# To the Philippians 11.3

- Author: [Polycarp of Smyrna](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/polycarp-of-smyrna/)
- Work: [To the Philippians](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/) (*Epistula ad Philippenses*)
- Date: ca. 110–135 (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:296; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 282–301 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/11/3/

Summary: Polycarp has heard nothing of such faults among the Philippians, whom Paul praised and boasted about when few churches yet existed.

## Latin text

Ego autem nihil tale sensi in vobis vel audivi, in quibus laboravit beatus Paulus, qui estis in principio epistulae eius. De vobis etenim gloriatur in omnibus ecclesiis, quae dominum solae tunc cognoverant; nos autem nondum cognoveramus.

## English translation (Claude)

But I have not observed or heard of anything of the kind among you, among whom the blessed Paul labored, and who are [praised] at the beginning of his letter. For he boasts about you in all the churches, which alone knew the Lord at that time; we did not yet know him.

## Scripture references

- Phil 1:3–5: allusion, low confidence
- 2 Thess 1:4: allusion, medium confidence

## Translation notes

- “Who are [praised] at the beginning of his letter” (qui estis in principio epistulae eius): the Latin is obscure. It may refer to Paul's thanksgiving for the Philippians (Phil 1:3–5), or mean “who were [his letters] from the beginning” (compare 2 Cor 3:2).
- “We did not yet know him”: the church at Smyrna did not yet exist when Paul wrote.

## Citation (SBL)

Pol. Phil. 11.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/11/3/).