Ignatius of Antioch was a Christian bishop in the late first or early second century CE, during the Roman Empire. He is known almost entirely from seven letters he wrote while being transported as a prisoner from Antioch to Rome, where he was executed. The traditional date for his death is around 107–110 CE, though some scholars suggest it may have occurred a bit later.

His journey through Asia Minor allowed him to meet with local Christian communities. The letters he wrote during this trip—to churches in Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna, plus a personal letter to Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna—form his complete surviving works. They provide a crucial snapshot of early Christian life. In them, Ignatius passionately argues for the reality of Christ’s human suffering against early denials of it. He also strongly advocates for a unified church structure led by a bishop, assisted by priests and deacons, famously writing, “Where the bishop is, there let the people be.”

According to modern scholars, Ignatius’s letters are among the most important early Christian documents outside the New Testament. They offer invaluable evidence for the development of church authority, early theology, and the ideal of martyrdom, which Ignatius eagerly embraced. His writings were highly influential on later Christian thinkers.