Born of a Christian family, Polycarp claimed to have been a disciple of John, presumably the apostle. Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to Roman martyrdom (c. 116), wrote letters both to Polycarp and to the church of Smyrna. In the days of Pope Anicetus, Polycarp visited Rome as representative of the Asia Minor churches that observed 14 Nisan as Easter. Although he and the pope could not come to an agreement on that question, they maintained fellowship with each other. While there Polycarp met some of the Valentinian heretics and encountered Marcion, whom he characterized as "firstborn of Satan."

The account of Polycarp’s death (a letter from the church of Smyrna to the church of Philomelium) is the earliest extant Christian martyrology. The civil authorities importuned the bishop to apostatize because of his age, but he replied dramatically, "I have served Christ eighty-six years and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King? I am a Christian." Miraculously the flames did not harm him, so he was dispatched with a dagger, then burned. His followers gathered up his bones as holy relics "more precious than precious stones and finer than gold," and put them in a suitable place where they could celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom. According to the record, the Jews were as avid for his death as the pagans were.

Only one of Polycarp’s letters has been preserved. Addressed to the Philippians in response to one from them, it has to do with the assembling of Ignatius’s letters into a single volume. It alludes to more than one letter by the apostle Paul to the Philippians. It is also an attestation of certain New Testament books as canonical.

A. Cabaniss