Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Philadelphians 5.5
My brothers and sisters, I am utterly poured out in love for you, and with overflowing joy I am working to make you secure. Yet it is not I who do this, but Jesus Christ. Because I am still bound in him, I am all the more afraid, since I am still incomplete. But your prayer to God will complete me, so that I may attain the lot in which I was shown mercy. I have taken refuge in the gospel as in the flesh of Jesus, and in the apostles as in the council of elders of the church.
We also love the prophets, because they too announced the gospel beforehand, hoped in him, and waited for him. By believing in him they were saved, being in the unity of Jesus Christ. They are saints worthy of love and worthy of wonder, witnessed to by Jesus Christ and numbered together in the gospel of our common hope.
Greek
Ἀδελφοί μου, λίαν ἐκκέχυμαι ἀγαπῶν ὑμᾶς καὶ ὑπεραγαλλόμενος ἀσφαλίζομαι ὑμᾶς: οὐκ ἐγὼ δέ, ἀλλ’ Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ἐν ᾧ δεδεμένος φοβοῦμαι μᾶλλον, ὡς ἔτι ὢν ἀναπάρτιστος: ἀλλ’ ἡ προσευχὴ ὑμῶν εἰς θεόν με ἀπαρτίσει, ἵνα ἐν ᾧ κλήρῳ ἠλεήθην ἐπιτύχω, προσφυγὼν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὡς σαρκὶ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ὡς πρεσβυτερίῳ ἐκκλησίας.
καὶ τοὺς προφήτας δὲ ἀγαπῶμεν, διὰ τὸ καὶ αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κατηγγελκέναι καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπίζειν καὶ αὐτὸν ἀναμένειν, ἐν ᾦ καὶ πιστεύσαντες ἐσώθησαν, ἐν ἑνότητι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄντες, ἀξιαγαπητοι καὶ ἀξιοθαύμαστοι ἅγιοι, ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μεμαρτυρημένοι καὶ συνηριθμημένοι ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλπίδος.