J. B. Lightfoot

Martyrdom of Polycarp 16

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1 So at length the lawless men, seeing that his body could not be consumed by the fire, ordered an executioner to go up to him and stab him with a dagger. And when he had done this, there came forth [a dove and] a quantity of blood, so that it extinguished the fire; and all the multitude marvelled that there should be so great a difference between the unbelievers and the elect.

2 In the number of these was this man, the glorious martyr Polycarp, who was found an apostolic and prophetic teacher in our own time, a bishop of the holy Church which is in Smyrna. For every word which he uttered from his mouth was accomplished and will be accomplished.

Text: J. B. Lightfoot. Public-domain translation by J. B. Lightfoot (1828–1889), transcribed by CCEL. Chapter divisions and paragraph order are retained; prologues are presented separately. Translation details.