October 17th St. Ignatius of Antioch.

A Syrian, Ignatius became Bishop of Antioch ("where believers were first called Christians") in 69, and is thus a living link with the Church of the first disciples. Nothing is known of his life at this stage, but seven famous letters of his have survived, written while he was being taken to Rome, condemned to death by the Emperor Trajan for being a Christian. Some of these were written in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) when he and his escort stopped there, and where he was received by St. Polycarp, himself later a martyr, and a disciple of St. John. The seven letters were to the Christians of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Philadelphia and Smyrna (all in modern Turkey), to the Christians in Rome, and to Polycarp himself. They ardently affirm the Resurrection, the unity of the Church based on the witness of Peter and Paul, and the dignity of Christian ministry, especially that of the Bishop. They urged Christians not to intercede for him to 'get him off the hook'; Ignatius was ready to die a martyr's death, and described himself as the "wheat of Christ, ground by the teeth of beasts to become pure bread". Indeed he met his fate thus, thrown to the lions in the Roman Colosseum. Ignatius' fame spread immediately, and his letters were translated almost at once in Latin and into several Oriental languages.