PG 5 · cols. 1003–1004

Prolegomena in S. Polycarpi epistolam ad Philippenses et Martyrium

Editors' preface

sebius praebuit testimonium, qui potiorem ejus partem Historiae suae inseruit, hisce verbis : Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ (tempore) ὁ Πολύκαρπος, μεγίστων τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀναθορυβησάντων διωγμῶν, μαρτυρίῳ τελειοῦται. Ἀναγκαιότατον δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ τέλος, ἐγγράφως ἔτι φερόμενον, ἡγοῦμαι δεῖν μνήμῃ τῆς ἱστορίας τῆσδε καταθέσθαι. Ἔστι δὲ ἡ γραφὴ ἐκ προσώπου ἧς αὐτὸς Ἐκκλησίας ἡγεῖτο, ταῖς κατὰ Πόντον παροικίαις τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν ἀποσημαίνουσα διὰ τούτων, κ. τ. λ. Sequuntur verba Epistolae nostrae.

sebius bore witness, who inserted the greater part of it into his History, in these words: At this (time) Polycarp, when very great persecutions had disturbed Asia, was perfected by martyrdom. And I judge it most necessary to commit to the memory of this history his end, which is still circulated in writing. Now the letter is in the person of the Church over which he himself presided, signifying to the parishes in Pontus the things concerning him through these words, etc. There follow the words of our Epistle.

Ibidem, postquam Eusebius multa protulit ex ea epistola, concludit his verbis : Τὰ μὲν δὴ κατὰ τὸν θαυμάσιον καὶ ἀποστολικὸν Πολύκαρπον, τοιούτου κατηξίωτο τέλους, τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σμυρναίων Ἐκκλησίαν ἀδελφῶν τὴν ἱστορίαν, ἐν ᾗ δεδηλώκαμεν αὐτῶν Ἐπιστολῇ, κατατεθειμένων.

In the same place, after Eusebius has brought forward many things from that epistle, he concludes with these words: The things indeed concerning the marvellous and apostolic Polycarp were counted worthy of such an end, the brethren of the Church of the Smyrnaeans having set down the history in their Epistle which we have mentioned.

De martyrio S. Polycarpi Irenaeus quoque verba fecit : Ἐπὶ πολὺ γὰρ παρέμεινε (Polycarpus)· καὶ πάνυ γηραλέος, ἐνδόξως καὶ ἐπιφανέστατα μαρτυρήσας, ἐξῆλθε τοῦ βίου.

Concerning the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, Irenaeus also spoke: For he (Polycarp) remained a long while, and in extreme old age, having borne witness gloriously and most illustriously, departed this life.

Similiter Hieronymus : Postea vero, regnante M. Antonino et L. Aurelio Commodo, quarta post Neronem persecutione, Smyrnae, sedente proconsule, et universo populo in amphitheatro adversus eum personante, igni traditus est.

Similarly Jerome: Afterwards, however, in the reign of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, in the fourth persecution after Nero, at Smyrna, while the proconsul sat on the tribunal and the whole populace in the amphitheatre clamoured against him, he was delivered to the fire.

VI. Totam Ecclesiae Smyrnensis epistolam nemo, quem sciam, in dubium vocavit, ipsique critici rigidissimi laudem ei tribuerunt. Iis, quae supra (n. 1) ex Valesio protulimus, ea addemus, quae illustrissimus Scaligerus in Animadversionibus suis Eusebianis (p. 121) effatus est. Haec sunt, inquit, vetustissima illa Ecclesiae martyria, quorum lectione piorum animus ita afficitur, ut nunquam satur inde redeat ; quod quidem ita esse, unusquisque pro captu suo et conscientiae modo sentire potest. Certe ego nihil unquam in historia ecclesiastica vidi, a cujus lectione commotior recedam, ut non amplius meus esse videar.

VI. No one, so far as I know, has called the whole epistle of the Church of Smyrna into doubt, and the strictest critics themselves have bestowed praise upon it. To the things which we brought forward above (no. 1) from Valesius, we shall add what the most illustrious Scaliger uttered in his Animadversiones on Eusebius (p. 121). These, says he, are those most ancient martyrdoms of the Church, by the reading of which the soul of the pious is so affected that it never returns thence sated; and that this is indeed so, everyone can feel according to his own capacity and the measure of his conscience. Certainly I have never seen anything in ecclesiastical history from the reading of which I come away more moved, so that I seem no longer to be my own master.

