St Polycarp of Smyrna

POLYCARP: Bishop of Smyrna and martyr; b. in the second half of the first century; d. at Smyrna Feb. 23, 155. He is first mentioned in the letters of Ignatius to the Ephesians (xxi. 1; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 58) and to the Magnesians (xv.; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 65) and to Polycarp. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, however, is a letter written to accompany the transmission of the letters of Ignatius and was requested by the Philippians (xiii.; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 36). Those who dispute the letters of Ignatius as genuine would have to reject this also as an interpolation; yet it should not be overlooked that Irenæus had this letter in mind as a witness of Polycarp's faith and his preaching of the truth (Hær., iii. 3–4, Eng. transl., ANF, i. 416). The charge that it was falsified together with the letters of Ignatius is excluded by the peculiar character of the epistle and the charge of interpolation is contradicted by the use of I Clement, equally distributed throughout all the parts. The desire of Ignatius expressed in "To the Smyrneans," xi. (Eng transl., ANF, i. 91) and "To Polycarp," viii. (Eng. transl., ANF, i. 100) throws light on the letter or letters of the Philippians to be transmitted to the Syrians mentioned in xiii. of Polycarp's letter. This letter of Polycarp was therefore written at the time of the martyrdom of Ignatius in the reign of Trajan (98–117). It is preserved in Greek only together with the Epistle of Barnabas as far as ix. 2; the remainder, in an inaccurate Latin translation (ix. and xiii. also in Eusebius, Hist. eccl, III., xxxvi. 13–15; Eng. transl., NPNF, 2 ser., i. 168–169). The points of recognition of the letter through Irenæus are substantiated by the contents: Christ, who has suffered for us and as the risen one is exalted, will also raise us if we do the will of God. Its admonitions deal plainly with the Christian walk in life, in reliance upon the New-Testament Scriptures, especially I Peter. The apostasy of a presbyter Valens is deplored (xi.). He writes of the Smyrnean congregation, whose representative he and the presbyters in whose name he writes are, that (in contrast with the Philippians) in the time of Paul they knew not yet God (xi.; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 35). This does not show that he and the presbyters lived at that time, but that the Philippians turned to him, and Ignatius considers his intercourse with him as worthy of mention and writes to him personally, inasmuch as Polycarp must have been by 110–115 a widely known personage.

This is corroborated by the letter which the Smyrnean congregation directed to the congregation at Philomelium and all the congregations of the Catholic Church concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp, less than a year later (xviii. 2; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 43), which points not only to the esteem in which he was held in his own congregation but to his fame also outside of the Church (xvi., xii.; Eng. transl., i. 43; cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccl., Eng. transl., NPNF, 2 ser., i. 188–193). The accounts of his martyrdom have received confirmation from inscriptions discovered since 1880 (cf. J. B. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, i. 613 sqq.) which also prove the reliability of the additional chapter xxi. not known to Eusebius; for they prove Philip the asiarch (xii.) and high-priest of Tralles (xxi.) to have been asiarch in 149–153, and high-priest and agonothete at Tralles since 137 for life. From this additional chapter, the Acts of Pionius, and the ancient martyrology it is seen that Polycarp was martyred Feb. 23, on a greater Jewish Sabbath (viii. 1, xxi.; perhaps feast of Purim; cf. Lightfoot, ut sup. 692 sqq.) during the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus, fixed by Waddington, using the representations of the rhetorician Aristides, at 154–156, during which the 23d of February occurred as a Sabbath only in 155. W. Schmid attempts to show that the Quadratus of Aristides, evidently Avillius Urinatius Quadratus the consul suffectus of 156, was proconsul in 165–166 under Marcus Aurelius, in accordance with the chronicle of Eusebius delivered by Jerome, Feb. 23, 166, being also on a Sabbath. In all probability, however, the Statius Quadratus of the time of Polycarp's martyrdom is identical with the consul of that name in 142, who, in the course of advancement, must have been the proconsul in 155. The Asiarch Philip also would have been too aged to be high-priest and asiarch in the time of Marcus Aurelius. At the time of his martyrdom Polycarp had been a Christian for eighty-six years (ix.; Eng. transl., ut sup., i. 41). Irenæus relates how and when he became a Christian and in his letter to Florinus (Eusebius, V., xx.; Eng. transl., i. 238–239) stated that he saw and heard him personally in lower Asia; in particular he heard the account of Polycarp's intercourse with John and with others who had seen the Lord. Irenæus also testifies (Hær., iii. 3–4; Eng. transl., ANF, i. 415–417) that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by apostles, made a bishop, and had intercourse with many who had seen the Lord. He repeatedly emphasizes the very old age of Polycarp (ut sup.). If the supreme recognition of Polycarp was due to his old age and former intercourse with the apostles, so were likewise his presence in Rome under Anicetus and his success in the conversion of heretics (154). In the disagreement with Anicetus, Polycarp appealed for authority to his intercourse with John and other disciples (Eusebius, V., xxiv. 16, Eng. transl., i. 415–416). Irenæus makes mention of several epistles to neighboring churches and individual Christians which are not extant (Eusebius, V., xx. 8, Eng. transl., i. 239). The Vita Polycarpi auctore Pionio, knowing chapter xii. and many letters and homilies of Polycarp, is corrupted with so many fables that to extract the historical is impossible. Feuardentius, in his notes to Irenæus, Hær, iii. 3 (Cologne, 1596), gives several fragments ascribed to Polycarp which were preserved in a catena of Victor of Capua in his Liber responsorum, to which T. Zahn (Forschungen, vi. 103, Leipsic, 1900) admits the possibility of a partial genuineness. The statements of the learned Armenian Ananias of Shirak (600–650) in his "Epiphany of our Lord" also must speak for themselves. See Papias.

