Modifications

Nowadays only shorter variants of those seven letters are thought to be authentic writings of Ignatius. Their longer variants are thought to be emendations from the fifth century, created to postumously enlist Ignatius as an unwitting witness into certain theological fights of that age, while the other letters bearing his name and the purported eye-witness account of his martyrdom, are thought to be pure forgeries from around the same time.

"As a pilot calls on winds and a storm-tossed mariner looks homeward, so the times call on you to win your way to God. As God's athlete, be sober; the stake is immortality and eternal life."