Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. His pupil Irenaeus wrote that as a young man Polycarp had known the apostle John and others who had seen the Lord. About 154 he travelled to Rome to discuss the date of Easter with Pope Anicetus; they did not agree but parted in peace.

The account of his death, written by his Church soon after, is the oldest of its kind outside the New Testament. Arrested as an old man, he was urged by the proconsul to curse Christ and go free. He answered, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” He was condemned to the fire; the account tells that the flames did not consume him, and he was killed with a dagger, about 155.