On February 23/March 8, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.
Callista and little St. Polycarp. Fresco at the Church of St. Polycarp (Izmir, Turkey)
St. Polycarp was born around the year 80 A.D. and lived in the city of Smyrna in Asia Minor (now the city of Izmir, Turkey). In early childhood the boy was left an orphan, and he was taken in by the pious widow Callista. She raised him in the Christian virtues, diligence, kindness, and humility.
St. Polycarp and his adoptive mother lived in concord, helping the sick and the poor.
“Look, mother. Here is yet another beggar walking who is also limping a bit. Let’s give him a coin?” the boy would often say.
“You are right, my child,” Callista would reply. “Come and give him a piece of bread and a coin.”
So years passed, and the pious Callista departed to the Lord. After her repose St. Polycarp distributed his possessions among the needy and continued to serve the sick and the destitute.
For his chaste life St. Polycarp was loved dearly by 
St. Bucolus the Bishop of SmyrnaSaint Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, and became the first Bishop of Smyrna (Asia Minor).
“>St. Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna, with whom they became close. St. Bucolus was a disciple of the Saint John the Theologian, Apostle and EvangelistThrough humility, not calling himself by name, nevertheless speaking of himself in the Gospel, refers to himself as the disciple ”whom Jesus loved.” This love of him by the Lord, showed itself when the Lord was on the cross he entrusted His Most Holy Mother to him saying: ”Behold your mother.””>Apostle John the Theologian, who consecrated him the first bishop of the Church of Smyrna in Asia Minor. By the grace of God, St. Bucolus converted a great number of pagans to Christ. An experienced and wise mentor, he protected his flock from all heresies.
St. Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna
St. Bucolus taught St. Polycarp the same things:
“Always serve the Lord, my son. Take care of your flock, guide the lost onto the right path, listen to those who come to you for spiritual help and instruct them in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
He ordained St. Polycarp to the priesthood and shortly before his death left a will in which he asked for St. Polycarp to be consecrated bishop in Smyrna. St. Bucolus peacefully fell asleep in the Lord around 100-105. He entrusted his flock into the reliable hands of St. Polycarp, an apostolic man who was a disciple of St. John the Theologian too.
When St. Bucolus’ disciples committed the saint’s body to the earth, a true miracle occurred:
“Look, a tree has just grown next to his grave!”
“It’s a myrtle tree!”
“It has grown before our very eyes! On the saint’s grave!”
And hands immediately reached out to the tree, because everyone wanted to touch it. A minute earlier there had been nothing on this site, and suddenly a whole tree appeared! And new miracles followed. Through the prayers of St. Bucolus people who touched the tree began to receive healing from their illnesses. Healings occurred years later as well.
St. Polycarp, in accordance with St. Bucolus’ testament, guided his flock with the zeal of an apostle. He was loved and respected by the clergy, and Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer the Bishop of AntiochTradition suggests that when St Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: “Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”. The saint was called “God-Bearer” (Theophoros), because he bore God in his heart and prayed unceasingly to Him.
“>St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch, treated him with great fondness.
When St. Ignatius was arrested in Antioch under Emperor Trajan and sent to Rome to be executed, on his way to Rome he stopped in Smyrna and spent several days there with his friend, Bishop Polycarp. It was in this city that St. Ignatius wrote four of his seven epistles: to the church communities of Ephesus, Rome, Magnesia, and Tralles. And in Troas he wrote the epistles to the church communities of Philadelphia, Smyrna, and a letter to Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna.
In his letter to Bishop Polycarp St. Ignatius the God-Bearer instructs his friend and disciple: “I was struck by the godliness of your mind—anchored, it seems, on immovable rock—and I rejoice that it was granted me to see your blameless face (may God give me joy of it). I exhort you to press forward on your journey in the grace with which you have been clothed; and you should exhort all men to gain salvation. Perform your office (episcopate) with all diligence of body and spirit. Strive for unity, for there is nothing better. Help all men, as the Lord also helps you; suffer all men in love (indeed, you are doing this). Pray unceasingly. Beg for wisdom greater than you already have, be watchful and keep the spirit from slumbering. Speak to each person individually, just like God Himself, and like a perfect champion bear the infirmities of all. The greater the toil, the greater the gain.”1
Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer
And further: “These critical times have need of you, as a ship needs a helmsman and the storm-tossed sailor needs a harbor. Be strict with yourself, like a good athlete of God. The prize is immortality and eternal life, as you know. I offer myself up as a sacrifice on your behalf—myself and these chains which you yourself have kissed.”2
The advice of St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was thrown to the lions and received the crown of a martyr on December 20, 107, in Rome, was very useful to St. Polycarp, who devoted all his energies to serving his flock, thereby fulfilling the precepts of his teachers—St. Bucolus and Hieromartyr Ignatius.
When Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180) ascended the Roman throne, one of the most severe persecutions of Christians was unleashed. To force Christians to renounce their faith they were put into gloomy prisons, thrown to wild animals, and brutally tortured.
