By Lyn Wilson
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (in Asia Minor), was a disciple of Jesus Christ and the Apostle John. God in his mercy gave Polycarp eighty-six years on this earth before his death as a martyr. Why is Polycarp important to us today? After all, 160 AD was very long ago. Of all the treasures we as Christians build in heaven, faith is our most precious gift. Polycarp’s testimony has given us a piece of this treasure that will never fade.
Polycarp had been a Christian from the time he was a child. He was very important to the early church. Having been a disciple of the Apostle John whose death marked the end of the Apostlic age, Polycarp was a man whose teaching helped to formulate the foundations of the church in the second century. The importance of discipleship cannot be lost on those of us who look at the life of Polycarp through the cloudy lens of time. He made disciples at every turn, whether running from the Roman troops hoping to kill him for his faith or in writing letters to churches like that to the church at Philippi. To Polycarp, Christ was all that mattered in life.
In the end, Polycarp felt that he should no longer run from the hate-filled Roman rabble. When the soldiers came to arrest him he said, “God’s will be done”. In death he submitted to Christ as he had in life. When the Roman Proconsul demanded he deny Christ, he answered, “Eighty-six years have I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, the Bishop was murdered by the Roman government on February 23, 155.
May we, like Polycarp, cling devoutly to Jesus our whole lives.
LogoSophia Magazine 