Chapter 7 Time and Timelessness in Ignatiusâ Letters
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This contribution is a response to Judith Lieuâs chapter âRewriting time and space: absence and presenceâ in the current volume. It focuses on the topic of time in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch by analysing the implied pre- and post-history of Ignatiusâ letters, the awareness of time reflected in them, the vocabulary referring to time as well as the time perspectives connected with Ignatiusâ journey and his anticipated fate in Rome. I will argue that the letters reflect a coherent perception of time. Ignatius presupposes one aeon, one world-age with time, and beside that a state of timelessness that exists before and beyond the aeon. Ignatius anticipates his death as a means of transfer from the aeon to the state of timelessness, which enables him to be with God and Jesus Christ. He does not differentiate between several periods within the aeon and focuses on the here and now and not on the end of time. That the aeon forms an entirety, i.e., encompasses the whole world and all of time, may explain the fact that many passages in his letters reflect a multiplicity of time perspectives next to personal perspectives. In relatively short passages Ignatius often switches between past, present and future and sometimes even combines these time perspectives.