Let us turn to the Acts of the Martyrs that has survived from the time of the persecutions of Christians under Emperor Marcus Aurelius. There are few of them, and the principal is the account of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.
The persecutors of Christians searched for Bishop Polycarp for a long time, as his bold preaching of the Christian faith was well known to everyone. He wanted to stay in the city of Smyrna, but his flock convinced their pastor of the need to hide in a village. Then he moved from that village elsewhere, where his pursuers found him.
When St. Polycarp was found, he was not afraid and even ordered his persecutors to be fed. While they were eating, he prayed fervently. Then they put him on a donkey, since the bishop was very old, and took him to the city of Smyrna. The chief of police met them on the way and tried to persuade St. Polycarp to renounce Christ. The Christian bishop answered him briefly:
“I will never renounce my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In response, the police chief pushed the elder so hard that he injured his leg. Despite his injury and being forbidden to ride the donkey, he walked as far as the city of Smyrna cheerfully. He knew that he was going to suffer for Christ, and this thought gave him strength and filled him with joy.
When St. Polycarp was brought to the stage installed at the amphitheater, everybody heard a voice from Heaven:
“Be strong, Polycarp, and take heart!”
The crowd shuddered and crouched down to the ground.
St. Polycarp before the Roman Proconsul St. Polycarp was interrogated by the proconsul, who for a long time tried to convince the bishop to renounce the Lord Jesus Christ:
“Come to your senses! You are very old—look at your gray hair—you cannot stand the agony of being torn apart by wild beasts. Renounce your faith and bow to our gods.”
St. Polycarp replied calmly and firmly to all this:
“We do not trade the best for the worst: It is a noble thing to turn from wickedness to righteousness. I have been serving the Lord for eighty-six years now, and I will be faithful to Him to the death.”
Being convinced that they were powerless to break the bishop, the proconsul gave a sign to the heralds, and they proclaimed three times loudly:
“Polycarp has declared himself a Christian!”
The bishop was sentenced to be burned at the stake. The verdict did not surprise him, because St. Polycarp was clairvoyant; and long before his martyrdom, after a long prayer, he had had a vision, in which the pillow under his head had suddenly caught fire. After the vision St. Polycarp announced to others that he would be killed by fire.
And so the executioners led St. Polycarp to the stake, at the base of which brushwood had already been laid out. They wanted to nail the bishop to the stake, but he told them calmly:
“In vain you try to nail me to the stake. I am not going to step away from the flames.”
After consulting, the executioners only tied him to the stake with a rope.
St. Polycarp started reciting prayers, and the flames surrounding the saint closed over his head without touching him. Seeing such a miracle, the crowd gasped: a man was standing in a ring of fire that did not even touch his body. Opinions were divided among the onlookers. Some exclaimed:
“He is a saint! Fire has no power over him.”
“The man is being tortured undeservedly—he is innocent!”
But the crowd of pagans demanded:
“Kill him with a sword!”
“Throw him to be eaten by lions and tigers!”
“Put him into the dungeon!”
Hans Hofmann. The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp The executioners exchanged glances perplexedly, not knowing what they should do. Then an order came from the high seats where the emperor’s dignitaries were sitting:
“Kill him with a sword!”
Then one of the executioners took a sword and approached the fire, through the veil of which Bishop Polycarp could be seen. The executioner was afraid to strike with the sword with all his might, since the tongues of the flames could have spread to him, so he only struck the saint with the end of the sword. Blood flowed from his wound, and there was so much of it that it extinguished the fire. But Hieromartyr Polycarp had already departed to the Lord.
This happened in the year 167 (according to other sources, in 166) A.D. Hieromartyr Polycarp’s body was burned up by the executioners. The Christians feared that his relics would be desecrated by the pagans, so after a while they collected the saint’s bones and the ashes from the site of the fire. A fragrance came from the saint’s relics. He was martyred on Holy Saturday.
The Christians of Smyrna used to say:
“They do not know that we shall never be able either to forsake Christ, Who suffered for the salvation of the whole world of those that are saved, or to worship any other. For we worship Him Who is the Son of God; but the martyrs, as disciples and imitators of the Lord, we love as they deserve on account of their matchless affection for their own King and Teacher. May we also be made partakers and fellow-disciples with them.”3
And the Christians vowed to commemorate the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, every year.
The Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp have survived in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Church History, but they have also come down to us in earlier manuscripts. These are letters from the church of the city of Smyrna, which inform other churches about the martyrdom of the Bishop of Smyrna and other Christians.
The Acts describe St. Polycarp’s martyrdom as “consistent with the Gospel”: “He, Polycarp, was waiting to be betrayed, as was the case with the Lord, and we must be imitators of the Lord.” At the end of the Acts the same thought is heard: “He was not merely an illustrious teacher, but also a preeminent martyr, whose martyrdom all desire to imitate, as having been altogether consistent with the Gospel of Christ.”4
Source: Orthodox Christianity
