On the use of "altar" in To the Ephesians 5:2:
In any event, it is unlikely that
Ignatius has a physical altar in mind (5.2). A few early Christian writers
explicitly deny that there were such altars in the church (Minucius Felix Oct.
32.1; Origen Gels. 8.17); and the earliest term used in connection with the
eucharist seems to have been τραπεζα (a "table.") Moreover, the
Ephesians could scarcely be said to be "within" a physical altar in any
intelligible sense; and the term is used symbolically by Polycarp (Phil. 4.3)
and elsewhere in Ignatius (Mag. 7.2; Tr. 7.2; probably also Phd. 4).8 From the
latter passages it appears that the altar is the church, but it is also closely
linked with Christ, the ministry, and unified worship. The appropriateness of
the term was probably suggested by the idea that prayer is true sacrifice. The eucharist
and the eucharistic prayer were naturally also linked with sacrifice in this
way (cf. Did. 14.1), and Ignatius must reflect that connection here. It is
likely, then, that the "bread of God-a eucharistic expression from a
Johannine milieu (cf. John 6:33)-is seen by Ignatius as the point of
intersection between the prayers of the faithful and the presence of God or
Christ. Against this background it is probable that here he is working primarily
with the symbolic aspects of his eucharistic theology (see lntroduction, 5.3).
Note that the expression "bread of God" occurs once again in Ignatius
(Rom. 7 .3) and that there sacramental realism is scarcely in evidence.
In any event, the emphasis in Eph. 5.2
is on the power of corporate prayer. Such prayers are themselves expressions of
unity in Christian communities (Mag. 7.1; Tr. 12.2; Sm. 7 .1; cf. Pol. 1.3),
but Ignatius sees them more often as serving a still larger purpose in assuring
the success of his martyrdom and the peace of his church in Antioch (some
thirteen passages), the conversion of pagans (Eph. 10.1-2) or of false teachers
(Sm. 4.1 ), and the writing of a theological tract (Eph. 20.1). A great cosmic
conflict is presupposed in which Satan's powers are destroyed by the prayers of
the worshippers (Eph. 13; cf. Origen, Gels. 8.73). Thus the theme of prayer in Ignatius
again illustrates the high significance he attributes to his own martyrdom in
bringing to expression the underlying unity of all the churches. (William R.
Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch [Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical
Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 155)
On
the use of "altar" in To the Philadelphians 4:
The only other passage in which there
is a close connection between altar and eucharist is Eph. 5.2, where a symbolic
sense of the term is also likely. The expression used there ("within the
altar") is scarcely capable of being understood in terms of a physical
altar, and we find it again in Tr. 7.2 in what is evidently a non-eucharistic
setting. Thus Ignatius can mention altar and eucharist together without
necessarily having in mind a cultic object. Moreover, the closest parallel to
the language of Phd. 4 as a whole is provided by Mag. 7 with its comparable
list of items prefaced by the word "one"; and there the expression
"one altar" is clearly used in a symbolic sense of the oneness of the
Christian community. It is likely, then, that the same is true of the passage
before us. It is probably significant that whereas the references to the flesh
and cup are joined by the connective "and," the expression "one
the altar" stands apart and is at least as closely linked with the words
that follow ("just as one the bishop") as with those that precede.
(Ibid., 199)