The Epistle of Polycarp to the Smyrnaeans

7/31/2019 The Epistle of Polycarp to the Smyrnaeans

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T H E E P I S T L E O F P O L YC A R P T O T H E

S M Y R N A E A N S

PROLOGUE

he church of God which so- journeth at Smy rna to theChurch of God which so-

journeth in Philome lium and to a llthe brotherhoods of the holy anduniversal Church sojourning inevery place; mercy and peace andlove from God the Father and ourLord Jesus Chr ist be multiplied.

CHAPTER 1

1 We write unto you, brethren, anaccount of what befell those thatsuffered martyrdom and especiallythe blessed Polycarp, who stayedthe persecution, having as i t wereset his seal upon it by his martyr-dom. For nearly all the foregoingevents came to pass that the Lordmight show us once more an exam-ple of martyrdom which is conform-able to the Gospel

2 For he lingered that he might bedelivered up, even as the Lord did,to the end that we too might be im-itators of him, not lookingonly tothat which concerneth ourselves, butalso to that which concerneth ourneighbors. For it is the office of true and steadfast love, not only todesire that oneself be saved, but allthe brethren also.

CHAPTER 21 Blessed therefore and noble areall the martyrdoms which have tak-en place according to the will of God (for i t behoveth us to be veryscrupulous and to assign to God thepower over all things).2 For who could fail to a dmire their

nobleness and patient endurance and

loyalty to the Master? seeing thatwhen they were so torn by lashesthat the mechanism of their fleshwas visible even as far as the in-ward veins and arteries, they en-dured patiently, so that the verybystanders had pity and wept; whilethey themselves reached such apitch of bravery that none of themuttered a cry or a groan, thus show-ing to us all that at that hour the

martyrs of Christ being torturedwere absent from the flesh, or ratherthat the Lord was standing by andconversing with them.3 And giving heed unto the grace of

Christ they despised the tortures of this world, purchasing at the cost of one hour a release from eternal pu-nishment. And they found the fire of their inhuman torturers cold: forthey set before their eyes the escape

from the eternal fire which is neverquenched; while with the eyes of their heart they gazed upon the goodthings which are reserved for thosethat endure patiently, things whichneither ear hath heard nor eye hathseen, neither have they entered intothe heart of man, but were shown bythe Lord to them, for they were nolonger men but a ngels already.4 And in like manner also those

that were condemned to the wildbeasts endured fearful punishments,being made to l ie on sharp shellsand buffeted with other forms of manifold tortures, that the devilmight, if possible, by the persis-tence of the punishment bring themto a denial; for he tried many wiles

T


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against them.

CHAPTER 3 1 But thanks be to God; for He ve-

rily prevailed against all . For the

right noble Germanicus encouragedtheir t imorousness through the con-stancy which was in him; and hefought with the wild beasts in a sig-nal way. For when the proconsulwished to prevail u pon him and badehim have pity on his youth, he usedviolence and dragged the wild beasttowards him, desiring the morespeedily to obtain a release fromtheir unrighteous and lawless l ife.

2 So after this all the multitude,marvelling at the bravery of theGod-beloved and God-fearingpeople of the Christians, raised acry, 'Away with the atheists; letsearch be made for Polycarp. '

CHAPTER 4 1 But one man, Quintus by name, a

Phrygian newly arrived from Phry-gia, when he saw the wild beasts,turned coward. He it was who hadforced himself and some others tocome forward of their own free will.This man the proconsul by much en-treaty persuaded to swear the oathand to offer incense. For this causetherefore, brethren, we praise notthose who deliver themselves up,since the Gospel doth not so teachus.

CHAPTER 5 1 Now the glorious Polycarp at the

first , when he heard it , so far frombeing dismayed, was desirous of remaining in town; but the greaterpart persuaded him to withdraw. Sohe withdrew to a farm not far dis-tant from the city; and there he

stayed with a few companions,doing nothing else night and day butpraying for all men and for thechurches throughout the world; forthis was his constant habit .

2 And while praying he falleth intoa trance three days before his ap-prehension; and he saw his pillowburning with fire. And he turned andsaid unto those that were with him:'It must needs be that I shall beburned alive. '

CHAPTER 6 1 And as those that were in search

of him persisted, he departed to

another farm; and forthwith theythat were in search of him came up;and not finding him, they seized t woslave lads, one of whom confessedunder torture;2 for i t was impossible for him to

lie concealed, seeing that the verypersons who betrayed him werepeople of his own household. Andthe captain of the police, whochanced to have the very name, be-ing called Herod, was eager to bringhim into the stadium, that he him-self might fulfil l his appointed lot,being made a partaker with Christ ,while they his betrayers underwent the punishment of Judashimself.

