This saint had more than a devout faith for which he was willing to die. He was a literate man who influenced the church of his time. His is the oldest account of Christian martyrdom outside of the New Testament.

Polycarp was a disciple of John the Baptist and served for many years as bishop of Smyrna. When he was young, he kissed the chains of St. Ignatius of Antioch as he traveled to Rome for martyrdom. It is unlikely that Polycarp suspected that he would eventually share the fate of Ignatius, although Ignatius did help prepare him for that possibility. In a letter to Polycarp, Ignatius wrote, “A Christian does not control his own life but gives his whole time to God.”

He was arrested when he was eighty-six years old and ordered to repeat “Caesar is Lord” and curse Christ. Polycarp refused, saying, “Eighty and six years I have served him and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

His sentence: death by burning. “Come, do what you will,” the elderly bishop told his accusers, adding, “Leave me as I am, the one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to stay quite still on the pyre, even without the precaution of your nails.”

The flames blazed around this holy man, like a wind-filled sail, but they did not touch him. Finally, an executioner stabbed him to death. An account of his martyrdom claimed there was such a quantity of blood “that the fire was quenched and the whole crowd marveled.” St. Polycarp's feast day is February 23.