Martyrdom of Polycarp 9.3

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

Summary: Polycarp refused to curse Christ, whom he had served for eighty-six years.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:324

ἐγκειμένου δὲ τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου καὶ λέγοντος· Ὄμοσον, καὶ ἀπολύω σε, λοιδόρησον τὸν Χριστόν, ἔφη ὁ Πολύκαρπος· Ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ ἓξ ἔτη δουλεύω αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐδέν με ἠδίκησεν· καὶ πῶς δύναμαι βλασφημῆσαι τὸν βασιλέα μου τὸν σώσαντά με;

English · Claude translation

When the proconsul pressed him and said, “Swear, and I will release you; curse Christ,” Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:324 · 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 5:1036c (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: Martyrdom, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

“Eighty-six years” may count from his birth or from his baptism; if from birth, and if he died in 155/156, he was born about AD 70.

Cite this passage

Mart. Pol. 9.3 (PG 5:1036c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/9/3/).

Plain text

Mart. Pol. 9.3 (PG 5:1036c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/mart-pol/9/3/).

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