Polycarp of Smyrna

They Burned Him Alive… But Polycarp Refused to Deny Jesus (Shocking Early Church Story)

AD60- 155 AD

As we read the Book of Acts and letters of the New Testament, we gain insight into the first generation of believers in the church and those heroes of the faith, who would turn the world upside down. But what about the next generation? What did they do, and what did the next generation of leaders preach?

As we move into the Second Century, one of the greatest leaders was a man called Polycarp. Polycarp, just before he was martyred, was asked to curse the Lord, but he responded:

“For 86 years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”1

Some have taken this to mean Polycarp was 86 when he was killed, while others state that he was speaking of his years as a believer, which meant he was in his nineties. Irenaeus, who was trained by Polycarp, would state that he died as a very old man.

While we know that Polycarp died in 155AD, no one knows exactly when he was born, which was probably around 60 AD.

His Early Years

If we accept that his birth was around 60 AD, then he was around 8 when a severe persecution of the church occurred, and Paul was martyred. He also saw the persecution under Emperor Domitian in 95AD, when John, the only remaining original apostle, was exiled to Patmos. It was also around this time that Timothy was martyred.

Polycarp was born in Asia Minor, and tradition claims he was born a slave. He was then adopted by a woman named Callistro, who would then instruct him on the Word. Early tradition states that Callistro had a dream in which she was told she would find a slave boy by the gate and that she was to redeem him. Callistro did as she was instructed in the dream and found the slave named Polycarp. Callistro didn’t just redeem Polycarp but also adopt him into her family.

Irenaeus wrote regarding Polycarp:

“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, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom.” 2

Polycarp bridges the gap between the original apostles and the next generation. Irenaeus put it this way:

“…so that I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse — his going out, too, and his coming in — his general mode of life and personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also 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. Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures.3

The Pastor and Teacher

Polycarp would learn from the apostles, especially John, with whom he was associated. Polycarp would become the pastor of the church at Smyrna. Ancient Smyrna, with a population of 100,000 to 200,000, was an affluent commercial metropolis, where debauchery and pagan worship abounded. There was a great hatred of Christian who experienced unrelenting persecution, which came from the people and not from Rome initially. Rome, which claimed religious tolerance, would turn violently on Christians after the fire of Rome in 64 AD. Smyrna had an impressive port and was located on the road that led to Persia,

Polycarp would become Smyrna’s most famous martyr. From an early age, Polycarp had a tender heart for the Lord.  His reputation in the early church soon spread, and John, who was at Ephesus, some 35 miles away, heard about him. Soon, Polycarp was sitting at the feet of John and was trained under him.

It is believed that John moved to Ephesus with Mary around 67 AD. John and Polycarp had at least a twenty-year relationship, with aging John. Polycarp served as a deacon in the church at Smyrna until the pastor died. Polycarp had not just an intense understanding of the Scriptures but also, through his relationship with John, a deep knowledge of Christ and Christian doctrine. Many of the apostles passed through Smyrna, and Polycarp learned from them.

We don’t know the date at which Polycarp became the pastor or Bishop of Smyrna, but when he in 107 AD received a letter from Ignatius, who was bishop of Antioch, we know he was already the bishop. If we assume his birth was around 60 AD, then Polycarp was just 47, and it was likely he was placed as the pastor while John was alive around 95-96AD.

Around 95-96 AD, Paul was exiled on the isle of Patmos, where he received the book of Revelation, which included the Lord’s messages to the seven churches. Regarding these messages, Smyrna was one of the two churches that didn’t receive a correction from the Lord. However, the church in Smyrna faced severe persecution under Emperor Domitian. Polycarp survived this round of persecution and continued to serve the church as the pastor.

Smyrna would have been a challenging city in which to pastor. At the center of this city was the stadium, which could hold 30,000 spectators, and it would be here that Polycarp would be martyred.

