Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Ambrose

   Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Ambrose were some of teh early church fathers. First, I will be talking about Ignatius. Ignatius was converted to Christ when he was very young. Also, John the apostle was his teacher! Ignatius was a bishop in the church in Antioch. A bishop is someone who serves in a church and makes sure that the pastor, the elders, and the deacons are all doing their jobs correctly. Ignatius also helped in creating the church doctrine.

   Next is Irenaeus. Irenaeus was born in Smyrna. Smyrna is located in modern-day Turkey. Ancient Smyrna could be found north of Ephesus, on the Aegean Sea. He was the first early church father to be born into a Christian family. When he got older, he became a bishop and a pastor in Lyons. Irenaeus preached against two heresies. These heresies were Gnosticism and Montanism. Gnosticism taught that the world was made by an imperfect spirit. It even teaches that Jesus was fully man but not fully God and focused on getting lots of things. Montanism was created by Montanus, a priest. He prophesied contrary to the Bible, saying that the Holy Spirit controlled him.

   And last but not least, Ambrose. Ambrose was a faithful bishop in Milan for a long time. He assisted in creating the doctrine of the early church. He did this by his study and writing. When Ambrose was a child, bees swarmed around his head so later on, people used bees and honey symbolically to represent Ambrose. When he was older, he tried to avoid accepting being the new bishop of Milan. After he accepted being the new bishop, he gave up everything he had and started to study Scripture. I love the early church fathers. These three were my favorite, but Ambrose is my favorite out of all of them.