Beginning of Essay
Ignatius was born in syria and converted to Christianity. He became the second Bishop of Antioch after Peter. The Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and gave the Christians the choice to apostasise or to be martyred. Ignatius refused to apostasise and was condemned to ....

Middle of Essay
.... be ground by the teeth of wild beasts to become the pure bread of Christ." In these words, Ignatius, the third bishop of Antioch, pleaded with his influential friends in Rome not to interfere with his impending martyrdom. Thus on December 20 in the year 107, Ignatius was escorted from the Roman galley that had taken nine years to deliver its prisoner from Antioch to Rome and was brought to the Flavian Amphitheater, the Coliseum, where at the conclusion of the Roman festival he was fed to the lions. Ignatius was a Syrian by birth who became attracted to the first generation of Christians. Some authors believe that he may have been a disciple of ....