Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

1 But the One who is jealous, envious and evil, the adversary of the people of righteousness, [a] when he saw not only the greatness of his martyrdom [b] and the blamelessness [c] of his Christian life [d] from the beginning, but also the crown [e] of immortality he had been honored with and the incontestable prize he had carried off, [f] took pains that his body was not taken with us; although, many desired to do this and to receive [g] part of his holy body.

[a] See note on §14.1 for γένος τῶν δικαίων.

[b] τό … μέγεθος αὐτοῦ τῆς μαρτυρίας see μέγεθος in BAGD, 498.

[c] ἀνεπίληπτον a compound word from the root ἐπίληπτος (ἐπίλαμπτος Ionic), meaning caught or detected in anything. Prefixed with ἀν it takes on the idea of “not open to attack,” “not censured,” i.e., blameless (Liddell Scott, Abridged, pp 68, 296).

[d] πολιτείαν lit., citizenship; here a technical term meaning Christian life. See note in §13.2.

[e] There is a certain poetic value of the historic circumstance that στέφανον rendered crown or wreath is also the name of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (Στέφανος) in Acts 7.

[f] βραβεῖον ἀναντίρρητον ἀπενηνεγμένον having carried off the incontestable prize (BAGD, ἀναντίρρητος, 58).

[g] κοινωνῆσαι (κοινωνέω) a familiar word even to many Christians not familiar with Greek, koinōnéō generally means to share in or have fellowship with; here, however, it has special application with regard to a martyr’s body. Apparently, it was customary for Christians to receive a part of the martyr’s sarcophagus as a holy relic (BAGD, 438).