Martyrdom of Polycarp 15.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:332

τὸ γὰρ πῦρ καμάρας εἶδος ποιῆσαν, ὥσπερ ὀθόνη πλοίου ὑπὸ πνεύματος πληρουμένη, κύκλῳ περιετείχισεν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ μάρτυρος· καὶ ἦν μέσον οὐχ ὡς σὰρξ καιομένη, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἄρτος ὀπτώμενος ἢ ὡς χρυσὸς καὶ ἄργυρος ἐν καμίνῳ πυρούμενος. καὶ γὰρ εὐωδίας τοσαύτης ἀντελαβόμεθα, ὡς λιβανωτοῦ πνέοντος ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν τιμίων ἀρωμάτων.

English · Claude translation

For the fire, taking the shape of a vaulted room, like a ship's sail filled by the wind, made a wall around the body of the martyr; and he was in the middle, not like flesh burning, but like bread baking, or like gold and silver being refined in a furnace. And we caught such a fragrance as of incense rising, or some other precious spice.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:332 · 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 5:1040c–1041a (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

1 Pet 1:7 · echo, low confidence
2 Cor 2:15 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

“Like bread baking”: some readers see a Eucharistic image; the comparison with refined gold and silver recalls the testing of faith by fire.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 15.2 (PG 5:1040c–1041a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/15/2/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 15.2 (PG 5:1040c–1041a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/15/2/).