The Letter to the Philippians

Like Paul, Polycarp would write a letter to the church in Philippi. The letter was written shortly after Ignatius passed through Smyrna around 10 AD. In the letter, Polycarp quotes Paul, and this letter is one of the earliest documents in the Christian church.

In his letter, Polycarp exhorted believers to walk virtuously before the Lord:

“Wherefore, girding up your loins,” [344] “serve the Lord in fear”    [345] and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and    error of the multitude, and “believed in Him who raised up our Lord    Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory,”4

Polycarp understood the need to have a rich Secret Place life, and speaking of the heart, he said:

“…that He clearly perceives all things, and that nothing is hid from Him, neither reasonings, nor reflections, nor any one of the secret things of the heart.”5

Polycarp would give instructions on church government, leadership, and living a godly life. In the epistle, the influence of John can clearly be seen:

“For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the    flesh, is antichrist;” [377] and whosoever does not confess the    testimony of the cross.”6

Considering the persecution this church endured, we see the heart of Polycarp when he wrote:

“Pray also for kings, [409] and potentates, and princes, and for    those that persecute and hate you, [410] and for the enemies of the    cross, that your fruit may be manifest to all, and that ye may be    perfect in Him.”7

The Leader

Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, was a close friend of Polycarp and wrote of him. Ignatius was martyred in 108 AD:

My soul be for yours and theirs [627] whom, for the honour of God, ye have sent to Smyrna; whence also I write to you, giving thanks unto the Lord, and loving Polycarp even as I do you.8

Ignatius would describe Polycarp as having a kind of spiritual gift. It is clear that the gifts of the Spirit were in operation in the church of Smyrna. Polycarp was clearly a great teacher, and his epistle shows that he had a great understanding of leadership and living a life that pleases the Lord. It was even said of Polycarp that non-believers considered him “the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians.”9

After the death of the original apostles, many began preaching heresy, and at the forefront of fighting against this was Polycarp. One major heresy was Gnosticism, which believed that salvation was not by faith but through knowledge. Polycarp, as a connection to the original apostles, sought to correct these errors and to stand strong as the enemy launched all-out war against the church.

Some of the heresies of the time included Saturnius, who believed that Jesus only appeared to be a man. Carpocrates practiced various magical arts, incarnations, love potions, dream sending, and taught reincarnation. A lot of what he taught we would call New Age today. Valentinus claimed that he received a vision and new revelations of the Lord and wrote, “The Gospel of Truth,” though he lacked all truth.

We could add the Nicolatians and Cerinthus, who taught that Jesus was merely a good and wise man. Polycarp said that John went to the baths in Ephesus and, upon seeing Cerinthus inside, John rushed out, declaring that the enemy of truth was inside.  Then there was Marcion, who sought to deny the authority of the Word.

Polycarp endured attacks from all sides, from men seeking to destroy the truth and men who sought to kill believers. Persecution came under Emperor Nero, Domitian (68-95 AD), Trajan (98-117), Hadrian, and then Antonius Pius (138-161), and it was under his reign that Polycarp was martyred.

The Death of Polycarp

Around 155 AD, many of the Jews and pagans in Smyrna declared that “the father of the Christians in Asia must die.” Soon, several members of the church at Smyrna were put to death for refusing to deny Jesus as Lord. However, they noticed that this only emboldened the church, so it was decided they needed to kill the leader, Polycarp.

Polycarp was advised by friends to leave, but Polycarp refused to be moved in fear. He is then informed that the police are coming, so his friend takes him to another house. But the people at his home are tortured and reveal where Polycarp is. This time, Polycarp refused to flee, and when the enemy came, he remained calm and invited them to eat.

Polycarp then goes into the other room to pray, and those who came to take him captive are amazed as they hear his prayers,

During this time, Christians were dragged to the stadium and fed to animals. Polycarp was brutally treated before he was bound to the wood. His hands were tied behind him and after Polycarp prayed. The soldiers set the wood on fire. It is said the fire formed an arch around Polycarp’s body. Christians who had gathered to watch said a smell like frankincense or some expensive spice came from the pile as Polycarp burnt.

