there is one Church Father that Protestants fear more than any other person on the planet this guy was so powerful that John Calvin rather than arguing against him simply tried to say that most of his letters were forgeries this video on its own would be enough to make me Catholic if I were inquiring into the Catholic faith the information that I'm going to present to you here is powerful it's absolutely a slam dunk argument for Catholicism just this guy alone should make Protestants Catholic or at least make them very uncomfortable with a lot of their views but before I show you exactly what this guy teaches in the first few centuries of Christianity right after the apostles first I want to show you who this guy was and how he related to the apostles let's check it out so I'm not going to give you this guy's name yet I want to leave you in suspense but maybe you can figure it out if you're sharp so there is a work called the martyrdom of blank this guy and it says this when trun not long since succeeded to the Empire of the Romans this guy the disciple of John the Apostle a man in all respects of an Apostolic character governed the Church of the antiochian with great care for they this guy in polycarp had both in Old Times been Disciples of St John the Apostle all of the quotes that I have here I've put a link to a Google doc in the description and you can go and you can read the entire documents for yourself and you can see I'm not cherry-picking quotes I'm not trying to find verses and twist them to my own interpretation I'm not doing any of that I'm just taking the plainf face meaning of these texts and putting them in a PowerPoint sled so if you want to see what these guys actually wrote in context the full thing there's a link to that in a Google doc in the description you can check that out I've linked all my resources okay but what did this guy just say did you hear that did you hear that he said that the guy that we're talking about who I haven't told you who he is yet was a disciple of the apostle St John this guy was a disciple of the gospel writer this guy was a disciple of the man who wrote the bread of life discourse this guy this guy so whenever we're looking at what he says it's important to keep in mind that he's not reflecting his own ideas he hasn't come up with new ideas no he's just communicating through his letters what he learned from St John and you're going to see he doesn't just have connections to St John he's got connections to other Apostles and I'm going to name them and we're going to go through this right this guy though if anybody knows what the apostles meant if anybody knows what John chapter 6 meant if anybody knows what Matthew chapter 16 meant it is this guy this guy watched the apostles move he watched them teach he sat at their feet while they lectured if anybody is qualified to understand the gospel it is this man and this is why John Calvin rather than arguing against these points he had to try to invalidate a lot of the letters and just say no that's a forgery no that's a forgery which by the way modern scholarship has basically unanimously accepted the authenticity of the seven letters which we're going to talk about in just a second but this is the point is this man was taught by the Apostle John and has connections to another very important Apostle so youus of cesaria in his book ecclesiastical history says that this guy was the second Bishop of Antioch after Peter so maybe you figured out who it is he's a bishop of Antioch in the first and 2 Century but this is what UIA says at this time blank was known as the second Bishop of Antioch and then later he says this guy who was chosen Bishop of Antioch second in succession to Peter and whose Fame is still celebrated by a great many so for those who don't know Peter established the church in Antioch Peter before he went to Rome went to Antioch and built up that church church that's why in the ancient Church Rome was always number one always number one nobody questioned that number two in the ancient church was Alexandria and Antioch because of their connections to Peter Alexandria was founded either by Peter or by Peter through Mark Mark was the one who probably established the church but he probably went there because Peter sent him there so it was Rome Alexandria and then third was Antioch because of their connection to St Peter right that's what gave them their claim to fame was their connection to St Peter so this guy at Antioch one of the most important Seas one of the most important dases in all of the ancient world was the second Bishop after Peter this guy's right there next to the apostles he is right smack dab there he would have known Peter's teaching because Peter would have been in Antioch teaching and building up the church and this man probably would have listened to Peter teach and would have understand who Peter was what Peter meant when he said Rock right Matthew 16 if any anybody's qualified to give us an interpretation an Apostolic interpretation of Matthew 16 it is this guy it's this guy right and I want to make this point I'm hammering this home because look this is what Protestants will basically say they'll look at this church father and they'll say yeah but it's not the Bible okay well this guy was literally a student of the people who wrote the Bible this guy heard the authors of the scriptures preach and teach and give lessons and explain things cuz you realize John Matthew Mark Peter they were all preaching and teaching the exact same thing for years before they actually put pen to paper right they all had been preaching and teaching the word of God authoritatively without air for years before they put pen to paper so this guy this guy is specifically uniquely able to tell us what the apost Apostles meant