Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

2 Through patience he overcame the unrighteous ruler and in this manner received the crown of immortality. While being overjoyed with the apostles and all the righteous he glorifies the God and Father Almighty and blesses the Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of our souls and captain [1] of our bodies and shepherd of the catholic church [2] throughout [3] the world.

[1] κυβερνήτης here is the idea of captain of a ship or vessel. It is an unique metaphor for the Lord’s governance of us because it implies participation and vested interest in the welfare of the ship. The Lord is aboard the lives of his people or to use St. John the Evangelist’s words, the Lord abides in his people and his people are to abide in him (John 15:1-5). As in 4 Maccabees 7:1, κυβερνήτης seems to have been a term with some unique use in “martyr narratives” as the trope referencing Jesus as the one who leads the martyr through the tempests on the sea of suffering to the shores of eternal glory.

[2] As mentioned in previous footnotes the Martyrdom of Polycarp is one of the earliest documents that uses καθολικά ἐκκλησία (catholic church) to refer to the body of human beings united to Christ as their savior and captain. See also §Preface, §8.1, and §23.2.

[3] κατὰ here is rendered as throughout (BAGD, 405).

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

1 The proconsul prevailed [a] upon him again, saying “Swear an oath to the providence of Caesar!”

“If you vainly imagine [b] that I will ‘swear an oath to the providence of Caesar,’ as you say, and you pretend to be ignorant of who I am, here me plainly,” [c] Polycarp answered. “I am a Christian. So, if you desire to learn the message of Christianity, [d] name the day and give me a hearing.” [e]

[a] Ἐπιμένοντος δὲ In an attempt to clean up the English we have supplied the referent (proconsul) for the assumed actor, reflecting a more substantive, rather than temporal, flavor of the participle.

[b] κενοδοξέω hold a false opinion, vainly imagine (BAGD, 427). Used in 4 Maccabees 5:10, “It seems to me that you will do something even more senseless if, by holding a vain opinion concerning the truth, you continue to despise me to your own hurt.” (NRSV) It might also be noted that the first part (viz. κενο) of this compound word may mean empty. Hence, the idea of hollow belief.

[c] παρρησίας plainly, confidently (BAGD, 630). Here it follows μετὰ and picks up an adverbial flavor. St. Peter employs μετὰ παρρησίας in Acts 2:29 in his Pentecost sermon, ἐξὸν εἰπεῖν μετὰ παρρησίας πρὸς ὑμᾶς περὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου Δαυὶδ…. I may speak confidently to you concerning the patriarch David…(author’s translation, NA27).

[d] τὸν τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ μαθεῖν λόγον seems to circumscribe mere doctrine.

[e] δὸς ἡμέραν καὶ ἄκουσον. lit., give a day and listen. “…give me a hearing” I have taken directly from Lightfoot’s translation.

Translation

2 So, when he was brought before him, the proconsul was inquiring whether he was the man.

When Polycarp [a] confessed that he was the man, the proconsul began appealing to repudiate the Christian faith [b] saying, “Have some regard [c] for old age,” and so forth [d] (as they are accustomed to say), [e] “Swear an oath to the providence [f] of Caesar, repent, say, ‘Sweep [g] the atheists [h] away!’”

But Polycarp, with dignified countenance, fixed his eyes upon the whole crowd of lawless pagans [i] which filled the stadium and he incited [j] them with his hand, sighed and then after he looked up to heaven, he said, “Sweep the atheists away!” [k]

[a] In the flurry of pronouns, we inserted the pronominal referent here (St. Polycarp) to make the prose more clear.

[b] The substance of what St. Polycarp is being asked to deny or disown is the Christian faith; we have inserted the concept that is assumed though not spelled out in our text. ἀρνεῖσθαι (ἀρνέομαι) to deny or repudiate Christ is the word’s most common usage. 1 Timothy 5:8 reminds us εἰ δέ τις τῶν ἰδίων καὶ μάλιστα οἰκείων οὐ προνοεῖ, τὴν πίστιν ἤρνηται καὶ ἔστιν ἀπίστου χείρων. And if someone does not care for his own - especially for his household, he has repudiated the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (author’s translation).

[c] αἰδέσθητί (αἰδέομαι) respect or regard. See 4 Macc 5:7, “…for I respect your age and your gray hairs,” (NRSV).

[d] τούτοις ἀκόλουθα also in §8.2.

[e] ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς λέγειν, see BAGD 218.

[f] τύχην (τύχη) LSJ gives us the semantic field of fortune, fate or providence. Middle Liddell gives us “the good which man obtains (τυγχάνει) by the favour of the gods.” Cited from Perseus Digital Library. Ὄμοσον τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην also in §10.1.

[g] αἶρε (αἴρω) see note on §3.2.