Nostris temporibus praesertim Moehlerus epistolae hujus causam egit.

In our times especially Möhler has pleaded the cause of this epistle.

Nonnullas lacinias, praesertim fabulam de columba c. 16, Epistolae nostrae a posterioribus additas esse, contenderunt Heumanus et alii ; non plane, ut videtur, injuste.

That some shreds, especially the story concerning the dove in ch. 16, were added to our Epistle by later hands, Heumann and others have contended; not altogether, as it seems, unjustly.

Equidem ultimam capitis 22 particulam, quae de Pionio loquitur, spuriam censeo et ab illo confectam, qui supposititia ista S. Polycarpi acta, quorum supra mentionem fecimus, quaeque Pionio

For my part, I judge the last clause of chapter 22, which speaks of Pionius, to be spurious and composed by him who by wicked fraud subjoined those supposititious acts of St. Polycarp, of which we made mention above, and which to Pionius

Editors' notes and page, col. 1003

Footnotes

(41) ‹anchor: hisce verbis› · call in col 1003

Hist. eccl. IV, 15.

Ecclesiastical History IV, 15.

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(42) ‹anchor: Irenaeus quoque› · call in col 1003

Adv. Haer. III, 3. Apud Euseb. Hist. eccles. IV, 14.

Against Heresies III, 3. In Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History IV, 14.

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(43) ‹anchor: Similiter Hieronymus› · call in col 1003

Catal. script. eccl. c. 17.

Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, ch. 17.

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(44) ‹anchor: laudem ei tribuerunt› · call in col 1003

Vide Tillemont, Mémoires, etc., t. II, p. 341 sqq., edit. Veneta, 1732 et Fabric. Bibl. Gr., edit. Harles., t. VII, p. 51.

See Tillemont, Mémoires, etc., vol. II, p. 341 ff., Venice edition, 1732, and Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, Harles's edition, vol. VII, p. 51.

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(45) ‹anchor: hujus causam egit› · call in col 1003

Patrolog., t. I, p. 410. Cfr. Neander, Kirch. Gesch. t. I, p. 739.

Patrology, vol. I, p. 410. Compare Neander, Kirchengeschichte, vol. I, p. 739.

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(46) ‹anchor: contenderunt Heumanus› · call in col 1003

Vide not. ad c. 16.

See the note on ch. 16.

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Page

running head: 1003 S. POLYCARPI MAR
marginal letters: A sebius præbuit testimonium; B σίαν ἀδελφῶν τὴν ἱστορίαν; C lustrissimus Scaligerus; D non plane, ut videtur
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: Latin prose with Greek quotations (Eusebius, Irenaeus) run in; no facing Greek column; editors' matter: sebius praebuit testimonium (begins with fragment sebius of Eusebius from col. 1002)

PG 5:1004

false ascribuntur, genuinae Smyrnaeorum epistolae mala fraude adjunxit. Verbis enim καθὼς δηλώσω ἐν τῷ καθεξῆς Pseudo-Pionius indicat, sequentibus (i. e. Actis spuriis adjectis) se declaraturum esse, quae Polycarpus per revelationem ipsi manifestaverit.

are falsely ascribed, to the genuine epistle of the Smyrnaeans. For by the words καθὼς δηλώσω ἐν τῷ καθεξῆς Pseudo-Pionius indicates that in what follows (i.e., in the spurious Acts subjoined) he will declare the things which Polycarp manifested to him by revelation.

VII. Epistolam Ecclesiae Smyrnensis primus Graece et Latine (sed Graece non integram) edidit Petrus Halloixius in Vitis Patrum Orient., t. I. Integram autem eam anno 1647 Londini ex Menologio Graeco mss. Barocc. evulgavit Usserius, Parisiis Cotelerius. Eamdem deinde Actis martyrum sinceris Ruinartus intexuit, et Smithius editioni Epp. Ignatii et Polycarpi addidit 1709. Smithium secutus est Gallandius. Novissimam et elegantissimam editionem 1838 et 1840 (edit. II) Oxonii evulgavit Jacobsonus, tribus codicibus, Barocciano, Parisino et Caesareo-Vindobonensi usus.