by their writings and we're going to see this guy is so Catholic listen the reason that John Calvin had a little bit of success in saying that these letters were forged is because if I wanted to go back and write a forgery proving the Catholic position I couldn't write one that's more strong and clear than what this guy wrote I mean it is absolutely astounding if I wanted to write a forgery from the first or 2 Century explaining the Eucharist I couldn't write one better than right but the thing is it's not a forgery scholarship modern scholarship ancient scholarship basically until the time of Calvin unanimous that these are not forgeries they're not forgeries they're authentic they're authentic this is what St John chrsm says about this guy he says he held true converse with the apostles and drank of spiritual fountains and then he also says for I do not Wonder at the man alone that he seemed to be worthy of so great an office but that he obtained this office from those Saints and that the hands of the Blessed Apostles touched his sacred head so the apostles touched his head they put their hands on his head what does that mean St John chrysm listen to this St John chrysm is saying that this man was appointed a bishop by the apostles this man was made a bishop by the apostles and the apostles did not just go around ordaining anybody no they didn't do that the apostles would vet who they were going to ordain St Paul writes about the qualifications of a bishop he has to be well spoken of he has to be well educated uh he can't have more than one wife etc etc etc all these things in order for you to become a bishop you had to be a moral Exemplar and you had to be well-versed in the teachings of the Apostles so the apostles themselves ordained this man to the Bishop Rick because they thought he was worthy to be a bishop and to teach Apostolic Doctrine so whenever we're listening to what this guy actually has to say here in just a second we're going to go through some of his quotes but whenever we're looking at that remember his teaching was approved by the apostles this man's teaching was approved at the seal of approval not just from some random Church guy not from the Protestant Minister from the 17th century who got ordained by a bunch of random people laying their no this guy was ordained by the apostles his teaching was approved by the apostles look I'm belaboring this point a little bit but this has to be emphasized this is not just some guy you can't say oh it's not scripture so I don't care what this guy thinks really because the apostles approved his teaching the apostles thought so highly of him that they made him into a bishop in the early church the second Bishop after Peter in Antioch I mean come on if anybody gets to have an opinion about the scriptures it's this guy because whose opinion are you going to trust this guy who we're talking about or your Protestant Pastor who went to four years of Bible College this guy who sat at the feet of the apostles who conversed with the apostles who was made a bishop by the apostles who learned directly from St John the Apostle this guy or four years of Bible College Protestant Minister seems pretty obvious to me and this is the last one that we will touch on about this guy before I tell you who he is and we start looking at his quotes but Theodor who is a saint from the fourth and fifth century says this he says that St Peter appointed this guy to the Sea of Antioch and Theodor was born in Antioch in the 4th Century so if anybody knows who appointed Ignatius of Antioch that's the guy if you haven't figured it out yet it's Ignatius of Antioch if anybody knows who appointed him it is Theodor so this guy was appointed to the Bishop Rick by St Peter or possibly Peter and some of the other Apostles right that's what's being told to us in these passages so now that we've got that established let's look at some of the things that Ignatius of Antioch actually taught about the Catholic church and about her Doctrine and this is striking it's really striking and if you're a Protestant this is a real thorn in your side this man whose teaching was approved by the apostles who was made a bishop by the Apostles he's Catholic through and through he is Catholic and I'm going to prove it to you so just to review Ignatius of Antioch was a disciple of John the Apostle he held converse with the apostles he was appointed a bishop by Peter himself and he was a friend of polycarp who was also a martyr and disciple of John who we didn't talk too much about but you get the idea this guy literally knew the apostles in person and knew their teachings so well that they thought he was worthy of becoming a Bishop so what Apostolic teaching does this guy hand on to us well this first one is from the letter to the smean who by the way nobody thinks this letter is forged anymore anybody who's a genuine scholar of this stuff will tell you that this letter is authentic uus writes about it other early church fathers write about the seven letters of ignacius and this is certainly one of them so there's no doubt that this is not a forgery and this is what he says in his letter to the smans he says this take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of Our Savior Jesus Christ flesh which suffered for our sins and which the father in his goodness raised up again they they who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes St Ignatius of Antioch says that there are Heretics who abstain from the Eucharist because they deny that the Eucharist is the Flesh of Jesus Christ and perhaps you say yes well he's speaking symbolically and he's he's using a metaphor here okay well what does he say right after that he says the same flesh which suffered and died for us the same flesh which God rose from the dead