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The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna Concerning the Martyrdom of the Holy Polycarp

Chapter III.--The constancy of Germanicus. The death of Polycarp is demanded.

For the devil did indeed invent many things against them; but thanks be to God, he could not prevail over all. For the most noble Germanicus strengthened the timidity of others by his own patience, and fought heroically 1 with the wild beasts. For, when the proconsul sought to persuade him, and urged him 2 to take pity upon his age, he attracted the wild beast towards himself, and provoked it, being desirous to escape all the more quickly from an unrighteous and impious world. But upon this the whole multitude, marvelling at the nobility of mind displayed by the devout and godly race of Christians, 3 cried out, "Away with the Atheists; let Polycarp be sought out!"


  1. Or, "illustriously." ↩

  2. Or, "said to him." ↩

  3. Literally, "the nobleness of the God-loving and God-fearing race of Christians." ↩

Edition Hide
Epistula Ecclesiae Smyrnensis de martyrio s. Polycarpi (Loeb)

3.

1. Ἀλλὰ χάρις τῷ θεῷ· κατὰ πάντων γὰρ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν. ὁ γὰρ γενναιότατος Γερμανικὸς ἐερρώννυεν αὐτῶν τὴ δειλίαν διὰ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ ὑπομονῆς· ὃς καὶ ἐπισήμως ἐθηριομάχησεν. βουλομένου γὰρ τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου πείθειν αὐτὸν καὶ λέγοντος, τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτοῦ κατοικτεῖραι, ἑαυτῷ ἐπεσπάσατο τὸ θηρίον προσβιασάμενος, τάχιον βουλόμενος. 2. ἐκ τούτου οὖν πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος, θαυμάσαν τὴν γενναιότητα τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς καὶ θεοσεβοῦς γένου τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ἐπεβόησεν· Αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους· ζητείσθω Πολύκαρπος.

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Epistula Ecclesiae Smyrnensis de martyrio s. Polycarpi (Loeb)
Translations of this Work
Martyrium des Heiligen Polykarpos Compare
Martyrium des Hl. Polykarp (BKV) Compare
The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna Concerning the Martyrdom of the Holy Polycarp
Commentaries for this Work
Einführung in die Märtyrerakten des zweiten Jahrhunderts
Einleitung: Der Brief des Märtyrers und Bischofs Polykarp von Smyrna an die Gemeinde von Philippi
Introductory Note to the Epistle Concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp

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Faculty of Theology, Patristics and History of the Early Church
Miséricorde, Av. Europe 20, CH 1700 Fribourg

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