VII. Pierre Halloix first edited the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna in Greek and Latin (though not complete in Greek) in the Vitae Patrum Orientalium, vol. I. Ussher, however, published it complete at London in the year 1647 from a Baroccian manuscript Greek Menologion, and Cotelier at Paris. Ruinart thereafter wove the same into his Acta martyrum sincera, and Smith added it to his edition of the Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp in 1709. Gallandi followed Smith. Jacobson published the latest and most elegant edition at Oxford in 1838 and 1840 (2nd ed.), making use of three codices, the Baroccian, the Paris, and the Imperial Viennese.

VIII. De doctrina hujus epistolae cfr. Lumper., Hist. theol. crit., t. II, p. 453-459.

VIII. Concerning the doctrine of this epistle, cf. Lumper, Historia theologico-critica, vol. II, pp. 453-459.

IX. Addamus denique quae Thomas Smithius, testis αὐτόπτης, de Smyrnensi amphitheatro, quo S. Polycarpus martyr gloriosus obiit, deque ejus sepulcro enarrat his verbis : « Ad latera, inquit, alterius portae arcis, quae ad orientem est, adhuc visuntur duae aquilae, Romanorum insignia, largiusculae et belle quidem delineatae. Hinc inter descendendum, amplum amphitheatrum ad Notapeliotem, quo S. Polycarpus martyrio coronatus est, intravimus, gradibus saxeis a Turcis ad ornandas aedes illinc sublatis. In cujus lateribus duae cavernae, quibus claudebantur leones, sibi invicem opponuntur. Sepulcrum S. Polycarpi, quod in latere montis adversus Euro-austrum adhuc conservatur, Graeci die festo, ipsius memoriae consecrato, pro more, qui apud ipsos obtinet, solemniter invisunt. Situm est in quadam aedicula, ecclesiae forte sacello, alii, per quam illuc transeundum est, contigua. In hoc monumento instaurando, si ab impressionibus aeriis, si a Turcis, si a Christianis Occidentalibus, qui fragmenta marmoris quasi tot reliquias exinde tollunt, laedatur temereturque; laudabilis illorúm collocatur opera, olla fictili quoque illic apposita, in quam quisque fere prae veneratione, qua erga τὸν Μεγαλομάρτυρα pro Christo invicta animi praesentia mori sustinentem fertur, illic ductus pauculos aspros conjicit, ut in omne aevum perennet. » Haec Smithius.

IX. Let us finally add what Thomas Smith, an eyewitness, relates concerning the amphitheatre of Smyrna in which the glorious martyr St. Polycarp died, and concerning his tomb, in these words: "At the sides," says he, "of the other gate of the citadel, which faces the east, there are still seen two eagles, ensigns of the Romans, rather large and indeed finely delineated. Hence, in descending, we entered the spacious amphitheatre towards the south-east, in which St. Polycarp was crowned with martyrdom, its stone steps having been carried off thence by the Turks to adorn their buildings. In its sides two dens, in which the lions were shut up, face each other. The tomb of St. Polycarp, which is still preserved on the side of the mountain facing the south-east, the Greeks solemnly visit on the feast day consecrated to his memory, according to the custom which obtains among them. It is situated in a certain small shrine, perhaps a chapel of a church, contiguous to another through which one must pass thither. In repairing this monument, if it is damaged and profaned by the effects of the weather, or by the Turks, or by Western Christians, who carry off fragments of marble thence as so many relics, their praiseworthy labour is employed, an earthen pot also being placed there, into which almost everyone, led thither out of the veneration with which he is borne towards the Great Martyr who endured to die for Christ with unconquered presence of mind, casts a few aspers, that it may endure for all time." Thus far Smith.

Editors' notes and page, col. 1004

Footnotes

(47) ‹anchor: Vitis Patrum Orient., t. I› · call in col 1004

Duae exstant versiones antiquae, quarum altera metaphrasis potius quam versio est.

Two ancient versions survive, one of which is a paraphrase rather than a translation.

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(48) ‹anchor: enarrat his verbis› · call in col 1004

Notit. sept. Asiae Eccl., p. 164, edit. Oxon., 1672. Lumper. l. c., t. II, p. 461.

Notitia septem Asiae Ecclesiarum, p. 164, Oxford edition, 1672. Lumper, in the work cited, vol. II, p. 461.

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