Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

1 So, they did not nail him to the pyre; rather they bound [a] him. He placed his hands behind [b] him and was bound - like a ram, outstanding from a great flock, for an offering, [c] a burnt offering acceptable to God having been prepared.

He lifted his eyes to heaven and said, “Lord, Almighty God, the Father of your beloved and blessed son, [d] Jesus Christ, through whom we have apprehended [e] knowledge concerning you, the God of angels, of powers, of all creation and of the entire people [f] of righteousness, which lives before you.

[a] προσέδησαν to bind or tie (BAGD, 712). 4 Maccabees 9:26 reads ὀργάνῳ καὶ καταπέλτῃ προσέδησαν αὐτόν. They bound him to the torture engine and the catapult (author’s translation). προσδέω does not appear to be an extremely frequent word; however, when it is used it seems to refer to the binding of people for the purpose of torture (c.f., 1 Clement 27:1). The passive form is also used in this verse.

[b] ὀπίσω an adverb of place only when articular is it translated behind (BAGD, 575).

[c] προσφοράν that which is brought, gift, and in this sense as an offering (BAGD, 720).

[d] Obviously, the technical terms for Christ’s sonship were not galvanized until much later when St. Athanasius and the Three Cappadocians would come on the scene. However, here when there is not the theological baggage, it is not υἱός but παιδός (παι̂ς) that is used to refer to the “son” of the Father. Perhaps, this is incipient Trinitarian subordinationism, for a παι̂ς was socially on the same household level as a servant or slave; whereas, a υἱός was a son come into his rights, an equal participant in the family.

[e] εἰλήφαμεν (λαμβάνω) to take, take hold of, grasp (BAGD, 464). Consider St. John’s use of παραλαμβάνω employing a double entendre in John 1:11 (NA27), εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον. He came into his own and his own did not receive/apprehend him (author’s translation).

[f] γένος descendants, race, people, nation (BAGD, 156).

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.

Translation

1 Therefore, blessed and noble [a] are all the martyrs according to the will of God which has brought them to pass. For it is necessary, being more [b] God-fearing, to ascribe to God power over all things. 2 For at their nobility, fortitude, and love for their Master [c] who should not marvel? After they were torn to shreds with whips, the structure of the flesh became visible even as far as the inner veins and arteries. They held out patiently such that the bystanders took pity and grieved. [d] But while so great a nobility came upon them, so that they neither complained nor groaned something of their situation, they were at the same time demonstrating to us all that the martyrs of Christ, those being tormented, in that hour were absent from the flesh and that to a greater degree the Lord, who was standing with them, was speaking to them.

[a] γενναῖα (γενναι̂ος) is a common epithet of the martyrs (c.f., 4 Macc; 1 Clement 5:1). (BAGD)

[b] This is a use of the comparative form (εὐλαβεσ + τέρους) seems to connect with the μὲν at the beginning of §2.1 but escapes my understanding of its use. Lightfoot does not indicate in his translation a comparative use in his English translation.

[c] φιλοδέσποτον a compound word here Christianized to be a reference to the martyr’s love for Jesus. This picks up on Paul’s language of being a bond-servant or slave of Christ (δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ), as seen in Romans 1:1 and elsewhere.

[d] ὀδύρεσθαι (ὀδυρμός) A rare verb in the LXX. Jeremiah 38:14 (LXX), according to TDNT (p 673), employs the word to speak of Ephraim weeping, ἀκοὴν ἤκουσα Εφραιμ ὀδυρομένου. The NRSV renders this “Indeed I heard Ephraim pleading;” however, that does not grasp the weeping and wailing that constitutes the idea of ὀδυρμός. The Hebrew there is שָׁמ֣וֹעַ שָׁמַ֗עְתִּי אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ מִתְנוֹדֵ֔ד, which I render, “I heard Ephraim wandering in grief…”

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Translation

And in Jesus Christ, his son, the only begotten one, [1] our Lord, who was conceived [2] of the Holy Spirit, born [3] of the Virgin Mary, suffered [4] under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, was put to death, [5] and was buried, [6] after he descended into the lower regions of the earth… [7]

[1] ὸν μονογενῆ comes as the second in a double apposition, which in rendering our translation in this more wooden fashion we attempt to show. The word has to do with the singularly unique place that Jesus occupies as the God-Man.

[2] συλληφθέντα a mysterious word. None of the literature I have access to discusses this.

[3] γεννηθέντα a word rendered born and speaking of Jesus’ incarnate existence into time and space and purposefully different than μονογενῆ which is used to speak of the Son’s eternal relationship to the Father. γεννηθέντα is used in the LXX and NT to speak of biological birth: Job 14:1; Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28. 1 Clement 30:5 employing an adjectival form of the word reads εὐλογημένος γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ὀλιγόβιος, blessed is woman’s short-lived offspring.

[4] παθόντα (πάσχω) baldly refers to ones experience or treatment; however, even in classical literature it is not often used to refer to positive experiences. The LXX always uses the word to refer to the enduring of suffering and/or death. (BAGD, πάσχω)

[5] θανόντα (θανατόω) especially the death sentence and its execution. There is also a figurative dimension which entails spiritual or eternal death (BAGD).

[6] ταφέντα (ταφή) 1 Clement 16:10 καὶ δώσω τοὐς πονηροὐς ἀντἱ τῆς ταφῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους ἀντὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ· And I will give the wicked for his burial and the rich for his death.

[7] Compare the Latin descendit ad inferna with κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα. The Greek seems to be a clear reference to Ephesians 4:9-10. In both the Ephesians passage and the Greek of the Creed, the lower regions (τὰ κατώτατα) is a realm that is not given the identification of Hell as Christians would think of it today or perhaps thought of it by the time the Latin text was received, rendering τὰ κατώτατα as inferna. The underworld in Greek thought was not necessarily the place of eternal punishment after death but simply the place the dead went indiscriminately. Philip Schaff comments, “This clause was unknown in the older creeds, though believed in the Church, and was transferred into the Roman symbol after the fifth century, probably from that of Aquilcia, A.D. 390, where it first appears among Latin creeds…” (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, p 45, fn 43). I commend the entire note to your reading.