4.14.1
XIV. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν δηλουμένων, Ἀνικήτου τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας ἡγουμένου, Πολύκαρπον ἔτι περιόντα τῷ βίῳ γενέσθαι τε ἐπὶ Ῥώμης καὶ εἰς ὁμιλίαν τῷ Ἀνικήτῳ ἐλθεῖν διά τι ζήτημα περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ πάσχα ἡμέρας Εἰρήναιος ἱστορεῖ. καὶ ἄλλην δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς περὶ τοῦ Πολυκάρπου πάρα· δίδωσιν διήγησιν, ἢν ἀναγκαῖον τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ δηλουμένοις ἐπισυνάψαι, οὕτως ἔχουσαν·
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XIV. During the time of the emperors referred to, while Anicetus was ruling the church of Rome, Irenaeus relates that Polycarp, still alive, came to Rome and conversed with Anicetus about some difficulty as to the day of the Passover. The same writer tells another story about Polycarp, which it is necessary to add to what has been said about him; it runs as follows:
4.14.2
“Καὶ Πολύκαρπος δὲ οὐ μόνον ὑπὸ ἀποστόλων μαθητευθεὶς καὶ συναναστραθεὶς πολλοῖς τοῖς τὸν κύριον ἑορακόσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ ἀποστόλων κατασταθεὶς εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐν τῇ ἐν Σμύρνη ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐπίσκοπος, ὃν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἑοράκαμεν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμῶν ἡλικίᾳ ἐπὶ πολὺ γὰρ παρέμεινεν καὶ πάνυ γηραλέος ἐνδόξως καὶ ἐπιφανέστατα μαρτυρήσας ἐξῆλθεν τοῦ βίου), ταῦτα διδάξας ἀεὶ ἃ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἔμαθεν, ἃ καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία παραδίδωσιν, ἃ καὶ μόνα ἐστὶν ἀληθῆ. μαρτυροῦσι τούτοις αἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐκκλησίαι πᾶσαι καὶ οἱ μέχρι νῦν διαδεδεγμένοι τὸν Πολύκαρπον, πολλῷ ἀφιοπιστότερον καὶ βεβαιότερον ἀληθείας μάρτυρα ὄντα Οὐαλεντίνου καὶ Μαρκίωνος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν κακογνωμόνων· ὃς καὶ ἐπὶ Ἀνικήτου ἐπιδημήσας τῆ Ῥώμῃ, πολλοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν προειρημένων αἱρετικῶν ἐπέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, μίαν καὶ μόνην ταύτην ἀλήθειαν κηρύξας ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων παρειληφέναι τὴν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παραδεδομένην. καὶ εἰσὶν οἱ ἀκηκοότες αὐτοῦ ὅτι Ἰωάννης ὁ τοῦ κυρίου μαθητὴς ἐν τῇ Ἐφέσῳ πορευθεὶς λούσασθαι καὶ ἰδὼν ἔσω Κήρινθον ἐξήλατο τοῦ βαλανείου μὴ λουσάμενος, ἀλλ’ ἐπειπών ἴ’ φύγωμεν, μὴ καὶ τὸ βαλανεῖον συμπέσῃ, ἔνδον ὄντος Κηρίνθου τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθροῦ.’ καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Πολύκαρπος Μαρκίωνί ποτε εἰς ὄφιν αὐτῷ ἐλθόντι καὶ φήσαντι ῾ἐπιγίνωσκε ἡμᾶς᾿ ἀπεκρίθη ῾ ἐπιγινώακω· ἐπιγινώσκω τὸν πρωτότοκον τοῦ οατανᾶ.᾿ τοσαύτην οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτῶν ἔαχον εὐλάβειαν πρὸς τὸ μηδὲ μέχρι λόγου κοινωνεῖν τινὶ τῶν παραχαρασσόντων τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὡς καὶ Παῦλος ἔφησεν αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον μετὰ μίαν καὶ δευτέραν νουθεαίαν παραιτοῦ, εἰδὼς ὅτι ἐξέστραπται ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ ἁμαρτάνει ὢν αὐτοκατάκριτος.᾿ ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ἐπιστολὴ Πολυκάρπου πρὸς Φιλιππηαίους γεγραμμένη ἱκανωτάτη, ἐξ ἧς καὶ τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς πίατεως αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα τῆς ἀληθείας οἱ βουλόμενοι καὶ φροντίζοντες τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας δύνανται μαθεῖν.” ταῦτα ὁ Εἰρήναιος· ὁ γέ τοι Πολύκαρπος ἐν τῆ δηλωθείσῃ πρὸς Φιλιππηαίους αὐτοῦ γραφῇ, φερομένη εἰς δεῦρο, κέχρηταί τισιν μαρτυρίαις ἀπὸ τῆς Πέτρου προτέρας ἐπιστολῆς.
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From the third book of Irenaeus Against Heresies
4.14.3
Ἀντωνῖνον μὲν δὴ τὸν Eὐσεβῆ κληθέντα, εἰκοστὸν καὶ δεύτερον ἔτος τῆς ἀρχῆς διανύααντα, Μάρκος Αὐρήλιος Οὐῆρος, ὁ καὶ Ἀντωνῖνος, υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, σὺν καὶ Λουκίῳ ἀδελφῷ διαδέχεται.
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“And Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles and conversed with many who had seen the Lord, but was also appointed bishop by apostles in Asia in the church in Smyrna. We also saw him in our childhood, for he lived a long time and, in extreme old age, passed from life, a splendid and glorious martyr. He constantly taught those things which he had learned from the apostles, which also are the tradition of the church, which alone are true. To these facts all the churches in Asia bear witness, and the present successors of Polycarp, and he is a far more trustworthy and reliable witness of the truth than Valentinus and Marcion and the others who hold wrong opinions. In the time of Anicetus he visited Rome and converted many of the above-mentioned heretics to the church of God, preaching that the one and only truth which he had received from the apostles was that which is the tradition of the church. And there are those who heard him tell that John the disciple of the Lord, going in Ephesus to bathe and seeing Cerinthus within, sprang out of the baths without bathing, calling out, ‘Let us fly lest the baths fall in, since Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is inside.’ And Polycarp himself, when Marcion once met him and said, ‘Recognize us,’ answered, ‘I do recognize the first-born of Satan.’ Such care did the apostles and their disciples take not even to join in conversation with any of those who mutilate the truth, as Paul also said, ‘A man that is heretical after a first and second exhortation, refuse, knowing such a one is perverted and sinneth, being self-condemned.’ There is also a most powerful letter of his written to the Philippians, from which those who wish and care for their own salvation can learn both the character of his faith and the preaching of the truth,” so says Irenaeus. Moreover, Polycarp, in his above-mentioned letter to the Philippians, which is still extant, has made some quotations from the first Epistle of Peter.1