Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155)

A living link in the apostolic chain

Polycarp holds a rare place in Christian history: he is one of the last men to have touched the generation of the apostles with his own hands, and one of the first whose words and deeds are reported to us in detail. Irenaeus, who heard him, presents him as a witness of the first rank:

"But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna." — Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III, 3, 4^[6]

This testimony is decisive. It makes Polycarp a bridge between two worlds: behind him, the apostles and the first disciples; before him, the 2nd-century Church which must hand on the faith without its founders. Polycarp is precisely that relay. Through him, the preaching received from Saint John passes to Irenaeus, and from Irenaeus to the whole great theological tradition. That is why the Fathers never quote him as a mere elder: they quote him as an authority of continuity, a man who could say what the apostles had actually taught.

The meaning of his name and of his city

The Greek name Polykarpos means "rich in fruit", "most fruitful". Providence seems to have willed that this name match his mission: a long life, spiritual fruitfulness, a lasting posterity through his disciples. He was the bishop of Smyrna, one of the seven Churches of Asia addressed in Revelation — precisely the one to which Christ promises: "Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10)^[7]. One may read in this, in spirit, as an announcement of Polycarp's destiny, faithful unto martyrdom: the coincidence struck its readers.

The city of Smyrna

Smyrna — present-day Izmir, on the Aegean coast of Turkey — was in the 2nd century a great port city of the Roman province of Asia, rich, learned, proud of its imperial cult. For Christians, this splendour had a reverse side: the cult of the emperor was particularly vigorous there, and the Christian refusal to "swear by the fortune of Caesar" was felt as a civic threat. It was in this setting that Polycarp exercised a long episcopate, and there that he would die, under pressure from a crowd demanding his blood^[8].

The Church of Asia and the heritage of Saint John

Asia Minor was steeped in the memory of Saint John, who, according to tradition, ended his days at Ephesus. Several figures of this region are linked to the apostle: Polycarp at Smyrna, Papias at Hierapolis^[9], later Melito at Sardis^[10]. This "Johannine school" of Asia would be distinguished notably by its way of fixing the date of Easter — the very question that would lead Polycarp to Rome. On the other witnesses of this region, see Saint Papias and Saint Melito of Sardis.

Irenaeus's testimony: a childhood memory

The most moving proof of Polycarp's bond with the apostles comes from Irenaeus. Having become Bishop of Lyons, he wrote to a former fellow-disciple, Florinus, who was drifting towards gnosis, to recall him to the teaching received from their common master. He then described, with striking precision, what as a child he had seen and heard:

"I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse, his goings out and his comings in, his manner of life and personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people, and how he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord, and how he would call their words to remembrance." — Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Letter to Florinus, quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, V, 20^[11]

Irenaeus adds that these childhood memories remained in him more vividly than recent events, "for what we learn in childhood grows with the soul and is united to it"^[12]. This passage is one of the most precious in all early Christian literature: it gives us a living portrait of Polycarp, an aged bishop teaching seated, handing on not speculations but what the eyewitnesses of Christ had told him.

"Polycarp reported all things in harmony with the Scriptures"

Irenaeus stresses a decisive trait: Polycarp's preaching was entirely in agreement with Scripture^[13]. The aged bishop did not appeal to a secret revelation or a "knowledge" reserved for the few — the very argument of the Gnostics — but faithfully handed on what he had received, in harmony with the apostolic writings. That is the whole meaning of his authority: not originality, but fidelity. Where the heresies claimed hidden traditions, Polycarp embodied the public tradition, verifiable, received from known masters and openly handed on.

A letter on the road to martyrdom

Around 107-110, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, led in chains to Rome to be thrown to the beasts, crossed Asia Minor. He met Polycarp at Smyrna and afterwards addressed a letter to him — the Epistle to Polycarp — urging him to bear the weight of his episcopal charge with firmness and gentleness:

"Stand firm, as an anvil when it is smitten. It is the part of a noble athlete to be wounded, and yet to conquer." — Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Polycarp, 3-4^[14]

This letter shows that Polycarp, still relatively young, was already recognised as a bishop of weight, able to uphold the Church while the apostles and their first successors were disappearing. On the figure of Ignatius, see Saint Ignatius of Antioch.

