1We write unto you, brethren, an account of what befell those that suffered martyrdom and especially the blessed Polycarp, who stayed the persecution, having as it were set his seal upon it by his martyrdom. For nearly all the foregoing events came to pass that Yahuah (Lord) might show us once more an example of martyrdom which is conformable to the Gospel Polycarp For he lingered that he might be delivered up, even as Yahuah (Lord) did, to the end that we too might be imitators of him, not lookingonly to that which concerneth ourselves, but also to that which concerneth our neighbors. For it is the office of true and steadfast love, not only to desire that oneself be saved, but all the brethren also. Polycarp
2Blessed therefore and noble are all the martyrdoms which have taken place according to the will of Elohim (God) (for it behoveth us to be very scrupulous and to assign to Elohim (God) the power over all things). Polycarp For who could fail to admire their nobleness and patient endurance and loyalty to the Master? seeing that when they were so torn by lashes that the mechanism of their flesh was visible even as far as the inward veins and arteries, they endured patiently, so that the very bystanders had pity and wept; while they themselves reached such a pitch of bravery that none of them uttered a cry or a groan, thus showing to us all that at that hour the martyrs of Messiah (Christ) being tortured were absent from the flesh, or rather that Yahuah (Lord) was standing by and conversing with them. Polycarp And giving heed unto the grace of Messiah (Christ) they despised the tortures of this world, purchasing at the cost of one hour a release from eternal punishment. And they found the fire of their inhuman torturers cold: for they set before their eyes the escape from the eternal fire which is never quenched; while with the eyes of their heart they gazed upon the good things which are reserved for those that endure patiently, things which neither ear hath heard nor eye hath seen, neither have they entered into the heart of man, but were shown by Yahuah (Lord) to them, for they were no longer men but angels already. Polycarp And in like manner also those that were condemned to the wild beasts endured fearful punishments, being made to lie on sharp shells and buffeted with other forms of manifold tortures, that the devil might, if possible, by the persistence of the punishment bring them to a denial; for he tried many wiles against them. Polycarp