Editing Polycarp (section)

== Importance ==

Polycarp occupies an important place in the history of the early Christian Church<sup>[8]</sup>. He is among the earliest Christians whose writings survive. It is probable that he knew John the Apostle, the disciple of Jesus.<sup>[citation needed]</sup> He was an elder of an important congregation in an area where the apostles laboured. And he is from an era whose orthodoxy is widely accepted by Orthodox Churches, Oriental Churches, Seventh Day Church of God groups, Protestants and Catholics alike. All of this makes his writings of great interest.

Irenaeus, who remembered him from his youth, said of him<sup>[14]</sup>: "a man who was of much greater weight, and a more steadfast witness of truth, than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics". Polycarp lived in an age after the deaths of the apostles, when a variety of interpretations of the sayings of Jesus were being preached. His role was to authenticate orthodox teachings through his reputed connection with the apostle John: "a high value was attached to the witness Polycarp could give as to the genuine tradition of old apostolic doctrine," Wace commented,<sup>[2]</sup> "his testimony condemning as offensive novelties the figments of the heretical teachers. Irenaeus states (iii. 3) that on Polycarp's visit to Rome his testimony converted many disciples of Marcion and Valentinus. Surviving accounts of the bravery of this very old man in the face of death by burning at the stake added credence to his words.

His martyrdom is of particular importance in understanding the position of the church in the pagan era of the Roman Empire. While the persecution is supported by the local proconsul, the author of the account alleges bloodthirstiness in the crowd with their calls for the death of Polycarp (Ch. 3).