Canonised Father of the Church
Polycarp of Smyrna
Bishop of Smyrna and a link between the apostolic generation and the later second century; Irenaeus, who heard him as a boy, says he had been instructed by apostles.
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- Dates
- around 69 - around 155 — The date of his martyrdom is usually placed in the 150s or 160s; the sources do not agree and the chronology of the Martyrdom of Polycarp is disputed.
- Region
- Asia Minor
- See
- Smyrna
- Language of composition
- Greek
- Commemoration
- 23 February (Orthodox Church in America and other Orthodox jurisdictions) — Julian-calendar jurisdictions observe the date thirteen days later on the civil calendar.
Life
Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor and one of the very few figures who genuinely connects the apostolic generation with the Church of the later second century. Irenaeus, who as a boy heard him teach, says that Polycarp had been instructed by apostles and had conversed with people who had seen the Lord.
Ignatius wrote to him on the journey to Rome. Late in life Polycarp travelled to Rome to discuss the date of pascha with Anicetus; neither persuaded the other, and they parted in communion — an episode Irenaeus records approvingly and which is worth remembering when disagreement is treated as automatically fatal to communion.
He was burned and then stabbed in the stadium at Smyrna. The account of his death, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, is among the earliest Christian martyr-narratives; its chronology and some of its details are debated.
Works
Generally accepted as authentic
- Epistle to the Philippians —
Disputed, spurious or lost
- The Martyrdom of Polycarp —
Theological and spiritual contribution
Polycarp's importance is less in what he wrote than in what he transmitted. Irenaeus appeals to him precisely as a living link: a man who had heard the apostles and who taught what he had received, without novelty. That appeal is one of the earliest statements of what tradition means in practice.
His letter to the Philippians is also valuable evidence for which apostolic writings were being read and quoted in Asia Minor in the early second century.
Related in this archive
-
Ignatius of Antioch
Bishop of Antioch, martyred at Rome early in the second century, whose seven letters are the earliest sustained witness to the Church ordered around a bishop, presbyters and deacons.
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Irenaeus of Lyons
Bishop in Gaul who had heard Polycarp as a boy; the first great theologian of Tradition, of the fourfold Gospel, and of salvation as the recapitulation of all things in Christ.
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Scripture and Holy Tradition
Not two sources of information, but one life in which Scripture is read.
Your notes
Sources for this page
- Tier C The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 3 translated edition of primary texts Irenaeus on Polycarp as a link to the apostles. Source record (opens in a new tab)
- Tier C Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine Eusebius, Church History, Book V, Chapter 24 translated edition of primary texts On the Paschal discussion between Polycarp and Anicetus. Source record (opens in a new tab)
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