Thursday, June 27, 2024

William R. Schoedel on the use of θυσιαστήριον ("altar") in the Authentic Epistles to Ignatius

 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)

 

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