Saint Polycarp of Smyrna..(born..69 or 70 AD and died 155 or 156 AD) was a second century..bishop..of..Smyrna. He died a..martyr..when he was stabbed after an attempt to burn him at the stake failed. Polycarp is recognized as a..saint..in both the..Roman Catholic..and..Eastern Orthodox..churches. It is recorded that "He had been a disciple of John." This John is usually identified as..John the Apostle, the author of our New Testament books the Gospel of John, the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. The day of his death, February 23rd, is the day he is honored by those who follow that church calendar.
Polycarp fits into a time slot that falls in between the original 12 Apostles and the elevation and acceptance of the church and its development into what later became The Roman Catholic Church. Polycarp is more “Protestant fundamentalist” than some Roman Catholics would like to believe and more Roman Catholic than some Protestant fundamentalists would like to believe.
There is a video of him at
http://www.allaboutreligion.org/polycarp-video.htm
and he is mentioned in a Gospel song that was popular a few years ago called, “He Ain’t Never Done Me Nothing But Good.” Videos of that song can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MluEIkvlzE
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0GdIiRIip0
The first is a bluegrass version by the Isaacs and the second is by Karen Wheaton on TBN.
I’ve shown the lyrics to “He Ain’t Never Done Me Nothing But Good” at the end of this email. The song is based on the words of Polycarp when he was given the chance to offer incense to Caesar and renounce Jesus as Lord. He said, “"Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"
This is the story of Polycarp from an ancient document. I don’t know how accurate it may be since it is hard to distinguish between history and legnd some times. What do we learn from him. He was faithful to his Lord and faithful to his beliefs and is therefore an example to us like those listed in Hebrews chapter 11.
to be continued in part 2
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