Martyrdom of Polycarp 14.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:330

Οἱ δὲ οὐ καθήλωσαν μέν, προσέδησαν δὲ αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω τὰς χεῖρας ποιήσας καὶ προσδεθείς, ὥσπερ κριὸς ἐπίσημος ἐκ μεγάλου ποιμνίου εἰς προσφοράν, ὁλοκαύτωμα δεκτὸν τῷ θεῷ ἡτοιμασμένον, ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἶπεν· Κύριε ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὁ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ εὐλογητοῦ παιδός σου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πατήρ, διʼ οὗ τὴν περὶ σοῦ ἐπίγνωσιν εἰλήφαμεν, ὁ θεὸς ἀγγέλων καὶ δυνάμεων καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως παντός τε τοῦ γένους τῶν δικαίων, οἳ ζῶσιν ἐνώπιόν σου·

English · Claude translation

So they did not nail him, but they tied him. And he, with his hands put behind him and bound, like a choice ram taken from a great flock for an offering, a whole burnt offering prepared and acceptable to God, looked up to heaven and said: “Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Servant Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the knowledge of you, the God of angels and powers and of all creation, and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your presence:

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–1040b (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

Gen 22:13 · echo, medium confidence
Rev 4:8 · echo, low confidence
Acts 4:27 · echo, low confidence
Matt 12:18 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Prayer, Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

“Servant” (παῖς) can also mean “Child.” It is an early title of Jesus in prayer (Acts 4:27, 30; Did. 9.2), recalling the Servant of Isa 42:1 (Matt 12:18).
“Choice” (ἐπίσημος): “marked out, notable.”

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 14.1 (PG 5:1040a–1040b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/14/1/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 14.1 (PG 5:1040a–1040b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/14/1/).