"Nothing is really achieved by trying to persuade people. Christianity's true power is discovered only when it is hated by the world." Ignatius to the Romans, AD 115
Ignatius of Antioch was of the generation of disciples who came after the New Testament apostles. The church he pastored is well known to us as it is the same church in Antioch that we read about in the book of Acts. It was the Antiochene church that sent out Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13 and served as Paul's home church. It is therefore quite reasonable to assume that Ignatius had been trained for the ministry by Apostle Paul, Barnabas, and other Antioch church leaders. Ignatius wrote several letters around AD 115 while being transported from Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) to Rome where he would die as a martyr being fed to wild animals as a special feature of the halftime show at the Roman Coliseum. John Chrysostom, a famous pastor from Antioch as well, described Ignatius of Antioch as "a soul boiling with a passionate divine love."
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