H I D D E N - S E C R E T S O F G O D

"POLYCARP"

This page was last revised on 16 Dec 2000 @ 07:45 PST

    So You're A Christian - But

    Do You Compare to Polycarp?

    or do you even know who he is?
    (a hint: he's Saint Polycarp)

    The following is non-fiction. It is a paraphrased wording of a letter sent to the "church of God at Philippi" by a holy man named Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp. This later letter was to the same church to whom the Apostle Paul wrote earlier; which became the New Testiment book of Philippians.

    Polycarp was a devoted early Christian disciple of the apostle John and had become the bishop of Smyrna when Ignatius, was put to death by the Romans (with the urging of the Jews) during February of A.D. 156.

    Irenaeus was the bishop of Lyons, Gaul (France) most of the time, between 150 A.D. and 200 A.D. He was another, but very young disciple of the apostle John, and later, an apostle of Polycarp. The following is Irenaeus' letter, reporting the events leading to, and the death of his mentor, the martyred Polycarp:

    SALUTATION:

    From: the church of God at Smyrna
    To: the church of God at Philomelium; and all the churches belonging to the holy and universal church of God everywhere; Mercy, peace and love of God The Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

I

POLYCARP'S MARTYRDOM AGREES WITH
THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

  1. Brothers in Christ, we are writing this to you regarding all the Christians who have been martyred, but specifically to inform you of the martyrdom of the blessed Polycarp. It is by his death, that we believe the persecution of our Orthodox faith has been brought to conclusion, and put a seal on the trials we have endured at the hand of the Romans.

    It is by Polycarp's death and all that has proceeded it, we believe happened, that the Lord has used to show us one more time, that martyrdom is in agreement with the gospel.

  2. This is because Polycarp waited to be delivered into death, as a reminder of the death of our Lord, and that we too, may be privileged to become His imitator, "not only looking to our own interests but also to those of our neighbor" [Phil 2:4].

    It is an emblem of truthful and steadfast love, not just to want one's own salvation, but also the salvation of all our brothers in Christ.

II

THE MARTYRS OF CHRIST

  1. It is by the will of God and with His blessing that all the martydoms we suffered have happened; because we must commit ourselves with complete devotion, to God's power over everything.

  2. Must not everyone admire the nobleness of their patience and love for their Master? They endured to the end; having their skin shreaded with whips until the flesh of their muscles could be seen right down to their veins and arteries, such that even the bystanders felt sorrow and cried tears.

    But all the while, they did not so much as whisper a cry or even groan. They showed everyone that during the time of their torture, they were either absent from their bodies or preoccupied in conversation with our Lord Jesus.

    This holy martyre had his mind so fixed upon Jesus Christ's grace, the tortures of this world were like a slap in the face of all those who persecuted him.

  3. The same was true for all of those who were martyered for not renouncing Christ. Even the fire of their inhuman torturers felt to them as if only being the ice of Winter. The harder our persecuters try to inflict pain upon all who stand with our precious Christ, the more they saw in the martyr's eyes, only the reflection of the rewards reserved for those who endure to the end; "which neither ear has heard nor eye has seen, nor have entered the heart of man" [I Cor, 2:9 cf. Isa. 64:4; 65:17] but which were shown by the Lord to the martyred who were no longer men, but angels.

  4. The same miraculous heavenly intervention happened to those condemned to the appetite of wild beasts or those strung out upon the sharp edges of broken sea-shells and tormented with various kinds of torture, all in attempt to evoke condemnation of our Christ himself.
III

GERMANICUS

  1. All of this has happened because the devil created many ways to fight against the love of God's people. But thanks be to God; for He held it all in check.

    Least we not forget the most noble Germanicus who gave courage to their timidity by the endurance he exhibited. It was also him who fought gloriously with the wild beasts.

    When the proconsul tried to get Germanicus (as he was young and handsome) to give up on his determination to espouse Jesus Christ; Germanicus, replied by forcibly pulling the wild beast toward him of his own accord, as he wanted to have his death taken quickly, and thus, leave the crowd and their taste for blood unfulfilled.

  2. As a result, the whole crowd stood dumbfounded at the nobility of the godly and pious race of Christians. They then began shouting, "Away with the atheists!" (as all who did not vow that Caesar was god, was considered an atheist) ... Bring Polycarp to the arena!"
IV

QUINTUS

  1. There was next on the list, a man named Quintus, who was a Phrygian and recently arrived from there. He had pressured not just himself, but others with him to come forward voluntarily. Quintus and the proconsul earnestly entreated and persuaded to take the oath and to sacrifice themselves.

    So then brethren, we do not praise those coming forward of their own will, as that is not the teaching of the gospel of our Lord. It is for this reason that Quintus became very frightened when he saw the wild beasts, and gave great pleasure to the blood-thirsty crowd. [ cf. John 7:1; 8:59; 10:39; Acts 13:31; 17:14; 19:30-31 ].

V

POLYCARP'S WITHDRAWAL

  1. What a marvelous man; Polycarp. He wasn't bothered at all when he heard the news about Quintus and decided to stay in the area anyway. The others, however, tried to persuade him to leave; and so he compromised, and went to a farm not far away from the city and stayed there with a few friends. But throughout the day and night, he did nothing but pray for all those in the (Orthodox Catholic) churches throughout the world - which was nothing unusual for him to do.

