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Lectio Studies

The Martyrdom of Polycarp

Chapter 5

2 sections

The Church of Smyrna

Transcribed from a dated scan; artifacts may remain. Edition notes

But the most wonderful Polycarp, when he first heard it, was not disturbed, but wished to remain in the city; but the majority persuaded him to go away quietly, and he went out quietly to a farm, not far distant from the city, and stayed with a few friends, doing nothing but pray night and day for all, and for the Churches throughout the world, as was his custom.

And while he was praying he fell into a trance three days before he was arrested, and saw the pillow under his head burning with fire, and he turned and said to those who were with him: “I must be burnt alive.”

Trans. Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, Volume II (Loeb Classical Library), 1913 (this printing 1917). Public domain.

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