Polycarp, guardian and transmitter of Ignatius's letters

Polycarp rendered the Church an invaluable service: he collected and transmitted the letters of Ignatius. He writes so himself to the Philippians, who had asked him for them:

"The letters of Ignatius which he sent to us, and all the others which we had with us, we have sent to you, as you requested: they are joined to this letter. You will derive great profit from them, for they treat of faith, patience, and all things that edify in the Lord." — Saint Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians, 13^[15]

Without this act, much of the precious Ignatian corpus might have been lost. Polycarp is thus, quite concretely, one of the first craftsmen of the transmission of early Christian texts.

A single surviving letter, solidly authentic

Of all Polycarp's correspondence, a single letter has come down to us: his Epistle to the Philippians. It answers the Church of Philippi, which had written to him after Ignatius's passing. Its authenticity is solidly attested: Irenaeus mentions it as a letter "most satisfactory" from which one may learn "the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth"^[16]. It opens with a pastoral greeting typical of the first Christians:

"Polycarp, and the presbyters with him, to the Church of God sojourning at Philippi: mercy to you, and peace from God Almighty, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, be multiplied." — Saint Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians, greeting^[17]

A spirituality of righteousness, prayer and perseverance

The letter is no treatise: it is a moral and pastoral exhortation, dense with biblical quotations. In it Polycarp recalls the duties of each — husbands, widows, deacons, young men, presbyters — in a spirit of evangelical righteousness. He warns against attachment to money:

"For the love of money is the root of all evils. Knowing, therefore, that 'as we brought nothing into the world, so we can carry nothing out,' let us arm ourselves with the armour of righteousness." — Saint Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians, 4^[18]

He invites his readers to "watch unto prayer, and persevere in fasting"^[19], and gives of widows an image that marked tradition: they are "the altar of God" — that is, consecrated women whose prayer rises unceasingly^[20]. The whole letter breathes a sober, biblical, communal piety, without speculation, turned towards concrete holiness.

An early witness to the New Testament

The Epistle to the Philippians has considerable historical value for the formation of the canon of Scripture: in a few pages, Polycarp quotes or echoes a large part of the New Testament. By the middle of the 2nd century, these texts already function as a received authority in the Church. The table below gives an overview of the sources Polycarp draws upon.

For Polycarp, these writings are not novelties to be debated: they are the received words, which he hands on as the rule of faith and conduct.

Marcion, "the first-born of Satan"

In the 2nd century, the Church faced currents that distorted the Gospel: gnosis, which claimed to offer a hidden knowledge reserved for an elite, and Marcionism, which rejected the Old Testament and opposed the Creator God to the Father of Jesus. Polycarp, guardian of the apostolic faith, met them with a clear refusal. Irenaeus reports a meeting that became famous:

"Polycarp himself, when Marcion once confronted him and said, 'Know us,' replied, 'I do know you, the first-born of Satan.'" — Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III, 3, 4^[21]

The retort, harsh to our sensibilities, expresses the gravity of the danger: for Polycarp, falsifying the Gospel was not a variant of opinion, but a betrayal of the truth received from Christ. On these currents, see The Heresies of the Early Centuries.

The journey to Rome and the meeting with Pope Anicetus

Around 154-155, already very old, Polycarp undertook the long journey to Rome. Irenaeus notes that he turned many away from the heretics to the Church of God there^[22]. But the main reason for his coming was a question of discipline: the date of the feast of Easter. It was the occasion of an exemplary meeting between the bishop of Asia and Pope Anicetus. On this pontiff, see Pope Saint Anicetus.

