pseudo-Ignatius

AMM said:

I've been reading through some of the Church Fathers in a collection I have on my kindle and just finished up the epistles of Saint Ignatius; the next thing are the "Spurious Epistles" of St Ignatius - anyone know anything about them? Are they worth reading? They seem to be pretty universally rejected as not being from the Saint.

• Epistle to the Tarsians;
• Epistle to the Antiochians;
• Epistle to Hero, a Deacon of Antioch;
• Epistle to the Philippians;
• The Epistle of Maria the Proselyte to Ignatius;
• Epistle to Mary at Neapolis, Zarbus;
• First Epistle to St. John;
• Second Epistle to St. John;
• The Epistle of Ignatius to the Virgin Mary. (and her reply)

Any thoughts? Am I better off just reading something that is from the hand of a saint?

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Personally I’d move onto readings from other saints. Have you read much of St Clement?

I have never read these. I would think as long as you realize that these must be inferior and as long as they do not confuse your faith then read them with caution. I presume you have read what are considered the genuine Ignatian Epistles.

I have read some of them. I would keep slugging on with the non-spurious writings at least for now.

Why would someone pretend to be St. I Ignatius?

David Neos said:

Why would someone pretend to be St. I Ignatius?

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I don't think they claim to be Ignatius, but at some point someone mistakenly attributed them to him

AMM said:

I have, but it's been a few years; I don't think I've read him since becoming Orthodox


yeah I have read the genuine epistles. They're pretty great - especially to see his ecclesiology being what the Orthodox practice even today. And I might keep these in mind to read at some point down the road but, per Fr Matt's advice, I'm probably just gonna move on to another church father for now

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FWIW, the Apostolic Constitutions was very interesting to me to see the ecclesiology and the liturgy at the time. It’s definitely worth a read.

AMM said:

I've read snippets when I was looking in to Orthodoxy and learning about historic fasting practices.

Who does the Orthodox Church teach is the author of the Apostolic Constitutions? I have heard that it's generally accepted to not be the Apostles themselves, even though it's attributed to them

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I definitely don’t think it is from the apostles themselves. Some say it is a compilation of works, and that the first 6 books were earlier than the 7th and 8th. Most of it was a fourth century Syrian text. That said, the liturgy of St James closely mirrors the liturgy in the Apostolic Constitutions, and many of the canons seem to be a compilation of canons from various sources. The liturgical rubric is one of the oldest full records of liturgy that we have today.

I don’t consider it to be from the apostles, but it is very helpful in seeing the history of the liturgical development of the Church and seeing the general atmosphere, culture and practices of the Church at that time.

Antiochene Rite - OrthodoxWiki

AMM said:

Am I better off just reading something that is from the hand of a saint?

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Yes. If these texts were of real value in Church, the Holy Spirit would promote them, especially the one to Virgin Mary.