“Now I begin to be a disciple.… Let fire and cross, flocks of beasts, broken bones, dismemberment … come upon me, so long as I attain to Jesus Christ.” Ignatius was going to die. He knew it. He wanted it. The only possible problem, as he saw it, was meddling Christians. “I fear your kindness, which may harm me,” he wrote to Roman Christians hoping to free him. “You may be able to achieve what you plan. But if you pay no heed to my request, it