Letter 36: I know, dearest brothers, that you've already been urged by many of my letters to show every care to those who have...

I know, dearest brothers, that you've already been urged by many of my letters to show every care to those who have confessed the Lord with a courageous voice and are confined in prison. But I urge you again: let nothing be wanting to those whose glory lacks nothing. I wish my circumstances allowed me to be there with them in person — gladly and promptly would I carry out every duty of love toward our most courageous brothers. But I ask you: let your diligence stand in for mine. Do everything that the faith and virtue of these people require. Pay special attention to the bodies of all those who die in prison — even those who were not tortured but passed away there through the hardship of confinement. Their courage and honor are no less than that of the blessed martyrs. As far as it was in their power, they endured whatever they were prepared to endure. The person who offered himself to suffering and death under God's eye has suffered all that he was willing to suffer. It was the torturer who failed, not the Christian. Record the dates of their deaths carefully, so that we can celebrate their memory among the commemorations of the martyrs. Our brother Tertullus, ever faithful and devoted, attends to this as well, and he will report the dates to me — the days on which our blessed brothers in prison pass from this world to their glory. Offerings and sacrifices can then be made in their remembrance, as we shall soon celebrate with the Lord's protection. And do not forget the poor. To any who still stand firm in faith and fight alongside us without abandoning Christ's camp, give what help you can from the common fund. Otherwise the hardship that has not broken their faith may break them through sheer want.

Epistle 36