Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

2 For the fire (which made the appearance of a vaulted ceiling, [1] like a ship’s sail being filled by wind) completely enclosed [2] the body of the martyr. It was there in the midst of the flames, not as burning flesh, [3] but as gold and silver being smelted in a furnace. For we also noticed such a fragrance like incense rising [4] from a thurible [5] or some other precious perfume.

[1] καμάρας vault, vaulted ceiling, arch. This word appears only once in all of scripture and does not seem to appear frequently in general. Psalm 40:22b (LXX) reads ὁ στήσας ὡς καμάραν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν, … [It is the Lord] who erected the heavens as a vaulted ceiling and stretched it out as a tent to indwell (author’s translation).

[2] BAGD renders κύκλῳ περιετείχισεν as completely surrounded. καμάρας is imagined in a three dimensional way (i.e. as a vaulted ceiling with supporting walls and floor), so we render κύκλῳ περιετείχισεν as completely enclose (or perhaps envelope).

[3] ἄρτος ὀπτώμενος, ἢ ὡς (”a loaf in the oven or like”) is noted by Lightfoot as being questionable, perhaps “nothing more than Irenæus’ own comments.” (Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, and J. R. Harmer. The Apostolic Fathers. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1891) 195). Consequently, we are opting for the shorter reading as preferred and omitted this phrase from our translation.

[4] πνέοντος breathing out, giving forth (BAGD, 679).

[5] λιβανωτοῦ (λιβανωτός) incense or censer. Here we break with previous translations. Lightfoot renders λιβανωτοῦ πνέοντος as “wafted odour of frankincense,” which is to us aesthetically less pleasing. While Lake and Holmes do a much better job aesthetically rendering the phrase as “the scent of incense,” we feel translating λιβανωτός as thurible (i.e., censer used in religious worship), more specifically connects with the worship tropes running throughout the work (e.g., §14.2) and, perhaps, more explicitly the eschatological worship of Revelation 8:3-5.