After about 67AD, when Saints Peter and Paul were killed, the church in Rome lost its link with people who had walked and talked with Jesus. The apostolic age lasted longer in the East where Saint John lived until about the year 100. Saint Polycarp was one of John’s converts and it was John who made him bishop of Smyrna (modern Izmir in Turkey). Polycarp is the link between the apostles and the Early Church Fathers who did so much to set Christianity on the track it follows today.
The fact that Polycarp knew John and other people who had seen and heard Jesus makes him very important in the history of the church. As someone who knew the apostles he was called upon to guarantee the truth of tradition. When various reinterpretations of what Christianity was about arose in Rome, Polycarp was called on to go there to bring about uniformity of faith and practice. Ignatius, a neighbouring Bishop, wrote this to Polycarp in about the year 108; “So approving am I of your godly mind, which is, as it were, grounded on an immoveable rock, that my praise exceeds all bounds.” Tertullian (active around the year 200) used Polycarp to guarantee the authenticity of his own faith. He wrote; “heresies are at best novelties, and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ. perhaps some heretics may claim Apostolic antiquity: we reply: Let them publish the origins of their churches and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles or from some bishop appointed by the Apostles, as the Syrnaeans count from Polycarp and John; let heretics invent something to match this!”
Polycarp is also an important link to the New Testament. In his letter to the church in Philippi, he quotes from many of Saint Paul’s letters, the first three Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles as well as the letters of Peter and John. But perhaps the most important fact about Polycarp is that his death is very well documented indeed. It is one of the earliest of the very few genuine accounts of a Christian martyrdom from the age of persecutions.
Right after he was killed, the church in Smyrna wrote a letter to be sent round all the neighbouring churches describing how Polycarp met his death. It said this:
“He was met by Herodes the captain of police and his father Nicetes, who also removed him to their carriage and tried to prevail upon him, seating themselves by his side and saying, 'Why what harm is there in saying, Caesar is Lord, and offering incense', with more to this effect, 'and saving thyself?' But he at first gave them no answer. When however they persisted, he said, 'I am not going to do what you tell me.' Then they, failing to persuade him, uttered threatening words and made him dismount with speed, so that he bruised his shin, as he got down from the carriage.
When he was brought before him, the proconsul enquired whether he were the man. And on his confessing that he was, he tried to persuade him to a denial saying, 'Have respect to your age. Swear by the genius of Caesar; repent and say, Away with the atheists.' Then Polycarp with solemn countenance looked upon the whole multitude of lawless heathen that were in the stadium, and waved his hand to them; and looking up to heaven he said, 'Away with the atheists.' But when the magistrate pressed him hard and said, 'Swear the oath, and I will release you; revile the Christ,' Polycarp said, 'Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?'
It was too late in the day to throw Polycarp to the lions in the stadium so the crowd decided to burn him instead. The fire would not light so the executioner simply stabbed him to death. His body was burnt when they eventually got the fire going but his place as a living link to the age of the apostles still survives.
Author: C B Whittle