The city of Izmir lies on the western Aegean coast of Turkey, a large and bustling port and a centre of tourism for the area. Until the mid-twentieth century, it was known as Smyrna, a Greek name belying its Hellenistic origins, for it has an ancient history. In the early first century CE, it was the centre of a thriving Christian community, its Bishop being a man named Polycarp. He was a very important figure at the time, with many books and letters written about him and by him, because he was Bishop for over 40 years and lived to the age of 86 (he was martyred in 155). This meant that as a young man he had known some of the Apostles, in particular St. John, and so was a prominent member of the “second generation” of Christians – he knew people who had known Jesus Christ.

His martyrdom was recorded in detail by the church at Smyrna and sent in the form of a letter to the church in Philomelium, the text of which survives – the first authentic narrative of such an event since that of St. Stephen. Polycarp was betrayed by a servant, arrested, and then taken before the Roman proconsul who was at the city stadium to watch the games. The emperor, Antonius Pius, had decreed that everyone should swear an oath to his guardian spirit, and this is what the proconsul required Polycarp to do, forswearing his religion and cursing Christ. Polycarp’s answer has gone down in history:

“I have been Christ’s servant for eighty-six years and he has done me no harm. Can I now blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”

He was immediately burnt at the stake and his ashes buried outside the city, which soon became a place of pilgrimage. 

Polycarp’s life and death show us how quickly Christianity spread in those early years, and how profoundly rooted it had become in some communities not so very long after the events of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection. The faith was well established and well attested, sufficiently worrying to the authorities that they should readily persecute its followers and execute one of its leaders. Polycarp’s faith and boldness to stand up to the threats and bullying of worldly powers has become legendary and is an example to us all. From time to time we all face ridicule and challenge to our faith, not usually as acute as Polycarp but difficult to cope with nonetheless. We need to be ready to give an account of our faith when we need to and to pray for the courage to do it.

Almighty God,

who gave to your servant Polycarp

boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world

and courage to die for his faith:

grant that we also may be ready to give and answer for the faith that is in us

and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.  The celebration of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, is this Wednesday, 23rd February.