Primary source · Koine Greek (chs. 10–14 survive in Latin)
The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
Polycarp of Smyrna · c. AD 110–135
What this text is
Polycarp’s cover-letter forwarding Ignatius’s epistles to Philippi — woven almost wholly from the apostles’ own phrases, with the case of the fallen presbyter Valens handled in sorrowing charity.
Profile of Polycarp of Smyrna →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Chapter 3 — the wisdom of Paul · Chapters 9 · 13 — Ignatius remembered
οὔτεneitherγὰρforἐγὼIοὔτεnorἄλλοςanotherὅμοιοςlikeἐμοὶmeδύναταιis ableκατακολουθῆσαιto follow afterτῇtheσοφίᾳwisdomτοῦof theμακαρίουblessedΠαύλου.Paul
Public-domain translations
J. B. Lightfoot (1885)
For neither am I, nor is any other like unto me, able to follow the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who taught the word of truth accurately and stedfastly… The letters of Ignatius which were sent to us by him, we send unto you, as ye requested.
Roberts–Donaldson (ANF, 1885)
Neither I, nor any other such one, can come up to the wisdom of the blessed and glorified Paul… I exhort you all to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as ye have seen set before your eyes in Ignatius and Zosimus and Rufus.
Manuscript witnesses
Greek manuscript family (defective after ch. 9)
11th c. onwardAll Greek copies break off in chapter 9; the remainder survives in the Latin version and Eusebius's quotations.
Latin version
medieval copies of an ancient translationSupplies chapters 10–14, including the Crescens commendation.
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne)
1857Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Smyrna to Philippi, c. AD 110–135
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Polycarpe de Smyrne (SC 10)P. T. Camelot, 4th ed. 1969Critical edition with the Ignatian corpus.
- The Apostolic FathersMichael W. Holmes, 3rd ed. 2007Standard text and translation.