Martyrdom of Polycarp 4.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:316–318

Εἷς δέ, ὀνόματι Κόϊντος, Φρύξ προσφάτως ἐληλυθὼς ἀπὸ τῆς Φρυγίας, ἰδὼν τὰ θηρία ἐδειλίασεν. οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ παραβιασάμενος ἑαυτόν τε καί τινας προσελθεῖν ἑκόντας. τοῦτον ὁ ἀνθύπατος πολλὰ ἐκλιπαρήσας ἔπεισεν ὀμόσαι καὶ ἐπιθῦσαι. διὰ τοῦτο οὖν, ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἐπαινοῦμεν τοὺς προδιδόντας ἑαυτούς, ἐπειδὴ οὐχ οὕτως διδάσκει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον.

English · Claude translation

But one man, named Quintus, a Phrygian who had recently come from Phrygia, turned coward when he saw the wild beasts. He was the one who had pushed himself and some others to come forward of their own accord. The proconsul, by much pleading, persuaded him to swear the oath and offer sacrifice. For this reason, therefore, brothers, we do not praise those who hand themselves over, since the gospel does not teach this.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:316–318 · 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 5:1032d (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 10:23 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

Phrygia was later the home of the Montanist movement, known for zeal for martyrdom; some see a warning against it here, but the link is uncertain.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 4.1 (PG 5:1032d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/4/1/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 4.1 (PG 5:1032d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/4/1/).