The Martydom of Polycarp

The Church of God which sojourns in Smyrna, to the Church of God which sojourns in Philomelium, and to all the sojournings of the Holy Catholic Church in every place. “Mercy, peace and love” of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied.

We write to you, brethren, the story of the martyrs and of the blessed Polycarp, who put an ductlon end to the persecution by his martyrdom as though adding the seal. For one might almost say that all that had gone before happened in order that the Lord might show to us from above a martyrdom in accordance with the Gospel. For he waited to be betrayed as also the Lord had done, that we too might become his imitators, “not thinking of ourselves alone, but also of our neighbours.” For it is the mark of true and steadfast love, not to wish that oneself may be saved alone, but all the brethren also.

Blessed then and noble are all the martyrdoms which took place according to the will of God, for we must be very careful to assign the power over all to God. For who would not admire their nobility and patience and love of their Master? For some were torn by scourging until the mechanism of their flesh was seen even to the lower veins and arteries, and they endured so that even the bystanders pitied them and mourned. And some even reached such a pitch of nobility that none of them groaned or wailed, showing to all of us that at that hour of their torture the noble martyrs of Christ were absent from the flesh, or rather that the Lord was standing by and talking with them. And paying heed to the grace of Christ they despised worldly tortures, by a single hour purchasing everlasting life. And the fire of their cruel torturers had no heat for them, for they set before their eyes an escape from the fire which is everlasting and is never quenched, and with the eyes of their heart they looked up to the good things which are preserved for those who have endured, fwhich neither ear hath heard nor hath eye seen, nor hath it entered into the heart of man/ but it was shown by the Lord to them who were no longer men but already angels. And in the same way also those who were condemned to the beasts endured terrible torment, being stretched on sharp shells and buffeted with other kinds of various torments, that if it were possible the tyrant might bring them to a denial by continuous torture. For the devil used many wiles against them.