cristã. Entre 107 e 11 d.C., foi preso e conduzido acorrentado da Síria a Roma, onde foi martirizado pelo Imperador Trajano.

Nas duas paradas da viagem de barco, em Esmirna e Trôade, teve oportunidade de escrever sete cartas que chegaram até nós. De Esmirna, escreveu à Igreja de Éfeso, Magnésia e Trália, que o haviam visitado através dos bispos e seus enviados, e também à Igreja de Roma, recusando-se a interceder pela sua libertação. Em Trôade, escreveu às Igrejas de Esmirna e Filadélfia, além de uma carta pessoal ao Bispo de Esmirna, São Policarpo.

Estas Cartas, pela inspiração e força de fé singulares, revelaram seu testemunho de fé professada à Igreja de Antioquia e a toda a Igreja universal de Cristo, mantendo seu valor imperecível.

Os pontos capitais da fé cristológica eclesial que Inácio expôs com ardente zelo são:

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Fugir das heresias gnósticas e das doutrinas judaizantes.

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Estar ancorado nos Bispos, Presbíteros e diáconos amados pelo Pai e por Cristo, transmitidos pelos Apóstolos.

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Manter uma fé inabalável e a união de amor a Cristo, nosso Deus e nossa única esperança.

In this context, the brief Marian texts we recall here have acquired singular importance. They, as an integral part of Letters, bear witness to the Marian catechesis from the origins of Christianity, encapsulated in local faith symbols, and the concern not to exceed what the Apostles transmitted to the Churches.

Mary takes the light of the central mystery of Christ the Savior, and the mystery of Christ posits some key points of Mariology as indispensable conditions:

> **True motherhood of Mary**

> **The conception, pregnancy, and birth that underpin the human reality and the human action of the Lord**

> **Mary’s virginity, which conceives by the virtue of the Holy Spirit, and which, with the real birth, constitute the fulfillment of predestination and the desired and accomplished action of God, which are part of the salvation project for humanity.**

**The Most Beautiful Texts of Saint Ignatius**

> **Eph 7:2: The “only physician” born of Mary and God as a Christological confession against Docetism**

Some men, in malicious deception, want to take the Name everywhere, even while committing actions unworthy of God. Before them, you must become fierce wild beasts. In reality, they are rabid dogs that bite in treachery. You should stay away from them because they are incurable. There is only one physician, both human and divine, generated and uncreated, made flesh divine, in death true life, and from Mary and from God, now passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

> **Eph 18-19: Mary’s virginity, the hidden birth to the prince of this world, and the mysteries of “God’s economy”**

Do not be deceived, my brothers: those who corrupt families will not inherit the kingdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-10). So if those who practice such actions according to the flesh are placed in death, much more he who with perverse doctrine corrupts the faith of God, by which Christ was crucified. He becomes unclean and will end in eternal fire, as also he who hears him. Therefore the Lord accepted the perfume on his head to infuse incorruption upon the Church. Do not let yourselves be anointed with this bad smell of the teaching of the prince of this world, so that you are not captured far from the life that awaits us. For why should we not all become wise by receiving the knowledge of God, who is Jesus Christ? Why should we foolishly perish, ignorant of the gift that the Lord truly sent us?

My spirit is a victim on the Cross, which is a scandal to unbelievers but for us it is salvation and eternal life. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar?” (1 Cor 1:20), where is the boast of those who claim knowledge?

Since our Lord God Jesus Christ was carried in Mary’s womb according to God’s economy, truly from David’s seed (Rom 1:3), but through the Holy Spirit: He was generated and baptized to purify the water with His passion.

And the virginity of Mary and her childbirth, as well as the death of the Lord, remained hidden from the prince of this world: three mysterious events that were realized in the silence of God.

Then how did they manifest over the centuries? A star shone brightly in the sky above all other stars; its light was inexplicable and its novelty caused consternation. All the stars then joined with the sun and moon to sing praise to the star, which spread its light far and wide. And thus began the turmoil to know where this novelty came from, so distinct from the ordinary. Then all magic was dissolved, every bond of wickedness was abolished, ignorance was destroyed, and the old realm fell into ruin, as God appeared in human form through a novelty of eternal life, and the beginning of what had been established by God. Therefore, everything was disturbed because the destruction of death was about to begin.

If Jesus Christ, through your prayers, deems me worthy, and if it is the will of God, I will reveal in the second book that I am writing to you the economy of the new man Jesus Christ, of which I began to speak: in His faith and charity, in His passion and resurrection. Above all, if the Lord reveals to me that each one of you and all of you, through the grace that comes from His Name, gather together in one faith, and in Jesus Christ, who is of David’s lineage according to the flesh (Rom 1:3), who is the Son of Man and the Son of God, in obedience to the Bishop and the presbyters, as a harmonious unity, breaking the single bread that is the remedy for immortality, an antidote against death, and living forever in Jesus Christ.

(Trallian 9:1-2: Davidic genealogy of Christ, Mary’s regal motherhood, anti-docetism of Ignatius)

Listen carefully if someone speaks to you otherwise: Jesus Christ, who is of David’s lineage, who truly was generated from Mary, who truly ate and drank, who truly suffered under Pontius Pilate, who truly was crucified and died, in the sight of the celestial (angels), terrestrial, and infernal beings. Who also truly rose from the dead, raised by His Father: the Father who will raise us in Jesus Christ as well, outside of whom we do not have true life.

(Esmerial 1:1-2: Confession of Mary’s virgin birth and John’s baptism as Christological foundations)

I give glory to Jesus Christ, God, who has made us wise. I have seen you indeed perfect in an unshakeable faith, as if you were nailed with flesh and spirit on the cross of Lord Jesus Christ and established in charity by the blood of Christ, firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly “of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom 1:3), Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly generated from a virgin, baptized by John, so that through him every righteousness might be accomplished (cf. Mt 3:15). He, under Pontius Pilate and tetrarch Herod, was indeed nailed in our flesh, and from his fruit we are, from his divinely blessed passion, to raise high over the centuries, through his resurrection, the banner for his saints and faithful, coming both from Jews and Gentiles, in the single body of his Church.

To deepen Marian theology and the testimony of the Fathers of the Church on Mary, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater by Saint John Paul II.

For an in-depth study: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and a Postgraduate Degree in Mariology.