CHAPTER 7 1 So taking the lad with them, on

the Friday about the supper hour,the gendarmes and horsemen wentforth with their accustomed arms,hastening as against a robber. Andcoming up in a body late in theevening, they found the man himself in bed in an upper chamber in a cer-tain cottage; and though he mighthave departed thence to another


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place, he would not, saying, Thewill of God be done.2 So when he heard that they were

come, he went down and conversedwith them, the bystanders marvel-

ling at his age and his constancy,and wondering how there should beso much eagerness for the apprehen-sion of an old man like him. The-reupon forthwith he gave orders thata table should be spread for them toeat and drink at that hour, as muchas they desired. And he persuadedthem to grant him an hour that hemight pray unmolested;3 and on their consenting, he stood

up and prayed, being so full of thegrace of God, that for two hours hecould not hold his peace, and thosethat heard were amazed, and manyrepented that they had come againstsuch a venerable old man.

CHAPTER 8 1 But when at length he brought his

prayer to an end, after rememberingall who at any time had come in hisway, small and great, high and low,and all the universal Churchthroughout the world, the hour of departure being come, they seatedhim on an ass and brought him intothe city, it being a high Sabbath.2 And he was met by Herod the

captain of police and his father Ni-cetes, who also removed him totheir carriage and tried to prevailupon him, seating themselves by hisside and saying, 'Why what harm isthere in saying, Caesar is Lord, andoffering incense' , with more to thiseffect, 'and saving thyself? ' But heat first gave them no answer. Whenhowever they persisted, he said, ' Iam not going to do what ye counselme.'

3 Then they, fail ing to persuadehim, uttered threatening words andmade him dismount with speed, sothat he bruised his shin, as he gotdown from the carriage. And with-

out even turning round, he went onhis way promptly and with speed, asif nothing had happened to him, be-ing taken to the stadium; there beingsuch a tumult in the stadium that noman's voice could be so much asheard.

CHAPTER 9 1 But as Polycarp entered into the

stadium, a voice came to him from

heaven; 'Be strong, Polycarp, andplay the man.' And no one saw thespeaker, but those of our peoplewho were present heard the voice.And at length, when he was broughtup, there was a great tumult, forthey heard that Polycarp had beenapprehended.2 When then he was brought before

him, the proconsul enquired whetherhe were the man. And on his con-fessing that he was, he tried to per-suade him to a denial saying, 'Haverespect to thine age, ' and otherthings in a ccordance therewith, as i tis their wont to say; 'Swear by thegenius of Caesar; repent and say,Away with the atheists. ' Then Poly-carp with solemn countenancelooked upon the whole multitude of lawless heathen that were in the sta-dium, and waved his hand to them;and groaning and looking up to hea-ven he said, 'Away with the athe-ists. '3 But when the magistrate pressed

him hard and said, 'Swear the oath,and I will release thee; revile theChrist , ' Polycarp said, 'Fourscoreand six years have I been His ser-


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vant, and He hath done me nowrong. How then can I blasphememy King who saved me?'

CHAPTER 10

1 But on his persisting again andsaying, 'Swear by the genius of Cae-sar, ' he answered, ' If thou supposestvainly that I will swear by the ge-nius of Caesar, as thou sayest, andfeignest that thou art ignorant who Iam, hear thou plainly, I am a Chris-tian. But if thou wouldest learn thedoctrine of Christianity, assign aday and give me a hearing. '2 The proconsul said; 'Prevail upon

the people.' But Polycarp said; 'Asfor thyself, I should have held theeworthy of discourse; for we havebeen taught to render, as is meet, toprinces and authorities appointed byGod such honor as does us no harm;but as for these, I do not hold themworthy, that I should defend myself before them.'

CHAPTER 11 1 Whereupon the proconsul said; ' I

have wild beasts here and I willthrow thee to them, except thou re-pent' But he said, 'Call for them: forthe repentance from better to worseis a change not permitted to us; butit is a noble thing to change fromuntowardness to righteousness'2 Then he said to him again, 'I will

cause thee to be consumed by fire,if thou despisest the wild beasts, un-less thou repent. ' But Polycarp said;'Thou threatenest that fire whichburneth for a season and after a l i t-t le while is quenched: for thou artignorant of the fire of the future

judgment and eterna l punishment,which is reserved for the ungodly.But why delayest thou? Come, do

what thou wilt. '

