“Whoever, therefore, humbles himself like this child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:4). That child, whom the Lord took and placed among his disciples, was Ignatius. Later, Ignatius was a disciple of Saint John the Theologian, and then bishop of Antioch. He introduced the antiphonal method of singing in the church, as revealed to him by angels. When the Christ-hating emperor Trajan passed through Antioch, he heard about Ignatius, summoned him, and began to persuade him to offer sacrifices to idols, so that he would be given the title of senator. When he refused, they chained him and sent him to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts. In Rome he was thrown into the circus before lions, who tore him to pieces, leaving only a few larger bones and his heart. Saint Ignatius suffered in the year 106.

Saint John of Kronstadt. Saint Daniel the Second, Archbishop of Serbia. Christmas Fast.