(N. Bonwetsch.)

(1), bishop of Smyrna, one of the most prominent figures in the church history of the second century. He owes this pro- minence less to intellectual ability, in which he does not appear to have been pre-eminent, than to the influence gained by a consistent and unusually long life. Born some thirty years before the end of the first century, and raised to the episcopate, as it would seem, in early manhood, he held his office to the age of eighty-six or more. He claimed to have himself known at least one apostle, and must in early life have met many who could tell of things they had heard from actual disciples of our Lord, 'The younger generation then into which Polycarp lived on, naturally recognised him as a source of peculiarly trustworthy information concerning the first age of the Church. During the later years of his life Gnostic speculation had become very active, and many things unknown to the faith of ordinary Christians were put forth as derived by secret traditions from the apostles. In the face of such pretensions it was a matter of course that high yalue should be attached to the witness Polycarp was able to give to the genuine tradition of apostolic doctrine, his testimony condemn- ing as offensive novelties the figments of the heretical teachers. Irenaeus states (iii. 3) that on the occasion of Polycarp's visit to Rome this testimony of his was the means of converting many disciples of Marcion and Valentinus. And Polycarp crowned his other services to the church by a glorious martyrdom. When he was now at the extremity of human life, and it seemed as if he could do no more for the church than by the pattern he had already set of holiness, piety, and orthodoxy, a persecution broke out in which his position as the venerated head of the Christian community in Asia Minor marked him out for special attack. He gave then a noble exhibition of calm courage, neither courting nor fearing martyrdom, sheltering himself by concealment while concealment was pos- sible, and when it was no longer so, resolutely declaring in defiance of threats his unshaken love to the master he had served so long. Such a death, following on such a life, made Polycarp's the most illustrious name of his generation in the Christian annals.

Irenaeus states (III. iii. 4) that Polycarp had not only been instructed by apostles and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but had also been established "' by apostles" as bishop in the church at Smyrna; and we cannot doubt that Tertullian (De Praescrip. 32) is right in understanding this to mean that he had been so estab-

lished by St. John, whose activity in founding the episcopate of Asia Minor is spoken of also by Clem. Alex. in his well-known story of St. John and the robber (Quis div. saly. p. 959). The testimony of Irenaeus is conclusive evidence as to the current belief in Asia Minor during the old age of Polycarp, and if we: have any hesitation in accepting that belief as decisively estab- lishing the fact, it is only because in the case of one so venerated and whose episcopate had lasted so long, the known fact that he had been a hearer of St. John would under any circumstances be likely to receive the addition that he had been made bishop by John. In any case we count it as certain that Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna at the time of the martyrdom of Ignatius, i.e. somewhere about A.D. 110. Ignatius on his journey from Antioch to Rome made his first halt at Smyrna, where, as at his other resting-places, the Christians flocked to him from all the neighbourhood to receive his counsels and to bestow attentions on him. From the city where he next halted he wrote back in separate letters to the church of Smyrna and to Polycarp its bishop. A later stage of his journey was Philippi, to the church of which city Polycarp some time after wrote a letter still extant, sending them copies of the letters of Ignatius, and enquiring if they could give him information about Ignatius, the detailed story of whose martyrdom appears not yet to have reached Smyrna.