During the persecution of the Christians under Emperor Maximinus Thrax in 235, Origen directed an urgent call to his friends Ambrosius and Protoctetus to hold fast to the Christian faith.

The work provides an example of the literary genre of appeals directed to a wider audience beyond the direct addressees; in the text, Origen takes statements from the Old and New Testaments relating to martyrdom as authorities for his call to remain true to the Christian faith and beware of relapsing into heathenism.