Quote:
Originally Posted by Costeon
Not exactly what you're referring to, but very early on in the first decade of the second century AD, at least one prominent bishop in the third most important city of the Roman Empire referred to the (eternal) life-giving power of the Lord's Supper: "Breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ" (Ignatius's letter to the Ephesians, ch. 20, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0104.htm). I'm not sure how prevalent this view was, but very early on some were not thinking of it just in symbolic terms. |
Ignatius also spearheaded the monarchical bishop idea.
Of course, a lot of his writings are highly dubious as to authenticity. He's probably the least useful of Antenicene "fathers" to be quoted establishing a timeline for anything.
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