The Church honors the memory of Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna today, February 23.
He is a great personality of the ancient Church.
According to the Orthodox Step, he belongs to the category of the Apostolic Fathers, that is, the successor bishops of the Holy Apostles.
The life of Agios Polykarpos
He was born in 80 AD in Central Asia to pious parents, Pagratios and Theodora, who had testified to their faith in Christ. He was a student of St. John the Theologian, who spent most of his life in Central Asia. He was baptized as a child and dedicated his life to Christ. Shortly before his death, the bishop of Smyrna, Saint Voukolos, ordained him his successor, because he saw in his face virtue and holiness.
His long episcopal ministry was sealed by his holy life and his warmth for the Church. As a faithful disciple of St. John the Theologian, he became a great theologian of the ancient Church, so that his fame reached all the local Churches and as far away as Rome. Saint Polycarp was called to manage a serious controversy, which had broken out in the 2nd century AD in the Church, the celebration of Easter. As is well known, the time of the celebration of Easter was set by the First Ecumenical Council in 325. Until then, the local Churches celebrated it according to their own tradition.
The Churches of Central Asia celebrated it on the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan. Christians in the West celebrated it every Sunday after the vernal equinox. This event caused a serious controversy and threatened the young Church with a rift. That is why Saint Polycarp went to Rome, where he talked with Bishop Anikitos. With the holiness and wisdom that distinguished him, the Church of Christ settled the matter and made peace.
As a zealous bishop he managed to attract a large number of pagans to the Church, and to convert many heretics, especially from the Gnostic groups, who plagued the Church of Asia in the 2nd century. He especially fought against the sect of Marcion, which dominated in his area. At one of their meetings, the heretic asked him if he knew him and Saint Polycarp replied: I know you as the firstborn of Satan!
Saint Polycarp was deeply connected with the other great apostolic father, Saint Ignatius the Theophorus, of whom he was a classmate close to the evangelist John. When Saint Ignatius was arrested and taken to Rome to testify, Saint Polycarp made great efforts to free him. In fact, a letter of his to the Christians of Philippi of Macedonia survives, in which he praises them for the love and hospitality they showed to Saint Ignatius, when a prisoner passed through their city.
The fanatical pagans of Central Asia, seeing their faith wither and the Church of Christ grow, in spite of all its cruel persecutions, hated Christians to death. The priesthood, which saw their “sanctuaries” abandoned, declared war on the Christians because their financial interests were at stake. They presented themselves to the Roman governors and uttered incredible slanders, so that thousands of Christians would be dragged to martyrdom and led to their deaths.
Priests of the idols also slandered Saint Polycarp in the viceroy Statio Kodratos, as the instigator of a group of Christians from Phrygia, in order to harm him fatally.
The faithful of Smyrna thought of fleeing their beloved bishop, but he refused, saying that his death would give new strength to the Church and the Christians.
The saint, being an old man, was arrested in 167 AD and led before the Roman viceroy, who ordered him to deny Christ and sacrifice to idols. Saint Polycarp answered in a serene and calm manner: “I have been serving my Lord Jesus Christ for eighty-six whole years, Who benefits me, without betraying me, why should I betray him”? The viceroy ordered him to be thrown into the fire to be burned alive for example.
After he was thrown into the incandescent furnace, the unexpected happened: the flames changed course, without touching and burning the body of the Witness.
Then one of the executioners drew his sword and beheaded the saint. The Christians of Smyrna collected the honorable relics of their Martyr bishop and kept them as “gemstones more precious”, according to the “Martyrdom of St. Polycarp”, the narration of his martyrdom by an unknown author, a very important text, which .
Step of Orthodoxy
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