In his epistle to the Trallians, Ignatius of Antioch wrote
the following:
Am I not able to write to you of
heavenly things? But I fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who
are but babes in Christ. Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to
receive such doctrines, ye shall be strangled by them. For even, I though I am
bound for Christ, yet am not on that account able to understand heavenly
things, and the places of the angels and their gatherings under their
respective princes, things visible and invisible. Without reference to such
abstruse subjects, I am still but a learner in other respects, for many things
are wanting to us, that we come not short of God. (5:1-2)
In this text, Ignatius speaks of "heavenly things"
(ἐπουράνιος "heavenly" with the subtext being "from God"),
and that such teachings are esoteric, secret teachings amongst the earliest
Christians. Often, Latter-day Saints are criticised for such (e.g., some
particulars of the temple endowment), but it appears that the earliest patristic
writers affirmed that they too, had deeper doctrines that only more spiritually
more mature individuals would receive, with the danger being that the immature would be “strangled
by them.”
