Saint Polycarp was born around 69 of the Christian era. All
the information that we have today about him, is contained in the writings of
St Irenaeus, St Ignatius, Tertullian, Polycarp’s own Letter to the Philippians,
in the anonymous Martyrdom of Polycarp, and Eusebius.
It is assumed according to these accounts that Polycarp was a
follower of St John Apostle, who eventually appointed him Bishop of Smyrna, Turkey
(1)
According to these sources, St Polycarp suffered martyrdom
for refusing to offer incense to the Roman Emperor’s statue.
HIS
MARTYRDOM
When sentenced to death, it is said the Roman Consul asked
him to consider his old age and accept to worship the Emperor and be spared. At
that moment, the Christians present, heard a voice from Heaven:
“BE STRONG POLYCARP, BE STRONG”
To this, Polycarp answered:
“Eighty
and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong, How then can I
blaspheme my King and Saviour?.
Then the Consul told him that he had lions and tigers to eat
him, to which Polycarp answered:
“Call
them. It is unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is
evil. I will be glad though to be changed from evil to righteousness.”
Seeing the Roman Consul that Polycarp was not afraid of wild
beasts, he threatened him with burning him alive. But to this Polycarp said:
“You
threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is
quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is
prepared for the wicked”.
To the surprised face of the Consul, St Polycarp looked to
the people screaming for his death, and said to the Consul:
“Stop
talking, what are you waiting for?; Bring on whatever you want”
When Polycarp was taken to the pole where he would burn, he
told the executioners that he did not need restrains to resists the fire, since
God had promised him that He would give him the strength to resists the
burning, and that he would not struggle or run away from the fire.
When he was position to be burned, Polycarp prayed:
“O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed
Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of you, the God of
angels, powers and every creature, and of all the righteous who live before
you, I give you thanks that you count me worthy to be numbered among your
martyrs, sharing the cup of Christ and the resurrection to eternal life, both
of soul and body, through the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received
this day as an acceptable sacrifice, as you, the true God, have predestined,
revealed to me, and now fulfilled. I praise you for all these things, I bless
you and glorify you, along with the everlasting Jesus Christ, your beloved Son.
To you, with him, through the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and forever. Amen.”
When finally the fire was alighted and the people present
saw that the fire was not consuming him; the Roman Consul ordered the executioners
to stub him with a dagger. Finally St Polycarp gave the spirit, in the year
156, under Emperor Antoninus Pious.
His dead body was then burned, and his bones collected by
the believers to be kept as relics. (2)
INTERESTING
DETAILS
St Polycarp together with St Ignatius of Antioch, Papias and
St Clement of Rome, are considered in high regard among the Church Fathers for
having known the Apostles in the flesh. Their opinions and teachings are
regarded in importance second to the New Testament.
St Polycarp is known for his dispute over the date of the
Passover, with Roman Pope St Anicetus, who wanted to standardized the Passover
to a fixed date in the Christian Calendar, as we have it today; but St Polycarp
defended his apostolic custom to celebrate Eastern on the 14th of
Nissan, together with the Jews, regardless of when it fell on the week.
St Polycarp is also said to have kept the Saturday Shabbat,
as well as the Christian Sunday, the same way it is done today by the Ethiopian
Orthodox.
His only surviving work is his Letter to the Philippians. (3)
His feast day is kept on the 23rd February in
East and West.
Omar Flores.
(1) Tertullian,
Prescription Against Heretics, 32
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:3:4
Clayton Jefford, Kenneth Harder, and Louis
Amezaga, Reading the Apostolic Fathers:
An Introduction, 1996
(2) The Martyrdom of Polycarp or Letter of the Smyrnaeans, 8:2-16:1
(3) Polycarp’s
Letter to the Philippians
The
Martyrdom of Polycarp, 21:1
Herbert Anthony Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, 1972,
p. 137-167
William Cave, Primitive Christianity: or the Religion of the Ancient Christians in
the First Ages of the Gospel, 1840, p. 84-85
Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Fragments from the lost writings of
Irenaeus, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, 1885
Eusebius, The History of the Church, 5:24:2-7
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