Martyrdom of Polycarp 9:1-3

Polycarp’s Trial
9 1 Τῷ δὲ Πολυκάρπῳ εἰσιόντι εἰς τὸ στάδιον φωνὴ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐγένετο· Ἴσχυε, Πολύκαρπε, καὶ ἀνδρίζου. καὶ τὸν μὲν εἰπόντα οὐδεὶς εἶδεν, τὴν δὲ φωνὴν τῶν ἡμετέρων οἱ παρόντες ἤκουσαν. καὶ λοιπὸν προσαχθέντος αὐτοῦ, θόρυβος ἦν μέγας ἀκουσάντων, ὅτι Πολύκαρπος συνείληπται. 2 προσαχθέντα οὖν αὐτὸν ἀνηρώτα ὁ ἀνθύπατος, εἰ αὐτὸς εἴη Πολύκαρπος. τοῦ δὲ ὁμολογοῦντος, ἔπειθεν ἀρνεῖσθαι λέγων· Αἰδέσθητί σου τὴν ἡλικίαν, καὶ ἕτερα τούτοις ἀκόλουθα, ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς λέγειν· Ὄμοσον τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην, μετανόησον, εἶπον· Αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους. ὁ δὲ Πολύκαρπος ἐμβριθεῖ τῷ πρoσώπῳ εἰς πάντα τὸν ὄχλον τὸν ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ ἀνόμων ἐθνῶν ἐμβλέψας καὶ ἐπισείσας αὐτοῖς τὴν χεῖρα, στενάξας τε καὶ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἶπεν· Αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους. 3 ἐγκειμένου δὲ τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου καὶ λέγοντος· Ὄμοσον, καὶ ἀπολύω σε, λοιδόρησον τὸν Χριστὸν, ἔφη ὁ Πολύκαρπος· Ὀγδoήκoντα καὶ ἓξ ἔτη δουλεύω αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐδέν με ἠδίκησεν· καὶ´πῶς δύναμαι βλασφημῆσαι τὸν βασιλέα μου τὸν σώσαντά με;

9 1 As he entered the stadium, a voice from heaven came to Polycarp: “Be strong and courageous, Polycarp!” No one saw the one who spoke, but many of our people heard the voice. Then, as he was brought forward,there was a very loud uproar now that they heard that Polycarp had been arrested. 2 So after he was brought forward, the proconsul asked him whether it was he, and when he admitted this, he tried to persuade him to deny his faith, saying “Respect you age,” and the other things that always follow this, like “Swear by the Genius of Caesar, change your mind,” and “Say: ‘Away with the atheists!’” 3 When the proconsul kept saying, “Take the oath and I will let you go; revile Christ,” Polycarp replied, “I have served him eighty-six years and he has never dealt injustly with me in any way. How can I blaspheme my king – the one who saved me?”
——————————
9:1 “Be strong and courageous.” Joshua 1:6, 7, 9; Deuteronomy 31:7; Ps-Ign. Hero 8.
9:2 “Away with the atheists,” that is, the Christians, because they deny the divinity of Caesar.

9:1 εἰσιόντι present active participle m dat sg εἴσειμι, “enter, go in.”

9:1 προσαχθέντος “bring forward” aorist passive participle προσάγω. I have taken the participle to be preliminary, as aorist circumstantial participles so often are.

9:2 ἀνηρώτα imperfect active indicative  3rd sg ἀνερωτάω “ask.” The ἀν- prefix probably intensifies the meaning, and we should understand a meaning like “pressed, inquired.” The word does not appear in Lampe's patristic lexicon, but the noun ἀνηρώτησις is there with the meaning "inquiry" (from Justin Martyr, Dialogue 68,3).

9:2 Αἰδέσθητί “respect, have regard for” Aorist passive αἰδέoμαι, a Septuagint word meaning primarily "be ashamed" but also "respect" (Prov. 24:23).

9:2 ἐμβριθεῖ “dignified, serious” ἐμβριθῆς.

9:2 ἐπισείσας “shake (one’s fist) at” Aorist ἐπισείω. The secondary meaning “urge on, incite” is used in the variant ἐπεισείσαντες of Acts 14:19 (Uncial D); cf. also 1 Samuel 26:19:  “The Lord has incited you against me.”

9:3 Ὀγδoήκoντα καὶ ἓξ ἔτη  “eighty-six years,” Polycarp was born in about 70 AD, around the time of the destruction of the temple. He would have been in his twenties when John was writing his books; just the age to have been able to still be called a disciple of John.

9:3 λοιδόρησον “revile, abuse” aorist λοιδoρέω, as in John 9:28; Acts 23:4.

9:3 βλασφημῆσαι τὸν βασιλέα μου  “How can I blaspheme my king?” Christ is truly King over all mankind, and the Christian in particular understands this through the sacrifice he made and the rescue he brought for all mankind from our sins.