Nielsen’s Nook

Translation

2 Gaius compiled [1] these things from the writings of Irenaeus, a student of Polycarp, who also lived together with Irenaeus.

[1] μετεγράψατο copy, transcribe (BAGD, 510). In book-keeping to transfer to another account (LSJ). to write differently, to alter or correct what one has written (H.G. Liddell, A Lexicon : Abridged from Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, 501).

Translation

1 Accordingly, you [a] requested that the things that happened be clarified for you more fully. [b] However, we have presently [c] reported through our brother Marcion,[d] as it were, with summary headings. [e] Therefore, after you have appropriated [f] these things, send the letter on to brothers beyond you so that they also might glorify the Lord, who makes chosen instruments [g] from among his own servants.

[a] ὑμει̂ς is a second person plural, i.e., the church of Philomelium. See §Preface.

[b] διὰ πλειόνων is a comparative phrase in which τὸ may have elided or been omitted. 2 Maccabees 12:24 (LXX Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft) reads, … διὰ τὸ πλειόνων μὲν γονεῖς …. because he held the parents of most of them (NRSV).

[c] κατὰ τὸ παρὸν lit. according to the present.

[d] Lake notes, “Not of course to be identified with the famous heretic. If Marcianus be the right text, it is noteworthy that Irenaeus sent his treatise on the ‘The Apostolic Preaching’ to a certain Marcianus. But this was probably forty years later than Polycarp’s death.” (Apostolic Fathers, vol 2, p 339).

[e] ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ lit. as in brief, in summary. The root κεφαλή (head) has metaphorical uses in the Greek speaking world similar to our own, such that “summary headings” seems, in our estimation, to better connect the translation at this point to the original in both word and concept.

[f] μαθόντες (μανθάνω) to learn (BAGD, 490).

[g] ἐκλογὰς appears to emphasize the outcome of what the Lord makes (i.e., things chosen), rather than describe adverbially what he makes (i.e., that he chooses). Conceptually, the Lord has made St. Polycarp a chosen instrument; hence, the word is supplied in italics. Acts 9:15 (NA27) reads, εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος· πορεύου, ὅτι σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς ἐστίν μοι … But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is my chosen instrument…” (author’s translation).

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.