Ignatios the God-Bearer

Bishop of Antioch and apostolic father.

St. Ignatios the God-Bearer was Bishop of Antioch and one of the apostolic fathers, a disciple of the apostles themselves. Condemned under the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the second century, he was taken in bonds to Rome and given to the wild beasts in the arena, going to his death with joy, longing, as he wrote, to be ground as the wheat of God.

The seven epistles he wrote on that final journey remain treasures of the early Church. On January 29 the Church commemorates the translation of his relics; his martyrdom is kept on December 20.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Ignatios the God-Bearer is commemorated on January 29. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on February 11 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Ignatios, Ignacio, Ignacy, Ignatius

Also commemorated on January 29

• Demetrios of Chios

  Martyr, Δημήτριος ο Χιοπολίτης

  New Martyr Demetrios of Chios, martyred in Constantinople.

• Seven Martyrs of Samosata

  Martyr, Επτά Μάρτυρες εν Σαμοσάτοις

  Holy Martyrs Romanos, James, Philotheos, Hyperechios, Abibos, Julian and Paregorios of Samosata.

• Sarbelos and Bebaia

  Martyr, Σάρβηλος και Βεβαία

  Holy Martyrs Sarbelos and his sister Bebaia of Edessa.

• Aphraates the Persian

  Venerable, Αφραάτης

  Venerable Aphraates the Persian, ascetic of Antioch.

• Andrei Rublev

  Venerable, Ανδρέας Ρουμπλιόβ

  Venerable Andrei Rublev, the iconographer.

• Silvanos, Luke and Mokios

  Martyr, Σιλουανός, Λουκάς και Μώκιος

  Hieromartyr Silvanos, Bishop of Emesa, with Luke the deacon and Mokios the reader.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.