Житие и страдание святого священномученика Поликарпа, епископа Смирнского

In the city of Smyrna; located in the Asia Minor region of Ionia, during the time of the holy apostles the bishop was Saint Vukol; In the days of this bishop, the pious and God-fearing widow Callista lived here. An Angel of the Lord appeared to her in a dream and ordered her to take an orphan, the youth Polycarp, to her; since Callista had no children, she joyfully took the boy and raised him in piety, like her own son. When he grew up and came to a perfect mind, the widow entrusted him with everything that she had in the house. One day at this time she needed to go far from home on one matter regarding her estates, and she did not return for quite a long time; during her absence, blessed Polycarp, extremely merciful to the poor, began to generously give to the poor, orphans and widows; he distributed bread, wine, oil and all kinds of food to everyone who asked, so that the storehouses of his foster mother became scarce. When Callista was returning, one of the servants, coming out to meet her, began to complain about Polycarp that he had unreasonably squandered all his property, so that now, he slandered, there was complete poverty in the house. Callista was greatly saddened by this: having arrived home, she immediately went to the storerooms and found there a lot of all kinds of treasures. For blessed Polycarp, before the arrival of Callista, turned to the Lord with the following prayer: “Lord my God, You filled the vessels of the widow of Zarephath under Your prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17:10-16), hear me at this hour, and cause all the storehouses of this house to be filled in the name of Christ.” And the Lord immediately heard his prayer and filled the house of his benefactress with all sorts of blessings. Seeing that the house now had much more of everything necessary than before, Callista became angry with the servant, who complained about the poverty caused by Saint Polycarp: she thought that the servant was either mocking her, or out of hatred had slandered Polycarp. Angry, she wanted to punish him. Saint Polycarp began to defend him, saying to his teacher: “I beg you, lady, do not punish another instead of me, but rather punish me; this servant is not worthy of punishment, but of praise for his loyalty and devotion to you; he told you the whole truth: indeed, all our wealth has become scarce and all our storerooms have become empty, for I, seeing our brothers starving, the poor and wretched, gave them everything and exhausted all supplies; They begged God, and He sent His Angel, who replenished all your property, so that you, according to your custom, could provide generous alms to the poor.” Hearing and seeing all this, Callista was greatly surprised and from then on became even more zealous for good deeds in good faith, giving abundant alms; She fell in love with Saint Polycarp even more, as if she were her own son, marveling at his virtue; finally, having ended her godly life, she gave her soul into the hands of the Lord, leaving her betrothed son, Saint Polycarp, as heir to all her estate. The blessed one distributed everything to the poor, and he himself began to diligently read Divine books, diligently indulging in the thought of God and prayers; He spent his life in great abstinence and immaculate virginity, worked tirelessly day and night for the Lord, lovingly serving the sick, infirm and elderly. For such a life, the Bishop of Smyrna, Saint Vukol, fell in love with him; first the bishop made Polycarp a cleric, then a deacon; according to the testimony of Saint Pionius, who wrote the life of blessed Polycarp, St. Vukol entrusted Polycarp, when he was a deacon, with the duty of preaching the word of God, for Saint Polycarp was distinguished by his prudence and eloquence, so that the holy ascetic was obliged to teach the people both in church and in other places. Not only Saint Vukol, but also the holy apostles, Paul and John the Theologian with other disciples of Christ loved Saint Polycarp; Saint Polycarp participated together with the holy apostles in their travels, was their student, a companion of their works, an imitator of their life; the apostles again sent him to Smyrna to Saint Vukol, who ordained him as a presbyter. Saint Polycarp also wrote many words and epistles useful for the Church of Christ, but most of his writings were lost during the persecution, so that only a small portion of them remained. Saint Bishop Vukol was foreshadowed that after his death the episcopal throne in the Smyrna church should be taken by the presbyter Polycarp, and not by anyone else; and therefore, dying, Saint Vukol, taking Polycarp’s right hand and placing it on his chest, entrusted him with shepherding his verbal flock and with the words “Glory to Thee, Lord,” he passed away in peace into eternal