CHAPTER 12 1 Saying these things and more be-

sides, he was inspired with courage

and joy, and his countenance wasfil led with grace, so that not onlydid it not drop in dismay at thethings which were said to him, buton the contrary the proconsul wasastounded and sent his own heraldto proclaim three times in the midstof the stadium, 'Polycarp hath con-fessed himself to be a C hristian. '2 When this was proclaimed by the

herald, the whole multitude both of

Gentiles and of Jews who dwelt inSmyrna cried out with ungovernablewrath and with a loud shout, 'This isthe teacher of Asia, the father of theChristians, the puller down of ourgods, who teacheth numbers not tosacrifice nor worship. ' Saying thesethings, they shouted aloud andasked the Asiarch Philip to let a l ionloose upon Polycarp. But he saidthat i t was not lawful for him, sincehe had brou ght the sports to a close.3 Then they thought fit to shout out

with one accord that Polycarpshould be burned alive. For i t mustneeds be that the matter of the vi-sion should be fulfil led, which wasshown him concerning his pillow,when he saw it on fire while pray-ing, and turning round he said pro-phetically to the faithful who werewith him, 'I must needs be burnedalive. '

CHAPTER 13 1 These things then happened with

so great speed, quicker than wordscould tell , the crowds forthwith col-lecting from the workshops andbaths t imber and faggots, and the


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Jews more especially assisting inthis with zeal, as is their wont.2 But when the pile was made

ready, divesting himself of all hisupper garments and loosing his gir-

dle, he endeavored also to take off his shoes, though not in the habit of doing this before, because all thefaithful at all t imes vied eagerlywho should soonest touch his flesh.For he had been treated with allhonor for his holy life even beforehis gray hairs came.3 Forthwith then the instruments

that were prepared for the pile wereplaced about him; and as they were

going likewise to nail him to thestake, he said; 'Leave me as I am;for He that hath granted me to en-dure the fire will grant me also toremain at the pile unmoved, evenwithout the security which ye seek from the nails. '

CHAPTER 14 1 So they did not nail him, but tied

him. Then he, placing his hands be-hind him and being bound to thestake, like a noble ram out of agreat flock for an offering, a burntsacrifice made ready and acceptableto God, looking up to heaven said;'O Lord God Almighty, the Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son JesusChrist , through whom we have re-ceived the knowledge of Thee, theGod of angels and powers and of allcreation and of the whole race of the righteous, who live in Thy pres-ence;2 I bless Thee for that Thou hast

granted me this day and hour, that Imight receive a portion amongst thenumber of martyrs in the cup of Thy Christ unto resurrection of eternallife, both of soul and of body, in the

incorruptibili ty of the Holy Spirit .May I be received among these inThy presence this day, as a rich andacceptable sacrifice, as Thou didstprepare and reveal i t beforehand,

and hast accomplished it , Thou thatart the faithful and true God.3 For this cause, yea and for all

things, I praise Thee, I bless Thee, Iglorify Thee, through the eternaland heavenly High-priest, JesusChrist , Thy beloved Son, throughwhom with Him and the Holy Spiritbe glory both now and ever and forthe ages to come. Amen. '

CHAPTER 15 1 When he had offered up the Amenand finished his prayer, the firemenlighted the fire. And, a mighty flameflashing forth, we to whom it wasgiven to see, saw a marvel, yea andwe were preserved that we might re-late to the rest what ha ppened.2 The fire, making the appearance

of a vault , l ike the sail of a vesselfil led by the wind, made a wallround about the body of the martyr;and it was there in the midst, notlike flesh burning, but l ike a loaf inthe oven or l ike gold and silver re-fined in a furna ce. For we perceivedsuch a fragrant smell, as if i t werethe wafted odor of frankincense orsome other precious spice.

CHAPTER 16 1 So at length the lawless men, see-

ing that his body could not be con-sumed by the fire, ordered an execu -tioner to go up to him and stab himwith a dagger. And when he haddone this, there came forth a doveand a quantity of blood, so that i textinguished the fire; and all themultitude marvelled that there


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should be so great a difference be-tween the unbelievers and the elect.2 In the number of these was this

man, the glorious martyr Polycarp,who was found an apostolic and

prophetic teacher in our own time, abishop of the holy Church which isin Smyrna. For every word which heuttered from his mouth was accom-plished and will be accomplished.

CHAPTER 17 1 But the jealous and envious Evil

One, the adversary of the family of the righteous, having seen thegreatness of his martyrdom and his

blameless life from the beginning,and how he was crowned with thecrown of immortality and had won areward which none could gainsay,managed that not even his poor bodyshould be taken away by us, al-though many desired to do this andto touch his holy flesh.2 So he put forward Nicetes, the fa-

ther of Herod and brother of Alce,to plead with the magistrate not togive up his body, 'lest, ' so it wassaid, ' they should abandon the cruci-fied one and begin to worship thisman' this being done at the insti-gation and urgent entreaty of theJews, who also watched when wewere about to take it from the fire,not knowing that i t will be impossi-ble for us either to forsake at anytime the Christ who suffered for thesalvation of the whole world of those that are saved sufferedthough faultless for sinners nor toworship any other.3 For Him, being the Son of God,

we adore, but the martyrs as dis-ciples and imitators of the Lord wecherish as they deserve for theirmatchless affection towards their

own King and Teacher. May it beour lot also to be found partakersand fellow-disciples with them.

