Last words of the faithful
Ignatius of Antioch
Died about AD 108 · killed by beasts in Rome
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was taken under guard to Rome to be killed in the arena around AD 108. On the road he wrote seven letters to churches along the way. His letter to the Romans contains the words he is remembered by, in which he calls himself God's wheat, to be ground by the teeth of beasts into the pure bread of Christ. These are his last written words; nothing he said in the arena was recorded.
The last words
The story behind them
He was chained to ten soldiers, whom he described as leopards, and marched from Antioch across Asia Minor toward Rome and the beasts. Churches came out to meet him along the road. He wrote them letters as he went, seven of which survive, and they are among the oldest Christian writings outside the New Testament.
The letter to Rome is the strange one. The Christians there had influence, and he was terrified they would use it. He begged them not to intervene, not to petition, not to save him. He was not performing. He gives his reason in one image that has outlived every other sentence he wrote: 'I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.'
A man on his way to die, asking his friends not to rescue him, and calling himself bread.
Say what you like about the theology of it, and Christians have argued about his eagerness for eighteen centuries. What cannot be argued is that he wrote it down in his own hand while walking toward the thing he described. This is the earliest surviving picture of a Christian understanding his own death as being made into the same thing his Lord called himself. He got to Rome. The record of the arena itself does not exist, which is worth saying plainly: these are his last written words, not a quotation of his last breath.
What they died for, you can meet
None of these people died for an idea. They died holding onto a Person, convinced that death was not the end because he had already walked out of a tomb. The Living Bread is a quiet place to meet that same Jesus, read the Gospels for yourself, and ask your honest questions.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What were the last words of Ignatius of Antioch?
- His last recorded written words are from his Letter to the Romans, written on the road to his execution around AD 108: 'I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.' Nothing he said in the arena was recorded.
- Why did Ignatius ask the Romans not to save him?
- In his Letter to the Romans he pleads with the Christians there not to use their influence to prevent his death, saying he wanted to attain to God and not be robbed of it. His eagerness has been debated by Christians ever since.
- Who was Ignatius of Antioch?
- Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in Syria in the late first and early second century, and one of the Apostolic Fathers. He was taken to Rome under guard and killed by wild beasts around AD 108, writing seven letters to churches on the journey.