  2. But while he was in prayer, he had a vision three days before he was arrested. In his vision, he saw his pillow on fire and burning up; at which point, he turned to those with him and announced, "I must be burned alive."
VI

POLYCARP'S ARREST

  1. Later the Roman Police and posse were looking for Polycarp, so he relocated to another farm. But soon those after him actually caught up with Polycarp but were failing to find his exact hiding place. But they did catch a couple of young slaves who, with some moderate torture, quickly confessed where he was hiding.

  2. This made Polycarp's continued hiding impossible as the betrayers were actually household members of the second farm.

    (ST. POLYCARP SHOWN AT RIGHT)

  3. (missing)
  4. (missing)
  5. (missing)

  6. The police captain, who happened to have the name of Herod, was anxious to bring Polycarp into the stadium; thus Polycarp fulfilled his own destiny by becoming a partner with Christ.

  7. And the slaves who betrayed him ended up suffering the same punishment as Judas himself.

  8. Taking the slaves, the mounted and armed policemen and their posse proceeded against Polycarp on Friday evening "like they were chasing a common robber" [ Matt. 26:55 ]. Later that evening they finally converged upon his location, and found him lying down in a little room upstairs.
VII

POLYCARP'S ARREST cont.

  1. Now, Polycarp could have escaped them from that room, but he decided not to, saying, "God's will be done" [ Matt. 26:42,53; Acts 21:14; cf. Matt.6:10 ].

  2. When he heard them arrive, he went down and chatted with them. Those who saw this were amazed at his age and composure; and were stunned that any authorities would be so eager to arrest such a harmless old man as he obviously was.

    Then Polycarp ordered as much drink and food to be set at the table to be consumed by the authorities as they could eat at their leasure. In return, he asked only for them to give him an hour to pray undisturbed.

  3. They gave him permission.

    Polycarp stood and prayed so filled with the grace of God that for two hours he could not stop speaking; and those who heard him were dumbfounded. And many of the posse regretted that they had come after so godly an old man.

VIII

TO THE STADIUM

  1. When Polycarp had finally finished his prayer (in which he named everyone he ever met; both small and great; high and low) and all the catholic church throughout all the world, the hour came for departure. The authorities set him upon an ass and brought him into the city.

    It was a (Jewish) High Holy day.

  2. The police captain, Herod, and his father, Nicetes, met him and they transferred to their carriage. They then sat beside him and tried their best to persuade him, saying: "Why, what is so wrong with saying, 'Ceasar is Lord,' and sacrificing, and all the other stuff? ... and saving your life?"

    At first he did not answer, but when they kept it up, he said, "I am not going to do what you advise me."

  3. When they couldn't convince Polycarp to change his mind, they uttered threats and jerked him off the carriage so that his shin was scraped and bleeding. But without turning around, he walked along briskly as though he had suffered no injury at all.

    As he was led into the stadium. The uproar of the crowd was so great that many did not hear the announcement of Polycarp's apprehension.

IX

POLYCARP ENTERS ARENA; TRIAL BEGINS

  1. When Polycarp entered the stadium, a voice from the heavens said to him, "Be strong, Polycarp, and take it like a man!" No one saw the speaker, but many of our group heard the voice.

    pix of colosseum

    As Polycarp was pushed forward into the arena, there was a great uproar and commotion as the crowd saw that Polycarp had been apprehended.

  2. So when he was brought forward the proconsul asked him if he was Polycarp. When he answered that he was, the proconsul tried to persuade him to deny, saying: "Act your age and wisdom ... Swear by the Genius of Caesar, change your mind, say, 'Away with the atheists.'"

    Polycarp looked sternly at that whole crowd of lawless heathens and then with a wave of his hand, indicating the crowd, looked up to heaven, and said, "Away with the atheists!"

  3. Then the proconsul spoke loudly and said, "Take the oath and I will let you go; revile Christ."

    Polycarp replied, "I have served him eighty-six years and in no way has he dealt unjustly with me; so how can I blaspheme my king who saved me?"

X

POLYCARP'S TRIAL ENDS

  1. The proconsul persisted and said; "Swear by Caesar's Genius."

    Polycarp responded, "If you vainly expect that I will swear by Caesar's Genius, as you suggest, and pretend to be ignorant who I am, listen to what I openly say to everyone here: I am a Christian. If you want to learn the teaching of Christianity, name the day and hear about our beliefs."

  2. The proconsul said, "Persuade these people here."

    Polycarp replied, "To you indeed I have considered myself accountable; for we have been taught to render fit honor to rulers and authorities appointed by God in so far as it is not injurious to us [ cf. Rom. 13:1,7; I Pet. 2:13 ]; as for these people in the stands, I don't believe I have any reason to explain my defense before these heathen no-bodies."

XI

POLYCARP THREATENED

dbl-click on pix

    pix of lion

  1. The proconsul said: "I have wild beasts that will tear you to pieces; That is, unless you change your mind. I'll throw you to them to this cheering crowd!"

    Polycarp replied, "Call for them then; as the choice you offer me now couldn't be any worse. But believe me... it would be to your eternal benefit to change from this evil you do, to doing good for the Lord."

  2. In defiance, proconsul then angerly said, "If you don't change your mind, I'll have you burned at the stake, since you despise our wild beasts."

    Polycarp laughed in reply, "You threaten me with fire which burns for only an hour or so, and is soon only ashes - because you are so ignorant!
    Ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment - eternal punishment of fire reserved for the wicked like you."     [ cf. Matt. 25:46; Rev. 20:10 ].

    "But why do you wait? ... Come on, do what you will!"

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