Martyrdom of Polycarp 13.3

Anonymous · Martyrdom of Polycarp · ca. 156–160 · Smyrna · Read in context

Summary: Polycarp asked not to be nailed, trusting God to keep him steady in the fire.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:330

εὐθέως οὖν αὐτῷ περιετίθετο τὰ πρὸς τὴν πυρὰν ἡρμοσμένα ὄργανα. μελλόντων δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ προσηλοῦν, εἶπεν· Ἄφετέ με οὕτως· ὁ γὰρ δοὺς ὑπομεῖναι τὸ πῦρ δώσει χωρὶς τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐκ τῶν ἥλων ἀσφαλείας ἄσκυλτον ἐπιμεῖναι τῇ πυρᾷ.

English · Claude translation

At once the fittings prepared for the pyre were placed around him. When they were about to nail him as well, he said, “Leave me as I am. For he who grants me to endure the fire will grant me to remain on the pyre without flinching, even without the security you seek from the nails.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:330 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 312–345 · 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 5:1040a (found by text match)
Text: As printed in Lake, LCL 25. 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 25, 1913); 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)
Topics: Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 13.3 (PG 5:1040a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/13/3/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 13.3 (PG 5:1040a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/13/3/).

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