Martyrdom of Polycarp 10.2

Summary: Polycarp was willing to explain himself to the governing authority, but not to the mob.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:326

ἔφη ὁ ἀνθύπατος· Πεῖσον τὸν δῆμον. ὁ δὲ Πολύκαρπος εἶπεν· Σὲ μὲν κἂν λόγου ἠξίωσα· δεδιδάγμεθα γὰρ ἀρχαῖς καὶ ἐξουσίαις ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τεταγμέναις τιμὴν κατὰ τὸ προσῆκον, τὴν μὴ βλάπτουσαν ἡμᾶς, ἀπονέμειν· ἐκείνους δὲ οὐχ ἡγοῦμαι ἀξίους τοῦ ἀπολογεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς.

English · Claude translation

The proconsul said, “Persuade the people.” Polycarp said, “You I would have thought worthy of an explanation, for we have been taught to render honor, as is fitting, to rulers and authorities appointed by God, so long as it does us no harm. But as for them, I do not consider them worthy that I should make a defense to them.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:326 · 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 5:1037a (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

Rom 13:1 · allusion, high confidence
1 Pet 2:13 · echo, medium confidence
Titus 3:1 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Persecution, Ethics

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 10.2 (PG 5:1037a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/10/2/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 10.2 (PG 5:1037a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/10/2/).

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:326

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage