We have written to you, brothers, about those who suffered martyrdom and about blessed Polycarp, who brought the persecution to an end through his martyrdom, as though setting a seal upon it. For nearly all the events that led up to it happened so that the Lord might show us from above a martyrdom in accordance with the gospel.
For he waited to be handed over, as the Lord also did, so that we too might become his imitators, looking not only to our own concerns but also to those of our neighbors. For true and steadfast love means desiring not only one’s own salvation, but the salvation of all the brothers as well.