that's the flesh that we consume in the Eucharist you simply cannot hold listen you cannot hold that John chap 6 is meant to be interpreted metaphorically with this data right here it's impossible to hold that position anymore it does not work it's logically incoherent St John in his uh in his gospel chapter 6 right we're all familiar with it the bread of life discourse he says Jesus says unless you eat the Flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life within you Jesus says he who eats me will live because of me he says I am the bread that came down from heaven he's making all these emphatic statements over and over and over again and how does St John the and excuse me how does St Ignatius of Antioch interpret those passages well first of all where did ignacius learn to interpret those passages he learned John chapter 6 from John he learned what John meant in John chapter 6 from John the Evangelist the author of the gospels if anybody can tell us if this is a metaphor or not it is this guy and what does he say what does he say he says the Eucharist is the Flesh of Jesus Christ the same flesh that was crucified and died for us the same flesh that rose from the dead you cannot get around that anyone who thinks the Eucharist is symbolic is simply misled they disagree with the Apostle St John and with one of his best students it's not the case and we're going to look at this quotee as well listen I understand why John Calvin tried to get rid of these letters because they are demonstrably Catholic in their Essence and everything right you can't read these letters and not think wow the church in the 2 century was very Catholic by the way this man died about the year 107 ad possibly even a little earlier so this is from the early early 2nd Century possibly as early as the late 1 Century but this is what St ignatia says in his letter to the smans chapter 8 he says see that you all follow the bishop even as Jesus Christ does the father and the presbyter as you would the apostles and reverence the deacons as being the institution of God let no man do anything connected with the church without the bishop let that be deemed a proper Eucharist which is administered either by the bishop or by one to whom he has entrusted it wherever the bishop shall appear there let the multitude of the people also be even as wherever Jesus Christ Christ is there is the Catholic church so this is the first time that we see the word Catholic Church being used as a proper noun Catholic Church is being used to signify the church that Jesus started but let's go back and just look at what's jam packed into this quote go back and look at it again right he says there are bishops priests and deacons he says that he says there are bishops priests and deacons well what does the Catholic Church teach about the clergy today that there are bishops priests and deacons where did St Ignatius learn this he learned it from the apostles that's it he learned it from the apostles there are bishops priests and deacons in the New Testament in the Old Testament there is the high priest the aeronite priests and the Levites right those are the three Old Testament priesthoods that are fulfilled in the New Testament priesthood right that's that's the way that it works what else does he say he says that you must be in Union with the bishop he says wherever Jes Jesus Christ is there is the Catholic church I mean look I could go through and belabor these but just let these quotes speak for themselves go back and just read that again wherever Jesus Christ is there is the Catholic Church you should do nothing without your Bishop where the bishop is let the people be look St Ignatius of Antioch is not open to the idea that you can just start your own church without a bishop that would be anathema to him he would say no you can't do that I was appointed to the bishop brick by St John this is what Ignatius would say I was appointed as a bishop by St John the Apostle who appointed you who told you to start a church who told you to govern a church I was told by an apostle who told you right and that would be the question I would ask to Luther is who told him to start a church who told Calvin to start a church who told wingley nobody nobody right Apostolic succession we see it in its roots right here at the end of the first century beginning of the second century from the apostles I encourage all of you to go back and just read all of these letters by yourself don't take my word for it listen to what St Ignatius says his words are more powerful than mine certainly but let's see what he says here in his letter to the Ephesians he says but in as much as love suffers me not to be silent in regard to you I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that you would all run together in accordance with the will of God for even Jesus Christ Our Inseparable life is the manifested will will of the father as also Bishops settled everywhere to the utmost bounds of the Earth are so by the will of Jesus Christ let us be careful then not to set ourselves in opposition to the bishop in order that we may be subject to God so Ignatius says be obedient to your Bishop as you would be obedient to God in the earlier quote we looked at he says be obedient to your Bishop as Jesus is obedient to the father for Ignatius obedience to your Bishop is not a question what if the Bishop's a bad guy what if he's corrupt well obviously you have to be prudent and there's a lot of things to go into that but for ignatious of Antioch submission to the bishop is a necessary requirement for salvation it's just the way it is and he learned that from the apostles because Jesus says to the apostles and by extension to their successors he who receives you receives me Jesus said to the apostles and their successors he