Sophia Scriptura

To Polycarp 1.3

Ignatius of Antioch · To Polycarp · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Troas · Read in context

Summary: Polycarp should pray constantly, watch, speak to each person, and bear others' weaknesses.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:268

προσευχαῖς σχόλαζε ἀδιαλείπτοις· αἰτοῦ σύνεσιν πλείονα ἧς ἔχεις· γρηγόρει ἀκοίμητον πνεῦμα κεκτημένος. τοῖς κατʼ ἄνδρα κατὰ ὁμοήθειαν θεοῦ λάλει· πάντων τὰς νόσους βάσταζε ὡς τέλειος ἀθλητής. ὅπου πλείων κόπος, πολὺ κέρδος.

English · Claude translation

Give yourself to unceasing prayers; ask for more understanding than you have; keep watch, with a spirit that does not sleep. Speak to each person individually, in the manner of God; bear the diseases of all, as a perfect athlete. Where there is more toil, there is much gain.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:268 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 172–277 · 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 5:720b (found by text match)
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Prayer, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • “In the manner of God” (κατὰ ὁμοήθειαν θεοῦ): literally “according to likeness of character with God”; possibly “in godly concord.”
  • “Bear the diseases of all” recalls Isa 53:4 as quoted in Matt 8:17.

Cite this passage

Ign. Pol. 1.3 (PG 5:720b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/1/3/).

Plain text
Ign. Pol. 1.3 (PG 5:720b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-polycarp/1/3/).

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