Primary source · Koine Greek
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
The church of Smyrna (encyclical letter) · c. AD 155–160
What this text is
The oldest detailed account of a martyrdom outside the New Testament: the Smyrnaean church’s circular letter narrating the arrest, trial, and burning of their bishop Polycarp.
Profile of Polycarp of Smyrna →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Chapter 9.3 — Polycarp answers the proconsul
ὈγδοήκονταEightyκαὶandἓξsixἔτηyearsδουλεύωI have servedαὐτῷ,Himκαὶandοὐδένin nothingμεmeἠδίκησεν·did He wrongκαὶandπῶςhowδύναμαιcan IβλασφημῆσαιblasphemeτὸνtheβασιλέαKingμουmyτὸνwhoσώσαντάsavedμε;me?
Public-domain translations
J. B. Lightfoot (1889)
Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?
Roberts–Donaldson (ANF, 1885)
Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?
Manuscript witnesses
Eusebius, Church History IV.15
c. 325 (11th-c. copies)Eusebius transcribes the letter nearly whole — a witness two centuries older than the menologia.
Menologion family (Mosquensis 160 etc.)
10th–13th c.The liturgical copies for February 23, with the Quintus and Evarestus notices.
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 5 (Migne)
1857Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
The church of Smyrna to Philomelium, AD 155/156 — the first martyr-act
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- The Acts of the Christian MartyrsHerbert Musurillo, 1972Critical text and translation.
- The Martyrdom of Polycarp (Oxford Apostolic Fathers)Paul Hartog, 2013Text, translation, and full commentary.