Polycarp of Smyrna
c. 69 – c. 155 · Smyrna (today İzmir, Turkey)
Bishop and martyr
Awaiting theological review
In one sentence
Bishop of Smyrna who had known the apostle John, and who handed on what he heard to the next generation.
Why this person matters
He is one of the clearest living links between the apostles and the Church of the second century.
Irenaeus, who heard him preach as a boy, writes that Polycarp had been taught by apostles and had conversed with John and others who had seen the Lord (Against Heresies III.3.4; letter to Florinus, in Eusebius, Church History V.20).
Ignatius of Antioch wrote to him on the way to his martyrdom.
The Martyrdom of Polycarp — the oldest account of a martyr outside the New Testament — tells how he was put to death in Smyrna, saying he had served Christ for eighty-six years.
Key ideas
- Faithfulness to the teaching received from the apostles
- Steadfast witness under persecution
Why they still matter
His life shows how teaching passed from person to person in the first generations.
Before
- Ignatius of Antiochd. c. 107–110
Contemporary
- Justin Martyrc. 100 – c. 165
- Irenaeus of Lyonc. 130 – c. 202
After
- Athanasius of Alexandriac. 296 – 373
- Letter to the Philippians
- Early Christian source
Statements are labelled by source. Early Christian sources are named where known; dates before the 4th century are often approximate.