The Man called Polycarp

In every moment, God has His people that He has chosen to defend His Name. When all hope seems lost, and God’s people defeated, shamed, and sent to the back, God brings those He has prepared to defend His holy name. Timothy and Titus were the spiritual sons of Paul. However, when the apostle died, little was heard about them. In the Second Century records, their names have almost vanished. Polycarp is a known character in history books. He was a Second Century father of the Christian church. Polycarp is an important character for many reasons.

John the beloved apostle had Polycarp as his son in the faith. Polycarp was a very devoted pastor who shepherded the church of Smyrna. After the last apostle, who is John died, Polycarp was among the few who were very important to the early church. Some people were trying to creep in to deceive God’s people with fables, and if Polycarp had not intercepted, they would have succeeded. Right after the apostle John’s death, a letter was written by Polycarp to be circulated among the churches in the region.

The churches needed to know of the sufferings and the persecution in Smyrna and how the church there and its leaders were responding to the martyrdoms. It was no surprise to this church because John the Revelator had already written about their persecution in the book of Revelation. The persecution at Smyrna soon reached Polycarp, their pastor. Polycarp was arrested and presented to the proconsul (the Roman governor) for him (Polycarp) to deny his allegiance to Christ. But this old man will not recant. The proconsul said, “reproach Christ, and I will set you free.” Polycarp replied, “86 years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and My Saviour?” These words of Polycarp have traveled more than eighteen centuries to reach us. These simple words have inspired many to stand for their faith amidst great persecution. Polycarp was pushed on every side to deny his faith and life but he insisted that not even wild animals nor fire can make him recant. But he provoked the Proconsul even worse by saying to him “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want”.

This, the proconsul couldn’t entertain anymore. But Polycarp’s martyrdom is very different, a miracle happened on that day. When the fire was set ablaze to consume him, he remained without the fire touching him. For many minutes after the fire was set ablaze, it was just surrounding him but will not touch him, so an executioner pierced him with a dagger and he died. He was then burnt later. For fuller details of his death, you can read from Christian History Magazine.

            To this day and age, directly and indirectly, persecution of Christians still hovers around. The people living in our time have their way of persecuting the faith. They find the gospel to be offensive. They would want the Christian message to be changed. “Only if Christians would be inclusive,” they say, “we would have followed their Christ.” They would want a savior out of any man. They cannot stand it when Christian profess that there is only one name in heaven and on earth that saves. They want Christians to acknowledge that Buddha is a savior. Christ Jesus is another savior. The Gurus in the Sikh faith are also saviors. The exclusiveness of the Christian message is an offense to them. Due to this, in some regions, Christians are persecuted. They are threatened with death each day. Some are also insulted, mocked, and rejected because of their faith in Christ Jesus. The words of Polycarp should be a great and comforting encouragement to us. Whether we are persecuted directly or indirectly, we will not recant. Let us press on, much on, and tread on as our fathers in the faith did in the past. We have an anchor! May this anchor hold in our most difficult moments. Soli Deo Gloria

Michael Yaw Tano

tanomichael65@gmail.com

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