The Easter controversy: a disagreement in peace

The Churches of Asia, faithful to the usage inherited from Saint John, celebrated Easter on the 14th of the month of Nisan, the day of the Jewish Passover, whatever the day of the week — hence their name of Quartodecimans ("of the fourteenth"). Rome preferred to celebrate it on the following Sunday. Polycarp and Anicetus discussed the matter without reaching agreement — but their disagreement remained fraternal, a model of communion within diversity of usage:

"Neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John, the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it. […] Anicetus conceded to Polycarp the celebration of the Eucharist in his church, manifestly out of respect, and they parted from one another in peace." — Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Letter to Pope Victor, quoted by Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, V, 24^[23]

Irenaeus would report this episode decades later, when a new Easter crisis, under Pope Victor I, threatened to break communion: the example of Polycarp and Anicetus then became an argument for peace. The old martyr of Smyrna thus teaches, even in a quarrel over a calendar, that the unity of charity comes before uniformity of usage.

The earliest surviving martyrdom account

We know of Polycarp's death through an exceptional document: the Martyrdom of Polycarp, a letter addressed by the Church of Smyrna to the Church of Philomelium and destined to circulate among the communities^[24]. It is the earliest Christian martyrdom account we possess outside the New Testament, and it set the model of the genre for centuries: a martyrdom lived "according to the Gospel", in imitation of Christ. The text insists on this resemblance: like the Lord, Polycarp is betrayed, awaits his hour, and dies with a serenity that strikes the witnesses.

The arrest and the serenity of the aged bishop

Sought during a persecution, Polycarp first agrees to withdraw to a farm nearby, in accordance with evangelical prudence, then, once discovered, he gives up fleeing, has food served to those who came to arrest him, and asks only for an hour of prayer^[25]. Led into the stadium, he is ordered by the proconsul to swear by the fortune of Caesar and to curse Christ. His answer has remained one of the most famous sayings of the early Church:

"Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" — Saint Polycarp, in the Martyrdom of Polycarp, 9^[26]

These "eighty-six years" are the principal chronological datum of his life: depending on whether they are counted from his birth or from his baptism, they place the latter around 69-70.

"Away with the Atheists!": turning the proconsul's words back

The dialogue with the magistrate is reported with an almost theatrical vividness. The proconsul presses Polycarp to cry "Away with the Atheists!" — Christians being accused of "atheism" for refusing the civic gods. Polycarp then surveys the pagan crowd in the stadium, and it is they whom he designates:

"Then, looking grimly upon all the multitude of wicked heathen in the stadium, he waved his hand towards them, and groaned, and, looking up to heaven, said, 'Away with the Atheists!'" — Martyrdom of Polycarp, 9^[27]

The reversal is striking: it is not the Christians, worshippers of the true God, who are without God, but the idolatrous crowd. Ordered to renounce Christ, Polycarp refuses to the end, ready to explain his faith peacefully but not to betray it.

The pyre, the vault of fire and the dagger thrust

Condemned to the fire, Polycarp is set upon the pyre. The account reports a prodigy: the flames, instead of consuming him, part to form as it were a vault around him, and a sweet fragrance spreads:

"The fire, taking the shape of a vault, like the sail of a ship filled by the wind, surrounded as with a wall the body of the martyr; and he was in the midst of it, not as burning flesh, but as bread baking. And we perceived such a fragrant smell as that of frankincense or some other precious spice." — Martyrdom of Polycarp, 15^[28]

Seeing that the fire does not touch him, the executioner finishes him with a dagger:

"They ordered the executioner to approach and pierce him with his sword. When he had done this, there came forth such a quantity of blood that it extinguished the fire." — Martyrdom of Polycarp, 16^[29]

The Christians then gather his bones, "more precious than costly stones and more tried than gold", to celebrate each year the anniversary of his martyrdom — one of the earliest testimonies to the cult of relics and to martyr anniversaries^[30].

