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Lent: Day 6 - Ignatius to the Magnesians

Day Six: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Magnesians (full text) Who: Ignatius converted at a young age and later became Bishop of Antioch. A friend of Polycarp and fellow disciple of John, there is a long standing tradition that Ignatius was the child that Jesus held in his arms and blessed in Mark 10:13-16 What: Ignatius urges the church to continue in unity, to honour their leadership and to avoid Judaizers who may try to bring false teaching. This letter also gives some valuable insight to early church hierarchy. Why: Ignatius wrote a series of letters to the churches in Asia Minor whilst en route to Rome to face martyrdom by wild beasts in the Col...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

Day Eight: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Romans (full text) Who: Ignatius converted at a young age and later became Bishop of Antioch. A friend of Polycarp and fellow disciple of John, there is a long standing tradition that Ignatius was the child that Jesus held in his arms and blessed in Mark 10:13-16 What: A challenging letter in which Ignatius pours himself out to the Roman church about his impending martyrdom. Why: Ignatius wrote a series of letters to the churches in Asia Minor whilst en route to Rome to face martyrdom by wild beasts in the Colosseum around 108 AD. When: Around 107-108 AD On reading the introduction to this letter my first th...

Humble without the #hashtag

As much as it a pains me to give this guy any more exposure, sometimes you need to in order to expose something. First, you need to watch the latest video from Joshua Feuerstein to understand what I'm talking about here:     I do this not to further his “cause” or “movement” but rather to counteract it. Mainly with something more practical, but hopefully also with more common sense too. It's things like this that give Christianity a bad name. I mean really, is this really what Christians should be worried about? Why not do something more useful like feed the homeless and start a movement that'll actually benefit society AND do something Jesus...

Lent Day 20: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 19-27

...ch is why Jesus said, “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt 24:13). Everything we do and say during our Christian walk in this life is a “step by which we ascend to the summit of salvation”, and not the summit itself, which is why we need to watch ourselves and keep on the narrow path because every time we repent and confess our sins, “the adversary is more provoked”! “For the Lord chose Judas also among the apostles”, Cyprian points out, even though Judas betrayed the Lord afterwards. This didn’t break the faith of the Apostles, and neither should seeing those in the Church fall away, as sad as it may be at times. We are a corp...

Spiritual Disciplines of the Early Church: Ancient Practices for the 21st Century

...ng, since Jesus had said “when you fast”, not “if”. Typically, fasting was done every week on Wednesday and Friday, based on Matthew 6:16–18, and also to honour the days of the Passion and crucifixion in later tradition. “But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; … but fast on the fourth day (Wednesday) and the Preparation (Friday). … [But pray] as the Lord commanded in His Gospel (the Lord’s Prayer) … Thrice in the day thus pray.” Didache (c. 50 – 70) Alongside fasting, praying the Lord’s Prayer three times a day (morning, noon, evening) was a common discipline. From around the third century, liturgy and prayers in a churc...

The Historic Practice of Abortion and How Ancient Christians Responded

...icons of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:49) being renewed back to that original image we were created to be (Col. 3:10) as imagers of God because Jesus is also the icon of God — his exact character and image (Heb. 1:3). Colossians 1:15He is the image [εἰκών] of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Hopefully, this explains a little more about why life is seen as precious and something to be protected. Christian views on abortion, love and charity Abortion is nothing new though, but the worldview that all life is precious was quite revolutionary in the ancient world. Christianity took this idea and really ran with it more than any other social or...