{"id":227,"date":"2017-01-03T21:31:22","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T05:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingthechurchfathers.wordpress.com\/?p=227"},"modified":"2017-01-03T21:31:22","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T05:31:22","slug":"the-martyrdom-of-polycarp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/the-martyrdom-of-polycarp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Martyrdom of Polycarp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gracing His Captors<\/strong><\/p>\n

He might have escaped into another place; but he refused, saying, \u201cThe will of God be done.\u201d So when he heard that they were come, he went down and spake with them. And as those that were present marvelled at his age and constancy, some of them said. \u201cWas so much effort made to capture such a venerable man?\u201d Immediately then, in that very hour, he ordered that something to eat and drink should be set before them, as much indeed as they cared for, while he besought them to allow him an hour to pray without disturbance. And on their giving him leave, he stood and prayed, being full of the grace of God, so that he could not cease for two full hours –remembering all that had ever come into contact with him, small and great, famous and obscure, and the whole catholic Church throughout the world– to the astonishment of them that heard him, insomuch that many began to repent that they had come forth against so godly and venerable an old man.<\/p>\n

Prayer at the Pyre<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cO Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before thee, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast counted me worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of Thy martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption of the Holy Spirit. Among whom may I be accepted this day before Thee as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, according as Thou, the ever-truthful God, hast foreordained, hast revealed beforehand to me, and now hast fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen.”<\/p>\n

Other Martyrs<\/strong><\/p>\n

They reached such a pitch of magnanimity, that not one of them let a sigh or a groan escape them; thus proving to us all that those holy martyrs of Christ, at the very time when they suffered such torments, were absent from the body, or rather, that the Lord then stood by them, and communed with them. And, looking to the grace of Christ, they despised all the torments of this world… For they kept before their view escape from that fire which is eternal and never shall be quenched, and looked forward with the eyes of their heart to those good things which are laid up for such as endure; things \u201cwhich ear hath not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man,\u201d but were revealed by the Lord to them, inasmuch as they were no longer men, but had already become angels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gracing His Captors He might have escaped into another place; but he refused, saying, \u201cThe will of God be done.\u201d So when he heard that they were come, he went down and spake with them. And as those that were present marvelled at his age and constancy, some of them said. \u201cWas so much effort made to capture such a venerable man?\u201d Immediately then, in that very hour, he ordered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-polycarp","tag-martyrdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":667,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-iv\/","url_meta":{"origin":227,"position":0},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata Book IV","author":"Nemo","date":"January 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Golden Race \u201cFor those who seek for gold,\u201d says Heraclitus, \u201cdig much earth and find little gold.\u201d But those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to them, will find the much in little. For the word will find one to understand it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1136,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/cyprian-on-pastoral-care-during-persecution\/","url_meta":{"origin":227,"position":1},"title":"Cyprian on Pastoral Care During Persecution","author":"Nemo","date":"March 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Nor let any one say, \u201cthat he who accepts martyrdom is baptized in his own blood, and peace is not necessary to him from the bishop, since he is about to have the peace of his own glory, and about to receive a greater reward from the condescension of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cyprian"","block_context":{"text":"Cyprian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/cyprian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1032,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-de-fuga-in-persecutione\/","url_meta":{"origin":227,"position":2},"title":"Tertullian: De Fuga in Persecutione","author":"Nemo","date":"January 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"[Paul] bids us shine as sons of light, not hide away out of sight as sons of darkness. 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He was also mindful of the words spoken by the prophet Elias, \u2018the Lord liveth before whose presence I stand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Athanasius"","block_context":{"text":"Athanasius","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/athanasius\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Temptation of St. Anthony","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/temptation_of_anthony-scaled.jpg?fit=914%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/temptation_of_anthony-scaled.jpg?fit=914%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/temptation_of_anthony-scaled.jpg?fit=914%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/temptation_of_anthony-scaled.jpg?fit=914%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peqR9l-3F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}