The date of the martyrdom: a historical debate

The exact date of Polycarp's death is debated. The Martyrdom places it "on the second day of the month of Xanthicus", a "great Sabbath", under the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus^[31]. The proconsulship of Quadratus can be dated to around 153-156, which places the martyrdom around 155-156 — the date most commonly accepted today. Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Chronicle, places it later, around 166-167. The table summarises the two hypotheses.

Whatever the exact year, the essential remains: Polycarp dies very old, after serving Christ for eighty-six years, in full fidelity to the faith received from the apostles.

Serving Christ as a King

Polycarp's whole spirituality lies in his saying in the stadium: "Eighty and six years have I served Him." Here Christ is named King and Saviour; the Christian is His faithful servant, bound by a lifelong fidelity. This piety has nothing speculative about it: it is made of personal attachment to the Lord, of constancy and gratitude. Polycarp does not reason about martyrdom; he accomplishes it, as an ultimate service rendered to the one who saved him.

Martyrdom "according to the Gospel"

The Smyrna account takes care to present Polycarp's death as a martyrdom in accordance with the Gospel, granted by God's will and not sought out of bravado: the text even criticises those who give themselves up to persecution of their own accord^[32]. True martyrdom is not heroic suicide, but fidelity to the end when trial comes, in imitation of Christ who awaited His hour. Polycarp thus becomes a balanced model: neither cowardly flight nor provocation, but trusting abandonment to Providence. It is this measure that made his account the reference for later generations.

A faith received, handed on, sealed

Polycarp's holiness is that of a transmitter: he received the faith from the apostles, kept it pure against heresies, passed it on to disciples such as Irenaeus, and finally sealed it with his blood. Receive, keep, hand on, seal: this movement sums up his life and traces, for the whole Church, the ordinary path of Christian fidelity. It is in this sense that he is, even more than by his doctrine, a master of continuity.

Relics and the anniversary of the martyrdom

The Martyrdom of Polycarp testifies to a practice already established in the 2nd century: gathering the martyr's relics and celebrating each year, at the place of his burial, the anniversary of his death as a "birthday" (dies natalis) into heaven^[33]. It is one of the oldest explicit attestations of the cult of the saints in the Church, carefully distinguished from the adoration due to God alone: the Christians of Smyrna specify that they worship Christ, but love and honour the martyrs as His disciples and imitators^[34].

Liturgical feast and memory

Saint Polycarp is honoured on 23 February in the Roman calendar, a day taken up by most of the Eastern Churches. Saint Jerome, in his De viris illustribus, counts him among ecclesiastical writers and sums up his life: disciple of John, Bishop of Smyrna, traveller to Rome under Anicetus, adversary of the heretics, martyr under Marcus Aurelius^[35]. His memory has remained attached to the city of Smyrna, of which he remains the great Christian patron.

Polycarp → Irenaeus → Tradition

Polycarp's most lasting legacy is not a book, but a chain of witnesses. Through him, the preaching of the apostle John passes to Irenaeus of Lyons, who will make it the central argument of his struggle against gnosis: true doctrine is that which is handed on publicly, from bishop to bishop, since the apostles. Polycarp is the decisive link in this demonstration. When Irenaeus writes that one can name those whom the apostles appointed bishops in the Churches, and their successors down to us, he is thinking first of his master of Smyrna. On this disciple and his work, see Saint Irenaeus of Lyons.

• Saint Irenaeus of Lyons — Polycarp's great disciple, who handed on his testimony and fought gnosis.
• Saint Ignatius of Antioch — the martyr bishop who wrote to Polycarp on the road to Rome.
• Pope Saint Anicetus — the Roman pontiff Polycarp met during the Easter controversy.
• The Heresies of the Early Centuries — gnosis and Marcionism, Polycarp's adversaries.
• Saint Papias and Saint Melito of Sardis — the other great witnesses of Asian Christianity.
• Saint Justin Martyr — the contemporary apologist, himself a martyr of the 2nd century.