St. Ignatius of Antioch “Theophorus”
“We have not only to be called Christians, but to be Christians.”
-St. Ignatius of Antioch-
Commemorated on December 20 and January 29 (Translation of Relics)
Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer
Saint Nikolai Velimirovič
This holy man is called “the God-bearer” because he constantly bore the name of the Living God in his heart and on his lips.
According to tradition, he was thus named because he was held in the
arms of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ. On a day when the Lord was teaching
His disciples humility, He took a child and placed him among them,
saying: Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:4). This child was Ignatius. Later, Ignatius was a disciple of St. John the Theologian, together with Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.
As Bishop of Antioch, Ignatius governed the Church of God as a good
shepherd and was the first to introduce antiphonal chanting in the
Church, in which two choirs alternate the chanting. This manner of
chanting was revealed to St. Ignatius by the angels in heaven.
When Emperor Trajan was passing through Antioch on his way to do battle
with the Persians, he heard of Ignatius, summoned him and counseled him
to offer sacrifice to the idols. If Ignatius would do so, Trajan would
bestow upon him the rank of senator. As the counsels and threats of the
emperor were in vain, St. Ignatius was shackled in irons and sent to
Rome in the company of ten merciless soldiers, to be thrown to the wild
beasts. Ignatius rejoiced in suffering for his Lord, only praying to God
that the wild beasts would become the tomb for his 
body
and that no one would prevent him from this death. After a long and
difficult journey from Asia through Thrace, Macedonia and Epirus,
Ignatius arrived in Rome, where he was thrown to the lions in the
circus. The lions tore him to pieces and devoured him, leaving only
several of the larger bones and his heart. This glorious lover of the Lord Christ suffered in the year 106 in Rome
at the time of the Christ-hating Emperor Trajan. Ignatius has appeared
many times from the other world and worked miracles, even to this day
helping all who call upon him for help.
The Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints by Saint Nikolai Velimirovič for Old Calendar date December 20th , and New Calendar date January 2nd.
In St. Ignatius’ most famous quote, he wrote to the Romans,
“I
am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying
willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do
not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.”
All the ends of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, [864] shall profit me nothing.
It is better for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ, than to reign
over all the ends of the earth. “For what is a man profited, if he gain
the whole world, but lose his own soul?” I long after 
the
Lord, the Son of the true God and Father, even Jesus Christ. Him I
seek, who died for us and rose again. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder
me in attaining to life; for Jesus is the life of believers. Do not wish to keep me in a state of death, [865] for life without Christ is death.
While I desire to belong to God, do not ye give me over to the world.
Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I have gone thither, I shall indeed
be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of Christ, my God.
If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and
let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened.
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans,Chapter VI.–By death I shall attain true life
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