Spotting the Leopards

The leopard sneaks his way along many of the books in Torrey. He’s hard to spot because he shows up without any cause seemingly. Earlier I wrote a post on Ignatius, the God bearer, who died facing the “leopards of Rome”. A few weeks later in session we were discussing T. S. Eliot who again brought up the idea of leopards. I saw the small thread between the two and pointed out to my friend David. He helped me see what was really going on, so this post is dedicated to him.

Leopards show up in Ignatius’ letter to the Romans referring to the Roman guards bearing him to his martyrdom. While they get worse over time, he claims that they are making him more of a disciple of Christ, but he is only beginning to become a disciple. David points out that Ignatius’ goal is to replicate Christ in his physical suffering. He views these leopards as the instruments of God that will guide him towards his end.

Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, Oh My -Ignatius

Bishops, presbyters, deacons. To many of us these words are associated with the Roman Catholic Church, inciting ideas of legalism, corruption, and strange doctrines. While I’m not here to defend Roman Catholicism, I do think it is unwise to jump to such conclusions. The ideas of Bishops, presbyters, and deacons come from the early church fathers, those who came directly after the apostles. One of these, St. Ignatius of Antioch, wrote to many churches on the importance of bishops and obeying them.

Saint Ignatius

Ignatius of Antioch, the name sake of my Torrey group, lived during the first century and was bishop of Antioch. It is said that he was the third bishop of the church, following St. Peter and St. Evodius. Scholars agree that he was likely a disciple of Peter and that Peter himself appointed him to this position. Ignatius does not appear in history till right before his death when he writes several letters to churches. He was imprisoned for some unknown reason and was led to Rome to be martyred.

His icon is easily distinguished as a man being eaten by two lions. I got to go to Rome this January where three of us from Ignatius got to see the church dedicated to him and where his remains were likely stored. He firmly believed that his martyrdom was for him to be found pure. Fox writes in his Book of Martyrs