“For by grace I believe that you are prepared to do the good deeds that are appropriate to God. Because I know the zeal you have for the truth. I have urged you just through these few words.”
Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, received the hospitality of Polycarp who was the young leader of the church in Smyrna and wrote him a letter prior to his martyrdom in Rome under Trajan (98-117). No doubt it inspired young Polycarp to live out this blessing, and follow Ignatius to his own martyrdom in 155. Cf. Eph. 2:10. This excerpt is from his letter To Polycarp, 7.3.4-7.