CHAPTER 18

1 The centurion therefore, seeingthe opposition raised on the part of the Jews, set him in the midst andburnt him after their custom.2 And so we afterwards took up his

bones which are more valuable thanprecious stones and finer than re-fined gold, and laid them in a suita-ble place;3 where the Lord will permit us to

gather ourselves together, as we are

able, in gladness and joy, and tocelebrate the birth-day of his mar-tyrdom for the commemoration of those that have already fought in thecontest, and for the training andpreparation of those that shall do sohereafter.

CHAPTER 19 1 So it befell the blessed Polycarp,

who having with those from Phila-delphia suffered martyrdom inSmyrna twelve in all is especial-ly remembered more than the othersby all men, so that he is talked of even by the heathen in every place:for he showed himself not only anotable teacher, but also a distin-guished martyr, whose martyrdomall desire to imitate, seeing that i twas after the pattern of the Gospelof Christ .2 Having by his endurance over-

come the unrighteous ruler in theconflict and so received the crownof immortality, he rejoiceth in com-pany with the Apostles and all righ-teous men, and glorifieth the Al-mighty God and Father, and blessethour Lord Jesus Christ , the savior of


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our souls and helmsman of our bo-dies and shepherd of the universalChurch which is throughout theworld.

CHAPTER 20 1 Ye indeed required that the thingswhich happened should be shownunto you at greater length: but wefor the present have certified you asit were in a summary through ourbrother Marcianus. When then yehave informed yourselves of thesethings, send the letter about l ike-wise to the brethren which arefarther off, that they also may glori-

fy the Lord, who maketh electionfrom His own servants.2 Now unto Him that is able to

bring us all by His grace and bountyunto His eternal kingdom, throughHis only-begotten Son Jesus Christ ,be glory, honor, power, and great-ness for ever. Salute all the saints.They that are with us salute you,and Euarestus, who wrote the letter,with his whole house.

CHAPTER 21 1 Now the blessed Polycarp was

martyred on the second day of thefirst part of the month Xanthicus, onthe seventh before the calends of March, on a great Sabbath, at theeighth hour. He was apprehended byHerodes, when Philip of Tralles washigh priest , in the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus, but in the reignof the Eternal King Jesus Christ . Towhom be the glory, honor, great-ness, and eternal throne, from gen-eration to generation. Amen.

CHAPTER 22 1 We bid you God speed, brethren,

while ye walk by the word of Jesus

Christ which is according to theGospel; with whom be glory to Godfor the salvation of His holy elect;even as the blessed Polycarp suf-fered martyrdom, in whose footsteps

may it be our lot to be found in thekingdom of Jesus Christ .2 This account Gaius copied from

the papers of Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp. The same also lived withIrenaeus.3 And I Socrates wrote i t down in

Corinth from the copy of Gaius.Grace be with all men.4 And I Pionius again wrote i t

down from the aforementioned copy,

having searched it out (for theblessed Polycarp showed me in a re-velation, as I will declare in the se-quel), gathering it together when itwas now well nigh worn out by age,that the Lord Jesus Christ may gath-er me also with His elect into Hisheavenly kingdom; to whom be theglory with the Father and the HolySpirit for ever and ever. Amen.

The Three Proceeding Par agraphsAs Read In The Moscow Ms.

CHAPTER 22 2 This account Gaius copied from

the papers of Irenaeus. The samelived with Irenaeus who had been adisciple of the holy Polycarp. Forthis Irenaeus, being in Rome at thetime of the martyrdom of the bishopPolycarp, instructed many; andmany most excellent and orthodoxtreatises by him are in circulation.In these he makes mention of Poly-carp, saying that he was taught byhim. And he ably refuted every he-resy, and handed down the catholicrule of the Church just as he had re-ceived it from the saint. He men-


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t ions this fact also, that when Mar-cion, after whom the Marcionitesare called, met the holy Polycarp onone occasion, and said 'Recognizeus, Polycarp, ' he said in reply to

Marcion, 'Yes indeed, I recognizethe firstborn of Satan. ' The follow-ing statement also is made in thewritings of Irenaeus, that on thevery day and hour when Polycarpwas martyred in Smyrna Irenaeusbeing in the city of the Romansheard a voice as of a trumpet say-ing, ' Polycarp is martyred. '3 From these papers of Irenaeus

then, as has been stated already,

Gaius made a copy, and from thecopy of Gaius Isocrates made anoth-er in Corinth.4 And I Pionius again wrote i t

down from the copy of Isocrates,having searched for i t in obedienceto a revelation of the holy Polycarp,gathering it together, when it waswell nigh worn out by age, that theLord Jesus Christ may gather me al-so with His elect into His heavenlykingdom; to whom be the glory withthe Father and the Son and the HolySpirit for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle of Polycarp to the Smyrnaeans

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