By a draught of this kind he signifies suffering for the faith. And James indeed was to be perfected at the last by his witness (Acts 12:2), but his brother John was to pass over without such a death; although he too endured very many afflictions and exiles. Yet Christ counted him a witness, since his mind was prepared for it. For the Apostle Paul says: I face death daily (1 Cor. 15:31); whereas it is impossible for a man to face death daily in the way by which this life is once ended. But because he was continually ready for the faith of the Gospel, he declared that in that sense he faced death daily. It is read (in the accounts) that for the name of Christ the blessed John was also plunged into a vessel of boiling oil.