Early Church · 155

The Martyrdom of Polycarp

Church of Smyrna (c. 155 AD)

Composed by the church at Smyrna and sent to the church at Philomelium around 155 AD, this is the oldest detailed account of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament. It records the arrest, trial, and death of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who was burned alive and then stabbed at age eighty-six after declaring, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" The account established the literary form for all subsequent martyrdom narratives in the early church, and its careful attention to how Polycarp's death mirrored Christ's shaped how Christians understood faithful witness unto death.

18 min total · 23 chapters