St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of John and considered an Apostolic Father, before being thrown to the Lions in Rome by the emperor Trajan in the early 2nd century:
"You can do me no greater kindness than to suffer me to be sacrificed to God while the place of sacrifice is still prepared. Thus forming yourselves into a chorus of love, you may sing to the Father in Jesus Christ that God gave the bishop of Syria the grace of being transferred from the rising to the setting sun. It is good to set, leaving the world for God, and so to rise in Him...Beg only that I may have inward and outward strength, not only in mind but in will, that I may be a Christian not merely in name but in fact. For, if I am one in fact, then I may be called one and be faithful long after I have vanished from the world... Christianity is not the work of persuasion, but, whatever it is hated by the world, it is a work of power.
I am writing to all the Churches to tell them that I am, with all my heart, to die for God...Let me be thrown to the wild beasts; through them I can reach God. I am God's wheat; I am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may end as the pure bread of Christ...Fire and cross and battling with wild beasts, the breaking of bones and mangling of members, the grinding of my whole body, the wicked torments of the devil -- let them all assail me, so long as I get to Jesus Christ.
Neither the kingdoms of this world, nor the bounds of the universe can have any use for me. I would rather die for Jesus Christ than rule the last reaches of the earth. My search is for Him who died for us, my love is for Him who rose for our salvation."
"You can do me no greater kindness than to suffer me to be sacrificed to God while the place of sacrifice is still prepared. Thus forming yourselves into a chorus of love, you may sing to the Father in Jesus Christ that God gave the bishop of Syria the grace of being transferred from the rising to the setting sun. It is good to set, leaving the world for God, and so to rise in Him...Beg only that I may have inward and outward strength, not only in mind but in will, that I may be a Christian not merely in name but in fact. For, if I am one in fact, then I may be called one and be faithful long after I have vanished from the world... Christianity is not the work of persuasion, but, whatever it is hated by the world, it is a work of power.
I am writing to all the Churches to tell them that I am, with all my heart, to die for God...Let me be thrown to the wild beasts; through them I can reach God. I am God's wheat; I am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may end as the pure bread of Christ...Fire and cross and battling with wild beasts, the breaking of bones and mangling of members, the grinding of my whole body, the wicked torments of the devil -- let them all assail me, so long as I get to Jesus Christ.
Neither the kingdoms of this world, nor the bounds of the universe can have any use for me. I would rather die for Jesus Christ than rule the last reaches of the earth. My search is for Him who died for us, my love is for Him who rose for our salvation."