Martyrdom of Polycarp 12.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:328

τούτου λεχθέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ κήρυκος, ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος ἐθνῶν τε καὶ Ἰουδαίων τῶν τὴν Σμύρναν κατοικούντων ἀκατασχέτῳ θυμῷ καὶ μεγάλῃ φωνῇ ἐπεβόα· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς Ἀσίας διδάσκαλος, ὁ πατὴρ τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὁ τῶν ἡμετέρων θεῶν καθαιρέτης, ὁ πολλοὺς διδάσκων μὴ θύειν μηδὲ προσκυνεῖν. ταῦτα λέγοντες ἐπεβόων καὶ ἠρώτων τὸν Ἀσιάρχην Φίλιππον, ἵνα ἐπαφῇ τῷ Πολυκάρπῳ λέοντα. ὁ δὲ ἔφη, μὴ εἶναι ἐξὸν αὐτῷ, ἐπειδὴ πεπληρώκει τὰ κυνηγέσια.

English · Claude translation

When this had been said by the herald, the whole multitude of Gentiles and Jews living in Smyrna cried out with uncontrollable rage and in a loud voice, “This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, who teaches many not to sacrifice or to worship.” Saying this, they shouted and asked the Asiarch Philip to let a lion loose on Polycarp. But he said that he was not permitted to do so, since he had closed the animal hunts.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:328 · 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 5:1037b–1037c (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.

Topics

Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

“Asiarch”: a leading official of the province of Asia connected with the imperial cult and the public games; in 21.1 Philip is called high priest.
The letter's repeated statements about the Jews of Smyrna (12.2; 13.1; 17.2; 18.1) reflect local conflict and are partly shaped by the Gospel Passion narratives; their historical accuracy is debated.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 12.2 (PG 5:1037b–1037c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/12/2/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 12.2 (PG 5:1037b–1037c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/12/2/).