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- Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
"The Sacred Writings Of ..." provides you with the essential works among the Early Christian writings. The volumes cover the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea. The Epistle of St. Polycarp was a reply to one from the Philippians, in which they had asked St. Polycarp to address them some words of exhortation; to forward by his own messenger a letter addressed by them to the Church of Antioch; and to send them any epistles of St. Ignatius which he might have. Polycarp's martyrdom is described in a letter from the Church of Smyrna, to the Church of Philomelium "and to all the brotherhoods of the holy and universal Church", etc. The letter begins with an account of the persecution and the heroism of the martyrs.
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The Sacred Writings of St. Polycarp
Contents:
St. Polycarp – A Biography
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP TO THE PHILIPPIANS.
The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
Chapter I.-Praise of the Philippians.
Chapter II.-An Exhortation to Virtue.
Chapter III.-Expressions or Personal Unworthiness.
Chapter IV.-Various Exhortations.
Chapter V.-The Duties of Deacons, Youths, and Virgins.
Chapter VI.-The Duties of Presbyters and Others.
Chapter VII.-Avoid the Docetae, and Persevere in Fasting and Prayer.
Chapter VIII.-Persevere in Hope and Patience.
Chapter IX.-Patience Inculcated.
Chapter X.-Exhortation to the Practice of Virtue.55
Chapter XI.-Expression of Grief on Account of Valens.
Chapter XII.-Exhortation to Various Graces.
Chapter XIII.-Concerning the Transmission of Epistles.
Chapter XIV.-Conclusion.
Introductory Note to the Epistle Concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp.
The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrnam
Chapter I.-Subject of Which We Write.
Chapter II.-The Wonderful Constancy of the Martyrs.
Chapter III.-The Constancy of Germanicus. The Death of Polycarp is Demanded.
Chapter IV.-Quintus the Apostate.
Chapter V.-The Departure and Vision of Polycarp.
Chapter VI.-Polycarp is Betrayed by a Servant.
Chapter VII.-Polycarp is Found by His Pursuers.
Chapter VIII.-Polycarp is Brought into the City.
Chapter IX.-Polycarp Refuses to Revile Christ.
Chapter X.-Polycarp Confesses Himself a Christian.
Chapter XI.-No Threats Have Any Effect on Polycarp.
Chapter XII.-Polycarp is Sentenced to Be Burned.
Chapter XIII.-The Funeral Pile is Erected.
Chapter XIV.-The Prayer of Polycarp.
Chapter XV.-Polycarp is Not Injured by the Fire.
Chapter XVI.-Polycarp is Pierced by a Dagger.
Chapter XVII.-The Christians are Refused Polycarp's Body.
Chapter XVIII.-The Body of Polycarp is Burned.
Chapter XIX.-Praise of the Martyr Polycarp.
Chapter XX.-This Epistle is to Be Transmitted to the Brethren.
Chapter XXI.-The Date of the Martyrdom.
Chapter XXII.-Salutation.
Footnotes
The Sacred Writings of St. Polycarp
Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck
86450 Altenmünster, Germany
ISBN: 9783849621575
www.jazzybee-verlag.de
Cover Design: © Sue Colvil - Fotolia.com
St. Polycarp – A Biography
Presumed martyr (A.D. 69 – 155)
The Epistles of St. Ignatius
Four out of the seven genuine epistles of St. Ignatius were written from Smyrna. In two of these — Magnesians and Ephesians — he speaks of Polycarp. The seventh Epistle was addressed to Polycarp. It contains little or nothing of historical interest in connexion with St. Polycarp. In the opening words St. Ignatius gives glory to God "that it hath been vouchsafed to me to see thy face". It seems hardly safe to infer, with Pearson and Lightfoot, from these words that the two had never met before.
