Apocrypha
Martyrdom of Polycarp
Acts of the Martyrs
22 chapters · read and listen
Reading note
The eyewitness account of the death of the bishop of Smyrna in the stadium, with the answer that endured: eighty-six years I have served Christ, how can I blaspheme him now?
Chapters
Dossier
The eyewitness account of the death of the bishop of Smyrna in the city stadium — and of the answer that endured: eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me wrong; how can I blaspheme my King?
Where this text comes from
Written shortly after the event, around AD 155-160, as a letter from the church of Smyrna to the church of Philomelium. It is the oldest account of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament.
Why it is not in the Bible
Never a candidate for the canon — it is a community's historical document, not Scripture. But it founded a genre: every later martyr account follows this pattern.
What you will find
- Polycarp refuses to flee, receives the soldiers sent to arrest him and orders food served to them.
- The refusal to swear by Caesar's fortune, spoken plainly, with his age counted in years of service.
- The fire that arches around him without burning, and the dagger that ends the scene.
- The text's care to distinguish veneration of martyrs from worship of Christ — a question already alive at the time.
Frequently asked questions
- When did Polycarp die?
- Between AD 155 and 160, in Smyrna, in present-day Turkey. The exact date is debated because of how the text identifies the proconsul of the year.