May 22, 2025

Polycarp

Polycarp (70-155) was the last surviving link to Jesus’ original twelve apostles, having been a student of the apostle John. Polycarp served as bishop of Smyrna and was a respected leader in the early church. When the Roman Empire unleashed a new wave of persecutions against Christians. Polycarp was informed that Roman officials were coming to arrest him. While panic-stricken friends urged him to flee, he calmly waited for his captors at home. When they arrived, Polycarp requested food and drink be served to them. He made only one request: one hour to pray before they took him away.

The officers who overheard him praying began to have second thoughts. Why were they arresting a devout old man like this? He was taken to proconsul Quadratus who ordered him to offer incense before a statue of the emperor and deny allegiance to Christ. Polycarp refused, saying, “For eighty and six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and Savior who has saved me?” When the proconsul urged him to reconsider, Polycarp stood his ground and was subsequently burned at the stake. His candid prayer challenges us to do likewise.

O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received knowledge of you, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of all the righteous who live before you, I give you thanks that you count me worthy to be numbered among your martyrs, sharing in the cup of Christ and the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and body, through the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received this day as an acceptable sacrifice, as you, the true God, have predestined, revealed to me, and now fulfilled. I praise you for all these things. I bless and glorify you, along with the everlasting Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. To you, with him, through the Holy Ghost, be glory now and forever. Amen.

From the Martyrium Polycarp (Martyrdom of Polycarp), chap. 14, an anonymous account written after Polycarp’s death, translated from the Greek by J. B. Lightfoot in The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, part 2: S. Ignatius, S Polycarp (London: Macmillan, 1885). Modernized by Stephen Tomkins for “Module 103, Polycarp’s Martyrdom,” Christian History Institute, https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/polycarp.

Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.