life. The apostolic bishops, who gathered for the burial of Saint Bucolus, dedicated Saint Polycarp; at the same time, many of them received terrible visions. When the dedication to the bishop began, the Divine light illuminated everyone in the church; some of the worthy saw a white dove, which, shining like lightning, flew around the head of Saint Polycarp; to others, the holy ascetic appeared to be dressed like a warrior: he was girded with a military belt and armed as if for battle; others saw him in royal purple 1575 with a radiant face; to one girl he seemed much taller than he really was, and his robe on his right shoulder was red. When Saint Polycarp knelt down to accept the dedication, he saw before him the feet of Christ the Lord himself, who was invisibly present at his dedication. Thus, ordained by Christ himself and the Holy Spirit, Polycarp ruled the Church of God, according to the decrees of the holy apostles; He endured a lot of labor, saving human souls, and he performed many wondrous miracles during his episcopate. One day Saint Polycarp happened to be in one of the cities of the same Ionian region, Teos, which was located near the warm waters called Levedia; he stayed with the bishop of that city named Daphne, whom Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer mentions in his letter to the inhabitants of Smyrna. Saint Polycarp, seeing poverty and lack in the house of that bishop, prayed to God for him, so that the Lord would bless his house, and from that hour Bishop Daphne no longer experienced lack: his fields and vineyards, which had until then been barren, brought extraordinary harvests and became very fruitful; The saint, through his prayer, increased the wine, which was only in small quantities, to abundance. One day, returning to Smyrna, Polycarp, together with the deacon accompanying him, turned off the road and went into an inn that was on the way; it was already evening, and the tired travelers wanted to rest; Having tasted a little food, Polycarp and his companion fell asleep; but their sleep did not last long; at midnight the Angel of the Lord, pushing Polycarp in the side, said to him: “Get up,” the Angel told him, “and leave the hotel immediately, for it will soon collapse: those who lived in that hotel did not believe in Christ God and committed many iniquities.” Then the saint, getting up, began to wake up his deacon, commanding him to get up; the deacon, who had previously been fast asleep, did not want to get up; he began to dissuade the saint: “The first dream has not yet passed, holy father, where will we go; In your constant meditation on the Divine Scriptures, you yourself do not sleep, and you do not allow others to sleep. Hearing these words, Saint Polycarp fell silent, but an Angel appeared to him a second time and commanded him to go out; then the saint again began to urge the deacon, saying that this building must collapse; but the deacon answered: “I believe in God and I think that this building will not collapse as long as you, father, are in it.” Polycarp said: “And I also believe in God, but I don’t rely on this stone building.” Meanwhile, the Angel appeared for the third time and repeated the same order; Only then did the bishop persuade his companion to leave the hotel. As soon as they came out, the building immediately collapsed to the very foundation and everyone in it died to one; and Saint Polycarp, standing and looking at the sky, prayed like this: “Lord, Almighty God, Father of Jesus Christ, Your blessed Son, You foretold to the Ninevites through the prophet Jonah the destruction of their city, but You had mercy and spared them; I truly bless You, for You brought us out of this building through Your Angel and delivered us from sudden death, just as You brought Lot out of Sodom; You constantly preserve Your servants from all evil, You are good and merciful forever.” After their arrival in Smyrna, with the prince of that city, who did not believe in Christ, one night an unclean spirit suddenly entered into one servant; the latter screamed loudly and made a great noise, so that the whole house was horrified, and all the inhabitants were filled with fear and trembling. With the onset of day, the Jews came to the prince’s house in large numbers, wanting to cast out the demon; but the servant, possessed by an unclean spirit, rushed at them and, despite the fact that there were many of them, and he alone, still severely beat them all; no one could defeat him, no one could escape his hand, so they left him barely alive and heavily bloodied: the demon possessed tore off all the clothes they were wearing and bit their bodies with his teeth. There was one Christian in that house, who said to the prince: “If you command, sir, I will call one person who will heal your slave without any difficulty.” When the prince agreed to this proposal, the servant went