WORDS FROM AN ANCIENT AND FAITHFUL MARTYR

I have been doing a study of one of my favorite subjects for several years; unfortunately taking breaks here and there because of other duties and other books that I am reading as well. The subject that truly is my passion is Church History, primarily, Patristics or the first five hundred years of the Church - from Jesus to the Fall of the Roman Empire and St. Augustine of Hippo. I have only gotten to the end of the 2^nd century, as I am reading slowly and not just studying the period but also actually stopping to read the actual documents written by these Early Church Fathers. My intent is to one day teach this class at church for our learning and edification.

I want to share with you this week some of what St. Ignatius writes which I think will bless you and challenge you as it sweetly did me. He was the bishop of Antioch when he was brought before the Emperor Trajan for being a Christian and died a martyr in Rome around the year 107 A.D. As he was being taken to Rome to face the lions at the coliseum, he stopped at Smyrna where he was visited by many bishops, presbyters and deacons from surrounding churches. He later wrote to some of those churches some of the most fascinating letters on church unity, conduct, doctrine and the person of the bishop. In fact he wrote seven letters. It is from his letter to the Church at Ephesus that I offer you the following quote: 

 It is better for a man to be silent and be a Christian, than to talk and not be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts. There is then one Teacher, who spake and it was done; while even those things which He did in silence are worthy of the Father. He who possesses the word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be perfect, and may both act as he speaks, and be recognized by his silence. 

I have very often affirmed in my sermons and teachings that “belief” and “behavior” are intricately attached. What we claim we believe in our hearts must be visible in our daily lives. Consider the following: 

A Christians who first said “credo” (I believe) did not do so lightly, but at a risk of their lives under severe persecution . .  To say “credo,” genuinely, is to speak of oneself from the heart, to reveal who one is by confessing one’s essential belief, the faith that makes life worth living. One who says “credo” without the willingness to suffer, and if necessary die, for the faith, has not genuinely said “credo.”   (Thomas C. Oden, The Living God, Systematic Theology, Volume One, pg. 11) 

Whom we worship must ultimately be transforming us into His very image, if indeed He is worthy of our true worship. “Never make piety a dress but a habit, not only a habit but a nature, not only a nature but a life.” (The Valley of Vision, pg. 117). 

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