The Epistle of St. Polycarp to the Philippians
The Epistle of St. Polycarp was a reply to one from the Philippians, in which they had asked St. Polycarp to address them some words of exhortation; to forward by his own messenger a letter addressed by them to the Church of Antioch; and to send them any epistles of St. Ignatius which he might have. The second request should be noted. St. Ignatius had asked the Churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia to send a messenger to congratulate the Church of Antioch on the restoration of peace; presumably, therefore, when at Philippi, he gave similar instructions to the Philippians. This is one of the many respects in which there is such complete harmony between the situations revealed in the Epistles of St. Ignatius and the Epistle of St. Polycarp, that it is hardly possible to impugn the genuineness of the former without in some way trying to destroy the credit of the latter, which happens to be one of the best attested documents of antiquity. In consequence some extremists, anti-episcopalians in the seventeenth century, and members of the Tubingen School in the nineteenth, boldly rejected the Epistle of Polycarp. Others tried to make out that the passages which told most in favour of the Ignatian epistles were interpolations.
These theories possess no interest now that the genuineness of the Ignatian epistles has practically ceased to be questioned. The only point raised which had any show of plausibility (it was sometimes used against the genuineness, and sometimes against the early date of St. Polycarp's Epistle) was based on a passage in which it might at first sight seem that Marcion was denounced: "For every one who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist; and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is a devil, and whosoever perverteth the oracles of the Lord (to serve) his own lusts, and saith there is neither resurrection nor judgment, this man is a first-born of Satan." St. Polycarp wrote his epistle before he had heard of St. Ignatius' martyrdom. Now, supposing the passage just quoted to have been aimed at Marcion (whom, on one occasion, as we shall presently see, St. Polycarp called to his face "the first-born of Satan"), the choice lies between rejecting the epistle as spurious on account of the anachronism, or bringing down its date, and the date of St. Ignatius' martyrdom to A.D. 130-140 when Marcion was prominent. Harnack seems at one time to have adopted the latter alternative; but he now admits that there need be no reference to Marcion at all in the passage in question (Chronologie, I, 387-8). Lightfoot thought a negative could be proved. Marcion, according to him, cannot be referred to because nothing is said about his characteristic errors, e.g., the distinction between the God of the Old and the God of the New Testament; and because the antinomianism ascribed to "the first-born of Satan" is inapplicable to the austere Marcion (Lightfoot, St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp, I, 585; all references to Lightfoot (L), unless otherwise stated, will be to this work).
When Lightfoot wrote it was necessary to vindicate the authenticity of the Ignatian epistles and that of St. Polycarp. If the former were forgeries, the latter, which supports — it might almost be said presupposes — them, must be a forgery from the same hand. But a comparison between Ignatius and Polycarp shows that this is an impossible hypothesis. The former lays every stress upon episcopacy, the latter does not even mention it. The former is full of emphatic declarations of the doctrine of the Incarnation, the two natures of Christ, etc. In the latter these matters are hardly touched upon. "The divergence between the two writers as regards Scriptural quotations is equally remarkable. Though the seven Ignatian letters are many times longer than Polycarp's Epistle, the quotations in the latter are incomparably more numerous, as well as more precise, than in the former. The obligations to the New Testament are wholly different in character in the two cases. The Ignatian letters do, indeed, show a considerable knowledge of the writings included in our Canon of the New Testament; but this knowledge betrays itself in casual words and phrases, stray metaphors, epigrammatic adaptations, and isolated coincidences of thought ... On the other hand in Polycarp's Epistle sentence after sentence is frequently made up of passages from the Evangelical and Apostolic writings ... But this divergence forms only part of a broader and still more decisive contrast, affecting the whole style and character of the two writings. The profuseness of quotations in Polycarp's Epistle arises from a want of originality ... On the other hand the letters of Ignatius have a marked individuality. Of all early Christian writings they are pre-eminent in this respect" (op.cit., 595-97).
Various passages in St. Irenaeus
In St. Irenaeus, Polycarp comes before us preeminently as a link with the past. Irenaeus mentions him four times: (a) in connection with Papias; (b) in his letter to Florinus; (c) in his letter to Pope Victor; (d) at the end of the celebrated appeal to the potior principalitas of the Roman Church.
In connection with Papias
