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BOOK 4  (from: _Apostolic Fathers,_ Kirsopp Lake, 1912 (Loeb Classical Library))

                         POLYCARP to the Philippians

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CHAPTER 0
 0:0  Greeting
 0:1  |Polycarp and the Elders with him to the Church
of God sojourning in Philippi; mercy and peace from God
Almighty and Jesus Christ our Saviour be multiplied to
you.

CHAPTER 1
 1:0  The hospitality of the Philippians -- Their faith
 1:1  |I rejoice greatly with you in our Lord Jesus
Christ that you have followed the pattern of true love,
and have helped on their way, as opportunity was given
you, those who were bound in chains, which become the
saints, and are the diadems of those who have been
truly chosen by God and our Lord.
 1:2  I rejoice also that your firmly rooted faith,
which was famous in past years, still flourishes and
bears fruit unto our Lord Jesus Christ, who endured for
our sins, even to the suffering of death, "whom God
raised up, having loosed the pangs of Hades,
 1:3  in whom, though you did not see him, you believed
in unspeakable and glorified joy," -- into which joy
many desire to come, knowing that "by grace ye are
saved, not by works" but by the will of God through
Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 2
 2:0  Exhortation to virtue -- The hope of resurrection
-- The Lord's Teaching
 2:1  |"Wherefore girding up your loins serve God in
fear" and truth, putting aside empty vanity and vulgar
error, "believing on him who raised up our Lord Jesus
Christ from the dead and gave him glory," and a throne
on his right hand, "to whom are subject all things in
heaven and earth," whom all breath serves, who is
coming as "the Judge of the living and of the dead,"
whose blood God will require from them who disobey him.
 2:2  Now "he who raised him" from the dead "will also
raise us up" if we do his will, and walk in his
commandments and love the things which he loved,
refraining from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love
of money, evil speaking, false witness, "rendering not
evil for evil, or railing for railing," or blow for
blow, or curse for curse,
 2:3  but remembering what the Lord taught when he
said, "Judge not that ye be not judged, forgive and it
shall be forgiven unto you, be merciful that ye may
obtain mercy, with what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again," and, "Blessed are the poor, and
they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for
theirs is the Kingdom of God."

CHAPTER 3
 3:0  Polycarp's reason for writing: the invitation of
the Philippians
 3:1  |These things, brethren, I write to you
concerning righteousness, not at my own instance, but
because you first invited me.
 3:2  For neither am I, nor is any other like me, able
to follow the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul,
who when he was among you in the presence of the men of
that time taught accurately and stedfastly the word of
truth, and also when he was absent wrote letters to
you, from the study of which you will be able to build
yourselves up into the faith given you;
 3:3  "which is the mother of us all" when faith
follows, and love of God and Christ and neighbour goes
before. For if one be in this company he has fulfilled
the command of righteousness, for he who has love is
far from all sin.

CHAPTER 4
 4:0  Exhortations to virtue
 4:1  |"But the beginning of all evils is the love of
money." Knowing therefore that "we brought nothing into
the world and we can take nothing out of it," let us
arm ourselves with the armour of righteousness, and let
us first of all teach ourselves to walk in the
commandment of the Lord;
 4:2  next teach our wives to remain in the faith given
to them, and in love and purity, tenderly loving their
husbands in all truth, and loving all others equally in
all chastity, and to educate their children in the fear
of God.
 4:3  Let us teach the widows to be discreet in the
faith of the Lord, praying ceaselessly for all men,
being far from all slander, evil speaking, false
witness, love of money, and all evil, knowing that they
are the altar of God, and that all offerings are
tested, and that nothing escapes him of reasonings or
thoughts, or of "the secret things of the heart."

