St. Polycarp
Imagine being able to sit at the feet of the apostles and hear their stories of life with Jesus from their own lips. Imagine walking with those who had walked with Jesus, seen him, and touched him. That was what Polycarp was able to do as a disciple of Saint John the Evangelist.
But being part of the second generation of Church leaders had challenges that the first generation could not teach about. What did you do when those eyewitnesses were gone? How do you carry on the correct teachings of Jesus? How do you answer new questions that never came up before?
With the apostles gone, heresies sprang up pretending to be true teaching, persecution was strong, and controversies arose over how to celebrate liturgy that Jesus never laid down rules for.
Polycarp, as a holy man and bishop of Smyrna, found there was only one answer -- to be true to the life of Jesus and imitate that life. Saint Ignatius of Antioch told Polycarp "your mind is grounded in God as on an immovable rock."
When faced with heresy, he showed the "candid face" that Ignatius admired and that imitated Jesus' response to the Pharisees. Marcion, the leader of the Marcionites who followed a dualistic heresy, confronted Polycarp and demanded respect by saying, "Recognize us, Polycarp." Polycarp responded, "I recognize you, yes, I recognize the son of Satan."
On the other hand when faced with Christian disagreements he was all forgiveness and respect. One of the controversies of the time came over the celebration of Easter. The East, where Polycarp was from, celebrated the Passover as the Passion of Christ followed by a Eucharist on the following day. The West celebrated Easter on the Sunday of the week following Passover. When Polycarp went to Rome to discuss the difference with Pope Anicetus, they could not agree on this issue. But they found no difference in their Christian beliefs. And Anicetus asked Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own papal chapel.
Polycarp faced persecution the way Christ did. His own church admired him for following the "gospel model" -- not chasing after martyrdom as some did, but avoiding it until it was God's will as Jesus did. They considered it "a sign of love to desire not to save oneself alone, but to save also all the Christian brothers and sisters."
One day, during a bloody martyrdom when Christians were attacked by wild animals in the arena, the crowd became so mad that they demanded more blood by crying, "Down with the atheists; let Polycarp be found." (They considered Christians "atheists" because they didn't believe in their pantheon of gods.) Since Polycarp was not only known as a leader but as someone holy "even before his grey hair appeared", this was a horrible demand.
Polycarp was calm but others persuaded him to leave the city and hide at a nearby farm. He spent his time in prayer for people he knew and for the Church. During his prayer he saw a vision of his pillow turned to fire and announced to his friends that the dream meant he would be burned alive.
As the search closed in, he moved to another farm, but the police discovered he was there by torturing two boys. He had a little warning since he was upstairs in the house but he decided to stay, saying, "God's will be done."
Then he went downstairs, talked to his captors and fed them a meal. All he asked of them was that they give him an hour to pray. He spent two hours praying for everyone he had every known and for the Church, "remembering all who had at any time come his way -- small folk and great folk, distinguished and undistinguished, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world." Many of his captors started to wonder why they were arresting this holy, eighty-six-year-old bishop.
But that didn't stop them from taking him into the arena on the Sabbath. As he entered the arena, the crowd roared like the animals they cheered. Those around Polycarp heard a voice from heaven above the crowd, "Be brave, Polycarp, and act like a man."
The proconsul begged the eighty-six-year-old bishop to give in because of his age. "Say 'Away with the atheists'" the proconsul urged. Polycarp calmly turned to the face the crowd, looked straight at them, and said, "Away with the atheists." The proconsul continued to plead with him. When he asked Polycarp to swear by Caesar to save himself, Polycarp answered, "If you imagine that I will swear by Caesar, you do not know who I am. Let me tell you plainly, I am a Christian." Finally, when all else failed the proconsul reminded Polycarp that he would be thrown to the wild animals unless he changed his mind. Polycarp answered, "Change of mind from better to worse is not a change allowed to us."
Because of Polycarp's lack of fear, the proconsul told him he would be burned alive but Polycarp knew that the fire that burned for an hour was better than eternal fire.
When he was tied up to be burned, Polycarp prayed, "Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, God of angels and powers, of the whole creation and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your sight, I bless you, for having made me worthy of this day and hour, I bless you, because I may have a part, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of your Christ, to resurrection in eternal life, resurrection both of soul and body in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May I be received today, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, among those who are in you presence, as you have prepared and foretold and fulfilled, God who is faithful and true. For this and for all benefits I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be to you with him and the Holy Spirit glory, now and for all the ages to come. Amen."
The fire was lit as Polycarp said Amen and then the eyewitnesses who reported said they saw a miracle. The fire burst up in an arch around Polycarp, the flames surrounding him like sails, and instead of being burned he seemed to glow like bread baking, or gold being melted in a furnace. When the captors saw he wasn't being burned, they stabbed him. The blood that flowed put the fire out.
The proconsul wouldn't let the Christians have the body because he was afraid they would worship Polycarp. The witnesses reported this with scorn for the lack of understanding of Christian faith: "They did not know that we can never abandon the innocent Christ who suffered on behalf of sinners for the salvation of those in this world." After the body was burned, they stole the bones in order to celebrate the memory of his martyrdom and prepare others for persecution. The date was about February 23, 156.
In His Footsteps:When faced with challenges to your Christian life, try a version of Polycarp's prayer of martyrdom: "Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, God of angels and powers, of the whole creation and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your sight, I bless you, for having made me worthy of this day and hour, I bless you, because I may have a part, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of your Christ, to resurrection in eternal life, resurrection both of soul and body in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. For this and for all benefits I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be to you with him and the Holy Spirit glory, now and for all the ages to come. Amen."
