Polycarp
Polycarp to the Philippians
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna
Bishop of Smyrna — shelved beside his friend’s letter.
- Catch rate
- 140 / 255
- Base research
- 70
- Stat total
- 208
Base stats
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
Why these numbers
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
Polycarp learned from the apostle John himself and sealed this letter’s teaching with his martyrdom — that witness gives it real Contend.
Part of Polycarp’s Greek is lost; the rest of the letter reaches us only through a Latin translation. A partly translated text defends a little less surely.
Moves learned
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martyr’s Resolve | Ethics | Argument | 50 | 100% | 15 |
| 1 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 6 | Silence | Christology | Type shift | — | — | 10 |
| 9 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 15 |
| 12 | He Truly Suffered | Christology | Argument | 60 | 100% | 15 |
| 15 | Martyr’s Witness | History | Argument | 65 | 100% | 10 |
Read it: The Firstborn of Satan
The passages the Scriptorium holds on screen, word for word from a public-domain translation. Written in Koine Greek (chs. 1–9; the rest survives only in Latin).
“…forasmuch as you know that it is by grace you are saved, not of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.”
Polycarp, To the Philippians 1.3 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
“For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is antichrist; and whosoever shall not confess the testimony of the Cross is of the devil; and whosoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man is the firstborn of Satan.”
Polycarp, To the Philippians 7.1 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
“Let us therefore without ceasing hold fast by our hope and by the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, who took up our sins in his own body upon the tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, but for our sakes he endured all things, that we might live in him.”
Polycarp, To the Philippians 8.1 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
“But he who cannot govern himself in these things, how does he enjoin this upon another?”
Polycarp, To the Philippians 11.2 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
“Pray for all the saints. Pray also for kings and powers and princes, and for them that persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest among all men, that you may be perfect in him.”
Polycarp, To the Philippians 12.3 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain, lightly modernized).
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of the apostle John. Written to Philippi c. A.D. 110–140, shortly after Ignatius passed through on his way to Rome. Polycarp was burned at the stake around A.D. 155–160.
Irenaeus reports that Polycarp said the "firstborn of Satan" line to Marcion’s face. He was not writing at a safe distance from anyone.
The zinger at 11.2 comes from a hard case: Valens, a presbyter who fell into covetousness. Polycarp’s instruction about him is restorative — "hold not such as enemies, but restore them as frail and erring members" (11.4).
“The letters of Ignatius which were sent to us by him… we send unto you” (13.2). Polycarp gathered his friend’s letters and forwarded them. That is the reason we have Ignatius at all.