Today, February 23, is the memorial of Saint Polycarp.
Polycarp was born around A.D. 65. St. Jerome, St. Irenaeus and the early Christian writer Tertullian wrote that Polycarp was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle. Irenaeus wrote that Polycarp corresponded with people who had actually seen Jesus.
He fought the heresy Gnosticism. He also became Bishop of Smyrna (now modern-day Izmir, Turkey). As a revered Christian leader during the first half of the second century, Polycarp was chosen as a representative to Pope Anicetus by the Asia Minor churches. Polycarp and the Pope discussed the observance of Easter.
Only one of the many letters written by Polycarp has survived, the one he wrote to the Church of Philippi, Macedonia.
When he was 86 years old, Polycarp was asked to burn incense to the Roman emperor. Polycarp maintained that only God deserved such an honor. He was sentenced to be burned alive in a stadium in Smyrna.
The fire meant to burn Polycarp did not harm him. His angry tormentors decided to stab him with a dagger and burn his body afterwards.
The Acts of Polycarp’s martyrdom are the earliest preserved reliable accounts of a Christian martyr’s death.