Saint Polycarp

Polycarp was born around 69 and, according to Saint Irenaeus, who knew him as a boy, was taught by the Apostle John and others who had seen the Lord. He became bishop of Smyrna, in present-day Turkey, and was a respected guardian of the apostolic faith. Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote him a letter on his way to martyrdom, and Polycarp's own Letter to the Philippians survives. In his old age he traveled to Rome to discuss the date of Easter with Pope Anicetus.

Around 155, during a local persecution, he was arrested and brought into the stadium. The proconsul urged him to curse Christ and save his life. According to the eyewitness account, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he answered that he had served Christ for eighty-six years and that Christ had never done him wrong, so how could he blaspheme his King who saved him. He was burned and then pierced with a dagger.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp is the oldest surviving account of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament, and it shows that Christians already gathered at martyrs' tombs to celebrate their 'birthday' into heaven.

He is especially honored in Izmir, ancient Smyrna, and by Eastern Christians, and his feast is a fitting day to pray for faithfulness in old age.