Mikail Berg: In Pursuit of The Perfect Bishop: The Short Recension of Ignatius and Syrian Asceticism

Ignatius of Antioch championed the monarchical bishop in the early second century, yet early Christians who followed after him interpreted him and his theology differently; this paper seeks to explore how one community could have interpreted Ignatius’ ministerial theology differently. In this paper, I explore the short recension of Ignatius, which was written in Syriac, placing it in conversation with other texts of Syrian Asceticism. This paper will show that the redactor of Ignatius’ short recension placed great importance on ascetic values, specifically that of perfection. As I follow the scholarly consensus that the middle recension is the authentic Ignatian corpus, the short recension must be a translation. I argue that this translation was performed in a context that was familiar with the Syriac Book of Steps,as many of the unique cultural markers of the Book of Steps are included or avoided respectively in the redaction of Ignatius’ letters. With this comparison, the short recension’s theological understanding of authority is derived from perfection, and not the bishop, which is seen in the middle recension. If proven successful, this paper will explain the drastic incongruities between the short recension and the middle recension, as well as explore how a Syrian community read the theology of one of their beloved fathers.