Polycarp - The Martyrdom of Polycarp

Chapter XXI.—The date of the martyrdom.

Now, the blessed Polycarp suffered martyrdom on the second day of the month Xanthicus just begun, ^[476] the seventh day before the Kalends of May, on the great Sabbath, at the eighth hour. ^[477] He was taken by Herod, Philip the Trallian being high priest, ^[478] Statius Quadratus being proconsul, but Jesus Christ being King for ever, to whom be glory, honour, majesty, and an everlasting throne, from generation to generation. Amen.

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[476] The translation is here very doubtful. Wake renders the words menos histamenou, "of the present month."

[477] Great obscurity hangs over the chronology here indicated. According to Usher, the Smyrnæans began the month Xanthicus on the 25th of March. But the seventh day before the Kalends of May is the 25th of April. Some, therefore, read 'Aprillion instead of Maion. The great Sabbath is that before the passover. The "eighth hour" may correspond either to our 8 a.m. or 2 p.m.

[478] Called before (chap. xii.) Asiarch.

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