Let no one deceive himself: if
anyone is not within the altar, he lacks the bread of God; for if the prayer of
one or two has such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole
church! (To the Ephesians 5:2; cf. To the Romans 7:2; To the Trallians 7:2)
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 τραπεξα "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. lt 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 . .
. 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: A Commentary on the
Letters of Ignatius of Antioch [Hermeneia-A Critical and Historical
Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 55)
In
the epistle to the Romans 2:2, Ignatius wrote his desire to be granted
nothing more than to be poured out as a libation for God while an
altar is still ready . . .
Schoedel
notes that the “altar” in this text means "the arena in which he is to
give up his life" (ibid., 171).