who hears you hears me if you reject the successors of the Apostles it's no different than if you reject the apostles themselves that's where we're at that's what St Ignatius of Antioch would say and we're seeing that very clearly in these letters and what does Ignatius of Antioch say about the papacy he says this Ignatius also called theophoric to the church that has found Mercy in the greatness of the most high father and in Jesus Christ his only son to the church beloved and enlightened after the love of Jesus Christ Our God by the will of him that has willed everything which is to the church which also holds the precedency in place of the country of the Romans worthy of God worthy of honor worthy of blessing worthy of praise worthy of success worthy of sanctification and because you hold the precedency of Love named after Christ and named after the Father Here therefore do I salute in the name of Jesus Christ the son of the father so St IGN says that the Roman Church holds the precedency of love and later on we're let's just take a look at this quote he also says this in his letter to the Romans he says you meaning the Roman Church have envied no one but others you have taught I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instruction May remain in force then he also says this not as Peter and Paul did do I command you they were Apostles I am a convict they were free and and I even to the present time am a slave so Ignatius of Antioch says that the Roman Church envies no one second to No One others you have taught right the Roman Church has the role of teacher to other churches this is what Ignatius of Antioch says this is what he was taught by the apostles and Peter and Paul he says used to go to the Roman Church and command the people there Peter and Paul if anyone says Peter and Paul didn't die in Rome or were never in Rome it's just historically silly uh could somebody please give me an account from the first Millennia I'll even take a thousand years from the first 1,000 years of Christianity until the year 1000 can anybody give me anyone who says that Peter did not go to Rome or that Peter did not die in Rome you can't do it it's just not there it's just not there Peter was in Rome Peter died in Rome it's the unanimous testimony of the historical evidence it's that simple that simple so those are a few of my favorite passages from St IGN of Antioch there are literally dozens more that we could go over and we could see how he's proving the Divinity of Christ how he's talking more about the Eucharist and the bishop rck we could go through all of that but I'd encourage you to go and actually read St ignatius' seven authentic letters that no one disputes anymore go read his seven authentic letters and decide for yourself was this man who was taught by John who was made a bishop by St Peter who frequently had conversations with the apostles who was approved by the apostles and made a bishop by the apostles is this man trustworthy is this man worth listening to is this man right about his interpretation of the Eucharist is he right in his interpretation of the Eucharist which he learned from St John the Apostle who's more credible this man who says submit to the bishop and everything that you should follow the bishop as Jesus follows the father this man or Martin Luther this man who ends up being martyred in Rome he ends up being fed to lions and dies for his faith in Jesus and for his love of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church this man or four years of Bible College what's it going to be this man who learned directly from the apostles or a pastor who who learned only from the Bible what's it going to be to me it's an obvious choice to me it could not be more obvious if I had to choose between trusting St Ignatius of Antioch his seven authentic letters which all the quotes we went through are from the ones that everyone agrees they are authentic letters him or the Protestants who say the Eucharist is a symbol I don't know choice is yours choice is yours but let me just say this if you are a Protestant and you're watching this and you're not sure about where to go with this information take it to prayer ask our Lord ask him did St Ignatius know what he was talking about did St Ignatius know the apostles did he communicate Apostolic teaching in his letters ask our Lord that pray pray for clarity and for light and our Lord will give it to you pray in the Holy Name of Jesus that the truth be revealed to you and it will I guarantee it I guarantee it and to anyone who's made it all the way way to the end thank you I just want to say that I am doing this YouTube apologetics Ministry full-time now and I am the only one working in my family we have uh two kids and my wife is a stay-at home which is Lovely St Joseph and God have just provided for us very very well very abundantly uh but that being said we are trying to stabilize our income a little bit uh I'm working my butt off if you've noticed I put out a video basically every day trying to spread the good news of the Catholic church and trying to help people to see the Beauty and the goodness in the Catholic faith so if you wouldn't mind I would really appreciate it if you would click on the link in the description go to buy meac coffee.com and consider becoming a monthly supporter that money is going to go directly to me and to our family for things like paying the mortgage uh buying groceries feeding my kids getting my kids diapers all of those things so if you would if you if you have the financial means and you you enjoy my channel you think I'm doing good work then I would really appreciate it if you would show your appreciation for this channel by clicking on the link to buy me a coffee and becoming either a supporter or a member God bless you