Today is his feast day, in the new calendar.
Polycarp is a fascinating figure in both history and legend. The legend part concerns his martyrdom. As the story is told, he was to be burned at the stake during a persecution of Christians in Smyrna, where he was bishop. The flames around the stake surrounded him but could not be made to come close enough to burn him. At that, the Roman soldiers stabbed him with a dagger, but the blood that flowed from the wound put out the fire and he had to be stabbed a second time before he died. It's one of those stories that should be true, whether it is or not, because the old man apparently made an exemplary martyr. When given one last chance to renounce his allegiance to Christ and light an incense offering to the emperor, Polycarp had replied: "Eighty-six years have I served Him, and he has done me no harm. How then can I curse my King that saved me. Bring forth what thou wilt."
The history part, in its own way, is just as inspiring. Polycarp, whose life and writings are well documented, was instructed in the faith by...(wait for it)...
...St. John the Apostle.
So it happens that we have these words of advice from a man who knew a man who knew Jesus:
For neither I, nor any other such one, can come up to the wisdom of the blessed and glorified Paul. He, when among you, accurately and stedfastly taught the word of truth in the presence of those who were then alive. And when absent from you, he wrote you a letter, which, if you carefully study, you will find to be the means of building you up in that faith which has been given you, and which, being followed by hope, and preceded by love towards God, and Christ, and our neighbour, "is the mother of us all." For if any one be inwardly possessed of these graces, he hath fulfilled the command of righteousness, since he that hath love is far from all sin.
He certainly sounds like a student of St. John, doesn't he?
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