The Martyrdom of Polycarp

I bless thee, that Thou hast granted me this day and hour, that I may share, among the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, for the Resurrection to everlasting life, both of soul and body in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. And may I, to-day, be received among them before Thee, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice.

For this reason I also praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee through the everlasting and heavenly high Priest, Jesus Christ, thy beloved Child, through whom be glory to Thee with him and the Holy Spirit, both now and for the ages that are to come. Amen.

Now when he had uttered his Amen and[*](The fire is lighted) finished his prayer, the men in charge of the fire lit it, and a great flame blazed up and we, to whom it was given to see, saw a marvel. And we have been preserved to report to others what befell.

For the fire made the likeness of a room, like the sail of a vessel filled with wind, and surrounded the body of the martyr as with a wall, and he was within it not as burning flesh, but as bread that is being baked, or as gold and silver being refined in a furnace. And we perceived such a fragrant smell as the scent of incense or other costly spices.

At length the lawless men, seeing that his[*](Polycarp’s death) body could not be consumed by the fire, commanded an executioner to go up and stab him with a dagger, and when he did this, there came out a dove,[*](This no doubt points to the belief that the spirit appears at death in the form of a bird. Cf. Prudentius Peristeph. Hymn. iii. 33 (other references are also given by Lightfoot).) and