Ignatius, bishop of Antioch in Syria, penned seven letters while being escorted under guard to Rome for execution during the reign of Trajan (98–117 CE). No explicit evidence confirms that he reached the imperial capital, but there is no reason to doubt the tradition that he was martyred there. These letters illuminate numerous aspects of early Christian life and thought, providing as well insight into their author’s concerns. Since the seventeenth century these letters have been included in the collection of early Christian writings known as the Apostolic Fathers. Three matters above all repeatedly surface in these letters: (1) Ignatius’s struggle against those whose teaching differed from his own; (2) his pleas for the unity of the church by communion with and obedience to the bishop; and (3) his own suffering and impending death and their meaning, which he interprets in Christological categories.