Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Martyrdom of Polycarp 10:1-2


10 1 Ἐπιμένοντος δὲ´πάλιν αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγοντος· Ὄμοσον τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην, ἀπεκρίνατο· Εἰ κενοδοξεῖς, ἵνα ὀμόσω τὴν καίσαρος τύχην, ὡς σὺ λέγεις, προσποιεῖ δὲ ἀγνοεῖν με, τίς εἰμι, μετὰ παρρησίας ἄκουε· Χριστιανός εἰμι. εἰ δὲ θέλεις τὸν τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ μαθεῖν λόγον, δὸς ἡμέραν καὶ ἄκουσον. 2 ἔφη ὁ ἀνθύπατος· Πεῖσον τὸν δῆμον. ὁ δὲ Πολύκαρπος εἶπεν· Σὲ μὲν κἂν λόγου ἠξίωσα· δεδιδάγμεθα γὰρ ἀρχαῖς καὶ ἐξουσίαις ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τεταγμέναις τιμὴν κατὰ τό προσῆκον, τὴν μὴ βλάπτουσαν ἡμᾶς, ἀπονέμειν· ἐκείνους δὲ οὐχ ἡγοῦμαι ἀξίους τοῦ ἀπολογεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς.


“I am a Christian.”
10 Since he persisted and said, “Swear by the Fortunes of Caesar,” he answered, “If you vainly expect that I will swear by—as you say—the Fortune of Caesar, and act as if t I don’t know who I am, then listen to me openly: I am a Christian! If you want to learn the teaching of Christianity,u then name the day and hear about it. 2 The proconsul replied, “Persuade the people.” Polycarp answered, “To you indeed I consider myself accountable, for we have been taught to give honor the rulers and authorities appointed by God as long as it does not harm us. As for these, I don’t consider myself worthy to defend myself before them.”
——————————————
10:2 "worthy to defend myself before them" or perhaps "bound to defend myself before them."

10:1 Ὄμοσον “Swear” is an aorist (II Aor.) imperative from ὀμνύω or ὄμνυμι. This is the primary verb in Jesus' words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:20-22. Moulton says that “Verbs in -υμι, of more than two syllables, are without the 2nd aorist. But those of two syllables are generally only used in the 2nd aorist (he includes several examples)” (The Analytical Greek Lexicon, Revised 1978 Edition, p. xxxvi). ὄμοσον, the verb before us, follows the 2nd aorist pattern:

ὄμοσον     2nd singular
ὀμότω       3rd singular
  ὄμοτε        2nd plural
ὀμότωσαν 3rd plural
ὄμοτον      2nd dual
ὀμότων      3rd dual

10:1 προσποιεῖ “pretend, act as if.” Present active indicative 3 sg προσποιέομαι. Cf. Luke 24:28; Susanna 1:10 (the translations find this passage difficult, but KJV’s “yet durst not shew another his grief” catches the mood if not the grammar).

10:1 Χριστιανισμοῦ “Christianity” a word found only in this document and the letters of Ignatius (IRo 3:3; IMg 10:1,3; IPhld 6:1).

10:2 λόγον accusative singular, but here in the sense of “an account” rather than simply “word,” Compare Hebrews 4:13, πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος “to whom we must give account.”

10:2 δεδιδάγμεθα perfect passive participle m nom pl διδάσκω, “teach.” Polycarp’s point is that Christians abide by all laws of the Empire except where those laws clearly circumvent the authority of God himself (Acts 5:29).

10:2 προσῆκον present active participle  neuter nom sg προσήκω, a Septuagint word (1 Esdras 5:50; 2 Macc. 3:6) “be near, to have come/arrived at.”

10:2  ἀπολογεῖσθαι present middle infinitive  ἀπολογέομαι, “defend oneself,” a natural occurrence of the middle voice retaining its middle force.

No comments:

Post a Comment