Sophia Scriptura

Martyrdom of Polycarp 5.2

Anonymous · Martyrdom of Polycarp · ca. 156–160 · Smyrna · Read in context

Summary: In a vision Polycarp saw his pillow on fire and knew he would be burned alive.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:318

καὶ προσευχόμενος ἐν ὀπτασίᾳ γέγονεν πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ συλληφθῆναι αὐτόν, καὶ εἶδεν τὸ προσκεφάλαιον αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ πυρὸς κατακαιόμενον· καὶ στραφεὶς εἶπεν πρὸς τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ· Δεῖ με ζῶντα καῆναι.

English · Claude translation

And while he was praying he had a vision, three days before he was arrested, and he saw his pillow being burned up by fire. And he turned and said to those who were with him, “I must be burned alive.”

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:318 · 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
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.
Topics
Prayer, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/5/2/).

Plain text
Mart. Pol. 5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/5/2/).

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