Prayer:Saint Polycarp, sometimes Christ seems so far away from us. Centuries have passed since he and the apostles walk the earth. Help us to see that he is close to us always and that we can keep him near by imitating his life as you did. Amen
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hey pray for me
Dear Saint,
The church needs a Pope like you. Enable the one who is going to be elected to be the new Pope of the Holy church with rock like faith as yours in our Lord Jesus Christ and ocean of virtues to face this world of vanities and deception which enslave and entrap the faithful souls. Fill him with courage and strength to uproot the evil from within and without the Church and cleanse Her of the impurity caused by the homosexual priests and bishops in the Church. Transfer your wisdom and love to the going to be new Pope to lead the Church in Truth and shepherd the flocks to the pasture of eternal life. Intercede for the Church and the Pope. Amen.
St. Polycarp, please continue to pray for me, as my faith is being tested from all quarters, during this .Year of Faith.'
PLEASE PRAY FOR JACOB THAT HE FINDS PEACE AND THE RIGHT PATH, FOR HIS MOTHER THAT THE DOCTORS CAL SLOW THE PROGRESSION OF THE DEMENTIA, AND FOR ALL CANCER PATIENTS THAT WE DEAL WITH OUR DISEASE WITH GRACE AND DIGNITY. THANK YOU.
23rd feb 2013:st polycarp pray for us!
I love hearing about the Early Church Fathers. I only wished I had catechized my children on all the Saints.
Please pray for my daughter and some of the other family who has left the faith to go to
other Protestant Faiths. They could have never left if they really understood their Faith.
Please pray for unity !!!
Oh St. Polycarp? let me have in me as man to be a man? amen
I think we should get the real message here. Polycarp was trying to make sure that the two sides were celebrating the right day for the right reasons. He was telling the West side being Asia that they were doing wrong in celebrating "Passover" and calling it Easter, which is and always has been a Pagan holy day / holi day. Can we see how things can be misused for our own purposes. We were deceived back then and we are still being deceived in celebrating all these so called Christian holidays/holy days that use to be pagan holy days!...Holidays is the same meaning as what use to be and still is Holy Days! God said we are not suppose to celebrate him in the way we use to celebrate our old Pagan holy days and we are doing just that. No wonder America as well as all the other nations that celebrate these days are being judged in the here and now! If you need proof read it for yourself Duet 12:30,31, This meant so much to Polycarp he was willing to die for it and we should follow suit!!! Fix it or die trying...
May the saint pray for us to follow his foot steps and i belive this will help me to solve my problems .St POLYCRAP pray for us.........
Saint Polycarp, please pray for me to be firm in faith and be devoid of all pretentions as you were.
St. Polycarp, the Church honours you, your fidelity, courage and most of all your outstanding defense of the Truth. Give to us Christians, the courage to be faithful to God's commandments. The first reading of today, is about Moses' exhortation to the Jews, at the river Jordan, as they were about to cross over to the promised land to possess and occupy it. He advised his people to "choose life" through fidelity to Christ's commandments. In your time and age, the early Christians faced heresies, false teachers and torture at the hands of the enemies. Our struggle today is ever present too. Help us to be faithful to Christ, in the Eucharist, help us to honour the Liturgy of the Holy Mass. Your feast day is also the first Thursday after Ash Wednesday. Allow us to be transformed by the Holy Spirit during this Lenten season. My weekend has been the most sacred one, when we celebrated the life of my mother who passed away at the age of 94. I shall take this opportunity to commend her soul to God. Her earthly strife is over. May her soul rest in peace. Amen.
Evry time I read abt the saints i'm inspired spiritually May God bles u & all the readers.
I am sorry to say that I had never heard of this particular Saint. However, I had emailed a friend of mine at our church where she works and she sent me back the following information - I told her my 1st Great Grandchild (a girl) was born early on 2/23/11 - The mother was just a little over 7 months along - The baby weighed 2 pounds 1 ounce. She is doing good right now. The mother had the toxemic poisoning some pregnant women get, which caused her blood pressure to go way up which caused her to have several seizures before they got her to the hospital
Her blood pressure is still acting up so she is still in the hospital. So I asks this Saint to please watch over my 1st Great Grandchild and the mother. Thanks you Lord Jesus for sending us all the saints you have.
St. Polycarpus is my favorite saint along with St. Ignatius of Antioch. Dear Polycarpus, pray for me to be grounded on God always, as you ever did!
This short bio of St. Polycarp relates to my spiritual pursuits to this day, every day. Thank you, researchers. This is one of the finest pieces I have read which addresses the life of a relatively unknown saint, at least unknown, formerly, to me. Again, thank you!
Thank you. I was looking for further information about St. Polycarp after his feast day when I heard that he was a direct disciple of St. John. I am hoping that my son, John, will be interested in taking Polycarp as his Confirmation name.
This is one of my favorite saints. He was true to Jesus and his Christian faith when it really counted knowing he would suffer for it. A true witness to the faith as handed down to him by St. John.
I have heard the name Polycarp off and on throughout my life, but never knew much about him. So today, I looked up his bio on your site and somehow feel closer to Christ. Thank you and the Saint.
When I was a young boy in school, a nun told us the story about St. Polycarp. After Vatican II, I forgot all about those old saints so I could concentrate on myself and the people of God in my neighborhood. Now that I am old man, it is good to get re-acquainted with some of the people who gave their lives for their belief in Jesus Christ
Thank you for the wonderful article on St. Polycarp.