To Polycarp 3.1

Ignatius of Antioch · To Polycarp · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Troas · Read in context

Summary: Polycarp must stand firm against false teachers, like an anvil under the hammer.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:270

Οἱ δοκοῦντες ἀξιόπιστοι εἶναι καὶ ἑτεροδιδασκαλοῦντες μή σε καταπλησσέτωσαν. στῆθι ἑδραῖος ὡς ἄκμων τυπτόμενος. μεγάλου ἐστιν ἀθλητοῦ τὸ δέρεσθαι καὶ νικᾶν. μάλιστα δὲ ἕνεκεν θεοῦ πάντα ὑπομένειν ἡμᾶς δεῖ, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ὑπομείνῃ.

English · Claude translation

Do not let those who seem trustworthy but teach otherwise overwhelm you. Stand firm, like an anvil being struck. It is the mark of a great athlete to be beaten and yet to win. Above all, for God's sake we must endure all things, so that he may also endure us.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 24:270 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 172–277 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Also in

PG 5:721a–721b (found by text match)

Text

As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

1 Tim 1:3 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

“Teach otherwise” (ἑτεροδιδασκαλοῦντες): teach a different doctrine (compare 1 Tim 1:3; 6:3).

Cite this passage

Ign. Pol. 3.1 (PG 5:721a–721b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/3/1/).

Plain text

Ign. Pol. 3.1 (PG 5:721a–721b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/3/1/).

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