In the current scenario of division and discord both in the church and in the world, the story of St Ignatius of Antioch whose feast day we celebrate on October 17, comes as a breath of fresh air.
St. Ignatius was the stuff that legends are made of... He respected differences, but for him there had to be unity in diversity, a union of hearts and minds.
St. Ignatius was born in Syria (which is in modern day Turkey) He became the Bishop of Antioch. In the year 107, Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and forced the Christians there to choose between death and apostasy. St. Ignatius would never deny Christ or his faith and thus was condemned to be put to death in Rome. He is best known for the seven letters he wrote on the long journey from Antioch to Rome. They urge the Christians there to remain faithful to God and to obey their superiors. In the letter to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who was later martyred for the faith, he begs the Christians in Rome not to do anything that will stop his martyrdom. “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.”
Ignatius was an intelligent and articulate leader who would rather die than compromise his faith. The Roman officials saw him as a disruptive influence in an empire, which valued the pagan religious rites of Rome as a politically unifying force. Christians have considered Ignatius of Antioch a Father of the Church. Although St. Ignatius was an influential church leader and theologian, he is known almost entirely from his own writings. There is no record of his life prior to his arrest, but his letters reveal his personality and his impact on the Christianity of his time. In general, the letters of St Ignatius are full of warnings against false doctrines and false teachers and in admonitions to preserve peace and concord by willing subordination in all religious matters to the clergy and, above all, to the Bishop.
St. Ignatius was the very first person in Christian literature to attribute to the Church the adjective "catholic" or "universal," meaning the whole church that is the same wherever there is a Christian congregation. “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church”. This precisely in the service of unity to the Catholic Church, the Christian community of Rome exercised a sort of primacy of love. Ignatius had a special affinity for the ‘deacons’. If the Bishop represents Christ as shepherd, the deacons are images of Christ as ‘the servant of all’ in emphasizing his fellowship with them, St. Ignatius insists on the common bond among all Christians in the service of God. St. Ignatius’ great concern was for the unity and order of the Church. Even greater was his willingness to suffer martyrdom rather than deny Christ. He did not draw attention to his own suffering, but to the love of God, which strengthened him. He knew the price of commitment and would not deny Christ, even to save his own life.
When power, prestige, pride, possessions, and patriarchy (remember that Jesus said ‘NO’ to all of these when Satan tempted him in the desert) become the focus of the life of the one ordained, then things need to be addressed and nipped in the bud. Today, as we see and experience in several parts of Asia, it is how power is wielded. Unity must be promoted from the top through word and witness.
The ways this unity can be forged include the following
- Bishops and priests need to be in the midst of their people and not away from them in the security of their Church compounds and their comfort zones. They need, as Pope Francis would often remind them, to “smell of the sheep”
- They have to be truly Good Shepherds in the image and likeness of their Master- ready to protect his sheep and lay down his life for them (just as St Ignatius did too). I know my sheep and they know me, says Jesus. To have a heart that listens. This bonding ensures and deepens unity
- Accompanying is fundamental to the Synodal Journey of communion, participation, and mission; bearing one another’s burdens; becoming pilgrims of hope.
- Shunning at all times the vestiges of wealth and power. Mainstreaming the concept of servant-leadership, to get down on one's knees and wash the feet of others’
Besides the above, what is eating at the heart of unity in the Church is the painful reality that ‘clericalism’ is throttling so much of that union of hearts and minds today. In an incisive letter to the priests of his diocese of Rome (August 5, 2023), Pope Francis wrote, “And I, as an elderly man and from the heart, want to tell you that it worries me when we lapse into forms of clericalism; when, perhaps without realising it, we let people see that we are superior, privileged, placed “above” and therefore separated from the rest of God's holy people.” Unity takes place when we are focused on our mission: to be and to live as the Church of the poor and for the poor. Pope Leo, in his recently released Apostolic Exhortation ‘Dilexi Te’( I have loved you), says succinctly, “The community of the faithful, sustained by the strength of the Holy Spirit, was rooted in being close to the poor, whom they considered not just an 'appendage,' but an essential part of Christ’s living body.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, as an Asian, challenges the Church of Asia in a very special way today, saying to us, "It is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name." Are we courageous and willing enough to take up the challenge, to face the lions of our time and truly live as sisters and brothers, in great unity, one in heart and one in mind in Jesus Christ?
