The New Gospel

These [martyrs, Eleazar, an old woman and her seven sons], then, who have been consecrated for the sake of God, are honored … by the fact that because of them our enemies did not rule over our nation, the tyrant [Antiochus IV] was punished, and the homeland purified — they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sin of our nation.  And through the blood of those devout ones and their death as an atoning sacrifice, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been mistreated.