{"id":33230,"date":"2016-02-23T07:26:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T11:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/?p=33230"},"modified":"2016-02-23T08:26:49","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T12:26:49","slug":"saint-polycarp-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2016\/02\/saint-polycarp-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Polycarp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/St-Polycarp.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-33231\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-33231 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/St-Polycarp-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"St Polycarp\" width=\"407\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/St-Polycarp-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/St-Polycarp-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/St-Polycarp-1024x686.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/St-Polycarp.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px\" \/><\/a>Bishop of Smyrna (Asia Minor), Polycarp was martyred between 155 and 167. Aside from an epistle he wrote to the Philippians and a letter addressed to him by Ignatius of Antioch, he is known especially for the account of his martyrdom, the first such account to be written after the narrative of Stephen\u2019s martyrdom in the Acts of the Apostles.<span class=\"text_exposed_show\">This extraordinary narrative was composed shortly after Polycarp\u2019s death. Many passages should be quoted here, like this one, where the governor invites Polycarp to curse Christ. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Here is the bishop\u2019s response<\/span>: \u201cFor eighty six years I have been his servant and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme against my king and savior?\u201d This text is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">also<\/span> the first one where we find a mention of the cult of relics and of the celebration of the anniversary of the martyrdom: \u201cCollecting the remains that were dearer to us than precious stones and finer than gold, we buried them in a fitting spot. Gathering there, so far as we can, in joy and gladness, we will be allowed by the Lord to celebrate the anniversary day of his martyrdom, both as a memorial for those who have already fought the contest and for the training and preparation of those who will do so one day.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"text_exposed_show\">(H. Musurillo [ed.], The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, Oxford, 1972, pp. 9, 17).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Illustr.: St Polycarp. Martyrdom of St Polycarp &#8211; Menologion of Basil II (Vatican).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bishop of Smyrna (Asia Minor), Polycarp was martyred between 155 and 167. Aside from an epistle he wrote to the Philippians and a letter addressed to him by Ignatius of Antioch, he is known especially for the account of his martyrdom, the first such account to be written after the narrative of Stephen\u2019s martyrdom in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2016\/02\/saint-polycarp-4\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Saint Polycarp<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31934,32148],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33232,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33230\/revisions\/33232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}