Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus

When the Greeks arrested the slaves of Christian catechumens and used force to learn some secret practiced among Christians, these slaves could only tell their tormentors that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the body and blood of Christ. They imagined it was literally flesh and blood and told their inquisitors this. The inquisitors, assuming this was true of Christian practices, informed other Greeks and tried to force the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina to confess under torture. Blandina replied admirably, saying, "How could those who did not eat even the flesh they were allowed endure such accusations?"