Polycarp welcomes arrest and prays
Polycarp has withdrawn to a country house after betrayal, and armed men are now coming to seize him.
With the boy to guide them, they set out on the preparation day about suppertime, pursuers on foot and on horseback with their usual weapons, like men rushing out to take a robber. They arrived late and found him lying down in an upstairs room. He could still have left for another place, but he would not. Polycarp says, “May God’s will be done” (Matthew 6:10).
When he heard they were there, he came down and spoke with them, while those present marveled at his age and his firm composure, that so much urgency should go into arresting such an old man. At once he ordered them to set food and drink before them at that hour, as much as they wanted, and he asked them to give him an hour to pray without hindrance. They allowed it, and he stood and prayed, full of God’s grace, so that for two hours he could not fall silent, and his hearers were amazed, and many were sorry they had come after an old man so befitting God.
Greek
VII. Ἔχοντες οὖν τὸ παιδάριον, τῇ παρασκευῇ περὶ δείπνου ὥραν ἐξῆλθον διωγμῖται καὶ ἱππεῖς μετὰ τῶν συνήθων αὐτοῖς ὅπλων, ὡς ἐπὶ λῃστὴν τρέχοντες. Καὶ ὀψὲ τῆς ὥρας συνελθόντες, ἐκεῖνον μὲν εὗρον ἔν τινι δωματίῳ κατακείμενον ὑπερώῳ· κἀκεῖθεν δὲ ἠδύνατο εἰς ἕτερον χωρίον ἀπελθεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἠβουλήθη, εἰπών· Τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ γενέσθω. Ἀκούσας οὖν αὐτοὺς παρόντας, καταβὰς διελέχθη αὐτοῖς, θαυμαζόντων τῶν παρόντων τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ εὐσταθές, εἰ τοσαύτη σπουδὴ ἦν τοῦ συλληφθῆναι τοιοῦτον πρεσβύτην ἄνδρα. Εὐθέως οὖν αὐτοῖς ἐκέλευσε παρατεθῆναι φαγεῖν καὶ πιεῖν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ, ὅσον ἂν βούλωνται· ἐξητήσατο δὲ αὐτούς, ἵνα δώσωσιν αὐτῷ ὥραν πρὸς τὸ προσεύξασθαι ἀδεῶς. Τῶν δὲ ἐπιτρεψάντων, σταθεὶς προσηύξατο πλήρης ὢν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ, οὕτως ὡς ἐπὶ δύο ὥρας μὴ δύνασθαι σιγῆσαι, καὶ ἐκπλήττεσθαι τοὺς ἀκούοντας, πολλούς τε μετανοεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ ἐληλυθέναι ἐπὶ τοιοῦτον θεοπρεπῆ πρεσβύτην.