Editing Polycarp (section)

{{short description|Christian bishop of Smyrna (69–155)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name= Polycarp of Smyrna
|image=Hosios_Loukas_%28diakonikon%29_-_Polycarp.jpg|birth_date= AD 69
|death_date= AD 155 (aged 85–86)
|feast_day= 23 February (formerly 26 January)
|venerated_in= [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Roman Catholic Church]]<br>[[Oriental Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Church of the East]]<br>[[Lutheranism]]<br>[[Anglicanism]]
|birth_place=
|death_place=[[Smyrna]], [[Roman Empire]]
|caption=Mosaic of Saint Polycarp inside the monastery of [[Hosios Loukas]]|titles=Church Father<br>Bishop of Smyrna and [[Hieromartyr]]
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|major_works=''[[Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians]]''
|canonized_by=
|attributes= Wearing the [[pallium]], holding a book representing his ''Epistle to the Philippians''
|patronage=[[Earache]] sufferers{{citation needed|reason=not supported in article text|date=October 2024}}
|major_shrine=[[Sant'Ambrogio della Massima|Sant'Ambrogio della Massima, Rome]]
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
|influences = [[Clement of Rome]],<ref>Richardson, Cyril C. (1953). Early Christian Fathers. Pag 125–137.</ref> [[John the Apostle]]
|influenced = [[Irenaeus]]

}}
'''Polycarp''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|l|i|k|ɑːr|p}}; {{langx|el|Πολύκαρπος}}, ''Polýkarpos''; {{langx|la|Polycarpus}}; AD 69 {{ndash}} 155) was a Christian [[Metropolis of Smyrna|bishop of Smyrna]].<ref name="Britannica">{{Britannica|468353|name=Saint Polycarp}}</ref> According to the ''[[Martyrdom of Polycarp]]'', he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to consume his body.<ref name="Wace"/> Polycarp is regarded as a [[saint]] and [[Church Fathers|Church Father]] in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]], [[Lutheranism]], and [[Anglicanism]].

Both [[Irenaeus]]<ref>Irenaeus, ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Adversus Haereses]]'' [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103303.htm III.3]</ref> and [[Tertullian]]<ref>Tertullian, [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0311.htm ''De praescriptione hereticorum'' 32.2]</ref> say that Polycarp had been a disciple of [[John the Apostle]], one of [[Apostles in the New Testament|Jesus's disciples]]. In ''[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|On Illustrious Men]]'', [[Jerome]] similarly writes that Polycarp was a disciple of John the Apostle, who had ordained him as a bishop of Smyrna.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/polycarp.html| title = Kirby, Peter. "St. Polycarp of Smyrna." Early Christian Writings. 2020. 10 January 2020}}</ref> Polycarp is regarded as one of three chief [[Apostolic Fathers]], along with [[Clement of Rome]] and [[Ignatius of Antioch]].