Martyrdom of Polycarp 11.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Threatened with fire, Polycarp contrasted it with the eternal fire of the coming judgment.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:326

ὁ δὲ πάλιν πρὸς αὐτόν· Πυρί σε ποιήσω δαπανηθῆναι, εἰ τῶν θηρίων καταφρονεῖς, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσῃς. ὁ δὲ Πολύκαρπος εἶπεν· Πῦρ ἀπειλεῖς τὸ πρὸς ὥραν καιόμενον καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον σβεννύμενον· ἀγνοεῖς γὰρ τὸ τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως καὶ αἰωνίου κολάσεως τοῖς ἀσεβέσι τηρούμενον πῦρ. ἀλλὰ τί βραδύνεις; φέρε, ὃ βούλει.

English · Claude translation

He said to him again, “I will have you consumed by fire, since you despise the wild beasts, unless you change your mind.” But Polycarp said, “You threaten a fire that burns for an hour and after a little while is put out; for you do not know the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment that is reserved for the ungodly. But why do you delay? Bring what you wish.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:326 · 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 5:1037a–1037b (found by text match)

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.

Scripture

Matt 25:41 · echo, medium confidence
Matt 25:46 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Eschatology, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 11.2 (PG 5:1037a–1037b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/11/2/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 11.2 (PG 5:1037a–1037b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/11/2/).