ST. POLYCARP BISHOP OF SMYRNA THE SAINT OF ALL CHURCHES

HE IS REGARDED AS A SAINT AND A CHURCH FATHER IN THE EASTERN ORTHODOX, ORIENTAL ORTHODOX, CATHOLIC, ANGLICAN, AND LUTHERAN CHURCHES.
St. Polycarp, Greek bishop of Smyrna. His name 'Polycarp' means 'much fruit' in Greek. He was baptized by St. John the Apostle and was the teacher of St. Irenaeus of Lyons. He possessed an elevated status among Christians of his time because he knew the apostles and his teachings were considered orthodox and authentic. His widespread influence was not lost on pagan Rome.
Saint Polycarp, (flourished 2nd century; feast day February 23), was the leading 2nd-century Christian figure in Roman Asia by virtue of his work during the initial appearance of the fundamental theological literature of Christianity. Historically, he formed a link between the apostolic and patristic ages.
By his major writing, The Letter to the Philippians, and by his widespread moral authority, Polycarp combated various heretical sects, including certain Gnostic groups that claimed religious salvation exclusively through their arcane spiritual knowledge. Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians contains a classic formulation in which he refutes the Gnostics' argument that God's incarnation, and the death and resurrection of Christ were all imaginary phenomena of purely moral or mythological significance.
More important, however, is the way in which Polycarp referred to the apostle Paul in The Letter to the Philippians. Not only does he repeatedly quote from Paul's writings but he also stresses the personal importance of Paul as a primary authority of the Christian church. It must be remembered that at that time Paul had been adopted as a primary authority by the Gnostic heretics. Polycarp, in response, reclaimed Paul as a treasured figure of the orthodox church. It is apparently thus partly due to Polycarp that Paul, the disputed apostle, became a theologically respectable part of the Christian church's tradition. Furthermore, Polycarp's orthodox use of the Pauline texts marked a crucial advance in the Christian theology of biblical interpretation. According to certain scholars, Polycarp may even have composed or directly influenced some of the letters traditionally ascribed to St. Paul, the so-called Pastoral Letters (I and II Timothy, Titus). These letters possess a 2nd-century vocabulary and style that are characteristic of Polycarp.
Toward the end of his life Polycarp visited Bishop Anicetus of Rome to discuss with him the date at which the Easter festival was to be celebrated, a controversy that threatened to provoke a schism between Rome and Asia Minor. The two men could not reach agreement on a common date on which to celebrate Easter, so they agreed that Rome and Asia Minor would follow different practices in this regard.
Around the year 155, Polycarp became aware that government authorities were on the lookout for him, seeking to stamp out the Catholic Church's claim of obeying a higher authority than the Emperor. He retreated to a country house and occupied himself with constant prayer, before receiving a vision of his death that prompted him to inform his friends: "I must be burned alive." He changed locations, but was betrayed by a young man who knew his whereabouts and confessed under torture.
He was captured on a Saturday evening by two public officials, who urged him to submit to the state demands. "What harm is there," one asked, "in saying, 'Caesar is Lord,' and in sacrificing to him, with the other ceremonies observed on such occasions, so as to make sure of safety?"
"I shall not do as you advise me," he answered. Outraged by his response, the officials had him violently thrown from their chariot and taken to an arena for execution. Entering the stadium, the bishop-along with some of his companions, who survived to tell of it-heard a heavenly voice, saying: "Be strong, and show yourself a man, O Polycarp!"
Before the crowd, the Roman proconsul demanded again that he worship the emperor. "Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian," the bishop said. "And if you wish to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, appoint me a day, and you shall hear them." "You threaten me with fire," he continued "which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished. But you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly." "But," he challenged the proconsul, "what are you waiting for? Bring forth what you will."
Although the crowds clamored for Polycarp to be devoured by beasts, it was decided he should be burned alive, just as he had prophesied. He prayed aloud to God: "May I be accepted this day before you as an acceptable sacrifice just as you, the ever-truthful God, have foreordained, revealed beforehand to me, and now have fulfilled."
What happened next struck Polycarp's companions with amazement; they recorded the sight in the letter that they circulated after Polycarp's death. "As the flame blazed forth in great fury," they wrote, "we to whom it was given to witness it, beheld a great miracle."
The fire did not seem to touch the bishop's body. Rather, as they described, "shaping itself into the form of an arch, it encompassed as by a circle the body of the martyr. And he appeared within not like flesh which is burnt, but as bread that is baked, or as gold and silver glowing in a furnace." "Moreover, we perceived such a sweet odour coming from the flames-as if frankincense or some such precious spices had been burning there."
The executioners perceived that Polycarp's death was not going as planned. Losing patience, they ordered him to be stabbed to death. From the resulting wound, "there came forth a dove, and a great quantity of blood, so that the fire was extinguished." The crowd, as the Christian witnesses recalled, were understandably amazed. "All the people marveled," they wrote, "that there should be such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect."
Polycarp, they proclaimed, had been among that elect "having in our own times been an apostolic and prophetic teacher, and bishop of the Catholic Church which is in Smyrna." St. Polycarp has been venerated as a Saint since his death in 155.