Polycarp of Smyrna

Polycarp was born around the year AD 69, probably in Smyrna, in Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. Little is known of his early years. According to Irenaeus, who knew him as a boy, he was taught by the apostles and was appointed bishop of Smyrna by the apostles. In particular, he said that Polycarp had been a disciple of the apostle John. He recalled how Polycarp used to speak of his conversations with John and with others who had seen the Lord, and of the things that they had said about the Lord's miracles and teaching. Irenaeus said that he heard these accounts as a boy and that he wrote them down in his heart. This link with the apostolic age gave Polycarp great authority.

Smyrna was one of the seven churches addressed in the book of Revelation. The church there was described by the risen Christ as poor yet rich, and it was warned that it would suffer. Polycarp became its leader in the early second century. He was a well-known figure in the churches of Asia. When Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, was taken as a prisoner to Rome, he stopped at Smyrna and was received by Polycarp. Ignatius later wrote a letter to Polycarp, in which he encouraged him to stand firm. After Ignatius passed through, the church at Philippi wrote to Polycarp and asked him for copies of Ignatius's letters. Polycarp sent them with a letter of his own, the Letter to the Philippians, which has survived. It is a short and practical letter, full of quotations from the New Testament. It stressed righteousness, love and steadfastness. It warned against false teachers who denied that Christ had come in the flesh.

He was a defender of the faith against error. He opposed the heretic Marcion, who rejected the Old Testament and a part of the New. According to Irenaeus, Polycarp once met Marcion in Rome, and Marcion asked whether he recognized him. Polycarp replied that he recognized him as the firstborn of Satan. This was a harsh remark, and it showed the horror that he felt for those who twisted the gospel. Around the year 155, when Polycarp was an old man, he went to Rome to discuss with the bishop, Anicetus, the question of the date of Easter. The churches of Asia kept the date according to the Jewish calendar, while Rome followed another custom. The two men could not agree, but they parted in peace. Anicetus allowed Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own church, as a mark of respect.

His death is recorded in a letter from the church of Smyrna to the church at Philomelium, called the Martyrdom of Polycarp. It is one of the oldest accounts of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament. It tells of a day of persecution, probably in about 155 or 156, when a crowd in the stadium at Smyrna called for the death of the Christians. A number of believers were thrown to the beasts. The crowd shouted for Polycarp to be found. He was at a farm outside the city. He had been persuaded by his friends to hide, but he was found when a slave boy was tortured into revealing where he was. He was calm. He ordered that food and drink be set before the men who came to arrest him and asked for an hour to pray. He prayed for two hours, remembering all those whom he had known.

He was brought into the city on a donkey. On the way, the police chief, Herod, and his father tried to persuade him to say that Caesar is Lord and to offer a sacrifice. He refused. In the stadium, the proconsul urged him to swear by the emperor and to curse Christ. He was told that he would be released if he did so. He replied that for eighty-six years he had served Christ and that Christ had done him no wrong, and he asked how he could blaspheme his king who had saved him. The proconsul threatened him with the beasts and with fire. He said that the fire that he threatened burns for an hour and is quenched, while the fire of the coming judgment is never quenched.

He was condemned to be burned. He was to be nailed to the stake, but he said that those who gave him strength to endure the flames would give him strength to remain without nails. So he was tied. He prayed aloud, giving thanks that he had been counted worthy to share in the cup of Christ. The fire was lit. The account says that the flames made an arch around his body, like a sail filled with wind, and that he was not burned but was like gold or silver refined in a furnace. An executioner finally stabbed him with a dagger. His bones were gathered by the believers and laid in a suitable place.

His death was a model for the church of the age of martyrs. His life shows the faith of one who walked with those who had walked with Jesus and who stood firm to the end. He lived to a great age and died with a prayer of thanksgiving.