to the holy Bishop Polycarp and invited him to the prince’s house. When the blessed one had not yet entered the prince’s house, the demon began to cry out: “Woe is me, Polycarp is coming here, I will be forced to flee from here against my will.” As soon as the saint entered, the demon immediately came out with trepidation and fled from the prince’s servant; The prince, seeing this, was greatly amazed. After that miracle, a fire broke out in Smyrna at night; since everyone was sleeping, the fire spread greatly and engulfed most of the city in flames; at the same time, as always happens, a loud noise, screaming and screaming arose, everyone was seized with horror; all the people began to put out the fire, but they could not do anything: the fire intensified more and more; The Jews also gathered and cast a spell on the fire, but all their attempts were in vain. Then the prince remembered Saint Polycarp and said to his superiors and advisers: “No one can stop the fire except the teacher of Christians Polycarp, who recently cast out the demon from my slave.” Having sent for him, they invited him to their place and asked him to help the city, which had suffered such a misfortune. Raising his honest hands, the saint immediately began to pray before them, and the fire, as if flooded with strong water, went out, and the fire stopped. Seeing such a miracle, people began to think that the saint was one of the gods; but Polycarp began to preach before everyone the one true God who exists in heaven, of whom he himself is only a slave, so that many believed and joined the holy Church of Christ. Another time there was a lack of rain that lasted for a long time, a drought came, and then famine; then all the people with the prince and his advisers began to pray to the saint so that he would take pity on them and ask his God for rain on the earth. When the saint prayed, a heavy torrential rain immediately fell, so that the earth was filled with moisture, and that year the harvest was much better than before. Through these and many other miracles of the saint, as well as through the healing of various sick people from ailments through the laying on of his hands, many turned to the Lord Jesus Christ; The Church of Christ increased day by day, and the idolatrous faith decreased in Smyrna, where Saint Polycarp took upon himself the service of the word according to the apostolic command, as Saint Irenaeus testifies to this, that Polycarp was not only an apostolic disciple and a friend and interlocutor of many who saw Christ with their own eyes, but was also sent by the apostles to Asia in order to occupy (after Saint Bucolus) an episcopal position there in Smyrna throne; We saw him (adds Saint Irenaeus) during our youth, when he was already a very advanced old man, and what he himself learned from the apostles, he taught that to others and passed on to the Church only that which is true and not false; All the bishops who came after him in the Church of Asia also testify to Saint Polycarp that he, indeed, was a constant and faithful champion of the truth, not like Valentinus and Marcion and all the heresy leaders who introduced such harmful errors into the Church of Christ. This blessed Polycarp, coming to Rome, when Anicetus was pope there, turned many away from the heresy of the Marcionites and led them to the true Church and faith, clearly preaching the truth, which he received from the apostles 1576. Among other things, he also told the following: the disciple of the Lord John, while he was in Ephesus, once came to the bathhouse; here he saw the heretic Herint washing; The apostle immediately left the bathhouse and persuaded others who were with him to follow him, so that, he added, the bathhouse where Herinth, the enemy of God’s truth, washes, would not suddenly collapse. One day this same Polycarp met with the heretic Marcion; the latter said to him insolently: “I know that you are the firstborn son of the devil; From heretics, both the apostles themselves and their disciples preserved themselves so carefully that they did not even want to talk with those who tried to obscure the truth with their cunning vanity, and Saint Paul commands: “Turn away the heretic after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a one has become corrupt and sins, being self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11). The letter of Polycarp to the Philippians of 1577, written extremely thoughtfully, has also been preserved, which cannot but be noticed by people who care about their salvation and approve of his faith and preaching. This is Saint Irenaeus’ response to Polycarp. After the twenty-two-year reign of Antoninus, his son Marcus Aurelius 1578 ascended the throne, sharing his power with his brother Lucius. At this time, a strong persecution of Christians was raised in Asia, and then Saint Polycarp sealed his confession