# To the Philippians 5.2

- 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 24:288; 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)
- Also in: PG 5:1009b (found by text match)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/5/2/

Summary: Deacons must be blameless servants of God, following the Lord who became the servant of all and who promises that the faithful will reign with him.

## Greek text

ὁμοίως διάκονοι ἄμεμπτοι κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὡς θεοῦ καὶ Χριστοῦ διάκονοι καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώπων· μὴ διάβολοι, μὴ δίλογοι, ἀφιλάργυροι, ἐγκρατεῖς περὶ πάντα, εὔσπλαγχνοι, ἐπιμελεῖς, πορευόμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ κυρίου, ὃς ἐγένετο διάκονος πάντων· ᾧ ἐὰν εὐαρεστήσωμεν ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι, ἀποληψόμεθα καὶ τὸν μέλλοντα, καθὼς ὑπέσχετο ἡμῖν ἐγεῖραι ἡμᾶς ἐκ νεκρῶν, καὶ ὅτι ἐὰν πολιτευσώμεθα ἀξίως αὐτοῦ, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν αὐτῷ, εἴγε πιστεύομεν.

## English translation (Claude)

Likewise the deacons must be blameless before his righteousness, as deacons of God and Christ and not of men: not slanderers, not double-tongued, not lovers of money, self-controlled in all things, compassionate, diligent, walking according to the truth of the Lord, who became “servant of all.” If we please him in the present age, we will also receive the age to come, just as he promised to raise us from the dead and that, if we conduct ourselves worthily of him, “we will also reign with him,” if indeed we believe.

## Scripture references

- 1 Tim 3:8: allusion, high confidence
- Mark 9:35: allusion, medium confidence
- Phil 1:27: allusion, medium confidence
- 2 Tim 2:12: quotation, high confidence

## Translation notes

- “Slanderers” (διάβολοι): the same word as “devil,” used here as an adjective of people (see the glossary).
- “Servant of all” (διάκονος πάντων) plays on the word “deacon.”
- “Conduct ourselves” (πολιτευσώμεθα): literally “live as citizens.”

## Citation (SBL)

Pol. Phil. 5.2 (PG 5:1009b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/5/2/).