Polycarp refuses to deny Christ

When he entered the stadium, filled with a noisy, heathen crowd, the proconsul tried to persuade Polycarp to deny Christ.  Polycarp refused.  The proconsul tried again: “Swear (by the fortune of Caesar), and I will set you at liberty.  Reproach Christ”.  But Polycarp stood firm and declared, “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?  Still the proconsul persisted: “Swear by the fortune of Caesar”.  Polycarp’s response shows amazing, steadfast courage: “Since you are so intent that I should swear by the fortune of Caesar, and since you pretend not to know who and what I am, hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian.  And if you wish to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, appoint me a day, and you shall hear them”.

The proconsul increased the pressure on Polycarp: “I have wild beasts at hand; to these I will throw you unless you repent”.  But Polycarp was more than a match for him and he replied, “Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt what is evil…”  The proconsul then threatened Polycarp with death by burning and still Polycarp stood firm.

Polycarp dies for the Christian Faith

So a herald went to the middle of the stadium and proclaimed three times, “Polycarp has confessed that he is a Christian”.  And the crowd shouted out in fury, “This is …the father of the Christians…he who has been teaching many not to sacrifice, or to worship the gods”.  Then they piled wood around Polycarp.  Before they set fire to the wood, Polycarp said a prayer to God which ended with these words: “I praise You for all things, I bless You, I glorify You, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son; with Him, to You and the Holy Spirit, be glory now and forever.  Amen”. (1)

So by his long life, St Polycarp was able to teach many people how to live their lives as the Apostles had taught him to live his life.  And by his death as a martyr Polycarp taught generations of persecuted Christians how to die. (2)

After Polycarp’s death, the Christians gathered his bones which they described as being “more precious than the richest jewels or gold”.  They kept them in a place where they might “assemble with joy, to celebrate the birthday of the martyr”. (3)  By ‘birthday’ they meant the day of his death, the beginning of his heavenly life. (4)