with his blood. There is news about the suffering and death of this righteous man in the letter to the Smyrna Church of 1579, where Saint Polycarp occupied the episcopal throne; The content of this message is as follows. “The Church of Smyrna, the Church in Philomelia and all other holy Catholic churches located among different nations - may the mercy, peace and love of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. We wrote to you, brothers, about Saint Polycarp, who extinguished the fire of persecution by shedding his blood, and about other martyrs. Many holy martyrs then showed invincible courage; others were beaten for such a long time that all their joints and veins were crushed and their insides were visible; others were dragged over stones and sharp tiles, and they endured all the cruelest torments that the tormentors could invent with amazing calm, while others were given over to be devoured by beasts. And the wicked were deeply amazed and greatly amazed, seeing before them such courageous suffering of the saints. Among the other passion-bearers, with God's help, one young man named Germanicus showed outstanding courage with a fearless heart, without wavering in mind, he courageously went out to death, which by nature is so terrible for everyone. The judge admonished Germanicus for a long time so that he should spare his youth and not ruin this sweet life with such a bitter death, but as soon as he saw the animals released on him, he himself rushed at them, teasing them so that they would tear him to pieces. One man from Phrygia named Quintus, seeing the animals and the terrible torment, immediately became afraid and fell away from his salvation, whence it became clear that he had recklessly and not from a pure heart, but out of frivolity, as if driven by a sudden gust of wind, came to the judgment of the wicked and dared to submit himself to torment. He served as an example for everyone that such a great undertaking as surrendering oneself to torment should not be undertaken without caution. Polycarp, having heard about these torments, learned that the Greek people who did not believe in Christ, looking at the torment of other passion-bearers, clearly shouted to the judge: “Look for Polycarp, destroy these atheists.” Hearing this, Polycarp, although he wanted to stay in the city until he was captured, but, yielding to the requests of Christians, he left the city and hid in one village, where all day and night, according to his custom, he prayed for church peace. Three days before his capture by the wicked, he saw in a dream that its head broke out from a sudden fire and burned down. Rising from sleep, the saint said to those with him: “They will burn me in fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.” Three days after this, those sent by the hegemon came to that village to look for Polycarp. They grabbed two youths and began to beat them with a vine so that they would tell them where Polycarp was, and they pointed him out in one room upstairs; Although he could have escaped from there, he did not want to, saying: “Be the will of the Lord my God.” Hearing the servants following him, he himself went up the stairs to meet them and greeted them in a friendly manner with a joyful face. The servants, who had not seen him before, looking at his gray hair and old age, at the meekness and calm joy of his handsome face, were surprised and said: “Was it necessary to work so hard and try so hard to find this old man?” Polycarp immediately ordered a meal to be prepared for them and asked them to eat and drink, and to give him one hour for prayer. And he fervently prayed to God, sending thanks for all God’s care for him, small and great, from the days of his youth and entrusting to God the Holy Church, scattered throughout the world. After his long prayer, the messengers took the elder, put him on a donkey and led him to the city of Smyrna - it was the day of Holy Saturday. On the way, two honest senators Herod and Nikita met him and, putting him in their chariot, advised him that at the trial he should only renounce his faith with a word: “Is it so difficult to say: “Lord Caesar, I will make a sacrifice?” After all, in this way you will get rid of death.” Polycarp was silent at their words; when they insisted, he answered: “I will never do what you advise me.” They became angry and began to reproach him and threw him off the chariot; When he fell, the elder injured his lower leg, but did not care about it. When he was brought to trial, the wicked people shouted, rejoicing that Polycarp had been taken; he heard the voice of our Lord from heaven, saying to him: “Take courage, Polycarp, and strive generously!” Others of us heard this voice (says the message of Smyrna). “Spare your old age,” said the judge, “renounce Christ, swear by the royal fortune.” The judge, saying this and the like, said: - Come to your senses, Polycarp, and say: destroy the godless. Then Polycarp, lifting up his eyes to heaven and stretching out his hands against the wicked people, spoke to God. - Destroy the godless! The judge said: - Deny Christ, mock Him, and I will let you go free. “Eighty-six years,” answered Polycarp, “I have served Christ, and He has not done me any harm; How can I begin to revile my King, Who has preserved me to this day, with dishonorable words? - I will release fierce beasts on you. “Release,” answered Polycarp, “but I will not change my best for the worst.” “I will give you to be burned,” said the judge. He answered: “You threaten me with a dying fire, but you know nothing about the unquenchable fire, where the godless and infidels will burn forever.” Do not hesitate any longer, but quickly do what you are planning to do to me. Then the judge ordered the herald to announce to the people that Polycarp professed himself a Christian. Hearing this, the Greeks and Jews cried out loudly: “He is the seducer of all Asia, he is the father of Christians, he destroys our gods, burn him alive.” And the people and the Jews insisted that Polycarp be burned. When they had prepared a lot of firewood and brushwood, Polycarp took off his belt and began to take off his clothes, also threw off his boots, and the tormentors prepared iron tools and nails, intending to nail Polycarp with them so that he could not escape the fire. The saint said to them: “It is not appropriate to nail me, for whoever gives me patience in a fiery flame will also give me courage so that I do not move from my place or turn to any side.” Then the tormentors did not nail him down, but only tied him up, and laid this gray-haired old man on the fire, like the best ram of the flock, bound as a sacrifice, to smell the aroma of God. Saint Polycarp prayed, saying: “I thank You, Lord God, that You have deigned to place me with Your martyrs and confessors; and I drink the cup of the sufferings of Thy Christ and am a participant in His passion, so that in the eternal resurrection I may be with Him. Accept me as a fat and acceptable sacrifice in Your sight, which You Yourself predestined and provided, and now the true God has fulfilled it, Whom I glorify and praise, You and Your Son, the eternal Hierarch Jesus Christ; with Him and with the Holy Spirit is due to You all honor and glory and worship, now and ever and to the ages of ages, amen.” And when he said “Amen,” the servants immediately added fire; when the wood caught fire all around and the flames rose high, a miracle occurred that amazed everyone: the flames surrounding the saint and towering above his head did not touch or approach the saint, but like ship sails inflated by the wind, they diverged from him, uniting above him in the heights. Saint Polycarp stood in the midst of the fire, like gold purified in a furnace, and the fire did not scorch his body; we smelled, the Smyrneans say in their epistle, such a fragrance emanating from the fire that without comparison surpassed all aromas. The wicked, seeing this, began to shout to the speculator so that he would approach the saint through the fire and kill him. Approaching, the speculator pierced the saint with a long weapon, and an extraordinary amount of blood flowed from the wound; like a stream emerging from a source, she completely extinguished the fire; the entire multitude of people were amazed at this, realizing how great the difference was between believers and unbelievers. Polycarp was an outstanding man of our time, the bishop of the Smyrna Catholic Church, a teacher coming from the apostles, and a holy prophet: everything he said came true. Then the Jews began to ask the judge not to give Polikarpov’s body to the Christians. “They will,” said the Jews, “consider him their god, just like the Crucified One.” The wicked did not know that it could not be that Christians would apostatize from Christ the Lord, who died on the Cross for the salvation of the whole world, and consider anyone else to be god: We give Divine honor to Him, as the true Son of God, and we honor the martyrs with dignity as disciples and imitators of Christ, who suffered for Him out of love for Him; we embrace them with love and want to imitate them in piety, and in eternal glory we want to be partakers of them. The centurion, by order of the judge, whom the Jews asked, betrayed the body of Polycarp to the flames, according to Hellenic custom; During the life of this ascetic, his body was not damaged by fire, but after his death it succumbed to the fiery force. We (say the Smyrans) collected his bones from the ashes, purer than gold and much more valuable than valuable stones, and kept them in a proper place, where we will joyfully celebrate the day of his suffering, both in remembrance of such a feat for Christ, who suffered, and for the confirmation of those who