everything you do may be secure and valid” (Ignatius to the Smyrneans, 8).6 For Ignatius, the bishop’s office is the will of God. “For Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the expressed purpose of the Father, just as the bishops who have been appointed throughout the world exist by the purpose of Jesus Christ” (Ignatius to the Ephesians, 3:2).7 Anyone who acts independently from the bishop with regard to the life of the Church is acting improperly. And those who separate themselves from the assembly