Ignatius of Antioch: Christophoros or Theophorus?
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Ignatius called himself Theophorus, that is, God-bearer. All seven of his letters begin this way:
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus... (Epistle to the Ephesians, cf. to Magnesians, to Trallians, etc.)
Some scholarly analysis of this title is available in Srawley's translation of the epistles, page 41.
But there's at least one sense in which Pagels is correct – Ignatius considers his audience (and presumably all Christians) to be "Christ-bearers," as he writes in Epistle to the Ephesians, IX:
Ye, therefore, as well as all your fellow-travellers, are God-bearers, temple-bearers, Christ-bearers, bearers of holiness, adorned in all respects with the commandments of Jesus Christ, in whom also I exult that I have been thought worthy, by means of this Epistle, to converse and rejoice with you, because with respect to your Christian life ye love nothing but God only.
The word here is χριστοφόροι (per the Greek text), which is transliterated christophoros.
So if this was indeed an oversight on Pagels's part, it so happens that she is still correct – he did (indirectly) call himself a Christ-bearer.
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Source: stackoverflow.com
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