{"id": "card_n_ab3b366dd0be", "kind": "note", "title": "Ignatius to the Romans IV", "body": "I write to the churches, and impress on them all, that I shall willingly die for God, unless ye hinder me. I beseech of you not to show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have fallen asleep [in death], I may be no trouble to any one. Then shall I truly be a disciple of Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice [to God]. I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were apostles; I am but a condemned man: they were free, while I am, even until now, a servant. But when I suffer, I shall be the freed-man of Jesus, and shall rise again emancipated in Him. And now, being a prisoner, I learn not to desire anything worldly or vain.", "source": {"label": "Ignatius to the Romans (shorter recension; trans. Roberts-Donaldson, 1885)", "url": "/canon.html?ref=ignatius_romans_ch4", "ref": "Ignatius to the Romans IV", "authority_tier": "father"}, "shelf": "patristics", "box": "ignatius_romans", "bands": ["ignatius_romans", "apostolic_fathers", "authority_trust", "physical_substance", "metabolism"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_8dcfe3d99ed5", "relationship": "cites", "via_connection_card_id": "card_c_50815d2ed040"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_8dcfe3d99ed5", "relationship": "cites", "via_connection_card_id": "card_c_254df3ada3e5"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T12:41:21.310887+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.377232+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 8, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "84a427987ed976738e38ff06c2ba447b3aadeed272f1edb733720071c9aac8f4", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Middle Recension — Codex Mediceus Laurentianus 57.7 (10-11th cent)", "ref": "Mediceus"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers Part II (1885)", "url": "https://www.ccel.org/ccel/lightfoot/fathers/", "ref": "Lightfoot-Ignatius"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Roberts-Donaldson Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1", "url": "https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.html", "ref": "ANF-1-Ignatius"}, {"class": "citation_tradition", "label": "Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians — cites Ignatius's letters by name", "ref": "Polycarp-Phil"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "4 witnesses across 3 independence classes: ['citation_tradition', 'manuscript_tradition', 'translation']", "surface": "witness"}