Martyrdom of Polycarp 7.3

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

Summary: Polycarp prayed aloud for two hours, and many of his captors regretted coming for him.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:320–322

τῶν δὲ ἐπιτρεψάντων, σταθεὶς προσηύξατο πλήρης ὢν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ οὕτως ὥστε ἐπὶ δύο ὥρας μὴ δύνασθαι σιγῆσαι καὶ ἐκπλήττεσθαι τοὺς ἀκούοντας, πολλούς τε μετανοεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ ἐληλυθέναι ἐπὶ τοιοῦτον θεοπρεπῆ πρεσβύτην.

English · Claude translation

When they allowed it, he stood and prayed, so full of the grace of God that for two hours he could not be silent, and those who heard were astonished, and many regretted that they had come after so godly an old man.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:320–322 · 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 5:1033c (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.
Topics: Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

“Regretted” (μετανοεῖν): the usual word for “repent”; here it probably means that they were sorry they had come.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 7.3 (PG 5:1033c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/7/3/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 7.3 (PG 5:1033c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/7/3/).

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