Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

3 Then, wood [1] prepared for the pyre was placed around him at once. However, when they were about to nail him to the pyre, [2] he said, “Leave me thus. For the one who granted that I remain in the fire will also grant untroubled firmness to remain in the fire apart from your nails.”

[1] ὄργανα lit. instruments. Elsewhere is used to describe the wild arena animals as instruments by which St. Ignatius would be a sacrifice to God (Epistle of St. Ignatius to the Romans 4:2, c.f., BAGD 578).

[2] προσηλοῦν lit. to nail something to something else (BAGD, 714). In Colossians 2:14 (NA27) we read καὶ αὐτὸ ἦρκεν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου προσηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ … And he disposed of it, having nailed it to the Cross.

Translation

2 When the funeral pyre [1] was made ready, Polycarp removed his own clothes and loosed his girdle. [2] He was attempting to untie his own sandals; however, previously he usually did not do this himself because each of the faithful [3] always took pains who should more quickly touch his skin. For he had been adorned with every good thing on account of his Christian life [4] and before old age [5] was upon him.

[1] πυρκαϊὰ pagan funerals incorporated the cremation of the deceased’s body upon a pyre. Hence, the root πυρ (fire) begins the word.

[2] ζώνη, the girdle, was a means of shortening the undergarment (TDNT, vol 5, 302).

[3] i.e., Christians.

[4] πολιτείας Lake notes in his translation that πολιτείας (citizenship) “is used in a special sense of Christian life” (Apostolic Fathers in English, vol 2, p 329). The third entry for πολιτείας in BAGD is glossed as a “way of life” or “conduct” (p 686). See also 1 Clement 2:8.

[5] Eusebius’ text has πολιᾶς (old age, “gray hairs” in Lightfoot’s translation). Some texts follow a Latin tradition in which πολιᾶς is replaced with μαρτυρίας (martyr) as in Lake’s Greek text (c.f., Apostolic Father’s in Greek, vol 2, p 328). Our commitment in this project is to translate from Lightfoot’s text and we do so here with out making judgment between the two variants.

Translation

2 Herod, the police chief, and Nicetes, his father, came out to meet [1] him. After they had transferred him to the carriage, [2] they were trying to convince [3] him, taking their seats beside him and saying, “What evil is it to say, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ and to offer a sacrifice to him and so forth [4] and escape death? [5] Initially, [6] he did not answer them; but, when they persisted, he said, “I am not about to do what you advise me.” [7]

[1] ὑπήντα also likely connotes the idea of two opposing sides meeting as in a battlefield. Such use of this word is seen in Matthew 8:28 where two demoniacs come out to meet Jesus (ὑπήντησαν αὐτῷ δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι) upon landing in Gadarenes.

[2] καροῦχα i.e., a paddy wagon of some sort.

[3] The anti-Christian efforts to turn St. Polycarp from devotion to Christ. ἔπειθον (πείθω) is a common word but also one that is found in the NT where St. Paul is attempting to convince his hearers about Jesus (πείθων τε αὐτοὺς περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ - c.f., Acts 28:33).

[4] For τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα and ἕτερα τούτοις ἀκόλουθα in §9.2 see BAGD, 31.

[5] διασώζεσθαι (διασῴζω) lit. to bring safely through (BAGD, 189). Here as in 1 Clement 12:5 ff the passive form is used to connote the sparing of one’s own life. 1 Clement 12:6 is in the context of relating the correspondence between the armies of Israel about to lay siege to Jericho and Rahab who had helped the Israeli spies. It is there that we find, … συνάξεις πάντας τοὺς σοὺς ὑπὸ τὸ τέγος σου, καὶ διασωθήσονται· ὅσοι γὰρ ἐὰν εὑρεθῶσιν ἔξω τῆς οἰκίας, ἀπολοῦνται…You will gather all your family under your roof, and you will escape death; for as many as might be found outside the house, they will perish. (author’s translation).

[6] τὰ μὲν πρῶτα is a phrase used often in Greek literature composing the written world into which the Martyrdom of Polycarp was inscribed. Job 8:7 LXX reads ἔσται οὖν τὰ μὲν πρῶτά σου ὀλίγα … Therefore your beginning will be small … (author’s translation). Here, the Greek πρῶτά is rendered for the Hebrew רֵאשִׁית (beginning or chief) used in Genesis 1:1.

[7] Compare Eusebius’ account (οὐ μέλλω πράττειν ὃ συμβουλεύετέ μοι, Historia Εcclesiastica, Book Δ, §ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥ ΤΡΙΤΟΥ ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΑΣ ΑΙΡΕΣΕΙΣ ΕΙΡΗΝΑΙΟΥ) with Lightfoot’s text (Οὐ μέλλω ποιεῖν ὃ συμβουλεύετέ μοι). πράσσω/πράττω in Eusebius seems to emphasize the idea that in St. Polycarp’s mind, he would have been committing sin or transgressing some sort of bounds he should not. Indeed, to follow the counsel of those accompanying St. Polycarp at this point in the text is to deny flatly the one St. Polycarp loved most, Jesus.