Who he was
- He was the Apostle John’s disciple.
- The Epistle of Polycarp (Letter to the Philippians).
- St. Ignatius of Antioch was on his way to martyrdom, and it was in Smyrna that St. Ignatius made that memorial stop on his final journey. St. Polycarp was the only person recorded to whom the great martyr ever addressed a personal letter. In the years that followed, St. Polycarp gathered St. Ignatius’ letters and passed them on to others.
- Through a letter from the Church of Smyrna to the Christian community of Philomelium in Greater Phrygia, we possess a detailed account of Polycarp’s heroic martyrdom. From it we gain an excellent impression of the noble personality of the bishop of Smyrna. The letter seems to have been written shortly after his martyrdom (155 or 156).
What he wrote
- He devoted much of his energy to preserve the Orthodox faith, combating such heretics as the Marcionites and Valentinians. It is said that he had converted some of them to the true faith.
- Before his martyrdom, the Proconsul Statius Quadratus ordered Polycarp: “Swear and I shall release thee; revile Christ!” he replied: “For six and eighty years I have been serving Him, and he has done no wrong to me; how, then, dare I blaspheme my King who has saved me!”