By Sr Lini Sheeja MSC –
Polycarp (AD 69 – 155) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the account of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he died a martyr, bound and burnt at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to consume his body. Polycarp is regarded as a saint and Church Father in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. Polycarp was born in 69 AD. While we don’t know a whole lot about his personal life, we do know that he was the bishop of the Church in Smyrna, which is now Izmir, Turkey. He was martyred at the age of 86. He wrote a letter to the Church at Phillipi, which is dated as between 110-140 AD. He was carrying the letters of his fellow church Father Ignatius to the Church at Phillipi, and decided to attach a letter of his own. According to his student Irenaeus, Polycarp was a student of the apostle John, and he knew other apostles, although they go unnamed. Polycarp is regarded as one of the three chief Apostolic Fathers, along with Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch. Polycarp was a personal disciple of the Apostle John.
Surrendering to God’s Will
Persecution against the Christians broke out there and believers were being fed to the wild beasts in the arena. The crowd began to call for the Christians’ leader Polycarp. So the authorities sent out a search party to bring him in. They tortured two slave boys to reveal where Polycarp was being hidden. It was a Friday afternoon. Polycarp was resting upstairs in a country home. They came in like a posse, fully armed as if they were arresting a dangerous criminal. Polycarp’s friends wanted to sneak him out, but he refused, saying, “God’s will be done.”
Welcoming the Captors
Polycarp welcomed his captors as if they were friends, talked with them and ordered that food and drink be served to them. Then Polycarp made one request: one hour to pray before they took him away. The officers overhearing his prayers (that went on for two hours) began to have second thoughts. What were they doing arresting an old man like this?
Polycarp in the Judgemental Seat
Despite the cries of the crowd, the Roman authorities saw the senselessness of making this aged man a martyr. So when Polycarp was brought into the arena, the proconsul pleaded with him: “Curse Christ and I will release you” and 86-year-old Polycarp replied boldly, “Eighty-six years I have served Him. He had never done me wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?”
The proconsul reached for an acceptable way out: “Then do this, old man. Just swear by the genius of the emperor and that will be sufficient.” (The “genius” was a sort of the “spirit” of the emperor. To do this would be recognition of the pagan gods and religion). Polycarp courageously said, “If you imagine for a moment that I would do that, then I think you pretend that you don’t know who I am. Hear it plainly. I am a Christian.” The proconsul threatened him with the wild beasts and Polycarp stood firm and stated, “bring them forth. I would change my mind if it meant going from the worse to the better, but not to change from the right to the wrong.” The proconsul’s patience was gone as he said, “I will have you burned alive” and Polycarp replied with firm faith, “you threaten fire that burns for an hour and is over. But the judgment on the ungodly is forever.”
The Death Sentence
The fire was prepared. Polycarp lifted his eyes to heaven and prayed: “Father, I bless you that you have deemed me worthy of this day and hour, that I might take a portion of the martyrs in the cup of Christ. Among these may I today be welcome before thy face as a rich and acceptable sacrifice.” As the fire engulfed him, the believers noted that it smelled not so much like flesh burning as a loaf baking. He was finished off with the stab of a dagger. His followers gathered his remains like precious jewels and buried them on February 22, a day they set aside to be remembered. The year was probably 155. In the strange way known to the eyes of faith, it was as much a day of triumph as it was a day of tragedy. The documentation of his martyrdom is an important document in the history of the Christian church. 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.
Polycarp’s Beliefs
Repeatedly Polycarp quotes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from Matthew and Luke. He also says that: Jesus came in the flesh, Jesus was a servant to all, Jesus died on the cross, Jesus bore our sin, Jesus was raised from the dead, Jesus was glorified, Jesus is our High Priest, Christians are saved by grace through faith and Jesus will judge the living and the dead.
Festal Blessings
The day of martyrdom is the “birthday” of the martyrs, the day they are “born” into the presence of God. The meaning of Polycarp is “fruitful, rich in fruit”. His feast is celebrated on 23 February. The attributes of St Polycarp are: wearing the Pallium, he holds a book representing his Epistle to the Philippians. Polycarp was tried and executed as a criminal by the Roman Empire and he became the 12th Christian martyr in Smyrna. St Polycarp was a 2ndcentury bishop of Smyrna. St Polycarp persevered and received the crown of Martyrdom. “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Lk 12:11-12). St Polycarp was open to the Spirit of the Lord that by standing at the judgemental seat, he said what the Spirit guided him to say. “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment” (Is 54:17). St Polycarp, a courageous servant, was led by the Spirit that he proclaimed Christ boldly. The 2nd century Saint teaches the 21st century followers of Christ to stand firm in their faith. Let no fire consume us! Let no weapon intimidate us! Let us not be afraid of the threats of any human beings!
Recently the 20-feet statue of Jesus was demolished by the Kolar district administration of Karnataka and was pulled down in violation of court directives. The district administration accompanied by nearly 400 policemen reached Gokunte village – which is just two kilometres from Andhra Pradesh border – in the wee hours on Thursday, 15 February 2022, to pull down the statue which had been existing since 2004. Except for the four families in the village, which has a population of around 600, the rest in the village follow the Roman-Catholic faith. Persecution never ends and so too the growth of the Church. Dear Christians, don’t be afraid even if you have to give up your lives for the one who called you to this way of life! Jesus never fails! Festal Blessings of St Polycarp!
Picture credit: Wikipedia Commons
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, belongs to the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. She authored a book named, Prison Ministry: The Dreamers’ Mission in which she invites everyone to have dreams for the lost, least and the last.