Polycarp of Smyrna
- Lived
- c. 69–c. 155
- Era
- The fathers
- Where
- Smyrna, Asia Minor
- Tradition
- The apostolic communities
The link between the apostles and the second century
Bishop of Smyrna, said by Irenaeus to have been taught by John himself, and burned in the stadium there in old age. The account of his death, written by his own congregation, is the earliest martyrdom narrative outside the New Testament.
Why it matters
His value is as a chain of custody: Irenaeus heard Polycarp, who had heard the apostles, and that is the line on which the second century rested its claim to be teaching what it had received. Told to swear by Caesar and revile Christ, he answered that he had served him eighty-six years and been done no wrong by him.
In the record
-
64–313 AD Persecution
Imperial persecutions
Burned at Smyrna in old age
All the figures, from the apostolic age to the present, or the timeline they stand in.