have the same death to confess and glorify Christ, our true God. We sent this to you through Brother Mark, and when you read it, then send this message to the other scattered brethren, so that they too may glorify the Lord, who has shown us such a great chosen one among His servants, who is able to fill us all with His grace and bring us into His eternal Kingdom through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, to Him be glory, honor and worship forever. Amen. Kiss all the saints, and those who are with us kiss you, and Evarest, who wrote this letter, greets you along with his entire household. Polycarp ended his suffering on the seventh day of the Kalends of May, that is, on April 25 on Holy Saturday, at the eighth hour of the day under the great bishop Philip, during the hegemony of Trallian, into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ. We wish good health to the brethren who walk in the gospel of the word of Jesus Christ, with whom glory be to God for the salvation of the chosen saints, just as Saint Polycarp suffered; may we also be his heirs in the Kingdom of Christ. This epistle was rewritten by Guy, one of the disciples of Saint Irenaeus, a disciple of blessed Polycarp, from which Socrates of Corinth was rewritten, and I, Presbyter Pionius, again received all this from the above-mentioned persons and compared it with the revelation that came to me from Saint Polycarp, who appeared to me in a vision. And he wrote, renewing everything that had been erased by the passage of time, so that our Lord Jesus Christ, together with His chosen ones, would receive me into His Heavenly Kingdom; To him be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen". Bringing the fruits of words to the Lord, Polycarp the wise, the virtues of sacrifice, therefore you are worthy of God and glorified the hierarch. For this reason, today, having been enlightened by your words, we sing your praiseworthy memory, glorifying the Lord. Porphyra is an expensive purple garment in the form of a long robe, worn by sovereigns on special occasions. In caring for the good of the Church of St. Polycarp, during the time of Pope Anicetus (157–168), undertook a journey to Rome to combat the false teachings of the Gnostics Valentinus and Marcion. Regarding the differences between the Asia Minor and Western churches in the understanding and celebration of Easter, the bishops of Smyrna and Rome did not agree to each deviate from their local custom, i.e. St. Polycarp recognized as correct the celebration by Eastern Christians of Easter on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan and its dedication to the memory of the last supper of the Lord with the disciples and the sacrament of the Eucharist established at it, and Anicetas recognized, on the contrary, as correct the understanding of Easter established in the West as the annual holiday of the Resurrection of Christ and its celebration on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. But this difference of opinion did not violate the peace between the bishops, as a sign of which Anicetas allowed Saint Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in the Roman church. From the many letters of St. Polycarp, written, according to St. Irenaeus, to churches or individuals, this alone has reached us. About the letter of Saint Polycarp to the Philippians by St. Irenaeus says “that from him those who desire and care about their salvation can learn the character of faith (Polycarp) and his preaching of the truth.” The father of church history, Eusebius (263–340), cites several passages from the epistle, noting that it is still addressed among Christians. Blessed Jerome reports that in his time the message of St. Polycarp to the Philippians was read in the churches of Asia Minor during divine services. The epistle was written shortly after the death of Ignatius the God-Bearer (107) and was prompted by the request of the Christians of the city of Philip to deliver to them Ignatius' messages to Polycarp and other Christians that he had. Fulfilling their request, St. Polycarp, in a special letter, teaches the Philippians a number of Christian instructions - he warns against heretics, indicates the duties of elders and deacons, young men and virgins, spouses and widows, urges them to avoid covetousness, practice prayer and fasting, instilling patience and love for enemies. In translation, this message can be read in the book of Archpriest Preobrazhensky, “The Writings of Apostolic Men.” St. Petersburg. 1895 District message on the martyrdom of St. Polycarp from the church of which he was the leader and among which he suffered is one of the most ancient monuments of Christian antiquity. Eusebius included almost all of this message in his history (Book IV, Chapter 14). Translation in our four menaions of St. Demetrius of Rostov You might be interested in: