Martyrdom of Polycarp 16.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:332–334

Πέρας γοῦν ἰδόντες οἱ ἄνομοι μὴ δυνάμενον αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς δαπανηθῆναι, ἐκέλευσαν προσελθόντα αὐτῷ κομφέκτορα παραβῦσαι ξιφίδιον. καὶ τοῦτο ποιήσαντος, ἐξῆλθεν περιστερὰ καὶ πλῆθος αἵματος, ὥστε κατασβέσαι τὸ πῦρ καὶ θαυμάσαι πάντα τὸν ὄχλον, εἰ τοσαύτη τις διαφορὰ μεταξὺ τῶν τε ἀπίστων καὶ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν·

English · Claude translation

At length, when the lawless saw that his body could not be consumed by the fire, they ordered an executioner to go up to him and plunge a dagger into him. When he had done this, there came out a dove and a great quantity of blood, so that it put out the fire, and the whole crowd marveled that there should be so great a difference between the unbelievers and the elect.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:332–334 · 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 5:1041a (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

John 19:34 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

“A dove” (περιστερά) stands in the Greek manuscripts, but Eusebius's quotation (Hist. eccl. 4.15.39) lacks it, and many editors think it a later addition or a corruption of another word.
“Executioner” (κομφέκτορα, Latin confector): the official who finished off wounded beasts or condemned people in the arena.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 16.1 (PG 5:1041a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/16/1/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 16.1 (PG 5:1041a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/16/1/).