CHAPTER 5
 5:0  Christian obligations to a virtuous life
 5:1  |Knowing then that "God is not mocked," we ought
to walk worthily of his commandment and glory.
 5:2  Likewise must the deacons be blameless before his
righteousness, as the servants of God and Christ and
not of man, not slanderers, not double-tongued, not
lovers of money, temperate in all things,
compassionate, careful, walking according to the truth
of the Lord, who was the "servant of all." For if we
please him in this present world we shall receive from
him that which is to come; even as he promised us to
raise us from the dead, and that if we are worthy
citizens of his community, "we shall also reign with
him," if we have but faith.
 5:3  Likewise also let the younger men be blameless in
all things; caring above all for purity, and curbing
themselves from all evil; for it is good to be cut off
from the lust of the things in the world, because
"every lust warreth against the Spirit, and neither
fornicators nor the effeminate nor sodomites shall
inherit the Kingdom of God," nor they who do iniquitous
things. Wherefore it is necessary to refrain from all
these things, and to be subject to the presbyters and
deacons as to God and Christ. The virgins must walk
with a blameless and pure conscience.

CHAPTER 6
 6:0  The duties of the presbyters -- Forgiveness --
The service of God
 6:1  |And let the presbyters also be compassionate,
merciful to all, bringing back those that have
wandered, caring for all the weak, neglecting neither
widow nor orphan nor poor, but "ever providing for that
which is good before God and man," refraining from all
wrath, respect of persons, unjust judgment, being far
from all love of money, not quickly believing evil of
any, not hasty in judgment, knowing that "we all owe
the debt of sin." ^1
 6:2  If then we pray the Lord to forgive us, we also
ought to forgive, for we stand before the eyes of the
Lord and of God, and "we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, and each must give an account
of himself."
 6:3  So then "let us serve him with fear and all
reverence," as he himself commanded us, and as did the
Apostles, who brought us the Gospel, and the Prophets
who foretold the coming of our Lord. Let us be zealous
for good, refraining from offence, and from the false
brethren, and from those who bear the name of the Lord
in hypocrisy, who deceive empty-minded men.

== small type on ==
 ^1  The introductory formula "knowing that" renders it probable
that these words are a quotation, but the source is unknown.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 7
 7:0  Warning against heresy
 7:1  |"For everyone who does not confess that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is an anti-Christ"; and
whosoever does not confess the testimony of the Cross
is of the devil: and whosoever perverts the oracles of
the Lord for his own lusts, and says that there is
neither resurrection nor judgment, -- this man is the
first-born of Satan. ^1
 7:2  Wherefore, leaving the foolishness of the crowd,
and their false teaching, let us turn back to the word
which was delivered to us in the beginning, "watching
unto prayer" and persevering in fasting, beseeching the
all-seeing God in our supplications "to lead us not
into temptation," even as the Lord said, "The spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak."

== small type on ==
 ^1  This phrase, according to Irenaeus (_Adv. Haer._ 3/3:4) was
applied, presumably later, by Polycarp to Marcion.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 8
 8:0  Perseverance
 8:1  |Let us then persevere unceasingly in our hope,
and in the pledge of our righteousness, that is in
Christ Jesus, "who bare our sins in his own body on the
tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth," but for our sakes, that we might live in him,
he endured all things.
 8:2  Let us then be imitators of his endurance, and if
we suffer for his name's sake let us glorify him. For
this is the example which he gave us in himself, and
this is what we have believed.

CHAPTER 9
 9:0  The examples of the martyrs
 9:1  |Now I beseech you all to obey the word of
righteousness, and to endure with all the endurance
which you also saw before your eyes, not only in the
blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in
others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and in
the other Apostles;
 9:2  being persuaded that all of these "ran not in
vain," but in faith and righteousness, and that they
are with the Lord in the "place which is their due,"
with whom they also suffered. For they did not "love
this present world" but him who died on our behalf, and
was raised by God for our sakes.

