Text 2293, 57 rader
Skriven 2007-03-16 19:45:14 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
===================================================
Hello All!
                This Area is READ ONLY.  Do not post to this area.
                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH: CHRISTIAN UNITY REFLECTS UNITY OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 14, 2007 (VIS) - Continuing his cycle of catecheses on the
Apostolic Fathers, Benedict XVI dedicated the general audience today to the
figure of St. Ignatius of Antioch. The audience, held in St. Peter's Square,
was attended by around 25,000 people.

From the year 70 to 107 St. Ignatius was bishop of Antioch, "the city in which
the disciples first received the name of Christians," said the Pope. Condemned
to be thrown to wild beasts, he was taken to Rome for the sentence to be
carried out and took advantage of his journey through the various cities of the
empire to confirm the Christians living there in their faith.

"No Father of the Church expressed with the same intensity as Ignatius the
longing for union with Christ and for life in Him," said the Pope, explaining
that "two spiritual currents come together in St. Ignatius: that of Paul, which
tends towards union with Christ, and that of John, which focuses on life in
Him. In their turn, these two currents lead to the imitation of Christ."

"Ignatius' irresistible attraction towards union with Christ is the foundation
for a true mysticism of unity," Benedict XVI went on. And he recalled how in
the seven letters the bishop of Antioch wrote during his journey to Rome "he
frequently repeats that God, existing in three persons, is One in absolute
unity, ... and that the unity Christians must create in this world is no more
than an imitation, as near as possible to the divine archetype."

In St. Ignatius' letters we find "a constant and fruitful dialectic between two
characteristic aspects of Christian life: on the one hand, the hierarchical
structure of the ecclesial community and, on the other, the fundamental unity
that binds the faithful to one another in Christ. Consequently, the [various
different] roles cannot conflict. On the contrary, the insistence on the
communion of believers among themselves and with their pastors is continually
reformulated" using musical images such as "the lyre, chords ... symphonies."

Benedict XVI highlighted the "special responsibility of bishops, priests and
deacons in the edification of the community," which must translate, above all,
into "a proposal of love and unity."

"It is clear, then, that St. Ignatius was the 'doctor of unity'," said the
Pope. "The 'realism' of Ignatius invites us all to undertake a progressive
synthesis between configuration to Christ (union with Him, life in Him) and
commitment to His Church (unity with the bishop, generous service to the
community and the world), ... between interior communion of the Church and
mission, which is the proclamation of the Gospel for others."
AG/IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH/...VIS 070314 (450)

SUMMARY

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)