Polycarp said of the fire:

But Polycarp said, You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why do you tarry? Bring forth what you will.10

Then, because Polycarp’s body was not being consumed by the fire, his executioners took a sword, and it was said that so much blood came forth from Polycarp that it put out the fire.

A record of his martyrdom is recorded in the Epistle to the Smyrnaeans.

All the martyrdoms, then, were blessed and noble, which took place according to the will of God. For it becomes us who profess greater piety than others, to ascribe the authority over all things to God. And truly, who can fail to admire their nobleness of mind, and their patience, with that love towards their Lord which they displayed?— who, when they were so torn with scourges, that the frame of their bodies, even to the very inward veins and arteries, was laid open, still patiently endured, while even those that stood by pitied and bewailed them. But they reached such a pitch of magnanimity, that not one of them let a sigh or a groan escape them; thus proving to us all that those holy martyrs of Christ, at the very time when they suffered such torments, were absent from the body, or rather, that the Lord then stood by them, and communed with them. And, looking to the grace of Christ, they despised all the torments of this world, redeeming themselves from eternal punishment by [the suffering of] a single hour. For this reason the fire of their savage executioners appeared cool to them. For they kept before their view escape from that fire which is eternal and never shall be quenched, and looked forward with the eyes of their heart to those good things which are laid up for such as endure; things which ear has not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man, 1 Corinthians 2:9 but were revealed by the Lord to them, inasmuch as they were no longer men, but had already become angels. And, in like manner, those who were condemned to the wild beasts endured dreadful tortures, being stretched out upon beds full of spikes, and subjected to various other kinds of torments, in order that, if it were possible, the tyrant might, by their lingering tortures, lead them to a denial [of Christ].11

After his death, it was recorded of Polycarp:

He was not merely an illustrious teacher, but also a pre-eminent martyr, whose martyrdom all desire to imitate, as having been altogether consistent with the Gospel of Christ. For, having through patience overcome the unjust governor, and thus acquired the crown of immortality, he now, with the apostles and all the righteous [in heaven], rejoicingly glorifies God, even the Father, and blesses our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of our souls, the Governor of our bodies, and the Shepherd of the Catholic Church throughout the world.12

References

1. Long, Stephen. Polycarp Disciple of the Apostle John and the Second Century Church (p. 14). (Function). Kindle Edition
2. . St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Five Books of St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons: Against Heresies with the Fragments that Remain of His Other Works (p. 116). (Function). Kindle Edition.
3. Irenaeus of Lyons. Five Books of St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons: Against Heresies with the Fragments that Remain of His Other Works (p. 291). (Function). Kindle Edition.
4. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (Annotated) (Function). Kindle Edition.
5. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (Annotated) (Function). Kindle Edition.
6. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (Annotated) (Function). Kindle Edition
7. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (Annotated) (Function). Kindle Edition.
8. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Ignatius of Antioch: The Epistles (p. 77). (Function). Kindle Edition.
9. Long, Stephen. Polycarp Disciple of the Apostle John and the Second Century Church (p. 24). (Function). Kindle Edition.
10. Polycarp of Smyrna; Grapevine Christian Library. The Epistle and Martyrdom of Polycarp: Writings from an Apostolic Father of the Early Church (p. 54). (Function). Kindle Edition.
11. Polycarp of Smyrna; Grapevine Christian Library. The Epistle and Martyrdom of Polycarp: Writings from an Apostolic Father of the Early Church (pp. 48-49). (Function). Kindle Edition.
12. Polycarp of Smyrna; Grapevine Christian Library. The Epistle and Martyrdom of Polycarp: Writings from an Apostolic Father of the Early Church (pp. 58-59). (Function). Kindle Edition.