[h] ἀθέους see not on §3.2 regarding the usage of the term atheist to ironically refer to Christians.

[i] i.e., ἔθνοι.

[j] ἐπισείσας (ἐπισείω) to shake one’s hand in a threatening gesture (BAGD, 298); to start a riot, urge on, incite (DBL GGK2167, see Acts 14:19).

[k] This is the same phrase (Αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους) the proconsul asked him to say. St. Polycarp notably has omitted the oath to Caesar.

Translation

3 After they failed [1] to persuade him, they began making threats [2] and they brought him down with haste in such a way that when he came down from the carriage, he tore skin [3] off his shin. Without turning around, as though he had suffered [4] nothing, he began going willingly. [5] After he was led into the stadium, there was such a clamor in the stadium such that it was impossible for just one person to be heard. [6]

[1] ἀποτυχόντες (ἀποτυγχάνω) BAGD directs the reader to Job 31:16 LXX as a biblical example of usage.

[2] δεινὰ ῥήματα ἔλεγον The ingressive imperfect ἔλεγον clues us in that the threatening words began at the point of St. Polycarp’s refusal to “do as you advise me” and continued for some time after that (GGBB, 544).

[3] ἀποσῦραι to tear or scrape the skin off something (BAGD, 100). This word is used in 4 Maccabees 9:28 in the context of the torture of the first and second brothers: “These leopard-like beasts tore out his sinews with the iron hands, flayed all his flesh up to his chin, and tore away his scalp.” (NRSV) The infinitive seems to suggest the purpose of bringing St. Polycarp down from the carriage as the police officers did was to rough him up a bit.

[4] πεπονθώς (πάσχω) generally meant to suffer as Acts 3:18 reminds us: ὁ δὲ θεός, ἃ προκατήγγειλεν διὰ στόματος πάντων τῶν προφητῶν παθεῖν τὸν χριστὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐπλήρωσεν οὕτως. But in this way God fulfilled what he announced beforehand through the mouths of all the prophets - His Messiah was to suffer (author’s translation).

[5] This is the second time σπουδῆς is used in this verse; however, it is used in two context, resulting in two different renderings: haste and willingly. Some have translated σπουδῆς as eagerly here. While that is a possibility, it seems to run cross grain to the point the narrator has made that St. Polycarp was anything but eager to die a martyrs death. It is something he would be content with if that was the Lord’s will for him, but it is not something to be sought out as we learned from Quintus in §4. So we have rendered μετὰ σπουδῆς as willingly to capture this nuance.

[6] We have preferred to render ὡς μηδὲ ἀκουσθῆναί τινα δύνασθαι as ‘such that it was impossible for just one person to be heard.’ Lightfoot narrows the scope of the noise to no one’s voice; however, in a way, this seems to quiet the cacophony of the scene. Not only were these stadium enthusiasts clamoring with their voice, they were likely banging and shuffling in their seats and, we imagine, throwing projectiles of one sort or another at St. Polycarp.

Translation

1 But thanksgiving [1] to God - for did he not prevail against all? [2] For the noble Germanikos was encouraging their cowardice through the steadfastness in him. And he fought against the wild animals remarkably. [3] For when the Proconsul desired to cajole him, even saying to have pity on his youthfulness, Germanikos forcefully [4] dragged the wild animal upon himself, [5] desiring at once to be free from their unrighteous and lawless life.

[1] χάρις a common word usually meaning “grace,” in centuries before Christ, Euripides, Xenophon, and Plato, for example, used χάρις + dative to express thanksgiving or gratitude (BAGD). This is of course the use here. Hebrews 12:28 gives us a NT example, which assumes God as the indirect object: Διὸ βασιλείαν ἀσάλευτον παραλαμβάνοντες ἔχωμεν χάριν, διʼ ἧς λατρεύωμεν εὐαρέστως τῷ θεῷ μετὰ εὐλαβείας καὶ δέους. Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable royal rule, let us give thanks to God, through which we might offer worship in a manner acceptable to God with reverence and awe (author’s translation).

[2] Here the period seems to be misplaced. The syntax appears to be asking a rhetorical question.

[3] ἐπισήμως is a adverb that describes something done “in an outstanding manner” (BAGD); however, it also describes the imprints on a coin which mark the coin out for a particular kingdom and king. (Middle Liddell)

[4] This adverbial use of the aorist middle participial form of προσβιάζομαι is supported by BAGD.

[5] When used in the middle voice ἐπισπάω refers to doing the action to or for one’s self. See 1 Macc 14:1, καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς Μηδίαν τοῦ ἐπισπάσασθαι βοήθειαν ἑαυτῷ and [King Demetrius] marched into Media to call help to himself. (author’s translation) In this case the reflexive pronoun is used. In Martyrdom of Polycarp 3:1 it seems to be assumed in the context.

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…”