Polycarp 			February 23
Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor, provides a valuable link between the church of the apostles and the church of the second century. His martyrdom was recorded in detail, and this provides a touching account of his death.
Polycarp was born about 70 CE, probably in Asia Minor. He learned some of his Christian faith from St John, who lived his final years in Ephesus. Polycarp himself taught Irenaeus, who became bishop of Lyons in 177. Polycarp became the leader of the Christian community in Smyrna and was bishop there for many years. In the early second century Asia Minor was the area in which Christianity found the strongest support.
When Ignatius of Antioch passed Smyrna on his way to martyrdom in Rome in 107, he wrote to the church in Smyrna, and a letter of Polycarp to the Philippians about the same time also survives. Polycarp made no pretensions to scholarship and theology, but exhorted the Christians in Philippi to live circumspectly and bring no discredit on the church. He quoted from Paul and from Matthew’s Gospel in support of his comments. The church was still very young and only slowly developing firm theological convictions. Polycarp was particularly anxious about those who deny that Christ was truly human. Some found it easier to believe in a Saviour who was a heavenly visitor rather than one of us.
From about 150 the church in Asia Minor became the centre of public dislike. Pagans and Jews alike sought to have the church crushed. The state was promoting with some zeal the religious oath to the emperor as a sign of loyalty to the state, and the Jews, who lived in an uneasy truce with Rome after the bloody and unsuccessful rebellion twenty years before, regarded the Christians as a destabilising influence. Both groups, therefore, found the Christians a convenient target.
Polycarp himself was arrested, probably in 156, and urged to deny his Christianity and acknowledge the lordship of the emperor. “Swear and I will let you go”, the governor told him, “Curse Christ.” Polycarp replied, “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme against my king and saviour?”
For Liturgical Use
Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor for over fifty years. He was born about 70 CE, knew St John in Ephesus, and provides an important link from the apostles to the later church. The refusal of Polycarp and others to take the religious oath to the emperor led to their execution in 156. Urged to curse Christ, Polycarp said, “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme against my king and saviour?”
Sentence
Love the Lord all you servants of the Lord; for the Lord preserves those who are faithful.	
			Psalm 31:26
Collects
Faithful and everlasting God,
you gave your servant Polycarp
boldness to confess Jesus as his Lord and Saviour
and courage to die for his faith;
give us grace to share the cup of Christ
and in all our trials to praise your name;
through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Praise to you Jesus Christ,
Saviour of old and young alike;
praise to you for Polycarp;
may your church still have power
to destroy the false and empty gods
that people worship.
Psalms	34:1-10	116:10-18
Readings
Wisdom 5:15-20		The righteous live for ever
Revelation 2:8-11		To the church at Smyrna
John 15:1-8		Bearing much fruit
Post Communion Sentence
Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”		John 12:24