A.D. 155
H. COX POLYCARP
The Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, who died a.d. 161, had been tolerant to the new Judaic sect known as Christians. Under his mild regime, although he did not encourage them, the faithful had greatly multiplied. The Christians had become a body great enough to be reckoned with in a political sense. The populace were generally hostile to them as "enemies of the gods." More than one of the apostolic fathers had suffered martyrdom, among them Ignatius, a disciple of St. John and bishop of Antioch, who is said to have been thrown to the lions in the Circus about a.d. 107. But the account of the martyrdom of Polycarp is probably the first authentic description we have.
Polycarp was born about a.d. 60, probably of Christian parents. He bridges the little-known period between the age of his master, the apostle John, and that of his own disciple, Irenæus. During the earlier half of the second century he was bishop of Smyrna. Ephesus had become the new hope of the faith, and in that city Polycarp had received his education and "lived in familiar intercourse with many who had seen Christ." He was also intimate with Papias and Ignatius. The only writing of Polycarp extant is the Epistle to the Philippians, which follows. It is of great value for questions of the canon, the origin of the Church, and the Ignatian epistles. Of the authenticity of Polycarp's epistle Rev. Father W. O'B. Pardow, S.J., says, "There are long and learned controversies about some of these [apocryphal] books." Of that in question he says: "Probably authentic; not inspired." Archbishop Wake was fully convinced of its genuineness, and his translation has been here used.
Justin, surnamed "the Martyr," was born at Sichen, Samaria, about a.d. 100. After his conversion to Christianity he wandered about arguing for the truth of the new faith. He was of a bold, aggressive nature, and scorned to temporize in things spiritual. His language and mode of address were borrowed from the Stoics, but were the "true utterance of his own manly soul. 'You can kill us; you cannot harm us,'" was his answer when condemned for being a Christian. The words proceeded from a believer ready and destined to give his life for the faith.
Truly did the blood of the martyrs prove the seed of the Church. Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, hereto annexed, is taken from a rare work which contains the uncanonical books of the period of Christ's infancy and the early days of the Church, entitled The Apocryphal Books of the New Testament. The laity have little knowledge of it, but it is well known by the clergy.
HOMERSHAM COX
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was undoubtedly a companion of the apostle John, and received instruction from other apostles. "About this time," says Eusebius, referring to the commencement of the second century, "flourished Polycarp in Asia, an intimate disciple of the apostles, who received the episcopate of the Church of Smyrna at the hands of eye-witnesses and servants of the Lord."
The lengthened life of the apostle John, who attained to an extreme old age, connects the fathers of the second century with the immediate followers of Christ. Polycarp must have been a contemporary of St. John for about twenty years.
A letter of Irenæus, who was a pupil of Polycarp, has been preserved, which gives a graphic and remarkably interesting account of the familiar intercourse of Polycarp with the apostle. The letter is addressed by Irenæus to a friend named Florinus, with whom he remonstrates for holding erroneous doctrines: