Martyrdom of Polycarp 8.1

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

Summary: After praying for all, Polycarp was taken into the city on a donkey on a “great Sabbath.”

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:322

Ἐπεὶ δέ ποτε κατέπαυσεν τὴν προσευχήν, μνημονεύσας ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν πώποτε συμβεβληκότων αὐτῷ, μικρῶν τε καὶ μεγάλων, ἐνδόξων τε καὶ ἀδόξων καὶ πάσης τῆς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας, τῆς ὥρας ἐλθούσης τοῦ ἐξιέναι, ὄνῳ καθίσαντες αὐτὸν ἤγαγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ὄντος σαββάτου μεγάλου.

English · Claude translation

When at last he had finished his prayer, having remembered all who had ever met him, small and great, well known and unknown, and the whole catholic church throughout the world, and the hour for departure had come, they set him on a donkey and led him into the city. It was a great Sabbath.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:322 · 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 5:1036a (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 19:31 · echo, medium confidence
Matt 21:7 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

“A great Sabbath”: probably a Sabbath that coincided with a festival (compare John 19:31); which festival is meant is disputed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (missing accent)): δε ποτε → δέ ποτε.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 8.1 (PG 5:1036a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/8/1/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 8.1 (PG 5:1036a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/8/1/).

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