The Voice from Heaven and Polycarp's First Confession
Polycarp has just been led into the stadium amid a great uproar, and now as he enters, a voice from heaven speaks to him, after which the proconsul begins his interrogation.
As Polycarp entered the stadium, a voice came from heaven: "Be strong, Polycarp, and act like a man." No one saw who spoke, but those of our people who were present heard the voice. Then, when he was brought forward, there was a great uproar from those who heard that Polycarp had been arrested.
When he was brought before him, the proconsul asked whether he was Polycarp. When he admitted it, the proconsul tried to persuade him to deny it, saying, "Have respect for your age," and other things that follow from this, as they customarily say: "Swear by Caesar's fortune, repent, say, 'Away with the atheists.'" But Polycarp looked with a stern face at the whole crowd of lawless nations in the stadium, shook his hand at them, groaned, looked up to heaven, and said, "Away with the atheists."
The proconsul pressed him and said, "Swear, and I release you; revile Christ." Polycarp replied, "For eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?"
Greek
Τῷ δὲ Πολυκάρπῳ εἰσιόντι εἰς τὸ στάδιον φωνὴ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐγένετο: Ἴσχυε, Πολύκαρπε, καὶ ἀνδρίζου. καὶ τὸν μὲν εἰπόντα οὐδεὶς εἶδεν, τὴν δὲ φωνὴν τῶν ἡμετέρων οἱ παρόντες ἤκουσαν. καὶ λοιπὸν προσαχθέντος αὐτοῦ, θόρυβος ἦν μέγας ἀκουσάντων, ὅτι Πολύκαρπος συνείληπται.
προσαχθέντα οὖν αὐτὸν ἀνηρώτα ὁ ἀνθύπατος, εἰ αὐτὸς εἴη Πολύκαρπος. τοῦ δὲ ὁμολογοῦντος, ἔπειθεν ἀρνεῖσθαι λέγων: Αἰδέσθητί σου τὴν ἡλικίαν, καὶ ἕτερα τούτοις ἀκόλουθα, ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς λέγειν: Ὄμοσον τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην, μετανόησον, εἶπον: Αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους. ὁ δὲ Πολύκαρπος ἐμβριθεῖ τῷ προσώπῳ εἰς πάντα τὸν ὄχλον τὸν ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ ἀνόμων ἐθνῶν ἐμβλέψας καὶ ἐπισείσας αὐτοῖς τὴν χεῖρα, στενάξας τε καὶ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἶπεν: Αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους.
ἐγκειμένου δὲ τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου καὶ λέγοντος: Ὄμοσον, καὶ ἀπολύω σε, λοιδόρησον τὸν Χριστόν, ἔφη ὁ Πολύκαρπος: Ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ ἓξ ἔτη δουλεύω αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐδέν με ἠδίκησεν: καὶ πῶς δύναμαι βλασφημῆσαι τὸν βασιλέα μου τὸν σώσαντά με;