CHAPTER 10
 10:0  Perseverance in philanthropy and good works
 10:1  |Stand fast therefore in these things and follow
the example of the Lord, "firm and unchangeable in
faith, loving the brotherhood, affectionate to one
another," joined together in the truth, forestalling
one another in the gentleness of the Lord, despising no
man.
 10:2  When you can do good defer it not, "for
almsgiving sets free from death; be ye all subject one
to the other, having your conversation blameless among
the Gentiles," that you may receive praise "for your
good works" and that the Lord be not blasphemed in you.
 10:3  "But woe to him through whom the name of the
Lord is blasphemed." Therefore teach sobriety to all
and show it forth in your own lives.

CHAPTER 11
 11:0  Valens -- Against avrice -- The treatment of
Valens
 11:1  |I am deeply sorry for Valens, who was once made
a presbyter among you, that he so little understands
the place which was given to him. I advise, therefore,
that you keep from avarice, and be pure and truthful.
Keep yourselves from all evil.
 11:2  For how may he who cannot attain self-control in
these matters enjoin it on another? If any man does not
abstain from avarice he will be defiled by idolatry,
and shall be judged as if he were among the Gentiles
who "know not the judgment of God." Or do we "not know
that the saints shall judge the world?" as Paul
teaches.
 11:3  But I have neither perceived nor heard any such
thing among you, among whom the blessed Paul laboured,
who are praised in the beginning of his Epistle. ^1 For
concerning you he boasts in all the Churches who then
alone had known the Lord, for we had not yet known him.
 11:4  Therefore, brethren, I am deeply sorry for him
[_i.e._ Valens] and for his wife, and "may the Lord
grant them true repentance." Therefore be yourselves
also moderate in this matter, and "do not regard such
men as enemies," but call them back as fallible and
straying members, that you may make whole the body of
you all. For in doing this you edify yourselves.

== small type on ==
 ^1  The Greek was perhaps _tois ousin en arche epistolais autou,_
and ought to be rendered "who were his epistles in the beginning,"
with a reference to 2 Cor. 3:2.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 12
 12:0  The need of forgiveness -- Prayer for blessing
 12:1  |For I am confident that you are well versed in
the Scriptures, ^1 and from you nothing is hid; but to
me this is not granted. Only, as it is said in these
Scriptures, "Be ye angry and sin not," and "Let not the
sun go down upon your wrath." Blessed is the man who
remembers this, and I believe that it is so with you.
 12:2  Now may God and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the "eternal Priest" himself, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, build you up in faith and truth, and in
all gentleness, and without wrath, and in patience, and
in longsuffering, and endurance, and purity, and may he
give you lot and part with his saints, and to us with
you, and to all under heaven who shall believe in our
Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his "Father who raised
him from the dead."
 12:3  "Pray for all the saints. Pray also for the
Emperors," ^2 and for potentates, and princes, and for
"those who persecute you and hate you," and for "the
enemies of the Cross" that "your fruit may be manifest
among all men, that you may be perfected" in him.

== small type on ==
 ^1  Probably this ought to be regarded as a quotation from the
letter of the Philippians to Polycarp.
 ^2  _Pro regibus_ is no doubt a translation of _huper basileon_
and _basileus_ is regularly used as the title of the Emperor.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 13
 13:0  Ignatius and the Church in Syria
 13:1  |Both you and Ignatius wrote to me that if
anyone was going to Syria he should also take your
letters. I will do this if I have a convenient
opportunity, either myself or the man whom I am sending
as a representative for you and me.
 13:2  We send you, as you asked, the letters of
Ignatius, which were sent to us by him, and others
which we had by us. These are subjoined to this letter,
and you will be able to benefit greatly from them. For
they contain faith, patience, and all the edification
which pertains to our Lord. Let us know anything
further which you have heard about Ignatius himself and
those who are with him.

CHAPTER 14
 14:0  Final greetings
 14:1  |I have written this to you by Crescens, whom I
commended to you when I was present, and now commend
again. For he has behaved blamelessly among us, and I
believe that he will do the same with you. His sister
shall be commended to you when she comes to you.
Farewell in the Lord Jesus Christ in grace, with all
who are yours. Amen.